Star-Spangled Jesus

 

Star-Spangled Jesus – April Ajoy

This book really hit home for me. I’ve read a lot of books such as this recently. People who were raised in a modern day evangelical “church” upbringing where the focus is a far-cry from anything that Jesus taught, yet the focus is on preserving the power of America, and the fact that somehow, there are satanic influences everywhere in the world, and the only way to preserve this great country is to hold up one’s bible as if it were a magical wand that somehow prevents evil to prevail.

I was involved in all of this to some extent.  I was never quite as off the rails as many, but I attended a church in the 1990s where the charismatic senior pastor convinced everyone in the church of a bunch of nonsense.  You weren’t supposed to trust science, you weren’t supposed to trust history, and God forbid if you had a child of dating age who wanted to date someone who was (-gasp!-) a non-believer!  So basically this lot of church goers spent their entire existence bemoaning how awful their country had become, and instead of loving their neighbor, they spent (and still spend) countless amounts of energy blaming “Godless” liberals who insisted that things such as getting an education are going to ruin us all.

Author April Ajoy was raised in such a church, and she has more insight than many since her father was the actual pastor of the church.  So each chapter of the book is devoted to a particular area of nonsense highlighting what these uneducated dolts believe.  Fortunately, she has a sense of humor, so even though the book is filled with emotional triggers, the fact that it’s told in a bit of a lighthearted fashion, makes the unpleasantness slightly more bearable.

Like myself, the author realized the breaking point  of all of this was when many “Christians” started worshipping Donald Trump (although they would deny such an accusation and be somewhat insulted by such a statement).  This level of billboard-level devotion is puzzling to anyone possessing somewhat of a brain. 

Speaking of ‘brain’, we must remember that these individuals have been thoroughly brainwashed, so it does somewhat explain this behavior, but the author’s observations are spot-on.  This idiocy was only compounded once COVID entered the picture, and the ignorant masses in the churches seemed to believe that it was a fake virus designed to “keep people from worshipping as a body”.  Not surprisingly, these same ill-informed and uneducated individuals seemed to think the COVID vaccine was harmful, and wasted no energy screaming these sentiments from the top of their lungs.  (Side note: I, myself was vaccinated 4 years ago. I was told by many that if I did such a thing, I would be dead within 6 months. I’m still alive. None of them have apologized to me yet).  And, yes, all of these sentiments are covered in this book as well.

Again, Ajoy was, and is, a Christian, yet unlike those who proclaim loyalty to Donald Trump and refuse to become educated, she refuses to take the mark of the beast. It’s refreshing to see that there is still common sense out there.

Pompeii

 

Pompeii – Robert Harris

I’ve probably stated this as I’ve reviewed other novels, but I’m one of those quirky book consumers that doesn’t like to read the jacket flap or back book cover any time I begin reading a book. I want to be completely surprised. I want to know absolutely nothing about the story I’m about to read. Such a book as this one presented a challenge since, knowing history as well as the time period, I knew what the main focus of this book was going to be.  If you don’t know what happened in Pompeii in 79 AD, you may be ok if you suffer the same weird issues that I have. Fortunately, it didn’t really matter. This was a very engaging book.

The book is quite fascinating in many ways. First, there is a notion out there that people who lived 2000 years ago were somewhat ignorant, uncultured, and barbaric. This was true in many corners of the world, but Rome was far more civilized than many people realize. True, modern amenities as we know now didn’t exist, but the wealthiest of the wealthy had slaves to cater to their every need, so there was masses of free time for the wealthy few to flex their brain muscles.  The main focus of this book, as silly as it sounds, is water.

Specifically, fresh water.  This requires aqueducts which was an incredibly advanced tool. Personally, I’ve seen remnants of them in decaying parts of Rome, but it truly baffles my mind as to how glorious and well-engineered these must have been, and how incredible it must have been to have seen them in action.

The protagonist in our story, Aquillas, is the lead engineer for the community, and it’s his main job to ensure the civilized towns under Roman law continue to receive the masses of fresh water.  This is need not only for drinking, but there are many swimming pools, man-made fishing ponds, and bath houses that are needed for these communities to stay civilized.  It turns out that there’s a small problem with the water supply, but only Aquillas has the foresight to know that something is going to be seriously wrong within a matter of days unless the source of the problem can be uncovered and the issue resolved.

A lot of research must have went into this one.  Not only is the architectural and engineering details meticulous, but also the Roman life during the first century AD.  I’ve always maintained that the sign of a good historical fiction novel is one that makes you yearn to learn more about the place and the time.

Other than the well-known event that occurs in this novel, there’s actually a pretty well-told story that one could argue is somewhat related to the event.  At times I felt as though the author wanted to mainly focus on the historical event, but couldn’t quire flesh out an entire book, so it was necessary to add to the story.  It’s all done well though.

Robert Harris has never disappointed me.  After he wrote this one, he completed a trilogy that was set in Rome around a similar time.  I’m looking forward to reading that as well.

Comfortably Numb – The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

 

Comfortably Numb – The Inside Story of Pink Floyd – Mark Blake

So I’ve read the autobiography of Nick Mason, and I’m a pretty big fan who knows an awful lot about Pink Floyd.  Was there a lot of stuff here that I didn’t already know?  Well, yes, actually.  A lot? Well, probably not, but there were a lot of intricacies and anecdotes that were fun to read, and really only helped solidify what I already knew.  Sid Barrett was sadly a basket case, Roger Waters is an interminable grouch, David Gilmour is an immensely talented guitar player and musician, and the band managed to prevail in spite of everything.

The book was released a few years before the unfortunate early passing of Rick Wright, yet after the legendary “Live 8” reunion.  I suppose it could have been that event that inspired Mark Blake to pen the biography.  One wishes for an updated version as the remaining members, for better or worse, have still made headlines in some form or fashion.

I was a little worried once I made it about 1/3 through the book since it was still detailing the early years when psychedelic haze was in fashion and leader Barrett hadn’t quite fallen off the deep end.  There are lot of tales of the early years, and while rewarding, my tastes tend to favor the stories of the personalities and events once thee band has made it big, as those tend to be less tedious and more in tune with events that I’m aware of. Not to fear. Despite the long musings and meanderings of the early days ‘before’ they made it, the author does an excellent job covering the entire history of the band.

Once the fractions occur in the early 1980s, a careful amount of attention is also spent on former members as well as solo projects. Obviously, the personalities of Barret, Waters, and David Gilmour get most of the attention, but economics clearly dictates why.

It really was quite sad to read so many musings of Sid Barrett during his post Floyd years. He clearly wasn’t in the right at all. At times, I felt there was a bit much about Barrett’s ongoing descent into insanity, yet there is a large populous of fans who hold him in extremely high regard.  For myself, I didn’t really discover the earliest material until after I had become a fan many years afer, so even though I do concur that “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” is a masterpiece, my devotion to the purest incarnation of the band isn’t quite as devout as the many that were there since the beginning.

As much as one feels sorry for Barrett, you also have to lob pity onto Roger Waters.  Good Lord, this guy is an incredibly miserable sod.  I really don’t know how the others could have put up with him for as long as they did. It seems as though no one in the band’s history has anything fond to say about him. One story that solidifies his behavior is when Waters undergoes his first (rather unsuccessful) solo tour in 1984, the audience seems more enamored with guitarist Eric Clapton than Waters himself.  At one gig, Waters (as he’s known to do) basically screams at the audience for paying more attention to Clapton then they do Waters himself.

Of course, Gilmour comes across as a rather amiable chap, and although there were pressures on him as well, he seems to have weathered the storm with much more grace and dignity.  Regardless of what you  feel he contributed to the bulk of the popular material, you can’t help but feel some sort of justice when he’s awarded the prize of getting to keep the band moving forward in spite of the resistance of particular others.

I really enjoyed the book, but maybe when Floyd is finally done and all members have gone to that great gig in the sky, we’ll get a follow-up edition.  It would nice to read about the latter stuff as well.