CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I finally got around to finishing The Road. I liked the setting, (without disclosing why America is so messed up) the way the characters are described, (No names, simply "The Boy" and "The Man") and the short, jerky sentences when they talk to each other.
The ending was a complete slap to my face, though...and not in the good way.

So I just read Bible Camp Bloodbath by Joey Comeau and it wasn't all that fun. You'd think it would be, a story about killing children, but it isn't. Now, I wasn't going in thinking I'd be enlightened by some masterful work of literature, but I did go in thinking I'd at least be amused. Not much amusement. It's not funny, it's not scary, it's just... there? The writing was boring, and at times could have been more clean, you don't care about the characters... it's a bad slasher film told in 78 pages. It's alright if you have like a half- hour to kill and the story just so happens to be there, but not worth the price.

Finding Emilie - picked this up after going to a book club meeting where the author came and talked about it. While it's a 'historical novel', and told from the POV from a fictional character, the story it tells about Voltaire's lover is pretty much entirely true.

Émilie du Châtelet is a for-real woman who was an absolutely brlliant mathematician, and even to today her translation and commentary on Principia Mathematica is THE one used in France because of her insights into it, and discovered a number of highly important physics concepts. You know the equation E=MC2? That squaring came from her work. In short, this is a woman that history has forgotten, but was incredibly vital to some of today's most important science concepts.

This tells her story, though side-by-side that of her fictional daughter.

The Fount of Knowledge by Saint John Damascene. A demonstration of the intellectual prowess of the eastern churches.

Finished Black, and I found it amazing, but the ending would be so annoying to me if I didn't have the next books ready. Anyway on to [color="Red"]Red[/color].

A while ago, I read The Hunger Games. Books 1 and 2 were really good, but I thought Mockingjay was rather weak.

At the moment, I am reading through the old Spider Man comics that I borrow from my library (if that even counts as literature....)

Right now I'm reading Persepolis for the second time, I really really love that book. great comic and great animation.

Makachop^^128 (post: 1595761) wrote:Right now I'm reading Persepolis for the second time, I really really love that book. great comic and great animation.

That's a fantastic series. I really enjoyed it!

I'm reading any HP Lovecraft I can get my hands on - just finished she short stories t The Mountains of Madness and Call of Cthulu. About to start on The Dunwich Horror.

Just bought The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis. Haven't had a chance to read it yet but I love almost all of her books. She mainly writes Amish fiction.

Started The Rise of Nine, the third book in the Lorien Legacies (the books that inspired the I Am Number Four movie)

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

The ending scene is the weirdest thing ever. The book is good and actually discusses some interesting issues, namely religion and the mind of a lonesome person. There are also dogs burned alive and a psycho coming to where the protagonist lives.
The Wasp Factory is somewhat akin to Lord of the Flies, but in a weird way and not plot-wise.

I've just started reading against Eunomius by Saint Basil the great, its interesting to me as it represents an orthodox theology which was not based or grounded within the Nicene creed at the time, though basil would later accept the creed.

Hm. Well, I am reading two books.

Come Let Us Reason, it's a book that compiles some modern essays on Christian Apologetics. As well as, Prayer by Spurgeon, talk about hardcore, about 160 pages of one of the greatest theologians of all time praying, near all of them. Awesome.

[B]“The Flinchâ€

ich1990 (post: 1596568) wrote:

“] by Massad Ayoob

This book is something of a modern classic in the realm of handgun control, shooting positions, and other basic firearm stances and tactics. If I were to learn how to fire a handgun all over again, I would use Ayoob’s Stressfire method as it is clearly superior to everything I have been taught.

His style, which incorporates the best of all the different worlds of police gunfighting tactics, works the natural human physiological responses to stress to its advantage. For example, Ayoob suggests a modified Turret stance over the classic Weaver stance (which I use). His justification is that adrenaline causes a shooter in the Weaver stance to shoot to the right in a stressful situation as the dominant arm applies excess force as it pulls against the off hand. With the Turret stance, the locked joints make it much more difficult for that to happen (not to mention offer a more secure hold on the weapon). This makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately, decade-long habits are very hard to overrule, and until such time as I can put a the hundreds or thousands of rounds down range that are necessary to train myself in the new method, the best I can do is recommend is highly recommend this book to any new shooters. 9/10


[B]“In the Gravest Extreme” by Massad Ayoob

This is essential reading for every concealed weapon carrier. It tells you everything you need to know about the psychology of firearm self-defense, the mindset of the criminals you are most likely to encounter, and a whole bunch of practical law and court case analysis. While the handgun recommendations and black and white photos are outdated, virtually everything else in this book is current, sage advice. This should be required reading for any civilian even considering carrying a firearm for personal protection. 10/10

Gun-owner?

Currently reading: Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, and The Company of Wolves by Peter Steinhart.

Not too crazy about Insurgent actually, as I can't seem to become attached to either of the main characters. Oh well. It's not bad. *shrugs*

Spoon River Anthology is great. My English teacher last year gave me it as a Graduation gift after we took up a few of the poems in class. But... Almost everyone in Spoon River had a pretty miserable life...

The Company of Wolves: Picked this non-fiction up in BC a couple summers ago but set it aside and haven't got around to finishing it yet. I like it which says a lot about any non-fiction title in my case.

Recently I read Susie Orbach's Bodies. It's about relatively recent changes in how the human body is treated by western culture (e.g., worship of thinness, considering a certain level of "healthiness" a moral duty to one's body) and their psychological consequences.

Her prose was a little tricky at times (some loooong sentences), but the research and points she was making were fascinating. I know I would've understood more if I had more background in psychology, but what I did get out of it was some delicious food for thought.

It by Stephen King. Because it was only 50 cents at a book sale and was really the only book that looked halfway interesting. It's not bad, but I don't think it had the strong psychological build-up that The Shining did. I really do need to read The Stand for comparison.

I know its a children's book, but Howl's Moving Castle. I found it at a yard sale, and its pretty great so far.

Moby Dick - because it was free from Gutenburg Project. I downloaded it, and BOY. So far, so good! I'm shocked I didn't read this earlier.

“Convict Conditioning” by Paul Wade

Despite the flashy title and interesting premise, this book is a disappointment. Rather than actually documenting how convicts exercise to build their impressive levels of strength and conditioning (my guess: boredom and fear for one’s safety play a major role), this book is obviously fictitious and exaggerated. The workout scheme is nothing more than a handful of gymnastics progressions that can be found for free online, combined with the occasional shadowy tale of prison of violence to emphasize the need for “explosive” bodyweight exercises (and to highlight the apparent uselessness of barbell training).

What is more, the author himself has mentioned in other sources that one of the exercises recommended (a single arm handstand pushup) has never been performed by any athlete ever, including the author himself. Quite disappointing. 5/10.

“Building the Gymnastic Body” by Sommers

While “Coach” Sommers is a gifted gymnast and teacher (he has produced many world class and Olympic gymnasts), he is an abysmal writer. This book, while containing a great deal of exercise progressions, good pictures, and notes about form, doesn’t actually tell you how to build a gymnastic body. In fact, it makes no sense at all. It is completely incoherent and confusing. There are no routines, dietary guidelines, or training regimens, just progressions. This is certainly not worth the excessive cost of the book. 4/10

Neane (post: 1596609) wrote:Gun-owner?

Enabled citizen.

Atria35 (post: 1597343) wrote:Moby Dick - because it was free from Gutenburg Project. I downloaded it, and BOY. So far, so good! I'm shocked I didn't read this earlier.

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! And since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!


Anyway, reading Banewreaker. Pretty good, but hard to get in to.

Re-read "Leaf by Niggle" by J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote this even though he "cordially dislikes allegory in all of its manifestations"

I'm reading an old book by the name of 'Heart of a Dog'. So far, its been depressing...
Recently go done with 'The Priests Graveyard' by Ted Dekker. I twas good, but the end and 'moral' was lame in my opinion.

Jurassic Park, but I don't like the book. Being forced to read stuff for school makes me dislike the book. I have no idea why.

reading the complete works of Flannery O Connor. Be warned, if you read this, she held nothing back about being Catholic. Which is why I like her.

I'm reading Graceling, by Kristin Cashore. I love it.

I'm reading The Confidence Man for school, and it's actually not that bad. I'm also reading Dragon's Keep, which has my favorite mythological creature in it.

Guys, we need to make more threads in this forum. Any ideas?

Finished reading The Fiddler it was an awesome book. Now I am sort of (I say sort of because I lent it to my mom before I finished it) reading a book called To His Princess: Love Letters From The King. It is a collection of letters, that were "written" by God, to His daughters. (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sheri+rose+shepherd&sprefix=Sheri+%2Caps%2C514) It is ideal for those who don't think God is always there for them (at least thats what it has done for me).

On top of that I am re-reading my incomplete Inuyasha manga series.

Currently reading When God Weeps by Joni Eareckson Tada. Her website Joni and Friends has been sooo encouraging to me in the past several months! Really good stuff in this book so far --I think this is a book that everyone should read --it really takes a good look at suffering and gives such a good perspective on it --I could keep going.