Did You Know My Hit or Miss List May/June 2012?

Did you know my Hit or Miss List for May and June 2012?

This is a little behind! Since I can't remember them all here are the highlights:

The Pillars of the Earth: This book had been recommended to me. While it is seemingly about a cathedral built during the Middle Ages, I found it to be way too sexually graphic for me. I was completely unprepared for that. After reading one rather graphic rape scene I nearly did not finish reading the book. Then I decided I would be able to skim over any sex scenes. It sort of worked but not good enough (I still caught some "glimpses" of rather disgusting sexual encounters.) While I tried to enjoy the story, and did for most of the book, I felt like the more I read, the less I enjoyed it. It got to where I like every character less and less the more I read. And the book is LONG-983 pages of small print! This is not a book I would recommend to anyone who does not want to read graphic sex scenes and I don't feel like the story is good enough to justify having to wade through them. This for me ended up being a MISS and I won't be reading the sequel.


The Rook:-see below


The Knight:-see below


The Bishop:- This series of books, The Patrick Bowers Series, has been pretty enjoyable to me. While they are listed as "Christian Fiction" I have to say they are nothing like any other Christian fiction I've read. There is mention of "spiritual" things and God, but it's mostly people's search for Him and their dealings with being human in a fallen world. The stories center around FBI Agent Patrick Bowers and his dealings with solving heinous crimes while figuring out how to be the best human he can in his dealings with himself and those around him-particularly his 17 year old stepdaughter. While there is no foul language explicitly stated there are times when characters curse and do other things humans do. And some Christian readers may not like some of the slang terminology used by some of the characters. While there is physical attraction in Patrick's life, no explicit sexuality is focused on in the stories. The hardest part of reading the stories is the graphic violence. Many of the crimes are described in gritty detail. The stories move along well and keep the reader interested with plenty of guesswork in figuring out "who dun'it". While any of the stories can be read on their own, it's much easier to follow the bigger story line reading the whole series. This is a HIT for readers who get tired of formulaic Christian fiction.


Shoeless Joe: This is the book the movie Field of Dreams was based on. I love the movie so figured I'd love the book. As I read along I found myself wanting to see the movie again. I enjoyed the story well enough, with a few small misses along the way, but honestly think I like the movie better (unusual for me!) So while not a complete MISS I say it was not a complete HIT either.