Finished The Final Reflection

Star Trek's major running theme was probably anti-racism and anti-oppression of all kinds.  At times, its exploration of this theme seems naive and clumsy by our standard today, but at other times, it was masterful enough to stand up to today's viewers.  This book is that kind of masterful.

At first, I was worried reading the review of it on Goodreads.  It was mostly gamers who liked it citing the descriptions of the games played by the characters and their relationship to war and battle.  But, what made me smile were the great characters and their interactions.  The book is told from the point of view of a Klingon Captain.  What fun to see a Federation diplomatic conference through the eyes of a Klingon.  Let alone to enjoy a growing friendship between that same Klingon and the Federation Ambassador who is also a man of peace.

Without a doubt, one of the best Star Trek novels I have read!

I am now starting Must Love Hellhounds, a book of four stories edited by Charlaine Harris who also wrote the first story, "The Britlingens Go to Hell."  It has started quite well.  This is the first story I've read by Harris that is not about one of her two usual characters.  The "Britlingens" of this story are two female bodyguards who are hired by a local to help him retrieve something he had left in "Hell" on a former trip there....

Finished The Gnostic Gospels

Wow!  Well, if you thought there was something for everyone in The Bible, add these to it and there really is!  Enough contradictions and room for interpretation exist to boggle the mind (literally.)  Basically, the orthodox church and its organization adapted best to the material in our present day Bible (by design, of course.)  The sections left out lent themselves to a more self discovery kind of theology that could exist without the structure of the early church (Deacons, Priests, and Bishops.)  Also, the Gnostic Gospels, letters and apocrypha that were not included were very complicated and difficult, not to say time consuming, to follow and probably would not have lent themselves to the rapid growth the church experienced.  However, I think there is much there to speak to us today...certainly to speak to me.

To counteract the heaviness of that book, I am starting The Final Reflection, a Star Trek (TOS) novel by John M. Ford.  It is set in the Klingon nation 40 years prior to the Organian Peace (an episode in the original series in which Klingons and humans preparing to go to battle were simply stopped by the superior race of Organians who, using the power of thought, made all weapons too hot to handle.)  It should prove quite relaxing...  :-)

The Gnostic Gospels, p 102

This is more a reaction than a report or review:

When I was 13 and studying for my baptism with my minister (American Baptist), I asked if our church believed in a literal virgin birth, or was it spiritual, or even just parable.  My minister, who had been our minister since we joined that church when I was about six, replied that there were still people studying that question.  He said that, as I studied throughout my life, I should pay attention to those feelings and beliefs that resonated with my soul, and that is what I should believe.

Wow!  He started me on a lifetime of study and seeking that will never end.  However, there was one thing I already knew.  It was not an answer to that question, but it was a part of it:  I knew that when I sang, my soul sang with me.  And, wherever I sang--in church or in the woods or on the stage or in my bedroom, I felt the same.  So my soul could rejoice anywhere--anywhere could be my church.  I've never been blessed with visions of God or with hearing the physical voice of God.  But I can sing and I know, for me, music is connected to the voice of God.

The Gnostics believed in knowledge of self--that we are created in the image of God, so to know ourselves is to know God.  Over the years, I have found many other things that make my soul sing--birdsong, the wind in the trees (and in my hair), a beautiful story, laughter--mine and that of others, and many more things.  I have come to a knowledge that what brings me close to God may not be the same things that bring others there and that that doesn't matter.  For one of the things that makes my soul sing is watching others seek out that which makes their souls sing.  Perhaps I have always been a Gnostic at heart.  Perhaps we all have...

Finished While My Pretty One Sleeps

I really enjoy Mary Higgins Clark's writing style.  The reader learns exactly what happens, what people say to each other, what characters are thinking.  We see what they are wearing and what their surroundings are like.  However, we have to draw conclusions for ourselves--we are given enough clues to figure out the mystery, but we are also given lots of red herrings.

The characters are all interesting and understandable--even the villains.  This book is no different.  Set in the fashion industry in New York with characters that include the retired police commissioner, a freelance writer (muckraker) and a publisher, as well as the main character--the owner of a posh fashion shop, the book is rich in both character and action.

TR has finished The Hunger Games series (which I refuse to read) and is now reading a John Le Carre book.  I have started The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels.  So far it is considerably more interesting than I thought it would be.  It would seem that, even with these gospels mostly destroyed, much of protestant Christianity has come around to some beliefs in common with the early Gnostics.

Finished Blood in the Water

And with it, I am now finished with The Vampire Files, Vol. 2.  The action is not completely resolved.  The next book will start midstream.  This book was pretty much entirely about Jack trying to protect his friends from the gangsters who are after him.  This is made more complicated by Jack's avoidance of killing anyone (even a gangster who is trying to kill him.)  Because Jack is not invulnerable (he can be hurt, he can get knocked out, and it is possible to kill him), these problems are not as easily solved as one would think.

These books were great fun.

I am now starting While My Pretty One Sleeps by Mary Higgins Clark.  TR has finished Catching Jay (?), the last of The Hunger Games books which I refuse to read.  The premise, to me, is down there with The Lord of the Flies and 1984...showing a belief in the baser instincts of humanity and I am not willing to read such downers.

Finished Fire in the Blood

This is the second book in The Vampire Files, Vol 2.  In this Jack and Escott are hired to find an expensive bracelet which leads them into 30's Chicago gangsterland (again.)  Now, for the first time, Jack encounters the dark side of his nature and is completely frightened by it...  Pretty good book.

Finished Art in the Blood

Finished the first book in The Vampire Files, Vol. 2.  The only vampire in this book is Jack and, in the other books, the only supernatural characters I've met so far have been related to his making as a vampire.  Most stories so far have only that one sup...  Jack was a reporter but now has a friend who is a detective and who he works with.  Jack has two talents that help him as a detective--his ability to get around locked doors and his powers of hypnosis.  Though it is difficult to hurt him permanently, it is not hard to hurt him temporarily and this can be bad for the humans he is protecting.  So, suspense exists.

The stories are set in the late 30's Chicago, so gangsters show up in most of the stories as does the "noir" atmosphere of the era.  This one centers on the art world and was quite enjoyable (a true mystery that the reader is able to solve along with Jack.)  Fun.