Backstrom: He who Kills the Dragon - Leif GW Persson

More than a few years ago, some network made this story into a tv show. It only ran 1 season, but I thought it was pretty great. Therefore, the book had been on my radar for some time. I am very disappointed to report that the book was horrid. I honestly can't think of how the author could make a more unlikeable MC. Even awful MCs like Joe from You or Rick from Rick and Morty have moments where you can at least understand where they are coming from.  This book fails to make you cheer anything the MC does, whether in the name of good or bad. I live in fear of making my characters this bad. 

The Origin of Satan - Elaine Pagels

 This book was both fascinating and boring at the same time. There is a whole hell of a lot going on here! The modern church seems to skirt around so much of the history from about 0-300 CE, and reading this book, it's pretty obvious why. Everyone was flailing around and coming up with crazy stuff and apparently no one knew what was going on. I think knowing the history of the early Christian church is paramount to understanding how we got to where we are today. Some of the sketchy inclusion/exclusion texts from this era also make more sense when you observe the total chaos that was the first few centuries of Christianity. 

I think this book would have been more impactful if it had been boiled down to about half its size. It dragged on for a long time that wasn't really relevant to the titled topic. 

Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that avenged the Armenian Genocide - Eric Bogosian

 This is a seriously intense book! It starts out detailing the mass murders of the Armenian genocide (see final note below), then moves onto the Armenians seeking revenge because many of the men responsible were not held accountable (and were even making plans to rule Turkey again), then goes into details about some of the trials of the assassins. Every step of the way is just crazy. I completely support today's Armenians holding onto their resentment because Turkey still has yet to take responsibility for what they did. 

Although my favorite tidbit was when the German lawyers made a big deal about how abhorrent what the Ottomans did and how no respectable European country would ever whole-sale slaughter a religious minority . . . said in 1923. 

Other Notes:

There is a prime example of "When Women Refuse" at the beginning of this story. "According to the 5th century historian, Agath Angelos, 37 Christian virgins fleeing Roman persecution arrived in Trdat's kingdom (pagan Armenian king) during Gregory's imprisonment (famous Christian monk). The king lusted after one of the virgin nuns, Hripsime, a renowned beauty. Hripsime had, of course, taken a vow of chastity, so she resisted Trdat's advances. In a rage, the king tortured and killed Hripsime. Then martyred the entire flock of young virgin nuns."

"On the same day she (one of the Christian missionary women) wrote: In [the city], the women were gathered together and killed. The men had been killed earlier. The women were ordered to remove their best clothes and they were laid on top of each other, 2 by 2 and beheaded."