Robert R. Anthony

A French historical novel, written in 1844, set in 1625. Both reader and story are terrific. A fabricated plot is woven into the genuine fabric of the assassination of the English Earl of Buckingham. 18 year old D'Artagnan is the protagonist. He travels to Paris to join the Musketeers, the personal guard of King Louis XIII. He is poor, courageous, and an exceptional swordsman. He has no pity. Through duels he repeatedly, at the drop-of-a-hat, kills anyone who insults him. No insult is too trivial. He encounters a mysterious 25 year-old beauty that we subsequently learn is a brilliant but evil spy for Cardinal Richelieu, the King's chief advisor and swore enemy of the Musketeers, even though they serve the same King. The book is translated to English keeping a strong French flavor. The author portrays France as Christian more in appearance than in actuality, depicting a French love-hate relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, and ridicule of Protestant Christianity and the British Empire. Respect is shown for individual Englishmen. If you are an Anglophile this book will confirm your prejudices, i.e., France has always been morally bankrupt. In addition to an absence of respect for life, French chivalry also does not include reverence for the sanctity of the marriage bed, by French men or women. Revenge is a recurrent theme, forgiveness is not. In addition to their addiction to honor, Frenchmen also appear to be addicted to romance with a peculiar, almost feminine, absence of lust. From a 21st century American perspective the book portrays a society destined to implode from the weight of its own moral contradictions. The 3 musketeers are Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. D'Artagnan is their constant companion and a Musketeer aspirant. Milady is the beautiful young sociopathic spy and Cardinal Richelieu is also a sociopath. Books that follow include: 20 Years After, The Viscount do Bragelone, Lousde de Vailiere, and The Man in the Iron Mask.

This is a Christian fictional novel by Ann Rice who returned to the Church in 1998. This is a great book if you are interested an orthodox, well researched book about the life of Jesus, the Christ as a child of 7 or 8 years old as His family returns to Judea and Nazareth from Egypt after the death of King Herod. The book is unusual because it is told in the first person from the perspective of the Christ Child. The book is very thoroughly researched and covers a time in the life of Christ that few Christians think about very much. I was fascinated. The book uses some information from apocryphal gospels, one about the early life of Christ as a child. I believe this early apocryphal Christ Child gospel is not heresy but is simply a fictional account of what Jesus' childhood might have been like, told in the third person by a believer as respectful as Anne Rice is in this account. I learned a lot, and I am surprised I learned so much because Jesus Christ has been the focus of my life and learning for a long time and I consider myself a scholar, but Anne Rice's scholarship far exceeds mine. She makes me feel like an amateur. I am impressed. The reader sounds like a 10 or 11 year-old boy and he is perfect for the part. He does a very professional job reading this book. I cannot recommend this book more strongly.

This is the first of a 3 book set and is the best of the series and the best of Edgar Rice Burroughs book I have read so far. I?ve read 6 of his 60 books, all in the last week, so his books are fairly short but agreeable and satisfying. They are fantasy and the science behind them is a little thin but they are full of action and daring, with a little romance. They are enjoyable to read. The reader is very good, professional and well suited to this book. A lot is left unexplained so you will want to finish the series.

The reader is good but he reads a little too fast. The prose occasionally feels uncomfortable. The story is fantastic and not very believable. Caprona is the Land that Time Forgot. It is a fairly large island near Antarctica, warmed by volcanic processes, protected by 1200 foot sheer walls along it?s entire periphery, the result of a huge volcanic explosion that blew the top off of a gigantic volcanic mountain in the prehistoric past. It is a sanctuary to a prehistoric world where the laws of evolution took a different twist. Like most science fantasy of the 19th century, the story isn?t very believable so you will have to suspend your scientific skepticism to a much greater degree than is required for most modern science fiction. The book is worth reading because it is enjoyable and very short.

James Slattery, who read At the Earth?s Core, the first book in this series, was perfect. Patrick Lawlor does a good job, except for an occasional character?s voice. This book is more similar to a Jules Verne fantasy than modern science fiction. The book was written in 1915. The story line contains too many remarkable coincidences, but the story is easy to follow and I did enjoy the book. The book is PG but it would receive an R rating today because of violence. These are the stories I wish I?d read as a child but they are stories for all ages.

The reader is perfect for the book. This is the first book in the Pellucidar Series of stories about David Innes exploring a subterranean world of prehistoric creatures where highly intelligent reptiles are the dominant species and prehistoric men are much lower on the social scale. The story is obviously more fantasy than science fiction. The story was written in 1914 by the author Tarzan the Ape Man and the author is enamored with Darwin?s relatively new theory of evolution, so you will hear the narrator speak at length about the state of our knowledge of evolutionary theory just after the turn of the century. We?ve come a long way in our scientific understanding since then. Edgar Rice Burroughs? has a military background so pacifists and environmentalists won?t be happy with some aspects of any of his stories, but the hero in this story arrives in this new world without a gun, limiting the mayhem. The book is a light enjoyable read and I recommend it without reservation.

This is not a great book but it is well written and you?ll gain insight into the conflict in the Balkans, as well as European prostitution and the Soho district of London. I bought this audiobook a while ago and just read it. The book starts off a little slow. I was, at first, a little confused as to whether I was reading a work of nonfiction or fiction, but the story does pick up speed as you progress through the book. It?s the story of a former London Vice-Squad detective who now works for the UN or an NGO identifying bodies of mostly Muslim victims of mostly Serb mass murderers. The book is the story of this former detective?s attempt to bring to light the mass-murder of a Muslim family centering on his search for the teenage daughter of this family who was the eyewitness to this crime and is now a London prostitute.

This is a fantastic book with a first-class reader. Mitch Rapp is a CIA assassin charged with killing terrorists. He is an assassin with a conscience, at least for some people but not for terrorists. One of two assassins who has been hired to kill Mitch Rapp by a Saudi businessman also has a conscience, and through several twists of plot related to this person?s conscience, irony is added to the story. The book is believable and is easy to follow. The action is nonstop. Mitch Rapp never hesitates. Progressive politicians may not like this novel, since, like Tom Clancy, this author creates a world where it is not safe for a politician to lean to far of the left, especially if the politician through considered actions or malicious intent jeopardizes American intelligence operatives. It you like Tom Clancy you will also like this book and you will also enjoy Killing Rain by Barry Eisler.

If you love the New Yorker don't read this article.
The 1st article, RAIN AND FIRE, is on the danger of nuclear destruction from terrorist or terrorist nations. The article dangerously misrepresents the truth. The article is so far from the truth it gave me the impression the author would almost wish a nuclear strike on an American city just to make Bush look bad.
The 2nd article, THE TALK OF THE TOWN, on Peter Falk seemed to have no purpose other than to allow the author to quote Falk using Jesus Christ as a profanity.
The 3rd article, LETTER FROM LOUISIANA, is about Hurricanes Betsy (1965) and Katrina so you should be able to guess what to expect, e.g., 'Bush was on extended vacation while New Orleans drown', i.e., Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Well, Nero could not have fiddled because the violin had not been invented and Bush did not remain on vacation. 'Black lives aren't valued'? This magazine needs a truth-detector. The article does have a lucid discussion of poor black folks gullibility with regard to rumors and the article is well written, but I'm getting tired of liberals using Katrina to further their cause.
The 4th article, SHOUTS & MURMURS, is high-brow humor. Esoteric is an appropriate description. I didn't get it.
The 5th article, ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS, is about an opera named, 'Doctor Atomic', about the dawn of the nuclear age written by a UCLA activist. The article is boring and much too long, but this review does give me the opportunity to put in my 2 cents worth of opinion: Hurricanes contain energy equivalent to scores of hydrogen bombs per hour for days. We might loose New York or Dallas someday but we wouldn't be able to destroy our world with nuclear weapons if we tried and civilization will continue. We'll have to come up with something much more powerful to destroy the world. Harry Truman made the right decision. If you feel sorry for WWII Japan you should read The Great Raid on Cabanatuan.

This book should be subtitled, 'Yes I am a homosexual, and Yes I do hate George Bush". The book is humorous but with a sharp biting edge that you will find irritating unless you also hate George Bush. If you are at the far left edge of the American political spectrum or you hate America for any other reason, you will love this book.