Tag: From the Archives Page 25 of 28

I’ve been waiting for Dr. Venema’s book on the New Perspective for quite some time, and was quite excited to see Getting the Gospel Right in the latest BoT flyer–and my wife could probably testify to my outraged yell when I saw the page count. “This is what we’ve been waiting for?!?!” 112 pages? Bah.

But at GA, Dr. Venema spoke during the MARS luncheon (very tasty, btw) and said two things that made me feel better about the book. 1. They’d brought some for commissioners to purchase at half-price and 2. This book was sort of a teaser for a longer, less popularly written work to come out in the fall. Yay! So I picked up a copy 🙂 I wouldn’t let myself spend any more money on the way home for another novel, so I kept this out of the suitcase so I could finish up the trip with it–figured a popular-level book based on material I’ve read would be just the thing for 10 pm after a long day of sitting in airports/flying–and it was.

As I said, the material in the book is based on articles that Dr. Venema had written previously (which I found very helpful) and you can probably get the heart of it in the lectures he delivered at Denver’s Providence OPC last year (go listen!)

That said–good book. Carefully written and crystal clear in its presentation–both positively and negatively. A great place to start. Or if you’ve already started, and then let yourself get stale on some of the issues, good way to kick start the ol’ gray matter.

Dusted Off: Summer Reading: Angels Flight by Michael Connelly

By HCNewton

On July 11, 2006

In Authors, Fiction, Harry Bosch, Michael Connelly, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Okay, Midway to Denver–hoped I could make it. Had a bunch of time in the airport before my flight, but I tried to do sermon prep and fuss with papers, so I don’t finish it too early into the trip. Was really looking forward to this one. I wasn’t disappointed at all.

In retrospect, I’m not certain this is the best of the Harry Bosch series–but as I read it, I was convinced it was–maybe not the best written, but most effective of the batch to this point. This particular L.A. murder is committed and investigated with the OJ trial and Rodney King case in the back of everyone’s mind. The city was portrayed as a tinderbox waiting to burst into flames again–black officers and detectives were used as a PR tool, white/black and in between showed their prejudices, and every character in the book waited for the other shoe to fall–it wasn’t a case of if there’d be another riot, just when.

There’s a few other aspects I’d like to touch on–and have got 3 or 4 paragraphs waiting to go, but I can’t write them without spoilers. This is one to read, folks.

Since I mentioned it below he dealt well with bringing back another character from the previous Bosch novel. An FBI agent that Harry’d clashed with is brought back to work the case with him–Harry now sees him as an ally (and vice versa) and the two quickly work together, allowing Harry to do exactly what needs to be done. Good to see him not fight with every single law enforcement type outside of his circle. Hope that’s a trend that continues.

Oh, and the references to the book/movie Blood Work were probably the funniest things I’ve read from Connelly (not a lot to compare it to–dude’s no Parker/early Crais)…a touch heavy handed the 2nd time, but well done.

Dusted Off: Summer Reading: Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker

By HCNewton

On July 7, 2006

In Authors, Fiction, Robert B. Parker, Western

Trunk Music was clearly not going to get me to Midway airport, so I had to do something–wandered around some bookstore in the Denver Airport for awhile, seeing a few things I’d been meaning to buy and a few I added to that list–but all more money than I was willing to fork out at the time. Thankfully, I spied Robert B. Parker’s Appaloosa before plunking down full cover price for some hardcover I was mildly interested in. It got me to Midway, and even gave me a few minutes of pre-sleep reading while at GA.

This is Parker’s second western novel–he did a western film for TNT (I think), too. While I wouldn’t call his previous western, Gunman’s Rhapsody (a retelling of the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holiday story) a complete waste of time, I did spend too much time thinking “they got this better in Tombstone.” But Parker’s been hitting his marks better lately (particularly with Double Play), so I had hope for this.

This was certainly better than Gunman’s Rhapsody. And better than, say, Potshot or Perish Twice. This isn’t Parker at his best. It’s him at his comfortable mediocre.

Basically we have two guns for hire–the veteran gun, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, his junior partner–men who travel from bad town to bad town, hiring on as peace officers, laying down a Draconian law, until the town gets cleaned up. Then they move on to the next town. Hmmm, sound like someone that Kurt Russell and Sam Elliott have played? They get hired on in Appaloosa to do just that.

So Cole and Everett drink a little, shoot a little, be tough, talk in obscure phrases, spend time with women of questionable repute…town gets cleaned up ‘cept for one man and his outfit…you can pretty well finish it all from there. There are a couple of twists to the story I hadn’t seen a million times–but I’m not a big western guy (tv, film or print), so I can’t say for certain how much of a cliché it is.

The most jarring thing about the story to me–and maybe the thing that keeps me from giving it a C+–is the dialogue. I have no problem with historical novels using contemporary language. I recall a handful of writing teachers telling us we had to make a choice when writing historical fiction–modern dialogue or vocab and diction proper to the time. Pick one and stick with it. Parker didn’t. He tended towards “Western” sentence structures (think Mal and Jayne in Firefly), with the occasional malapropism thrown in to make sure that Cole sounds uneducated. But he used contemporary jargon, contemporary attitudes. Parker’s given himself a reputation for being lax on the research front, and this confirms it for me.

I’ll give it a C- because it kept me occupied, didn’t feel entirely cheated out of my money, and I liked the horses–even if the metaphor there was heavy handed. (think Spenser coming out of the theater after seeing Empire Strikes Back)

Oh, just noticed on IMDB that Appaloosa’s going to be a movie directed by Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen’s attached. I could buy him as Cole. Honestly think it’d make a better movie than a book.

Dusted Off: Summer Reading: Trunk Music by Michael Connelly

By HCNewton

On July 6, 2006

In Authors, Fiction, Harry Bosch, Michael Connelly, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

I’m not exactly sure how this happened, but Michael Connelly has become my go-to guy for airplane reading. I’m guessing the way he writes keeps me distracted from what’s going on around me (y’know the whole hurtling through the air at hundreds of miles an hour and way too many feet off the ground). I picked up the next two Harry Bosch novels on my list to read to and from GA. I took care of most of Trunk Music by the time we hit Denver–and was able to finish the rest along the way to Chicago.

This was a really good read. Harry’s well, Harry. Tough, smart, cynical. His partner, Jerry Edgar, is back and more competent than before. Kizmin Rider is the new teammate–I like her a lot. The new lieutenant, Grace Billets adds a different dynamic to the series–I was tired of the antagonism between Harry and Lt. Pounds.

Of course, Internal Affairs gets in the middle of this–Harry’s in hot water with them again. When isn’t he? I get that this is a sure-fire way to add drama, but puh-leez, can we please get through a novel without these jokers getting involved?

Given recent discussion over at spensneak about Parker’s penchant for bringing characters back time and time again, I thought that one of the strong points of this book was the way that one particular character was brought back into Harry’s life. The same person, in a very different set of circumstances, and very clearly changed due to their previous encounter. Handled very well.

The action keeps hopping back and forth between LA and Vegas, with our intrepid detective in the center of it. Rider and Edgar do their share of the work, too. Probably see more good police work out of them than I remember from anyone else Harry worked with up to this point. Hope to see more examples of other good cops in the future.

The twists and turns are delivered well. After you read a few books by Connelly and you know he’s going to be pulling fast ones on you, changing the what you’re sure is the inevitable conclusion several times–but even knowing that, you can’t help but be thrown by them the way he does it. The action scenes play out well, vividly described, but not overburdening in detail.

Ending was quite satisfactory–a very subtle move for ol’ Harry. Good to see him do it.

This is the kind of book that Dan brown needs to study before he inflicts another dose of Langdon upon us all.

Dusted Off: Summer Reading: Solomon vs. Lord by Paul Levine

By HCNewton

On July 6, 2006

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Few months back, I’d read Gerald So’s post about this romantic comdey-ish novel, put it on my amazon wish list, and let it sit there for while. Finally got around to throwing it in the shopping cart so I could get the free shipping.

Boy, am I ever glad I did that! Paul Levine has got himself a new fan. This was a fun read, very likeable characters, clever writing, and a satisfactory mystery.

Okay, so here’s the setup (very minor spoiler): You’ve got your easy-going, maverick, street smart, fun-loving guy with the unorthodox methods, Steve Solomon (read: David Addison, Sam Malone, Dharma Finklestein); and you’ve got your uptight, gorgeous, book smart, cultured, plays-by-the-rules gal, Victoria Lord (read: Maddie Hays, Diane Chambers, Greg Montgomery). He’s a defense lawyer, she’s a prosecutor (at least until she gets fired due to his antics). His name’s monosyllabic, hers isn’t. Hilarity and attraction ensues. Sure, have seen and read this more times than I can count. And it either works or it doesn’t. There is no middle ground. And it does. Wonderfully.

Their chemistry, the back-and-forth, the will-they-or-won’t-they fit nicely into the case that they try together. Actually, it’s not really a will-they-or-won’t-they, it’s a when-will-they. Levine tells (occasionally retells) the story by flipping back and forth between either perspective. Again, that’s something that works or it doesn’t. It worked.

The supporting cast of characters is great as well–Steve’s father, the gang of retirees who hang out at the courthouse, Victoria’s friend, her fiancé, the models who own the building Steve’s office is in, their client…they all fall into the category of “have seen this before,” but Levine uses them well–and they don’t normally feel like the clichés they could so easily be.

There’s one member of the supporting cast who doesn’t feel like he came from a paint-by-number mystery: Steve’s nephew, Bobby. Don’t want to give too much away, but he’s a sweet 10-year old boy, with a memory that won’t quit, autistic tendencies, the ability to make any name into a dirty anagram, and a loving uncle. Victoria will come to locate the decency of Steve in Bobby–and I have come to center the humanity of the series in Bobby.

The book can feel like a pilot episode for a TV series–and Gerald says there’s maybe one in the works. I hope not. I just can’t imagine them getting Bobby right–he’ll either be cast off, or turned into a Wesley Crusher-esque wunderkind. If they do push ahead–the success or failure of the show will be dependent upon one thing: casting. They get the right Steve and the right Victoria and the show will work. If not, fuhgeddaboutit.

Highly recommended–I’m pretty sure I had a smile on my face most of the time I was reading it–and for a book that clocks in just under 600 pages, that’s saying something.

Dusted Off: Summer Reading: Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen

By HCNewton

On June 14, 2006

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

There’s just no way that I could read this during the school year–but that’s not a slam, I just couldn’t justify the time. But it’s summer, and my brain is mushy. So I grabbed a couple of books just to read–not to think about, mull over, swim in (like Gibson’s foray out of SF)–just to read. I’d been wanting to try Hiaasen for awhile, and Skin Tight was the earliest work by him at the library, so figured I’d give it a try.

Glad I did–this was a fun read…dialogue was fairly snappy, some authentically comic situations, characters weren’t brilliantly drawn, but well enough. I can see why Dave Barry’s novels are (favorably) compared to his, and that’s a compliment. Probably a better way to spend a couple of hours than most of the fare at the movies this summer–but with as much lasting quality. Thumbs up.

…speaking of mushy brains: another book I checked out from the library should be arriving by the end of the week from amazon.com–which I was reminded of once I came home. How stupid can I be? Kletois and Norris are kindly uninvited to answer that one in the comments 🙂

Dusted Off: He took a duck in the face at two hundred and fifty knots

By HCNewton

On June 7, 2006

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Restarting William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition. Idoru was…okay. And All Tomorrow’s Parties didn’t quite click for me, so I didn’t do the standard bolt for amazon.com/Barnes & Noble when the hardcover came out.

I should have.

I bought the paper back sometime last year, and it sat patiently waiting for me until January. It took less than a page to know that this was his best in a long time–Gaiman says it’s his best since he rewrote all the rules in Neuromancer, he might be right. And it took two chapters to convince me that I wanted to live in this book for awhile. But responsibilities loomed larger, so I set it aside.

Felt the liberty to pick it back up this week, and crawled into bed with it twice, fully intent on not sleeping much. But I ended up closing my eyes before turning to page one. Didn’t have enough energy to step into the world inhabited by Cayce Pollard and her allergy to fashion.

On impulse, I sat down with it this afternoon, and slipped through three chapters. I should’ve taken the time to get up and change my playlist–Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisely, BNL and Matchbox 20 don’t work well with the intensity and pace of Gibson–but I was enjoying myself too much. Was tempted to send the kids to bed and lock the doors for another 324 pages. But they’d have complained and whined a lot and my wife has a key. So no point in that.

I’m hooked. Probably from this point

She knows, now, absolutely, hearing the white noise that is London, that Damien’s theory of jet lag is correct: that her mortal soul is leagues behind her, being reeled in on some ghostly umbilical down the vanished wake of the plane that brought her here, hundreds of thousands of feet above the Atlantic. Souls can’t move that quickly, and are left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.

Tho’ that just clinched the effect of this:

Five hours’ New York jet lag and Cayce Pollard wakes in Camden Town to the dire and ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythm.

Best first line since

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

I’m a self-professed TV addict, but when you have someone who can use words and ideas like Gibson can, you know that flickering and flashing images (or even fixed images of a graphic novel, etc.) can’t compete. No picture is worth a thousand of Gibson’s words. The pleasure that you can experience–and re-experience and remember and long for from words tower above the high that can be gotten from anything else. I suspect that’s what prompted Nora when she told Harry to “talk hard.”

No real point to this…but if you’re wondering why I seem extra content over the next couple of days, well, now you know. This is where I am.

Dusted Off: Almost as Handy as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

By HCNewton

On May 30, 2006

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

But the last thing that would apply are the word’s “Don’t Panic” in large, friendly letters on the cover. A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat by Joel Kilpatrick (whom you know from Lark News: A good source for Christian news) is quite the handy guidebook. The premise is fairly straightforward, and can easily be figured out from the title. It’s a very funny satirical introduction to the strange North American creature called the “evangelical.”

We’re told how to recognize Evangelicals in the wild, what kind of fun they have, how they worship (priceless), how they mate, how they educate their young, etc. It also includes a handy glossary of Evangelical Terms–and of course, the words to Footprints and The Legend of the Sand Dollar. Absolute must have’s to understand Evangelicals.

As with all satire, there’s some parts that really miss–but there are parts that are direct hits. Overall, it’s well worth the time worth several chuckles–and the occasionally out-loud laugh.

It’s really best to not read this book straight through. The humor wears a bit thin if you do, actually gets grating. Take it in bits and pieces here and there, and it’ll stay fresh.

Oh yeah, if you don’t appreciate the humor in Credenda/Agenda–skip this. Kilpatrick’s satire isn’t as sharp (his tongue is more blunt, not serrated), but while it’s not the same style, it is the same genre.

(H/T to kletois for pointing out that my original title was garbledygook)

Dusted Off: Finished it

By HCNewton

On May 27, 2006

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

It’s better written than the last book. But, on the whole…humbug. Not sure if it’s a convoluted conspiracy tale wrapped up in an excuse to spout off about religion, or a bunch of religious hooey wrapped up in an excuse to write a convoluted conspiracy tale.

Gonna sit on that one a few days, do think I want to write some about this. Hopefully have something sort of different to offer.

Dusted Off: Just Shoot Me Now

By HCNewton

On May 25, 2006

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Langdon stared at the picture, his horror now laced with fear. The image was gruesome and profoundly strange, bringing with it an unsettling sense of déjà vu. A little over a year ago, Langdon had received a photograph of a corpse and a similar request for help. Twenty-four hours later, he had almost lost his life inside Vatican City. This photo was entirely different, and yet something about the scenario felt disquietingly familiar.

I know the feeling.

Actually, Brown’s showing a greater degree of subtlety so far than I thought he was capable. Still, the first few chapters are disquietingly familiar–practically carbon copies of Angels & Demons

(don’t worry, after I vent my spleen about the aesthetic problems with this thing, I’ll hop on to an extended post about Brown and religion….which, y’know, nobody’s doing…)