John

John rated a book it was ok Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party by Graham Greene	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
What happens when the beautiful, charming, fun woman of your dreams has a father who is wealthy but cruel, virtually impossible to countenance. Well, you're not marrying the dad. Still, it's an uncomfortable situation for the narrator, although ...more
Nov 03, 2019 12:29PM · like · see review
John is now following Philip Jenkins Author of The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-...
Oct 27, 2019 04:32PM · like
John wants to read Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality by Philip Jenkins	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 27, 2019 03:18PM · 3 likes · like
John rated a book liked it Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World by Larry W. Hurtado	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Scholarly but accessible, "Destroyer of the gods" makes the case that Christianity was radically different from the Greco-Roman culture it found itself in, even as it grew explosively during its first three centuries. Christianity, Larry W. Hurtado s ...more
Oct 27, 2019 03:00PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Destroyer of the Gods by Larry W. Hurtado. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Destroyer of the Gods by Larry W. Hurtado <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John rated a book liked it Three Novels: Midaq Alley / The Thief and the Dogs / Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The late Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature in 1988. I became aware of him while reading a nonfiction book by Tony Horwitz, part of which was set in Cairo. Horwitz wrote of coffee house society in Cairo and ...more
Oct 20, 2019 04:16PM · like · see review
John wants to read The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 12, 2019 11:13AM · 1 like · like
John wants to read A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God's Design for Life Together by Scot McKnight	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 12, 2019 11:01AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Fellowship of Differents by Scot McKnight. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Fellowship of Differents by Scot McKnight <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John rated a book really liked it March by Geraldine Brooks (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
We all know that the "Little Women" and their mother, Marmee, were left at home in Concord while Mr. March went off to serve as a chaplain in the Civil War. But we know nothing of what March experienced in the war. In "March," Geraldine Brooks f ...more
Oct 11, 2019 06:42PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of March by Geraldine Brooks. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — March by Geraldine Brooks <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John rated a book it was ok Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Eunice Hunton Carter -- the author's grandmother -- was among 20 crack lawyers chosen by special pr0secutor Thomas E. Dewey in the 1930s to take on New York City's crime bosses. Carter was the only African American and the only woman among them. She ...more
Oct 11, 2019 06:23PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Invisible by Stephen L. Carter. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Invisible by Stephen L. Carter <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John rated a book really liked it American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
If nothing else, "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House" is a reminder that chaotic presidential administrations are not just a product of the present day. In his two terms as our seventh president, the man who glares out at us from t ...more
Oct 08, 2019 06:42PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of American Lion by Jon Meacham. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — American Lion by Jon Meacham <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

John rated a book it was ok

Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party
by Graham Greene

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

What happens when the beautiful, charming, fun woman of your dreams has a father who is wealthy but cruel, virtually impossible to countenance.
Well, you're not marrying the dad. Still, it's an uncomfortable situation for the narrator, although ...more

John is now following

Philip Jenkins

Author of The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-...

John wants to read

Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality
by Philip Jenkins

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

John rated a book liked it

Destroyer of the Gods by Larry W. Hurtado

Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World
by Larry W. Hurtado

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Scholarly but accessible, "Destroyer of the gods" makes the case that Christianity was radically different from the Greco-Roman culture it found itself in, even as it grew explosively during its first three centuries. Christianity, Larry W. Hurtado s ...more

John rated a book liked it

Three Novels: Midaq Alley / The Thief and the Dogs / Miramar
by Naguib Mahfouz

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The late Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature in 1988.
I became aware of him while reading a nonfiction book by Tony Horwitz, part of which was set in Cairo. Horwitz wrote of coffee house society in Cairo and The late Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature in 1988.
I became aware of him while reading a nonfiction book by Tony Horwitz, part of which was set in Cairo. Horwitz wrote of coffee house society in Cairo and said he had learned what to expect from Naguib Mahfouz's fiction.
I'm fascinated by urban cultures, even if I probably wouldn't do very well in them, and I like coffee houses, even though I drink tea. So I found this collection of short novels by Mahfouz in my neighborhood bookstore and slowly worked my way through it.
A subtitle that might apply to all three novels would be "Egyptians Behaving Badly." These are probably not novels the Egyptian Visitors Bureau is going to encourage you to read. There are no Pyramids here, no Sphinx, no scenic Nile River vistas. It's hard, gritty and occasionally violent.
"Midaq Alley" is the one of the three that is centered in a Cairo coffee house. I see it's considered by some to be Mahfouz's best novel, but it was my least favorite of the three. It has several key characters, none of which seemed terribly interesting.
"The Thief and the Dogs" is told from the perspective of a career criminal who is released from prison and quickly returns to his career. The thief in the story is a narcissist; only his own concerns are important to him. It's an intriguing but depressing morality tale, or perhaps an immorality tale.
"Miramar," set in Alexandria, was my favorite of the three, and it's told in an interesting way. We are in a pension -- in my culture, it'd probably be called a boarding house -- run by a past-her-prime woman with all single male tenants. Each of the men takes an interest, with varying motivations, in an attractive young woman named Zohra who has been hired as the pension's maid.
The first chapter is told by Amir Wagdi, a retired journalist who takes a fatherly interest in Zohra. After his chapter is finished, the action backs up to the beginning and is retold from the perspective of another tenant, and then by two more lodgers after that before Wagdi returns to wrap up the story. Zohra never speaks for herself, but everything centers around her.
Like the other two novels in this set, "Miramar" is quite grim. It does have some traces of humanity around the edges.
The introduction in this edition to "Miramar" was written by John Fowles, author of "The French Lieutenant's Woman." I found it helpful. ...more

John wants to read

The Rise of Christianity
by Rodney Stark

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

John wants to read

A Fellowship of Differents by Scot McKnight

A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God's Design for Life Together
by Scot McKnight

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

John rated a book really liked it

March
by Geraldine Brooks (Goodreads Author)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

We all know that the "Little Women" and their mother, Marmee, were left at home in Concord while Mr. March went off to serve as a chaplain in the Civil War.
But we know nothing of what March experienced in the war.
In "March," Geraldine Brooks f ...more

John rated a book it was ok

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster
by Stephen L. Carter

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Eunice Hunton Carter -- the author's grandmother -- was among 20 crack lawyers chosen by special pr0secutor Thomas E. Dewey in the 1930s to take on New York City's crime bosses. Carter was the only African American and the only woman among them. She ...more

John rated a book really liked it

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
by Jon Meacham

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

If nothing else, "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House" is a reminder that chaotic presidential administrations are not just a product of the present day.
In his two terms as our seventh president, the man who glares out at us from t If nothing else, "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House" is a reminder that chaotic presidential administrations are not just a product of the present day.
In his two terms as our seventh president, the man who glares out at us from the $20 bill once fired three members of his Cabinet on the same day that two others resigned. His own first-term vice president cast a deciding vote in the Senate -- against Jackson. He was not always able to keep peace in his own unconventional family. He was censured by the Senate, although they took it back just before he left office.
Jon Meacham offers an honest but largely sympathetic portrait of Andrew Jackson. There is much about Jackson's life story to admire, but I came away feeling unsympathetic.
Not only was Jackson a slaveholder, he had no use for Constitutional rights when it came to people who wrote pamphlets against slavery and tried to distribute them in the South.
Meacham writes:
If Jackson had been a president of consistent principle, the issue would have been clear. He was the defender of the Union, the conqueror of nullification, the hero of democracy. An American organization was exercising its constitutional right to free speech and was using the public mails -- mails that were open to all -- to do so. But Jackson was not a president of consistent principle. He was a politician, subject to his own passions and predilections, and those passions and predilections pressed him to cast his lot with whom he agreed on the question at hand -- slavery -- which meant suppressing freedom of speech.
His greatest disservice, in my view, was his successful advocacy of the policy of forcibly removing Native Americans from the Southeast to the far side of the Mississippi. Before reading this book, I assumed that Jackson's role didn't matter all that much; white America was united in its mistreatment of our first peoples.
In fact, though, there was strong opposition to the forced resettlement. A pastor, Jeremiah Evarts, eloquently defended the rights of Indians against Jackson. Sen. Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey led the fight on their behalf in the Senate, and although Jackson won fairly easily there he just barely won in the House of Representatives. When the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in favor of the Indians on the issue, Jackson ignored the ruling -- although, Meacham reports, he probably never really said, "Well, John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it."
I also learned how close America came to civil war in 1832, as Jackson was seeking his second term. The issue was whether South Carolina and perhaps other Southern states could "nullify" a tariff act it didn't like -- simply determine that this particular law didn't apply in South Carolina. Jackson skillfully walked a tightrope on this issue, belying his reputation for acting bombastically and impulsively.
Whatever else might be said, it was an eventful presidency and Jackson an interesting and significant figure in U.S. history. Meacham tells the story well. ...more