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The Jevlir Caravansary

Tag: Books

  • Book: The Senator and the Priest

    If you’ve been around any of my blogs for long you already know that I love Andrew Greeley, and especially the Father/Bishop Blackie mysteries. I’m a little bit less excited about his more romantic fiction, but his political fiction is also great. It’s entertaining and it makes some excellent points along the way.

    Thus The Senator and the Priest attracted my attention as soon as I first saw it, and soon I took it home to read. I was not disappointed.

    Conservatives and Republicans will be disappointed that the good guys are Democrats, though there is one Republican presented favorably. The media is seen mostly in a negative light. Its faults and failings as portrayed are precisely those I see with the media. It’s not a matter so much of political agenda, as it is of a simple profit agenda, combined with a great deal of stupidity.

    As always, Greeley’s books are permeated with the gospel message of God’s implacable love (his phrase), and the portrayal of God’s passion for us through sexual passion. One shouldn’t get the idea here that we are dealing with a sort of allegory. I really don’t like fiction that is written with the primary aim of conveying a message. Fiction needs to present a story first, and the message rides in on the story, the less obtrusively the better. But having characters of faith, who attend church, are concerned with their relationship to God, and who experience the presence of God is not message–it’s just a portrayal of human characters who exist in the real world yet are often avoided in fiction in order to avoid a “religious” message.

    I would say simply that I wish that the heroic characters of this novel were real people. I suspect there are real people out there like them, and we should be looking for them to serve our nation. Their goals are good. Greeley is a Democrat, and he portrays characters who are Democrats. As an independent myself, I have little faith in either the Democratic or Republican parties at this point, but if one party would clearly embrace a message of civility and campaigns that are issues oriented, I would climb on board quickly. I just suspect such a party would not look much like the current parties, because I believe the combination of issues would change simply by the fact that elections were being fought on issues.

    Good fun, good writing, good message. Can you beat that?

  • Book: Childe Morgan

    It has been sometime since I have read a Deryni book. I find this kind of fantasy that’s informed by history quite enjoyable to read, though you’ll not find it on my “read everything that is published” lists.

    Childe Morgan rates quite high in terms of characterization (excellent), cultural background (excellent), and political intrigue (excellent). I must admit, however, that the pace of events, especially of any form of action is a bit slow for my tastes. I have to admit to a certain love for reading matter that has exciting events at regular intervals. This book builds the threads of a final confrontation throughout the book, moving slowly and painstakingly through details of the lives of the characters setting up their reactions to that final scene.

    Make no mistake, this is a good book, but I have to give it a rating of “3” because I will still read folks like David Weber and David Drake first.

  • DVD: The Fountainhead

    I have always appreciated The Fountainhead both for its literature and philosophy. As a Christian Bible teacher, there are obviously some differences between my philosophy and that of Ayn Rand, to put it mildly. I have always wondered why her philosophy had to be so strongly opposed to theism. Obviously it was opposed in many ways to Christian theism, but theism, or perhaps deism, can be nothing more than an assertion of ultimate order in the universe in different language.

    I recently discussed some of the particulars of the character of Howard Roark that I like and dislike in my post Can one Like both George Bailey and Howard Roark? I think there is a mistake made both by supporters and opponents of Ayn Rand, and that is that to have absolute and true values one must be on one extreme or the other, that one is either totally selfish or totally unselfish, independent or dependent, has integrity or completely falls apart. Of course, that is part of Rand’s message. She doesn’t believe that “middles” are possible.

    I believe in balance and integrity at the same time, meaning that one finds the correct point, which may or may not be one of the extremes, and then stands for that point. There are things which society may ask of me, and which I should choose to give, but society as such doesn’t own me. I have rights to my creations, but at the same time I may recognize that no matter what I construct I have learned some things from other people.

    In The Fountainhead, Rand has Roark appear almost as if from nowhere. Family doesn’t exist. Early education and nurture doesn’t exist. Roark just appears. This picture is much better in the book than in the movie, in my view. It is something that attracted me to the book in the first place. There is an annoying tendency of families and friends to claim every accomplishment of their relations as their own, to point to every talent and ability as coming from somewhere on the family tree, and giving no individual credit to a child and his or her creativity. That combines with the expectation that the family owns part of that creative product, that the child who succeeds should help the large number of relatives who have failed. The Fountainhead goes to the opposite extreme. Roark comes from nowhere, stands alone, owns everything.

    But are the extremes the only option? I would suggest that some of what I am has come from my parents. Some has come from teachers and friends who have guided me along the way. But some of what I am, and all of what I have made of that comes from me, me in relationship to God, and belongs to me and not to anyone else. Where I lean in Rand’s direction is that I need to be the one to make that choice. That is sometimes going to involve me handing off some of the glory of achievements, or even the ignominy of defeats to others when they are truly responsible. But at the same time it will involve me taking responsibility for both to the extent that is really true.

    Contrary to Howard Roark, I see a positive value in teamwork. This is not the teamwork that wrecked Cortlandt before Roark blew it up. Rather it is teamwork where each makes a known contribution and is acknowledged for that. That is the type of balance that I would look for, and that is the reason that I can appreciate The Fountainhead, while disagreeing in substantial ways with its author.

    After many, many years, and several readings of the book, I finally brought myself to see the movie yesterday. The movie is well done in that it keeps the theme of the book intact, as one might expect of a script written by the book author. Some of the events are changed in order to make it a reasonable length movie. Gary Cooper is wonderful in displaying Roark, and the remainder of the casting is good. I personally still prefer book form for presenting material of this nature. I like time to think about scenes and using my imagination on them. But if one is to present such a book in movie form, this is a good way to do it. If, like me, you’ve resisted getting the movie because you normally don’t like such things, go ahead and get this one and watch it. I found it immediately available via Netflix, and it was a pleasure to watch.

    If you haven’t read the book, consider doing so before you watch the movie. The Fountainhead is a book that should provoke thought, and you should have time to think as you go through it.

  • Book Series: Lord Meren Mysteries

    I recently re-read Eater of Souls by Lynda S. Robinson, and as a result remembered that I’d intended to read more. So I immediately found what I could at the local library and I’ve thus far gone backwards to read Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing. I’ve got a couple more sitting on my “to be read” shelf.

    I’m not sure why I didn’t follow up on this series at the time I first read one of the books. Normally when I like a series I head straight to the library and/or bookstore, fill out the list and work right through it. It can’t have been because I didn’t like the books–I love them. With some knowledge of Egypt (I have a year of Middle Egyptian reading from graduate school), I’m able to really appreciate the feel Robinson gives to characters and culture. As she notes, many times she has to settle controversies, and I would assume also fill in gaps in our knowledge, but she has done so consistently and in such a way that the culture seems very realistic.

    I especially like the way that Lord Meren searches for signs of magic and includes killing by magic as one of the possibilities for means in murder cases, as of course an ancient Egyptian would have. But many modern authors would have some difficulties keeping the viewpoint authentic. Robinson does so successfully in my view.

    Family relationships, religion, culture, politics, and ancient warfare all combine to create the background for this exceptional series. The key characters of Lord Meren, his adopted son Kysen, and the remainder of his family would be interesting wherever they were placed, and the mysteries would be interesting no matter what the background.

    This is truly an exceptionally enjoyable series of historical mysteries. I strongly recommend it.

  • Book: Danger in the Shadows

    I tend not to like books that have too blatant of a spiritual purpose. If a book is written to teach a lesson, I don’t like it. If it’s written to entertain, and happens to teach one or more lessons, I’m happy. I don’t mind if the characters are people of faith and that this shows up as part of the story.

    My first introduction to Dee Henderson was in the O’Malley series. Those books seemed to me to fall a little too far into the first category–each one leads up to the conversion of the lead character. The stories are decently interesting, however, so I was still willing to read them. Nonetheless it took a few positive comments from my wife before I was willing to try another. That book is Danger in the Shadows.

    While the characters in this story are people of faith, who live it, talk about it, think about it, and are shaped by it, the story remains the focus. It’s a solid story of suspense. One interesting thing I noticed, however, is that the conflict seems to occur entirely between the good guys and the bad buy. The good guys get together in a most amazing way. There is substantial emotional, spiritual, and romantic conflict, but the major characters seem to manage it with few arguments.

    If you like J. D. Robb, you may be disappointed here as the intensity is somewhat less, at least there is less action and more thinking.

    I rate this a 3.

  • Blog: Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com

    I’m working on locating more interesting writing blogs to include in the blogroll, and here is the first. Cory Doctorow is a professional fiction writer with three novels (that I read about on his blog) and some short stories (including a short story collection). He has another collection coming soon.

    He posts a good deal of news on his blog but also some short fiction, including When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth. The link there is to his announcement that the story is appearing in The Rake, along with links to previous podcast entries. I think one would need to be a bit net savvy to enjoy this story, but other than that it’s good fun.

    His books are:

    I have to say that the first short story didn’t rocket him to the top of my reading list, but it did pique my interest, and I’m definitely going to take a further look at some of the novels and I’ll add his blog to the blogroll.

  • Book: Runner

    William C. Dietz is primarily an author of military science fiction and he’s outstanding in his portrayal of military action. I’ve previously written a couple of notes on his book For Those Who Fell, and since reading that book I’ve been quite quick to check his books out of the library or find them on bookstore shelves.

    In many ways I like the story in Runner better than the military science fiction. The characters are very engaging, the action is good, and the theme very enjoyable. Yet I think Dietz is not quite as good at this type of story as he was at the military material. He seems less able to create the transitions, and more of the book seems to be there just taking up space. But that is really a small complaint, and I might not have noticed except for the much tighter structure of his military stories.

    Overall, I strongly recommend this book (4+ out of 5), and intend to continue to read books by this author as they are available.

  • Book: Day of the Dead

    This is an excellent suspense story by J. A. Jance. I generally rate Jance as a “4” on my 1-5 scale. This particular book is a bit better than that.

    It is not a mystery in any sense. I don’t normally read pure suspense, but a combination of mystery and suspense generally does interest me. I picked this up because I have really enjoyed Jance’s mysteries set in Arizona.

    The characters in this story are generally either very likeable, or a great pleasure to hate. In other words, they’re interesting and human, and you come to care how things work out. While you know who the bad guys are along the way, there is considerable suspense over just how things will play out and what the costs will be for each of the characters.

    The interweave of Native American beliefs and various brands of Christianity was interesting to me as a Bible teacher, as is the interplay of different cultures. All of that is part of building up one’s personal commitment to the characters and the story. It was also fun to encounter Dr. Fran Daly on her home ground (for those who have read some of the Joanna Brady mysteries.)

    Overall, though I haven’t put Jance on my “must read, 5 of 5” list, this book is excellent and well-worthwhile reading.

  • Book: Chasing Faith by Mark Miller

    I don’t usually do this, but I want to mention a book I haven’t read. While displaying books at Pine Forest United Methodist Church craft show on November 11, I had a chat with author Mark Miller about his book Chasing Faith. It’s going to be some time before I’ll have time to read the book, but the author impressed me with his energy and enthusiasm for his topic as well as his coherent description of his purpose in writing this book.

    This book is only available through the publisher Trent’s Prints, and again I haven’t read it, but I wanted to call attention to the entry. Take a look at the catalog page and consider communicating with the author.

  • Fiction at Charisma Book Expo

    Well, I’m back from the Charisma Book Expo, a conference/expo sponsored by Charisma Magazine to be both a spiritual experience and highlight books and resources for the charismatic Christian market. What’s of potential interest to readers of this blog is that two of the major speakers at the conference have turned to fiction writing for one reason or another.

    Tommy Tenney has written a book titled Hadassah: One Night with the King, which has now been made into a movie titled just One Night with the King. I haven’t seen the movie as it has not been released yet, and in fact, I haven’t read the book. I just heard Tommy Tenney discuss them at the conference.

    The final night speaker was John Bevere, and while I’ve read some of his non-fiction books, I have been enough out of touch that I did not realize he has written and is about to release a novel of suspense, Rescued. He has also produced an allegory in audio theater format titled Affabel: Window of Eternity.

    I’ve talked a good deal about the value of fiction, though one of my major points is that fiction is valuable as recreation. My tendency is to recommend less explicitly theological fiction. Tommy Tenney’s book is primarily intended as a good, enjoyable story, though it is based on a Bible story and certainly has spiritual implications. Both of John Bevere’s fiction offerings are definitely in the form of explicitly Christian literature.

    I’m planning to look at all of these. This is not a review, but merely my impression after listening to the authors talk about their work.