Book Brief - Plaguemaker

Plaguemaker

Tim Downs

Thomas Nelson (September 5, 2006)

As Nathan Donovan investigates a murder case for the FBI, unusual for the thousands of fleas found at the scene, he is contacted by Li, an elderly Asian man. Li claims that the murder has ties to an infamous bio-terrorism scientist from World War II that Li has spent sixty years trying to track down. Nathan eventually teams up with his ex-wife Macy Monroe, along with Li, to stop the terrorist plot.

Tim Downs is one of my favorite authors. He combines excellent characterization with accurate research, and a lot of humor, to craft suspense novels that are hard to put down. Plaguemaker is no exception. An exciting tale of terrorism and forgiveness set in a post - 9/11 world with a cameo appearance by the "Bug Man", a forensic entomologist from the authors earlier novels. Due to the subject matter (descriptions of disease and war) this book is for mature audiences only.

"Life is too busy to have time to think about life - ironic isn't it? You know, Blaise Pascal once said that the distinguishing characteristic of humankind is distraction. We don't like what we see when we slow down long enough to look at our lives, and so we keep ourselves distracted - we fill our lives with all sorts of trivial stuff and nonsense. That way, we never have to confront our emptiness or longing, we simply don't have time for it. How very convenient."

Rating: Paperback

We surf...so you don't have to - April 28

Students 'do not know the Bible'

"...it is becoming increasingly difficult to teach English Literature because students do not know the Bible or classical mythology."

Do you know your biblical references?

How well did you do?

A Lazy Habit of Procrastination

From the "Do Hard Things" authors.

Quote - Our Greatest Need

“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.”

D.A. Carson

HT: Of First Importance

Something Light - Who's On First?

By request. An absolute classic.

Book Brief - Fever 1793

Fever 1793
Laurie Halse Anderson
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (March 1, 2002)

During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook helps her widowed mother and grandfather run the family coffee shop. Mattie dreams of turning the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. An epidemic of yellow fever changes her course.

According to the author, "The yellow fever outbreak that struck Philadelphia in 1793 was one of the worst epidemics in United States history. In three months it killed nearly five thousand people, ten percent of the city's population."

As in the "great" plague of Europe the true heroes of this story drew their motivation from the leaders and the teaching of their church.

A well written, praiseworthy book which will lead you to thankfulness to God for our era of medical insight and historical curiosity about the books era of medical "trial and error".

"Its good you have each other, " said Mrs. Bowles in the same placid voice. "But you should not leave your house once you arrive. The streets of Philadelphia are more dangerous than your darkest nightmare. Fever victims lay in the gutters, thieves and wild men lurk on every corner. The markets have little food. You can't wander. If you are determined to return home with your grandfather, then you must stay there until the fever abates."

Rating: Paperback

We surf...so you don't have to - April 21

The Globalization of Cheating: The Chronicle on Essay Mills

Cheating goes commercial. Exodus 20:15 is recklessly and shamelessly ignored.

The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Houdini, and Romans 1

As Ravi said, men reject God for one reason only.

Driving While Texting

A reminder for all of us, but especially for my, soon to be driving, teenage daughter!

Quote - Why do men reject God?

"A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God." (Romans 1:18)

Ravi Zacharias

Something Light - Too Much Celebration

Book Brief – Oliver Twist (Part 2)

Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens

More great quotes from a masterful work.

Chapter 32

“Who can describe the pleasure and delight, the peace of mind and soft tranquillity, the sickly boy felt in the balmy air, and among the green hills and rich woods, of an inland village! Who can tell how scenes of peace and quietude sink into the minds of pain-worn dwellers in close and noisy places, and carry their own freshness, deep into their jaded hearts! Men who have lived in crowded, pent-up streets, through lives of toil, and who have never wished for change; men, to whom custom has indeed been second nature, and who have come almost to love each brick and stone that formed the narrow boundaries of their daily walks; even they, with the hand of death upon them, have been known to yearn at last for one short glimpse of Nature's face; and, carried far from the scenes of their old pains and pleasures, have seemed to pass at once into a new state of being. Crawling forth, from day to day, to some green sunny spot, they have had such memories wakened up within them by the sight of sky, and hill and plain, and glistening water, that a foretaste of heaven itself has soothed their quick decline, and they have sunk into their tombs, as peacefully as the sun whose setting they watched from their lonely chamber window but a few hours before, faded from their dim and feeble sight! The memories which peaceful country scenes call up, are not of this world, nor of its thoughts and hopes. Their gentle influence may teach us how to weave fresh garlands for the graves of those we loved: may purify our thoughts, and bear down before it old enmity and hatred; but beneath all this, there lingers, in the least reflective mind, a vague and half-formed consciousness of having held such feelings long before, in some remote and distant time, which calls up solemn thoughts of distant times to come, and bends down pride and wordliness beneath it.”

Chapter 33

“Oliver turned homeward, thinking on the many kindnesses he had received from the young lady, and wishing that the time could come over again, that he might never cease showing her how grateful and attached he was. He had no cause for self-reproach on the score of neglect, or want of thought, for he had been devoted to her service; and yet a hundred little occasions rose up before him, on which he fancied he might have been more zealous, and more earnest, and wished he had been. We need be careful how we deal with those about us, when every death carries to some small circle of survivors, thoughts of so much omitted, and so little done- of so many things forgotten, and so many more which might have been repaired! There is no remorse so deep as that which is unavailing; if we would be spared its tortures, let us remember this, in time.”

Chapter 34

“Oliver rose next morning in better heart, and went about his usual early occupations with more hope and pleasure than he had known for many days. The birds were once more hung out, to sing, in their old places; and the sweetest wild flowers that could be found, were once more gathered to gladden Rose with their beauty. The melancholy which had seemed to the sad eyes of the anxious boy to hang, for days past, over every object, beautiful as all were, was dispelled by magic. The dew seemed to sparkle more brightly on the green leaves; the air to rustle among them with a sweeter music; and the sky itself to look more blue and bright. Such is the influence which the condition of our own thoughts, exercises, even over the appearance of external objects. Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision.”

Quote - Because of Easter

"And now we may say, Lord, the condemnation was yours, that the justification might be mine; the agony yours, that the victory might be mine; the pain was yours, and the ease mine; the stripes yours, and the healing balm issuing from them mine; the vinegar and gall were yours, that the honey and sweet might be mine; the curse was yours, that the blessing might be mine; the crown of thorns was yours, that the crown of glory might be mine; the death was yours, the life purchased by it mine; you paid the price that I might enjoy the inheritance."

John Flavel from the sermon "The Solemn Consecration of the Mediator (1671)

HT: Between Two Worlds

A Prayer for Easter - He Is Risen!

Resurrection

O God of my Exodus,
Great was the joy of Israel’s sons
when Egypt died upon the shore,
Far greater the joy
when the redeemer’s foe lay crushed in the dust.

Jesus strides forth as the victor,
conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might;
He bursts the bands of death,
tramples the powers of darkness down,
and lives for ever.

He, my gracious surety,
apprehended for payment of my debt,
comes forth from the prison house of the grave
free, and triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.

Show me herein the proof that his vicarious offering is accepted,
that the claims of justice are satisfied,
that the devil’s scepter is shivered,
that his wrongful throne is levelled.
Give me the assurance that in Christ I died, in him I rose,
in his life I live, in his victory I triumph,
in his ascension I shall be glorified.

Adorable redeemer,
thou who wast lifted up upon a cross
art ascended to highest heaven.
Thou, who as man of sorrows wast crowned with thorns,
art now as Lord of life wreathed with glory.

Once, no shame more deep than thine,
no agony more bitter, no death more cruel.
Now, no exaltation more high,
no life more glorious, no advocate more effective.

Thou art in the triumph car leading captive thine enemies behind thee.
What more could be done than thou hast done!
Thy death is my life, thy resurrection my peace,
Thy ascension my hope, thy prayers my comfort.

from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Image by Annibale Carracci, 1585, Holy Women at the Tomb of Christ.

A Prayer for Good Friday

Love Lustres at Calvary

My Father,
Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips,
supply words that proclaim ‘Love lustres at Calvary.’
There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son,
made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;
There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;
There thy infinite attributes were magnified, and infinite atonement was made;
There infinite punishment was due, and infinite punishment was endured.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory.
Entered darkness that I might have eternal light,

My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might for ever live.

O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou mightest spare me,
All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished;
Help me to adore thee by lips and life.
O that my every breath might be ecstatic praise,
my every step buoyant with delight, as I see
my enemies crushed,
Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,
sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
hell’s gates closed, heaven’s portal open.

Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the cross,
mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Book Brief - Oliver Twist (Part 1)

Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens

No review needed for this classic, therefore, just a few quotes of a master at work.

Chapter 18

"I am," repeated the Dodger. "So's Charley. So's Fagin. So's Sikes. So's Nancy. So's Bet. So we all are, down to the dog. And he's the downiest one of the lot!"

"And the least given to preaching," added Charley Bates.

"He wouldn't so much as bark in a witness-box, for fear of committing himself; no, not if you tied him up in one, and left him there without wittles for a fortnight," said the Dodger.

"Not a bit of it," observed Charley.

"He's a rum dog. Don't he look fierce at any strange cove that laughs or sings when he's in company!" pursued the Dodger. "Won't he growl at all, when he hears a fiddle playing! And don't he hate other dogs as ain't of his breed! Oh, no!"

"He's an out-and-out Christian," said Charley.

This was merely intended as a tribute to the animal's abilities, but it was an appropriate remark in another sense, if Master Bates had only known it; for there are a good many ladies and gentlemen, claiming to be out-and-out Christians, between whom, and Mr. Sikes's dog, there exist strong and singular points of resemblance.”

Chapter 29

“The younger lady was in the lovely blown and spring-time of womanhood; at that age, when, if ever angels be for God's good purposes enthroned in mortal forms, they may be, without impiety, supposed to abide in such as hers.

She was not past seventeen. Cast in so slight and exquisite a mould; so mild and gentle; so pure and beautiful; that earth seemed not her element, nor its rough creatures her fit companions. The very intelligence that shone in her deep blue eye, and was stamped upon her noble head, seemed scarcely of her age, or of the world; and yet the changing expression of sweetness and good humour, the thousand lights that played about the face, and left no shadow there; above all, the smile, the cheerful, happy smile, were made for Home, and fireside peace and happiness.”

Chapter 30

“The conference was a long one. Oliver told them all his simple history, and was often compelled to stop, by pain and want of strength. It was a solemn thing, to hear, in the darkened room, the feeble voice of the sick child recounting a weary catalogue of evils and calamities which hard men had brought upon him. Oh! if when we oppress and grind our fellow-creatures, we bestowed but one thought on the dark evidences of human error, which, like dense and heavy clouds, are rising, slowly it is true, but not less surely, to Heaven, to pour their after-vengeance on our heads; if we heard but one instant, in imagination, the deep testimony of dead men's voices, which no power can stifle, and no pride shut out; where would be the injury and injustice, the suffering, misery, cruelty, and wrong, that each day's life brings with it!”

Book Review – Field of Blood

Field of Blood (Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy, Book 1)

Eric Wilson
Thomas Nelson (October 7, 2008)

In short: This tale of vampires, blood and mysticism is too derivative of vampire mythology to be truly effective as a redemptive story.

Working in the Field of Blood, identified in Acts as the place where Judas Iscariot killed himself, an excavation crew in Jerusalem unearths a tomb. The Collectors, who possess living beings and live on human blood, are released from this tomb to begin their mischief. These "vampires" are in a supernatural battle with the Nistarim, those resurrected with Jesus to protect mankind.

The story revolves around Gina Lazarescu, a Romanian girl with a past she doesn't understand. The collectors are out to destroy her as they believe she, potentially, could birth another Nistarim.

Were it not for the Book Review Bloggers at Thomas Nelson I would have never picked this book up. The concept was intriguing but the blending of Jewish mysticism, Biblical truth and modern day suspense does not appeal to me.

The idea of sin pictured as a vine was effective.

"The thick, crusted cord of netherworld brambles inched about his waist, down both legs...Yet he seemed oblivious to the pernicious vine that now encircled his chest. He seemed unaware - or maybe just didn't care in this moment of mounting lust - that the dry, withered vine was rooted in a part of himself that he seemed to enshrine."

There was also some good insight about human nature from the perspective of the Collectors.

"Erota still found it remarkable what could be done with the aid of Collector-hosting humans. Though armed with the Power of Choice, some seemed willing and even eager to sell their souls for any semblance of significance. Such hosts were particularly easy to come by in bureaucratic circles - busy little bees, swarming to the sticky sweetness of money and power."

However, it took me some time to catch on to the shifting plot. The pacing seemed just a bit off as we moved between characters. I also found myself not interested at all in any character except Gina. The characterization details were sufficient for the other characters but there was nothing there that I found worth latching on to.

Ultimately, it was probably the disturbing tone and sexual undercurrents that ruined any of the redemptive elements of the book. The bloodletting of Gina by her mother to release the sin was always in the back of my mind and more than a little creepy. I understand that this leads to a discussion of life through Christ's blood, and I appreciate the "works oriented - trying to do it yourself" perspective, but it was too reminiscent of an old vampire tale for me.

"By drinking from the Nazarene, you identify yourself with His life, His memories, His suffering...But you don't have to live with these scars, not forever. Yeshua, when He came outta that tomb, He left His blood to cover all the evil that your mother thought she had to cut away."

In the final analysis, this tale of vampires, blood and mysticism is too derivative of vampire mythology to be truly effective as a redemptive story.

Rating: Borrow

Something Light - A Great Screen Cleaner

Click here to clean your screen.

This is posted a day early because of Good Friday tomorrow.

HT: Biblical Christianity

We surf...so you don't have to - April 8

When Missing Your Free Throws is a Good Thing

A great story of sportsmanship at a basketball game.

HT: Challies

Siege of Leningrad Blockade Now and Then Photos

A profound reflection on the past by slicing in new photos with old. Thought-provoking.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Health Alert - Read to Save Your Life

An important health message from Albert Mohler.

Quote - Popularity and Fashion

"The great guide of the world is fashion and its god is respectability--two phantoms at which brave men laugh! How many of you look around on society to know what to do; you watch the general current and then float upon it; you study the popular breeze and shift your sails to suit it. True men do not so! You ask--Is it fashionable? If it be fashionable, it must be done. Fashion is the law of multitudes, but it is nothing more than the common consent of fools."

Charles Spurgeon, from the sermon “Decision - Illustrated by the Case of Joshua”, delivered on April 18th, 1875.

Something Light - My New Theme Song

Welcome to "Bring the Books"

Back to regular posting...Lord willing. Here is what you can look forward to on a regular basis, at least for awhile...aren't you excited!

Monday - "Quote" feature
Tuesday - "We surf...so you don't have to" feature
Friday - "Something Light" feature

We'll have the occasional book review and random posts thrown in for good measure. Let me know your thoughts!

Just as a reminder for those that are just happening on this blog. As noted on the sidebar, this blog is designed for my family. These are things I want them to read, see, hear and learn. It is eclectic by nature. If you happen upon this blog and find it interesting then you are welcome to peruse at your leisure. If you happen upon this blog and find it silly, weird or "fill-in-the-blank" then remember...it wasn't designed for you. I do hope, however, that, for the most part, you come closer to the understanding that our only hope of salvation is in Jesus Christ who absorbed our sin and took on the just wrath of God. We can know that hope only by repenting (confessing and forsaking our sin) and trusting in Him for our salvation.