Books I’ve read The Bookshelf

Yeah, so I'm a sucker for WEB Griffin, and especially his Investigators series. Now, just because I give this 4 stars and Pride & Prejudice only 3 doesn't mean that I think this is objectively a better piece of literature - far from it. Nothing profound or brilliant. However, I found this quite entertaining - a fun read.

Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen · published 2000 · read 2009-12-13

Everybody's gonna kill me for only giving it three stars, but honestly it didn't do a lot for me. It's a nice story, well told, etc, etc... but not something that just blew me away. Guess 30 year old men aren't really the target audience, anyway.

A Plague of Secrets

by John Lescroart · published 2009 · read 2009-11-30

Nothing profound here, just a solid legal thriller from one of my favorites. The Hardy/Glitzky pairing, while unlikely, is a fun one; always enjoyable.

Makers

by Cory Doctorow · published 2009 · read 2009-11-30

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Intervention

by Robin Cook · published 2009 · read 2009-11-09

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Usually Robin Cook is a safe bet for a solid mystery. Which leaves me bewildered as to what happened in this book. It's as if he took two parts Dan Brown, one part anti-homeopathic medicine, and a large dose of horrible dialogue, and threw them all in a blender.

Characters don't make sense, inexplicable plot twists, unsatisfying resolutions... ick ick ick.

NOT recommended.

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins · published 2009 · read 2009-10-31

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Sacredness of Questioning Everything

by David Dark · published 2009 · read 2009-10-23

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional

by Jim Belcher · published 2009 · read 2009-10-10

Not as revolutionary or insightful as I had hoped, but still good. Belcher identifies seven areas of contention between the emerging and traditional churches, summarizes each group's position on each topic, and then identifies his "third way" for each of them.

Most of his "third ways" seemed less like brilliant insights and more like "let's pick someplace in between the two positions that makes sense to me".

Deep Church is a good summary of emerging vs. traditional if you're unfamiliar with the topic, is very even-handed, etc. But at least to this guy, who has watched most of the emerging vs. traditional battle play out in books and on the blogs over the past several years, there wasn't a lot new here.

Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community

by Andrew Marin · published 2009 · read 2009-10-10

This is an important book. Andrew Marin makes his point about needing to put our first priority on showing love as much by what he specifically does not say as by what he does say. Marin has put actions to his words over the past several years, and his example stands as a challenge to the rest of us. Good, good stuff.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

by Philip K. Dick · published 2010 · read 2009-10-02

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Brothers

by Ben Bova · published 1995 · read 2009-10-02

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins · published 2008 · read 2009-10-02

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Resurrection of the Son of God

by N.T. Wright · published 2003 · read 2009-10-02

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling

by John Taylor Gatto · published 2008 · read 2009-08-31

A brutal polemic about America’s compulsory education system written by a former NYC schoolteacher. He comes pretty close to coming off like a psycho crank instead of a serious writer – I’d need to do some verification of his sources before I really came to an opinion on his conclusions. Still, brutal.

The Partner

by John Grisham · published 2005 · read 2009-08-25

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Rogue Forces

by Dale Brown · published 2009 · read 2009-08-22

Ah, Dale Brown. Another cookie cutter plot, with ineffective politicians who despise the military techno-gear until it's too late. If the technology and the political scenarios weren't so interesting, I'd have given up on you by now. As it is... Three stars.

North! or Be Eaten

by Andrew Peterson · published 2009 · read 2009-08-11

Andrew really hit his stride with North! Or Be Eaten. This volume takes the Wingfeather series far beyond just being a kids story and provides some very memorable characters and scenes that will be with me for a long time to come.

The Second Opinion

by Michael Palmer · published 2009 · read 2009-08-03

Basic medical thriller. Only sorta thrilling, if you ask me.

Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design

by Henry Petroski · published 2008 · read 2009-07-21

Another look at how we learn things in engineering by learning from our failures. Not as interesting as his other book that I read this year.

Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond

by Gene Kranz · published 2009 · read 2009-07-11

A memoir by the storied NASA flight controller.

Supreme Courtship

by Christopher Buckley · published 2008 · read 2009-07-03

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A Game of Thrones

by George R.R. Martin · published 2005 · read 2009-06-17

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Cold Choices

by Larry Bond · published 2009 · read 2009-06-17

Bond was the unseen hand behind a lot of Tom Clancy’s best stuff, and he proves it here.

Contagious

by Scott Sigler · published 2008 · read 2009-06-10

by Peggy Noonan · published 2003 · read 2009-05-19

Over-the-top, campy fun.

When Sinners Say “I Do”: Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage

by Dave Harvey · published 2007 · read 2009-05-26

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era

A twenty-year old memoir of Noonan’s time as a speechwriter in the Reagan White House. Mostly I just love Noonan’s writing. So much fun to read.

TSAR

by Ted Bell · published 2008 · read 2009-05-12

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design

by Henry Petroski · published 1992 · read 2009-05-05

Interesting philosophical look at engineering via failure analyses.

Replay

by Ken Grimwood · published 1998 · read 2009-04-30

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

by Josh Conviser · published 2006 · read 2009-03-28

The Cardinal of the Kremlin

by Tom Clancy · published 1988 · read 2009-04-22

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament

by Peter Enns · published 2005 · read 2009-04-12

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Empyre

by Josh Conviser · published 2007 · read 2009-04-02

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Echelon

Good futuristic look at human integration with the internet, and at the possibilities for controlling/influencing the world through data manipulation. Good story.

A Darker Place

by Jack Higgins · published 2009 · read 2009-03-21

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Clutter-Free Christianity: What God Really Desires for You

by Robert Jeffress · published 2009 · read 2009-03-15

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

by Timothy J. Keller · published 2008 · read 2009-03-13

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Halting State

by Charles Stross · published 2008 · read 2009-03-12

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

by John McWhorter · published 2008 · read 2009-03-08

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Last Patriot

by Brad Thor · published 2009 · read 2009-03-05

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling

by Andy Crouch · published 2008 · read 2009-03-02

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Echo Within: Finding Your True Calling

by Robert Benson · published 2009 · read 2009-02-27

by Orson Scott Card · published 1977 · last read 2009-02-22

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

by Seth Godin · published 2008 · read 2009-02-26

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Ender’s Game

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This one is fun, especially if you don't know the twist at the end. Not my favorite OSC, but well worth reading.

The Weapon

by David Poyer · published 2008 · read 2009-02-16

by Ben Ratliff · published 2008 · read 2009-02-10

Review here.

The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music

by Orson Scott Card · published 2008 · read 2009-02-07

Ender in Exile

by Sarah Lyall · published 2008 · read 2009-02-02

The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British

by James K. Morrow · published 2008 · read 2009-01-24

The Philosopher’s Apprentice

by N.T. Wright · published 1996 · read 2009-01-24

Jesus and the Victory of God

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

by Wendell Berry · published 2007 · read 2009-01-11

Andy Catlett: Early Travels

A charming short novel about a nine-year-old boy taking a trip to visit his grandparents. Set in the early 1940’s, Berry paints a very picturesque image of a simpler time.

Artificial Happiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class

by Ronald W. Dworkin · published 2007 · read 2009-01-10

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The King of Sting: The Amazing True Story of a Modern American Outlaw

by Craig Glazer · published 2008 · read 2009-01-10

by Stephen Baxter · published 2001 · read 2009-01-05

Ring