What are YOU currently reading? (8)

I am finishing the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. (The Three Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death's End) by Cixin Liu.

It is a hard science fiction story. Earth discovers intelligent alien life near Alpha Centauri, however, the aliens (called Trisolarans) begin an invasion and intend to exterminate Humanity. Humans discover that the Universe is a 'Dark Forest' (one of the answers to the Fermi Paradox) and all life is hostile to each other. With that knowledge Humanity uses a 'Mutual Assured Destruction' (MAD) strategy to prevent the Trisolarans from coming to Earth, but in the long run it only assures the destruction of both species by a more advanced intelligent civilization.

A fourth book was written by Baoshu, The Redemption of Time. I haven't read the full book but there is an interesting exploration of the origins of the Universe that I think may have been inspired, at least in part, by the Book of Genesis. At the beginning of time the Universe is perfect, it is 10-dimensions and composed completely of light an was created by an entity called 'The Master'. However, another entity called 'The Lurker' seeks something else and as a result brings in imperfection and darkness along with conflict and 'The Dark Forest'.

Sif said:

A fourth book was written by Baoshu, The Redemption of Time. I haven't read the full book but there is an interesting exploration of the origins of the Universe that I think may have been inspired, at least in part, by the Book of Genesis. At the beginning of time the Universe is perfect, it is 10-dimensions and composed completely of light an was created by an entity called 'The Master'. However, another entity called 'The Lurker' seeks something else and as a result brings in imperfection and darkness along with conflict and 'The Dark Forest'.

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I found out something unfortunate about The Redemption of Time that makes it so I cannot recommend it and won't read it. One of the characters is, apparently, an 'adult' film star to put it politely.

Been reading a lot of Francine Rivers' work over the past year. Recently finished Bridge to Haven. Which is essentially the story of the prodigal son. Except it's a daughter. And it's set in the 1950's.

Not my absolute favorite in her works, but it's still a great read. Every one of her stories I've read so far has had something unique to offer.

The Black Ice by Michael Connelly

The Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box. There's twenty four books in the series (so far) and I've read eight of them. I hope to catch up to the author by the end of the decade.

Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History by John Julius Norwich. It's a narrative history of the island from the time of the tyrants up to the Second World War.

John Julius Norwich has written some excellent narrative histories. His three volumes on the Byzantine Empire are quite good as is his history called Four Princes about King Henry VIII if England, King Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain, and Sultan Sulieman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire.

I just finished Hard to Believe by John McArthur.

It’s about how many churches & people preach a pop Gospel to be more appealing but you need to preach the hard message.

Chapter 1 discussed how Jesus preached a hard message. It’s not all comfort.

Chapter 2 discussed how we get ashamed preaching it. But not once did the NT writers cave to make it more appealing. A big roadblock at the time of the NT would’ve been a crucifixion victim. The shame of crucifixion victims is lost on us today. The Greeks thought it was ridiculous & the Jews saw it as a sign of oppression & thought it contradicted the OT. The chapter ended with a section saying how the kingdom of God advances even tho a hard message is preached because of his sovereignty.

Chapter 3 is so far about how God usually picks the weak / forgotten / bottom / insignificant

Chapter 4 is about how the people rejected Jesus himself when he preached the message. He was the Messiah they had been waiting for for so long but they still rejected him.

Chapter 5 is about the wide & narrow gates. Many churches are too scared to hurt people by telling them Jesus is the only way. The wide gate that leads to hell is labeled heaven. Everyone has to pick one or the other

Chapter 6 is about how people think they are saved just b/c they think they say the right words.

Chapter 7 is on the wise man building his house on the rock, & the foolish building on sand. The foolish man’s house may look just like the wise builder’s, but under the surface, it’s not. It’s easy building the fool’s house

Chapter 8 is marks of a true disciple: manifests Christ’s character, willing to sacrifice, willing to be divided, willing to sacrifice your own life, no fear, & share your blessings w/ other Christians

Chapter 9 is about how many people thought John the Baptist was strange. But Jesus, who was more like them, they didn’t like his way of teaching either.

Chapter 10 is why people abandon the faith. They only want a miracle, they only like the show, they’re demanding God to do things for them, they don’t care for the eternal, they don’t care for worship, they mock it when away from the genuine by action or words, they don’t care about their sin

Chapters 11 & 12 are about how many churches don’t evangelize b/c they think man can be saved without knowing the Gospel, but you have to know the Gospel to be saved so we must evangelize. Man can reason a lot about God, but there's some things he still can't know all by himself

Book is all done.

Just finished the Narrows by Michael Connelly.

The Alexiad by Anna Komnene (as translated from the Greek by E. R. E. Sewter). It tells of the rule of Anna's father, Alexios I of the Byzantine Empire (he ruled form 1081 to 1118. The history also gives some information the the First Crusade and some of its commanders as well as the Byzantine view of the Crusade and its soldiers. Anna Komnene died in 1153 at the age of 69 or 70 in the Kecharitomene convent in Constantinople (today's Istanbul). The full name of the convent was Theotokos Kecharitomene (Mother of God, Full of Grace).

I read a Venom comic. It had 3 stories. The first was about how he views his relationship with the Symbiote as a marriage relationship. They go to the church they met at, where they were symbolically married. He meets a priest & hints he doesn’t like the relationship. The Symbiote gets mad & kills the priest.
I wasn’t sure what to think of this. On one hand as a Christian I liked the religious themes. & as someone who wants to be married, I saw the connection of meeting at a church and getting married at a church. But I thought the connection w/ their relationship being a marriage relationship, something felt wrong about that. Like how the pagans think marriage relationships are the only good relationships. (if 2 people love each other, it must be romantic love!)
The next story was how he & the Symbiote part & the Symbiote finds a new host. The panels, art, & dialogue made this hard to follow.
The final story was how after he defeats mall vandals, he thinks rage is a good thing b/c it allows him to defend the innocent. Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand it’s saying bad can be turned for good. On the other hand it’s saying bad is good.

The Two Towers. I am about to embark on chapter 6.

I also look forward to continuing The Wheel of Time, vol.1 The Eye of the World, from (I think) page 374.

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is Tolkien's retelling, in poetic form, the Volsung Saga of Norse mythology.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. It is a science fiction story of a Jesuit first contact mission to Alpha Centauri. The contact with intelligent alien life results in surprise, tragedy, sorrow, but with a glimmer of hope.

"Whispers" by Dean Koontz.

I just started Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann. It's a true account of the murders of members of the Osage Nation in the 1920s. It so happened that large oil deposits were discovered beneath their tribal lands in northeast Oklahoma. The tribe was earning millions by licensing the oil companies to extract petroleum. The Osage became the wealthiest people in the state of Oklahoma. Which, of course, was intolerable to certain white people. Who began killing tribal members in order to take over their land. Investigation of the case was taken up by the recently created FBI, and its young director, J. Edgar Hoover. I'm only about 50 pages in the book. But it's totally absorbing. And infuriating that racism, envy, greed, and murderous terrorism was ever thought to be acceptable by the white powers-that-be. And BTW, the Martin Scorsese film has about 10 Oscar nominations.

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot