After a lengthy absence due to any number of reasons I have returned to the blogging world. I have more books to list, books to review, and now, more reasons to post more often. Let's hope this incarnation takes better than the others, ne?

My recent reading has included Will Catholics be "left behind" : a Catholic critique of the rapture and today's prophecy preachers by Carl E. Olson. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2003 (for which I wrote a review in my parish newsletter)

I am  currently reading Pilgrim fellowship of faith: the church as communion Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). Presented by the Association of Former Students of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday. Edited by Stephen Otto Horn and Vinzenz Pfnur. San Francisco: Ignatius Press 2005

The evidential power of beauty: science and theology meet Thomas Dubay, S.M. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1999

The age of turbulence: adventures in a new world. Alan Greenspan.  New York: Penguin Books. 2007. 2008

My current major reading interests are in the field of economics / economic theory / political economy. This occurred because I kept seeing an updated paperback copy of Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence and finally broke down and perused it (though its probably not the smartest thing to when on the clock in a retail grocery store). Right away I found a spot of analysis I wanted to remember, so I bought the book to underline the passage in question. That led to a trip to the library, and the results are below.

Attentive Reading Project - I read, take notes, and engage the ideas of the book.

So, what I have out from the library are

Economics in perspective : a critical history  John Kenneth Galbraith   

The neocon reader  Irwin M Stelzer   

Do as I say (not as I do) : profiles in liberal hypocrisy  Peter Schweizer    

Me of little faith  Lewis Black

Thank God for evolution! : how the marriage of science and religion will transform your life and our world  Michael  Dowd

The real price of everything : rediscovering the six classics of economics    ed Michael Lewis ( Adam Smith (An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations / Adam Smith -- An essay on the principle of population / Thomas Robert Malthus -- Principles of political economy and taxation / David Ricardo -- Selections from Memoirs of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds / Charles Mackay -- The theory of the leisure class: an economic study of institutions / Thorstein Veblen -- The general theory of employment, interest and money / John Maynard Keynes.)

American creation : triumphs and tragedies at the founding of the republic  Joseph J. Ellis

Love, life, Goethe : lessons of the imagination from the great German poet  John Armstrong

New stories from the South : the year's best, 2007  ed. Edward P. Jones.

And the following books on hold
Money mischief : episodes in monetary history  Milton Friedman

Economics and the public purpose  John Kenneth Galbraith

A history of philosophy in the twentieth century  Christian Delacampagne

As Cobb County Library System allows three weeks checkout time plus two renewals, it remains to be seen how much of this reading I will complete.

Now whether I ever have the opportunity to make use of all this assorted information and analysis I gather  I could not tell you, there aren't many intellectual outlets in retail grocery. But my curiosity about the way the world works is never-ending, so I read to understand. 

Teen Heart Manga Story Writing Project:
I am also once again picking up steam on the flipside of the bibliophile's life: Writing.  Alongside the fun of fanfiction, years of dedicated manga reading and watching anime have brought me to the point of coming up with my own anime/manga inspired storylines. I currently have something like 18 named projects (not counting open-ended fanfiction tales) and 1 completion, a tale titled "Under the Red Umbrella". I have labeled them as either "Shonen Write!" or "Dear My Shoujo" reflecting the genre of anime/manga they would fall under if published (in Japan) -not that that's very likely.  As the vast majority of anime/manga I watch and read has a school life romance basis, most of my stories fall into this category by default. Most of them are short story "one shot" tales,  but at least 5 of them are multi-arc novels in the making.  My goal is to actually finish some of these stories before the year's end (or at least before the end of 2009). Previously I wrote when the mood struck me, which was inconsistent at best. Historically I felt that forcing myself to follow a set schedule in regards to writing fiction would somehow dlute the quality and/or creativity of my writing, but I am beginning to see things a little differently now (namely, a realization that without deadlines nothing gets done and I allow myself to be distracted by anything and everything). So, I'm going to restrict myself to 4 active projects (one for each week of the month) and work on one a week. Of course, when the flash of intuition hits me I won't suppress it but I will no longer rely on waiting for intuition to strike before I write. I hope to write more about these projects, including weekly progress reports.  I was inspired in this regard by my serendipitous discovery of a North-American amateur / fan group OELVN (Original English Language Visual Novel) Katawa Shoujo (found here) http://www.katawa-shoujo.com/  and the marvelous work they have done in their spare time over the past two years to put this project together. (I wish them well)

And finally there is a fantasy project I have been writing up called "Chronicles of the Church of Petergate" which involved removing a 'remnant' of the Christian Church from Earth into a fantasy (D&D style) world dominate by a Roman-style Triumphant Arch and seeing what happens when the spread of the Gospel meets otherworld magic, gods, and the usual assortment of nonhuman races (elves, dwarves, dragons) I have lots of real and made up research devoted to this, including a 3000 year timeline, religious orders, rise and fall of kingdoms, schisms, Councils, and of course magic and war, but naturally coming up with viable characters is a little more difficult than merely creating backstory. So this project is mostly fragmentary.

Tags: attentive reading, books, writing
Current Mood: creative
Current Music: "Fever [Adam Freeland Remix]"; "The Time Warp [Club Mix]"

I have now finished Burke's The Pinball Effect: how Renaissance water gardens made the carburetor possible - and other journeys through knowledge,   Burke is a great commentator on the history of applied ideas (science and technology) but he does tend to treat other areas in an overly simplistic manner (especially in regards to theology) As I have been discouraged from pursuing a career as a High School chemistry teacher (because it is felt I wouldn't be able to control potentially unruly public school kids) I returned Snyder's The extraordinary chemistry of ordinary things  and I also finished and returned Blues for dummies  by Lonnie  Brooks and Raithbone's Windows Vista for dummies . Blues was a good book with some very good information for the music lover interested in the blues, including famous singers and groups, famous songs and famous albums.  Vista is a good general introduction to the newest Microsoft Windows operating system, but I won't be needing it for a while.

It took a while, but I did finish Bova's To fear the light , the direct sequel to To save the sun, which he wrote with A J Austin.  Fear is another good romp through far future humanity...but I wonder at the abscence of religion in the story, as in most of Bova's work, The same can be said of SF in general, that religion gets short shrift; and when it does feature in the story it is for the most part the backwards regressive force stifling civilization from its appointed desitny of self-discovery, which albeit does have much in human history to back up such claims, overlooks that it is the abuses of religion that stifles self-discovery, not the purpose of religion.

I'm currently working on Chemistry for Dummies and Lionel Salem's Marvels of the molecule.

At the same time that I returned Blues and Extraordinary Chemistry, I also checked out a slew of books on the brain:
Brain function  by  Paul Nordstrom August ; Nutrition and the brain  by Edward Edelson ; Hormones : molecular messengers by  John K. Young ; Molecules of emotion : why you feel the way you feel by  Candace B. Pert ;  The growth of the mind : and the endangered origins of intelligence   by Stanley I. Greenspan ; Toys and reasons : stages in the ritualization of experience by Erik H.  Eerikson  ;  Inner knowing : consciousness, creativity, insight, and intuition  by Helen Palmer ; The modular brain : how new discoveries in neuroscience are answering age-old questions about memory, free will, consciousness, and personal identity by  Richard M. Restak ; How the mind works by  Steven Pinker

Tags: books, first impressions

I have learned something over the past three months, blogging is NOT as easy as it appears.  Finding a writing style that flows naturally is harder then it looks. Maintaining consistency of entries is very difficult, if one is not used to the discipline of daily or weekly posts, Of course,  having computer power supply problems didn't help matters much  -neither did my decisio to start a subscription to Netflix.com (where I maxed out my queue at 500 dvds of anime and SF tv series. The point is, I'm not as diligent as I should be. But I want to improve. Whence my belated return to posting. I think I'll try to narrow my focus to just books for now, which will hopefully enable me to concentrate on reading, and evaluating what I read.  No doubt,  my Piles and Files will continue to evolve.  But for now, back to the books!

My recent reading has returned to SF, which in turn renewed my interest in Chemistry (particularly biochem), so I made a run on the library, and now have Algebra for Dummies, Geometry for Dummies, Blues for Dummies, Windows Vista for Dummies  The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus ( a subject I never took in college, but don't mind studying on my own)  Who knows, maybe I'll become a regular old polymath, and a polyglot.

So, at the end of March, I made a stab at Ben Bova's "Grand Tour", and as an introduction to Bova's writing, its very good. The titles I have read so far are Mars, Return to Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, and Titan.  Overall the Tour is a fantastic series, though my suspension of disbelief is strained by the prominent role played by The New Morality theocracies. But his depictions of the discovery of life in the solar system is incredible, reminding me a lot of a book on the cosmos authored by the late Isaac Asimov, and the speculation he gave, or edited, about the forms life could take on the other planets of the solar system. And his books are as every much the human condition, about human relationships, as they are about the science, which is always important in a good book. Good science, Good plot. Good interactions.

  On Monday, I finished James Burke's The Knowledge Web : From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- And Other Journeys Through Knowledge which I picked up at a used bookstore down the block from my parish church (Church of Our Saviour, Atlanta)  and now I'm reading his earlier work The Pinball Effect: how Renaissance water gardens made the carburetor possible - and other journeys through knowledge. which I got from the library. They make for fascinating reading in the history of applied ideas (science and technology), and it is simply amazing the "connections" that can be made, for instance, connecting Gustav Effiel to the Statue of Liberty to the founding of the modern Zionist movement. While at the bookstore, I also picked up What remains to be discovered: mapping the sercrets of the universe, the origins of life, and the future of the human race   by John Maddox, and that little shopping excursion really got my juices flowing, so now, I  have even more books out.

The complete list of what I have on my reading plate listed  by due date order, is, as follows:

Geometry for dummies  Armone, Wendy ; To fear the light Bova, Ben (I finished To Save the Sun last week) ;  Allergies and asthma for dummies Berger. William E.  ; Algebra for dummies  Sterling, Mary Jane ;   Blues for dummies  Brooks, Lonnie ; Chemistry for dummies  Moore, John T.  ;  Marvels of the molecule  Salem, Lionel ;  Quantum philosophy : understanding and interpreting contemporary science  Omnes, Roland. ;  Our molecular nature / the body's motors, machines, and messages  Goodsell, David S. ;  From Gaia to selfish genes : selected writings in the life sciences  Barlow, Connie C.  ;  Islam today : a short introduction to the Muslim world  Ahmed, Akbar S.  ;  The extraordinary chemistry of ordinary things  Snyder, Carl H.  ; Nature's building blocks : an A-Z guide to the elements  Emsley, John.  ;  The biological universe : the twentieth-century extraterrestrial life debate and the limits of science  Dick, Steven J.  ; Windows Vista for dummies  Rathbone, Andy ; Why aren't black holes black? : the unanswered questions at the frontiers of science  Hazen, Robert M ;  The nothing that is : a natural history of zero  Kaplan, Robert ; Waiting for Aphrodite : journeys into the time before bones  Hubbell, Sue. ;  The complete idiot's guide to calculus  Kelley, W. Michael ; The pleasure of finding things out : the best short works of Richard P. Feynman  Feynman, Richard Phillips. ;  Passionate minds : the inner world of scientists  Wolpert, L. (Lewis)  ;  The epic history of biology  Serafin, Anthony;     Creations of fire : chemistry's lively history from alchemy to the atomic age  Cobb, Cathy ;  A short history of nearly everything  Bryson, Bil l;  Science matters : achieving scientific literacy  Hazen, Robert M.
 

Tags: books

First Impressions - The Last Cato, Ella Enchanted, Serenity #2

Last night I finished the novel "The Last Cato: a novel" by Matilde Asensi, translated from the Spanish by Pamela Carmell. I just didn't feel like posting impressions, because work gave me a nasty scheldule that prohibits me from fulfilling my religious obligation today Sunday 14 January. Boo Kroger, and this despite my availibility showing not availible before 2pm.

I liked this novel, it stands out for me among the crowd of religous conspiracy theory novels, such as Raymond Khoury's _The last Templar_, and Steve Berry's _The Templar Legacy_ (both good reads, though of course I didn't like the outcome (naturally) but I did enjoy Berry's "The Third Secret" about what the "real" third Secret of Fatima revealed about intended ecclesial attitudes toward sexuality and life issues, which I count in the same category as "The Last Cato"). "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, (have not read it, but in my case, I object to his prefatory insistence that "all descriptions of architecture, texts, and rituals are true and accurate". There have been enough post-Code books published to show how false and misleading his statement of fact is, so I don't know if I want to read the book. I did see the movie however, and found it not to be as suspenseful as I was led to believe. It wasn't that great an action flick either, if you ask me.)

Lets see, religious conspiracy. check. Secret brotherhood apparently out to underrmine the (Christian) Church, check. At least implicit antagonistic stance toward Catholic hierarchy and influence, check. Portrayal of Catholic Church as bad guys, check. Attempts to belittle the faith of Christians the world over by proving Christianity to be based on a lie, nope,not there. In fact, the secret brotherhood in question stems mostly from Christian (Catholic?) believers, hold the _Vera Crucis_ in extreme reverence, and comes as close to being a Utopia as possible, (assuming you discount the murderous initiation tests).

I didn't like the way the narrator looses her vocation, and felt the story could have done without the love interest aspect, but it was a very suspenseful book, one I would definitely read again. Could not put it down.

Ella Enchanted by Gaile Carson Levine.(finished Jan 14, 2007)

This was a wonderful YA book. I haven't seen the movie, but I do so want to, just to see how it turns out in the end. It left me with a warm-n-fuzzy feeling, like _Princess Academy_ by Shannon Hale, another good YA story told from first person POV (which also brought joyful tears to my eyes at the end. Then again, I'm a guy who watched _Titanic_ on the big screen 6 times, and cried at the same points each time, as well as a guy who's read CLAMP's _Chobits_ 10 times, and can still cry in the last 2 vols of the tale, so take my words with that caveat). Its a very sweet take on the Cinderella story. I like it. A definite reread!

Serenity #2

Its a realistic, whimsical, manga-insipred Christian comic/graphic novel. Take one messed up teen from a broken home, drop her into a new highschool with a prayer club determined to win her for Jesus, add a message of love and reconciliation, some cute anime-esque chibi scenes, and brew. So, in Vol 2, Serenity gets in more trouble, but the prayer club won't let up on her, even when they're mad at her. Would I re-read it? Yep.

I've also dropped some books my pile, including all of Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire series"; _The Emerging Democratic Majority_ by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira;
_Into the Storm: A Study in Command_ by Tom clancy with General Fred Franks Jr. (ret.), because I'm not ready to read them yet, but since I know I can get my hands on them, I will read them this year.

Tags: books, first impressions, manga
Current Location: My Room
Current Music: Niji no Nagori (Rainbow Traces) by kodo

Fruits Basket #15 by Natsuki Takaya

First Impressions:
What can I say, "Fruits Basket" is Fruits Basket (Modern "kawaii" Shoujo at its best ,as opposed to modern "real and gritty" Shoujo represented by "Nana" which I also look forward to each month in my copies of "Shojo Beat"), its been one of my favorites ever since I saw a hentai-parody fansub of episode #22 back at Anime Weekend Atlanta in '04. Takaya-sensei has such an approachable style, that she draws you in before you know it.

For me, the highlight of this vol was Yuki's revelations about his true feelings for Tohru and his desire to someday be able to properly thank her for them. Whew, I don't have to worry about those pesky Three Way Love Triangles so prevalent in most (school) romance animes (not that they're necessarily bad or anything, just that most of them never seem to go anywhere); then again, Fruits Basket has always been about relationships among family, and not romantic relationships (On the other hand, Tohru did say at the beginning that the Cat was her favorite Animal in the Zodiac, so maybe that's all we need to know, ne?)

Also, "Nanaka 6/17" eps. 1-9

I absolutely adore "Nanaka 6/17", it reminds me a lot of "Midori Days" in terms of how the main male lead Nenji grows as a character, just like Seiji (but I'm glad that Nanaka herself grows down, somewhat). I must finish this series. I would have today, except that I borrowed it from my friend, and he had it out as a Netflix rental, and wanted it back in the mail today, so..I'll just have to wait.

Nanaka is so adorable when she's 6, more so than the stuffy 17 "benkyo mushi", yet the burning question I am left with after watching her antics is how on earth nobody in the class catches on to her very real changes; and why they think its all just an act is beyond me. I mean a personality change that severe should send warning signals through anyone's brain.

Rewatachability: Definitely

currently reading "Ella Enchanted" intersped with "The Rule of Benedict" by David Gibson

Tags: anime, manga
Current Location: Kitchen Table
Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: "Step Up To The Microphone" by The Newsboys

My (not so) short reading list for January and part of February. (n.b. the books are not cited in any particular order, I put them down as I remembered)

Now Reading

The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedit XVI and His Battle with the modern world. by David Gibson.
The Emerging Democratic Majority by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira.
Into the Storm: A Study in Command by Tom clancy with General Fred Franks Jr. (ret.)
A Witch Across Time by Gilbert B Cross.

On Tap:

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
Every Man a Tiger: The Gulf War Air Campaign by Tom Clancy and General Chuck Horner, USAF (ret.)
A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin.
A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin.
A Storm of Thrones by George R R Martin
Feast For Crows by George R R Martin.
Bethlehem by Father Faber.
Rediscovering the South's Celtic Heritage by Barry Van

plus a slew of other (YA) Library books:

The last Cato : a novel by Matilde Asensi.
Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton.
The Samurai's wife by Laura Joh Rowland.
Birdwing by Rafe Martin.
Fairest by Gaile Carson Levine.
Ella Enchanted by Gaile Carson Levine.
The Kite Rider : a novel by Geraldine McCaughrean.
The Stones are Hatching McCaughrean, Geraldine.
Nausica・of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki vol 1,2,3,4 (yay for libraries carrying manga!)
The god of small things by Arundhati Roy.
Kira-Kira by cynthia Kadohata.
The Homeward Bounders by Diane Wynne Jones.
The one percent doctrine : deep inside America's pursuit of its enemies since 9/11 by Ron Suskind.


Video/DVD
Danger Mouse vol 1 (seasons 1 and 2)
Danger Mouse vol 2 (seasons 3 and 4)
Fushigi Yuugi vol 2 (8-13)
Comic Party vol 4
To Heart Remember My Memories (fansub)
To Heart 2
Love Love (fansub)
Windy Tale (fansub)
Chobits vol 2-7 (for the 4th time)
God of Cookery
Swing
Genshinken vol 3
Sister Princess re: pure
Ah My Goddess vol 4 (Anime Works)
Transporter 2
Lost in Translation
Blue Man Group: The Complex Rock Tour Live
Kung Fu Mahjong
Nana (standard edition)

Current Location: Same as below
Current Mood: whimsical
Current Music: "Zodiacal Signs" by yuki Kajira

okay....so, I lied. (it's a venial lie, not a mortal lie)

Dead End Dating: A Novel of Vampire Love. by Kimberly Rave

This book very nearly twists the whole vampire/haemovore mythos on its ears. A very fashionable (and fashion conscious) and hip female vampiress opens a dating service for vampires, humans, and others (werewolves, et. al), all in an attempt to avoid working in the family business, and maternally arranged marriages, told from first person POV. Equal parts comedy, satire, romance, Series potential: obvious, since there's a blurb for the next vol., "Dead and Dateless" after the text. Rereadability value: quite possibly, its very good for a laugh, although I'm not too involved in the plight of the characters.

Current Location: same as below
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "Le Portrait de Petite Cossette" OST

Piles and Philes (the edited version)

or Gleamings from my ecclectic bibliograbbag

Hello, my name is Michael, and I'm a bibliomanic. Well of late i'm a lapsed bibliomanic, as I've been watching a ton of anime, domestic and fansubed, and reading manga, domestic and imported (raw Japanese). Okay, so i'm a recovering lapsed bibliomaniac. And I'm also one of those weird-yet-not-so-weird "otaku" intense fans of Japanese animation and manga (comics). And I hope to combine both passions in this blog

Today is just a getting to know you day.

There's a blog for every reason and season out there. For me, having this blog enables me to maintain my intellect, allowing me a venue that's part book review, part essay, part travel journal (of the noetical kind), even part memoir. Since I've been out of school for a while, (though I do plan to enter Law School next year), I haven't had much in the way of opportunity to exercise my learning. I have a MSLS from FSU, and yet for the past 10 years have worked as a grocery clerk/customer service I hope to work with words, both as career and as a passion. So, I plan to share what I'm reading and try to make connections between the various books. And my reading is definitely variegated, as we shall see.

I've elected to call this blog "Piles and Philes" for various reasons: part of the title comes from a book I recently finished that was borrowed from my alma mater, Berry College -thank god for alumni borrowing privileges...i'd go crazy for decent titles of academic interest elsewhise- (the book's name is "Ambient Findability" by Peter Morville), anotehr part comes from a post I made to the Yahoo group "Christsf: christian imagination in science fiction and fantasy", that I subscribe to about my explorations in readerdom, and part of it reflects the actual state of my room: books and DVDs, and CDs and papers stacked haphazardly and everywhere, on my bookshelves, on my dresser, on my desk, on the floor, on top of the existing piles, on my bed (when I'm no sleeping in it) on top of the bookshelves, intermingled with my anime figure collection and my Menagerie of Saints (did I mention I'm Anglo-Catholic?), the closet(s), and the alongside the small tunnel-like path that leads from the door to my bed to my desk.

At Kroger, where I work, we're selling, along with groceries, school supplies, dinette sets, and the myriad sundries that a gorcery retail store offers, a book called 'Know It All' a memoir about one man's journey reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. (Some people obviously need a life) haven't read it yet, but its on my list; along with the unabridged OED, the Great Books series also by Encyclopedia Britannica, the complete Harvard's Loeb Classical Library, and Peter Schaff's Early Church Fathers (yes, I do intend on reading them), and about 1000 or so japanese manga vols (as soon as I rise above a third grade readind comprehension level in japanese).

My girlfriend (yes, I do have a girlfriend, of 8 years standing) wonders why I have to have a book everywhere I go, why I feel that I must spend every moment possible pushing words before my eyes as if they were going out of style, or as if they would disappear if I didn't (as if that really needs an answer?); yet, we can, and have, spend many a comfortable evening together in front of the television, she with the remote, me with my book (read, she's stopped complaining about it).

Now the real question, is, can I keep this up? The real, honest, answer is..I can but try. My goal is to update it as I finish books and nonesuch. So, with that, in the words of blessed Saint Augustine of Hippo: "Tolle Lege!"

Tags: introduction
Current Location: My Room
Current Mood: nerdy
Current Music: "Fiction" by Yuki Kajiura