Snoopy On Skittles

Rules of Deception

chris — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:03:33 +0000

I picked this book up for 82 cents on the Kobo bookstore, reasoning “Hey, why not?”. I’m not at all disappointed.

Christopher Reich (the author) weaves a fascinating tale of false identities and conflicting loyalties. While it is slow to start, it picks up around halfway through to become something you can’t put down. That’s why I finished it at around 1 o’clock this morning.

The basic plot set-up is thus: a doctor working for Medicines Sans Frontiers in Switzerland loses his wife in a skiing accident. As he copes with her loss he discovers the hidden side to his spouse of 8 years. At the same time, Swiss police are trying to figure out the murder of a high-profile Dutch engineer… who just happens to have multiple passports under different names and an illegal weapon hidden in his house.

Good read. Definitely.

The Screwtape Letters

chris — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:32:55 +0000

As I said earlier, I picked up the Screwtape Letters on an impulse from the Kobo e-book store. Today I got around to reading it, and it’s fantastic. And short. As a Christian it’s an interesting perspective: the Screwtape Letters is written from the perspective of a “Senior Devil” named Screwtape to his bumbling nephew Wormwood. Wormwood’s job should be simple: to make sure that a certain man never falls into the traps of the “Enemy” (God). He has many means at his disposal to make his charge waver from the path, but in trying to facilitate a loss of faith he instead resolves it. Screwtape realizes, however, such things as that being in a church can be worse than not having one! He realizes that there are all sorts of complacencies and logical trips that can be used to dissuade true Christians and he tries to impart this knowledge to his hapless kin.

The Screwtape Letters is a great read whether you’re Christian or not. It is subtle and really explains the key Christian philosophies -the unconditional love of God and his wish that we will ourselves to be mini-Hims instead of just robots, among others – in a clear and memorable manner. As a Christian, nothing really hurts as much as reading Screwtape encouraging Wormwood to do something that I am doing as well.

Do yourself a favour and pick it up. It’s short, clear, and a read that you will never forget or regret.

The Road

chris — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:58:10 +0000

I just put down Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. It was, as expected, a very good book but not one I would include on a recommended list of summer reading. The first thing is, of course, that it is very depressing. The premise is that this unnamed man and his son are trying to go south, where it is warmer. They are living in a post-apocalyptic world (the nature of the disaster is never made clear) where it is always cold, the sun never shines and society has been reduced to bands of roving thugs. Along the way they encounter difficulties and meet characters at various stages of their journey.

In short: not a book that really affirms the value of life, but makes you glad that you’re sitting on a nice soft couch reading it. Save it for a time when you want to feel really depressed.

And now for a gratuitous smiley face

Gotta Love the Belgians

chris — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 02:44:20 +0000

Come on, if this doesn’t make you smile I imagine that you’re really a sleeper-Cylon.

The Summer of Reading

chris — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 02:01:54 +0000

I have always been a voracious reader, but as school got intense this year I unfortunately started to slack off.

In mid-winter I decided to pick up a Gold subscription to Audible, Amazon’s audiobook service. Basically, I get any two books a month for around $20. I go through them pretty quickly, but it’s expensive (occasionally – unless there’s a sale. More about that later) to get books when you’re over the monthly limit. On May 1st, the first day it was out, I decided to go over to the local Chapters to look at the Kobo e-reader (the original $150 one). I fell in love: it’s well made, has fast page turns, and is beautiful. All this taken into consideration, I have decided to make this summer one of reading: I am to read more than I’ve ever read before.

Here’s my reading list to date (audio and e-books separate)

Audio books: Brave New World, Daemon, Freakonomics, The Last Lecture, Neverwhere, Superfreakonomics, The Tipping Point, Outliers, What the Dog Saw (yes, I have a thing for Malcolm Gladwell books). Currently listening: “YES! 50 Secrets From the Science of Persuasion”.

E-books: Frankenstein, Alice and Wonderland, the Picture of Dorian Grey, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Girl Who Played With Fire, assorted Grimm’s Fairytales (the original gruesome ones) and Edgar Allan Poe works. Currently reading: “The Road”

Here’s the problem: reading can be an expensive hobby. Of course it is not nearly as expensive as going to the movies or playing closed-ended computer games, but it’s not cheap. My confession is this: I’m a sucker for sales. I’ve already capitulated twice to Audible and several times to Kobo’s e-reader store. Just to give you a taste, here’s what is in my reading queue: French Made Simple (more of a review book), Rules of Deception (it was 87 cents!), the Screwtape Letters, and (half-read) Infinite Jest. Obviously I have no business buying new books, but I’m just waiting to catch The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest on sale!

At any rate, I shall keep a running reading list on a separate page when I can be bothered to fill out the website with an “About” page and the like.

Comedy Must-Listen

chris — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:23:44 +0000

So way-back-when I started listening to podcasts put out by the British Broadcasting Corporation. RSS Player, the iPod Touch application I use to listen to podcasts, suggested a “Friday-Night Comedy Podcast” called “The NOW Show!“. I added it, just on a lark, and just… wow.

Since then, Friday afternoon (a benefit of being 5 hours behind GMT ) has become my favourite time of the week as The NOW Show lands in my iPod. When the British held their election, the show switched from daily to weekly for the month. I was thrilled. I learned almost everything about British politics from that podcast. I know that’s sad.

So kudos to the people at The NOW Show and I can’t wait until next friday afternoon . You can find the podcast and related materials at the official website.

Runner-up goes to “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” from NPR in the States. Also funny, but not quite so much as that from the BBC. Finally, CBC’s comedy podcasts – Laugh Out Loud and Comedy Factory – are good listens, but I think need some work. LOL is more re-broadcasts of other performers, which is nice, but I would like to see the Comedy Factory doing something other than that which is already going through the back of all Canadian’s minds

It’s ALIVE!

chris — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:52:27 +0000

To those of you who have put my blog in your reader waiting for more of my insight: I’m sorry.

However, few of those people (if there were many) will get the message, as WordPress crashed to the ground when I tried upgrading to WordPress 3.0 and I lost the site. The good news is that I was able to implement a new theme that I’ve been working on for a while.

With this, I hope to update my website now that school is over and start blogging again. It’s something I enjoy, but I haven`t found the time. I now have time, so I`m sure I`ll be doing some work here over the summer and as I go on to university.