Sharpe's Escape

 

By Bernard Cornwell

5 Stars

Historical Fiction

Adult

I was introduced to Richard Sharpe and his right-hand man, Harper, through YouTube clips. I've never actually watched an entire episode of the show. My daughter was at a used bookstore and got me a couple of these novels because she thought I'd probably enjoy them. I read this one not expecting to like it as much as I did. Because there are 22 novels in the series at this point, I was expecting it to strike me as a little bit formulaic.  I thought the book was excellent. I wasn't disappointed with any of it.

The novel is built around the Bussaco Campaign of 1810. French General Massena objective was Lisbon, hoping to kick the British clear out of Portugal. Wellington is retreating, scorched earth to a defensive line he had built north of the city. In following those orders, Richard Sharpe clashes with Ferragus, who is the main villain of the book. Ferragus and his brother think that the French are going to win, and they are betraying the British and French by trying to sell a massive quantity of food to the French. They believe that by doing this, they will save their family's wealth for the future. Sharpe and his troops stumble across the initial goodwill shipment and destroy it, earning the villains' eternal hatred. Their personal feud plays out against the backdrop of the British victory at Bussaco, where the French advance is temporarily checked, then the sacking of Coimbra, and finally a major skirmish in front of Wellington's defensive works. 

What I liked about the book was the superb descriptions of the battles first, and the pacing and flow of the story. It is believably well written. Sharpe is maybe a bit more of a rogue than I was expecting from the clips online I'd viewed. This is a book I highly recommend. I do have another in the series in my home library and I'm looking forward to reading it as well in the not-too-distant future. 

A History of the True Church

 

By Andrew N. Dugger & Clarence O. Dodd

3.5 Stars

Religion/History

Adult

I was aware of this church history before I ever went to Ambassador College. Its contents were referred to in articles and lectures I read and heard. To some, it is controversial, but whether you agree or disagree with its conclusions, it has had a big impact on the Churches of God following the split with the Seventh Day Adventists. I do not know how this book is viewed by the Adventists. At least part of it would not be viewed favourably. For any Catholic readers, be forewarned that it is deeply anti-catholic. As well, while I have read a great deal on the subject, I do not consider myself qualified as a Church of God historian. Read it yourself and draw your own conclusions.

If there were a copy of this available for sign-out at the Ambassador College library, I would have read it at the beginning of 1986. As I "reread" it, I seem to only remember excerpts, so I think I might be misremembering. I'm not certain a copy was available. I don't remember at all what the book itself looked like. The cover I made is based on a description of it from my online research. No online image of it is available to me. I knew a lot about the book from other sources. I just know that I read that section of the library, including a small book about the Waldensians, which I have not been able to positively identify. Forty years is quite a long time.

The foundational premise of the book is that the Church of God has always existed in one form or another since its founding on Pentecost outside of the Roman Catholic Church. As a Sabbatarian myself, I want to believe that that is true. This book does claim unbroken apostolic succession for the Churches of God. I don't think that's provable, and my personal bible study doesn't convince me that that is even necessary. The book relies heavily on Baptist historians who made an effort to trace Protestantism's history, bypassing the Catholic Church.

The book is organized by century and presents its argument for each time period. I found the book to be difficult to read. It is dry and is peppered with references to other works. The organization lets you read it a bite at a time. This gave me a chance to stop and digest as I went.

If you are interested in studying the history of Sabbatarian Christian churches, this is a must-read. A copy of it is available through this link: https://www.friendsofsabbath.org/reader/Further_Research/e-books/A%20History%20of%20the%20True%20Church%20%20(Dugger%20and%20Dodd).pdf

The Afghan

 

By Frederick Forsyth

4 Stars

Thriller/Suspense

Adult

To this point, I have loved every book I've read from this author. This one disappointed me a little, even though I still think it's a great read.

Mike Martin is the protagonist of this novel. I remember him from "The Fist of God". In this book, he is older; in fact, he seems to be riding off into the sunset. He's renovating a building to retire in, doing most of the work himself. When he gets the call to go back into action, no real motivation is provided for him to do so. Any motivation is implied. If you've read the preceding books, it makes sense. I'm struggling with it, though, as I approach my own retirement. Risk my life for an unknown threat? It's hard for this reader to fully buy into that without some kind of explained incentive.

Terry Martin is the protagonist's brother. In "The Fist of God," he felt like an important character. This time, not so much. He's a professor and works for the government as an Arabic linguistic expert on an on-call basis, along with several other experts. They just agree with what is feared. He's really not needed. Then he boasts about his brother's abilities, which gets the attention of the counter-terrorism people. After his brother's previous exploits, that prodding is entirely unnecessary. A lot of time is spent on his backstory and his character development; once he's made this less-than-spectacular contribution, he disappears from the story. I feel like he's a token character who needed either a bigger role or no real role at all. 

Those two things bothered me and are the reason for the one-star deduction. Outside of that, the story was terrific. It was a page-turner, and I have no problem keeping it as part of my personal library. I do recommend this book, but I think that the other books he's written that I've read are all a bit better.

That's Me In The Middle

 

By Donald Jack

5 Stars

Historical/Humour

Adult

I'm a little biased in that I absolutely loved the whole series while I was in high school. I'm slowly adding the series to my personal library and, of course, reading them at the same time all over again. This is the second book in the series, and it does not disappoint.

I've spent some time studying creative writing since my first read-through, and I'm noticing more about the structure of the writing itself. The first three books in the series were clearly written as a trilogy. This is the second act. The word middle in the title is no accident. It's the middle of the trilogy, the middle of the First World War and the middle of Bandy's character arc. Despite his stumbling and bumbling his way through the war a reaches a kind of personal high. He's an ace pilot. He marries the love of his life, and he gets promoted along the way. I appreciate that the author spent a great deal of effort fitting the story within an accurate historical context. I have a greater appreciation for that now than I did when I first found this series.

Our anti-hero Bandy continues to be honest, heroic and oblivious. Frustrating and angering his superiors as he stumbles his way through the war, politics and his own personal life. The wedding night scene (completely clean) is hysterically funny.

I recommend that anyone who wants to read this book should read the first three books in order. They really do belong together. If you liked the first one you'll like the others as well.

Lagrange Five

 

By Mack Reynolds

3 Stars

Science Fiction

Adult

This is a mystery story set on a utopian space colony. The story opens with a guy going on a bike trip/picnic/campout within the confines of this orbiting space colony. Of course, I'm right into this. He falls prey to a mysterious illness and has to be rescued by the authorities, sedated and sent back to Earth. The illness is some kind of claustrophobia on steroids. For some reason, it is worse on this particular colony than on the others. 

Rex Bader is a private investigator and is hired to solve the mystery here. He is typical of the genre. He has a love interest, Susie Hawkins, who is a doctor but seems more like a secretary. The book does get accused of sexism from some, but if you take the time to read the private eye genre from the 1970 and 80s, you wouldn't expect anything less.

Whip Ford is the red herring in the story. He is a caricature of an angry black man. It's not intended to be racist, but his race is pointed out every time he comes on the stage. I was a little uncomfortable with that at the time, and would be even more so today. Along with that is the minimum intelligence requirement to become a colonist. A minimum IQ of 130 is needed. The author absolutely beats those two elements to death. In that regard, the book has not aged well.

The bad guys in the story are all Middle Eastern. At the time this was written, there had been the 70s oil crisis, and when it came out, there was the Iran hostage crisis. I don't think that too many people in Western nations were bothered by that at the time.

After saying all that, I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than the three-star rating would seem to indicate. I'm not going to go out of my way to read more of his work, but I don't regret reading this one. He put a lot of effort into writing something scientifically plausible, and in regard to world-building, the book is excellent. 

The Weekend Novelist

 

By Robert J Ray

5 Stars

Non-Fiction/Writing

Adult

I'm going to start this review by clarifying exactly which edition I read and used. The cover was exactly like the one pictured, and there were no co-authors. The primary companion to this edition was Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist. It also makes references to The Great Gatsby, which at this point I have not read.

This book proposes a fifty-two-week program to help you write a novel while you still have to live the rest of your life. It is filled with useful exercises. I did not rigidly adhere to the program. At the same time, had I not read and used what I learned from this book, I would not have completed a single manuscript. That is the primary reason it gets five stars from me. I used this book, the inspiration of National Novel Writing Month and help from others on Writing.com to write my first novel manuscript. I found a publisher. It didn't make me rich, but I can call myself a real writer. I did not pay someone to publish my book. Getting this book is really where it started.

The program outlined in the book does work, and I continue to refer to its pages to help me continue with my writing. Just remember you don't have to hold to it like it's cast in concrete. Writing is a creative process, and everyone is different. Even when you seem to have found the perfect way to get the words flowing, there'll come a day when it isn't working.

History of the Seventh Day Church of God

 

By Richard C. Nickels

4 Stars

Religion/History

Adult

I read this book between semesters at the end of 1985 and the beginning of 1986. One of my classes in the coming semester was Church History, and this was part of my personal study leading up to that. This book covers the period from the time of the split between the Seventh Day Adventists and the Churches of God Seventh Day until recently. The current edition available as a PDF online features changes and additions that were not there when I read it. I have the newest edition downloaded to my own computer.

For me, this book was a treasure trove of information and inspiration. It allowed me to put my own experiences in the Worldwide Church of God into a historical context. I would venture to say that this book is the primary reason for me staying with most of my beliefs, along with some of the other studying on the subject that I did at that time.

The history recorded here is a little bit dry. It is heavily footnoted. A great deal of effort and care went into the research for this book. Had I not been so very interested in the subject, I'm not sure I would have ploughed all the way through it. I found it to be a challenging read. That is my only real criticism of the book: the readability. If the subject is important to you, it is a worthwhile read. It's worth downloading your own copy.

Link for anyone interested: 

https://www.friendsofsabbath.org/Further_Research/History%20of%20the%20Sabbatarian%20Movement/historysdcog/index.htm

Please note the cover illustration is my own making based on what I remember. The fonts are probably wrong the colour is probably off. I could not find an actual cover image online.