Terry Brooks at his not quite best

The Measure of the Magic by Terry Brooks

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I hold Terry Brooks as one of my formative authors.  I will read everything until he stops writing.  I saw him at an event in Noblesville, IN where he said he has ten more years to write.

This book seemed to not add much to the legend that is Shannara.  Some points were gripping but overall the story seemed forced or stretched -- like butter over too much bread.  If he writes a follow up to this duology I hope he returns to the epic feel of his earlier Shannara stories or even the Genesis of Shannara trilogy.



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Not Surprised by N.T. Wright

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I expect anything from N.T. Wright to be deep, passionate, and thoroughly Biblical.  I was not disappointed in this book.  I used his DVD lessons in a class I taught at church.  He has a wonderful accent and the lessons were delivered in wonderful English settings of cathedrals and countryside. I found he content very informative and edifying but the book was definitely a neck-stretcher for my students.  I commend them for wading through it.  It deserves to be abridged for "ordinary" readers who need to be exposed to the core points he makes without having to run down all the side bars he follows answering arguments that regular church folk do not face.  Keep writing Professor Wright and I'll keep reading!



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One of Three Ways to Change America for Good

The FairTax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS by Neal Boortz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Way to go Neal Boortz!  Your book depicts one third of my dream to change (i.e. breakup) the political-economic power game that has evolved over the last 100 years in America.  Such power is dangerous if held by the same person too long.  We need this and two other firewalls against the human tendency to evil.

1. The Fair Tax (as so wonderfully described in this book) would place economic power back into the hands of working individuals.  www.fairtax.org/

2. The Balanced Budget Amendment to the US Constitution (another barrier to uncontrolled government spending.)  www.balanceourbudget.com/

3. Term Limits on US Senators and Representatives would keep politicians focused on the task at hand, not worrying about getting re-elected again and again.  I'd also apply this limitation to Federally appointed judges who too often become legislators from the bench. termlimits.org/



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Hope Springs

Nadine and I did it just in time.  Today was the last showing of Hope Springs the new romantic non-comedy staring Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep.  The film makers portray an older married couple renewing their desire for a more intimate and enjoyable life together after falling into a deadening routine.

I believe that any couple that has been married 30 years or more (like us) can identify somewhere with Jones and Streep's portrayals.  I found myself appreciating the counseling skills of the Steve Carrell character who asks insightful and timely questions that gets them talking and listening to each other again.  The story feels even handed in dealing with the typical male and female issues/concerns within a marriage.  Neither partner is the "bad" guy.  While both have contributed to the decline of the relationship, mostly through fear and distraction, Meryl Streep's character is the first to become desperate enough to arrange for a intensive marriage retreat at $4000.

This was more than a movie to me.  I came away inspired to make the next years with Nadine better than ever.  After the initial foundational years, the season in pastoral ministry, and the raising of four kids to adulthood, I am ready to build the next good thing together whatever that appears to be.

Be aware that the film straightforwardly addresses very intimate aspects of marriage, though I don't believe that it crossed the line into the crude.  I felt connected to the other fifty people watching it around us but there were moments when we glanced around to make sure no one we knew was in the theater with us!

If you haven't already seen it, you'll have to wait for the DVD or its last go round in the .99 theaters.

Kethani by Eric Brown

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The premise and the opening chapter engaged me. The focus on ordinary people of rural Britain would be good. I like books where the protagonist(s) is someone like me (except I'm not British). I appreciated how the concept of being resurrected as often as necessary affected species-long assumptions and supposed limitations. However, I feel about this book like I did after viewing the last episodes of the ABC series "Lost". I felt that I had been provoked to think differently about some things, but the story feels unfinished. There are also hints dropped that are not resolved. Who really are the Kethani? (Who were the good and bad entities on the Lost island?) It doesn't seem to matter to the author but it matters to me. The book works on the level of provoking philosophical/religious speculation, but it fails badly in inspiring human readers toward a better future on earth. Maybe the author is tricking us like the Kethani character tricks the main characters into killing themselves in the last chapter so they can become cosmic evangelists. Maybe he wants to turn us from the hope that physical immortality would be good for human souls.



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Terry Brooks Comes to Town!

Yesterday was a great day for several reasons, one of which being that Nadine and I attended an event at the Carmel Barnes and Noble bookstore featuring NY Times Best Selling author Terry Brooks.  Terry Brooks put epic fantasy on the literary map with his 1977 publication of The Sword of Shanarra.  It stayed on the list for five months.  He has written twenty-two additional novels.

Terry spent the first hour talking to us about the writing process (see video) and then read from an upcoming novel.  He also took questions from the crowd of nearly 100 people.  We stood in line for another hour for him to sign six of his books from my library.  As he did so, we talked about writing.  I told him that I had been writing fantasy and science fiction since 1984 and that his style of bringing different plot lines together with cliffhanger chapter endings helped me in structuring both novels I have self-published.  He nodded and said, "You need to write what you like to read.  That's why you won't find any Tom Bombadils [e.g.J.R.R. Tolkien] in my stories."  Then we stood together for a picture.

Terry has created two fantasy universes: Shanarra and Landover.  He said that he is giving ten more years to finish what he wants to say.  With plans for two movies in the works (Magic Kingdom of Landover and Elfstones of Shanarra) the next ten years might be the best yet!

Check out his website: www.TerryBrooks.net

 Terry having fun with his audience

 Making a point

 Making another point

 Getting ready to read from Bloodline Quest (out March 2013)

 Signing my copy of Ilse Witch

 I ask an interesting (or stupid) question!

I amaze Terry Brooks with an insightful comment

 Terry's glad to be finished signing books for me

 

The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My first read of a Meltzer book.  Not a long book and fast paced.  Read 100 pages before I had to turn in.  Finished it the next day.

Book of Lies is a well-researched novel that touches on so many inter-related human themes: religion, father and sons, grief, justice, pop culture, history, politics, war.  The moment I felt loaded up in one area, Meltzer shifted to a different focus while moving the plot along well.  The violence, while shocking because I came to care for just about every character in the story, was not gruesome.

It worked for me on a lot of levels, such as helping me understand and even empathize (a little) with the bad guy(s).  Now I have a deeper take on Cain (see Genesis), of how God responds to sin, and one aspect of the immortal life that God wants for us all.



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