Finished Obsidian Butterfly

Best Anita Blake book yet.  Mingling a much skewed Aztec mythology with a cautionary tale for plunderers of archeological sites, Hamilton thrills and terrifies and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end.

I am now about to start The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith.

Finished WORLD WITHOUT END

I'll say one thing for Ken Follett...he know how to give a satisfying ending.  Enjoyed the book greatly.  I loved that Merthin found himself crying at the funeral at the end and realized he was crying for "what might have been."  I've done that myself.  Something never happening the way it should have is a loss and deserves some grief.



I have now started Laurell K. Hamilton's Obsidian Butterfly.  Edward (the assassin) has called her in to help him get a true monster, and, for the first time, he is actually fearful.  This promises to be one heck of a monster!



TR has finished Jim Butcher's Side Jobs and is working on the Phrynie Fisher series.  This is a 20's flapper who is well off and dabbles in solving mysteries.  We discovered the series on Saturday nights on PBS and fell in love with it (along with Death in Paradise).  I probably won't read the books--I have enough books in my "to read" pile--but we are both enjoying watching the series.

WORLD WITHOUT END, p 437

There is a saying that Texas has miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.  Well, Ken Follett seems to write about years and years and years of nothing but misery and toil and disappointment and and misery.  I've decided he is a modern-day Victor Hugo.

Finished THE MIRROR OF HER DREAMS

Stephen Donaldson (even more so than most other writers) creates really interesting and sometimes very likable characters and then puts them through HELL.  Luckily the story started in this book is finished in the next book....it won't take lots of books to get through the whole story.  As usual with Donaldson, I enjoyed his characters, the environment he created, and the action of the story.  I look forward to reading the next book in the series (Mordant's Need.)  I gave it a good rating on Goodreads because I couldn't put it down and I thought about it for days afterward.



I have now started the sequel to Pillars of the Earth.  It tied in with Pillars within the first couple of chapters.  Again it has some very likable characters and some sniveling crafty creeps...

Finished ROSEANNE MY LIFE AS A WOMAN

I gained some insight to Roseanne's life, sense of humor, and purpose.  I liked her before, I like her better now.  I very much enjoyed the book.



I have now started THE MIRROR OF HER DREAMS by Stephen Donaldson.  Once again Donaldson beguiles me with wonderful language and unlikely heroes.  Teresa suffers from what could be terminal shyness, caused by ego undermining neglect and Geraden comes across as a well-meaning screw-up who can't walk without tripping over his own feet.  I look forward to watching them evolve through this series.

Finished THE ORIGIN OF SATAN

Though Satan had been mentioned in Jewish tradition, he had been an angel used by God to obstruct or test his people.  One sect of Judaism that existed during Jesus' time, the Essenes, considered him to embody all evil, but this was just one small sect.  The first of the gospels included in what we now call the New Testament was chronologically written by Mark.  The following, in the order they were written, were Matthew, Luke, and John.  Mark was writing about 35-40 years after Jesus' death.  John, about 100 years later.  Read in that order for allusions to Satan and to the Jews, Pagels notices that Satan becomes progressively worse and Jews become progressively more maligned.  She assumes that Mark's denunciation of certain Jewish religious hierarchy is caused by Jews' ostracism of early Christians from the synagogues, community and their own families.  She also thinks he may have been trying to seem inconsequential to the Romans.  In later gospels we see the Romans more and more maligned as the persecution of the Christians grew.

 

I have found all three books I have read by Elaine Pagels:  The Gnostic Gospels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, and finally, The Origin of Satan to be mind expanding and serious food for thought.

I have now started Roseanne, My Life as a Woman, by Roseanne Barr.  I am only on page 25, but already have had some belly laughs as well as some serious moments.

Finished THE UNSPOKEN

I enjoyed the book.  Heather Graham's view of spirits is similar to mine--they won't be much different than they were in life and most will be benign.  The "mummy's curse" theme of this book is a fun approach and there is some information on the ages of ancient Egypt that I hadn't known before which is always fun as well as some facts about Lake Michigan I hadn't known.  I'd enjoyed Chicago when I went, but this book makes me think I'd enjoy going back.



I have now started The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels.  It examines the Bible and other religious writing to discover the beginnings of the devil as we see him in present day Christianity.  It would appear that he pretty much appears in his present form with the beginning of Christianity and seems to be used to blame the Jews for Jesus' death as a way of telling the Romans that they had nothing to fear from Christians.