Reviews and Comments

I don't know why I keep reading these heavy theology books. Well I do know why, I'm hoping to learn more about my own faith so that I can better communicate to those who need more there there in order to believe. Yet I went away from this not really learning anymore than I did from reading discroptions of this work and the author's a Wikipedia page.returnreturnBasically we know hell is a real place. Jesus made this quite clear. The Church but can verify if someone is in heaven (the Saints who have been beatified) but we have no way of verifying for certain that someone is in hell. The Bible teaches that God desires that all men be saved, so who are we to claim that God does not save all men?returnreturnPersonally I am not a universalist (someone who believes everyone will go to heaven) but I hope and pray that God is.

Rucka was one of the authors who contributed to the late 90s "Batman No Man's Land" event over the course of 83 separate comics. He writes the novelization in a way that gets the story across while still wanting to go out and buy 83 twenty-five-year-old comic books. returnreturnThe story goes that an Earthquake destroyed much of Gotham City, and then a hurricane and because it would cost so much to repair, and Gotham was already notorious for being a government sink hole due to all the crime the feds declared it a No Man's Land and was cut off from the rest of the country, blew up the bridges, put mines in the seas and told Gotham good luck and good riddance. returnreturnThe normal baddies stayed behind: Joker, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy & Black Mask. Plus the to be expected regular dudes just trying to make it in gangs. Most of the government leaves, only a dozen or so of the GCPD are left, including Gordon, because no other police force he applied to wanted someone who needed a myth to do his policing for him. returnreturnIt's certainly a look at how anarchy could occur in our modern age. I read most of this over 3 days. Even at >400 pages the end felt like it came too soon with a particular billionaire, no not that one, saving the day. returnreturnA few interesting notes, we see three different Batgirls here, including Oracle. A Batman who disappears, who practically forgets who Bruce Wayne is. A police force that has to become a gang themselves in order to have any chance of policing. And a particular clown who shows up just when he's wanted least. returnreturnI was somewhat disappointed in Poison Ivy. She shows at the very beginning of the story, and throughout the book she is hinted at to be laying low in the Park, but is never seen from again, even when the park is destroyed.

I gave this book as a gift to my father years ago when I was hoping to get him to do something other than watch T.V. westerns all day. He got so into it that by the next time I visited he had borrowed like a dozen books in the series from the library. He said he stopped reading them when he realized it was a romance. I wanted to see what he got all fusted about. returnreturnHow you couldn't figure out it was a romance within the first few chapters, I have no idea. But not like trashy romance novel with a bare-chested man on the cover and steamy sex scenes more the widow who doesn't need no man, and the mountain man who don't need no woman who think they hate each-other end up needing to rely on each other. returnreturnStory starts with Andrew Jackson trying to organize a nation wide wagon train to settle the Oregon Territory in hops of strengthening the American claim to the property. But spies from Britain and Russia join the wagon train as pioneers with an intention to sabotage. They will do anything to stop the wagon train so that they can claim the territory. returnreturnI'm not that familiar with this history beyond playing Oregon Trail on the Apple II, but it seems believable. Explanation of why women who don't want to leave the comfy east coast seem pretty likely related to the inability for them to own property on their own. returnreturnThe train grows while they make their way across the U.S. from Long Island to Pennsylvania, to Ohio, Illinois and finally to Missouri. Our heroines have to learn a full new way of life, whether its one learning to shoot, another learning to care for others, and the tomboy learning to admit to herself she is still a lady. returnreturnThe wagon train is a new adventure, but also a way to start over, whether from a failed business venture, a life as a call girl, or a conviction of murder. Everyone has to learn to pull their weight, and new families are built. All while having to avoid deadly snakes, stampeding buffalo, and men of all colors and sizes that don't end up quite like you expect. returnreturnA light quick read that covers serious topics without taking itself too seriously. I'm putting the next NEBRASKA! in my queue.returnreturnPhil Gigante is a great reader his characters are top notch, but it still felt a little weird, primarily because I've listened to him read many books in the Stainless Steel Rat series that it felt weird to have him in the American frontier.

While this is the 28th book in our main DS9-Relaunch series but it's also the first in the "side-quest" THE FALL series. As such David George III spends a lot of the first half of the book trying to bring new readers upto speed as well as detailing the new Deep Space Nine to all of us. He did so in an interesting fashion through a memorial service and a dedication, but it wasn't particularly thrilling and really easy to put down. Got a little better in the second half but it was odd explanation of getting around security by using a "projectile weapon" rather than a phaser and a weird intertwined story of an experience inside the celestial temple.returnreturnI'll probably pick up the next one, but probably not soon.

Although its book 5 in the series the library doesn't have books 2-4. And allegedly they aren't an interconnected story so you can read them in any order, like Fandemonium's Stargate SG-1 series

V: The Second Generation is an independent novel authored by Kenneth Johnson the producer of the original 1983 V Miniseries, the only part of the V "universe" that Johnson owned the IP rights to. Its written in a way that it should be able to stand on its own so if you've never read or watched anything in the V francise you should be fine to pick this up. However, if you have, I recommend re-watching the the original miniseries first. If you've watched "The Final Battle" or the '85 or '08 T.V. series, or read the earlier spin off books, it can be confusing following this. The Visitors never left Earth, the've been here for over 20 years and the lizard people have continued to control world affairs and are still stealing our liquid water and our second generation has grown up under their brainwashing "knowing" that the Visitors arent' only our friends but the only reason the human race still exists. Much of the original heros are still here, save Mike Donavan who has assumed killed in '91 during a raid in france, and much of the world wide resitance was destroyed in '99. For the most part I like this book, but it was written oddly. It started very interesting with new aliens shoing up in their rural hunting cabin and our fisherman super excited by their naked bodies. But I don't know why they had to kill them. Sometimes it is hard to keep straight because Johnons switches scenes/perspectives so quickly. Sometimes he adds the double line break to indicate and sometimes he doesn't. Its clear that he is more use to writing for T.V. than writing a novel. I appreciated the tension between Diana and the new Visitor commandant Jeremey and "The Leader" finally coming to earth. I was surprised how the "half-breeds" where treated as slaves and despised by most everyone but their own families. The descriptions of the new alien Zenthi and their are they with us or are they not was treated very well. The closer I got to the end the more I wondered if it was going to get all tied up or if this was intended to be the first in a series that didn't occur. It has a happy ending, if inconclusive.

V: The Second Generation is an independent novel authored by Kenneth Johnson the producer of the original 1983 V Miniseries, the only part of the V "universe" that Johnson owned the IP rights to. Its written in a way that it should be able to stand on its own so if you've never read or watched anything in the V francise you should be fine to pick this up. However, if you have, I recommend re-watching the the original miniseries first. If you've watched "The Final Battle" or the '85 or '08 T.V. series, or read the earlier spin off books, it can be confusing following this. The Visitors never left Earth, the've been here for over 20 years and the lizard people have continued to control world affairs and are still stealing our liquid water and our second generation has grown up under their brainwashing "knowing" that the Visitors arent' only our friends but the only reason the human race still exists. Much of the original heros are still here, save Mike Donavan who has assumed killed in '91 during a raid in france, and much of the world wide resitance was destroyed in '99. For the most part I like this book, but it was written oddly. It started very interesting with new aliens shoing up in their rural hunting cabin and our fisherman super excited by their naked bodies. But I don't know why they had to kill them. Sometimes it is hard to keep straight because Johnons switches scenes/perspectives so quickly. Sometimes he adds the double line break to indicate and sometimes he doesn't. Its clear that he is more use to writing for T.V. than writing a novel. I appreciated the tension between Diana and the new Visitor commandant Jeremey and "The Leader" finally coming to earth. I was surprised how the "half-breeds" where treated as slaves and despised by most everyone but their own families. The descriptions of the new alien Zenthi and their are they with us or are they not was treated very well. The closer I got to the end the more I wondered if it was going to get all tied up or if this was intended to be the first in a series that didn't occur. It has a happy ending, if inconclusive.

I first read this in 7th grade and it has ever since been my favorite book of all times. One of the only novels I've read multiple times. Just as good in 2020s as it was in the 1990s (and the 1930s when it was written). The story of a mouse named Amos that lives in Ben Franklin's hat and is indirectly responsible for all of the good things in his life, and all the bad things where when he ignored Amos.

The illustrations were great. I liked that unlike traditional "Choose your own adventure" they weren't written in some weird second person perspective (e.g. "you took a step to the right and found a rock") and instead allowed you to make the decision of a particular third person the person of whom changes throughout the book depending on what makes sense for the story. returnreturnThe story itself was kind of lame and I still couldn't get my 12-year-old interested in reading even though she's a huge Gravity Falls fan.

This book was the novelization of the original V miniseries, and its sequel miniseries "The Final battle." The 80s series I devoured on Netflix like a decade ago and recently did the same with the 21st century reboot on Tubi. When I wanted to read the novels, I had planned on skipping the novelization and going into the 1985 sequel as I already knew this story, but eventually went ahead anyway. I'm glad I did. So much of the story was unfamiliar to me that I needed to stay up way too late to find what happens next. I don't think I've ever finished 400 pages in less than a week before. I'm not sure if there were many changes from the TV Mini-series, or if it had just been that long that I'd forgotten. The most memorable scenes were still there, but the love for each other while fighting interstellar fascism is felt more deeply than I had expected. 5 stars highly recommend. Don't need to watch the show to appreciate but will be worth it either before or after.

I was pretty disappointed with this audiobook, though I probably should not be surprised by that. Usually I prefer audiobooks that are read by the author, but Chris Bailey's voice is very grating. It's hard to take what he says seriously about how much he has to get done, when all he has to get done is write about productivity. The guy is a recent college graduate and has never had an actual job like the one's he describes. I'd like to see how productive any of these "life hacks" are once he's a few years older and managing a house full of kids. returnreturnWhile the book had some attempts at redeeming qualities, the little action items he adds to the end of each chapter is nice to actually get motivated to do it, however I'm not going to be able to review that whilst I'm driving. I did pick up a copy of the dead tree too in hopes of being able opt reference it, and that worked better. returnreturnThe one strategy he had that worked for me was writing down ON PAPER the three things I wanted to get done today before I start my work shift.

I recieved this book for free from #LibraryThing early reviews in exchange for an honest review.returnreturnHonestly, this book has pretty much nothing going for it. It's a juvenile novel about the dangers of social media. As awful as that sounds it's actually worse. Mega Gossip is their local social media platform on Puddoin Head island. And yet she's gong to get a million followers? There's also lots of jokes about poop. Probably be good for junior high boys, but I also don't see junior high boys reading a book with girls as the protagonists.