100 Words On
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100 Word Book Review: A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
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100 Word Book Review: Index, a History of the – A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan
The first index was devised to let a busy ruler know what parts of a book he could skip. Later, indexes were used to provide snarky commentary (“Let no damned Tory index my history”). And throughout, just like with every new technology, people were afraid it would turn the youth into lazy, less serious citizens of the world. If any of this sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan. I will, however, suggest reading the book versus listening to the audiobook. Index entries do not always make for the most interesting listening.
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100 Word Book Review: The Lost City of the Monkey God- a true story by Douglas Preston
I have watched the Lost City of the Monkey God documentary, but I wanted to read the book. This is an account of an expedition to find a “lost” city in Honduras. Some of the controversy around the “discovery” is about exactly how lost the city was. (Slightly more lost than many, from what the evidence suggests.) If you are interested in archeological discovery, especially in the jungle, I highly recommend this book. It goes into more detail about the people involved, the controversy surrounding the expedition, and the aftermath – including health issues for people involved, than the documentary does.
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100 Word Book Review: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much – the True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett
I love books, am fascinated by rare books. I would likely never pay college textbook prices (or more) for any book again, now that I don’t have to buy college textbooks, but that doesn’t stop me from loving beautiful, old books. So The Man Who Loved Books Too Much seemed right up my alley. I loved the information about rare books, but the main story was simply about a con man, a credit card fraudster, who just happened to fixate on rare books. And in the end, I just didn’t find the book as interesting as I hoped I would.
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100 Word Book Review: Unbelievable True* Stories from Ancient Greece by Anna Werner
I fell in love with Greek mythology in 4th grade. This book would not have been appropriate for me to read at 1o years old. But if you are over 18, have ever found yourself thinking “Are you fucking kidding me?” while reading Greek mythology, and still want to read more Greek mythology, then Unbelievable True* Stories from Ancient Greece by Anna Werner is the book for you. Anna’s research and deep understanding of the subject are obvious, but it is her humor that shines through as she expresses the thoughts many of us have had while reading these stories.
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100 Word Book Review: G.H.O.S.T. Teams Book 1- Magic by Bobby Brimmer
If you’re lucky enough to have met Bobby Brimmer, then you have a good idea what reading G.H.O.S.T. Teams Book 1 – Magic is like. It’s his personality on the page – an action romp with a wise-cracking hero. There are fight scenes and chase scenes and unsuccessful flirting scenes. There’s not a lot of deep introspection, though there’s enough character development to show the hero isn’t perfect and has plenty to learn. But the best part of the book was that it was FUN. This was an easy read, and I will definitely be reading more of the series.
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100 Word Book Review – Some things I still can’t tell you by Misha Collins
The point of poetry is to speak directly to another’s heart, and that can be done regardless of whether or not the poems are technically good. I say this because I do not think that Collins is a technically good poet, but his poems did speak to me. Each one was a small piece of everyday life. There was no big philosophy, the things he still can’t tell are not the secrets to love or what happened after we die, but instead mundane pieces of his life he is not quite ready to share and perfect in their own way.
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100 Word Book Review – Stacked by Joe Saul-Sehy and Emily Guy Birken
Stacked bills itself as a Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management, which should let you know that this is not a book that takes itself seriously. Or, I should say, it takes its subject matter seriously but understands we all learn better when we are having fun. I am not a beginner when it comes to personal finance, but the information in the opening chapters was still useful. I love the idea of the pages to print out and hang on the fridge to track progress. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed Joe and Emily’s personalities shining through.
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100 Words On… Grant Imahara
When I learned of Grant Imahara’s death, I cried. I don’t normally cry when a celebrity dies, but this one hit me. We watched Mythbusters and White Rabbit. Grant always seemed like the “every man” to me. He was the one who was willing to show his nerves. Put him in a car that they want to balance on the edge of a cliff, and he was willing to be scared on camera, despite all the safety precautions. Grant always seemed like someone I would want to be friends with. My heart goes out to all his friends and family.
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100 Words On…The Dragon Prince
The Dragon Prince comes from the creators of Avatar (the cartoon, not the movie). If you liked Aang and friends, you will like this. It deals with many of the same issues but focuses on racism and cultural intolerance. It takes a deeper look at the characters’ responsibilities to the world outside of their adventures, and how sometimes those outweigh their own wants. It also takes a very nuanced look at families and family loyalty. It plays a bit with your expectations of characters, and how good intentions or love of family can still lead someone down the “wrong” path.
