The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

—October 2006

The Little Schemer by Daniel P. Friedman and Matthias Felleisen

October 2006: I had some difficulties getting ahold of a copy of this book. I was very anxious to read it, but now that I finally have it I’ve kind of lost some steam after the first chapter or so. While I generally enjoy making sure there weren’t any basics I missed about a subject, I guess it’s been a bit tedious to review the basic of Lisp/Scheme yet again.

But I really need to finish it because I feel I need a deeper understanding of the Y combinator & possibly other concepts found between its covers. Plus, its sequels look good too.

Coached by Jesus by Alan Nelson

I took part in a September–October 2006 Bible study class that used this book. It is 31 brief chapters that each focus on a scripture & challenge the reader to seriously consider how to apply it to his daily life & current affairs. I recommend it, although I might have called it Coached by Alan Nelson interpreting Jesus, although that’s less catchy & redundant. (I can’t understand why they didn’t use the catchier & alliterative Coached by Christ.)

The complete adventures of Charlie & Willy Wonka by Roald Dahl

I really enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, even though I was really more interested in the second half of the book. I, however, enjoyed Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator much less. For what reason, I’m not sure.

—July 2006

Avengers disassembled & the new Avengers

Disassembled was only the third Avengers comic I’ve read. One of the others was the issue in which they discover Captain America, which I have in an old trade paperback of Cap comics. Disassembled has a scene that recalls that incident, & it was cool to compare a new rendering of it to the original.

I really enjoyed the new Avengers.

It’s just really weird, though, to see these characters in a contemporary world recalling their exploits from the 1960s without looking 40–50 years older. OK, so they’re superheroes. For some of them—like Cap himself—slowed or halted aging is conceivable. (It could make his years in suspended animation even more plausible.) But for Tony Stark...

& for some reason it came as quite a shock to me that Stark’s identity as Iron Man is common knowledge—not only to the other Avengers—but publically!

—June 2006

Serenity: Those Left Behind

For father’s day, I got the Serenity graphic novel.

I’m disappointed. It didn’t really seem to reveal anything new about the characters or the 'Verse or significantly move the narrative forward.

—June 2006

Tokyopop Sneak

Free Comic Book Day is great! Just walk in the store, & walk out with a free comic book. I got Tokyopop Sneak, which has previews of three Tokyopop titles.

—May 2006

Second-Stage Lensman by E.E. “Doc” Smith

Following my belief that the best order to read a series is the order published (or—if known—perhaps the order they were actually written), I started the Lensman series with Galactic Patrol. I’m up to Second-Stage Lensman. So far, I don’t feel it’s as good as the previous two books. Although, maybe it’s just that Doc’s style gets old after two books.

Now that I’ve finished this book, my opinion of it is higher than it was when I wrote the paragraph above. Still, I think the previous two books in the series were better.

Herbert West: Reanimator by H.P. Lovecraft

A fun, serial parody of Frankenstein. It turns out Lovecraft didn’t like this collection of stories, but I quite enjoyed them. They have an energy & humor that I didn’t expect from Lovecraft.

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What should I read?

• The Worm Ouroboros (public domain in the US)

last updated 1 year ago #