I just finished reading Shadow Princess, the third book in Sundaresan’s series about the women of Mughal India. Unlike the Feast of Roses (which should be preceded in reading by the Twentieth Wife), this one stands on its own. It begins with the death of Mumtaz Mahal, the woman for whom the Taj Mahal was [...]

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This was cross-posted from my account at GoodReads, where I gave it two stars (of five). I would like to note that I did not read the whole book—I got through the fifth chapter before it was due at the library (and I couldn’t renew it because someone else had a hold on it). I [...]

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I just read this, so I didn’t really get tagged, but I hereby tag: John, G, wren, Brian (who I can’t link to), & Cobwebs. Feel free to link to your own (whether I tagged you or not) in the comments 1. One book that made you laugh: I, Lucifer, by Glen Duncan. DH and [...]

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Here. Including what atheists yell during sex, canoeing on a lake of fire for all eternity, the dangers of topiary, why we should have more atheists in the military, atheist storm troopers, the separation of church and town, the Gospel of Cadbury, and the Dead Faith Scrolls. (the second Dawkins vid is a duplicate) If [...]

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Apologies for all the SF book reviews–in my mad sprint to the end of the month finish line, I’m trying to cram in as many books as I can in an attempt to get close to my New Year’s Resolution. This end of the month clump of reviews is partly the result of my inability [...]

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Carl Marsalis is a Variant Thirteen–the result of a near future project to genetically engineered abnormally strong and quick and hyper-aggressive soldiers. His kind are feared as humanoid monsters, and most are kept in camps or exiled to colonies on Mars. Marsalis has been hired to help track down a virtually untrackable renegade thirteen who [...]

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Sound the trumpets folks! It’s book #2 of the 100 I’m supposed to read for this year. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a little slow coming out of the starting gates. My calculations tell me that I should have completed 7.2 texts thus far. I’ll catch up, I promise. The Tourmaline may be [...]

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Note: Please recommend other titles in the comments!  I decided to make a list that was a sort of refreshing alternative to the recent bestsellers. I have several reasons for this. First of all, Harris, Dawkins, Hitchens and Pullman are getting so much media attention that you don’t need me to tell you about them. [...]

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by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson #1 of 100, folks! Only 99 more to go. I started with an easy one. I promise to pick up a heavy book by someone with a Russian name or a biography of President Bush to balance out this light escapist fantasy. This is a perfect book for junior [...]

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Or, at the very least, an argument that most anti-Pullman activists probably haven’t even looked at the book: The trilogy has the Church as the antagonist. Not religious belief in general. If any “message” may be derived, it’s that powerful religious organisation who is above the law and morally degraded (murder is no problem for [...]

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