Saturday of Book Reviewing – Voltaire’s Candide

My first impression of this classic novel was, embarrassingly enough: “How the heck do I say the title??” I hadn’t even opened the book yet, and already I had questions. Seems like a fantastic start if you ask me.

Now possible options were two – I was fairly certain the title would either be pronounced like ‘Candid’ as in to speak the truth frankly OR like ‘Candied’ as in sugar coated and delicious. After all, Voltaire was French, I needed to mind my American vowel sound bias here. As I read through the novel, I rapidly come to the conclusion that either would be perfectly suitable for our protagonist. For those of you immediately calling in to question the accuracy of dubbing a grown man ‘candied’, please allow me to elaborate. Continue reading “Saturday of Book Reviewing – Voltaire’s Candide”

Saturday of Book Reviewing – Harris’ Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values

Disclaimer #1: This book was written by a gentleman who does not believe in God, nor in free will. His perspective is both enlightening and potentially damaging to those who wish to hold tight to an exclusively religious worldview. To be frank: straight up avoid this book if you think people can only live by a moral code given by a higher power; nothing he writes will make sense to you. Continue reading “Saturday of Book Reviewing – Harris’ Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values”

Saturday of Book Reviewing – Moore’s Lamb

See also: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
See also: Read awhile ago, reviewing now in honor of Jesus’ bday celebration last sunday! Hurray for Christmas.

From the first subtitle alone, I’m sure you can guess this novel will be stored under ‘irreverent comedy’. This guess is correct, but incomplete. Christopher Moore, our author du jour, is fairly well known for his absurdist fiction and Douglas Adamsesque style of writing. He likes recurring jokes, making even his villains fully sympathetic characters, and playing with history, so if you lose track of one liners, prefer your bad guys in black hats with swirly mustaches, and only enjoy historical fact: this is not the book for you. Continue reading “Saturday of Book Reviewing – Moore’s Lamb”