The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land dispute and ends with …
There are books that make history come alive, whose characters leap from the page and feel real because we understand who they are and what drives them. This is not one of those books. By the end of the introduction, I'd managed to lose track of who was who.
Review of 'Bigfoot and the Bodhisattva' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
If you've read Morrow before, you know to expect a mix of intellectualism and goofiness, and this one doesn't disappoint: a yeti meets the current incarnation of the Dalai Lama to teach him Buddhism, which he does, as they bond over a shared love of James Bond movies.
If you've read Morrow before, you know to expect a mix of intellectualism and goofiness, and this one doesn't disappoint: a yeti meets the current incarnation of the Dalai Lama to teach him Buddhism, which he does, as they bond over a shared love of James Bond movies.
"The real challenge of programming isn't learning a language's syntax--it's learning to creatively solve problems …
Review of 'Think Like a Programmer' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
This would be more useful to a beginning programmer. I've been at it long enough that I've already learned the vast majority of what Spraul talks about.
This would be more useful to a beginning programmer. I've been at it long enough that I've already learned the vast majority of what Spraul talks about.
Review of 'The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
Is rom-thriller a genre? I guess it is now. The titular girl is a member of a secret government agency, and also struggles with questions of who she is and how to have a real relationship, given who and what she is.
The biggest problem, for me, was that the author uses South African words and expressions throughout. This is fine in third-person narration, but here we have Angelenos complaining that the aircon isn't set high enough, and every time their tyres skid on the tarmac they hit the kerb. It tends to break the immersion just a bit.
Is rom-thriller a genre? I guess it is now. The titular girl is a member of a secret government agency, and also struggles with questions of who she is and how to have a real relationship, given who and what she is.
The biggest problem, for me, was that the author uses South African words and expressions throughout. This is fine in third-person narration, but here we have Angelenos complaining that the aircon isn't set high enough, and every time their tyres skid on the tarmac they hit the kerb. It tends to break the immersion just a bit.
This book just showed in my mailbox, unsolicited. In it, the author gives a brief overview of his life: he was raised in a Jewish family, went to school in Switzerland, learned about sex, moved back to the US and met his wife, who was Christian. She was raped and became pregnant as a result. They decided to put the baby up for adoption. Later, Cantor felt pulled to explore Christianity, and eventually converted. After some initial resistance, his family eventually accepted this. He started a successful business. The end.
I'm sure Cantor intended this as a heartwarming story of how to find happiness in Jesus, but it winds up being an expose of how toxic religion can be. He tells of how his sexual experiences in school caused him to feel dirty, to the point of once having to take a two-hour shower, but he doesn't elaborate, beyond saying …
This book just showed in my mailbox, unsolicited. In it, the author gives a brief overview of his life: he was raised in a Jewish family, went to school in Switzerland, learned about sex, moved back to the US and met his wife, who was Christian. She was raped and became pregnant as a result. They decided to put the baby up for adoption. Later, Cantor felt pulled to explore Christianity, and eventually converted. After some initial resistance, his family eventually accepted this. He started a successful business. The end.
I'm sure Cantor intended this as a heartwarming story of how to find happiness in Jesus, but it winds up being an expose of how toxic religion can be. He tells of how his sexual experiences in school caused him to feel dirty, to the point of once having to take a two-hour shower, but he doesn't elaborate, beyond saying that the women he had these experiences with weren't looking for a long-term relationship. As best I can figure out, what made him feel filthy was casual sex.
When he finds out that his fiancée was raped, he talks about how devastating this is for him, and makes a point of telling us that he didn't dump her then and there. What does he want, a cookie?
Eventually they get married and Cantor can feel clean. Again, he doesn't elaborate, but what comes through is a picture of someone with deep sexual hangups. And while he may credit his religion for finally making him feel clean, it certainly seems as though it's what made him feel dirty in the first place. On top of which, I never got the sense that he sees his wife as a full-fledged person in her own right.
Cartoonish plot. Obviously no knowledge of computer security, even though it's central to the plot. Characters so cliched as to be borderline offensive.
Now in hardcover from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dresden Files.Harry Dresden's …
Review of 'Grave Peril' on 'Storygraph'
No rating
I'm withholding a rating because I read this under less than ideal circumstances: I borrowed the audio book on CD from my local library, and listened to it over several sessions, with long gaps in between. Combined with a few mistakes such that I listened to chapters out of order.
Beyond that, this one seems darker and grittier than the previous two.
