Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I watched part of the TV series then got bored and stopped. I figured the books were better and I'd read them instead.

I finally picked up the first book, and well, I didn't like it much. There was too much female brutality, sexism, and lack of respect for the women in the story. Even Sookie was portrayed as a woman who couldn't live without her man, who would do anything for him, to protect him.

He's portrayed as an old fashioned man, since he was born a loooooooong time ago, and he tells her he's used to woman being damsels and men being the heroes, and that she better get used to it. He protects her by killing for her, against her wishes, and yet she still wants him, despite his lack of respect towards her.

Now I can take brutality and sexism in books, I have read many much more gruesome stories, but I don't like it when being a weak woman is glorified like this. So no, I'm not going to waste my time with these books anymore.

Karl Latham's Resonance is an album of jazz music played by a group of very talented individuals. With Karl Latham on drums, Vinnie Cutro on trumpet, John Hart on guitar, and Kermit Driscoll on acoustic bass, there is no denying their technical knowledge and skills. Listening to each one of them, especially during certain parts of the music where their individual instruments are featured, you can tell they are really good at what they do.

However, while their individual skills on their instruments are obvious, the music that results doesn't seem to be as good as I expected it to be. I spent many hours listening to Resonance, feeling there was something off. Then I asked both my father, who is an audiophile and a jazz enthusiast, and my boyfriend, who is a musician, to listen to the album and give me some feedback on what they thought about it. All of us felt the same thing; there was something not completely right with the music. My boyfriend said that many of the songs were 'messy'. My father said that the arrangement wasn't well done, the music doesn't mesh, and it feels like each of the musicians are playing separately from one another.

I have to agree with both of them. The music isn't terrible, in fact, some of the tracks aren't bad at all - I particularly enjoyed "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Pagan Poetry", but you do get the feeling that the music somehow just doesn't come together. "Manic Depression" in particular, is one of the messiest song on the album. For most of the song you wonder what the musicians are doing; the sounds seem jumbled up and going in all sorts of different directions. It gets better later in the song, but it still sounds pretty messed up.

Some of the other tracks aren't bad, I quite enjoyed listening to "Higher Ground", "Spanish Castle Magic", and "Past Time Paradise" as well, but as I have said, the arrangement could have been better. Latham, Cutro, Hart, and Driscoll are all extremely talented and skilled musicians, but sometimes when musicians are too skilled individually, they may not be able to play well together as a band. Each person's sound is too distinct and different from the others', and that may be what makes the tracks in this album sound so messy.

I do think that if the musicians practice together more often, and listen to each other instead of just focusing on their own parts, they will be able to come up with an extraordinary album in the future. They've got the skills, after all. Karl Latham's Resonance showcases each of the musician's talents very well, but it may not be the best buy if you're looking for something that has great arrangements and music that flows and meshes beautifully. Hopefully, Latham's future albums will be better.

Lest Ye Be Judged is David C. Trimble's first novel, and as a story, all I can say is "Wow!" What else can you expect when the subject matter is about a murder of a Bishop? Dunstan Mitchell, a liberal Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Kentucky, and not a very nice or godly one at that, stepped on too many people's toes when he pressed his agenda too hard. It's apparent that he's a liability to the Church and needs to be eliminated. Somebody murders him, and his body is found weeks later in the pool of a prominent Judge who hated him. As the story unfolds, many shocking and surprising secrets and scandals are revealed.

It's a great story, but unfortunately it wasn't told as well as I hoped it would be. The characters were interesting, but I couldn't relate to any of them. There were a few protagonists, but no strong ones, and the character developments didn't make sense to me. I wasn't sure who the good guys or the bad guys were supposed to be because there weren't any strong protagonists, or antagonists for that matter. Perhaps the storyline made it hard to have a particular protagonist to relate to, but it threw me out on a loop because of that. It's only late in the book that I realized, "Oh, I'm supposed to take the side of so-and-so." There were a couple of characters who I thought could have played bigger roles, and some who I thought behaved out of character.

Also, while I loved the ending, there was some parts of it that I found a little unrealistic; some of the characters behaved very uncharacteristically here, and I thought it went on just slightly longer than it should have. I would have loved the ending more if it stopped right after we found out who killed the Bishop. The events after that seemed unnecessary to me.

Other than that, I loved the book. Trimble's description of places and events are very thorough and vivid. He obviously did a lot of research and took great pains to make sure he got his facts right especially with the finding of the body and the post-mortem descriptions. The book was pretty slow-moving in the beginning, but once the trial started, things got really fast-paced and interesting. It's a great story, and as far as plots go, one of the best I have ever read. Lest Ye Be Judged tells a intriguing story of how power and politics go head to head in a religious setting, and the things people are able to do to protect their faith and beliefs.