christianreader | Books for August

The Professor and the Madman - Simon Winchester, 3/5, 230 pages
This is one of those weird books where the subject matter is extremely interesting, but the writing only so-so. I'm glad I stuck it out though, because the descriptions of what it takes to complete a reference book as complicated as th Oxford English Dictionary was absolutely fascinating! It must have been an insanely daunting task, and I'm impressed that they didn't give up from shear overwhelmedness (yes, that's a word ;) ).

The story of the madman himself actually didn't interest me all that much, although it did make me wonder how much of a difference there is between the treatment of the criminally insane now and back then.

Billy and the Bubble-Ship - Elwy Yost*, 3/5, 141 pages
This was a childhood favourite, so I figured it was time to reread it. It's still enjoyable, but I must admit it couldn't quite live up to my expectations. Interestingly enough in part because it was too short! There were so many possibilities for expanding the plot and adding details, but since it's a childrens book, most of these were left out.

I liked Billy and the Princess and would have liked to read more about them.

Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr, 3.5/5, ~10hrs
Another book in the long list of paranormal fantasy that has sprung up during the last years. I had no expectations at all about this one, but decided to give it a shot as I'd seen it around in book stores and then found it as an audiobook.

Actually, it's not half bad. I quite enjoyed it and was very gratified to see that the by now apparently compulsory love triangle didn't turn out Twilight'esque, but actually had a very agreeable resolution for once. It was a fun read, and I liked all the details about faeries.

Crystal Singer Omnibus - Anne McCaffrey*, 4.5/5, 1069 pages
This omnibus has the entire Crystal Singer trilogy ("The Crystal Singer", "Killashandra" and "The Crystal Line") in one book.

Over all, a 4.5-star trilogy, even though the first book is definitely the best. I guess I'd rate them 5, 4.5 and 4 respectively. I loved reading about how Killashandra learned how to cut crystal in the first one, and her relationship with Lars in the second.

I had this book recommended to me because I mentioned liking McCaffrey's Harper's Hall trilogy, so I assumed Crystal Singer would be similar to this trilogy in its atmosphere and descriptions of music. Not so at all! It took me awhile to shake my pre-conceived notions of the book. Not that I was disappointed, it was just disconcerting to expect to read about dragons and thread fall and instead read about spaceships and crystal cutters.

That said, I loved the book, as the rating indicates, and would recommend it to anybody who enjoys a good fantasy/sci-fi novel. Crystal singers have a long life-span but cutting also results in severe memory loss, which makes for some very interesting situations. It also made me think - if I knew I was likely to forget everything about my past and everybody I knew... how much effort would I go to to make recordings of my life? What would I willingly forget, and what would I want to remember?

Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson, 4.5/5, 330 pages
I started this book with mixed expectations. One of my friends had LOVED it (all capital letters), another had thought it extremely overrated. As I usually trst recommendations from both people, I had no clue where on the scale I would end up. However, it kept popping up in discussions, reviews and on bookshelves, and the story fascinated me, so I decided I had to give it a chance.

It took me a bit to get into it - I've started to think that introductions should really be read last rather than first - but once I did, I was absolutely captivated. Greg Mortenson's story is extremely fascinating, and I'm deeply impressed by all that he does for the people of Pakistan. Also, it was really interesting to see the USA-Pakistan relationship from the Pakistani side of the fence.

I'm amazed by Tara's fortitude and bravery in letting Greg go off so often and for so long periods of time. I doubt I'd be able to do the same.

Three Cups... is in no way a literary masterpiece - it could definitely have profitted from a thorough editing - but it blew me away.

The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs, 4/5, 332 pages
As a Christian who believes in a mostly* literal interpretation of the Bible, I found this memoir absolutely fascinating! First of all, it was interesting to see the Bible through a non-religious Jewish POV. And secondly it was fascinating to see anybody attempt to follow all the laws of both the Old and the New Testament.

I really enjoyed A.J. Jacobs' writing style, and was releaved to see how respectful his approach was. He actually ended up teaching me a thing or two about how to follow the Bible as well.

I've wanted to read this book for ages and was very gratified to see that it completely lived up to my expectations.

* There are some passages that are obviously meant to be taken figuratively - when Jesus calls the disciples "salt of the earth", He didn't actually mean they were made of NaCl ;)

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley, 2.5/5, ~12hrs
I knew almost nothing about this book when I started it - nor even about the story actually - but it turned out to be very different from my expectations. I'd expected it to be somewhat similar to Dracula (although that one ended up being different from my expectations as well, but that was mostly because of the writing style), but the similarities were slim to none - which ended up being to the detriment of "Frankenstein". The writing wasn't as captivating, and the characters were either unlikable or just plain boring.

While I did find the story interesting enough to finish it, I have to admit, I didn't care for it much, and it puzzles me how it managed to obtain the rating of 'a classic'.

Dewey - Vicki Myron, 4/5, 304 pages
I think it's a bit of false advertising to say this is a book about Dewey, the library cat. It's more a book about Vicki Myron's life as it intersected with that of Dewey's. That didn't stop me from loving the book, and I laughed out loud several times, but the descriptions of Dewey's antics were definitely the best parts of the books, and I felt the rest was mostly filler stuff to make the book long enough.

It was very, very charming though, and the perfect read for a cozy afternoon. I think I would have adored Dewey if I'd ever had the chance to meet him.

Gone-Away Lake - Elizabeth Enright*, 5/5, 172 pages
This was one of my favourite books as a child, and I'm happy to say that it completely passed the test of time. It's just as charming as I remembered it, and Elizabeth Enright really made me feel like I knew the characters and I got to care for them.

Usually I can take or leave illustrations in a book, but the illustrations in my copy of the book (or rather, my mother's copy) - done by Beth and Joe Krush - are gorgeous, and really add to the story.

Garlic and Sapphires - Ruth Reichl, 5/5, 333 pages
One of the best foodie books I've read in a long time - even if I did get ridiculously hungry for good food while reading it. I do NOT recommend reading a couple of chapters and then going out to heat up left-overs :-/

The stories of a restaurant critic were fascinating to read, and the way she went about creating new characters as not to be recognized had me in stitches. I really enjoyed Ruth Reichl's writing style, and also liked the way she portrayed herself in this memoir - not arrogantly, but aware of her own mistakes and shortcomings.

Really brilliant book, even if it is perhaps a tad too old to be used as an accurate restaurant guide for NYC - more's the pity, as I'd have loved to try some of the restaurants she visited!

Knit Two - Kate Jacobs, 4/5, 235 pages
Not quite as good as "Friday Night Knitting Club", but then sequels seldom are. And it's still a very enjoyable and comforting read. As usual it made me want to knit, so I guess I'll have to go out and replenish my stash after all ;) But to me, its true merit is in the descriptions of the friendships between the women of the knitting club. From "Saving Graces" to "The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society" that aspect never ceases to appeal to me.

Return to Gone-Away - Elizabeth Enright*, 4.5/5, 145 pages
Not quite as good as the first book in the series, but then it is hard to improve on perfection ;) And it's still really excellent, and a wonderful comfort read, even if the plot isn't as interesting and a tad more repetative.

Man jager et bæst og fanger et menneske - Bent Isager-Nielsen, 5/5, 267 pages
(You Hunt a Beast and Catch a Human)
Henni has worked together with Bent Isager-Nielsen for several years, so when she recommended this memoir of his, I was very keen on reading it. It's a fascinating account of how the police actually works in order to solve a serious crime, and a reminder that usually the killer is not that different from me or you - he's just less well equipped to handle setbacks.

Bent Isager-Nielsen makes a strong case for gun control as well as a national resident registry. He credits these two things for the fact that Denmark has a resolution percentage of more than 95% for murder cases (in 2007 39 out of 40 murders were solved) and no known serial killers.

"You Hunt a Beast..." is almost impossible to put down, and I was intrigued by this look behind the scenes and insight in the techniques and technologies involved in police work. Definitely a book well worth reading!

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins, 4/5, 353 pages
As eager as I was to read this book, I have to admit it was a bit of a disappointment. I still liked it, and still had difficulties putting it down, but the series definitely decreases in quality as it goes along.

Mockingjay was less repetitive than Catching Fire, which was nice, but even without the hunger games, it was a lot darker than the two other books. Suzanne Collins still doesn't pull any punches, but here, for the first time, I felt that some of the punches were unnecessary and even pointless.

And once again an epilogue that sounded like it was solely tacked on to please the fans. I wasn't as invested in this series or the 'ships' though, so unlike "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", I didn't mind it - even if I did see it for the cheap trick is was ;)

Good Book - David Plotz, 4/5, 320 pages
Very interesting book, especially when read (like I did) on the heels of The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. I'm not sure what I would have thought of it if I hadn't been as familiar with the Old Testament though - I have a feeling it could get a bit difficult to follow otherwise, but I do think it would be a great (although occasionally irreverent) commentary to a read-through of the OT. I didn't always agree with David Plotz on his conclusions, but at the same time, he did occasionally manage to point things out to me that I'd never noticed before (e.g. that there are two sets of 10 Commandments found in Exodus - one in chapter 20 and one in chapter 34).

Good book for anybody interested in the Old Testament - no matter whether they'd consider themselves religious or not.

After finishing the book, I discovered that David Plotz is also the author of one of my favourite blogs, Blogging the Bible, which I should really have guessed, but I just never added 2 and 2 to get 4.

Diget - Teddy Vork, 2.5/5, 190 pages
(The Dike)
I'll admit it. I only read "Diget" ("The Dike") because I had to. It's not the type of book I'll usually pick up, but my publisher sent it to me for review, so pick it up I did. That said, it actually wasn't half bad. "Diget" was a mixture of Knud's experiences inside the dike, old legends and his experiences with the people of his village which worked surprisingly well. Until now I've only known Teddy Vork to write short stories, and "Diget" also mostly read like a collection of short stories, tied together by the red thread of Knud's imprisonment and attempts to get out. Generally it worked well, but there was a time or two where the connection was a bit too forced.

The end was very different from what I had expected, but actually worked a lot better than the ending I had envisioned.

Still, I think Teddy Vork is a better short story author than a novel author, and while good, "Diget" didn't quite live up to the expectations his short stories had caused me to have.

Babysitters Club 250 pages
Only one this month - I'm slacking off obviously!

Book of the month: Hard choice, as there were SO many good ones this month, I think I'd have to say Garlic and Sapphires thought. Really interesting.
Biggest disappointment: Frankenstein. I'd expected more.