The Book that Wouldn’t Burn and The Book That Broke The World by Mark Lawrence. It's rare when I opt to leave a review on a book (or series) I didn't finish because I didn't like it. When I do, the main reason is when I feel I've been thoroughly betrayed by the author.
Understand that The Book That Wouldn't Burn is a masterpiece—heartbreakingly beautiful in story, character, and prose. A bizarre example of the sort of care that went into this book is that only one character in the book swears, and it makes perfect sense for his character. Cursing isn't gratuitously thrown around "just because" and everything else in the novel received that deliberate care and attention.
As I read this sequel, I was surprised to feel like the writing quality had taken a downturn. And then I started getting hit by The Messaging In Case You Missed It (TM). I tried to be patient. I hoped it would get back to showing us beauty and truth within the layers of a story, like the first one had. But when I got to (female lead) saying out of nowhere to (male lead)—whom she had been deeply in love with for most of the previous novel—that she shouldn't need him to save her, I set down the book and said, "I don't need this book to teach me anything or fill my creative well, and I certainly don't need the next one in the series either."
It's a tragedy, because the author had something incredible in his hands, and he couldn't trust the audience enough to focus on crafting something timeless and beautiful. Instead, he went for the messaging of the moment, and this series will vanish along with it, as will any series that puts message over meaning, whatever cause it's championing.
The Gulag Archipelago vol 1 by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn. This attempt at reading died a similar fate as my attempt to read Mein Kampf. There's a feeling like I need serious notes (or a parallel college course?) on importance of names and locations mentioned that I don't have on hand and don't have the time to dig into. I did listen to the book for several hours, and there are plenty of understandable things—and those are fascinating. But I found myself avoiding Audible, and whenever I do that it's usually because I'm forcing a read that I really don't want to finish. So I had to let this go.
Praying like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Stanton. Stanton is a pastor who takes the practices of earlier church fathers, practices them, and then translates them into something understandable for readers like me who need that. This is a book I feel I will need to revisit a few times. It's the sort of book where it's probably best to pick one or two chapters to practice for a time and see what happens. This is a useful and extremely readable primer on prayer.
Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh. I don't generally enjoy writing with gay pairings, but this is a rich and luxuriously written forest fantasy novella. This is one of the examples of the story being written right, meaning, the characters weren't avatars of identity politics. They just were what they were and the story and characters themselves drove the plot forward, not any sort of message. Because of that, I continued this book when I've put many others aside.
The Autobiography of George Müller by George Müller. By modern standards, this book is still readable, but getting more difficult as time goes by. George Müller is widely known in the Christian community as a man living in 1800s London who spent his life testing the premise that God alone would provide all he needed in response to prayer. He began with an institution that provided education to children, expanded it to adults, and then began an orphanage. He did not make his financial needs known and he ran his orphanage, contrary to how every other orphanage was run (other orphanage entries were secured through wealth or connections, the truly destitute were on their own). He prayed to God regarding the needs of his various projects, and God sustained him and even led him to expand every project. By the end of his autobiography, he was aiding multiple missionaries abroad, he had distributed several million tracts and thousands of Bibles, he was funding and assisting several schools, and over a thousand destitute orphans were housed at his orphanages.
This book reads like a ledger, as he kept fairly meticulous records of what was donated and under what circumstances donations came in. Every now and then he pauses to make his arguments to the reader about how anyone can behave this way in their lives and receive these assurances from God. As we read this together, Sergey and I tested one of Müller's assertions, asking God for reassurance in the form of a sign that He was still with us, and we were answered. While we are not convinced that just anyone can follow in Müller's footsteps, we are encouraged to see this meticulously documented testimony—and I do mean meticulous. The man will forget to tell you that he had a child with his wife but won't forget to tell you how many dessert spoons came in with the donations yesterday, let me tell you.
Economix by Michael Goodwin. An economics book written in comic book form. Funny enough, I tried to read this several years ago, but it lost me fairly quickly. Not that long afterward, I picked up an audiobook of Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell for the first time and really got somewhere with that. If I have a guess, I'm likely an audio learner rather than a visual learner. If you are a visual learner, this might be more useful for you. I finally came back to it, several years later. It is fun to read through, and it also leans more toward the other side of the aisle from Basic Economics. The Chicago school of thought vs the Keynesian school of thought is an interesting divide, and this is my first glimpse into the Keynesian school of thought from their own side. I don't feel this book is more convincing than Basic Economics, however this book also gave me a lead on one of Keynes' student's book which it claims is much easier to digest than Keynes' own work. I've marked it down, because it's worth getting the best argument from the other side before making a decision. In any case, this is a very interesting book, even if it feels like the opposing points are rather dumbed down and caricatured.
Books that I read and enjoyed but have nothing specific to say about: —The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo —Folktales of Japan by Kyota Ko. —Lions & Scavengers by Ben Shapiro.
Movies
Djanjo Unchained. It's crazy how much I enjoyed this movie. Also, now I know where it gets its reputation. A slave named Django is purchased by a bounty hunter who is hunting three of Django's former overseers, but doesn't know what they look like. The two of them form a partnership for several months, but the end goal is a big one; they need to find Django's wife and break her free from the massive plantation she's been sold to. This movie. THIS. MOVIE. There are scenes I could not look at, but this movie TELLS YOU ITS ARCHETYPE in the early parts and then FOLLOWS THE ARCHETYPE and it is GLORIOUS. This was genuinely one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen this year, even though it was also very hard to watch. And at no point did I feel slapped in the face by it, either. This, THIS is an example of the sort of storytelling I would love to see come back to mainstream Hollywood.
My Fair Lady. You couldn't get a movie more different than Django. I was rewatching this old classic for nostalgic vibes when for once in my life I think I understood the ending. The ending NEVER made sense to me, and I'm still not sure of it. However, instead of being mad at Eliza for coming back to this jerk who puts her down every two seconds, I flipped perspectives for a minute and looked at what's happening to Professor Higgins. For possibly the first time in his life, the man has been accidentally dragged out of seeing himself as the center of everything. This is most evident as he sings the conflicted song I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face toward the very end. He clearly has no idea how or when it happened, but he can no longer imagine life without Eliza in it. And in that, what we see is a small EXCEEDINGLY IMPERFECT step out of being a self-centered manchild into being an adult who might possibly be capable of a relationship. And perhaps, perhaps, that might just be what Eliza saw in him when she returned at the very end. It might be, in fact, the same sort of spark she wants to mold in HIM, that he once saw in her that he wanted to take and mold at the beginning of the story. In any case, I enjoyed delving into nostalgia.
Tokyo Godfathers. An anime movie about three homeless people who find a baby abandoned on Christmas and go on a desperate search for her parents. This is a story about the wrongs in every character's life being set right one miracle at a time. This is... an incredibly fun story to watch, honestly. Good mix of humor and drama.
Animes
PsychoPass (see this link for all titles and viewing order). This anime series feels like the opposite of a Dystopia story, but one certainly can't call it a Utopia. The world has fallen into chaos and most governments have been overthrown, but Japan has preserved a realm of order under the auspices of SIBYL; the perfect AI system that can calculate what every citizen is best at and what will make them happiest to pursue. SIBYL is also the arbiter of justice, and if your PsychoPass (measurement of your mental state) becomes too clouded, then your Crime Coeffecient (measurement of likelihood to commit crime) is likely to rise, so you will be taken in for mental care before such things happen. Unless you find ways around that. Enter a rookie Investigator thrown into the deep end of crime that has become darker than anyone ever imagined in the face of the most peaceful society humanity can create. As she works through each case, she questions the trust the society places on SIBYL and wonders if it is well placed.
The first season is EXCELLENT. It's also pretty dark. Body horror features in most of the serial murders committed in this season, balanced with intense questions about AI, society, and personal judgment. I'm sad to say that after the first season, the amount of sense that anything makes fluctuates highly depending on the movie or season, and the quality of the story tracks with it. And, frankly, it lost its brilliant edge. After season 1, it becomes more of a standard murder mystery show with confusing high-level politics thrown in. If you watch it at all, I'd recommend sticking with Season 1. There aren't any satisfactory endings worth wading through the rest for, anyway.
Trigun (old series). And this was when she realized she had a cartoon type, and it was a beanpole goofball, who was actually really competent, with massive trauma and missing a limb. I haven't seen Trigun in probably a decade. It's a really old one and you gotta have some patience with it. The first several episodes will have you asking why you're watching this show, but it starts to unfold layers to you the further in you go. This is the story of an ace gunman who refuses to kill, no matter what it costs him. If I have one gripe, it's that the lore behind his species is barely explained and very confusing, but aside from that this remains one of my favorite anime to date.
TrigunStampede (new series). So this remake isn't just a remake, this is a PREQUEL with a remake IN THE WORKS. I have a couple gripes. One is that they made Vash a little too prettyboy instead of grown man, and the other is that they try to pack three episodes' worth of story into one, more often than not. HOWEVER the soundtrack is murderously good, the action visuals are on another level, and the last three episodes are worth the price of admission by themselves. ALSO if you watch this you FINALLY get to understand a bit more about the lore of Vash's species. Don't get me wrong, I'm still confused a bit, but I'm about 80% less confused than before, so that's a pretty good job there. I can't wait for the next season, Trigun Stargaze.
Your Lie In April. A child prodigy pianist loses his ability to hear the music he plays after the death of his mother. Two years later, he meets a violinist who drags him back on stage to face every fear and hurdle, but there's something she hasn't told him. This anime is the closest I've found to March Comes Like a Lion for tone and story archetypes. Like with March, I appreciate April's ability to draw in those of us who have no real understanding of the specialty being shown and make us comprehend the intensity of it for the people in the story. Definitely not a feel-good anime, but if you're ready for the feelz, I do recommend this one.
Comics
Nonesuch by The Bitsy Artist. I don't often review comics here, but this was exceptional. The story is so well done that I didn't even realize it was written by a Christian until I was 2/3 of the way through. It's classified as horror but the disturbing imagery is pretty mild for a horror comic. Engaged couple Connor and Bridget become trapped in a sort of pocket dimension populated by clones that feed off of fear. They become separated immediately, only to discover that they can't leave unless they are with each other. Can they find each other in a town of clones that are becoming increasingly adept at mimicking their behaviors and speech patterns? READ IT. IT GOOD.
Games
Exit 8. This is a very simple game where you are trapped in some sort of dimensional loop of a Japanese subway station. You have to walk forward, but only so long as there are no "anomalies". An anomaly is if anything is different--the posters on the wall, the tiles in the ceiling, the writing on the signs, or the one person who always walks down the hall toward you. If you see an anomaly, you turn around and RUN. If you can get through eight loops without a mistake, you get out. This game is low-key creepy and highly enjoyable. A quick play, but great.
Sons of the Forest. You are a special ops agent sent to an island to find a wealthy missing family, but your helicopter crash-lands. You and whoever else you are multi-playering with have to survive as you are attacked--first by tribes of cannibals, but then by increasingly horrific mutations. I could not finish this game, and I will not be linking a trailer. This is the most beautiful survival environment I've seen yet, and I love the way the crafting and harvesting are shown. It's detailed and gorgeous, but there are aspects to this game (options for cannibalism which gives a high health and strength buff, the monsters, etc) that were exceedingly dark and unsettled me too much to continue. Which is a shame because Sergey and I made our base a walled-up fortress with a death-corridor of traps right before I couldn't take it anymore. Wanted to see how well it held up against the next attack, but as I said... it's quite dark. Play at your own risk.
Amanda the Explorer 2. Guess I had a spate of horror games, but this one I could deal with. Amanda the Explorer took us into the idea that a little girl's... soul? Was trapped in an educational TV show somehow, while you're solving puzzles and being stalked by a creature that looks like a terribly mutated version of her. The second game gives more lore and starts pulling an actual story together. It ends with a cliffhanger, promising at least a third game. Gotta say, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the puzzle pieces they've lined up for us.