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Here are some more mini reviews of books. I’m going in order of when I read them.

First up: Simon Thorn Series by Aimee Carter

This was a good book, but I recommend against reading it, unless you read German. Because it is a 5-book series, but only books 1-3 are in English. I read book 1 then book 2 and liked them. We have book 3 but it was while reading book 2 that I realized I could not get books 4 and 5, so I didn’t bother reading book 3 because then I would have been farther into the story. So I decided to cut my losses.

If you do read the first book, which is the Wolf’s Den, then just stop at that because you get enough to appreciate the story. Save books 2-3 until books 4-5 come out. Or learn German.

Next up: In the Blink of a Screen by Terry Pratchett

I was wondering what Terry Pratchett book to start with to introduce me to his writing, when I saw this book at our library. It’s a collection of short stories, so I figured that was a good way to dip my toes in the water.

For the most part, the stories were engaging and not objectionable. I do remember thinking that one or two of them were inappropriate, but I don’t remember any details of what or why at this time, so maybe they weren’t that bad.

Next up: Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Our library website shows recommended books to its patrons. I’m not sure if it is personalized based on your reading history, or if it’s just whoever paid to have their books promoted, or just randomized. But we got a thing touting the book Starter Villain by John Scalzi. It looking interesting enough that I looked into John Scalzi a tiny bit, and people seemed to prefer his earlier book Kaiju Preservation Society better, so I thought I’d start with that.

The book had an interesting premise and clever writing and a good story. Everything you would want in a book.

Except it was full of foul language and the characters seemed to have come from a DEI checklist. It wouldn’t have been so bad except the one person who was a “they” but I didn’t realize it so I read a whole chapter thinking it was about a group of people but no, the “they” was one person, so I had to re-read that chapter and then pay extra attention in subsequent chapters.

Anyway, the very many bad words is the reason I recommend against this book. And then I looked up John Scalzi’s other work, and some of the reviews mention the language. Normally sci-fi writers seem to avoid a lot of objectionable content, but that is apparently Scalzi’s calling card that he wants to be known for so, as best I can tell, all his books have foul language and so I will not be reading anything else by him. I returned Starter Villain to the library unopened.

What would be good is if we could get like the TBS or USA Network version of this book. They are famous for editing out bad words when they broadcast a movie – making the movie more family-friendly when they air it. Someone should do that for Scalzi’s work. He might disagree, but I don’t think the story would be harmed at all by replacing bad words with milder words.

Last up: I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

This one I think I saw in a review by World Magazine. I wish they would have a section on their website with all the books they’ve reviewed. With not much to go on and never hearing of Peter S. Beagle before, I just jumped in.

It was a good story and was very entertaining. My only complaint is that just before the end of the book, he had to put one bad word in there. There was nothing foul before then, and it seemed out of character for the book. Like she could have used the word “dung” instead and that would have fit better, to me. It’s like how for some reason the ratings people decided a PG-13 movie could have one F-word and still be PG-13. How does that make sense – if the word is bad then it’s bad.

Anyway, if one s-word is enough to keep you away the you have been warned. With kids wearing shirts with bad words on them these days, I feel people in general are desensitized to bad words. But that’s another discussion for another day. Overall, I still enjoyed the book.

That’s it for this review. More book reviews coming up later this year.

Our house came with a fireplace. A typical brick chimney and open hearth meant for burning wood. Due to various reasons, we haven’t used it. But earlier this year we got a wood-burning insert, so we will use it, so now I need to stock up on firewood.

The good news is we have a couple acres of trees that I can harvest. So far I’ve been taking already downed trees. Most died and then fell over but a storm took down two live trees so some of this wood needs to age first.

But I thought the stacks of firewood were scenic, so I took some photos of them and am sharing them with you now. I had a plan for two of the stacks but I ended up with more wood so we basically ended up with random stacks of firewood around the yard. My goal is to consolidate them a bit, maybe next year.

That last one is not as pretty as the first or fourth photos, but some may appreciate the rusticness of it. Those are big logs, so it will turn into a huge pile of firewood once it’s cut and split, and I don’t have a spot for it yet, so that’s waiting.

With a couple different trips this year, I’ve had time to read some books. Half of these I picked and half of these were recommended to me by the kids.

I’m going in order of when I read them.

First up: Exhalation by Ted Chiang

This book was a mixed bag. It is a collection of short stories, and most of them had interesting premises but the stories had objectionable material. Most of the stories could have been saved by changing some of the side topics or characters situations without changing the premise, but my guess is the author was going for pushing a diverse cast of lifestyles.

There were a couple of short stories in there that were fine, but overall there were more things I didn’t need to read.

Next up: Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

This was actually a review of two separate books, Winterhouse and The Secrets of Winterhouse. I read Winterhouse first then when I saw the library had another Winterhouse book I grabbed that.

I liked these books. They are mild mysteries, nice easy reading with nothing bad, meant for lower middle grades I would think.

Next up: Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull

This was tremendous. Out of all the middle grade fiction books I can remember reading, this series was my favorite.

I didn’t come to that conclusion after reading the first book. This is a series of five books. I read the first one and was intrigued enough to read the second one. And then so on.

And then after I finished the last book, I was sad about it. Partly because of how it ended but mostly that it ended. The last time I got so involved in a series was the Little House on the Prairie and that was decades ago.

I will note that Gamma said that Five Kingdoms is his favorite Brandon Mull series. And Beyonders is his second favorite, so that’s in the queue.

Next up: The Land of Elyon: The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

This one was a random book I found on our shelf. No one seemed to know anything about it, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

It was okay. It’s the first in a series, but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to want to continue with the remaining books in the series. Part of that might have been because I had recently finished the Five Kingdoms series and it would be hard for anything to follow that.

There was nothing wrong with the book, and I assume the rest of the series would be fine too. So if you need something to try, this should be an option.

That’s it for this review. Got some more planned for winter.

I was considering a variety of ballot proposals that have passed in a number of states in the last few elections, and I noticed the common theme of a smaller group getting the votes despite the larger population not being on their side.

The larger population was not necessarily against their side either. But a minority of people wanted something, and it passed, and thus became the law of the land.

Modern democracy caters to the squeaky wheel. And it is due to a lack of moral authority in individual people.

This wasn’t the case in the good old days (not going to get into specific timeframes). People back then knew right from wrong. Maybe they didn’t agree with other people on what right and wrong was, but they had their stance on topics.

People these days are less firm on what is right and wrong, and are more willing to let other people do their thing. So a strong-willed minority that is pushing an issue can get it passed, because the majority of people will take the attitude of “hey, if that’s their thing then who am I to tell them no?”

And so something passes and becomes law even if most people don’t agree with it, because they don’t want to take a stand on what’s good for society or what’s morally right.

I’m not saying you have to care about every issue, but I’m saying do be informed about the ballot proposals to know if you should take a stand on them. All that is needed for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing, and not vote.

Being a University of Michigan fan whose kid enrolls at Michigan State is like the situation in the Sound of Music. In the picture below, MSU people are like Herr Zeller and I’m like Max Detweiler. They are zealous for their cause and I don’t really care for it, but I don’t want to upset them so I give a half-hearted reply.

I think in the movie it was actually Rolf that gave the Nazi greeting that Max Detweiler somewhat returned, but Herr Zeller looks more appropriate for this image.

I’ve mentioned people leaving bad reviews before. Not reviews with a bad rating of the product, but the review itself was poorly done. Here’s a previous example of how to write reviews.

But I was looking at something on the Home Depot website and of all the reviews, this one had me shaking my head. For the most part, people who are bad at reviewing things don’t know it. I think they mean well but are clueless as to the uselessness of their review.

This guy, however, was not clueless. He just straight out admitted he shouldn’t be leaving a review. But yet he still left one. I can only guess he was either being blackmailed or threatened with violence that he had to leave a review right then. Or maybe he got some kickback for leaving a 5-star review and that was the last day the kickback would be available.

I was behind a Honda Element at a stoplight last week, and I was mildly amused by its license plate

Here is what I saw:

And here it is zoomed in a slightly enhanced:

So there you have it – the elements are Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Honda.

Not love, despite what that movie tried to claim.