false 31 1829 1708 true 5624469 read 1 true 2898747 currently-reading 120 true 2898746 to-read 704 false 2902059 fantasy-and-science-fiction 284 false 2901958 fiction 211 false 2901957 mystery 133 false 2901956 religious-spiritual 129 false 2901966 children-and-young-adult 124 false 2901987 biography--memoir 99 false 2901964 history 78 false 3190117 action-adventure 73 false 3190137 vampire-wereanimal 71 false 2901961 nonfiction 57 false 3190151 classic 47 false 3190420 wwii 46 false 2901984 inspirational 45 false 2902328 self-help 25 false 3190112 historical-fiction 24 false 2902038 women 21 false 3190126 horror 21 false 3198250 western 13 false 2902167 philosophy 11 false 3235296 animals 9 false 2902164 nature 9 false 2902888 health 9 false 3330069 started-but-didn-t-finish 9 false 2902039 politics 8 false 2902204 plays 7 false 2902738 funny 6 false 2902093 science 6 false 7258570 finance-money 5 false 2902506 cookbooks 3 false 4116770 etc- 2 false 5465289 travel http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78680797 Crossing to Safety (Paperback) by Wallace Stegner
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48547464 to: Magic In the Blood (Allie Beckstrom, #2) by Devon Monk
bookshelves: fantasy-and-science-fiction
2nd in series as good as first (which is rare). Gritty, intense urban fantasy with end twist. & Zayvion's back - -looks like interesting relationship re-growing there. Thankfully, I bought 3rd book at same time as this one! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77284524 Good Book LP: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible (Paperback) by David Plotz
bookshelves: to-read
I started it but it's just not what I'm in the mood for now. And since I just got a message that it's overdue at the library, it's going back. I'll probably get it out again later. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77898836 The Forgotten Garden (Paperback) by Kate Morton
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77283921 to: Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America (Hardcover) by Robert Charles Wilson
bookshelves: fantasy-and-science-fiction
This book is written in the style of a 19th century novel, is set in the 22nd century, and deals with issues that are relevant today, in an amusing and thought-provoking novel . The author does a great job of extrapolating from current events to an all too plausible future. The world-building in the book is quite neat: our times are now known as the Efflourescence of Oil. Since then there has been The End Of Oil, The False Tribulation (apparently mass dying off after we ran out of cheap gas & oil), the reign of the Pious Presidents, and then a hereditary Presidency. The US consists – in the “now” of the book --of most of North America. The US government has three prongs: the executive branch (headquartered in a Palace in NYC), the military, and the Dominion Church of Jesus Christ - which is based in Colorado Springs. The Freedoms of America include the freedom to worship at any sanctioned church, the freedom of Pious Assembly and the freedom of Acceptable Speech. The US is at war with the Dutch (who represent the Mitteleuropans as mercenaries because the sea reclaimed much of Holland & they had to resettle & find a way to support themselves), in and around Montreal, for the control of the Northwest Passage - which Global Warming has made real & viable.

The hero, Julian Comstock, is the nephew of the dictatorial president Deklan Comstock, who has been sent to the backwoods to remove him from the view of his uncle. Julian is forced to flee his country hide-out with his friend Adam, a lease-boy attached to the estate where Julian was staying, and Sam Godwin, who is Julian's mentor since his father died in battle - his father being Bryce Comstock, army commander and brother of the president, who was sent into a hopeless conflict by Deklan who feared his brother's growing popularity would endanger his own tyrannical rule. Thus starts the adventure that is Julian’s life.

The book is written from the point of view of the main character’s boyhood friend, Adam Hazzard, a backwoods innocent whose wide eyed, good natured response to the world provides a light touch to some dark times and makes for some utterly hilarious footnotes (e.g., a quote uttered by one of the characters was attributed in a footnote to "either St. Ambrose or Timothy LeHaye, depending on sources") and comic misunderstandings. We understand the story through the surface of Adam's narrative and through our own our speculations about what is "really" going on. The book includes a few passages of Dutch & French (untranslated because the narrator doesn’t understand them, but it’s really worth your while to get them translated, or puzzle them out, if you can). The book is sometimes laugh out loud funny and sometimes wrenchingly poignant. A good read.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77454304 Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel (Hardcover) by Audrey Niffenegger
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77454221 13 1/2 (Hardcover) by Nevada Barr
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77454137 The Magicians (Hardcover) by Lev Grossman
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77283815 Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon (Hardcover) by Craig Nelson
bookshelves: biography--memoir, currently-reading, history, science
listening to ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76624102 to: Not Your Parents' Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship (Paperback) by J. Clif Christopher
bookshelves: religious-spiritual
I don't agree with everything he says, but there are a lot of good ideas in this book. Some we're already trying & some I've been wanting to try & others new ones that have intriguing possibilities. (LOL! Is that what makes ideas "good", when they kind of comport with your own?) ]]>