leswag97's reviews
228 reviews

Walker Percy has expertly taken us along a 4-day long journey close to the end of the world. Our protagonist is a bad Catholic—but he’s the best protagonist we could have asked for. Although he is troubled, depressed, a sex-addict, and a drunkard, he is also real and honest, and he’s the only character who keeps his head while the world falls apart.
The religious, Christian, and biblical references throughout the book make it an incredibly enjoyable read for religious people, especially those with some knowledge of Christianity and Catholicism.

Orwell tells a gripping and interesting story of a world that i hope I never see and wonder if I am now living within. As the book trudges along—always with a glimmer of hope—one is amazed by the horror and corruption of this dystopian future of the world. I would recommend it to others, if only because of its helpful commentary on the importance of individuality, freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and one’s intrinsic worth. When these values that we take for granted are stripped from a society, one is better able to see how important and crucial they are to making the world a better, more peaceful, and healthier home.

This book was a fun, quick read. A little less than 120 pages devoted to Radiohead’s third studio album “OK Computer.” Griffiths did a wonderful job at giving helpful background concerning the history of terms such as “album” and “record,” and the effects that history’s transition from “vinyl”—33 1/3’s and 45’s—to “CD” had on the creation of music in popular culture music.

Personally, I would have preferred more of an emphasis placed on the lyrical content, thematic elements, and cultural world surrounding the album “OK Computer,” for I think much can be said about these topics, and I simply find it more interesting than the history of music and music theory.

Griffiths is a clever, funny, and quick-witted writer. It is evident from this work that he is knowledgeable not only about depressing 90’s progressive rock music, but music throughout the centuries, as well as the vast array of voices speaking about these things.

My rating of only 2 stars out of a 5-star ranking system does not reflect the quality of the book in and of itself, but rather my assessment of it based on how much I enjoyed reading through Griffith’s work. He has done a good service to Yorke and Radiohead!

In this book, Rick McKinley does a good job at using a frequently found metaphor in Scripture—the metaphor of Exile—as a way in which to approach the Church’s place in the U.S.A. at this point in history. Rather than agreeing with much Christian mass media that the U.S.A. is a Christian nation, McKinley proposes that we live in a post-Christian nation, and as a result, God’s people are called to live differently than we have in prior seasons and times. For McKinley, living in the U.S.A. is not living in Jerusalem, but in Babylon.

With this framework in mind, McKinley takes his readers on a journey through Scripture and through culture, helping Christians in the 21st century in the U.S.A. to live in the way that the Exilic people of God have been called to live. Rather than baptizing Babylon or burning Babylon, McKinley offers the biblical alternative of finding ways in our lives as Christians to both bless and resist Babylon!

The latter section of the book deals specifically with practices that Christians have been practicing throughout Church history and should be practicing today in light of our place in culture and in the world at large.

This work was somewhat elementary at times, and McKinley sometimes fell into the habit of writing in a roundabout way; in other words, he could have shortened the length of the book by being more concise (but perhaps he did not feel as though he had enough content to create a full-length book if he did not write in this way—and I can relate to that). All in all, this book was helpful in reminding me that culture at large is not something that we approach the same way in every circumstance. Sometimes. we bless Babylon. At other points, we resist Babylon. All the while, we seek the peace of Babylon, while pledging our allegiance to Christ, the Prince of Peace and the King of Kings!

This book, although rather short, is powerful and poignant! Ray Bradbury, fueled by the time and context surrounding his writing, has created a society that is scary, dark, and all too believable. Reading it in a day and age of instant gratification, of virtual reality, of the diminishing of freedom of thought and speech, and of Air Pods, will leave any reader cautious of where society as a whole could go and fueled by a desire to preserve freedom, a right to learn, to speak, and to grow.

The story in and of itself is not as breathtaking, awing, or fascinating as other speculative fiction works set in a dystopian future society—such as Orwell’s “1984”—but where at times the narrative is lacking, Bradbury makes up for it with his fantastic writing style. His imagery, his metaphor, his simile—all of it is tasteful and remarkable. I have read few writers from the 20th century that have helped me to feel, taste, smell, see, and hear truly what the world of “Fahrenheit 451” and what the experiences of the characters therein are like.

It is easy to see why “A Farewell To Arms” is one of Ernest Hemingway’s most well-known and beloved works of fiction. It is a real and honest story of two lovers in the midst of the torrential World War I, and it is exciting and heartbreaking.

It took me a while to get into the story, and even as I finished reading the last sentence of the book—and even while enjoying the ending of the book quite a bit, and being engrossed in the storyline—I was and still am not confident that I thoroughly enjoyed the book as a whole. I both love and hate Hemingway’s writing style. There are moments where he says things so poignantly and perfectly that I’m impressed, and his quick-paced prose style is entertaining, to say the least.

Yet, at many moments throughout both “A Farewell To Arms” and his first novel, “The Sun Also Rises,” I realized that I was bored, or daydreaming, or simply lost. This may simply be a critique of my understanding and reading abilities, but may also point to my preferences in writing styles, as well. I also am not the most impressed always with his characters. Throughout much of the story, I found his characters—even the main ones—quite flat and bland. Perhaps, this was intentional on Hemingway’s part, or I am simply missing something, but I would have liked to see more intriguing and entertaining characters.

Hemingway may not be my favorite author, and I probably would not read “A Farewell To Arms” again, but I would recommend it to friends, even if just for the ending. He leads his readers well, and he gives them an ending worth waiting for.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I have never read one of Madeleine L’Engle’s works of fiction, but still I felt as though as soon as I began to turn the first few pages of “Walking On Water” that I knew L’Engle, and I could see her heart.

She shares much insight into the intersection of faith and art—an intersection that most definitely exists, and sometimes in places that we may be surprised to find it. In a manner of writing akin to a “stream of consciousness,” L’Engle questions our pre-conceived notions of “Christian” art, and encourages all readers—saints and artists alike—to “feed the lake,” as she put it; a helpful metaphor pointing to the important work that each and every one of us have been called to do, and how whatever work we do helps in creating something far bigger than ourselves.

This book was far more interesting than I originally imagined it would be. I have not read much contemporary or modern fiction recently, but after “Station Eleven” was recommended and given to me by a friend, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised.

Naturally, this book would be interesting and captivating to anyone who is a fan of post-apocalyptic works, as it takes place years after a flu epidemic which wipes out much of the world’s population. The characters of Mandel’s post-apocalyptic world are not the characters one would expect from such a bleak future. There are still characters who love, who act, who hate to kill, who create, and who look forward to a world where perhaps life could return back to normal. The characters are deeply human.

The storyline itself is interesting, as the timeline and perspective are constantly on the move. At times, Mandel writes from the perspective of the paparazzi, years before the end of the world, and at other times, she writes from the viewpoint of a child actor grown up in the bleak world after the epidemic. This parallelism in her writing helps in creating an ironic look at current life—life that is focused far too much on tabloids, on undercutting each other, on taking far too many things for granted.

All in all, this is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone—even those that are not naturally predisposed to taking interest in a post-apocalyptic work of fiction.

“The Illustrated Man” is an exciting journey through the mind of Ray Bradbury, as best represented and told in the form of short stories. They are poignant, powerful, and thought-provoking. They ask questions about the future, while criticizing or taking inventory of the present.

These short stories, for the most part, focus on space travel and technological innovation, from which abound ethical concerns and problems. The stuff of science fiction is not an end in and of itself for Bradbury; rather, these stories of the future, of time travel, of Martians, and of alien invasions take a look at humanity and the world at the time of Bradbury’s writing. Considering the Cold War, the space race between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., and much more of the culture of the mid-20th century, Bradbury’s stories are meaningful, and they continue to be meaningful today as the Western world continues to progress, as well as with the growing interest in space travel.