Saturday, April 07, 2012

Books

I have recently read the entire Hunger Games trilogy. It really is as good as you've heard, an original take on a post-apocalyptic North America and a teenager's reactions to being subject to some of the worst excesses of it. Heroes, villains and regular folks are genuinely three-dimensional characters; I enjoyed the books and hope to catch the film soon! Recommended, please buy 'em via the big bookstore link at Tam's.


Also recommended, Philip Mulivor's Proclaiming Liberty, a carefully researched collection of (mostly) pro-Second Amendment quotes from influential thinkers throughout U.S. history. Every quote is backed up with full provenance: who, where and when is fully given, and with the exception of living persons he contacted directly, you could go to the source material and verify it yourself.

And anyone who has found themselves in an argument over "what the Founders said" about guns,* this is of immense value -- and can keep you from using one of the only-too-convenient phony quotes that do drift about the Intarwebs. This is a bargain at any price -- the Kindle version, even more so. It goes on the shelf right next to Bartlett's but you'll probably use it more. (As ever, please buy via Tam so she can buy bacon!)

UPDATE: In keeping with my review policy, I paid full price for Proclaiming Liberty and Mockingjay, the third Hunger Games book. I borrowed Tam's trade paperback of The Hunger Games and used the Amazon "borrow" function to read Catching Fire.
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* Or religion, on which their opinions are generally quite favorable but vary widely in details. --And a topic rich with fake quotes, pro and con.

2 comments:

Borepatch said...

I also recommend "The Founder's Second Amendment" by Stephen Halbrook. Similar approach.

Robert Fowler said...

I have Proclaiming Liberty on my Kindle for PC. I just haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'm reading Game of Thrones right now. My wife want's to read the hunger games set. Maybe when she's done with it I'll be caught up on my reading. But first id the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series to finish. So many books, so little time.