ericj's reviews
21 reviews

The Art of Public Prayer: Not for Clergy Only by Lawrence A. Hoffman

informative reflective fast-paced

3.25

There's a part late in the book where Larry talks about the spaces in which people congregate. He writes (emphasis mine):

An award-winning television program set in Victorian England was called Upstairs, Downstairs, a spatial metaphor for the class structure of the era being portrayed. The servants lived upstairs; those they served lived downstairs. The butler, however, was allowed to roam freely downstairs, because he was a bridge figure: a servant, to be sure, but in charge of all the other servants and a trusted confidant of the master and his family.

Since he, nor his editors, correctly established that servants live downstairs, not upstairs - information that simply has to almost nearly be common knowledge! - how can I trust him about anything else he wrote?

I can't, but the book was otherwise informative (if at all factual), I guess...

For that reason, 3.25 stars.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

Looking back at a couple excerpts I saved, it appears that I had two big takeaways:

1. Most things in life haven't been going as people have hoped for for thousands of years. Marc writes:

...be content if the smallest thing goes on well, and consider such an event to be no small matter.

2. Marc must've really liked eating or, at the very least, he found a pleasant tease in observing bread, writing:

We ought to observe also that even the things which follow after the things which are produced according to nature contain something pleasing and attractive. For instance, when bread is baked some parts are split at the surface, and these parts which thus open, and have a certain fashion contrary to the purpose of the baker's art, are beautiful in a manner, and in a peculiar way excite a desire for eating.

...and for these meditations, 4.5 stars.

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

When I finished reading this a few years ago, I wrote a little poem about it:

Political intrigue in space!
Interplanetary deceptions taking place!
A tale of friendships on the brink of becoming something more!
The possibility of empirical annexations causing civil unrest in the face of a potential intergalactic war!

Anyway, this book was terrific from beginning to end.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

Steve does his best to breakdown some pretty heavy concepts and, at one point, writes about the paradox of time travel. He even gives Back to the Future a shout-out, writing:

Steven Spielberg had fun with this notion in the Back to the Future films: Marty McFly was able to go back and change his parents' courtship to a more satisfactory history.

Spielberg was only an EP on the film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale.

Idiot.

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

reflective slow-paced

4.0

The following is from like page 7 of this 100-some page love letter to the joys of Shabbat:

Is the joy of posession an antidote to the terror of time which grows to be a dread of inevitable death?

While I didn't get what I thought I was going to out of the book, I did get this little nugget, and so far that, 4 stars.

Beastie Boys Book by Adam Horovitz, Michael Diamond

emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0

Might be the perfect audiobook!

Judaism as a Civilization: Toward a Reconstruction of American Jewish Life by Mordecai M. Kaplan

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

It was interesting to read this through the lense of a nearly new Jew. Though written over a century ago, much of it felt fresh and modern. Kaplan was ahead of his time and despite being the co-founder of the Reconstructionist movement, I think he would've liked what became of Reform Judaism.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

This book fucking sucks.

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0