“A War of Gifts (Ender's Saga, #5)” by Orson Scott Card, 2007

“A War of Gifts (Ender's Saga, #5)” by Orson Scott Card, 2007

Set in the Ender’s early years in Battle School, a rebellion among students of different faiths and faculty must settle their religious conflicts while being trained for war.

Other than the fact that the events takes place in Battle School during Ender’s early years in training, this story has no substantive relevance to “Ender’s Game”.  It was more a story of religious fanaticism, exploration of guilt, and Santa Clause.

I don’t really have much to say about this book other than the relief that it was only 128 pages.  Even so, the book was 127 pages too long. The novel read more like a sermon than science. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a copy of this book behind a pulpit somewhere.

My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5 stars)

"Ten Books That Screwed Up the World: And Five Others That Didn't Help" by Dr. Benjamin Wiker, 2008

"Ten Books That Screwed Up the World: And Five Others That Didn't Help" by Dr. Benjamin Wiker, 2008

I can’t recall ever reading a book that makes me want to commit violence or some other heinous crime against the author except for this one.  I was sorely pissed off by the end of the book. I felt bamboozled into keeping an open mind only to find myself struck with a final-uppercut-blow of the author’s seething  missives and tainted biases.

In fairness and in the spirit of constructive criticism, which the book lacked, the author seem to do a decent job of exposing fallacies in the arguments he covers and explaining how dangerous the philosophies can be if applied incorrectly or with hidden personal motives.

I was drawn to this book by its title and intrigued by its criticisms as I read on. There are some good points discussed, however, as soon as the critiques became nonconstructive and became a flame fest against modern philosophy and a roast of philosophers, it just became negative, and I was downright disgusted.

After closer inspection, the book content simply amounts to circumstantial fallacies, ad hominem, personal attacks, uncritical diatribe, no scholar value, all veiled under “cutesy” sarcasm.

One of the things I noticed, the author Dr. Wiker, equates atheism with immorality and, therefore, the undoing of man.  A common thread with every book, he notes, that the author was an atheist or simply rejects Christianity.

I think only people like Dr. Wiker himself will like this poor excuse for a book; that is, conservative evangelical Christians with very narrow minds. This book is a perfect example of the twisting of knowledge to justify one’s personal morality rooted in antifeminism, antihomosexuality, antiwomen, anti-choice, antiscience, anti-intellectualism..

The following lists the books covered:

Machiavelli – The Prince (1513)
Descartes – Discourse on Method (1637)
Hobbs – Leviathan (1651)
Rousseau – Discourse on Inequality (1755)
Marx – Communist Manifesto (1848)
Mill – Utilitarianism (1863)
Darwin – The Descent of Man (1871)
Nietzsche – Beyond Good and Evil (1886)
Lenin – The State and Revolution (1917)
Sanger – The Pivot of Civilization (1922)
Hitler – Mein Kampf (1925)
Freud – Future of an Illusion (1927)
Mead – Coming of Age in Samoa (1928)
Kinsey – Sexual Behavior in Human Male (1948)
Friedan – The Feminine Mystique (1963)

My rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ (0 out of 5 stars)

“Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov, 1955

“Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov, 1955

Lolita, one of the best known and most controversial examples of 20th century literature, tells the story of an aging man, Humbert Humbert’s obsessive and doomed passion for the minor Dolores Haze (Lolita).

Dolores, a twelve year old girl, lives with her widowed mother Charlotte who runs a boarding house to support the both of them. Humbert, who has an unhealthy interest in young girls, becomes a boarder and immediately becomes smitten with Dolores. Humbert marries Charlotte in order to stay close to Dolores. When Charlotte discovers Humbert’s dark secret, she runs out of the house in haste and is killed by car, leaving Humbert to raise Dolores by himself.

The incestuous relationship between stepfather and stepdaughter is exposed with beautiful style, prose, and clever linguistic word play that the reader is seduced into reading further regardless of the shocking content and renders this dark tale into an enchanting form.

I would unquestionably recommend this book to bookworms and non-bookworms alike. The overall darkly comic tone and alternating bemused weariness with sweeping romanticism elicited more than a few chuckles out of me at moments generally where sympathy for the victim should be regarded.  One will learn, if for anything else, the origin of how the name “Lolita” has entered pop culture to describe a sexually precocious girl.

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 stars)

“Washington Square” by Henry James, 1881

“Washington Square” by Henry James, 1881

Washington square tells the story of a father (Dr. August Sloper), daughter (Catherine Sloper), and suitor (Morris Townsend). Morris Townsend’s, a man-about-town, proposal to Catherine Sloper is met with resistance by Dr. Sloper and forbids the marriage. Dr. Sloper believes Morris Townsend is only after his daughter, Catherine’s, fortune and inheritance.

Selfishness, cruelty, and manipulation were central themes in this novel; which I think may not be traditional of 19th century novels. I found Dr. August Sloper insidious, yet genial. Catherine Sloper was frustratingly a model of passive resistance, yet present the strength of innocence in the face of manipulation. The spinster aunt Lavinia adds to theme of manipulation through the use of her niece’s courtship as a way to work out her own foiled romantic desires.

I honestly can’t say which character I disliked the most. They were all pretty much despicable. If they had any redeeming qualities I would get a whiff of it, or I may have not been paying attention closely enough. Overall, I found style in which the book was written, well, boring. The plot is fairly straight forward and predictions unnecessary.

My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5 stars)

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925

Set in the summer of 1922, The Great Gatsby is a love story of Gatsby's passion for Daisy Buchanan. It is also a picture of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess.

Avarice, social-strata, ambition, nouveau riche vs. old money, reckless driving, the “American dream”, booze, parties, infidelity, and a mystery man were enough to make this an enjoyable read for me. Touching on the decline of “The American Dream” in 1920s, the hollowness of the upper class, the social immobility despite the geographical closeness between East Egg and West Egg, regrets, and recapturing the past is what made this novel considered by many a Great American Novel and a literary classic.

I also noticed some gay overtones-- Nick kind of falling in love with Gatsby and what he represents, Nick going home  with a photographer named Mr. Mckee after a party, and Nick constantly keeping track of Gatsby. Then there is the material girl-- Daisy crying over exquisite shirts at Gatsby house, going from plain rich to mega rich by marrying Tom, and attending lavish posh parties. And what to say about Myrtle—oh poor Myrtle. She was just a play thing for the hollow rich folks. She certainly didn’t deserve to be run over even if she committed adultery.

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

"Tropic of Capricorn" by Henry Miller, 1938

“Tropic of Capricorn” by Henry Miller, 1938

“Tropic of Capricorn” is considered by many a cornerstone of modern literature and part of the Henry Miller’s contribution to cause of free speech in publications. As with its companion novel “Tropic of Cancer”, “Tropic of Capricorn” was banned in America as obscene for 30 years. Only a historic court ruling that changed American censorship standards permitted their publication.

Personally, I quite enjoyed the semi-autobiography. I do wonder how much of the filth is evocative of truth and how much of it an invocation of fantasy. I cull and quote Miller himself, “Obscenity is a cleansing process, whereas pornography only adds to the murk"; More obscenity and more murk, please.


My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

"Foundation and Earth" (Foundation, Book 7) by Isaac Asimov (1986)

"Foundation and Earth" (Foundation, Book 7) by Isaac Asimov (1986)

Several hundred thousands of years in the future, two citizens of the Foundation, Pel and Trev, seek to find the planet of human origin called Earth. At each step that brings them closer to Earth, they are met with danger, wonderment, and forms of human life more culturally alien to them than they anticipated.

Geriatric sex, hermaphrodites, robots, hive mind, and plenty more sex. What a departure from the other Foundation books in the series; neither in a good or bad way. I have to admit I enjoyed this installment much more than the original Foundation trilogy and maybe as much as the prequels. The addition of Fallum to Trev (not to mention Daneel), Pel, and Bliss was the right device to introduce the ideas of "whole human beings" and in turn merging of Man and Machine. Asimov unquestionably tied all of his "big ideas" and worldbuilding from his various works together remarkably well with this novel.

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 stars)

“Foundation's Edge” (Foundation, Book 6) by Isaac Asimov's (1982)

“Foundation's Edge” (Foundation, Book 6) by Isaac Asimov's (1982)

About 500 years after Hari Seldon setup the Foundation(s), Trevize is convinced of the existence of the Second Foundation (and its harmful interest towards the First Foundation) and set out to search for it. Pelorat, occupied with the origin question and myth of Earth, accompanies Trevize.

I found the premise of the novel a refreshing change of pace from the previous three installments. The addition of Gaia, for me, was an invigorating shot into the Foundation plot(s). The momentum build up and culmination of characters definitely came to satisfying end; but not without questions. Hints of "Caves of Steel", "End of Eternity", and "Currents of Space" peppered throughout the book definitely got me giddy. Enjoyable. Or as "Pel" would probably say, "Bliss-ful".