Sword Catcher, Cassandra Clare

 

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

Started: 4/25/2024
Completed: 4/30/2024
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Hannah

Review:

This seems to be another entry in the romance/fantasy genre.  This one isn't bad and I don't mind a little romance to spice up a good fantasy story, but I'm not entirely convinced this is a good fantasy story.  It has potential and the title is awesome.  I will probably read the next in the series when it comes out and see if it is more fantasy or more romance.

God's Ghostwriters, Candida Moss

 

God's Ghostwriters:  Enslaved Christians and the making of the Bible by Candida Moss

Started: 4/21/2024
Completed: 4/25/2024
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Moss has a point.  The point is that slaves MAY have been involved in writing the New Testament.  She offers an educated opinion and gives some compelling reasons.  The fact remains, however, that it is equally likely that NO slaves were involved.  There is simply nothing known about the scribes who initially wrote and who later copied the early New Testament books.  Moss focuses on the horror of slavery the salacious and sickening details of martyrdom.  I did not enjoy it and I lost the point among, "...perhaps...maybe...perhaps...these facts..."

The Data Detective, Tim Harford

 

The Data Detective:  Ten easy rules to make sense of statistics by Tim Harford

Started: 4/15/2024
Completed: 4/21/2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This box will not knock your socks off.  It is, however, a decent guide to looking at data with the intent of understanding it, not really disproving it.  That is really a good thing and rather useful.

One Way Back, Christine Blasey Ford

 

One Way Back:  A memoir by Christine Blasey Ford

Started: April 13, 2024
Completed: April 17, 2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

She is telling the truth.  Judge would have jumped on the bed and precious few others would have done something like that.  It is a detail that nobody would think to make up.  That detail alone (as if the rest did not suffice) was sufficient to make it clear that she was telling the truth.  I respect and admire her.  I would do all the interviews again.

Notes on Complexity, Neil Theise

 

Notes on Complexity:  A scientific theory of connection, consciousness, and being by Neil Theise

Started: 4/11/2024
Completed: 4/13/2024
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: The Washington Post

Review:

This book took a weird twist into religion about half way through.  I cannot recommend it.

Strong Passions, Barbara Weisberg

 

Strong Passions:  A scandalous divorce in old New York by Barbara Weisberg

Started: 4/7/2024
Completed: 4/11/2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: The New York Times

Review:

Weisberg does a good job of relating the story without diving into it (until the end notes).  This is a bit of weird thing to track down.  It was scandalous in its time, but was no where near scandalous in today's world (it might even be considered ho-hum).  I was interested in the context, but attempting to link a rich family divorce with the Civil War felt over done.

The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett

 

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is the first book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series.

Started: April 2, 2024
Completed: April 7, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: I really enjoyed the Foundry series

Words for which I sought help:

thurible -- a metal censer that is suspended from chains and used to burn incense during religious services.

Review:

Bennett is an awesome writer.  It is hard not to be drawn into his books.  I truly enjoyed the mystery in this one and loved the mechanism used to both reveal the world and address the brilliant investigator.  World elements were cleanly introduced in gradual paragraphs so that by the end of the book the cooky characters, blindingly different world, and foreign vocabulary seemed natural and appropriate.  Wonderful.

Nefertiti, Nick Drake

 

Nefertiti:  The book of the dead by Nick Drake is the first book in the Rahotep Detective Trilogy

Started: March 10, 2024
Completed: April 3, 2024
Recommendation: Mildly Recommended
Recommended By:  Nobody, I stumbled across this book in a book store and it looked interesting.  If memory serves, it was Vertigo books which was going out of business.

Words for which I sought help:

faience -- glazed ceramic ware, in particular decorated tin-glazed earthenware of the type which includes delftware and maiolica.

Review:

Akhenaten (and more likely Nefertiti) would likely have been simply on a list of pharaohs if not for Tutankhamun's tomb.  It is highly unlikely that Nefertiti would have been more than a name without the wonderful bust that showed her as a beauty instead of the odd elongated statues that were associated with her reign.  Honestly, there is not a lot to know about them.  This novel does a decent job of bringing them to life.  Otherwise, it is not really a great book and the mystery isn't all that compelling.  I will not read another of the series.

The Fox Wife, Yangsze Choo

 

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

Started: March 26, 2024
Completed: April 2, 2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: A book review in the New York Times

Review:

This is a rather light book that was an enjoyable fairy tale.  The characters were basic, but not without growth.  The story line was mildly predictable, but that is the way it should be with a fairy tale and the components of the story did not require intense study.  The dialog was pleasant and some of the descriptions were quite enjoyable.  I failed to write those down and regret that failure.