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Jim Fulner

re@d.jimfulner.com

Joined 4 months, 3 weeks ago

I'm think I got this bookwyrm thing right. I ended up more-or-less manually importing ~1,000 books. I'm sure there is supposed to be any easier way.

I previously had accounts @fu@bookwyrm.social @fu@millefeuilles.cloud and @fu@bookwyrm.world, I think this one will be here to stay but I might need to find a less expensive hosting solution.

You can find my Pleroma account @hey@r.jimfulner.com

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Jim Fulner's books

Up Next (View all 7)

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2026 Reading Goal

77% complete! Jim Fulner has read 58 of 75 books.

Isaac Asimov, Scott Brick: I, Robot (AudiobookFormat, 2004, Random House Audio, Brand: Random House Audio)

I, Robot is a fixup novel of science fiction short stories or essays by American …

So this was an interesting book. I had only heard of the recent movie with Will Smith. I was surprised to find this was actually an early 50s sci-fi tale. There isn't much they got right, from 90s children who are unwieldy without their robots to entertain them, to 5 giant super computers ruling the whole miss 21st century world. Then again if it's an Android (r) instead of robot, my kid would probably rather it than a dog or friends too. And we might not have super computers running everything but we are using the internet to run everything. It was almost more of a collection of short stories than a novel with one plot. I am looking forward to the movie now to see if I'm right that they only cover the story were the mayor is actually a robot, or what. Might do another if it crosses …

Shawn Michaels, David Thomas, Daniel Butler, Narrator: Wrestling for My Life (AudiobookFormat, 2015, Zondervan on Brilliance Audio)

In Wrestling for My Life, WWE superstar Shawn Michaels shares from his heart about the …

I felt this audiobook was okay. I learned some interesting things, like DX came into existence because Vince knew HHH didn't drink and thought that would help Shawn. Also I didn't realize that HBK was old enough to have been in World Class Wrestling. I hadn't realized this was a Christian book when I picked it up. I should have but the Zondervan label was covered by the library barcode. That's okay I'm a Christian and I appreciate it. Near the beginning I almost through it out as it seemed like Evangelical anti-Catholic trash. But I such with it telling myself that it wasn't supposed to be anti-Catholic and I should take it as a perspective on how to behave as a Catholic to help avoid others getting such negative opinions. Later, however, when I looked up Cornerstone Church that he attends online, I learned his Pastor very much is …

John Caldwell Holt, Pat Farenga: Teach Your Own

I liked this book fairly well. I really appreciated how they did the updated edition. Originally Holt wrote this in the early 80s. For the 21st century update they kept Holt's words exactly as they were with the secondary author addi g his own in snippets clearly shown what was new. Some chapters included mostly new, like that on legal aspects of homeschooling, and some where completely untouched. Most had a paragraph or do of new material.returnreturnMy only complaint was that I didn't feel live I learned a lot more than I had just having out with unschooled individuals. I was a little taken back by Holt's arguments about there not being learning disabilities, the update only slightly before in saying that things aren't exactly that there aren't but they don't have to be as dibilitating as the public school makes them out to be. Everything else seemed on point …

Kevin Emerson: The Oceans between Stars (Paperback, 2019, Walden Pond Press)

I liked this book. It wasn't as good as the first in the series. Last day on Mars found a way to get an interesting story out of only one day, while this one too over 30 years. It was a little disheartening that it felt like the whole first book was taken out of effect by the actions in the first chapter being told from Phoebe's perspective.returnreturnOtherwise as a stand alone story it's good. An entire alien population is eliminate by human society bombs in hopes of making their planet inhabitable for human lifereturn The remnant of that population attempts to destroy the human race to make up for it. A third rent may be the real cause trying to destroy many stars. A little wonky time travel has minimal impay on the story line.

David R. George III: Rough Beasts of Empire (Paperback, 2011, Pocket Books)

Still on Romulus in pursuit of his goal of reunifying the Vulcans and Romulans, Spock …

I highly recommend reading this before you read Zero Sum Game If you can, I think it would improve it greatly. returnreturnThis one was hard to rank. The middle was very good but the beginning and the end where not. returnreturnI was so mad at George, who usually does such a good job at keeping story lines straight that it felt like he was having Commander Vaugn well and serving when in the previous book in the series had him on his death bad with no explanation.It ended up being OK but one of the issues with the whole book here was the explanation, a number of flash backs that where not clearly communicated to the reader they were flash backs. I'm not sure how to fix it because the jumping with no explanation in Star Trek novels I usually like, having to figure it out just like a scene …

William Harrison Ainsworth: Guy Fawkes (Hardcover, 2007, Kessinger Publishing, LLC)

It wasn't really what I expected. I expected the protagonist to be a devout Catholic who will stop at nothing to remain true to the Church as he understands it. I'm not sure how devout he actually is, and he is willing to stop at nothing, including digging into the occult, seeking assistance of wizards and magic potions, to see that he is on the path to restore he holy religion. returnreturnAdd to that the female lead Viviana, who has a THIRSTY boy running after her, even though she wants to leave England and go to Belgium to be a nun. At every turn even the priest tries to stop her and get her to marry Courtland instead. returnreturnMakes me thing Ainswroth is just some Protestant who wants to make the Catholic Conspirators look bad.

Kevin Emerson: Last Day on Mars (Paperback, 2018, Walden Pond Press)

I really liked this book. When i first got it I sure thought the idea of a whole book on one day would be obscured. But it moved along quickly wanting to turn the page. Our junior protagonist has to live just one last day on the only world he has ever known. Liam was born and raised on Mars, which humanity fled to for a short time when it became clear that the sun was going to explode and Earth was no longer inhabitable. returnreturnIt would be short stay only while they found a suitable (Star Trek Class M) planet. His parents where on the team determine how to settle the stars. So they are the last to leave when most of his classmates and the rest of humanity had already moved on. What was only going to be day away from school turned into a new adventure and …

reviewed Donut Dolly by Joann Puffer Kotcher (North Texas military biography and memoir series, #6)

Joann Puffer Kotcher: Donut Dolly (2011, University of North Texas Press)

I wanted to read this book after hearing the author on public radio. returnreturnDonut Dolly was the nick name of the American Red Cross girls. Something I had never heard of before. The American Red Cross had sent young women (who had to be college educated and unmarried and under 25) to the war front to make the men feel more at home. In Korea they handed out donuts hence where the name came from. returnreturnIn Vietnam donuts would melt in the hot sun, so it was more just kool-aid and being able to see a pretty american girl. The world has changed so much in the near 60 years since Vietnam that I still have a hard time fathoming.returnreturnI kept expecting her boyfriend to die since she kept talking about how much danger she was in and the last name on the authors page wasn't the same as Bob's, …

Balli Kaur Jaswal: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (AudiobookFormat, 2017, HarperAudio, HarperCollins Publishers and Blackstone Audio)

After her father's death, Nikki, who has spent most of her life distancing herself from …

This audiobook was very good. So many different story lines and genres crossed, romance, mystery, cultural clashes, and even a little erotica. However unlike most stories I have read that include sex scenes these were both tasteful and necessary for the development of the story. I primarily wanted to read this book to get a better understanding of Indian culture, particularly since on my line of work most of my colleagues are Indian. I was disappointed, howeve, to learn the author is not Indian, as such I'm not sure how much was actually insightful and how much was regurgitation of prejudice. Regardless I liked the story. The audiobook recording I also thought was well done. The narrator had an Indian accent and had a mastery of the English language. I could ask for little more.

John Glatt, Shaun Grindell: The Perfect Father (AudiobookFormat, 2020, Tantor Audio)

In the early morning hours of August 13th, 2018, Shanann Watts was dropped off at …

I recieved this MP3-CD as part of Library Thing's early review program. I love MP3-CD it's a format that's not around much. However, that was the only good thing I could say about it. It's long and boring. Reads like a set of police reports.

Rudyard Kipling, Flo Gibson: The Jungle Books I (AudiobookFormat, 1992, Prince Frederick, Md. : Recorded Books, [1981])

This was not very good. Maybe the first book I ever read that the movie was way better (and not just for the singing). returnreturnThis is a collection of short stories about anamorphic animals in the Inidan Jungle of the 19th century. I added it to my queue when I wanted more English stories from India in hopes of better communicating with my Indian colleagues. returnreturnThey aren't well written, they have no redeeming or overarching story and even though they are very short, they feel very long and boring. returnreturnThis audio book collection was particularly poor. there Were three distinct different narrators, I believe it was first recorded for Tape in the 80s and then re-released on CD in the 90s (and maybe digital in the 21st) and each time they added some artifacts and it's just not good. returnreturnNot worth stabbing yourself in the eye, but not worth reading.

Michael Ende, Gerard Doyle, Ralph Manheim, Translator: The Neverending Story (AudiobookFormat, English translated from German language, 2012, Tantor Audio)

In this classic fantasy novel from author Michael Ende, small and insignificant Bastian Balthazar Bux …

About the first half of this book I though was utterly amazing. It was like something I had never read before and don't think anyone else could do storytelling the way Ende did. The interaction between the "real world" of Bastian reading the Never Ending Story, and the characters in the Never ending Stroy was such that I hanever experienced. However this absolute amazingness seemed to disappear in the later half of the book when Bastian actually is inside The never ending story, somewhat to return at then end when he gets home, but that was kind of to be expected by that point.

Jon Ronson: So You've Been Publicly Shamed (AudiobookFormat, 2015, Brilliance Audio)

"From the internationally bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of …

I was somewhat disappointed by this audiobook. I absolutely loved Reading Ronson's "Them" and although I haven't read the book, the movie "Men who stare at goats" was great too. However this was a much less exciting tale. He even admits such part way through the book, that his normal readers might not even appreciate it. returnreturnIt was also odd in that the author read it himself. Normally I absolutely love when that is the case, but not such much here. I'm not sure if I just found his particular British voice incredibly annoying, or the mere fact that I hadn't realized he was British before through me off so much. returnreturnMost of the book focuses on those who have said stupid things on the Internet, particularly Twitter, and then their whole lives where ruined after they were "called out" by the masses for making bad jokes. Losing jobs, relationships …

P. L. Travers, Sophie Thompson: Mary Poppins (AudiobookFormat, 2013, Harper Collins, Blackstone Audio)

The timeless story of Mary Poppins, the world's favorite nanny, and her magical adventures with …

I enjoyed Travers' Mary Poppins. I was surprised how different it was from the movie. Only a few of the stories from the movie were in the book and vice versa. I would not be surprised if many of the other stories in the movie came from the rest of the books, but I want to read them and find out. returnreturnIn particularly I liked the stories featuring the twin babies who I don't even recall being in the movie. They spoke to each other and the birds and al the animals understood them but the grown ups didn't, except of course Mary Poppins. Certainly an interesting idea. returnreturnI also enjoyed the "trip around the world" where they quickly traveled around the world using a compass and met all kinds of animals. I heard the first edition had them meet all kinds of stereotyped children from around the world, and …