Michael Chriton has quite a fascination with science, technology and the consequences and ramifications that advances in those areas have on society. He seems to have a common thread in his novels about what we could be bringing on ourselves by the uncontrolled and monitors pursuit of scientific advancement. From what I have read he is not against the advancement of science, but rather that we need to think through the consequences of them.

The Andromeda Strain is an interesting commentary on the consequences of space travel and research about space. The lack of foreknowledge about what the researchers are studying leads to VERY dire consequences.

The Andromeda Strain is a relatively easy read that looks at some very deep concepts. I would highly recommend this book, although as a parent you might want to read it yourself so that you can determine if you child is ready for it. It would be suitable for teens, but maybe not for pre-teens.

Below is a trailer for the original movie. There has recently been a mini-series made based on the book, but the original movie stays very close to the original, whereas the new series takes a lot of creative liberty with the story line.

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I’ll cut right to the chase and say that I plan to read the rest of the Oregon Files series.

The book Goden Buddha is a real page turner. You are really thrown into the midst of the mission of the crew of the Oregon. After a brief travel through time to set the stage for the book you quickly get introduced to the main characters of the book.

On the Oregon there is a large crew and you never really get to know any of them too deeply. The person that you probably get to know the most is Juan Cabrillo, who is the “Chairman of the Corporation”. This book is mostly about the action, but I can see how over time, and the course of the Oregon Files book series the character development could grow.

The crew of the Oregon are basically a bunch of mercenaries for hire, but they choose their missions based on being able to not only earn a profit, but also make a difference in the world.

So if you want a good action / war movie, the Golden Buddha could be the right book for you.

You can read more reviews over at Amazon, Golden Buddha, and please feel free to leave your own comments about the book below.

The post Golden Buddha – The Oregon Files by Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo – Book Review first appeared on Blog About Books.

Bleachers is unlike any other John Grisham novel that I have read. It is a story set in small town USA that is based almost entirely around American Football (or gridiron to those of us not in the USA or Canada).

Your main character in the book is Neely Crenshaw, who is returning to his home town of Messina to bury his high school football coach, Eddie Rake. Both Neely Crenshaw and Eddie Lake are home town icons. Eddie for how he ran the football team and Neely for being probably the best quarterback the town has ever produced.

Given the length of the book the character development is excellent and the story is a lot of fun to read.

I would highly recommend the book to anyone who likes American High School football, and definitely to people who have played it. You will more than likely recognize many of the characters in the book as typical characters that you would have gone to school with.

You can read many other reviews about this book, or even purchase it for yourself, over at Amazon.com.

Technorati Tags: John Grisham, Book Review, Bleachers, travel book

The post Bleachers by John Grisham – Book Review first appeared on Blog About Books.

After Basil Hallward paints a beautiful, young man’s portrait, his subject’s frivolous wish that the picture change and he remain the same comes true. Dorian Gray’s picture grows aged and corrupt while he continues to appear fresh and innocent.Though not a “Christian” book, I have heard this book described more than once as the best illustration of sin in classic literature. Besides being a great, well-written novel, this book does paint quite a picture of the ugliness of sin. Makes me think twice of ever commissioning a self portrait, that’s for sure.

The post The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde first appeared on Blog About Books.

I have read very few books quite as bleak as The House of Sand and Fog, so saying that I “enjoyed” this book doesn’t seem quite appropriate. I was captivated by it. The story centers around a house and the people struggling against eachother to own it. Each chapter flip- flops from one voice, that of Persian immigrants, the Behrani family, to the other, a house keeper named Kathy Nicolo. I much prefered the story from the Behrani family, it was a mix of flashbacks of their lilfe in Iran and life as now as struggling immigrants. Kathy’s story was twinged with desperation, helplessness and too much sex (as far as I’m concerned). Read the book, then rent the movie, which won a few Oscars. It really made the story come to life.

Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew composed of several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the U.S. four years before: “I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing.” The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter’s chances of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, and on impulse he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory to disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation–with dire results.

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“Offers such magic, mystery and sadness that, literally, this reader turned the last page and decided to reread it. Immediately. It’s that hauntingly wonderful”

Arundhati Roy conjures a whoosh of wordplay that rises from the pages like a brilliant jazz improvisation. The God of Small Things is nominally the story of young twins Rahel and Estha and the rest of their family, but the book feels like a million stories spinning out indefinitely. The God of Small Things is at once exotic and familiar to the Western reader, written in an English that’s completely new and invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language.

A review on the back of this book describes Roy’s story like an onion being peeled. This is an apt description — page by page, more of the complex family dynamic is revealed. Like an onion, there are scenes and events that are enough to make your eyes water; however, it does carry a powerful message of love and acceptance. It is a riveting read, and I would recommend it with a disclaimer — this is not a Christian novel, and is not for the faint of heart.

The post The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy first appeared on Blog About Books.

“At once audacious, dazzling, pretentious and infuriating, Mitchell’s third novel weaves history, science, suspense, humor and pathos through six separate but loosely related narratives. “

The post Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell first appeared on Blog About Books.

“Eddie is a grizzled war veteran who feels trapped in a meanless life of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. As the park has changed over the years – from the Loop-the-Loop to the Pipeline Plunge so, too, has Eddie changed, from optimistic youth to embittered old age. His days are a dull routine of work, loneliness and regret.

Then on his 83rd birthday, Eddie dies in a tragic accident, trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. With his final breath, he feels two small hands in his – and then nothing. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden, but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by 5 people who were in it. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each one changed your path forever.

One by one, Eddie’s five people illuminate the unseen connections of his earthly life. As the story builds to it’s stunning conclusion, Eddie desperately seeks redemption in the still unknown last act of his life: Was it a heroic success or a devastating failure? The answer, which comes from the most unlikely of sources is as inspirational as a glimpse of heaven itself. In Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom gives us an astoundingly original story that will change everything you’ve ever thought about the afterlife – and the meaning of our lives on earth.”

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“Be prepared to be thoroughly challenged, proked and nudged, both subtly and directly, in this humorous collection of stories and anecdotes from popular speaker and author Jeff Lucas. Jeff takes you on a memorable journey through life’s ups and downs, pointing out lessons that need to be learned on the way. You will laugh, cry, scream ‘thats me’ and ‘I’ve been there’. But most of all, you’ll know that you can do better if only you try.”

The post Lucas on Life by Jeff Lucas first appeared on Blog About Books.

“Troy Phelan is a self-made billionaire, one of the richest men in the United States. He is also eccentric, reclusive, confined to a wheelchair, and looking for a way to die. His heirs, to no one’s surprise – especially Troy’s – are circling like vultures.
Nate O’Riley is a high-octane Washington litigator who’s lived too hard, too fast, for to long. His second marriage is in shambles, he is emerging from his fourth stay in rehab armed with little more than his fragile sobriety, good intentions and resilient sense of humor. Returning to the real world is always difficult, but this time it’s going to be murder.
Rachel Lane is a young woman who chose to give her life to God, who walked away from the modern world with all its strivings and trappings and emcumbrances, and went to live and work with a primitive tribe of Indians in the deepest jungles of Brazil.
In a story that mixes legal suspense with a remarkable adventure, their lives are forever altered by the startling secret of The Testament.”

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