Beautiful and Abundant by Bryan Welch

I read this book after I went to a book signing by Bryan Welch. I really enjoyed his talk and subsequent conversation so I had to get his book. Basically the author argues that environmentalists have done a great disservice to the environmental movement by focusing so much on all the negatives. He argues that we should instead be focused on what we want our future to look like. He argues that when pondering our actions we should ask ourselves a series of four queries; they are: Is it beautiful? Is it fair? Does it create abundance? And is it contagious? He does acknowledge that there are huge challenges to be faced but feels confident in our ability to overcome them. I really enjoyed this book, especially the meditations that he included in between chapters. He shares personal stories from his childhood and from his life on his farm. I found a lot of his stories familiar to me. I have similar stories from my life with animals.

Rating: 5 stars

Recommendations: Bryan Welch owns Ogden publishing, which publishes among other things, Mother Earth News Magazine. The magazine is all about sustainability, in all different aspects of life. The magazine has tons of book recommendations, I would check out their website: www.motherearthnews.com

276 pages in about 2 and half hours.

By Heresies Distressed by David Weber

Well, another volume down. This one made up for the last with plenty of battles and momentous events. Still can't put these books down! I'm only sad that there is only one more published volume, I've got (and am about to start) volume 4, A Mighty Fortress. But volume 5 doesn't come out till September!! Sad day!

Rating: 5 stars again :)

Recommendations: The next book of course, but I'm on the look out for more David Weber stuff now. I'm intrigued by his book, Out of the Dark, I'll let you know what I think when I get a hold of a copy.

A short one! 496 pages, maybe 3 hours!

By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber

Alright, this one picks up right where Off Armageddon Reef* left off. See that post for my ravings on how awesome these books are! I did have one complaint in this book, not a lot happened! Alright, that's not true but the things that happened were setting up for bigger things down the road. There weren't really any big battles fought in this book. But overall I still loved this book.

Rating: 5 stars

Recommendations: The next book is By Heresies Distressed. David Weber also co wrote (well, with a lot of people) but with John Ringo for a series, the first book is called March Up Country.

723 pages took about 4 hours I think.

Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber

So I have been composing this post in my head for the last week trying to figure out how to convey how *awesome* this book is! Take all the fun parts of our history throw in some aliens out to destroy the human race and mix with lots of sneaky intrigues and heroic battles, as well as some truly likable characters and you've got some idea what this book is like.
So here is the premise, in order to save ourselves from total annihilation we have sent the last remnants of humanity off to a *very* distant planet. On the way there the mission director "programs" all the colonists (with their permission) to have forgotten all about technology (so they can hide from the aliens). But the mission director gets some delusions of grandeur and sets himself and his cronies up as the next best thing to gods. Fast forward 1,000 years and you have world controlling Church, and the entire populace with no memory of humanity as it once was. The Church of course is corrupt... you see where this might lead??

Rating: 5 stars! I'd give it more stars if I could!!

Recommendations: The rest of the series obviously, the next book is By Schism Rent Asunder. I also really liked David Weber's Honor Harrington series as well. The first book in that series is On Basilisk Station.

800 pages only took me 4 or 5 hours, I could not put this book down!

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

This is one of my all time favorite books. I've read it, I don't know how many times! It is a nice simple read, the plot is fairly uncomplicated. If it weren't for a little bit of sex (alluded to, not actually described) then I would call it a young adult novel. Also, I read this the first time when I was 12 or 13 (the same age as the protagonist) and was reading a story about *talking* magical horses. What teenage girl wouldn't love that??? Now this is the first of the Valdemar novels. I think there are better books in the series (this was Lackey's first book after all!) but I will always love this one.

Rating: 5 stars of course

Recommendations: The rest of this trilogy is, Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall. My favorite Valdemar books, are probably the Mage Storms Trillogy, and the Vows and Honor Dualogy.

320 pages, maybe took me 2 hours but I've read it so many times it's hard to say.

The Magic of Recluse by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

I read this years ago and realized that I missed a lot of things. So here I am re-reading it, I really enjoyed this book. The concept of magic in this series is interesting. The characters had some depth. The plot was fun. This book makes you think more than your average fantasy, I think. The author likes to imply things, and not outright say them, it makes for a more challenging read but enjoyable. I like that the author assumes that the reader is intelligent enough so everything doesn't have to be spelled out. I will definitely read more in this series.

Rating: 4 stars

Recommendations: So apparently the author says that the books should be read in the published order. But, if you want to follow this character, Lerris, the next book is Death of Chaos. This book apparently takes place very late in the chronology of Recluse, but it doesn't seem to matter too much. I just get attached to a character and want to stay with them.

501 pages took me about 4 hours I think (I was on vacation so I wasn't really paying attention!)

One Bad Apple by Sheila Connolly

This book was alright. Nothing really great about it, the mystery wasn't much of a mystery. You more or less knew who did it by about half way through, you just didn't know how exactly. But I kind of liked the main character and I'm hoping there will be more about the orchard and about renovating the house. I will probably at some point read more in the series, and maybe they get better! It was a fun read, pretty undemanding.

Rating: 3 stars

Recommendations: I got nothing for this one lol Sorry guys, I've been on vacation and my brain is just not on books today!

262 pages took me about 2 hours.

The Diva Cooks a Goose by Krista Davis

So I actually did not like this one near as much as some of the others. The story was well done and the characters were as engaging as usual but I couldn't keep everyone straight!! There were far too many neighbors and relatives in-law and such. It was distracting that there were so many subplots too, although they did all pretty much tie in with the main story. And thankfully there was not near as much Natasha this time lol. People who think they are gods gift to the universe are extremely annoying. But I do like that the author throws in a touch of vulnerability in Natasha, so she's not completely unbearable and you can understand that she acts like she does in large part out of insecurity! Makes her a more likable character.

Rating: 4 stars

Recommendations: This is the last published Diva book, there won't be another one till Sept! :-(

290 pages about 3 hours as usual

The Tower and the Hive by Anne McCaffrey

This was a really disappointing finish to this series. There wasn't much to the plot, characters were introducing and then seemingly forgotten about. Even the "romances" were tepid. And the so called "resolution" to the whole five book series was all wrapped up within the last 20 pages or so.... I had read this one when it came out, no wonder I didn't remember it! I was hugely disappointed. This is the sort of work that makes me not want to read any more of McCaffrey's books, and her early stuff is so great!! This was an easier read than usual, probably because there wasn't much going on! There was a whole terrorist plot that came to nothing!! It was introduced, the Talents said "oh yeah we know all about it" and then almost nothing came of it, this is something that would have been explored in earlier books. The Rowan had a lot of time devoted to psychological issues, and this time around there was almost nothing of that sort. That's one of the things that made The Rowan such a rich story, there was depth to it! *sigh* Very disappointing.

Rating: 2 stars

Recommendations: Read Ms. McCaffrey's earlier stuff!! The Crystal singer books, the early Dragonrider books... I have liked some of the stuff that she's co-written with other people too. Although I have not read any of the stuff she's co-written with her son... About 10 years ago or so I read a Pern short story that was sooo *bad* that I haven't been able to bring myself to read any Pern books since then. Although I have heard some good things about her son's work.

302 pages only took me about 2 hours to read, lots of blank and half pages with graphics, plus it just wasn't written very well!