Get Lost in Literature

  "I'd rather face an honest skeptic than a hundred who believe they know God, but are really in thrall to their own piety."  In their latest adventure, Detectives Strike and Robin are hired by a worried father to find dirt on the Universal Humanitarian Church (cult) so his son can be freed. Robin chooses to go undercover at the local branch, Chapman Farm, subjecting herself to, and witnessing first-hand the abuses of the church. Meanwhile, Strike is trying to keep his other active cases progressing forward without the help of his trusted partner and discovers his job under threat by his usual too beautiful, scorned lovers and an incompetent surveillance team of unknown origin.    The book starts slow, with a series of letters between Strike's client, his son, and his lawyer. So slow in fact, I doubted the book would ever speed up. But speed up it does, making 900+ pages read like a hundred. I couldn't put the book down once it got rolling. The concept of a cult i

  “He had thought love as a policy made a lot of sense for those who could manage it, and anyone who could manage it belonged in religious life. The rest of us have to struggle with more ordinary love, the common or garden variety: love as a crippling condition. Love as a syndrome.” ― Gregory Maguire, The Next Queen of Heaven So my Q entry is a bit of a stretch, but I hadn't read a book that starts with Q and I settled for a title with a Q in it. Today's review is short and to the point. What do I think about this book? I think anyone who gave it a rating of two stars or less, doesn't understand satire or is too deeply devout to laugh at themselves. I thought it was fantastic to use humor to bring a bit of reality to light; the constant press for moral conformity from religious groups and the conflicts with the flawed individuals who attend. I also thought the parallels between Jeremy's long failed relationship with Willem and Tabitha's recently failed relationship

  “That version, as with so many of the stories we tell about our history, erased a woman- a plain, bad heroine- in favor of a less messy and more palatable yarn about two feuding brothers from New England.” ― Emily M. Danforth, Plain Bad Heroines Plain Bad Heroines is a book with two settings; the story begins in 1902 Rhode Island, at Brookhants School for Girls. The girls at the school become infatuated with each other, and obsessed with a memoir by teen author, Mary MacLane. They start a society that worships the book and, eventually, die tragically with the book in their company. Libbie Brookhants and her long time girlfriend, Alexandra Trills are trying to unravel the mystery before they themselves become unraveled. The second setting is in modern day Hollywood, where actresses Harper Harper and Audrey Wells have been cast to play leading roles in an upcoming horror movie titled: Happenings at Brookhants , based on the novel written by teen writer Merritt Emmons who will be consu

“I may not know how to fly but I know how to read, and that's almost the same thing.” ― Gregory Maguire, Out of Oz  Civil unrest doesn't quite cover the state of Oz as Dorothy re-enters, as Rain grows up. The world of Oz is at war, The Free State of Munchkinland versus Everyone Else. Rain spends half her childhood in hiding and alone, the other half spent on the run with the Company of the Clock of the Time Dragon. By adolescence she's reunited with her family, unsure how to love, fearless, and angry. Out of Oz ties up the series beautifully. The story starts with its fair share of tragedies; Rain seemingly orphaned, Lady Glinda a prisoner of war, Sir Brr and Nor in a union destined for doom, and hapless Dorothy riding an earthquake into Munchkinland just as Munchkinland needs a scapegoat. Emperor Shell has declared himself a deity. Liir and Candle struggle to do what's right by their daughter, when they hardly know what's right for themselves. Trism, Commander Cher

  “You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.” Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. A mysterious, one-of-a-kind circus that, "Opens at nightfall, closes at dawn," and is filled with wondrously impossible exhibits. Hector Bowen and Alexander choose their prodigies, Celia and Marco, and manipulate them into participating in a game with the circus as their venue. This is no ordinary circus and it isn't just a venue; this is a battleground where magicians wage war in plain sight of people who don't believe in magic. This is about the people who play the game, those who witness it, and those swept along in the unforgiving, enchanting wake of the night circus. First things first. There is absolutely, no way to review this book without praising the attention to detail. Everyo

The Mongoliad (Book 1) by  Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo "Boys who had been brandishing wooden swords a moment ago were suddenly armed with long steel." I don't know why, in my head, I thought this story was going to be a fantasy. Not that it wasn't fantastic, it was just surprising to find this is more along the lines of historical/speculative fiction. And there's a lot going on this book. Mongol's have taken over Europe and Asia. Cnan a Binder--a Binder is someone who helps people find their paths--is sent to guide a small band of knights on their quest to overthrow the Khan of Khans. Gansuhk, is a mongol warrior, ordered away from his comforts of roaming the steppes on horseback to the court of the Khan of Khans...Why? To control the Khan's drinking habit. I admit, I'm not familiar with any of the authors of this book, so I have the luxury of not being able to pick out one author'