Review: Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson explores our Universe, from snowflakes to weather to ants, with wonder and awe at their creation and their purposes. But he doesn’t stop at the awe and creation of our Earth’s plants and animals, but goes on to seriously explore poetry, physics, gravity, good and evil, sunsets and darkness, and so much more through a stream of consciousness style. At times the author lost me on the point he was trying to make, but that did not derail my ride at all. I couldn’t choose a favorite excerpt from the book, but to give you an idea of N.D. Wilsons’ wide-eyed wonder at our world, I chose this excerpt:

“Snow is so overused. One sentimental, overly structured ice flake might have some value. But God never seems capable of moderation or of understanding the basic concepts behind supply and demand. He constantly devalues His own products. Give me one flake, a cool room, and a magnifying glass and I will admire its artistry. But right now, I’m sitting by my window on a Christmas night, staring out at winter wastefulness in the extreme. Miles of clouds, clouds larger than states, have turned into crystal stars and now streak silently past my window to their deaths. Well, not quite silently. The stars are falling fast enough that if you step outside, like I just did, you can hear the whisper of collisions and delicate frozen impacts, each six-pointed perfection complaining as it arrives-

“They told me I was special. There’s two and a half bazillion of us in this hedge and more falling. Does anyone here care about overpopulation? A market crash? Close the sky. Lobby for a moratorium.”

But the storm-whispers sound more pleased to me. Excited even-

“I knew I was different from the rest of you plebes. Look how silly and gothic you all look with your skinny, knobbed arms. I’m unique. Neoclassical.”

Try counting the flakes. Really count them. I’ll step back outside for a quick estimate. Let’s be conservative. Assuming that we’re in the middle of this storm and it only stretches ten miles in each direction (Ha, says the weather man), and assuming that the storm is a tiny one hundred feet tall, and skipping the preexisting ground accumulation, and eyeball estimating the frenzied blizzard’s air content at a meager ten flakes per cubic foot, then we are looking at about … 11,151,360,000,000 flakes in the air above a small patch in Idaho at one particular moment on Christmas night at the end of the year 2007. Just this storm, this tiny little slice of winter could divvy out seventeen hundred flakes to every person on this planet. More impressively, that number has the US national debt beat by trillions.”

And this one…

“I have an olive on my desk. It is a product of Spain. It was grown on a tree. Which means that the chlorophyll in the olive leaves absorbed energy from the sunlight and used that energy to attack the air. Carbon was harvested from the carbon dioxide, the oxygen was released back into the lungs of Spanish children, and the carbon was shaped into leaves and bark and this olive. Like me, the olive is carbon based. It is made of cells, which are made of molecules, which are made of atoms, which are (as we all now know) made of quarks and leptons, which are…

Here is the moment of my amaze. The olive that I hold in my hand along with its friendly minced pimento, this olive that I now taste and eat, that former olive was, on some level, made out of something that was… not made from anything.

There is another word for not anything. The word is nothing. At some point, that is the answer to the question. What is it? What is it made of?

Nothing. And yet… it is.”

Not since Darwins’ Origin of Species has a book so captured my imagination and wonder. Even as a Christian, I find Charles Darwin’s work is thought provoking and worthwhile to read. On the other hand, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl go in a different direction and paint God as the artist of our world in a believable way. This should be just an enjoyable for non-believers as it is for believers. This book might just adjust your focus on the world, it’s purpose, and it’s possibilities. This is a book that I will be talking about for a long time and plan on gifting to many people.

A 35-page preview can be found at this link.

Review: Fragment by Warren Fahy

Science Fiction fans will be in for a treat!

If you love sci-fi and adventure my bet is that you’ll love reading Fragment. A group of young scientists and producers set off in a ship to visit the most remote locations in the world in a year-long around-the-world voyage while hosting a weekly reality television show.

Upon reaching a remote and seemingly uninhabitable island, events take a very tragic turn escalating their situation into a worldwide crisis. People are disappearing on the island and even more shocking is the fact that the island species took a different evolutionary path 500 million years ago. The species they’ve discovered are no match for any known species from our world, as they devour every living thing within seconds.

The first fifty pages of the novel were difficult to get through and I had considered abandoning the book. However, once I got through the first hundred and fifty pages there was no going back.

The storyline held my interest and captured my imagination. I enjoyed every minute of the intense plot once the scientists started studying the island from their Statlab, and ever more so once Statlab was abandoned.

I’m not going to give away the biggest gem of the story, but the ending left open a big door for a sequel. If written, the sequel will no doubt be even more interesting than Fragment. I recommend this book to people who love science and adventure.

Review: The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

In The Angel’s Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon creates a fascinating character in David Martin, a young boy who is beaten by his father for reading books, abandoned by his mother, and finally witnesses the murder of his father. From that point on, few people intersect his life, but those that do become integral to his life. I don’t want to give too much away as far as what happens in this book, because each event is best told by the author and I could not do it justice.

The Angel’s Game was more than anything else a book that moved me. At times it moved me slowly into a deep sleep. At other times it moved my spirit because of the lovely prose that recreated the ambience of 1920’s Barcelona so well. In the end, I walked away with little more than lovely, dark images of Barcelona.

The first half of the book was much more enjoyable as the mysteries built up suspense. The last hundred pages in a circular fashion attempted to connect the dots but failed in my mind to bring closure. If you like neatly wrapped happy endings, this book might frustrate you.

Regardless, along the way readers will savor his words, imagine the world he has created, and perhaps develop a sense of appreciation for their otherwise mundane lives. If you enjoy dark mysteries that teeter on exploring dark magic and mysticism, this might be an enjoyable read for you.

Review: East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

East of the Sun was unlike anything I was expecting. Falling in the category of what I would ordinarily call “chick lit” I didn’t expect to enjoy much less finish this book so quickly. However, once I had read a few chapters, I found this book hard to put down.

Set in India in the 1920’s, two young women, a teenage boy, their young chaperone set out on the Indian Princess for a three week voyage to India. Viva, the young chaperone takes three charges in order to earn her fare plus a little bit of travelling money. Rose is headed to India to marry her fiancee that she hardly knows. Tor, her best friend is accompanying her as bridesmaid and also has hopes of her own to meet a man in India where eligible bachelors are in abundant supply. Guy, bipolar and Viva’s final charge is expelled from boarding school and is being sent back to India to be with his parents. Finally, there is Frank, a selfless, young doctor earning his passage to India as the ships doctor with hopes of studying the blackwater plague.

The sea journey introduces us to the characters but once in India their lives intersect in surprising ways as each person deals with personal issues, relationship problems, lack of finances, and even a dangerous abduction.

Romance is light but present, with most of the focus of this book being about Viva trying to find closure in her life since the death of her sister, her father, and her mother in India. For years she has ignored a letter and key inviting her to come and pick up a trunk her parents left, but she finally finds the courage to make the long journey.

The lives of these intriguing characters set against the backdrop of a historical time in India made for a fast paced read that never bored me with any detail or interaction.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure, historical fiction, or romance, as well as book clubs. This book has won several awards in the U.K. and the BBC has commissioned a six-part television series of this book. I’m glad this that this book is being released into the US in paperback format, not only making it a worthwhile read, but it won’t break the bank either.

Review: The Tehran Conviction

I really wanted to like The Tehran Conviction. The words flow easily and the subject matter was intriguing. However, I felt a bit cheated as a reader when it came to the development of main character Jack Teller. Not having read the previous novels by Tom Gabbay, I’m not sure if there was more to know about Jack Teller. The novel oscillates between 1979 and 1953 Iran. The plot revolves around CIA intervention in Iranian politics during the earlier time period, with suggestions of the impact of such intervention in 1979.

I felt that the author could have done a better job of developing the look and feel of Iran and the characters. Those looking for more in depth plots and a connection with the characters would probably not enjoy this book. The book is highly readable and Tom Gabbay does and excellent job of keeping the story moving forward and not letting the reader get lost. Those with short attention spans, an interest in light spy novels, or previous readers of Tom Gabbay novels will probably want to read this one.

3 Stars

Review: God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible (Sheila Walsh, contributor)

The wonderful thing about God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible is that it is interactive! I can’t stress that enough. This book is far more than Bible stories. It contains questions and activities that engage young girls in a way that I haven’t seen with other Bibles for young children.

My daughters best friend had this Bible and for the past couple of years they’ve been talking about it. Author Sheila Walsh is a fantastic writer and really understands kids. I’ve read her other books and didn’t realize that this was by the same author until it arrived and my daughter ran to her room to get the other Sheila Walsh books (which are some of her favorites!).

This is a must-have book for girls ages 5-7, but younger and older will appreciate it as well. Take a peek inside the book with the preview found here, and see for yourself if this would be a delightful book for your daughter, granddaughter, or niece.

Waiting for Coyote’s Call by Jerry Wilson

Waiting for Coyote’s Call was an interesting eco-memoir (new genre for me!) written by Jerry Wilson detailing his homesteading experience on a bluff in southeastern South Dakota.

Mr. Wilson makes heavy reference to Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, so if you are a fan of their works, efforts, and beliefs, then this book will be an interesting read.

The author takes us slowly on an ecological journey, exploring and enlightening the reader on the most minute detail of his land and the nature he encounters there. Going a step further, he also tells the stories of his neighbors and their interactions with him and the land, and steps back in time detailing the land during before and during the settlers. The history of southeastern South Dakota is interwoven from the days of the Native Americans, through early settlers, to the modern day world, showing the changes the environment has withstood, and the good and not-so-good changes he has observed.

The author also extensively details his home being built, from solar and wood heating, to eating off the land.  Future homesteaders will no doubt have much to learn from Jerry Wilson.

The author comes across as very well versed in nature, from trees to solar heating. He presents in depth knowledge by relaying his experiences and wisdom. Those interested in nature, homesteading, living off the grid, or reducing their footprint on this Earth may enjoy this slow, interesting, detailed read. At times the book lost my interest, and in that case I just jumped to the next chapter.

Currently Reading: Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz

I’m currently reading Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz, a novel which takes us inside the life of a  Princeton admissions officer named Portia Nathan.  So far it’s an amazing read! The descriptions, writing style, and storyline are flawlessly executed and very interesting.  I leave for vacation on Monday morning, so I hope to finish it while on vacation and write a review when I get back.

Also, considering I have a son in a challenging academic program who will be going off to college in three years, this book has my full attention.

Review: Fatal Light by Richard Currey

Fatal Light is a book that brings to light the confuted experiences of war. A young eighteen year old draftee finds himself in Vietnam surrounded by beauty and death at the same time. He leaves behind a football scholarship to serve his country in an unpopular war. His father speaks of war as if it’s a fun and manly thing to take a part in. I think the author does a great job of expressing this through short vignettes that are easy to digest one at a time. I took several weeks to finish this book and each time I picked it back up it was like I didn’t miss a beat. This book might as realistically represent the feelings and experiences of an individual soldier in Vietnam as any book I’ve ever read. It’s not the best Vietnam war novel I’ve read. History, especially Vietnam war history buffs will not find elaborate details but they will come to understand the narrator.

Review: North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter

North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter is the well-written, and well-documented story of a young Japanese school girl who goes missing on her way home from school one day. Her whereabouts remained a mystery for twenty years, with tight lipped rumours offering little hope of finding young Megumi. 

More significant than the events that led up to her disappearance and the reasons it happened in the first place, is the heart wrenching story of how her family dealt with her disappearance while searching for the answers that would lead to the recovery of Megumi. Her mother, Sakie Yokota quickly became her greatest supporter and details her efforts, hope, faith, and painful struggle that she has endured since 1977. 

The political reasons Megumi was kidnapped are explained briefly. The purpose of her kidnapping was so that Megumi, and thirteen other suspected abductees, could train North Korean operatives to behave, talk, and otherwise fit in Japanese society undetected. The tragedy of this is that a young girl, who excelled in academics and sports, had a bright future ahead of her in Japan. In one fateful moment, her dreams were stolen from her one afternoon in 1977. 

Since then, the family still does not have closure, but they have found more answers and have never given up hope of reuniting with their daughter. 

This is a short read of only 137 pages. If you’ve ever pondered what parents of missing children go through on a year to year basis, this book will provide insight into one family’s experience with the unthinkable.