The Bad Catholic's Guide to the Catechism

by John Zmirak

Thoughts: Witty, insightful, and a rather hilarious general look at the teachings of the Catholic Church. Zmirak gets the both/and nature of the Church--it's grittiness, humanness, and, yes, catholicity. And although the preface seems to indicate it's meant for non-Catholics, I actually learnt some things myself. For instance, I didn't know that the it was only a widespread Western theory that the Spirit is generated by the perfect mutual love of the Father and the Son. I had thought that was part of doctrine. There was also a fascinating discussion on how most polytheistic tribes said their ancestors used to worship one, highest God, before they decided they needed several more "hands-on" gods because God wasn't answering prayers promptly enough. (pg. 2) He didn't back this up with a reference to the study, though, so I'm going to have to research this. Similarly, he claimed that the Benedictines offered the first advanced schooling to women in Western history, which would be another fascinating fact, if true. (pg. 94)

I must admit, though, I'm glad that I agreed on almost everything he said, because otherwise this would be hard to read. His wit is acerbic and very sarcastic, and would be hard to stomach for many non-believers, I think. Also, as a note, I didn't agree with everything he said. Just as a small example, I found his discussion on men vs. women on page 33 a bit annoying. I am definitely the kind of person who would crash her car while pushing a radio button, not when lapsing into deadly indecision. My multi-tasking skills are not of the highest calibre.

But all in all, decidedly worth reading, if only for how funny it is, and the random interesting asides. In some ways, Zmirak reminds me of a grumpy, Catholic, Bill Bryson.

Grade: 4 stars (maybe 4 1/2?)

Cuckoo Song

by Frances Hardinge

Story summary: Eleven-year-old Triss wakes up from a severe illness not remembering who she is or what her life is like. Even as she slowly gains memory, she beings to realize that things are not as they should be. She is getting more and more hungry, and food is satisfying her less and less. She is having strange hallucinations, and waking up in the morning with leaves in her bed. As she slowly discovers who she is and what is happening, she also slowly realizes the price she is going to have to pay.

Thoughts: Frances Hardinge has been one of my favourite living children's authors for some time now. A lot of what makes her so wonderful is her original world building. Gullstruck Island and A Face Like Glass are especially good in this way, but Fly By Night and The Twilight Robbery are pretty wonderful too. This one took place in the real world, and used more standard world-building (bit like her other book Verdigris Deep). But still, it had her characteristic originality still present, with the excellent writing and vivid imagery always present with her books. And she is a master of creepiness. For what is technically a children's book, the imagery is intense...and somewhat disturbing. (Bit like some of Doctor Who, that way.)

Hardinge is one of the few authors I will buy on the spot without reading any reviews or doing any research. Which is saying something. And this book did not disappoint.

Grade: 3 1/2 stars

The Road

by Cormac McCarthy

Story summary: A man and his young boy are travelling through the dead and dreary post-apocalyptic America, barely surviving and slowly dying.

Thoughts: This was fairly tough to get through. It was bleak and relentless, and took me a very long time to read compared to most books. In some ways, there seemed very little point to reading a book like this. And yet... there are enough threads of hope throughout the story, that by the end (and especially because of the end), I could have a new perspective on the bleakness and suffering of the rest of the book.

Grade: 3 1/2 stars

Travel Reading Part 6

For the last three months, I've been gone, walking across Canada with a group called Crossroads Pro-Life. I was very, very busy, but I did manage to read a few books. Blogging about them was a different story, however. So it's been so long now since I read many of them, that I thought I could do travel posts like I did last summer, and just write a couple sentences for each book.
So here goes the second Crossroads multi-review post:

"Rome Sweet Home" by Scott and Kimberly Hahn
Grade: 4 stars
For me, being a Catholic who grew up on Scott Hahn and Protestant conversion stories, there was nothing very new in this book. Still, it was well written, and it was interesting to read something that was so personal. It showed the same story from both Scott's and Kimberly's point of view, which sometimes I found slightly repetitive and sometimes I found fascinating.




"Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad" by Reki Kawahara
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
This is a Japanese light novel, and thus is (surprise, surprise) rather on the light side. Apparently there are a number of sides stories that used to be included online, and are also in the anime. I think those scenes would have filled this out a little more and made it more enjoyable. I generally have a rule that if a manga came before an anime, I have to read it before watching it. I do not have the same rule with light novels, and this is partly why. The anime has more depth and more story. (I think in the future I will try to watch the animes first, and if I really enjoy it, will read the light novels to get a different perspective on the characters.) But there was some cool stuff in here. Interesting ideas about living a video game.

"The Icebound Land" by John Flanagan
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
Third book in the Ranger's Apprentice series, after The Ruins of Gorlan and The Burning Bridge. I found this one slightly slower than the first two, but it may have been my mood at the time. And there was an awesome section with Horace, which I was very happy to see. Hopefully he continues to grow more and more awesome.




"The Last Guardian of Everness" by John C. Wright
Grade: 4 stars
A fantasy novel with a dream world, many mythological references, a rising and terrible evil, betrayal and disguise and mistaken identities. The imagery was fantastic, and was definitely my favourite part. But I liked almost the whole cast of characters, who were mostly interestingly nuanced. As a note, because I like to keep track of these things, my favourite character was Peter, although Azrael was quite fascinating too (the part where he rides home with a certain character was hilarious).


"Mists of Everness" by John C. Wright
Grade: 3 1/2 stars
Technically I finished this after my summer travelling, but it's the sequel to The Last Guardian of Everness, so I thought I'd stick in in the same post. These two books were basically two halves of the same story, not a book and its sequel (sort of like the three LotR books are really just one book). However, I didn't actually like this one quite as much as the first. It seemed a little more disjointed, plot-wise, than the first. It was still very enjoyable, however. I loved when the characters all got their particular weapons and were using them like bosses. Also, John C. Wright is Catholic, and I could see some themes that resonated with me because of this. I'm definitely going to try out more of his books (especially his scifi, which is what he's most known for).

Travel Reading Part 5

For the last three months, I've been gone, walking across Canada with a group called Crossroads Pro-Life. I was very, very busy, but I did manage to read a few books. Blogging about them was a different story, however. So it's been so long now since I read many of them, that I thought I could do travel posts like I did last summer, and just write a couple sentences for each book.
Here goes:

"A Civil Campaign" by Lois McMaster Bujold
Grade: 3 stars, maybe 2 1/2?
Actually a bit disappointed in this one--the first time for this series, I think. I'm not sure, though, if it was the book itself, or the fact that I'd just started Crossroads, or the fact that I'd heard more hype for this one than the others. It was definitely more Romance heavy, though, even than Komarr, and some of the romances were not to my taste. I still think Ekaterin is the perfect wife for Miles, though, and I greatly enjoyed the parts with them and with the Emperor Gregor.



"Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz
Grade: 4 stars
A thriller/mystery/paranormal, where a fry cook named Odd who can see the dead and hints of the future has to save a town from a horrible fate. Dean Koontz is Catholic, and it shows up in little interesting ways in his books, which is quite cool for me. The mystery/thriller/paranormal part was interesting (especially the bodachs!), but I think it was Odd's character and relationships that stood out to me most (unusual for this kind of book).



"Brother Odd" by Dean Koontz
Grade: 4 stars
Third book in the Odd Thomas series (I was told to skip the second). This time, the Catholic elements are even more obvious, as Odd goes to hang out at a monastery while recovering from the events of the first novel. The paranormal aspects were more interesting this time as well (those weird bone creatures! and the bodachs!). Great fun.



"The Ruins of Gorlan" by John Flanagan
Grade: 3 stars, maybe 2 1/2?
First book in the Ranger's Apprentice series. Fairly standard beginning to a children's fantasy series, with a few attributes that make it stand out. Although... I forget what they are because it's been so long, haha. Obviously doesn't stand out that much. But I know I really enjoyed the training sections (seriously, some day I'm going to write a story that's half training montages--I love them), and the character of Horace.


"The Burning Bridge" by John Flanagan
Grade: 3 stars
Second book in the Ranger's Apprentice series. This is where it first starts to become less of a cliched fantasy series, but one of the main parts of this is a spoiler, so I can't talk about it. Horace is still my favourite character, and I hope he just grows more awesome as the series progresses.

Komarr

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Story summary: As this is the first book in the Miles in Love omnibus, I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that this is the book where he meets his future wife. But of course, this is a book about Miles, so there are also plots and shenanigans and lots of trouble.
See the others in this series: Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, and Memory.

Thoughts: Right after reading this book, I left for a three month trip across Canada, and I didn't have time to upkeep this blog. Thus my memory is definitely fuzzy, and the review will have to be short and lacking in details.

Basically, it felt a little like a lead-up to "A Civil Campaign" (the next book in the series) in the same way that Brothers in Arms felt a bit like a lead-up to Mirror Dance. But it was still extremely good, as is all of the Bujold I've read so far. I couldn't imagine someone who could actually be Miles's wife, whom both he and I would like immensely. But I should have trusted LMB. Ekaterin was perfect.

Grade: 4 stars

Wizards

ed. by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois

Thoughts: Entertaining selection of short stories including several authors I really like: Garth Nix, Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, etc.

Most of the stories didn't pop out at me as ones I particularly loved. But on the other hand, I didn't dislike any of them either, which is somewhat unusual. Here are a few notes on stories that stood out to me in one way or another:

"Holly and Iron" by Garth Nix. I always enjoy Garth Nix's stories. I didn't fall in love with this one as much as I sometimes do, but it was still a really interesting take on a combined Robin Hood/King Arthur re-telling.

"Color Vision" by Mary Rosenblum. Lots of fun. I liked the synesthesia aspect, and think this could also make an interesting full length work.

"The Ruby Incomparable" by Kage Baker. This was great, with lots of potential. I was a little put off by how equivalent Good and Evil were portrayed, but the characters were all interesting

"Fowl Tale" by Eoin Colfer. It was surprisingly funny, and I was reminded again how much I actually enjoyed the first bunch of Artemis Fowl books (though this story was not related to them, just by the same author).

"Stranger's Hands" by Tad Williams. The worst thing about this was the insinuation that religious people (specifically Christians, since the world seems similar to ours) are intolerant. To quote (pg. 122): "[T]he big one was plainly touched, perhaps even demon-possessed, and almost no one felt anything for them but horror and disgust." The only exception was the priest, who "had experienced a crisis of faith, leading him to doubt many of the most famous and popular tenets of his own religion." Because of this, "he was [...] unwilling to assume the guilt of someone else simply because they were not part of the familiar herd."

"Stone Man" by Nancy Kress. This was one of my favourites. There was lots of potential for a longer book here, and I'm going to look up Nancy Kress and see what else she's written.

"The Manticore Spell" by Jeffrey Ford. A lyrical and strange story. But I enjoyed it.

"Zinder" by Tanith Lee. The one I came closest to disliking. Zinder is basically just this perfect guy who helps everyone and everyone loves him. And that's it. Also the slight insinuation that religious people are deluded.

"Billy and the Wizard" by Terry Bisson. The other one I came close to disliking. It was creepy, but not in a way I enjoyed. The style was similar to a small child's story, which made it all the creepier.

"The Magic Animal" by Gene Wolfe. I liked this one, and could have really liked it, but in the end it was rather strange and I found it difficult to understand. This was a similar reaction to what I had with the novel by Gene Wolfe I read, The Sorcerer's House. I'm intrigued to read more of him, as he is considered (as it mentions in this book) "one of the best--perhaps the best--SF and fantasy writers working today." (pg. 299).

"Stonefather" by Orson Scott Card. Also really liked this one. Apparently it's related to several full length novels, which I'll now look into. The magic system and world-building was quite interesting.

Grade: 3 stars