This Week in Reading

BOOKS:
Captain’s Fury, by Jim Butcher, pages 191 – 315.

Vicious Circle, by Mike Carey, pages 37 – 110.

COMICS:
Captain America 1 – 9, 11 – 14
Lensman 2
Silk 1 – 7
Underworld Unleashed tie-ins: Aquaman #14, Guy Gardner Warrior #36.
 Who’s Who Update ’88 #1

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

Grab your current read.

Open to a random page.

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

From Page 10 of Vicious Circle, a novel by Mike Carey, featuring his character of Felix Castor, freelance exorcist.

"After doing this job for a decade or so, I still don't know much about the afterlife - but I'm willing to lay long odds that the dead don't get their end away very much."

This Week in Reading

BOOKS:
Captain’s Fury, by Jim Butcher, pages 117 – 191.

A Cat on Stage Left, by Lydia Adamson, COMPLETED. Review here.

Vicious Circle, by Mike Carey, pages 1 – 37.

COMICS:
Darth Vader 1 – 6
Underworld Unleashed tie-ins: Azrael #10, Detective Comics #692, Green Lantern #69, Justice League America #105.
UltraForce 9 & 10

Review of A Cat on Stage Left

Book #4: A Cat on a Stage Left, by Alice Nestleton. Hardcover.

I found this series a number of years ago, after working my way through the Jim Qwilleran “Cat Who” series by Lilian Jackson Braun. It has been a while since I’ve read one, but not because I didn’t enjoy them. The library stopped acquiring the audio versions, and it has taken me a while to get around to tracking down print versions.

The series features actress Alice Nestleton, who supplements her income by cat-sitting, and occasionally dabbling in private investigation. In this book, a potential client is killed in front of Alice’s building, but she recognizes ability that something strange in afoot with the crime. The cat that the client was bringing her to “sit” was nothing more than a stuffed toy.

Along with her friend, mystery writer Sam Tully, Alice investigates the crime, which seems to involve some of their acquaintances from their early days on stage. The scheme ends up including money laundering, blackmail, and a bizarre weight-loss clinic.

The mystery is an interesting one, and the solution is unexpected. Nestleton and Tully make a good team in this one, and the character moments between them are strong. Along with Tully’s fictional detective character, Harry Bondo, they make a smart and streetwise detective team.

Source: Bexley public library

This Week in Reading

BOOKS:
Captain’s Fury, by Jim Butcher, pages 1 – 117.

Parenting Your Children Into Adulthood, by Ron Hitchcock, COMPLETED. Review here.

A Cat on Stage Left, by Lydia Adamson, pages 83 – 146.

COMICS:
Constantine the Hellblazer 8
Fusion 1, 2 & 4
Kanan the Last Padawan 1 – 6
Starfire 8
Trekker omnibus, pages 220 – 246 (*)
Watson & Holmes 1

(*) covering parts 1 and 2 of the story “Sins of the Father.” Ruth and Darrin Sutherland covered this story in detail on episode 13 of the excellent podcast Trekker Talk.

Review of Parenting Your Child Into Adulthood

Book #3: Parenting Your Children Into Adulthood, by Ron Hitchcock. Paperback.

This is a parenting book that is clear that it is a different type of parenting book. The focus is not on making “better” children, which so many parenting books address. Hitchcock’s emphasis here is on the opportunities that parenting gives to turn people into “faithful stewards of God’s precious children.”

The book uses Hitchcock’s Parenting Adult Children (PAC) model as the organizing structure for the book. The four steps of the PAC model are nurture, values, mutuality, and interdependence, which are represent stages of strong parent-child relationships. The model is designed to prepare children for mature relationships with others, and to lay the groundwork for long-term parent-child friendships.

In discussing each of these steps, Hitchcock includes portions of his Life in Motion Resources Inventory (LIMRI). The LIMRI is an excellent tool for use in enriching all sorts of interpersonal relationships. There is an academic bent to the book, but it is also highly readable and these tools make it very practical.

Towards the end of the book, Hitchcock presents a unique and insightful interpretation on the Prodigal Son story. His take on the different personalities of the two sons in the story was something I had never considered, but his conclusions were interesting and profound. This ties in to another theme in the book, that of “successful” versus “faithful” parenting.

Again, this is not a parenting book about molding more obedient children. It is a book about teaching parents to view parenting as an opportunity to develop godly character traits in themselves.

Source: Church bookstore.

Note: I attend the church where Ron Hitchcock is a pastor, and have taken a number of his parenting classes.