Writing, promotion, tips, and opinion. Pour a cuppa your favorite poison and join in.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Hated Authors, Beloved Books - Bill O'Reilly

Great books sometimes brings out people who judge the book by the author. This week is about those authors and examples of their books.

Today, it's about political views or mannerisms of a certain author, Bill O’Reilly and his Killing books.

My review of Killing Jesus. Initially, I didn't intend to buy this book. I read and enjoyed the other books by this duo, Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy, but the title of this one made me squirm. Still, I was intrigued after reading the first chapter.

Killing Jesus is historical. Not a religious book. It gives
context and sensory texture to the background to the life of Christ, pulling eyewitness accounts from the Bible but also from sources of the day. Historian Josephus and Roman accounts of the times painted a rich scene. The authors used the dust of the roads, taste of the olives, and heat from the sun to give the reader a flavor of the world of Jesus. I learned about the harsh worlds of a soldier, the Roman Senate, and of treachery. The historical accounts of the deaths of the Disciples, of Pontius Pilate, and the high priests provided a satisfactory closure.

This book comes from the point of view of a man, his angers and fears. Insight into his emotion and possibly his thoughts caused me to consider the attributes of Jesus long after I read the last page. It is up to the individual's faith as to whether the man, Jesus, was also the Son of God. That conclusion is left up to the reader. The authors do not try to sway the reader one way or the other. Again, this is a historical accounting not religious.

Five stars. And put me in the column of Son of God.

Some comments/reviews for this book wasn’t about the contents or readability. Hordes of people commented about the author and what a POS they think he is, about his politics or mannerisms. 

Yeah, but...what do ya think about the book?

Now I can’t say that O’Reilly is one of my favorite humans either, but his books give facts and let the reader decide for themselves. 


Do you vet an author before reading their book? How about after?


* * * *

Huntress aka CD Coffelt, author of The Magic Withheld series 


6 comments:

Blogoratti said...

Seems like a fine read indeed, great review. I do vet authors before reading their books, but not all the time. Greetings!

diedre Knight said...

The book just moved up on my TBR list! Your review is quite enjoyable; contemplative and unbiased - not everyone can do that!

Chrys Fey said...

I would really hate it if one of my books got reviews that said how much people hated me. *gulps* I like how your review of this book is unbiased. I try to do the same thing.

H.R. Bennett said...

Seems interesting. I've always enjoyed historical accounts of the real person so I'd be interested in seeing what this book has to offer.

Liz A. said...

The author does have an impact on whether or not I read the book. But only in a really negative sense--I have to really hate the author. And then I just don't read the book.

Huntress said...

@Blogoratti and Liz - I've never vetted the author before. Now I wonder if I should or stay ignorant, LOL.

@Diedre and Robert - It is very good. I haven't read Killing Patton but maybe I should.

@ Chrys - I like the good stuff about humans and try to ignore the vastly irritating. If possible.