Showing posts with label Book Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Club. Show all posts

Saturday 20 March 2021

The Talent Series by Anne McCaffrey (Books 6-11 /52 books in 52 Weeks)

 It always amazes me how quickly time dissappears!  It's been six weeks since I last posted and added to my read 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I got a little behind and then had a minor surgery which required two weeks of bed rest.  This in turn was a blessing in disguise as what is a better way of spending bed rest than reading one of your favourite authors or genres!  

I decided to reaqaint myself with Anne McCaffrey better known as the Mother of Science Fiction.  I ended up reading two serries: Talents and Tower and Hive. Damia made the New York Best Selling list. All of these books are in the top 150,000 book best sellers on Book Depository and are all still in print.

Talents Series

  1. To Ride Pegasus  (1973)
  2. Pegasus in Flight (1990)
  3. Pegaus in Space (2000)

To Ride Pegasus

  • Format Paperback | 288 pages 
  • Dimensions 110 x 178 x 17mm | 156g 
  • Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd 
  • Language English 
  • ISBN10 0552162809 
  • ISBN13 9780552162807  

From Book Depository: "They were people whose gifts were unique. For years - centuries - they had not even understood just what they could do with their minds. They had sometimes become astrologers, clairvoyants, or healers, but their Talents were undeveloped and untrained. Henry Darrow was the first to explore the huge wealth of psychic gifts hidden amongst mankind, and it was he who formed the first Parapsychic Centre where Talents could train and be used to revolutionise the world. But their powers set them apart, made them feared, then threatened by the un-Talented. And when dangerous freak 'wild' Talents began to wreak havoc in the outside world, it took all their combined Talented efforts to save themselves."

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed reading this prequel to the Talent Series which I had read years and years ago.   

Pegasus in Flight

  • Format Paperback | 416 pages 
  • Dimensions 106 x 178 x 24mm | 213g 
  • Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd 
  • Language English 
  •  ISBN10 0552163767 
  • ISBN13 9780552163767  

From Book Depository "Earth was at bursting point, in spite of the birth restrictions of only one child to each couple. Extra children existed in a sub-cultured world or were rounded up into slavery. The only hope was the space platform -- the jumping-off point for the colonization of other worlds. But more Talents were needed to build and operate those platforms.

Rhyssa Owen was the one responsible, both for finding Talents and training them. And when she felt the first encroachment of a mind reaching out to her, she knew it was exceptional -- a fourteen-year-old boy with incredibly powerful kinetic ability. And in the seamy underworld of near-criminal children was another brilliant mind in danger from a ruthless group of child kidnappers.

Rhyssa knew she had to find the two children and train them for the survival of earth."

I need to find this book to read.  

 

Pegasus in Space

  • Format Paperback | 448 pages 
  • Dimensions 107 x 177 x 31mm | 227g 
  • Publisher Random House USA Inc 
  •  Language English Edition 
  • ISBN10 0345434676
  •  ISBN13 9780345434678

From Penguin "Peter Reidinger was the most brilliant and powerful telepath and telekinetic yet discovered on earth.He was also barely fifteen years old and a paraplegic who ‘moved’ his body through kinesis.When the telepaths of earth suspected a plot to take over Padrugoi, the newly manned space station, they realised they needed his unique gifts to foil the insane plans of Barchenka, the space construction manager, but even they didn’t realise how strong were his abilities to ‘read’ the minds of those about him and move heavy loads over vast distances.

As his career progressed, so his talents increased beyond the dreams of those trying to reach out into space.Peter Reidinger was going to be the salvation of man’s exploration of the stars.

And even as he became the most important man on earth, so his friendship with the tiny orphan girl found in the floods of Bangladesh grew and flourished.For Amariyah too had psychic gifts which no-one, at first, could define.But these ‘special’ people were constantly at risk – hated and feared by the avaricious, the evil and the ignorant, whose constant ambition was to destroy Peter Reidinger and those like him."

My thoughts: From it's opening page to the last page I could not put this book down.  I read it in one day.  I especially enjoyed understanding where the talent Primes came from as well as the faction that so heatedly resisted them.   

Tower and Hive Series

  1. The Rowan (1990)
  2. Damia (1991)
  3. Damia's Children (1993)
  4. Lyon's Pride  (1994)
  5. The Tower and The Hive (1999)

The Rowan

  • Format Paperback | 328 pages 
  • Dimensions 114 x 178 x 23.11mm | 159g 
  • Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc 
  • Language English Edition 
  • ISBN10 0441735762 
  • ISBN13 9780441735761

 From Penguin: "The Talents were the elite of the Nine Star League. Their gifts were many and varied, ranging from the gently telepathic, to the rare and extremely valued Primes. On the Primes rested the entire economic wealth and communications systems of the civilised worlds. But Primes were scarce - only very rarely was a new one born. And now, on the planet Altair, in a small mining colony on the western mountain range, a new Prime existed, a three-year-old girl - trapped in a giant mud slide that had wiped out the rest of the Rowan mining community. Every Altarian who was even mildly talented could 'hear' the child crying for help, but no one knew where she was buried. Every resource on the planet was centred into finding 'The Rowan' - the new Prime, the first ever to be born on Altair, an exceptionally unique Prime, more talented, more powerful, more agoraphobic, more lonely, than any other Prime yet known in the Nine Star league."

From Book Depository: "The Rowan was destined to become the greatest Prime Talent in human history, facing a lonely existence of servitude. Until she receives a telepathic plea from across the stars from a Prime named Jeff Raven-and falls in love with him." 

My Thoughts - Oh my this is the book that started my love affair with science fiction books.  It was so good to re-read and become reqqainted with old friends.  Anne McCaffrey has such a fabulous way of drawing you into the Talent universe and helping you to experience the depth of the characters and the bredth of the story.

Damia

  • Format Paperback | 341 pages 
  •  Dimensions 114 x 166 x 24mm | 172g 
  • Publication date 28 Feb 2012 
  • Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc 
  • Language English Edition 
  •  ISBN10 0441135560 
  • ISBN13 9780441135561 

From Book Depository - "Damia is the daughter of Prime Talents The Rowan and Jeff Raven. Her own telepathic and telekinetic abilities manifested at an early age, unimaginable powers even greater than her parents', challenging to wield much less control. As willful as her mother ever was, Damia defies her family's attempts to tame and train her--only to bond with Afra Lyon, a Talent who serves The Rowan, and who becomes the object of her affection. When she comes of age, Damia learns that a Prime of her capabilities and temperament has no time for love. Assigned to serve the farthest human colonized world from Earth, Damia leads a lonely existence until she telepathically connects with an alien presence in another galaxy--a potential threat not only to Damia, but to the love Afra wants to share with her..."

 From Penguin - "Of all the Rowan's children, Damia was the most brilliant, the most difficult, the loneliest, and the one who had inherited the greatest Talent. It was obvious from childhood that she was going to be a Prime, with all the honours, burdens and strains of that elite class. Her one friend was Afra -- older, wiser, Talented in his own way, but 'belonging' almost exclusively to the Rowan and the workings of Callisto Station.

As Damia grew up, her Talent became almost too strong to control, and the solution was separation -- from her parents, from Callisto, from her beloved Afra. Sent to the distant planet of Deneb, to her strange and gifted grandmother, Damia began the training necessary to turn her into a Prime of extraordinary gifts -- a Prime who could contact the minds of approaching aliens through space, some of whom threatened to totally destroy the worlds of the Nine Star League."

My Thoughts - This book had me sitting on the end of my chair in anticipation.  It was as good to read the second time as it had been the first time I read it nearly three decades ago.    

Damia's Children

  • Format Paperback | 325 pages 
  • Dimensions 107 x 173 x 29mm | 159g 
  • Publication date 29 May 2012 
  • Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc 
  • Language English Edition S
  •  ISBN10 044100007X 
  • ISBN13 9780441000074

 From Book Depository - "They inherited their mother's legendary powers of telepathy. But Damia's children will need more than psionic Talent to face the enemy's children--an alien race more insect than human..."

From Penguin - "A classic story from one of the masters of the genre

Damia and Afra-Raven-Lyon had reared their children in a brilliant and unorthodox way. All their young had been 'paired' when six months old with the furry, one-eyed Mrdinis, the only other sentient beings in the Alliance, who could communicate with humans by their 'dream messages'. Together, Man and Mrdini worked to create prosperous worlds and guard against the terrible threat of the annihilating Hivers.

And now, in the deeps of Space, Mrdini scouts had crossed the path of three Hive ships -- ships that were giant hulks of cell units, bearing the queens and workers out into space, to breed and multiply and destroy wherever they found a viable planet.

It was the four elder children of Damia -- Laria, Thian, Rojer and Zara -- all uniquely talented in their various ways, who were to play their part, helped by their life-long Dini friends, in the conquering and investigation of the Alien threat of the Hivers."

My Thoughts - I enjoyed seeing the love story of Damia and Afra grow and see how the Mrdini influence the track of the story of the Hive invaders.  Each of the characters are powerful in their own right. They challenge themselves and those around them to go deeper and stretch beyond comfort zones.  

Lyon's Pride 

  • Format Paperback | 352 pages 
  • Dimensions 110 x 178 x 22mm | 189g 
  • Publication date 01 May 2012 
  • Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd 
  • Language English 
  • ISBN10 0552167312 
  • ISBN13 9780552167314  

From Book Depository- "The survival technique of the Hivers was terrifying -- and brilliant. Their huge Sphere ships, controlled by the Many Mind of ten to sixteen queens, surged out into space. When an appropriate planet was found, the Hivers destroyed any and every variety of indigenous life, the queens propagated, and when the new world was full, more ships were sent out. the colonization was repeated until no planet, no species, least of all Man and Mrdini, was safe.

The furry and courageous Mrdini had fought the Hivers for centuries, many dying bravely in an attempt to save their own worlds. Now Mrdini and Man combined to form the Alliance -- and Humankind had their own weapons to offer -- the power and might of the Talents who could not only communicate silently with each other, but could project cargoes, ships and themselves across the deeps of space.

The four children of Damia -- Laria, Thian, Rojer and Zara -- were Primes amongst the Talents, and all their skills were desperately needed, for the Hivers' terrible Sphere ships were still thrusting through space, unfathomable, impenetrable, and carrying death in their labyrinthine depths."

My Thoughts - This one had me hooked from the start. I enjoyed the journeys of Damia and Afra's children and the expansion of the story.

The Tower and the Hive

  • Format Paperback | 315 pages 

    Dimensions 83 x 171 x 23.11mm | 159g 

    Publication date 25 May 2000 

    Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc 

    Language English 

    ISBN10 0441007201 

    ISBN13 9780441007202

From Penguin - Concluding her magnificent five-book sequence begun in The Rowan. In this, the fifth book in the Tower and the Hive series, the children of Damia and Afra Lyon take up new and demanding responsibilities - trying to discover the whereabouts of all the Hiver-occupied worlds. For the Hivers are still a terrible threat and can bring total annihilation to both humans and their furry allies the Mrdini unless the remaining Hiver Queens can be prevented from further colonization. And a startling additional problem has arisen with the Mrdini. No longer dying as drastically as they once had in their ceaseless struggle against the Hivers, they face a serious population explosion and need the help of the Medical Prime Zara Lyon.  

Whew if you made it to the end of that list I'm impressed.  Thank you for your patience in letting me share my binge read recently.  I'm quite happy now that I've caught up and can continue my 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge.

What's on your reading pile ?



 



Saturday 6 February 2021

False Impression by Jeffrey Archer (5/52 Books in 52 Weeks)

 Week 5 of 52 Books in 52 Weeks. I almost missed the deadline to share my latest read with you.  Jeffrey Archer is one of those authors not to miss.  The very first book I read from this author was Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less.  A brilliant tale.

This week I have chosen to revist another favourite from his pen: False Impression.  I had forgotten just how much every little detail is important when reading his stories.


False Impression

  • Format Paperback | 538 pages 
  • Dimensions 104 x 191 x 36mm | 295g 
  • Publisher St Martin's Press 
  • Language English 
  • ISBN10 0312939779 
  • ISBN13 9780312939779 

From Book Depository: "Why was an elegant lady BRUTALLY MURDERED the night before 9/11? Why was a successful New York banker not surprised to receive A WOMAN'S LEFT EAR in the mail? Why did a young woman with a brilliant career steal an IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING? Why was an honors graduate working as a temporary secretary after INHERITING A FORTUNE? Why was a SENIOR FBI AGENT trying to work out the connection between these four apparently innocent individuals? A breathtaking journey of twists and turns from New York to London, from Bucharest and on to Tokyo ends up in a sleepy English village where the mystery surrounding Van Gogh's last painting will finally be resolved."

This book is a sit on the edge of your seat masterpiece.  A fully engrossing tale of the missing masterpiece Van Gogh's Self Portrait with a Bandaged Ear.  Each twist and turn is full of heart stopping close calls and threads of complexity to rival the best. False Impressin will have you dashing accross the world from New York to London, Hong Kong to Bucharest and back again. Join FBI agent Jack as he tries to unravel the mystery before him.

 

Wednesday 13 January 2021

Joseph Dreamer of Dreams by E. Traylor (2/52 Books in 52 Weeks)

Welcome to week two of 52 Books in 52 Weeks. This week I chose a biblical novel to enjoy.  I first encountered the author when I was in high school.  I read Samson which opened my eyes and heart to the reality of scripture and I began to realise just how real each of the people in the bible stories really were.  Years later I found a fabulous christian bookshop in Christchurch (Christian Value Books) and encountered books by Ellen Gunderson Traylor and began collecting her novels. 

Joseph Dreamer of Dreams

  • Format Paperback | 247 pages 
  • Publisher Harvest House Publishers 
  • Language English 
  • ISBN10 0890816999 
  • ISBN13 9780890816998  

I really enjoyed reading this book again. JOSEPH is a story of politics, passion and a peculiar example of GOD at work in the lives of men and women.

The Author


 Who are some of your favourite biblical story tellers?  I have three or four more on my shelf I am aiming to read later this year.

Tuesday 5 January 2021

2021 Reading Goals {52 Books in 52 Weeks}

This past weekend the Homeschool Review Crew asked the question What are your reading goals for 2021? This is something I had been pondering since I fractured my humerus last year and realised that it's been a long time since I read for the pleasure of doing so. I have been blessed with so many beautiful books and have decided this is the year I want to embark on reading the books I've been wanting to read or re-read.

 Back in 2012 I signed up to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks and wondered if it was still being hosted online.  Much to my delight I descovered that it is still alive and well. I've signed up for the 2021 challenge and would like to invite you to join me.


 

To help me keep my lists handy and keep me accountable I have decided to build two lists below. I will be updating this list upon completing my challenge for each week and if I find a book I would like to add.

My Completed Reading list for 2021

  1. The Reading Life by C.S. Lewis
  2. Joseph Dreamer of Dreams by E. Traylor
  3. The Good Master by Kate Seredy
  4. The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert 
  5. False Impression by Jeffrey Archer
  6. To Ride Pegasus by Anne McCaffrey
  7. Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey
  8. The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey
  9. Damia by Anne McCaffrey
  10. Damia's Children by Anne McCaffrey
  11. Lyon's Pride & The Tower and the Hive  by Anne McCaffrey
  12. Seizure by Robin Cook 
  13. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Books I would like to read this year

  1. The Reading Life : The Joy of Seeing New Worlds Through Others' Eyes by C.S. Lewis COMPLETED - Week 1
  2. Silver Boxes by Florence Littauer 
  3. What's so Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey
  4. Moses The Deliverer by Ellen Gunderson Traylor
  5. Joshua - God's Warrior by Ellen Gunderson Traylor
  6. Disappointment with God - Philip Yancey
  7. Prayer of Jabez -
  8. Ten Fingers for God - the life and work of Dr Paul Brand
  9. False Impression by Jeffrey Archer COMPLETED - Week 5
  10. Teaching From Rest - 
  11. Sherlock Holmes
  12. An Agatha Christie Book - which do you recommend?
  13. Pegasus in Flight by Anne McCaffrey

52 Books in 52 Weeks

The guidelines/rules

  1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021.
  2.  Book weeks begin on Sunday
  3. Week one begins on Friday, January 1st and runs through January 9th.
  4.  Participants may join at any time
  5.  All books are acceptable except children books **
  6.  All forms of books are acceptable including e-books, audio books, etc
  7.  Re-reads are acceptable as long as they are read after January 1, 2021
  8.  Books may overlap other challenges
  9.  Create an entry post linking to 52 books in 52 weeks
  10.  Sign up with Mr. Linky in the "I'm participating in 2021 post" .
  11. You don't have a blog or social media account to participate.  Post your weekly book in the comments section of each weekly post.   
  12. The link widget will be added to the bottom of the weekly post for you to link to reviews of your most current reads, and will close at the end of each book week

**in reference to children books. If it is a child whose reading it and involved in the challenge, then that's okay.  If an adult is doing read aloud with kids, the book should be geared for the 9 - 12 age group and above and over 100 pages. If adult reading for own enjoyment, then a good rule of thumb to go by "is there some complexity to the story or is it too simple?"  If it's too simple, then it doesn't count.

 


Mini Challenges within 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Should you want something a little extra to participate in here are a variety of weekly, monthly and perpetual challenges including: 

 

Out on the Internet

 

Friday 7 November 2014

Messy Beautiful Love {Book Club}

This week marks the beginning of the November book club over at Women Living Well. This month we are reading Messy Beautiful Love by Darlene Schacht.

You can download a FREE Study Guide over at Messy Beautiful Love Book Club

Each Monday and Thursday over the month of November Courtney will be hosting a discussion via the comments section on her blog.

This Week at WLW
Introduction
  • "Our definition of love can be skewed by selfish ambition"
Reading this book has really challenged me this week. In a few days Paul and I will be celebrating our 23 wedding anniversary. I had been feeling really frustrated with where our marriage was at ... As I read the above words I was convicted deeply of the fact that my attitude was bad because of my own self seeking attitude.

  Chapter One - Messy Beautiful Love
  • We are called "to live out our purpose, which is to love our husbands, raise our children with intent, and manage our homes well."
  • "God prepares the heart for tomorrow"
  • We need to be " ... tuning out the world so that we might quietly tune in to Him"
  • " ... remind us to seize the day and capture the joy of each moment, giving thanks for the big and the small."
Looking back over the last twenty something years I would agree with the author Love is messy and the expectations we gain from the world's perspective of 'Forever After' robs us of the joy and blessing of where we are at in the here and now.

As I read this week I realised how much noise was/is in my life and how much I need to change in my world in order to quietly tune into Him who knows all things and works all things together for my good.
I have become aware just how much I have NOT been living out my purpose, I have not lived with positive intent for a long time.  I have been living in habit. I have stopped growing as a person.

It's in researching, discussions (as iron sharpens iron so does one man sharpen another Proverbs 27:17 ), reading and studying His Word and reading that we grow.  What are you reading lately ?

I became more aware of looking for the blessings in the every day. I think I need to start counting my 1000 gifts again it certainly does impact my attitude in a positive way.

Chapter Two - Walk in Compassion and Grace
  • " ... every weakness that contradicts love: being impatient, jealous, unkind, proud,selfish, or arrogant; demanding your own way that you think you should be loved."
  • "The best things in life get messy before they get good."
  • " ... I chose to let my anger and un-forgiveness draw me away and consume my heart "
  • "The path to separation is paved by selfish ambition and pride, ..."
  • " ..., love must start with the preparation of a graceful heart."
Walking in grace is so much easier to do with someone you do not know than someone you do! I was rather ashamed after I took some time to do some introspection and be honest when looking at the list of actions which contradict love. It's rather confronting to see where I have got to because I have been lazy in my LOVE walk within my marriage. Complacency is not a good thing when you are confronted with its fruit ...

I found great hope in "The best things in life get messy before they get good."

Discussion Questions
Chapter 1
1. Have you ever felt like a failure in your marriage? Or has your husband failed you? How does grace and the gospel change things?
  • Yes often ... I have recently come to realise that these feelings are rooted in feeling unworthy. These feelings have come with me from high school.
  • Reading these two chapters has helped me to grasp that His amazing grace is what I need to call upon each day. It's His grace which empowers me to walk in forgiveness and to begin to see Paul in a new light each day
 2. Tell us one thing you love about your husband.
  • He loves me through my most unlovable attitudes
Chapter 2:
3. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. What is the difference between love and a loving feeling?
4. Has your husband made a choice that is hard for you to live with daily? How does remembering what true love is, help you?
  • Love keeps NO RECORD of wrongs. This is a weakness I have fed in my marriage.  I am too weak to slay this enormous dragon in my heart. Today I realised that through His grace I can starve it to death and walk in love keeping no record of wrongs.
Chapter Three - Be Patient and Kind when the Going Gets Tough
  • "Record keeping damages our hearts and feeds the root of bitterness within us, while love heals the wound."
  • "Neglecting to care for each other more than we cared for ourselves, wanting to take more from our marriage than we were ready to give, and failing to lean on God's wisdom more than our own were the layers of filth and stain that build up over time."
  • "The more I focused inward, the less I focused on the Lord."
  • "if I wasn't blinded by anger, I might have understood the sacrifices he made for us."
I could deeply associate with this chapter. I have developed a bad habit of record keeping. It's quite amazing how record keeping fuels anger, anger at yourself and anger at your spouse. The longer you are married the easier it is to develop the habit of neglect. Neglect is the silent killer of love within marriage and it is the fertile soil for record keeping. 

This week I began to think about the sacrifices that Paul makes each week without complaint to look after us his family. It's true a grateful heart is fruitful ground for love and tenderness to grow.

Chapter Four - Give up your right to be right
  • "His loving-kindness is a constant reminder of how it's better to do right than it is to be right"
  • "... sacrificial love is so important to achieving unity."
  • "Love is so many things, but the heart of the matter is that beautiful love is Christ-centered."
  • "You might pass as being kind to your husband, but I wonder how many of us go out of our way to do so."
  • "When you realize that it's more important to win the heart of your husband than it is to win an argument, you're seeing the fruit of mature love."
  • "Rejoicing in truth is a vital part of loving someone."
  • "We can avert a lot of conflict in marriage when we trust our husbands intentions."
  • "Sacrificial love is what the best marriages are made of."
  • “A wife is to protect her husband’s reputation by speaking highly of him to others. She is also wise to protect him by covering him in prayer.”
Discussion Questions
1.) Have you been married to an unbeliever and had the joy of seeing him come to know the Lord? Tell us how it happened!
  • No I haven't.  I have how ever watched my husbands love mature and grow.  I've seen the love he has for his Saviour spill over onto his family and influence his decisions.
Chapter 3
2.) Do you struggle with record keeping? How has letting go of the record keeping, helped to heal some of the wounds in your marriage?
  • Yes I do. It's beginning to heal the ache in my heart, giving me more grace and patience towards my family.
3.) If you could go back and do it all over again – what would you do differently in your marriage?
  • Create more positive habits, keep less records of wrong. Pray more ... Seek God's will more
Chapter 4
4.) How have your vows helped you in times when you wanted to fly off the handle?
  • Some days when the going is tough and I've wanted to give up it's my vows which keep me coming back and fight for my marriage.
5.) How do you protect your husband? Do you struggle to speak highly of him to others or to cover him in prayer?
  • This question was confronting. My initial response is that I would like to work through The Power of a Praying Wife again and cover him more regularly with specific prayer.
All quotes are from the book Messy Beautiful Love. Connect with the author Darlene over at Time Warp Wife.

Are you reading along ? If so come and share your insights and let us encourage one another.
Blessings 
Chareen

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Messy Beautiful Love

This month I am joining Courtney over at Women Living Well for the November Book Club.


Book: Messy Beautiful LOVE by Darlene Schacht

When: Each Monday and Tuesday via the comment section over at Women Living Well

Schedule:


I will be sharing my thoughts here each Friday.

Blessings

Chareen