A to Z April: L Reviews - Lamb by Christopher Moore/Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

Today I have kind of a theme like yesterday, in that both of today's books are somewhat based in religious.  The first one is more of a humorous look at Jesus' life.  The second one is a very dramatic series based more on the book of Revelation in the bible.

First we'll start with the more lighthearted book, Lamb:  The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.  I believe I first heard about this around the time I had become a big fan of Kevin Smith after his movie Dogma.  I enjoyed the more human, if extremely inappropriately humorous look at what Jesus' life might have been like from this kind of viewpoint.  If you've read any other of Moore's books, you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about.  Here is the blurb about it from Goodreads.com:
Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more - except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala - and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

Second is a series that I picked up and read at a time when I hadn't really been doing much religiously for awhile, the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.  But it was a great series, and got me really thinking about all of it again.  It's also left a lot of thoughts in my head about when things remind me of the end of the world from this books. Things that we see in the news, people that are big in the world in real life, make me think Antichrist based on what I read in this series.  I was able to kind of read past some of the stuff that was not what I was used to in my religious upbringing as just part of the story, and therefore was able to enjoy it as a story more than a bible study type of read.  I do highly recommend the series still, even if you are not religious, again, as a great suspenseful read.  This is a pretty well known series, there were a few made into low budget movies starring Kirk Cameron, and then just recently Nicholas Cage starred ina more big budget version.  I haven't seen the new one yet, but had hoped maybe it would spawn a new interest in making the books into big budget films, since I think they would make great movies.  There are even a few tv shows now that seem to be riding on the coattails of this series.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads if you haven't heard of it:
In one cataclysmic moment, millions around the globe disappear.
Vehicles, suddenly unmanned, careen out of control. People are terror stricken as loved ones vanish before their eyes.

In the midst of global chaos, airline captain Rayford Steele must search for his family, for answers, for truth. As devastating as the disappearances have been, the darkest days may lie ahead.

So, those are my reviews I'm sharing today.  Do you read many religious books?  Have you read either of these?  Have you seen the movies, or do you watch the tv shows?

And don't forget to enter my giveaway below!

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Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Authors I Own the Most Books From

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish.  This week's theme:


Who are the 10 authors that I own the most books from?

I will list these kind of in order, as I get to number 1, it will be the author I have the most from, whereas at number 10 will be ones that I have less.  I have some authors that have a whole shelf all to themselves, and I have double stacked in those cases as well, because otherwise, they might need almost a whole bookcase to themselves.  The bottom 5 are ones that I might be off by one or two books in how many I think I have.  I tried to remember how many I had by them and tried to look on the shelves, but it is always possible that they are loaned out to someone at the moment.  And there could be other authors that I just didn't think of off the top of my head that could belong in my bottom five of the top 10.  And if I have my picture with that author, I will share!  And for the top 3 or 4, I have pictures of their shelves.

10.   James Rollins - I believe I have about 10 of his books. 

9.  Robert McCammon - I think I have about 11 from what I could see on the shelf.

8.  Lemony Snicket - I have 14 of his books I think.  13 for sure in The Series of Unfortunate Events.  I have missed out on meeting him both times I've been at BEA.  

7.  Anne Rice - I have at least 15 of her books.

6.  Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins - I have to combine these two because I have 16 books that the two of them collaborated on in the Left Behind series and prequels.  I'm also excited they're going to do another movie based on the book, even as much as I do love Kirk Cameron, the first movies made were kind of cheesy, and definitely low budget.

5.  Because they are written by lots of different authors, I will put them below the top 4, even though I probably have more, which you can see in the picture below, but I am going to count all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer books as one of the top 10, as many of them were written by some of the same authors: Nancy Holder, Christopher Golden, and Mel Odom to name a few.  I met Nancy Holder at the RT Convention in 2013, but forgot to have my friend take my picture with her.  So I will share a picture below of me with two characters from the tv show, Xander and Glory.

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4.  Stephen King - A whole shelf for him of course.  I've yet to meet him. Although I have argued on some political topics with his son Joe Hill on Twitter, before I stopped following him.

3.  Carolyn Keene is listed on the books as the author of the Nancy Drew series, even though we now know they were actually written by several ghost writers.  But I have over 20 Nancy Drew books. They don't have a shelf at the moment as I believe I have them boxed up.

2.  Dean Koontz - One of my very favorite authors.  What I wouldn't give for the chance to meet him some day!  The way he writes dogs in his books shows me that he and I have the same love and respect for dogs.  His are Golden Retrievers, while mine are Dachshunds.

1.  And my number one author is one that is again not all written by her, as she died quite a while ago.  But they take up probably a whole shelf, and because they are so small, there are more there than any of my other authors, and that is V.C. Andrews.

So, those are my authors that I own the most books by.  Do you have any books by these authors?  Would any of them be in your top 10?

Storm (Swipe #3) by Evan Angler

Thanks to Thomas Nelson publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this, even though it was actually published earlier this year.  This was my #8 for my 2nd Annual September is for Sequels Challenge, meaning that even if I finish the book I'm currently reading, I won't have read any more sequels than I did last year.  Oh well, maybe my challenge goal will just stay at 8 books a year, and if it does more than that, great, if not, then at least I got some sequels read that might otherwise have waited until even later.
Once again I've enjoyed the story, and I really see more and more how it is going into the "end times" and what the mark will mean.  The title of the series is Swipe, meaning that people "swipe" their mark in order to pay for things, have jobs, etc.  This is all based on the biblical story of the mark of  Satan.  Now I don't remember a lot about the missing people in the first two books, I'll have to go back and read my reviews from the them, but we do hear about the people that disappeared.  I was a huge fan of the Left Behind series, and so this fell right into that same interest.  I do like how this story does it differently though.  In this story we get the plague, but again, it is quite a different story than other tellings of the end times.  I like the way the plague happens.  And how the guy that is pretty much being set up to be the Anti-Christ, even uses what happens with that to build his own support.  While we do get a bit of the religion in this, it is not as in your face as it was in the Left Behind series.  And I think for a kids' book, that is a good thing.
Logan had run into his sister in the last book, and now we have to decide is she really on his side, or not.  She continues to do things that would seem she is now really on the side of the Marked, but there are other things that seem as if she is looking out for her brother.  One of the Dust is still stuck there with Lily, and she is trying to break him to become one of the soldiers.  A drought has been going on, and we meet some new characters in the town where the "weather mill" is.  This town and the weather mill will become a major turning point in the story.  In more ways than one.  Erin, thought to be a traitor by Logan before, is now suffering from the plague, and Logan and the others have taken her to meet the doctor who invented the virus, the one that was supposed to take out the markless, but instead is affecting the Marked, like Erin.  They learn of sabotage, and must figure out how to save Erin hopefully, as well as to keep the plague from actually getting out there and making everyone sick.  We also find out that Evan Angler's book Swipe, is being published and it is found in a library.  People are reading it, and it is giving people clues to what Logan is doing, even in a way that could be used to incriminate him when the Anti-Christ needs it.
Wow, this is really a mess of a review I think.  I think maybe I need to get back to doing reviews the way I did before someone commented on them saying I was spoiling.  A great story, but now I am of course very eager to read the next story!

Waiting on Wednesday: Storm (Swipe #3) by Evan Angler

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting. This week I've chosen the 3rd book in a series.  The publishing date is this coming May, so not really that long of a wait compared to some!  I was able to read the first two from Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing, so it would be cool if this one shows up there too!  The first book was Swipe, and the second one was Sneak.  And here is the blurb from Goodreads.com:  

In a future United States under the power of a charismatic leader, everyone gets the Mark at age thirteen. The Mark allows citizen to shop, go to school, and even get medical care--without it, you are on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do . . . disappear.

Logan Langly went in to get his Mark, but he backed out at the last minute. Ever since, he's been on the run from government agents and on a quest to find his sister Lily, who disappeared when she went to get her Mark five years earlier. His journey leads him to befriend the Dust, a vast network of Markless individuals who dissent against the iron-grip rule of the government. Along the way to the capital to find Lily, the Dust receive some startling information from the Markless community, opening their eyes to the message of Christianity and warning that humanity is now entering the End of Days.

In "Storm," Logan and his friends are the leaders of the Markless revolution. But while some Markless are fighting Chancellor Cylis' army, the Dust is busy trying to find a cure for a horrible epidemic sweeping through the Marked. And it's difficult for them to know who to trust, especially when they aren't sure if Logan's sister Lily, one of the commanders in Cylis' army, is on their side or not. And all across the nation--and the world--the weather is become less stable, and a storm is brewing that bigger than any of them could have ever imagined....

Not sure if this is a final book in a trilogy, or if this will be a longer series.  As it reminds me of the Left Behind series, maybe this is also intended to have several books.  I'm okay with that!

So what books are you eagerly awaiting this week?  And while you're here, make sure to enter my 1000 Follower Giveaway that ends tomorrow at midnight!

Sneak (Swipe #2) by Evan Angler

I have to say thank you to both Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing for allowing me to read this e-galley.  This book actually came out last September, so when I saw it was still available on Netgalley a couple months ago, I jumped at the chance to read it, the same way I had read the first one in the series, Swipe.  I actually think I may have liked this book a bit better than the first.  Which as I've commented  before, the 2nd book in a series often seems like just a bridge to the 3rd book, and I usually am not as happy with.  But I feel like this one, although still kind of an "on the road" book, as Logan and the rest of the Dust are on a search to find Logan's sister Lily, really had a lot to it.
Logan goes to try to find her on his own at first, as he kind of got the rest of the markless kicked out of where they'd been staying, and made their lives harder.  So he figures they won't be happy to see him.  And so because of this he tries to make sure he goes unknown to the smaller groups.  He gets to one group and is turned in.  It is because of this that he is almost caught.  His old friend Erin, who is the daughter of one of the high ranking officials, is glad to hear of where he is, and she wants to help them catch him and convince him to come back and get marked.  The next place that Logan gets to, with the help of his friend Hailey, is where Erin and her father catch up with him.  Unfortunately, one of the people that has been helping them is killed, and Logan just sees Erin as a traitor now.
Erin still really just wants to get her whole family back together, and it comes true when her father gets demoted for all the failures he's had in capturing Logan and the other kids and markless.  Turns out the Markless have their own way of communication.  They've begun using what is an extremely old form of technology, radio, including foxhole radios.  I really enjoyed reading about this, as I'd had several students create one this school year for one of their projects.
Logan and The Dust are looking for Acheron, the prison where the markless are taken.  Where Logan was told at the end of the first book that his sister had been taken.  So he is on a mission to rescue her and bring her out safely.  Things may not be quite as they seem though.  The prison is well hidden, and the stories of how people are punished there are many and seemingly far fetched.  Or are they?
You'll have to read on to find out.  And as usual, we're left hanging, waiting for the next book to come out.  We do get more with the religious part of the mark in this book.  And I'm glad to see it done the way it is.  I love how much more realistic this seems to me than the Left Behind series seemed.  Not that I didn't love those books as well, this just seems more realistic.  And at times, some of it seems to be getting closer and closer to happening.

Swipe by Evan Angler

I want to say thank you to both Netgalley and Thomas Nelson publishing for letting me read an egalley of this book.  This was a very good story, I liked all the technology and the back story, and the characters were good too.  However, I picked this book to read because I am a huge fan of the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.  I mean I knew about the "mark" and all that before I read the Left Behind series, but since that book it has really kind of been something in the back of my mind.  And I guess that series kind of has shaped my beliefs and thoughts on those stories from Revelations, so much though that events in the past four or five years even reminded me so much of things from the book that I began to wonder if we were in those times.  :-)  Now, I was a bit confused with this story.  Our main character is Logan, and he is nervous about getting the mark because when his sister went to get it, something went wrong and she died.  And ever since then he has felt very paranoid that he is being watched.  The other main character is Erin who has just had to move away from her big city life because her father must go to the small town that Logan lives in, because there is a big case dealing with someone named Peck.  Erin looks through some boxes her father left sitting out at their new place, and becomes involved because she figures the sooner this case is solved, the sooner she can move back to her home and her family can go back to normal.  Turns out Logan isn't just paranoid, he is being watched, and it is by the group that Erin's father is trying to catch.
The story was really good as I said at the beginning of this review.  However, what I don't understand is how the people not getting the mark are acting.  Yes, I understand that to the main society they are thought to be "losers" and the scum of the Earth. That is the whole story.  But really there is really only one or two parts that even allude to the mark having anything to do with religion and God.  I did like that the "warehouse" that Peck was staying in was so obviously a church, and that the kids didn't really know what it was due to how the world had changed while they grew up.
But this is obviously going to be a part of a series, so I'm eager to read on and see when we get to the point that we pull these things into the story.  I guess I just assumed that a book from this publisher would be more religious, but maybe that is the point of not putting it so in your face, so that more kids will read it.  I do know I will recommend it to the kids who liked the Left Behind series for kids!