Feb to Aug 2004 - more Tom Clancy

Okay, having spent the last week trying to figure out why my blog wouldn't let anyone leave comments, I gave up (thanks a lot, fully worthless Blogger "Help"!), deleted my blog, reposted the entry I made last Sunday, and now we're back in business.

February 2004:
Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
I'd like to point out that I have never seen any of the movies based on these books, mostly because I'd rather read than watch a movie any day. This one is about a Russian submarine, which doesn't seem like it would make a good movie anyways - I'm always two-thirds of the way through a movie before I can finally understand the dialogue through their accents, and a submarine requires a fair amount of explanation that isn't conducive to a movie. Anyhow, this blog is about books, not movies. Let's move along.

Debt of Honor, by Tom Clancy
Honestly, without looking it up, I couldn't even guess as to the plot of this one. It was a good book, though.

Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I love this book. Growing up with a younger sister who I was forced to share a room with, I always wanted a place that I could go and she couldn't. Every time I read this book, I would spend the next week wandering around our small town, trying to find some forgotten place that I could make my own, where no one would bother me. Sadly, I never found one, so I was forced to continue immersing myself in books. Woe is me.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
If you haven't read this book, and you have a quirky sense of humor, you should read it. It's about life on other planets, in a very goofy way. At the beginning of the book, Earth is demolished to make way for an inter-stellar highway. The reluctant hero, Arthur Dent, is whisked away with his friend - who Arthur didn't realize is not from Earth - just before the planet disappears. As you join them on their galaxy wide adventures, you can't help but feel smart. You may not be a genius, but at least you're not a total clueless moron like Arthur. It's pretty entertaining. There are actually five books in the series, although the fourth one is not nearly as good as the first three. I own the fifth book, but have never managed to read it...someday, maybe.

Executive Orders, by Tom Clancy
Somewhere around this book, our hero becomes President rather unexpectedly, which makes things interesting. For those of you who think the President has a great job or has any control whatsoever about what's going on in either his personal life or in politics, you should read this.

March 2004:
Red Rabbit, by Tom Clancy
This book takes us back in time, before our hero was President, back when he was just working for the government part-time. And it involves the Pope. What else could you ask for in a book?

Cardinal of the Kremlin, by Tom Clancy
Can you tell these books take place in the Cold War era?

Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Juster
If you don't own this book, stop reading my pointless blog, and go buy this book. It's awesome. It's about a boy named Milo who comes home one day to discover a car and tollbooth in his room. He hops in the car, pays a toll, and goes on an adventure in another land. A land full of wordplay and bad puns. There are some morals, too, of course, but my favorite part is the wordplay. Conclusions is an island that people jump to on a regular basis. Rhyme and Reason are two princesses that were banished and must be rescued because everything is much worse without them. Don't take my word for it - read it! Now!

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C O'Brien
Another great kids book, about a family of mice and some rats who live in the same garden. The rats previously lived in a lab, where they were fed a drug that made them very intelligent before they escaped. The rats can read - how cool is that?

April 2004:
Clear and Present Danger, by Tom Clancy
If you've seen the movie, you probably have an idea of the plot. It's a pretty good book.

Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy

Sum of All Fears, by Tom Clancy

May 2004:
Wizard of Oz, by L Frank Baum
A classic. There is actually a whole series - at least 14 books - that L Frank Baum wrote about Oz, introducing new, whimsical characters in each book that go on adventures around Oz. They all tie together, with Dorothy appearing in quite a few books. I planned to read all of them, in order, although I don't think I got very far before I got distracted by other books. I did read most of them when I was little, though, so I'm not a total slacker.

Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
This sits next to Wizard of Oz on my shelf, because they are both "Classic" versions and look like they belong together. My version also includes Through the Looking Glass. Having never done acid, I'm not a giant fan of Alice in Wonderland - it's an okay, crack-fiendish story, but a little wacky. We watched the movie in French in high school, which makes it even weirder somehow.

Prey, by Michael Crichton
I think I have more trouble spelling Crichton than any other author's name I can think of. I bought this because I was randomly wandering the bookstore, it was new, and it looked good. I own several of his books. This one was okay, but a little more science fiction-y than I really like. It's about some people who develop these adaptable molecules, but then the molecules become smart and try to kill the people. Not a bad book, but not his best.

All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot
All Things Wise and Wonderful, by James Herriot
The Lord God Made Them All, by James Herriot
Ahh, I love these books. They are totally out of character for me - since I'm not really an animal person - but I love them anyway, for reasons I can't explain. I rescued these from a bag of books my mother was about to give away - without offering them to me first! She should know better! James Herriot is a young English man who just finished vet school. He gets a job in rural England as an assistant to a rather eccentric vet, and spends his days delivering calves on cold barn floors in the middle of the night. Not the clean, comfortable life he anticipated after vet school, but he eventually realized that he wouldn't trade it for anything. He also meets, falls in love with, marries, and raises a family with a farmer's daughter, as well as spends some time in the military. There are actually four books in the series, but it took me a while to find the missing one.

June 2004
Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
Someone once told me that this book reminded her of me. It's about a girl who comes to America to live with relatives she doesn't know, and her struggles in fitting in with their strict Quaker culture. At least I think they were Quakers - I just discovered that I don't own this book, so I can't double-check. It's great.

Heaven's Wager, by Ted Dekker
And now for something completely different. In this book, everything he loves is slowly taken away from the main character, because God had wagered that he could do this and the man would still have faith in God. So, yeah, a modern, slightly weird, version of the book of Job. It was good, but a little...strange. A little uncomfortable, somehow.

The Crystal City, by Orson Scott Card
Let me just start out by saying that I'm a huge Orson Scott Card fan. I own tons of his books, and am always looking for more. This is the last book in his Alvin Maker series. You should read the whole series, which starts with Seventh Son. The series takes place in the 1700 or 1800s, in the eastern US. Alvin is the seventh son of a seventh son, which gives him special powers. In those days, everyone has a special talent of some sort, but seventh sons are extra special. Alvin's powers are wide-ranging, but his ultimate goal is to bring people together into a place where their gifts are put to the best use and everyone benefits. It's a good series.

Teeth of the Tiger, by Tom Clancy
At the time, this was the newest Tom Clancy book. Unfortunately, the story has moved past Jack Ryan, and focuses on his son, who is all grown up now. It's not a bad book, but I miss Jack Ryan.

Rainbow Six, by Tom Clancy
There are video games based on this book, which should tell you something about it.

Tricky Business, by Dave Barry
Dave Barry is my kind of humor. And he wrote a novel, full of fun, incompentent people, and a few random cliches. It's not prize-winning writing, but it's highly entertaining.

A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
I own this book, so I feel obliged to read it from time to time. I try not to read a lot of John Grisham all at once, so that the plot similarites aren't so glaringly obvious, but I do like this book. It reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird, which everyone knows is an awesome book.

July 2004:
Message in a Bottle, by Nicholas Sparks
I don't usually read romance crap, but someone had recommended a Nicholas Sparks book to me, and the library didn't have it, so I grabbed this instead. It was okay, in a cheesy, I'm going to gag on all this schmaltzyness, kind of way.

The Bear and the Dragon, by Tom Clancy
I thought I was done with Tom Clancy? Guess not...I think this book was okay. No idea what it was about. It does involve Russia, I know that.

The Paradise War, by Stephen Lawhead
Another great science fiction writer. I got hooked on Stephen Lawhead when I read his series on King Arthur. This is the first in a trilogy about two Oxford students who end up in Albion, a land of kings, bard, druids, and war.

August 2004:
Mary Magdalene, by Ellen Gunderson Traylor
Historical fiction, telling the story of Mary Magdalene and how she became the prostitute who washed Jesus' feet with expensive anointing oil. It's a great book. The author has written a whole slew of these books, on both Old and New Testament characters, which flesh out the stories told in the Bible. Sure, it's fiction, but still interesting to see one interpretation of what life was like for each of these characters.

I don't know what I was doing this month that kept me from reading more, but I hope I don't ever do it again.

Speaking of not reading, I'm supposed to be doing homework. Let's do this again sometime.