The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

8/10

I read this one about 5 or 6 months ago. It was great. I just really love Thomas Hardy. He can write write. The story was masterfully set up and the whole second half of the book was just so good. The setting of the book, Egdon Heath, was so well described that it almost felt like a character of the book itself with its rolling hills and marshes, etc. And it really was as it factors in with so much that happens throughout the book including at the end. Great characters. Great interactions and relationships. Don't have much bad to say about it at all. I was really close to giving it a 9/10 but didn't for some reason. Just lacked 1 or 2 real memorable payoffs I guess. All I know is I can't wait to get to my next Thomas Hardy book because he has not disappointed me yet.

Thomas Hardy books I've read, ranked:

1. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
2. The Return of the Native
3. The Woodlanders

The Myth Makers by Hugh Nibley

 

6/10

I read this about 6 months ago. I'd been wanting to read this one for years and finally got around to it and was pretty disappointed. I didn't enjoy the format of the book at all. It's this weird conversation format. In the first portion of the book, he is a Chairman who is interviewing anti-Mormon authors where they quote anti statements about Joseph Smith's character. The second portion is the same but focuses on Joseph's money digging and picks out all the contradictions. The third and final part is a group of reporters interviewing an anti author who claimed Joseph got duped by a fake document and again points out all the ridiculous things with that claim. The fake conversational format got old for me pretty quick and distracted a lot from the topics being discussed. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if everything was presented in Nibley's usual scholarly format. Also, most of the money-digging portion and stuff about the seer stone felt very outdated. Nibley, of course, was working with information available at the time. This just isn't really a book that has much staying power.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

 

8/10

I read this book about 8 or 9 months ago. Although I have had some slight brushes with Gladwell in the past, this was my first deep dive with reading a full-length book of his. I feel like, while I did enjoy this book overall, I prefer the former slight brushes to the deep dive. My slight brushes were always interesting whereas the deep dive was interesting but got a bit tiresome after a while. The book seemed much longer than it needed to be. I did enjoy getting different stories and examples, but maybe in smaller, less repetitive doses. I know he was making slightly different points with each of his examples, but they were similar enough that it felt a tad bit repetitive. But I still did enjoy the book (hence the 8/10 rating) even though I've spent the entire time talking about things I didn't like. Some very fun stories and extremely insightful commentary overall.

By the Hand of Mormon by Terryl L. Givens

 

9/10

I read this one about ten months ago. It was really good. Very comprehensive. Covers a lot of the influence of the Book of Mormon and its reception and treatment by others and how that treatment has developed over the years as well as the Church's response and efforts to certain criticisms, particularly through archaeological evidence. Very informative and insightful book that I really enjoyed. I would like to read more of this kind of book. Also, the author was in our ward when we first moved to Virginia.

Nana by Emile Zola

2/10

I read this a year ago. I disliked it immensely. Very nearly gave it a 1/10. Can't think of anything at all that I liked about it. The characters were unenjoyable, the storyline reeked, and the writing style wasn't any fun. It was a chore of a book to get through. Apparently, it is Book #9 in a series of 20 books called Les Rougon-Macquart series. I guess the books can be read independently, but characters bleed over throughout the series. So that's pretty cool. But this is one of the more highly regarded of the entire series which does not bode well for my prospects of reading any of the others.

 

Saints: The Standard of Truth

 

10/10

I read this book a little over a year ago. It was really good. Great summary of early church history that touched on familiar topics with additional details as well as some lesser-known stories. The narrative history writing style was very engaging and made it a more enjoyable read. Learned about some people that haven't typically received a lot of attention in other church history books I've read. It was heavily footnoted which was great because I am a big fan of footnotes. Was very straightforward with some uncomfortable topics which was nice. The fact that flawed individuals were those that helped restore the church shouldn't come as a surprise and their shortcomings shouldn't impact one's faith. Just a bunch of really good people trying their best to do what's right. Really enjoyed this one.