My Apologies

My Apologies, I am undergoing some construction with the site and myself.  I apologies for the lack of postings.

Happy Birthday Roald Dahl

Happy Birthday Mr. Roald Dahl!!  Roald Dahl is the author of many beloved children's stories such as The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and so many more.  Many of us may have read something of his as a child or seen movies based from his books.  He influenced so many other authors and made a difference in children literature.  We need more authors like him.

                                                  

Top Books to Read

A List Of Books has complied a list of books that should be read.  They complied top books from various different lists to condense it all into 1 giant master list.  There are 623 books listed and they challenge by asking "can you collect them all?"  (I admit the pokemon theme song just ran through my head with this one).  Now I haven't finished scanning this list of books but there are a good deal on the list that I do own, or have read at some point in my life and probably should re-read such as George Orwell's "1984"  Rereading it now rather than when I was a sophomore in high school, I might have a different viewpoint on it that I did back them.  Of the 623 books on this list I have read roughly 70 of them.  That doesn't really seem like I have read many but there are plenty of books I want to read and are on my list such as War and Peace.

I like looking at different lists of books to read because it always gives me a good idea of books that I can add to my collection, or even books I can pick up at the local library.  They always give me ideas of books that I would like to read, books that I haven't heard of, but that sound crazy interesting.  This list gave me several books that I need to add to my too read list; which is ever growing and never dwindling.  I always want to have books that need to be read.  With a list as long as mine, I think I need to get reading!  I will never end.

What are some books on your to read list or even on your top 10 must read?   Let me know.

Bringing Reading Back

I have a baby shower this weekend and the momma asked that along with the general gift most people get that we would also bring a book.  She would like to start reading to her daughter and have things for her to get interested in reading at an early age.  I simply love this idea.  I think too often parents have neglected the encouragement of reading for various different reasons.  It is part of the parents' job to spark the love of books and literature in all aspects (yes I include comics and graphic novels as literature and would encourage my kid to read comics because hey they are reading).    We can do silly voices or let our kids do the voices to encourage their creativity.

We live in a society were video games, computers, television are the power houses in youth entertainment.  Reading has become something that is looked upon with disgust and things I read as a child are no longer what holds their attention.  I commend authors like J.K Rowling who have sparked a reading frenzy with the Harry Potter series.  Kids, teens, and adults all rushed to read the novels as with Stephanie Myers with "Twilight Sage."  There are others who also are sparking an interest in reading amongst teens, and that is a trend that needs to continue and start younger. 

Rather than bring sexy back...let bring reading back!

Comes a Horseman

I picked this book up on a whim, every time I passed it something about the jacket cover called out to me, telling me  it would be a good read.  It was not 100% of what I was expecting.  Although I am not sure what exactly I was expecting from a book with Comes a Horseman as the title. Regardless, I picked up the book and it took me a few days to really get into the storyline, the beginning parts seems a lot like something else I have read in the past.  Almost right off the bat there seems to be so much going on, there is a murder mystery, a love story, and even a religious aspect and more, could it have possibly had too much going on all at once?


Brad Moore and Alicia Wagner are new detectives assigned to one of the biggest cases for their careers, the Pelletier Killings.  A string of murders that seem to have nothing in common.  As they delve deeper into the case, they realize the connection is something personal and deep rooted, a near death experience.    Now they have an idea of the murder connections they need to no figure out how to predict the killer's next move.  Soon they come to find out they are on his list, and must find him to bring him to justice all while trying to avoid his deadly axe.  While all of this is happening, in Israel Luco Scaramuzzi is working with Father Randall to convince a group of people known as the Watchers that he is the anti-christ.  They try to facilitate things to make sure Luco fits everything the prophecies predict.  He eliminates anyone who opposes him or gets in his way of achieving this goal.


Comes a Horseman merges both ancient prophecies and distorted religious viewpoints to bring about a story that is compelling and thrilling.  It was difficult to really get into the story at times.  This was probably one of the harder books for me to get through.  I was expecting more with the horsemen of the apocalypse, and was surprised with the references to Valhalla in the novel.  I wasn't sure where Robert was taking that story but I was pleasantly surprised.  The images Robert portrayed were well done and pulled the audience into the story.  I could almost see the severed heads of the victims.  Something I did find interesting in this story was the use of the computer equipment to process the crime scenes.  That is an element that I haven't seen in too many mystery novels, so it was a nice change of pace.

While I didn't think twice about borrowing this novel from the library, I don't think it will be one that I am adding to my shelves.  While it was an enjoyable book and I enjoyed the novel, it wasn't what i expected nor was it up to par with other Christian thriller authors like Ted Dekker whom he is compared to quite often.


Pros: Unexpected character development, vivid imagry
Cons: Moves along slow, seems like something else I've read
Bottom-line: I would recommend it if you want something good to read, but not if you want something fast paced.

Rating: 35. out of 5 stars