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In Praise of Idleness: and other essays by Bertrand Russell
Slightly more serious approach to philosophy than the previous, though not too much. Russell argues in favour of time spent doing nothing, in favour of impractical learning, in favour of socialism (but against communism) , on the ancestry of fascism, and on the war between humans and insects (the insects are winning). A deceptively easy read with some hard thoughts snuck in.
Recommended.
Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell
I was distressed to learn that David Gemmell died earlier this month. With only two books of this trilogy finished, this is likely to be an unsatisfactory reading experience. I nearly didn't buy this one, either, because I'm not really a fan of the Greeks (I was a Romanophile when I was a kid--yes, I was an insufferable geek when I was younger. What do you mean nothing's changed?), and the Trojan War is even less interesting. When you take the Gods out of it, what's left?
Gemmell gives us the pre-war story of Helikaon, Prince of Dardania, sailor, warrior, scourge of the Mykenes. Helikaon is also a friend of Odysseus, but apparantly everyone is. This Odysseus is already an older man, and as he sails around the seas trading with other nations he tells the stories that form the basis for what would eventually become Homer's Odyssey.
This is in many ways a big step forward for Gemmell; while there are brave heroes, strong women, and a seige, it contains no magic whatsoever and the seige is hardly the centre of the story, the way it so often is for him.
Mildly recommended.
The King's Own by Lorna Freeman
Sequel to Covenants, this starts with Rabbit and his troupe returning to Freston, the town where they were based for the last five years, after successfully fending off war with the Borderlands. Rabbit has, of course, gone through a lot of changes since leaving, including the revelation of his own Borderlands upbringing, and his close relationship to the King. By no coincidence, the King and his court have showed up in Freston, and the small town is not well-suited to so much high-born excitement. Nor is Rabbit. Nor is the town suited to Rabbit, for reasons I cannot go into without spoiling the end of the first book completely, but things soon get very tense, on a lot of levels. Light reading, but fun, in a way that reminds me a lot of Tanya Huff.
Highly recommended.
the Priestly Sins: a novel by Andrew M. Greeley
Greeley takes on the Catholic sexual abuse scandals directly in this book. He's dealt with them peripherally in earlier books, but this is the first time that they have been the central focus of the main story. It's also--typically of a Greeley book--the life story of a priest, one Herman Hoffman, in many ways a typical Greeley priestly protagonist: a maverick priest, popular with the laity but outside of the hierarchy, forced by the incompetance (not to say outright evil) of those above him to take a stand. He differs, on the other hand, in some interesting ways (how minor they seem will depend on how many Greeley novels you've read): He's young (younger than me, in fact, perhaps the first Greeley priest/hero not to have lived through the Great Depression), he's not from Chicago (though he does go to The University at one point in his career), and he's not of Irish Descent (German). Bishop Blackie does show up in a background role, however, so Greeley hasn't completely given up.
Other than that, though, it's a Greeley novel. If you like this sort of stuff, this is more of the sort of stuff you like. If you don't, you won't. And if you've never read Greeley but are curious, you could do worse than to start here (you could do better, too, of course).
Mildly recommended.