Hot and Badgered (Honey Badger Chronicles #1) by Shelly Laurenston. Shapeshifters. And romance. And lots of mayhem (reminded me of Serge Storms by Tim Dorsey). I thought I was all set by getting the first in this series (I had randomly found #5 in the series at the public library, and virtuously decided to NOT read that one, and instead start with #1). BUT, apparently the author has written another entire series about shapeshifters (The Pride Series), and a lot of those characters have wandered over into these books. So. Many. Characters. I was burnt out on keeping track of characters by the midway point. Other than that, it was a ton of fun. Three sisters who are honey badgers/human shapeshifters, making their (violent) way through the world. I will continue in the series. I'm contemplating going back and reading The Pride Series to get more of a running start. One review mentioned that those earlier books have less swearing and sex (note that the book I'm reviewing has 2 sex scenes - the first is at 3/4 of the way through the book -- and it's pretty easy to just glide right past -- otoh, the swearing is pretty constant).

Bacchae: A New Translation by Robin Robertson Euripides. I'd never read this before. However, I had heard that it's a good accompaniment to the gospel of John, and to a lesser extent Luke and Acts, so here we are. This version flows very nicely, but I've no clue if another translation would've been somehow better. As an aside, now when I think of John's version of a half-god/half human protagonist, I think of John having him say, "I'm a cool god," like Amy Poehler saying, "I'm a cool mom." (According to some, that's what John was up to in his depiction - showing Jesus was even better than Dionysus, who admittedly comes across as sort of a dick in the Bacchae.) The 5th Gender by G.L. Carriger. Meh. Too much romance, not enough mystery and scifi, which was sort of boring for me. I could barely tell it was in the same world as Crudrat.

Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things by Dan Ariely. Some of the things I like to read about: Cults, conspiracies, how perception works. This books hits all of those, and more. Plus I learned that a subset of Flat Earth is that Australia doesn't exist. The author gives no pat answers on how to haul someone out of major misbelief, but gives plenty of tips on how to keep yourself from swirling further down the misbelief funnel, and also how to interact with others who are currently on the brink. I really enjoyed this book. Crudrat: The Tinkered Stars by Gail Carriger. @Kareni mentioned this a few days ago, and prompted the realization that I was in the mood for a book by this author. A little bit steampunk, a little bit space opera, a whole lotta fun. It took me a few pages to get into the rhythm of the speech patterns and the world; after that it was a quick read. I hope she writes more in this series.

Ooooh, I'm a Gail-Carriger-fan who only knew about Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School. This sounds fun! Well well well, looky here, the public library has The 5th Gender... into the "request" pile you go, see you soon. I was just thinking I should get some "fun reading" to balance the piles of nonfic I'm chugging through. Love this thread!

Hmm, I know I read that and liked it, but absolutely do NOT otherwise remember it.

Zombie thread

Just finished a book I got for Christmas (I've been reading it in tiny bits this whole time): Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a controversial Rabbi by Amy-Jill Levine. Another one I've been reading alongside our church's year-long read of the New Testament; bonus was that the leader of our study group also has it (and AJ Levine's Jewish Annotated New Testament) and thus sometimes shares passages during class. I could read this book five more times and still get more from it. Wow, so very good. I've also been listening to a lot of Dan McClellan videos lately, and he's very big on pointing out the assumptions we bring to our reading of scripture. Levine's book was, for me, like a demo of how someone can examine those assumptions and think about new possibilities. The immersion in this combo of Levine and McClellan have made me a more discerning reader, both of scripture and other material. "The Gospel writers, in their wisdom, left most of the parables as open narratives in order to invite us into engagement with them. Each reader will hear a distinct message and may find that the same parable leaves multiple impressions over time. Different audiences inevitably hear different messages .... Reducing parables to a single meaning destroys their aesthetic as well as ethical potential. This surplus of meaning is how poetry and storytelling work ...."

The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing In an American City by Kim Foster. I picked this up at random from the library nonfiction section with no clue what it was about other than food and maybe poverty. Sat down to look it over, was totally sucked in, and finished the entire first chapter, about having lunches with their meth-addicted day worker, without pause. Incredibly readable account of trauma and food -- mental illness, drug addiction, foster care, incarceration, being unhoused, the pandemic. "Food is an important marker for worthiness. When we deny people access to choose the food they need ... the feeling that happens is unworthiness. But food can also be the simple thing that raises a community."

Two more finished yesterday: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller. @TravelingChris mentioned this in the January thread, which sparked my interest in re-reading it. This time through was different, as is often the case. Right now I'm immersed in how scholars approach ancient literature, and also in various theological discussions, so I was seeing more cross-over with that. Plus these days I'm a little more in tune to seeing themes throughout a work. I found the third section much more intriguing this time around. I'm glad I read it again, and will be thinking about Mrs Grales and Rachel in the days to come. Also, it took me this long to read it because I couldn't find it on any of the bookshelves in our house (soooo many bookshelves to search!), yet I knew I owned it. It eventually turned up in Brooklyn ... one of the kids had taken it to share with friends. In the meantime, I got a copy from the public library. Curveball: When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming (or, How I stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God) by Peter Enns. I'm a Pete Enns fan, and heard a suggestion that this might be a good book to read when starting to poke around in actual scholarship on how and when various parts of the Bible were written, plus what the language actually meant at that time. He does wander into topics I tend to gravitate towards, like Near Death Experiences and quantum physics (but not simulation hypothesis, alas). Overall, an interesting read. I got it from the public library, so I had to hand copy all the passages I wanted to save into a notebook. But maybe that's an advantage, as it solidified them better in my mind.

I was reading, but not posting -- everyone else seemed to know So Much More than what I did. Which, honestly, still the case today.

The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary Culture by Robyn Faith Walsh. Another tie-in to reading the New Testament through this year; this time a scholarly look at the authors of the synoptic gospels. From the back cover: "Conventional approaches to the Synoptic gospels argue that the gospel authors acted as literate spokespersons for their religious communities. Whether described as documenting intragroup "oral traditions" or preserving the collective perspectives of their fellow Christ-followers, these writers are treated as something akin to the Romantic Poets speaking for the Volk - a questionable framework inherited from nineteenth-century German Romanticism. Robyn Faith Walsh argues that the Synoptic gospels were written by elite cultural producers working within a dynamic cadre of literate specialists, including persons who may or may not have been professed Christians." The early parts about Germanic folk tales was a bit of a slog for me -- the vocabulary and concepts used to analyze literature are totally foreign to me and thus slow going. Loved the later parts comparing various Hellenistic lit to Bible stories, and how mashups of Homer, subversive biois (eg Socrates, Aesop) etc with the Septuagint might have been a popular product right after the Jewish War (be assured that I am stating that waaaaaay more casually than the author would). Now I'm trying to decide what next -- some Dennis MacDonald, or maybe Richard Miller? Both seem like they're all-in with the idea that a lot of gospel vignettes find their origins in popular tropes of the day. Hmmm.... (Actually I'm inching through an entire pile of books right now, so no rush to make that decision. Also, this rabbit trail demonstrates why telling me to read the entire New Testament this year might be a bad idea.)

A Rooster for Asklepios: A Slave's Story Book 1 by Christopher Stanley. I discovered this author, a recently retired professor, while casually rummaging around in the world of New Testament history. When I saw he had a book on Kindle Unlimited I immediately downloaded it, and was instantly whisked into the world of Novels for Homeschoolers Studying Ancient History. Wow wow wow, I really felt I was pre-reading a book for my kids' study! Soooo much info, PLUS he has a website so you can browse pictures, videos, and maps A Slave Story resources (see also the Blog linked on that page for even more background information of various scenes in the book). My goodness, I'm so tempted to text my kids (adults living in a different state) and assign this as reading JUST BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Also, I was listening to a podcast featuring Candida Moss talking about her latest book which touches on slaves in early Christianity, and it was amazing how many things she mentioned that I already knew, thanks to this book. For example, slaves were the technology of the era (where we would use a device or machine, they used a slave). The testimony of a slave was only acceptable if the slave had been beaten/tortured, because they were assumed to otherwise lie. We can identify a slave in literature (or life) via naming conventions. If you're considering diving in, be aware that the novel covers medicine in the region and era (so much diarrhea goes on), relationships between Romans and Jews (a couple of times Paulus is mentioned as a Jew who is proclaiming new things; one Jew mentions Christos), several mentions that "Jews cut off the end of their pricks", sex is mentioned casually (eg, masters totally own their slaves body) but takes place "off screen". Edited to add: I was also pleased with the tiny detail that when the Roman characters visited a Jewish meeting and heard about the story of Abram, a Roman character pondered that it sounded like the story of Aeneas.

I just discovered this thread. I am so sorry to hear about this loss.

I keep my stack on the floor. It's currently actually 2 stacks, with room to become 3 stacks. PROBLEM SOLVED! Finished in February but didn't get around to posting: The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner's Guide to the Good News by Amy-Jill Levine. As noted before, our church is reading through the New Testament, one chapter per day 5x/week**. We just finished Mark. I had gotten this to go alongside for my own reference, and, wow, what a good choice! I loved how she approached things, how she portrayed her struggle with some passages, her comments on various interpretations one can find in various sources. **We have a daily devotional the pastor wrote, but, honestly, it's very dull. Also, we have a variety of weekly discussion groups -- most Sunday School classes and Bible studies are focussing on this -- DH and I attend a Thursday night group that's centering on what we're reading. So I'm just over here being Extra with all my bonus books and Teaching Company downloads. Fortunately, our Thursday night group leader is also very Extra (we have a wee bit of a competition about who buys more books), and also loves AJ Levine, so it's working out nicely.