You far enough in to give those a quick review?
Very quick reviews:
St. Paisios—On the Amazon rating scale there are 5 stars. I'm about a hundred or so pages in and would give it
at least 6. Plainly and very clearly written and organized into small enough chunks to easily digest. Very personal and warm portrayal of him. St. Paisios' own warmth and saintliness shine through on virtually every page. A real page turner—not at all what I would have expected. Hopefully I'll be able, for Christmas, to afford one of the Saint's own books!
Fr. Strickland's book—Also about 100 pages in. Started off a little slow and dry, but has gotten better and much more interesting as I move through it. Maybe it was because of my familiarity with some of the material. I've long been interested in an Orthodox or Eastern perspective on Church history that is easy to read, not bone dry and full of highly distracting and “academic” footnotes. This seems to be what I've been looking for. It is the first of a 4 volume set, of which 3 are published and I received as a birthday gift and I look forward to reading them all! My biggest complaint, in fact really the only one, is that the type face is pretty faint, relatively speaking. Four and a half stars.
“The Field of Swords”--Great fictionalized history of Julius Caesar! Seems, from my poor understanding of Roman history, pretty historically accurate. A great read, without being either academically boring or fictionally sensational. Lots of detail you won't get from any “history” books, though much is probably made up or inferred. This book is the third in a series of 5, I think. The previous two were equally good. Five stars!
Hope that helps some.
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