Books recently finished:	Interest	Rating
	What's so Great about Christianity, D'Souza	+++	4/5
	Fantastic resource!  You won't find a better modern book looking into philosophy and theology with this detail.  Excellent defense of Christianity.  Covers most of the modern issues from a philosophical background.  Does not take enough time with the legal-historical, but great approach from scientific and logic.  Worth having in every library.
	Inferno, Niven and Pournell	+++	5/5
	This is a book everyone should read.  The novel is very different and unconventional--it is everything I seek to achieve with a novel.  It has some issues, but in general, it is aging well.  I have read it many times.  What happens when a modern man wakes up in a real hell.  Follows Dante and asks some very good questions about God and man.
	Heidi's Children, Tritten	++	2/5
	Spyri is a better storyteller and author.  Tritten was her translator.  The books are good but miss some quality that Spyri could engender in the writing.  It may be the feel of hardbitten poverty in Spyri has been overcome by the new world of the industrial revolution where most have some. Follows Heidi and her children including her special child Marta, the sister of a friend Jamy.  Good read for kids and great for values literature.
	Heidi Grows Up, Tritten	++	2/5
	Heidi's special endearment to others becomes her means of success.  From her point of view and doesn't do justice to the character.  Still a good book for kids and good values literature.
	The Elegance of the Hedgehog	++	4/5
	Very good book and difficult to describe why it is not 5/5.  Specifically, to be a 5/5, the work must be entertaining with no extraneous parts.  This book is a great read and I recommend it.  It has fantastic emotional appeal and is very nicely crafted, but it is missing a certain reality and convincing strength--I think that may be because it is French and the cultural puzzles are not those of the Western mind anymore.  The question of the work is one of meaning, but the author looks into the abyss and finds no answer.  The work is a tragedy with all pity and fear and no recognition of the who that makes the universe and emotions possible.  That is why this work is not great literature and why it misses the mark.  The untold strivings of humanity can't be answered with a simple--we are here for everyone else.  The novel is worth reading and contemplating, but ultimately it is as futile as the question it asks, but the author can't answer.
	Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell	+++	3/5
	This is a fantastic book that should be in everyone's library.  My rating is low according to my scale because, though well written, it is not the level of classical literature.  It is an easy book to understand and read.  This book is like the best college or school textbook.  Everyone should read and study this book.  Any politician who hasn't or who needs help with economics must read this book.  I suggest it as a litmus test for any politician--since Thomas Sowell is black, any politician who hasn't read and studied this book must be racist.  Get this book and read it.  If you don't understand it, read it again--if you disagree with anything in it, you are likely a Marxist.  I'm not kidding.
	Ever, Levine	+	2/5
	This book requires some deep thought, but not because of its quality or story.  This book is for kids and a very loose knock off of the Judges account of the daughter of Jephthah, whose father had to sacrifice her--he vowed to sacrifice the first thing he saw following his battle.  It is written in first person (yuck) with countering short chapters (interesting).  The problem is the two main characters are almost the same--there is little differentiation.  The thematic issue has to do with the solution to the problem of the character Kezi, who is to be sacrificed and Olus the wind god who befriends her.  The solution is that Kezi must become immortal.  Oh boy tell me a new thematic idea there--everyone wants to become immortal--kind of.  That is a well used and ancient theme--this book doesn't improve on it.  A great theme would be the god Olus achieving mortality for the love of Kezi--or being sacrificed in her place.  That is a theme you can sink your teeth into.  I liked Elle.  I don't like the books quite as much.
	From Stalingrad to Pillau (primary source Russian)	+	1-2/5
	If you are looking for good primary source writing--it's not here.  The author doesn't have enough skill in even gossip to keep the account interesting.  With good editing this book could have been stronger, but I think the basic problem is the author was unwilling to give an unflattering account of the Soviet Army or Soviet society.  He couldn't see the corruption or the basic lack of values right in front of him.  If he had had an experience of an uncorrupt army or society, he might have been able to see the difference that makes.  When you are still in the middle rationing years after the final battle, you should know your government is misusing the funds, and when lend lease equipment is the only thing that works well--well?  Not worth reading; there are much better accounts out there.
	Greek Religion, Burkert	+++	3/5
	This is a reasonable account of Greek religion.  I recommend it for reference, but Burkert is really not well organized in his thinking or his depictions of Greek religious practice to make this a fantastic book in this regard.  If you want some very deep details in a strongly documented history, this is for you.
	The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Levine (Kid's book)	+	2/5
	Levine is kind of going down hill.  This is better than Fairest.  The work has some redeeming characteristics.  The character of the Dragon is well developed and the scenes are fun.  Some of the means of escaping enemies are well done--some could have been done better.  The end was pretty predictable and overwrought.  The love story was predictable and too cutesy.  For kids, the book might be interesting, but then I think of Heidi, the best children's book ever written and I think--nah.  Levine would do better by spending longer on the books and getting some editing help.  Poetic help would be a great idea too.
	Fairest, Levine (Kid's book okay read)	++	2/5
	Levine has a way of getting on your nerves.  She says she doesn't write with an outline--she should.  The work is interesting and a different retelling of Snow White and the 7 Dwarves, but the songs are terrible.  Ms. Levine thinks she is a poet--she is barely a writer.  The book would be much improved without the "songs."  And the work would be much improved without the deus ex.
	Elle Enchanted, Levine (Great for kids)	++	3/5
	Great story potential, fun book to read.  Could have been fantastic.  The author sets up a beautiful and strong potential in the development of the book, unfortunately it all flies apart in the final scenes.  The end is no where near the expectation set up in the narrative.  Still it is worth reading and fun for kids.
	The Spiderwick Chronicles (Great for kids)	++	3/5
	This is a fun set of 5 books and a great read.  The pictures are very nice.  The movie is poop, but the book is cleaver and readable.
	Chariot, Arthur Cotterell (New history, very good)	+++	3/5
	This is a very good read and a great piece of history.  It covers the military use of the chariot in history.  The obvious theme is the advent and growth of the chariot followed by its eventual demise.  This work is filled with some very good new information and ideas.  It is well work the read if you are interested in the history of warfare and civilization.
	Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury (Best Novel in English)	+++	5/5
	Rereading just confirms for me again that this is the best novel written in the English language.  There is no doubt in my mind, but I am willing to take other suggestions and debate them.  The novel is both timeless and locked in a time and place.  The revelations are pointed, specific to the characters and true for every human who ever walked the face of the globe.  The writing is Shakespearian.  The subject is humankind.  The balanced precision of the language is perfection.  The work is absolutely readable and entertaining.  And this is the key point, the writing is readable and rereadable.  This is the work that should be in your library and your mind.  Everyone should take the trip to Greentown Illinois and meet Doug, his brother Tom, Col Freeleigh, Grandfather, and all the other "real" people who populated this place.
	All Theology is Christology	++	2/5
	This is a very good collection of essays on Christology ruined by its title.  Of course all theology is not Christology.  Even for a Christian to make this assertion is a heresy.  God the Father begat God the Son, so God Himself asserts that all theology starts with God, not with Christ.  The problem with the title is it does not encourage other religions or even other groups in Christianity to explore the contents and that is a true loss.  The essays are by no means the end of the story on each of their subjects, but they are succinct and generally clear.  They are varied enough and well enough written that the reader wants more, and that is the best you can ask from a collection of essays.
	The Amber Spyglass	+	1/5
	Again the not so subtle amber spyglass in which the children Lyra and Will break every Torah Mitzvah they possibly can.  God the almighty is dead (he becomes dead with the help of the children).  With their help, the dead are released from God's eternal bondage to oblivion.  An ex-nun who first experienced true life through sex becomes the encouragement for the children to fall in love (and to have sex, implied).  So here we have such great encouragement from the "happy atheist:" God is dead, death is oblivion, no one created, good and evil are in the eyes of the beholder, religion keeps people from the truth, sex is love, love is sex, and hope is?  Just where did this author get his education?  Please don't send your children there.  This book is filled with gratuitous violence, but it is more interesting than the first two.  It is more interesting until near the end and the author begins to moralize and explain everything through his characters, just in case you didn't get it.  The value in these books is evident in their movie experience DOA.  The anti-God, anti-Christian message is so blatant and so bitter in book two and three, there is no way, except for propaganda they could be made into movies.  As a contrast, Narnia gave a message of God and hope to millions--this book told us the universe is only by chance and ruled by evil.  Your choice.
	Masque World, Alexei Panshin	+++	5/5
	I'm not sure which of these three books is the best or perhaps the promised 4th book, the one that never materialized, is the best of the litter--can't say no one except maybe Panshin has read it.  They are all 5/5 in my ratings.  Masque World presents such a well controlled farce it is almost impossible to put down.  Today, when too many books and writers take themselves too seriously, a book of extreme quality with both a message and a great story especially one as poignant as this one, should be welcomed just because it is fun and readable.  Fun and readable means the author is getting his points across.  We need many more books like this one.
	The Thurb Revolution, Alexei Panshin	+++	5/5
	Sometimes the story is immaterial but still a precious part of a work.  The Turb Revolution is a novel about much more than a simple camping trip to a planet close to the Tanner Trust.  Incredible piece of literature, fun read, extraordinary characters--especially Plonk the pink cloud.
	Starwell, Alexei Panshin (A fantastic book)	+++	5/5
	The adventures of Anthony Villiers and Torve the Trog are the stuff of legend.  This is as fine a novel as has perhaps ever been written in the genre of science fiction and perhaps in modern fiction.  This book is a treat with well drawn characters and events, spiced throughout with much deeper insights on human culture and thought.  It is well worth a read and reread.  The story is immaterial to the book itself and though entertaining is simply the frosting on a compelling novel of great complexity and proportion.
	Rite of Passage, Alexei Panshin (One of my favorites)	++	3/5
	Alexei Panshin is another writer who gave us about 4 incredible books prior to dropping out of sight.  The earliest I read is Rite of Passage.  It starts with a typical 1960's premise: in the future, man destroys the world in nuclear war and a few escape to colonize the universe.  In this future, the 8 ships that conveyed the colonists retain the technology and trade bits of technology for the goods and materials they need.  The rite of passage to adulthood on the ships is a test of survival on a wild colonial planet for a month.  It happens when you turn 14.  The main character is Mia, a girl whose changing mind, body, and understanding of her world culminates with her rite of passage.  This is a novel that is still immature, but shows the future strength that Panshin would evidence in the Anthony Viellers novels.  It is a book for adults and older teens.  It is not a book for children.
	Lord Darcy, Randell Garrett, (Another one of my favorites.)	++	3/5
	Randell Garrett was one of the first alternative world writers.  He developed a parallel universe that branched off with Richard the Lion Heart.  Richard survived, and the British world was ruled by a strong English king whose dynasty still sat on the throne in 1970.  In this universe, magic works and is a large part of the society.  In Garrett's world, magic is controlled and defined, and part of the fun of the reading is the revelation of this magic and its rules.  Lord Darcy is a Sherlock Holms character whose Dr. Watson is a short, wide, Irish forensic magician.  Lord Darcy is the chief investigator for Duke Richard and investigates crimes against the nobility.  Great mysteries, good writing, fun stories.  It is really too bad Garrett had a debilitating accident after these books came out.
	Dragonsinger, Anna McCaffrey, (If you like Dragonsong, Dragonsinger is more of the same.)	+++	4/5
	Dragonsinger is the continuation of Dragonsong.  This is a book that should be made into a movie.  The story is fantastic and an outstanding read.  Menolly finally makes it to the Harper Hall.  There she confronts her future and her skills.  Fun book, great read--great to reread.  The follow-on to Dragonsinger is Dragondrums, but it sucks with a capital S.  Not sure what happened to Anna on the last one, but she missed a fantastic opportunity to continue to entertain us.  Dragondrums is not appropriate for children--you can let your children read the first two books without a problem, but you will not want them to read the last until they are about 17.
	Dragonsong, Anna McCaffrey, (This is a must read--great fun for everyone.)	+++	4/5
	Dragonsong is a fantastic book for anyone who enjoys or doesn't enjoy fantasy and science fiction.  Menolly is the youngest daughter of Yanus, Seaholder of Half Circle Sea Hold on the world of Pern.  Pern is the world of the Dragonriders; a medieval level world that is dependent on the "Dragons" that were long ago created by Pern's colonists to protect the planet from an interplanetary parasite called "thread."  The back-story for the entire series is very imaginative.  Menolly's problem is that she is an incredible musician in a world that doesn't yet accept women as musicians--but Pern is in change.  She was trained by the sea hold's harper and she writes new music--new music that is so good, the harpers are looking everywhere for her.  Before the sea hold's harper died, he neglected to inform the masterharper that Menolly was a girl.  Menolly's father and mother punished her for writing her own music--music that others might mistake for harper approved ballads, and Menolly runs away to live outside any hold. This is a must read book and should be made into a movie.  Teens and adults will love it.
	Tuf Voyaging, George R.R. Martin (couldn't resist, I've read this book many times before--it is a fantastic piece of SiFi.)	+++	4/5
	An unusual space trader comes into control of an Earth Ecological Corps seed-ship.  With it comes truly god-like powers.  The story from beginning to end is exciting, engrossing, and fantastic.  The only problem with this book is that there is no sequel and at about 400 pages it is too short.  Martin is a great author and storyteller.  The ideas are timely and the philosophy is well developed.  The only reason I didn't give this book a 5/5 is that it deals with a subject that is slightly dated at this point.  That doesn't really reduce the timeliness of the writing or the argument, but does reduce the overall utility from the standpoint of a classic.  The book really needs a sequel or an expansion.  Since Martin is clearly a short story or novella style author more than a pure novelist this should not be difficult at all.
	The Subtle Knife	+	1/5
	This work is mistitled:  it should be called the not so subtle knife.  The main problem for most sentient adults should be why is a grown man writing an adult themed novel with children as the main characters.  I consider this a gross example of literary pedophilia.  Pullman brilliantly has his characters break every Biblical commandment one by one.  Generally, it is children who are breaking the commandments.  Pullman isn't happy with just breaking the big 10, he adds each of the detailed laws in the Torah.  The children murder, they maim others, they disobey their parents, they steal (a whole world is set up for children to steal), they predict the future, and aid in making spells.  One of the main characters, Will, a child, is set up as a priest with a knife that cuts between worlds, who is maimed in the process of taking the knife from another.  This is also the boy who murders--justified of course.  The basic theme of the novel is that Lyra's father (the girl and a main character) is preparing to battle the Creator of the universe in a parallel to the original fight between the Devil and God.  This means her father Lord Asreil is an analogue to Satan.  In the first book, this man murdered a child to break the way between the worlds.  Lord Asreil is bringing together all the Angels, creatures, witches, etc. from all the worlds to fight against the Creator.  The astounding thing is that anyone can stomach these books.  Surely children who are the major targets of them can't read them or would not want to read them.  They are barely palatable for an adult.
	The First Catechumenal by St Augustine	+	2/5
	This was one of my Christmas books.  It is short sweet and informative, but mostly from a historical point of view.  St Augustine is truly working with timely topics: how to maintain the catechumen's (trainee's) interest and how to train.  In this way the work is timeless.  Additionally, the historical clues in the text are interesting.  I like St Augustine's other works much better, but I really was glad to add this to my library and knowledge.
	The Golden Compass	+	1/5
	I debated whether to give The Golden Compass a 0/5 or a 1/5 rating.  I will definitely not reread the book, and there is only one compelling point that is made in the whole work.  It is not a literary work.  It is poorly written with forgettable and illogical characters.  The best drawn and most interesting character is the bear.  Deus ex Machina fill the story so the fact that it is written by a proselyzing atheist is obviously undercut by the constant miracles that drive it.  The violence, unpleasant situations, and graphic descriptions ensure The Golden Compass is not a child's book.   I would not recommend it for anyone under 16.  The book is an adult book with children as the main characters--the perversion and point in this model should be obvious.
	The 5 Demon Prince Novels, Jack Vance	++	4/5
	The Demon Prince Novels are a true work of art.  They are rereadable and highly entertaining.  They are adult novels with adult themes, but they are not vulgar or needlessly graphic.  They represent perhaps the highest level of Jack Vance's writing in the area of Science Fiction and are likely a classic in any genre of literature.  The main character is a true Romantic creation of near perfect definition--creative, intelligent, sensitive, unexpectedly powerful.  The worlds of Vance are incredibly imaginative and real.  The people that populate his novels are real and unique and no one wins an argument.  They should be read in order--the first time.  The five novels are:      The Star King - The initial book introduces Kirth Gersen, a man seeking vengeance for the lives of his family.  When Kirth was a child, a cabal of five space criminals, the demon princes, murdered and enslaved his family.  His grandfather made him an instrument of vengeance.  Kirth seeks out the first of the demon princes--Attel Malagate, the Malagate of Woe.       The Killing Machine - Kirth Gersen seeks out Kokor Hekkus the second of the demon princes and more a myth than a real man.  Kokor Hekkus lives on a world lost eons ago and thought but fancy.  Kirth meets the most beautiful woman in the universe, or at least the value of her beauty is the greatest known.      The Palace of Love - Viola Falushe a demon prince driven by desire and pleasure, yet unable to find either.  Kirth enlists Navareth the poet and Zan Zu from Eridu, Viola Falushe's desire to find and eliminate him.      The Face - Lens Larque, ugly, unidentified, arrogant, from a vicious culture tests Kirth's intelligence and resolve.  The craftiness of hunter and hunted is fascinating, but who is hunting whom.       The Book of Dreams - Howard Alan Treesong was trying to take over the control of organizations that ran human space.  Only Kirth Gersen understands what Treesong is trying to do and only Kirth can stop him.
	Julian's Against the Galileans	+	2/5
	Porphyry's Against the Christians	+	3/5
	Warriors	+	3/5
	The Skeptical Environmentalist	++	5/5
	If Democrats had Brains They'd be Republicans, Coulter	+	2/5
	Weapons	++	3/5
	Ratings
	0/5 Not worth the time or the money
	1/5 Reasonable read, literary issues, would not reread, will not reference
	2/5 Good read, good book, would not reread, would reference
	3/5 Great read, good book, not literature, might reread, will reference
	4/5 Fantastic read, great book, approaching literature, will reread/reference
	5/5 Incredible read, fantastic book, timely or literature, will reread/reference
	Interest
	R - Reading
	N - Not reading yet
	+ - Interesting
	++ - Very interesting
	+++ - Can't put it down
	- - Not interesting
	-- - Very not interesting