I finished Ben Hur this morning. This book is truly a classic! I can’t think of another novel that describes Jesus’ crucifixion as well as this one. I loathed Iras, unworthy of her devout father Balthasar, but I didn’t know that...

I finished Ben Hur this morning. This book is truly a classic!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's such a great, big, rich book.
Frankly, though, I find the account of Tirza and her mother's healing a little unbelievable; not the healing itself, but the fact that Judah stopped to watch.
I believe there is another Ben-Hur movie set to release in 2016, but from what I've read it doesn't sound like it will satisfy fans of the book. What we need is a new and faithful adaption of the book, not another remake that takes all the usual shortcuts.

Anfinwen: Was it unbelievable that he stopped to watch? I didn't think so. I saw a trailer for the 2010 version and thought it awful. I don't know what the 2016 version looks like. Yes, we need a faithful adaptation!

SnowAngel: after reading one chapter of "Abraham and Sarah" (quitting the book) and finishing "Martha: A Novel", I now STRONGLY recommend the Acts of Faith series to people! It's a finely crafted, well written jewel!

Was it unbelievable that he stopped to watch? I didn't think so.

Well, he had been following Jesus for quite some time, and the book even acknowledges that he had seen quite a few miracles. So, for him to stop and watch at this point when he thought that Jesus might actually be marching into Jerusalem as king, seemed a little strange. He had been working toward that day all of his adult life, however blindly.

I've recently been reading through Orson Scott Card's Shadow Quartet. Anything by Card is always a great read and I've been really enjoying this expansion in the Endervers.

I started reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847) today. I'd read only part 3 before. Now I'm starting at the beginning. [I'm already to chapter 12!] I created a Bronte advice page on my blog too.

https://artsandculturereviews.wordpress ... s-beliefs/

NEWS!!!

Thanks to a Heartie (WCTH), I found out that the Kindle edition of The Centurion's Wife (Acts of Faith series) is free on Amazon - today only!

http://www.amazon.com/Centurions-Wife-A ... 0B5J4PZ6/r

Thanks for the link, 220! I picked up a copy and may even be able to start it soon.

Currently I'm working on finishing the Sword of Lyric series which also started with a free ebook. I also just reread The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis which was excellent.

Has anyone else read Red Rising by Pierce Brown? It's a sci-fi novel that's compared to The Hunger Games and Ender's Game with a Roman mythic twist. It's... interesting. It's a bit more story than Hunger Games, I guess? You'd have to work harder to dig out any 'this particular bit of story-society is extrapolated from this current trend' bits. It's also got a hero who seems to yo-yo between being smart about his his goals and absolutely clueless and I didn't totally buy the progression he made between the two states.

Mel: You're welcome. I hope you enjoy the book. I did.

I finished Jane Eyre. What a lovely novel. Religion and romance - together, forever. [It's probably why I like Ben Hur and Acts of Faith. ]

Currently I'm working on finishing the Sword of Lyric series which also started with a free ebook.

You haven't finished the series yet Mel. Book 4 comes out at the end of JULY! I am looking forward to that one.

Read Dee Henderson's latest. I wasn't quite as impressed by it as I was her last 3, but it's still a good solid read. The curves didn't have quite the punch that they had in previous books. However, the curves in the previous books were pretty dramatic.

kat, what's Dee Henderson's latest about? The most recent one of hers I've read was Full Disclosure and it drove me a bit bonkers. On one hand, the mystery was kinda interesting when it was focused on. On the other, it wasn't focused much,

I'm currently reading An Officer and a Lady a collection of letters (mostly) by Lt. Col. Betty Bandel, one of the first WAAC officers. It's interesting to hear about the experience of an officer since most other accounts I've read have been from enlisted women.

I also recently read Mary Barton, Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel. It's definitely a precursor to North and South in how it handles factory workers vs. owners and such. It hops a funny line between social commentary, romance, and legal drama, and is a bit rough at times but I liked it. There's talk of a mini-series adaptation, which I really hope comes about. The only other one I could find record of was from the 60's and appears to have been completely erased.

I'm trying to follow a 50 (I think) book challenge for this year, and I believe I'm about halfway there. Yay! Anyone else doing any challenges or reading lists?

I'm about halfway through The Sword in the Stone, the first book in The Once and Future King by T. H. White. I'm a little underwhelmed by it. White can be pretty clever at times, but all the anachronisms can take me out of the story. I like the idea of Merlin having modern knowledge because it makes sense that he would if he lives backwards in time, but the modern references interfere with the escapist experience I look for in these kinds of stories.

I think I'll give the series a rest after this book rather than jumping into Book 2. I'm sure I'll finish it someday, but I want to read other things this summer.

kat, what's Dee Henderson's latest about? The most recent one of hers I've read was Full Disclosure and it drove me a bit bonkers. On one hand, the mystery was kinda interesting when it was focused on. On the other, it wasn't focused much,

Spoiler

the relationship handling annoyed me, the main lead seemed like a self-insert, and fictionalizing the O'Malley series and other books inside that world really bugged me

.

Full Disclosure was her first in her current writing pattern. The stories smooth out and get a bit more engaging after that. I think she had some rough patches with it especially with working with a character as complex as Ann. Paul was rather straightforward. Ann was not.

It annoyed me too that she basically retroactively included the O'Malley series like that. I think she should have left them out of it altogether.

Her latest one is about a woman who was kidnapped as a teen and ended up having to stay with her kidnappers because they were a crime syndicate that basically blackmailed people into staying. There wasn't much development on her time with the family. I think that's why I didn't feel like it was quite as good as the two released between Full Disclosure and Taken. The other two have stories involving a coin collector, an arranged marriage, an art dealer, a genius, and a submarine captain and they both show her flair for researching the jobs of her characters.

I plan to find out this month how to use my tablet to download books for reading (from the library or to buy). Have had the tablet, um, two years.

I just finished reading The Martian by Andrew Weir and I have to say this is one of the best stories I've read this year. The setting is many years into the future and mankind has sent a manned science mission named Ares 3 to Mars. During a freak windstorm which threatens to destroy their habitat and strand them on Mars the 6 astronauts attempt to escape in the site's only rocket. Astronaut Mark Watney gets left behind after an accident which leads his team to believe he's been killed. When Watney comes to he discovers that not only has he been left behind on Mars but he has no way to tell anyone that he's still alive.

The Martian is a very interesting book which combines the Sci Fi and Survival genres to great effect. The hero of the story is a botanist by trade but has enough know-how to innovate new ways of managing to keep himself alive for just a few more days until the next calamity befalls him. The story is very much akin to the book Robinson Crusoe and the films Apollo 13 and Castaway, and it takes the best from all three and combines them into an easy to read book. The heavy science used by Watney to survive is explained in layman's terms throughout the story so folks who ordinarily wouldn't know astrophysics, geology, or botany, will be able to keep pace with the story as it unfolds. I just read that this book is going to be made into a film to be released later this year, and I'm excited to see it! 5 out of 5 stars. This is one great book and hard to put down.