reviews

Sweet Home Wisconsin... Author:  Michael Perry It’s a pretty common fantasy.  Purchase a quaint farmhouse in the country, one accompanied by a big red barn and a picturesque twenty of acres of verdant pastures.  A small creek would be nice.  Raise some pigs and chickens, maybe a cow or two, and live off your own labor and the bounty of the land.  I dreamt of this kind of life often as a youngster, although I was just a suburban school kid without a clue.  But Michael Perry grew up in rural Wisconsin, so when he finally returns to the country [...]

Peaceful Optimism... Author:  John Horgan Are most of your friends, neighbors and co-workers in favor of war?   Do they seem like the kind of people that opt to kill others in order to settle a conflict or dispute?  If you answer no to questions like these, if most people are honestly opposed to violence, why have wars occurred so frequently throughout human history?  You may think you know why, but science journalist John Horgan has found that most of what people think about the cause of war is wrong.  He reveals his findings in The End of War, explaining why [...]

You're Bumming Me Out, Preacher Author: Stephen King I’ve been reading Stephen King for a long time. So long that I feel like I can read through his characters what sort of life stage he might be in. I just finished Revival and this armchair psychologist is thinking Mr. King might be pondering his mortality. I wish he would stop. Revival isn’t a bad book, but I found it oddly depressing. Now you might think that all horror is going to be depressing on some level – what with the murder and mayhem – and you’d be right. That’s the [...]