The Klingon Empire stands on the precipice. In the wake of violence from the cult …
Geordi La Forge deserves a romance plot
3 stars
I already covered (and gave 4 stars) to the series overall in my review of the first book in this series. I am docking this 3rd installment one star for the fact that every time someone can really build a relationship with Geordi, they have be a hologram or they're a nausicaan with no lips. Geordi's awkwardness on the show always felt really forced and weird. It only came up when it was important to his narrative. He was maybe a little shy and reserved, but they could have worked with that to show that romance happens between all sorts of people with all kinds of personalities. They had the chance in this book too and they just skipped it.
The Klingon-Federation alliance is in peril as never before. Lord Korgh has seized control of …
Fun, but let's talk about "Admiral" Riker
3 stars
I pretty much covered how much I enjoyed this whole series in my review of the first novel, and all three novels are pretty consistent in quality. I am docking the second in the series 1 star for one important point of contention: William Riker belongs under the command of someone who can control him or in the brig. Who made him an admiral? Am I the only one who remembers his arrogance towards Captain Jellico? He should have been court-martialed for that or at least note put on his record detailing that he was unreliable and contentious with his direct superior in front of others during a deadly military conflict.
"When Klingon commander Kruge died in combat against James T. Kirk on the Genesis planet …
Did not know what to expect. Was pleasantly surprised!
4 stars
This was my first Star Trek novel series, and I basically expected something on the caliber of the usual popular franchise novel - probably fun but pulpy. I have to say that this was better than I was expecting. Yes, these books depend on you being familiar to a certain extent with the characters from the TV shows, but I feel like the narrative stands pretty well on its own. It was incredibly adventurous in its narrative choices, but it was creative and I felt pulled to read the series all the way through.
Master the Klingon Way of the Warrior – or suffer deadly consequences – as you …
Sometimes the Klingons are a bit much. They got close in this one, but stayed on the side of tolerable
3 stars
Klingons sometimes remind me people I couldn't stand growing up. People who are pointlessly belligerent and blame it on a "code" usually make me roll my eyes. I have a moral code, but I don't constantly have to talk about it for it make sense to people around me. There was a bit of that in this book, but they keep it at manageable levels for my particular tastes. When they pull back just enough things land in the good ol' fashioned camp zone, and who can dislike that?
How does Star Trek manage to make a goofy book about manly man aliens and their warrior culture and not make me reflexively pull back? It's too pure and wholesome to be toxic masculinity, but I don't know if I can put my finger on why it works where similar works leave me sickened.
Good book covering a complex theologian during complex times
4 stars
When reading about the early church scholars it is always interesting to discover all the complexity and debate that many just assume did not exist yet. What I appreciate about Origen is that, while I do not agree with him all the time, he is thoughtful and fair in his arguments. Even when writing against the Gnostics, Origen takes care to at least represent their views accurately (as compared to the Gnostic documents we have found relatively recently.) There is a basic honesty to it that is refreshing. I wish people with deep disagreements would always behave this honorably more often.
A good basic start, but I almost wish it were more basic
3 stars
This is probably a text I will revisit at some point. I think the fact that I struggled with even the "Basic Concepts in Kabbalah" demonstrates that it is not something one picks up in a single go at it. That said this book did encourage me to keep at it in the hope that some of these things will start to sink in.
The Metamorphoses (Latin: Metamorphōsēs, from Ancient Greek: μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is an 8 AD Latin narrative …
Definitely amongst the best, if not THE best, Latin sources for mythology
5 stars
This is an amazing text. The Loeb edition is the one to get if you want to try your hand at the Latin while reading the translation. So good. It has only been a couple of months since I finished it and I kind of want to read it again already.
Do all boomers have a set of backwards cousins they despise?
4 stars
Duquette's familiar and personal style works particularly well for this mystical autobiography. He does a great job of capturing both his feelings and experiences as well as the times he lived in. He makes it all feel very relatable and familiar, which serves well his goal to pull away some of the mystique of the mystical.
I was just reading *turns book around* THE BIBLE?!
5 stars
It took a while, but I got through it all including the Apocrypha and even some detours into some LDS texts (not included in this bible.) While I've been familiar with most of the Protestant bible for many years, I have never just read it cover to cover. I'm not sure if I ever read portions of those books designated as "The Apocrypha" before, except maybe the book of Bel and the Dragon as a child when I assumed that it was basically going to feature Smaug from The Hobbit.
This translation is great. I appreciate them removing gendered language when it was not contained in the original. It's not even about being inclusive (although I appreciate that too) it's about being accurate. The gendered language felt antiquated even when I read it as a younger person.
I am not going to go into the religious aspects of the text. …
It took a while, but I got through it all including the Apocrypha and even some detours into some LDS texts (not included in this bible.) While I've been familiar with most of the Protestant bible for many years, I have never just read it cover to cover. I'm not sure if I ever read portions of those books designated as "The Apocrypha" before, except maybe the book of Bel and the Dragon as a child when I assumed that it was basically going to feature Smaug from The Hobbit.
This translation is great. I appreciate them removing gendered language when it was not contained in the original. It's not even about being inclusive (although I appreciate that too) it's about being accurate. The gendered language felt antiquated even when I read it as a younger person.
I am not going to go into the religious aspects of the text. I generally encourage people to read a text like the bible on their own and come to their own conclusions before seeking the input of others. That is what I did when I was young and I think it allowed me to dodge a lot of the less helpful theological grime that has built up over time.
I will break that rule for one book though. Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus is the worst religious text I have ever had the misfortune to read. Even theologians who accept it as scripture warn people to basically not look directly at it. It is unequivocally misogynistic and cruel. It encourages people to beat their slaves just for the joy of the slaves being "better" thereafter. Its aphorisms and nuggets of wisdom are mostly inane tautologies with the typical format of "Wise men do wise things, but the fool does things I don't like." It has a lot of praise for "wise men" and, being a book of wisdom, one assumes the author DEFINITELY counts himself amongst the wise. Several books of the bible have passages that I struggle with, but there are usually other portions that are profound that pushed me to keep going forward. Sirach was hateful with no redeeming characteristics.
Read the rest. Skip that one book unless you just want to be angry.