Category Archives: The Randleman Review

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Book Review – Modern Printmaking by Sylvie Covey

Modern PrintmakingI have long been a fan of pens, inks and paper. I love writing instruments of all kinds, and the mediums upon which the written word is found, such as books, papers, parchments, and more.

My passion for words runs deep. And because it does, I was anticipating Modern Printmaking by Sylvie Covey. However, I was somewhat disappointed, not because of the book, but because it did not pique my curiosity like I had hoped it would.

Modern printmaking has flourished in recent years, as it has over the centuries. People have creatively used multiple mediums to print images and designs upon almost every medium. As the world rushes into the digital era, that has continued, although by different means.

This book, Modern Printmaking, is both a technical guide and an inspirational resource, looking at the ways that printmaking has occurred throughout the past and how it continues to flourish. It is a beautiful book, and very informative, teaching the reader a lot about the art of printmaking that they may or may not have already known.

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Book Review – Code 13 by Don Brown

Code 13Don Brown has risen to the top of my list of favorite authors. His genre is military suspense, with a little bit of legal fiction mixed in. He is sort of a mix between Tom Clancy and John Grisham, two of my all time favorites.

Brown definitely delivers with his new book, Code 13. This is the second book in the Navy JAG series, and I am looking forward to future installments.

When I received this book, I noticed it was the second in the series. So I went back and purchased the first book, Detained. And, although I chose to read them in sequential order, they each stand alone on their own.

Code 13 is a prestigious, and little known, legal arm of the Navy, hidden in the depths of the Pentagon. A Navy JAG officer, Caroline McCormick, is newly assigned to Code 13, and is thrust into a whirlwind of events surrounding the legality of a military drone project over domestic areas. When a fellow JAG officer is killed, the stakes are raised even higher.

Don Brown weaves an incredible tale of mystery and suspense, packed with action. Code 13 is a difficult book to put down, and I was disappointed that I finished it so quickly. I’m definitely looking forward to the next one.

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Book Review – Four Views On Hell

Four Views On HellAs a minister, predictably, some of my favorite books to read are theological or doctrinal in nature. And, most of the time, I particularly enjoy those that seem to be controversial in nature, reading them to help define and clarify what I believe, in support of what the biblical texts state themselves.

And the topic of hell has been very controversial of late, with such authors as Rob Bell and others rejecting the traditional concepts and unveiling new and unorthodox views.

In that regard, an updated version of a volume dedicated to examining several of these views seems appropriate. An older edition of this book exists, but this new, updated version is clearly in need with the flavor of evangelicalism changing over the years.

This book, Four Views On Hell, is a part of the Counterpoints series, and provides, as expected, four differing views of hell by four different authors. Each author presents an essay promoting his view, promoting and defending it, and is followed by a brief rebuttal by the other three authors. This occurs four times, with a final summary by the editor to wrap it all up.

Coming from a conservative, traditional church background, my studies have primarily been along only one trajectory of the four listed here. So it was refreshing and enlightening for me to be able to see alternative views presented and explained. I have not changed my position, and still land firmly in the traditional camp, because I feel that the Bible bears this out specifically. But I did find it quite interesting to follow the thought process of some of these other viewpoints.

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Book Review – The Travelers by Chris Pavone

The Travelers by Chris PavoneI hate it when I don’t learn my lesson.

A year ago, I read a novel by Chris Pavone. I was disappointed and unimpressed. But apparently, a year is enough time for me to forget that.

I picked up a new novel by Pavone, The Travelers, and was equally unimpressed. In fact, I was even more disturbed than I was after the first book, and decided not to even finish reading this one.

By the time I was just a few chapters into the novel, there were three different, explicitly described, sexual encounters. At that point, I decided that if it happened again, I was finished with the book. Just a few pages further, there was another one.

Plus, the obscenities and foul language occurrences were too numerous to count. I am more than unimpressed. I am disgusted. And that is unfortunate, because from the snippet on the dust jacket, this could have been an incredible story. The plot idea captured my imagination right away, and would have, could have, been incredible.

It’s too bad that Pavone felt the need to include so much unnecessary and disgusting material.

As a result, I will not recommend this book. And it will not remain in my home. The dumpster out back seems like a great place to pitch it.

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Book Review – Black Earth by Timothy Snyder

Black EarthI greatly enjoy reading about history, especially certain eras of history. One of those eras is the time period surrounding World War II. I find this period of time fascinating. In light of that interest, I decided to pick up and read Black Earth: The Holocaust As History And Warning, by Timothy Snyder. I thought it would be an interesting examination of one of the darkest periods of the twentieth century. It was not.

I found it very hard to read Black Earth. Snyder’s writing style was dry and cumbersome, and lacked any kind of excitement. His research was quite extensive, and it shows. He looked in great detail at the mind and politics of Hitler and German before and during the war. But his presentation was very dull, and lacked luster. I did find the history and the look into Hitler’s thought processes interesting, as much as I was able to stay engaged.

It is quite obvious that Snyder comes at this topic from a liberal perspective. And while I am not against reading books that I may not agree with, his approach belittles any other viewpoint, especially more conservative ones, if he acknowledges them at all.

And he makes some connections that make no sense whatsoever. The “lessons” he wants us to learn from the Holocaust, he applies to climate change and global warning, warning this generation to not make similar mistakes as those who lived in the 1930s and 40s. How he managed to make such a comparison, I have no idea. And beyond that, he ridicules those who reject the notion and political stance of climate change, implying that those who take an opposing view have their heads stuck in the sand.

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Book Review – The Newsmakers by Lis Wiehl

The Newsmakers by Lis WiehlI have been a fan of Lis Wiehl for a while, and have enjoyed many of her books over the past few years. So when I saw her new book, The Newsmakers, I was excited to pick up a copy and read it.

Overall, The Newsmakers was a pretty good story. But it was not up to the same level as other novels by Wiehl. This was not her best book, by far. That said, it is still a great story, and was an enjoyable book to read.

By way of a brief synopsis, and without giving anything away, the book is about Erica Sparks, a new character for Wiehl. Sparks is a TV reporter who has just been hired by an up-and-coming global news network. But when a series of events begin to unfold, she begins to suspect that her career, and her life, may be in jeopardy.

Sparks is a very real character. She is a recovering alcoholic, fresh from a nasty divorce, and Wiehl has done a superb job of making Erica Sparks a character the reader can understand, and even identify with. Along with many other characters in the book, Sparks is one the reader soon comes to love. Other characters, however, feel under-developed, and forced, and could have used some polishing.

Wiehl has chosen to write The Newsmakers in the present tense. For example, instead of writing “she said,” or “she walked,” Wiehl wrote “she says,” and “she walks.” While this is a small thing, it frequently makes the flow of the story seem stilted, and becomes distracting. At one point, I was almost frustrated enough to put the book down because of this. While some books can be written this way, The Newsmakers should not have been.

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Book Review – Last Act by Craig Shirley

Last ActI have mentioned before that I love to read biographical material, and I especially love it when those biographies are about great leaders. When I received Last Act: The Final Years And Emerging Legacy Of Ronald Reagan, I was pretty excited to dig into it.b

Craig Shirley has written extensively about Ronald Reagan before, and his books have been bestsellers. But this book was not all that impressive. I was somewhat disappointed in Last Act.

I knew going in that this book would be different than other biographies that I have read about Reagan. This book is solely focused upon the final years, the death and funeral, and the legacy of one of the greatest Presidents of the twentieth century. Very little of this book is about the years as an actor, or even the years in the Oval Office, except in passing.

The complete focus of Shirley’s work here is primarily on the death and funeral of Ronald Reagan, and the legacy that he left behind. The media hated, and still hates, Reagan. But the American people loved him greatly, and still do. And with that premise, Last Act had the potential to be a great examination of Reagan’s impact.

Sadly, that was not the case. I have not read any of Craig Shirley’s other works to compare, but his writing in this work was scattered and disjointed. He would break into his own thoughts with seemingly random paragraphs, often about American society in general, and give no explanation for why this was included right at that point. It was distracting and made for very difficult reading.