Sheen!

As I planned, I finished The Book of Lies this afternoon. It didn't end quite the way I expected it would, but all in all it was good. The shape of the book somewhat reminded me of National Treasure - but only a bit. I plan to try more of Brad Meltzer's books once I get my current stack a bit smaller.

I have moved on to [Arch]Bishop Fulton J. Sheen's book, Footprints in a Darkened Forest. I'm only one chapter into it so far, but I'm going to enjoy it. Despite its age, it is still worthwhile - which doesn't surprise me, as that's how I've felt about all of his books I've read (and his show). Also, I shouldn't be too surprised because books don't have to be new to be relevant - many aren't. I don't expect I'll get too much more reading done today - the next CSI event at church is tonight and I'm going - actually I've got to head off soon for that.

Superman and more

Yesterday morning I finished reading An Echo in the Bone and discovered that there has to be at least one more book in the series. I'm both happy and sad at that - I enjoy the series and would like another book, but I want to know what happens, right now, instead of waiting for the next book to come out. I've somewhat been finding that my thoughts form themselves in a bit of a Scottish brogue (which I like) - this must be from the book. I was amused by Jamie's story of how/why he lost the fourth finger on his right hand - although it wasn't true. I hope that Willie comes to terms with what he just figured out about his dad (either of them - for that matter). I'm not surprised he was able to figure this out though. I wonder if Brianna's coworker Bob is a descendant of the Cameron mentioned in the eighteenth-century part of the book - I suspect we'll learn he is. I'm still annoyed at him for taking Jem - but at least Jem's okay - at least for now.

At work yesterday, I found a cute little kids book called Baby Food; I don't remember the authors' names, but they're the same people who made/wrote How Are You Peeling?, another book I enjoyed. In this book, they took a variety of fruits and vegetables and cut/shaped/combined them to make baby animals. Many of these are incredibly cute and I'm in awe of the creativity and imagination the authors must have to come up with this.

Last night I started the next book in my stack, Brad Meltzer's The Book of Lies. I'm already over half-way through the book, and I still want to know what happens/what's going on. When I saw this book on the shelf at the library and read the "about the book" passage on the front flap, I was highly intrigued by the combination of the creation of the Superman comics and the Biblical story of Cain. I still am, actually - I'd like to see fully how the author will connect these together. I like a few of the points the author makes about Cain's story. First, he points out that the Bible never says what Cain's weapon was - I'd never really thought about it, but it doesn't. In the book, Ellis speaks of imagining it was a rock when he was a kid, but I guess I've always figured it was a scythe - or similar item) - Cain was a farmer and offered some of his grain to God - he had to harvest it somehow. The second point Meltzer makes that I like (and also hadn't thought about much) is that this is a story of the first instance of forgiveness as well as the first murder. By not killing Cain, God is offering forgiveness for Cain's act. I'm interested in seeing if the translation variations mentioned in the book in regards to this are accurate or not. Supposedly, when Cain traditionally says, "My punishment is greater than I can bear," it could also be translated as "My sin is too great to forgive" (p. 148). This puts a very different spin on the whole story. I need to reflect on this more - and plan to. I also plan to finish this book later today.

Singing

So, I didn't get to do too much reading yesterday - although I admit I'm the one to blame. I chose to watch that movie and those TV shows instead. However, I did also get some time this morning before church - one benefit of getting there 45 minutes early.

I'm still enjoying the book. I do find Roger's new job a bit strange however - you'd think the assisant choir director should be able to sing well perhaps. He still can sing a bit, and used to sing quite well (something about being hung and almsot dying causes a bit of trouble sometimes), and he's working with the kids now too! They seem to think he's pretty cool because of it - and he thinks they might be expecting him to bring some six-shooters next time (I think that's the guns mentioned in the book).

Moving along

I'm much farther into An Echo in the Bone, but I'm still not finished with it. I've been enjoying it and can't wait to find out what all will happen. It's a bit interesting that Claire and Jamie figured out ways to communicate with Brianna and Roger (and Mandy and Jem) but I wish there were a way to reverse that communication as well. However, I suppose they somewhat get that with the dreams Jamie sometimes has. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy them or not. I'm enjoying the time difference jumps - even if they might bother some people (I'm not one of them, at least usually).

Reading about Jem getting in trouble at school reminded me a bit of a story in the movie The Secret of Roan Inish - I love that movie, even if I haven't seen it in a long, long time. I'm bothered by the fact that anyone would get in trouble for speaking in their native tongue at school - especially when their in their native country - England was (and at least somewhat the U.S. still is) quite picky about that. At least Jem's a bit of a hero to all of his classmates now though.

Speaking of movies, I suspect this whole series would make a wonderful set of movies, if that hasn't already been done (or at least started). I for one would enjoy seeing them, despite the trouble with fitting everything in the movie - the same problem that the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies had. I'm not sure who I'd pick to portray any of the characters though - although I have some pretty good mental images of them, I'm having trouble thinking of actors who fit those images.

I may just have gotten the wrong impression so far in terms of one character's role in the book (and/or in history) but if not, I'm going to have review Benedict Arnold's history because my memory of his story is not quite matching up with his portrayal in the book - granted this is fiction and Diana Gabaldon could have changed it, but that seems like too big of a change to make.

All of this time-jumping, and the incorporation of actual historical events is reminding me of the Nuala Anne McGrail mysteries by Andrew M. Greeley that I've been reading - which reminds me, when I finish a few more of the books I have checked out from the library, I really should get the next one of those in the list. I'd like to know what happens there as well. Oh, and the Gaelic-ish text connects these two stories as well (even if one is the Scottish version and one is the Irish version).

Brief Interruption

I spent most of yesterday catching up on movies I'd had checked out for a long time, and I was running around much of today, so I'm not that much farther in An Echo in the Bone. I'm enjoying the story - especially now that we've gotten back to Jamie and Claire. Maybe it's just that they were really the first main characters, but they're my favorite.

I did also spend a bit of today reading the next Junie B. Jones book, Junie B., First Grader: Cheater Pants. This was a cute little story. Junie B. doesn't like cheaters, but it turns out she might be one, too. I also really liked a few of the poems in this book (they were writing cinquains).

Finished

So I stayed up a bit later than I should have last night - about an hour - but I did finish The Missing. It got a bit better by the end. The cheap romance book parts stopped appearing much, just about right after what I'd posted on last night. I don't mind.

I was correct in who the killer was, but I didn't pick up on part of the reasoning of why he was killing.

I was a bit surprised that there was quite a bit of story left after they caught him, but I suppose they couldn't quite work out the other issues before he was taken care of.

I'm now just barely reading (I think I've read one page - and it only had four lines or so on it) Diana Gabaldon's newest book (at least in the Outlander series) An Echo in the Bone. I expect I will like it, but as I said yesterday, there are lots of books I wanted to read next - this one won out because it's got a long enough holds list that I only get it for two weeks - and I won't be able to renew it.

Brief Update

I'm still reading The Missing - it's not quite what I expected (a combination of Ghost Whisperer and Medium), and it's much more like a Harlequin (R) (or is it (TM) or (C)?) than I would like, but I think I'll still finish it because I want to see if I'm correct in guessing who the bad guy is - I think it's Leon.

Six-Word Memoirs and Other Ideas

At work on Friday I found this fun little book called I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-word Memiors from Teens Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith. It was quite amusing - some of the answers were quite creative/clever and some were heartbreaking. It is a cool little book - I'd like to find the other books in this series.

After quickly reading that book, I also finished Libyrinth. This was a very interesting book - the ending seemed a bit too easy in my opinion, but it was still good - enough that I almost suggested it for the next Lemmings read. In thinking about an earlier comment I made on this book, I'm not sure I can say I like the books talking to her as much as I did before. I realized that having the book speak itself to Haly is sort of like listening to a book on tape (or CD), which I've tried to do and just can't quite succeed with - I like to be able to turn back the pages a bit too much. I loved all the quotes from other books though! I think my favorite was "The most dangerous parasite of Pern was Thread" (I'm not sure I have the exact phrase anymore) Dragonflight or any Pern/McCaffrey book is cool, and I'm almost surprised to have found it there. I was also amused that we were discussing Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl a bit at bookclub yesterday as it is the most quoted book in the story.

I'm now reading a book called The Missing by Shiloh Walker (funny side note - when I was searching through the visual bookshelf list on Facebook to add this one to my list two other books we'd discussed as possible next Lemmings' reads showed up in it - I'm not sure why they were in the list - possibly Miss was accepted as matching Missing). I'm rather enjoying this so far, but I'm mad at both Cullen (although him first) and Taige. They shouldn't have fought the way they did. However, if I remember the back of the book properly, they'll meet up again, so that should be good, though perhaps a bit awkward. I'm also some what confusing Cullen up with Edward from the Twilight series - I'm not sure why it's only him - unless perhaps because he's one of the leads and the only one of the Cullens to qualify for that. I'm not yet too far in, but hopefully I'll be able to fix that this week - something about three days in a row off, essentially - especially when I'll be the only one home during the day, seems to make that a bit easier. However, I better not spend too much time online, or that just won't happen. I'm not planning on letting that happen, however, I've got too many good books waiting (there's three, at least, that I want to be the next one I read - which can't quite happen. One of them will have to be first).

Talking Books

Yesterday evening I finished 206 Bones, although not quite as quickly as I had hoped - I wanted to finish before supper was done, but had to stop with about 15 pages left. I was half correct in some of my guesses as to what was going on, but was completely correct. I was a bit wary of suspecting the person I most wanted to suspect - this person seemed a bit to obvious to be behind everything. She was behind part of it, but more just encouraged another character's actions. I didn't suspect this other character much, although there were hints of it, so maybe I should have. I knew Brennan wasn't making all the mistakes she was accused of making. I also have to agree with Kathy Reichs encouragement of all who have taken the time and made the effort to become accredited - it doesn't sound easy, but can help make sure the innocent are not punished while the guilty go free.

Having finished that book, I did move to the book I'd been planning on reading before that one came. I am now reading Libyrinth by Pearl North. I am enjoying the book so far - I like the idea that books speak to Haly. I am, however, glad I'm not her during the yearly bonfire for the Eradicants - listening to all of those books go silent as the fire consumes them is not something I'd care to hear. As I've been reading this, it has somewhat seemed to perhaps be a bit of a fantasy version of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I'll have to see as I continue to read. According to the Eradicants, "when a word is spoken, it is born, when it is written, it dies." I'm not sure I agree with that - and neither is Haly - but she's got the benefit of hearing the books (essentially they read themselves to her). The ability for her to understand the stories, even if they've been written in a language she doesn't know is also interesting. I hope - and assume - she'll get out of prison - hopefully sooner than later. I have enjoyed trying to recognize the books that talk to her as their quotes come up - but I haven't known all of them - mostly because I haven't read all of the books quoted - but fortunately at the end there's a list of what books were quoted in each chapter - with the quote repeated for memory's sake.

Chicago

Yesterday, during my break at work, I finished Irish Linen - much of which fascinated me. I was intrigued to learn that so many of the characters in the German/WWII story were real (although I'd recognized some of the names). Although I perhaps shouldn't be, I was surprised by the U.S.'s statement that the man who unsuccessfully tried to assassinate (tyrannate (sp?)) Hitler did so because he was Catholic and therefore had to be Anti-Semitic. I'm most confused by this argument because if Hitler's command began the Final Solution, why would someone with anti-semitic tendancies try to get rid of him - and not too far behind is an argument that being Catholic does not mean one is also anti-semitic. I have to agree with Fr. Greeley's character Timmy Pat, that the U.S. is not acting properly here. I was glad that Des was able to come home - although I'm amused (sort of) that his Mom was annoyed at him for that because he had the indecency to arrive home (he finally got a bit of help in that) after she'd arranged and had a memorial service for him. I was surprised a bit to see that although Timmy Pat was no longer living, as Nuala and Dermot had been hoping, that Anne was - I hope they do get the chance to meet with her on their next trip to Ireland.

After finishing that, I had a book all picked out to read - the next earliest one due (Liberynth - I think this is the proper spelling, and I don't recall the author's name at the moment), but one of the books I'd had on reserve came to the library for me to pick up yesterday and there are enough people in line for it after me that I only get it for two weeks, so I switched the plan a bit, and have started 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs. Even if the Temperance Brennan in these books isn't the Temperance Brennan I like (and know so well) from the show Bones, these books are still very good and I still like this version (so to speak) of her as well. I just have to think of them as two different people who happen to share the same name and job. This book so far has been a bit odd to read because the beginning of the book has mostly taken place in Chicago so far. With all of the ensuing Chicago references I keep expecting Nuala or Dermot or their kids to appear in this book, but (surprise, surprise) they haven't. Someone seems to be out to get Dr. Brennan, but we haven't learned who yet - the person who would have most been able to help has just died so he's not actually going to be much help. Brennan (and Ryan) have both just gone back to Montreal for a new case - she's not quite pleased with that, as she'd had plans for a bit of a Christmas vacation with her daughter Katy, but that's no longer possible. The very beginning of the book was a bit strange because her thoughts were very brief - admittedly she'd just regained consciousness - and not very helpful. I'm looking forward (in a way) to her remembering enough so that the back story catches up to her in the tunnel or whatever it is she's in. I might get to that a bit today, but Jimmy and I have tentative plans to watch part of Roswell Season 3 today, so I'm not positive.

late night

In my last post I missed adding one book that I'd read in my posting break - Junie B., First Grader, Toothless Wonder. This was another amusing little book, but it wasn't much different from the rest of the series.

On Friday morning, before I went to work, I finished The Haunting of America: From the Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini. This finished in about the same way it started - although the aliens never came back after the first chapter. I was amused (and slightly saddened) by Harry Houdini's little feud with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

After that, I moved on to Maria V. Snyder's next book, Sea Glass - which was just as amazing as the rest of her books. I ended up staying up until three in the morning (or so) to finish the book (at least ninety percent of the reading was done that night). (I stayed up even later that night to finish the movie I'd started earlier).

I am now immersed (again - and happily) in another Andrew Greeley mystery - Irish Linen. I extremely enjoy this one so far - I love so many of the quotes - but most of them need too much extra to explain their full humor or greatness. Patjo has now also joined the family as the newest of the childer - he's got three older siblings who (from the one scene) seem to dote on him - none of them have had much part in the story yet though. War is always terrible and this book shows a bit of that, at least so far. I hope (and assume) Des is okay - and I hope they do find and get to meet Timmy - even if he's at least ninety-five now!

Catching Up

So, although I didn't finish Irish Crystal on Christmas Eve, I have now finished it. As usual, it was a very enjoyable book - I have the next book in the series (Irish Linen) currently checked out from the library and would have suggested my Mom read it a couple days ago when she was looking for something to read, except for the fact that there are so many books that come before it.

After reading that I quickly read a Young Adult book I'd also gotten from the library - Gayle Forman's If I Stay. This story was pretty well written - at least most of the characters felt like real people. The story was quite sad, and for about the last half of the book I was in tears, but still, that in no way makes it a bad book/story. It's been awhile - over a week now- since I read this so I don't remember all of my thoughts. Mia has a very difficult decision to make and she works her way through it quite well, all things considered.

Having finished that, I realized that I only had two weeks to read the books for both of my book clubs - so I slightly panicked and rushed to read those next.

The St. Francis book club meets first (a week from today) so I read Crow Lake by Mary Lawson first. I quite enjoyed this book as well, even if it was also quite sad. Living in a snowy, wintry climate, there was much that connected to my own experience - although I didn't actually grow up in a farming community or with a one-room school. I really like the reading shelf added to the spinning wheel from the beginning of the book. This was an exploration of how tragedy (in various forms) can affect the relationships within one family and the surrounding community as well.

I finished that book faster than anticipated, but was okay with that as it meant I could move on to the Lemmings book club book. This is our next book and a movie meeting, so we are reading Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey and watching O Brother Where Art Thou. I'd already read a translation of it, but I'm not sure which one I read. I also somewhat remember it taking awhile to reading, although I did much prefer it to The Iliad. This led me to worry a bit that I wouldn't be able to finish it in time - however, again I was wrong. Having started it a day or two earlier, I spent much of New Year's day plowing through it (with a bit of a nap in the middle). By staying up until 12:30 I was able to finish it - which meant I could leave it at the house I was going to be at the week of the book club - I'm all for hauling fewer things back and forth if possible. I did enjoy the story as much as I remembered enjoying it before. I was confused a bit at first because some of the story wasn't told in the order I remembered it being told, but I'm sure that's from my memory's delay, as well as a blend with the Wishbone episode version of it. Having finished the story so quickly, so to speak, I did also read the Introduction (by Seamus Heaney (I think)) as well as Robert Fitzgerald's ending commentary - I've momentarily forgotten what he called it. I loved all of Seamus Heaney's poetic comparisons (even if they don't surprise me too much as he and Homer are/were poets), but my absolute favorite was his alteration of a line from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem. I can't recall off hand if Heaney was refering to Homer or The Odyssey, but he said he/it "is (was?) charged with the grandeur of Greek."

Having finished that I moved on to The Haunting of America: From the Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini by William J. Birnes and Joel Martin. So far I'm enjoying this book, although it's not always what I was expecting, and much of it is actually things I'd already read about, at least a bit, in some of the Time Life (R) Mysteries of the World books. That mostly just makes it more fun as I can connect more things together, although I might find parts of the book a bit more fascinating if I hadn't heard much about them. There aren't as many ghost stories per se as I expected - more it's a biography of some famous "spirit rappers" or "spiritualists" or mediums and such. There's more about seances than about hauntings. However, I was amused that both hauntings that formed the basis/background for Barbara Michaels' book Other Worlds were included at least briefly in this one.