Welcome to Dennis' Pile of Books

If you were to walk into my office, either at the church or at my house, one thing you would most likely notice many, many books. I have piles of books everywhere so it seems. I love books and surround myself with them wherever I am (at work, on vacation, in the bathroom... you get the picture). So welcome to my pile of books!

On one of my other blogs (Immersed in Mystery) I have a running list of books I have recently read, and ones I am currently reading. In the past few months I began writing short comments after each book title, these were sort of like mini-book reviews, really mini. I thought that rather than lose these comments in the future (I only keep 10 titles on the list at any one time) I would create a blog dedicated to the books I have read.

Having this blog dedicated to the books I have read will also allow me to expand on my comments, perhaps even expanding into a full book review on occasion. Each book will have its own entry, and after the initial 10 entries future books will be noted in this blog when I finish them (in other words the date of the blog entry will indicate the date I finished that book). Mostly this blog is for my own benefit (to help remember all I've read), but I also like to share good books with others. Occasionally I feel the need to warn people about a disappointing book - our free time is scarce enough as it is, no use wasting it on a book that isn't worth the time or effort.

I welcome other comments on these books, it is always interesting to hear how others react to a book I've read - so feel free to leave comments on this blog. And I'm always open to book suggestions from others, I've encountered some great books because of other people's suggestions. Enjoy browsing through my pile of books.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

The Realms Thereunder

by Ross Lawhead

Ross is the son of one of my favourite authors of fiction Stephen R. Lawhead.  This book is the first in a series called "The Ancient Earth Trilogy" of which the second book will come out in January 2013.  What that means is that I will now have to wait to find out how the story will progress, in many ways this book felt like a prelude - a way of introducing the characters and plot line, but not much was resolved by the conclusion of the book.  This is the danger of reading such series - one gets hooked into storyline only to be forced to wait for resolution for months or even years.  It is for this reason that usually I don't start a series until all the books have been published, however I made an exception in this case because this book is set in Oxford, and we were visiting there this summer.

As for the book itself, it was certainly entertaining and incorporated some novel elements, but I do not think Ross write quite as skillfully as his father Stephen.  I did find it entertaining, but at times I felt the mixture of contemporary attitudes and ancient setting (in a fantasy world) a little to jarring, or simply unbelievable.  I will read the rest of the series when it comes out, but Ross will not replace Stephen as my favourite Lawhead author.



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