Attack on Titan - Hakime Isayama (manga series)

I started this series a long time ago. I couldn't even tell you exactly when. I'm also going to confess that I stopped before the end. Out of the 139 chapters, I made it to 100.

Eren lives in a city that is surrounded by tall walls. One day, the city is attacked by titans, strange human-shaped creatures that don't need food or water to survive, but they eat humans for fun. Eren and his friends experience loss and decide to join the military. Eren is determined to kill all the titans, but everything is not quite as it seems. Secrets and political intrigue are commonplace, and the mission isn't as cut and dry as it appears.

The storyline is unique, and I was drawn to it. I still think it's a neat story, but I had some issues that just got worse over time. The first problem is that a lot of the people look the same. There are so many characters, it was hard to keep them clear in my mind as it was, but then when some of them are so similar looking, it made it impossible. Next, the story got so complex, I couldn't remember important details. I put the series aside for a while, and when I came back, I couldn't remember which side was responsible for what.

The beginning of the volumes has a little synopsis of who is who, but it still didn't help me at times. I might know who someone is, but what was their role in the overall story? I just couldn't remember. I also tried watching the anime, but I got creeped out by the way the titans moved. They were bad enough in the manga to look at, but watching them move was too much for me.

I don't think this is a bad manga at all. I just realized it wasn't making me excited to keep going. I was tired of trying to keep everyone separate, especially the ones who looked similar. I looked up the rest of the plot, and I'm good.

I can see why this manga has such a following. It's a well thought out world, and the uniqueness of the story stands out. For me, it just got tedious, and it wasn't for me.

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

This is one of the earliest "true crime" books. It's widely considered to be the first, but there are a couple others.

In 1959, the murder of the Clutter family shocks the members of a small farming community in Kansas. The brutality of it is the work of two criminals. One of them heard that Herb Clutter had a safe in his house and plenty of money in it. Dick decides to take that information and bring his friend, Perry, to the Clutter place and "leave no witnesses." The worst part is that the information is bad. Herb didn't have a safe.

The book tells the story from all sides. The killers, the friends of the victims, and general information is all organized to tell the complete story. From the last moments of the Clutters to the capture and outcome of the trial of the perpetrators.

For being such an early example of the genre, this book was really well done. Capote was intrigued by the crime and interviewing people before the criminals were captured. It took him six years to write the book.

One critique I'd like to offer up is the amount of time dedicated to the analysis of the criminals felt excessive. The real part that bothers me about true crime is it feels like the focus is on the killer(s), and people don't remember the victims. Killers don't deserve to have their name remembered - their victims do.

Other than the excessive amount of time spent "analyzing" the murderers, I did enjoy the book. It was interesting, and I couldn't wait to see what happened. I wanted to look it up so many times, but I was able to control myself! If you're interested in true crime, you might be interested in this book. I'm giving it a Good Book! review, but I also want to send out a RIP to Herb, Bonnie, Nancy and Kenyon Clutter.

God, Freedom, and Evil - Alvin Plantinga

I'm going to start off by admitting I didn't finish this book. It was only supposed to be 122 pages, and I made it about 1/3 of the way in before I just couldn't take it anymore.

Apologetics is something I've been interested in off and on for a few years. It's supposed to be a reasoned defense for a religion, and I was looking for "third-party" views into Christianity. This particular book was supposed to deal with the existence of evil and free will. To me, it wasn't doing a great job.

The part I got through was about evil. The saying "If God is omnipotent and truly good, how can there be evil?" or something along those lines. It's something I've struggled with a few times. How did the author deal with it? Semantics. He breaks down why certain phrases don't go together and defines multiple kinds of inconsistency. By the time he was done with that one phrase, he'd basically rewritten it over 20 times. And he still didn't address the main problem. He used the same "there's probably a reason" and "maybe that evil happened because it was needed for a greater good."

What I read of this book was beyond frustrating. "Well, if we say it this way, it combines things that can't go together. What if we say it like this?" That's not the point. This was written in 1974, so maybe it was revolutionary when it came out. But if I can't make it through 122 pages, it is definitely not a book for me.

White Mouse - Nancy Wake

Nancy Wake was one of the names that kept popping up in the WWII resistance books I've read. She's kind of a legend, and when this book went on sale, I was excited to read about her life: in her own words.

Nancy considered France to be like home, so when the war hit, she wanted to help in any way she could. She got involved in the resistance and was separated from her husband. She took risks, held her own and had a sense of humor about most of it.

The writing style was conversational and easy to read. Nancy confronts the past with wit and humility. She tells stories without tons of detail at times, and it's something I've noticed in a lot of wartime autobiographies. When it comes to the sad events that shaped these people, they tend to gloss over their feelings or keep the details to a minimum.

If you're interested in the SOE, I think this is a pretty good book. The way it was written was interesting, and I was never bored. Good Book!

The Man in the Iron Mask (Marvel Illustrated) - Alexandre Dumas and Roy Thomas

This is one of a collection of classics Marvel adapted back in the early 2000s. They were released as an eight-comic series and then released together. Some of the other titles are Moby Dick, The Last of the Mohicans, The Odyssey and The Iliad. My daughter found a copy of a hardback at the bookstore and let me read it.

If you don't know, The Man in the Iron Mask involves the Three Musketeers (there's actually four once D'Artagnan joins them. It's later in their careers. In fact, most of them have moved on from serving the king. Only D'Artagnan remains. When one of the musketeers discovers there's a twin for the king, he sets in motion a scheme that can only be labeled as treason.

I had some trouble keeping a few of the people apart, but they use their names a lot, so that helped. The art style was really nice, and it told the story it needed to. I'm not sure how close it is to the original story, because sadly, I haven't read it. 

I really enjoyed this one, and it makes me curious about The Odyssey and The Iliad. The other titles don't really catch my eye, but anything that makes the classics more palatable for people is good in my book. For example, I love EPIC: The Musical for it's wonderful, and at times beautiful, interpretation of The Odyssey. Every time I listen, I hear something new. For something a little more fun, I recommend Wishbone. It's a children's show from the mid 1990s that is probably one of the best things ever recorded. How can you not appreciate the classics when a Jack Russell Terrier is dressed up in costume to play it out for you!?

When it comes to this particular graphic novel (that's what I'm going to call it - I'm not 100% sure it's correct, but whatever), I will gladly give it a Good Book! review. The others I'm watching digitally in the hopes of reading them one day on my tablet.

Lost and Found (September Day #1) - Amy Shojai

This book ended up on my radar because it involved a dog.

Shadow is the pup that's tasked with watching over Steven, an autistic boy who runs away from home. September is his aunt, and she answers the call when her sister reports the disappearance on September's radio show. After that, September is whirled into a situation where people are dying, and she has to try and find a thumb drive with information that could jeopardize many families' hopes of a cure for their autistic children. The problem, though, is the treatment is experimental and dangerous. 

I hated all the human characters in this book. Teddy was tolerable for a while, but then he was ignoring Shadow at a time when it was important to pay attention. I mean, how can you watch/listen to an animal struggle to the point of hurting themselves? September had to be the worst though. She was stuck in the past, and she acted like it bugged her, but then she wouldn't ask for or accept help. There were numerous times when she had the chance to safely talk to the police, but she refused. She's responsible for so many deaths, but I'm sure she'll get over it.

The writing wasn't terrible, but there were a couple places where I could tell the wording was off. It was more a grammar issue than a spelling one, and spell check doesn't catch those! I don't know why September's past was written the way it was. It made me feel like I'd skipped reading a book in the series that was vital to read before this one. She also gave some mixed signals. One minute she's mourning her husband and her part (?) in his death, and the next she's calling him a jerk. The loss of her dog also made her rude to Shadow at times, and that isn't right. I'm not talking about distancing herself, she would physically push Shadow away sometimes.

I don't really understand why so many people got killed. I get that Lizzie is crazy, but did she really get that upset at Wilma for praying to God? If April lost the thumb drive, who cares? And why would you put such sensitive information on something like that anyway? Overall, I'm done with this series. The dog was written at times like he was stupid, but I think that might just be because he's a puppy. I hope so anyway. As for the characters in the book, Shadow deserved better people!

One Nation, Under Gods - Peter Manseau

I wanted to get an outside view of the history of different religions in America. After some research, I kept an eye on this book until it went on sale.

This book dedicates each chapter to a different religion and how it appeared and thrived (or not) in America. Some of the religions included are Buddhist, spiritualism (hippies), Latter Day Saints and others.

I found this book to be incredibly interesting. I never realized how important it was to the Puritans to maintain their idea of a "city on a hill." They actively tried to keep religions from gaining ground in America, even to the point of restricting what tombstones could look like. This debate still crops up occasionally.

This was a good book, but it's not going to be for everyone. There were times when I wasn't sure I could muster the motivation to read it, but it wasn't the book's fault. The writing was good, and it was well organized. I'm staying on the fence overall, because I'm struggling to write this review. When I like a book, I know what I want to say. With this one, I can only say I learned some interesting things. Also, looking this book up is something of a nightmare without full details. For some reason, a lot of people wanted to name their book, One Nation, Under God or a variation of it.