Weekly Geeks #6--Update

This week's theme is to catch up on reviews. But there's a nice, friendly little loop-hole I'm going to take full advantage of. This week I'm going to be catching up on ABANDONED BOOKS. These books were all abandoned for different reasons...which I'll explain. I won't try to finish them all. I've got too many...but I shall try my best to finish one or two.

THE FORBIDDEN BY BEVERLY LEWIS (Still Unfinished)
This one was abandoned because I felt a cold coming on, and as I knew my mother wanted to read it...I didn't want to contaminate it. So on the floor and partway under the bed it went. I'm feeling mostly better. So it might make its way back.

SUMMER SNOW by Nicole Baart (Finished)
This one was abandoned because it simply got lost. Sad but true. It took a few minutes to find this one. I knew I had it somewhere...but just where was the question. It's found now...so I shouldn't have trouble resuming right where I left off. Let's cross our fingers it stays found. I did love Baart's first novel.

WORSHIP MATTERS by Bob Kauflin (Still Unfinished; but I've read about four or five more chapters)
This one was abandoned because it's nonfiction. I *do* like nonfiction. But it's not easy to breeze through them quickly either. When it first arrived in the mail, I started reading it one chapter a day. But then here's the thing. One day, I didn't. And then the next day, I didn't. And then the next next day it was still there. And then about a week into the process, it got about fifteen books stacked on top of it. So even when I wanted to get back to it, it wasn't quite so convenient anymore.

HOW TO GET A'S IN COLLEGE by Hundreds of Heads (Finished)
My college days are over. But I was reviewing this one for the site just in case my readers weren't. The concept is good here. It is. But it's not without its flaws. The advice on "how to get A's" comes from students. These aren't necessarily "professional students" either. Meaning, these aren't students who have made a career out of staying in college. Some of the advice is good. Some not so good. Some obvious. Every opinion should be weighed and judged. And these 'answers' aren't really across-the-board answers. One person's experience varies differently with another students at another college. The best resource is to find students who go to your own university. I'm halfway through this one. It reads really easy. But I couldn't help thinking just how much advice I could have given that would have at least been as good as those found within. It also got me curious, were these students there to get A's or were they there to learn? Were they looking for shortcuts? Or were they looking for the whole experience? So essentially, I took an easy book and made it too complex.

SHIPS WITHOUT A SHORE by Anne R. Pierce (Still Unfinished)
Never has a book made me feel so stupid, so unintelligent. This is another nonfiction book. And it has some heavy substance in it. It's so dense with information, so heavy on the research, that it boggled my mind. I liked what I've read so far. I even agree with a good bit of it. Though I have a few *issues* with it. (So far they seem to have only addressed economic factors in one sentence and then proceeded with the argument that daycare is evil...all the while negating the fact that for some people there is no other option. The parent is the ONLY good source of care in their opinion. Even having family and friends provide care fall short in this argument.) But I think giving it a review is beyond my scope. It's just too-much-too-handle. It takes an important issue--parenting, the whole stay-at-home-mom versus daycare issue--and really really presents TONS of research. It has a million-and-one arguments in support of staying at home with your kids. But it's not really reader-friendly. So it has good information, but it's hard to follow, hard to grasp. You'll catch a glimmer of what's going on. But then a dozen or so things will fly right over your head. Oops. I better watch myself. It flew over my head. You might be a million times smarter than me. And you might think it very reader-friendly. I just wish there was a "for dummies" version available. I think the issues, the arguments are good. I think it's a very controversial subject though. I think it's a weighted issue. Meaning both sides are so on the defensive that it can get messy when it's debated. There are lines--paragraphs, pages--from this book that could be viewed as very inflammatory. It's a very heated book. I wish I knew someone that could read it for me and then regurgitate it's contents into my head. I'll have to see if mom is interested...

NEVER ON THESE SHORES by Stephen R. Pastore (Finished)
This one is science fiction--science fiction in that it is alternative history, alternative reality in a way. The premise is what if the Axis powers--Japan, Italy, Germany--had invaded the United States of America in the Spring of 1942. Their reasoning is that all the soldiers would have already been deported (I have a hard time buying that--for several reasons...one, many soldiers would have still been in training. It took time, for example, to learn how to be a soldier. I'm not sure on the army and the navy or even the marines...but I know it took time to learn to be an Air Force pilot. It took time to go through training to be an officer as well. And yes, I know there wasn't an "Air Force" yet.) And that the country would have been defenseless except for homosexual men and 'weak-and-helpless' women. Their other reasoning is that it would have been super-easy because America was so full of racists that the Nazis wouldn't have had any difficulty convincing white America to do its bidding. Scary thought isn't it? I keep telling myself that none of these scenarios are remotely realistic because I want to believe that they weren't. For example, I want to believe that it is irrational to believe that even combined these three nations would have had enough man-power, enough soldiers, enough officers, to invade, fight, and 'hold' these conquered territories while at the same time fighting globally--in Europe, Africa, and the South Pacific. But sometimes fear is enough of a bully that armies aren't needed...at least that is one of the factors involved in the book. NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER in a million years could a book be so abrasively over the top. The language. The violence. Whatever you're imagining, magnify it by a hundred. I'm not saying it's not realistic. I have no doubt that LANGUAGE would be the least of our worries if we were invaded and had war in our backyards. Same goes with violence. But really, it's not enough to brace yourself. This one was abandoned because--as you might have guessed--it does not give off good vibes for sleeping.

In the started but not abandoned category:

THE STAND by Stephen King (Still Unfinished; I'm almost halfway through. I'll be putting this one on hold while I read for the 48 Hour Readathon though.)
This one is a library book. I started it last week, and I've faithfully been reading a chapter or more a day. And I have no intentions of setting it aside. Yet it's so very long (over a thousand pages) that I am reading other books on the side simply so I'll have books to review for this blog.

COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS by Eva Ibbotson. (Finished)
Started this one today. I know I couldn't help myself. Why? I don't know. But it's good so far.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews