Revenge of Conscience

The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man by J Budziszewski, 145 pages

In The Revenge of Conscience, natural law philosopher Budziszewski sets out, not to argue for the reality of the natural law, but to outline the consequences of its denial.  Conscience, he contends, can never be erased, only repressed, and a guilt denied will only express itself in other, more damaging, ways.  In the process, he reveals how many of the vices of our society - and especially our politics - are virtues grown cancerous.

Although Budziszewski notes that natural law does not presuppose any particular religious belief, as the subtitle suggests, this book contains large sections explicitly addressed to a Christian audience.  On the positive side, the fact that the book was published nearly twenty years ago takes the edge off some of the specific political references, strengthening the author's general points.

Kraken

Kraken by China Mieville, 509 pages.

A preserved giant squid has been stolen from London's Natural History museum and it's curator Billy Harrow is at the top of everyone's list for answers. But who stole the Kraken and why? In a city full of secret currents of myth and magic, where criminals, police, cultists, and wizards are locked in a war to bring about or prevent the End the list of suspects could include anyone. There is the Congregation of God Kraken, there is the criminal mastermind known as the Tattoo, the mysterious Londonmancers, as well other religious sects and magicians who may or may not want to end everything.

While I really wanted to like this book, especially since it has a squid worshiping cult I just couldn't bring myself to fully enjoy it. It starts of decently but becomes kind of muddled and confusing towards the middle as there was to much going on. Towards the end it got better again, but the ending was just kind of anticlimactic. Overall if you enjoy conspiracies and fantasy you might like this book but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.     

A Head Full of Ghosts

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
286 Pages

"The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's bizarre outbursts and subsequent descent into madness. As their home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight for a reality television show. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and medical bills looming, the family reluctantly agrees to be filmed--never imagining that The Possession would become an instant hit. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend. Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long-ago events from her childhood--she was just eight years old--painful memories and long-buried secrets that clash with the television broadcast and the Internet blogs begin to surface. A mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising disturbing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil."

Written in three voices; 8 year old Merry, adult Merry and blogger Merry the book presents a disturbing picture.  A compelling tale.

World War Moo

World War Moo by Michael Logan
309 Pages

"It began with a cow that just wouldn't die. Yep. That's right. They're still un-dead, and now the disease has spread to humans. The epidemic that transformed Britain's bovine population into a blood-thirsty, brain-grazing, zombie horde...err...zombie herd... is threatening to take over the globe in Michael Logan's World War Moo . And there's not much time left to stop it. All of Great Britain is infected and hungry. The rest of the world has a tough choice to make. Should they nuke the Brits right off the map -- men, women, children, cows and all -- in the biggest genocide in history? Or should they risk global infection in a race against time to find a cure? With hungry zombies attempting to cross borders by plains, trains, boats, and any other form of transport available, it's only a matter of time before the virus gets out. And if it does, there's only one answer. This means war. "

The second book of the Apocalypse Cow series is not as strong as the first book and I found myself not caring about the fate of any of the characters. 

The Fold

The Fold by Peter Clines
 375 Pages

"A brilliantly twisty, turny supernatural mystery from the author of the Ex-Heroes series and 14 The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's just how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen may not be much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but Mike is content with his quiet and peaceful existence. That is, until an old government friend presents him with an irresistible mystery--one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: it seems that a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device that could make teleportation a reality. But something is very wrong with the project. The personalities of the scientists who work on it are changing. People are dying. And reality itself seems to be...warping. Mike soon learns that the machine is not at all what it appears to be--and that its creators may have opened a doorway to something horrible that lurks just outside our world's borders."

It is as if the book was written by two people because two thirds of the way through the plot suddenly takes a turn into the weird and all of the careful characterization and science flies out the window, which is really a shame because I enjoyed the book until this point and liked parts of the last third as well.  It seems as if there will be a sequel

Dumplin by Julie Murphy

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
384 Pages


"Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all."

A good young adult book with a positive message.  The only drawback is the pacing is a little slow.  

The Crossing

The Crossing by Michael Connelly
400 Pages
 

"Detective Harry Bosch has retired from the LAPD, but his half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, needs his help. A woman has been brutally murdered in her bed and all evidence points to Haller's client, a former gang member turned family man. Though the murder rap seems ironclad, Mickey is sure it's a setup. Bosch doesn't want anything to do with crossing the aisle to work for the defense. He feels it will undo all the good he's done in his thirty years as a homicide cop. But Mickey promises to let the chips fall where they may. If Harry proves that his client did it, under the rules of discovery, they are obliged to turn over the evidence to the prosecution. Though it goes against all his instincts, Bosch reluctantly takes the case. The prosecution's file just has too many holes and he has to find out for himself: if Haller's client didn't do it, then who did? With the secret help of his former LAPD partner Lucy Soto, Harry starts digging. Soon his investigation leads him inside the police department, where he realizes that the killer he's been tracking has also been tracking him. "

Connelly delivers another satisfying read in the Bosch series.   Not only is Harry struggling with being retired, he struggles with being on the other side of the line, the side of the defendant.

The Game

The Game by Laurie R. King, 368 pages

The Game is the seventh installment of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R. King. Long story short: Sherlock Holmes mentors a young woman, takes her on as his partner, marries her, and continues to solve mysteries with her. It's a very satisfying series for any Holmes fanatic. The series takes place after the original Holmes Canon, so the character of Baker Street we've grown to love (and become annoyed with at times) is not tainted.

The Game follows the same general pattern of the series in the sense that Russell and Holmes find themselves traveling to a different part of the world to solve some mystery or another. In this particular case, they travel to India to investigate the disappearance of a British spy. Because of the exotic locations in which King places Russell and Holmes, there is a lot of exposition, description, and musing about the locale, as told from Russell's point of view. With the setting being 1924 India, this book can definitely be classified as historical fiction as well as your run-of-the-mill mystery.

The Game is definitely worth reading, but I highly suggest reading the other books in the series first.

Buried Giant

Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
317 Pages

"The Romans have long since departed and Britain is steadily declining into ruin. But, at least, the wars that once ravaged the country have ceased. Axl and Beatrice, a couple of elderly Britons, decide that now is the time, finally, for them to set off across this troubled land of mist and rain to find the son they have not seen for years, the son they can scarcely remember. They know they will face many hazards--some strange and otherworldly--but they cannot foresee how their journey will reveal to them the dark and forgotten corners of their love for each other. Nor can they foresee that they will be joined on their journey by a Saxon warrior, his orphan charge, and a knight--each of them, like Axl and Beatrice, lost in some way to his own past, but drawn inexorably toward the comfort, and the burden, of the fullness of a life's memories. "


Not character driven  and somewhat rambling the book was a near miss for me.  While the concepts Ishiguro explored were interesting I didn't really enjoy the journey, both figuratively and literally.  

Black-Eyed Susans

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin
354 Pages

"As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving "Black-Eyed Susan," the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa's testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row. Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans--a summertime bloom--just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications--that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large--Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution. But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly. An innocent life hangs in the balance. The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories--and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly after her rescue. What they don't know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets. As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter. Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues? She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night. "

I enjoyed reading this book but didn't find it as thrilling, breath-taking etc. etc as the critics try to lead you to believe it is.  It was basically an acceptable mystery.

The Tower

The Tower by William Butler Yeats, 104 pages

The Tower is an arrangement by Yeats of previously published poems and snippets from his translation of Sophocles' play Oedipus at Colonus.  The two most famous poems, "Sailing to Byzantium" and "The Gift of Haroun al-Rashid", appear first and next-to-last, respectively, bookending the collection with themes of spiritual longing and mystery.  The title work finds the poet brooding over age and mortality, while the last features a necromantic invocation of the ghosts of Dublin, with the author finally taking his place among them, and them alongside him.

George Herbert

George Herbert by TS Eliot, 34 pages

This short essay by Eliot on Herbert emphasizes the significance of the planned structure of Herbert's primary work, The Temple.  Eliot also traces the influence of Donne and the Anglican liturgy on Herbert's poetry, and discusses the question of whether one must accept Herbert's religion to appreciate his poetry (Eliot's answer, predictably, is "No.").

Keegan's Point

Keegan’s Point by HD Smith  140 pages

Marcus Keegan owned a mansion on the island known as Keegan’s Point, just off the coast of Florida. The house has been abandoned for the last twelve years, since Keegan died under mysterious circumstances. The only things that were removed after the body was discovered was the body and twenty passports.

This mystery has always fascinated twelve-year-old Charlie Parker. He’d give his eye teeth and left arm to learn more about Keegan. In fact, the island is the subject of a presentation that he is due to given during fourth period.

He overhears a man in his mom’s restaurant talk about investigating the island and searching for a missing treasure.  In his efforts to learn more, Charlie spies on the man and is kidnapped by him and his two accomplices. Charlie is torn between the excitement of going to Keegan’s Point and fear of what the three men will do to him. And the biggest problem of all is that for the next t that next three days, no one will know he is missing. His mother thinks he’s on a fishing trip with his friends, while his friends believe that Charlie’s mom made him stay home.

Nick has a set of clues that should lead him right to the treasure. Only problem is, Nick and his team don’t know what they mean. After they learn that Charlie is considered the local expert on Keegan, they plan to use him to unlock the mystery.

This is a great book for a young reader who might not truly enjoy reading. It has everything: a treasure hunt, mystery, danger, action, and adventure.

I give Keegan’s Point  5 out of 5 stars.

Pokergeist

Pokergeist by Michael Phillip Cash    266 pages

Pokergeist is the fourth novel by as-yet-to-be-discovered author Michael Phillip Cash that I’ve read, and I think this one is his best yet.

The story opens in Las Vegas. Poker legend Clutch Henderson comes from a poker legend family; his grandfather was a champion player. He taught Clutch how to play the game.

Clutch is good. After all, this is his nineteenth attempt to win the million-dollar gold bracelet in the International Series of Poker. His opponent is an Internet poker sensation, Adam “The Ant” Antonowski. It’s the final hand; Clutch can practically feel the bracelet’s weight on his wrist. Everything he ever dreamed of is just a card away. Suddenly, Clutch can’t breathe. There is a heaviness in his chest. Words fail him. He falls to the floor.

One year later, Telly Martin has lost everything. It started with a layoff and spiraled down from there. Now he and his girlfriend Gretchen are living in a seedy hotel, barely able to eat and make the rent.

Telly also has dreams of winning the International Series of Poker. He’s a pretty good player, but with luck he could go all the way. All he needs now is the ten thousand dollar buy-in fee. Yeah, right, like he has that kind of money lying around.

Then Clutch shows up in ghost form to act as Telly’s mentor.

There are no real surprises in this plot line. Still, it’s well done and interesting reading. It’s a lot of fun too.

I give Pokergiest 5 out of 5 stars.  

It's a Wonderful Death

It's a Wonderful Death by Sarah J Schmitt
320 Pages

"Seventeen-year-old RJ always gets what she wants. So when her soul is accidentally collected by a distracted Grim Reaper, somebody in the afterlife better figure out a way to send her back from the dead or heads will roll. But in her quest for mortality, she becomes a pawn in a power struggle between an overzealous archangel and Death Himself. The tribunal presents her with two options: she can remain in the lobby, where souls wait to be processed, until her original lifeline expires, or she can replay three moments in her life in an effort to make choices that will result in a future deemed worthy of being saved. It sounds like a no-brainer. She’ll take a walk down memory lane. How hard can changing her future be?"
 

At first it seemed as if the book was going to be a typical young adult novel with a predictable plot but the author throws a few twists into the storyline that prevents it from sliding into mediocrity.  

The End of All Things by John Scalzi
380 pages

"Humans expanded into space...only to find a universe populated with multiple alien species bent on their destruction. Thus was the Colonial Union formed, to help protect us from a hostile universe. The Colonial Union used the Earth and its excess population for colonists and soldiers. It was a good arrangement...for the Colonial Union. Then the Earth said: no more. Now the Colonial Union is living on borrowed time-a couple of decades at most, before the ranks of the Colonial Defense Forces are depleted and the struggling human colonies are vulnerable to the alien species who have been waiting for the first sign of weakness, to drive humanity to ruin. And there's another problem: A group, lurking in the darkness of space, playing human and alien against each other-and against their own kind -for their own unknown reasons. In this collapsing universe, CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson and the Colonial Union diplomats he works with race against the clock to discover who is behind attacks on the Union and on alien races, to seek peace with a suspicious, angry Earth, and keep humanity's union intact...or else risk oblivion, and extinction-and the end of all things."

This is less a novel and more a linkage of related novellas set in Scalzi's old men universe.  Characters are well developed and book is easy to read.  If you haven't read any of Scalzi's previous books I would recommend reading the Old Man's War and the other prior books first since they set the background for this novel.

Not on Fire but Burning

Not on Fire but Burning by Greg Hrbek
275 Pages

"Twenty-year-old Skyler saw the incident out her window: Some sort of metallic object hovering over the Golden Gate Bridge just before it collapsed and a mushroom cloud lifted above the city. Like everyone, she ran, but she couldn't outrun the radiation, with her last thoughts being of her beloved baby brother, Dorian, safe in her distant family home.

Flash forward to a post-incident America, where the country has been broken up into territories and Muslims have been herded onto the old Indian reservations in the west, even though no one has determined who set off the explosion that destroyed San Francisco. Twelve-year old Dorian dreams about killing Muslims and about his sister—even though Dorian's parents insist Skyler never existed. Are they still shell-shocked, trying to put the past behind them . . . or is something more sinister going on?

Meanwhile, across the street, Dorian's neighbor adopts a Muslim orphan from the territories. It will set off a series of increasingly terrifying incidents that will lead to either tragedy or redemption for Dorian, as he struggles to prove that his sister existed—and was killed by a terrorist attack."

This is a difficult book to classify and it will leave the reader thinking about the fabric of reality and life. Parts of the book are confusing and weak but overall the language is beautiful and the plot evolves into a climatic ending.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue

 

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin    368 pages

I read Melanie Benjamin’s prior novel, The Aviator’s Wife, and just LOVED it. I felt like I was on the wall of the Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh home. I admit that I haven’t yet picked up her two previous novels, but they are on my TBR list. I was excited that Benjamin was finally coming out with a new novel.

This time she turns her pen on “New York’s ‘Swans’ of the 1950s—and the scandalous, headline-making, and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley.” The ‘Swans’ are Babe’s friends: Slim Keith, C Z Guest, Gloria Guiness, and Pamela Churchill (yes a relation to Winston).

These women are five of New York’s most beautiful and wealthiest women. They have it all: high profile husbands, money, clothes, beauty, glamor, influential friends, jewels, and gorgeous homes. Babe’s drop-dead gorgeous face often appeared on cover of style magazines, mainly Vogue. But inside was a desperately lonely woman who only wanted to be loved.

Enter Truman Capote. He explodes onto the New York scene and is quickly taken under Babe’s wing. They form a tight, chaste relationship, in which each one depends on the other for emotional support.

When I first picked up Swans, I had to read to page 159 and gave up. There was, I thought, no real plot. Nothing happened and the same conversations happened over and over. I was bitterly disappointed.  I thought about my disillusionment often; then it hit me. That’s basically what these people were about---nothing. The only one who seemed to contribute to society was Capote.

So I picked Swans up again, started on page 150, and was soon immersed in their world. It was sad to watch Capote binge on drugs and booze and Babe succumb to cancer, but death was really the only way out of the lives they had created.

I give The Swans of Fifth Avenue 5 out of 5 stars.

The Master Magician

The Master Magician by Charlie N Holmberg
216 Pages

"Throughout her studies, Ceony Twill has harbored a secret, one she's kept from even her mentor, Emery Thane. She's discovered how to practice forms of magic other than her own--an ability long thought impossible. While all seems set for Ceony to complete her apprenticeship and pass her upcoming final magician's exam, life quickly becomes complicated. To avoid favoritism, Emery sends her to another paper magician for testing, a Folder who despises Emery and cares even less for his apprentice. To make matters worse, a murderous criminal from Ceony's past escapes imprisonment. Now she must track the power-hungry convict across England before he can take his revenge. With her life and loved ones hanging in the balance, Ceony must face a criminal who wields the one magic that she does not, and it may prove more powerful than all her skills combined. "

This is final book ( I think) of what was a nice little trilogy that ran its course.  There isn't much more the author could do in developing the relationship between the two main characters and in fact the author seemed hard pressed to develop any new plot twists or plot lines from the previous two books.  It seems as if originally the three books were one and the publisher broke them apart to get more of run. 

Weeding Handbook a Shelf by Shelf Guide

Weeding Handbook: A shelf-by-shelf guide by Rebecca Vnuk
 196 Pages

Okay, so this is a book only a librarian could like and not just because the author's last name sounds like a noise a stooge would make.  The book is exactly what the title says and while there isn't much information in it that we, as librarians, don't already know, it is nice to firm up and get support for our weeding efforts.  I think this would be a great book for use in a class on Collection Development because it plainly spells out the lifespan of books in a public library and to some extent in an academic library.