Reading anything?

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!
2 by 2 by 2

2 mysteries

Christopher Fowler's
The invisible code
10th in the peculiar crimes unit series

When a woman is mysteriously killed,  then a man meets an equally mysterious death, and then their apparent killer is killed in an accident, our heroes still have to decide who hired the killer and why, and do the deaths have anything to do with a scientific experiment gone wrong from many years ago, and relating to it, a man's suicide or was it murder?

If the book still retains its jacket, then there is a clue on the jacket as to who is the guilty parties. And the next book is suppose to take place here in America.

Ely Griffiths'
The outcast dead
6th in the Ruth Galloway series

When our heroine uncovers the skeleton of a woman with a hook for a left hand, who is buried in an odd place and in an odd position, then it looks like she has uncovered the final resting place of the notorious Madame Hook, who was hanged for the murder of one of the children in her care more than a century ago.

Every British author worth their salt does at least 1 book about children in peril. This is hers, and she does a good job with it, as he does a great 3-year old. Probably not because she remembers when she was 3, but she does have children and probably remembers what it was like, when they were 3.


2 non-fiction books

David Beasley's
Without mercy :
the stunning true story of race, crime, and corruption in the deep South.
1 more non-fiction book by the writer.

A time, when, if you were rich and white, you could practically buy your way out of jail, but if you were poor and black, then you were s*** out of luck, especially if you had the bad fortune to kill a white person.

Harriet Baukus'
Hidden treasures :
what museums can't or won't show you
5 more non-fiction books by the writer.

The reasons for the can't and/or won't are actually as interesting as what is not shown of the over 60 items from 56 different museums.

For reasons . . .
political -- legal -- and/or ethical.

Or too . . .
controversial -- sexist -- racist -- pornographic -- valuable -- old -- large -- fragile -- disgusting -- dangerous -- creepy -- and/or bizarre.


2 graphic novels

Bunn, Jones, Filardi, and Brisson
Helheim
bk1: the witch war

A war between 2 witches with the populace caught between the 2.


Lobdell, Nicieza, and Green
Red Hood and the outlaws
v.3. death of the family


Next time: more 2 by 2 by 2. Till then . . .?

[lester1/2jr]

Beyond Belief: The Gospel of Thomas


 Excellent book on the Gospel of Thomas, which was the pick of the littler of the texts discovered at Nag Hammadi in the 1940's. While most of the so called gnostic gospels and so forth discovered there are generally believed to have been written much later than the 4 main ones, some people think this was actually written earlier and was source material for the New Testament. Who knows if it really was. It's pretty much the gospels without the story, just the oral traditions of the early Christians, some of them rather mysterious.

The text is included it's entirety but it's not that long. Much of the book is taken by the authors giving context for it. Essentially, there was a battle of sorts in early Christianity. The first 3 gospels do not refer to Jesus as God. It was the last gospel, John, which was written long after Jesus died and which is at odds with the other 3 in many ways that does. Justin Martyr, Ignatius, and other early Christians were not aware of John and didn't read it. it had the effect of breaking Christianity away from Judaism completely and also marginalizing the so called Thomas Christians because it painted Thomas as a doubter of Christ's divinity.

When the Christ of John took over Christianity the apocryphal gospels were ordered to be destroyed but some were save in these big urns and buried in the desert.

  

[indianasmith]

Anyone who says that the first three Gospels don't acknowledge Jesus as God simply hasn't read them closely or else chooses to ignore large chunks of them.  Jesus' favorite title for Himself, "the Son of Man," used in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, is actually a divine reference as cited in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel.  The phrase "Son of God," used in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is a clear claim to divinity - the Greek concept of half-gods or demigods had no place in Jewish theology.  While Justin Martyr and Ignatius do not cite John as often as they do the other three, to say they that it was unknown to them was a real stretch - especially since their contemporaries, Origen and Polycarp, both quoted John frequently.
   While many have tried to push the Gospel of Thomas back into the First Century AD, the fact is that most scholars (aside from this author) still give it a mid-to-late Second Century date - over a century after Jesus was crucified, and sixty years after John was written in the  90's AD.
  The main reason so many secular scholars are crazy about the Gospel of Thomas is that it contains no resurrection, no miracles, and no clear claims to divinity on the part of Jesus.  He's just a wise little zen master spouting pithy sayings, not the commanding divine figure of the canonical Gospels - in other words, he's a purely secular Jesus, so secular scholars like him!

[lester1/2jr]

To most of the people who encountered Jesus in his lifetime that is who he was. His message formed what would be the conscience of western civilization, for which the previous dominant moralities were a poor substitute.

60 years after the death of Jesus is a little late at any rate and most experts seem to believe the author was not there which calls the whole thing into question however accurate it may be about the nature of Christ.

[indianasmith]

According to Papias, John's Gospel was written by the Apostle John near the end of his very long life . . . several early second century sources say that John lived nearly 100 years, well into the reign of Domitian.

To Jesus' disciples, he was "the Christ, the Son of the Living God" - a phrase used by Simon Peter and reported in all 3 Synoptic Gospels.  I think the reason John's narrative was so different from the others was because John knew the other 3, was familiar with them, and wanted to report on the parts of Jesus' life that they had not mentioned.

[ER]

60 years after the death of Jesus is a little late  

I haven't read the book you reviewed, lester, or know the full case its author presents, but even if the outside figure of sixty years is taken as accurate as to written records on Jesus, which many historians would argue is putting the date much later than in some cases it actually was, that still means Jesus' biography falls closer to his lifetime than almost any other from the ancient world, as there exist no written records of the sayings of Buddha that come any closer to his lifetime than three-hundred years, nor any biographies of Alexander the Great that were penned within four-hundred years of his death, nor any of Mohammad that come closer to his time than a century. Strangely I hear few people calling the accuracy of the record of those figures into question, even if they were arguably written from a much more distant perspective than the records that exist concerning Jesus. If anything archaeological discoveries of recent times have confirmed New Testament place names and the names of Biblical people lending strength to the four Gospels' case for being exactly what they claim to be: records of events told within living memory of their happening.

[lester1/2jr]

fair criticism of Thomas and defense of John. I certainly wouldn't know what the answer is. I don't think the author is discounting John as much as I appeared to have. There was also a lot of weirdness in early Christianity that was probably rightfully expunged.

One thing I've noticed in the whole kind of apocryphal gospel scene if you will is how large Enoch looms. I think a lot of it is simply interest in old books and ideas and the stories themselves being so colorful.

[indianasmith]

The Book of Enoch was part of the Hebrew Apocrypha, probably written around 300 BC, although its date is not certain.  Even the canonical Book of Jude quotes it; apparently it was a very popular work during the NT era.  I am not sure if an extant copy of it survives or not, but it would be fun to read if it did.

[VenomX73]

Here on Gilligan's Isle/the Professor's Behind-The-Scenes Guide to Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gilligan's Island.

by Russell Johnson

[lester1/2jr]

I've listened to it on youtube. theres a guy who reads all of those Book of Jubilees, The other revelation, etc

https://www.youtube.com/user/Apocryphile1970

Yes there are a number of apocryphal books cited in the bible

There was one that was like a New Testament version of Enoch where Jesus goes down to hell and the guy does all the different voices I can remember which one it was

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!
2 by 2 by 2


2 mysteries

Anne Perry's
Death on Black Heath
27th in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series

When a ladies' maid disappears from a house in the Black Heath section of London, apparently as a result of violence, our hero is called in to investigate, as there is a fear that the work that the home's owner is doing for the Royal Navy and the maid's disappearance is connected.

Paul Grossman's
Brotherhood of Fear
3rd in the Willi Kraus series


2 non-fiction books

Craig Shemin's
The Muppets :
Character Encyclopedia

Over 150 characters from the Afghan Hound to Zoot. Up to date as of 2014.

Tom Zoellner's
Trains :
Riding the Rails that Created the Modern World--from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief
4 more non-fiction books by the writer

The history of the passenger train from the 1st trains to the trains of today, as told by a man who rode the trains in . . .

United Kingdom -- India -- United States -- Russia -- China -- Peru -- and Spain.


2 graphic novels

Adventures
in the Star Wars omnibus series

6 old characters in 6 new adventures.

Brian Michael Bendis'
Cosmic Avengers
in the Guardians of the Galaxy series


Next time: 2 by 2 by 2

[Rev. Powell]

[FatFreddysCat]

Just finished:

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil - a warts 'n' all history of the punk rock movement which starts in the late 60s with early agitators like The Velvet Underground and then moving on thru the MC5, the Stooges, the Ramones, Television, Blondie, the Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols. McNeil was a co-author of the legendary "Punk" magazine who was smack in the middle of the genre's rise and fall and yet somehow managed to make through the entire narcotic-addled era with his brain cells intact. A hilarious, sometimes gross, but always entertaining read.

Just started:

Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen and Candy-Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B Movie by Chris Nashawaty
..an amazingly cool book covering Roger Corman's 60 eventful years in Hollywood, chock full of quotes from pretty much everybody who's ever worked for him (James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Sylvester Stallone, Ron Howard, Dick Miller, Joe Dante, etc., etc.) and lavishly illustrated with tons of vintage photos, movie posters, and artwork. This is a treasure trove of movie-geek trivia!!

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!

2 mysteries

Dave Handler's
The Coal Black Asphalt Tomb
10th in the Berger and Mitry series

Archer Mayor's
Three Can Keep a Secret [If 2 of Them Are Dead]
No! No! No! I made up the last part, but 24th in the Joe Gunther series

A body, where there should be no body. Where there should be a body, there is no body. And a female escapee from the state mental hospital, who may or may not have drowned in the tunnels under the hospital. All compounded by floods and a massive hurricane bearing down on the state.


2 non-fiction

Earp and Fowler's
U. S. Marshals :
Inside America's Most Starred Law Enforcement Agency

And the federal government's oldest law enforcement agency. A history of the agency with emphasis on today's agency. And, yes! Earp is related to the legendary Wyatt Earp.

Iain McCalman's
The Reef :
a Passionate History
4 more non-fiction books by the writer

A history of one of the few natural wonders that can be seen from the moon--the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, as told through the eyes of a half dozen individuals who had the greatest effect on the struggles in that area. (1st) The struggle between man and nature with man winning. (2nd) The struggle between the whites and the natives with the whites winning. (3rd) The struggle between those who would preserve it, and those who would exploit it with the preservationists winning. And (4th) back to the struggle between man and nature with this time nature leading with the advent of global warming.


2 graphic novels

Quinrose and Sakura's
Alice in the Country of Hearts
v.2. The Mad Hatter's Late Night Tea Party

The continuing adventures of Alice in Wonderland, which consists of the House of Dupree and its residents "Blood" Dupree [the Mad Hatter], Mr. March, and the Twins: Dee and Dum; the Castle of Hearts and its residents the Queen of Hearts and Peter White; Old Man Gowland's amusement park; and the Watchmaker and his house. All of whom are friends, unless they are trying to kill each other.

Wood, Kelly, and D'Anda's
Star Wars :
from the Ruins of Alderaan
v.2.

The ending of the story which began in v.1.


Next time: 2 by 2 by 2

[FatFreddysCat]

Just finished:

The Boy Who Loved Batman by Michael Uslan - an autobiography by the producer of 1989's megahit "Batman" film (as well as all Bat-films since then), who started out as just another comic-book obsessed kid growing up in 1960s New Jersey. The story of his long, strange road to Hollywood and the many years of struggle it took to finally bring his favorite superhero to the big screen was a very entertaining, inspiring read.

Next up:
Sean Connery: From 007 to Hollywood Icon by Andrew Yule