5 Books

Emperor: The Field of Swords and The Gods of War

I have really enjoyed these book as they have provided me with some interesting history on a man that has become very much a part of most western culture. I keep thinking that Caesar was adopted by the Russians as the name of their king (Czar) and that term is very much alive today in our own government. Reading a fictionalized account of his and Marcus Brutus life has been fun. The story is fast paced and enjoyable and provides very good history between the two friends. The one difficulty I had with this was the ending of the series (though the end should not be a surprise). The series ended with the assassination. Caesar is dead. His story ends but there is not tie up with the other story lines, Octavian, Marc Antony, Brutus and the other conspirators. I was so curious as to how their stories ended that I spent hours reading encyclopedia article about it. And of course the only other story I new about Julius Caesar.


Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

I took a Shakespeare class in college and kept the text book (The Complete Works of William Shakespeare) so when I wanted more information about Caesar I decided to reread Julius Caesar. I was glad I was able to but I think next time that I read Shakespeare I will borrow it from the library because I do not really want to hold a 2,000 page book while I read. I enjoyed the play again however I realized that these are plays and they are much better watched than read. I don't mind reading them and now that I have read one and am a little more used to the language I might be up for another but nothing beats seeing them on stage.


Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

I had heard about this book a while ago and had considered reading it but always put it off because I thought there were more enjoyable books on my list. When I came across a copy of it I decided to give it a try. It was okay. A descent book and a quick read but I am not dying to read the next one. Though if it happens to come my way I could spend a day or so reading it.


Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card

The second book in what might be a trilogy(?). This is Card's near future exploration of what will happen if the United States follows the example of Rome and moves from a republic to a empire. I still enjoy Card's writing style and his signature internal moral conflicts however I have found that this story like the first one Empire, did not draw me in as much as I wanted it to. I think that in part it was because of references to real life people who are around now and many of the current situations in the United States. He did not blend these with the fictional element of the story well enough for me to be completely drawn in. I think that in part that I am familiar enough with Card's political views that I could spot them through out the book and tell which political statements he was trying to make. A good book to read and well worth it even if I couldn't get past a few things.

Chaosbound

This is the eighth book of the Runelords series by David Farland and it felt like it. I had thought that this series was going to be two sets of four but this book was different than the others in that it dealt with the same time period as books 6 and 7 yet from the view point of a supporting character from the first 5 books.

This story was Okay but I was more excited about it before I read the story. It looks good but I think that I am just getting impatient with this series and want it to come to an end. Maybe the ninth book will be the end? Because I don't know if I will be able to get through any more.

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivner's Bones

So it did not take me long to get the next Alcatraz book and I believe that it was even better than the first. This continues the story of Alcatraz Smedry and offers enough back story and new information that the story began to become important to me as opposed to the first one where the way the book was written was what stood out to me. There is still the same humor given in asides and through the narration but the story also took on depth and created enough suspense that I am eager to read the next book in the series. These books are going to be well worth it.

Leven Thumps and the Ruins of Alder

Why did I even finish this series. I have not liked any of them much but still had hope that maybe it would get better as the series went along. I didn't. Everything that bothered me about the first book was still here and I really had very little interest in the story.

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book. I have really enjoyed Brandon Sanderson's Adult books however I did not know what to expect in his young adult fiction. This book again surprised me. I was actually expecting something like Leven Thumps or The Sisters Grimm or maybe even Fablehaven. It was nothing like any of those. True there was a story that was fairly entertaining but the real intriguing part of this novel if the narration with it's constant asides, critiques of writing and self deprecating humor.

He narrator that is actually sharing the story is Alcatraz Smedry but in his moments of reflection he details all of the "evil" things that authors do to "torture" readers. All of these "evil" things are exactly some of the author tricks that have become so blatant and obvious that they are now common place in literature.

As much as I hate the narrator making comments that pull me out of the story, Sanderson does this intentionally to make points about writing. This also happens to be the most laugh out loud funny book that I have read in a very long time. These funny moments come from both the actual story and the asides the narrator uses. In reality the narration was still a little annoying to me but the humor in the book more than made up for it. When the nest books are available I will read them, though they are not that high on my list.

Catching Fire

After having read the first book in this series I was not sure exactly what to expect from this one. I did remember not liking the present tense point of view in which it was written but it was a quick read and an exciting story. Catching fire lives up to the previous book and present somemore in depth information about the world in which these stories take place. Another good quick read and a great young adult book.

Elantris

After reading Warbreaker I was a little less excited about Elantris. I was afraid that I had already read Sanderson's best books in the Mistborn Trilogy. However as I started Elantris I was immediately drawn into the story and the Mystery surrounding the city of Elantris. I did not like this as much as Mistborn but it was much better than Warbreaker. This book still had many of the traits I had come to expect from Sanderson (plot twists, deep history, unique magic system, even a little mystery) yet I came to notice a little more about his writings. In all of Sanderson's book that I have read so far there is a heavy emphasis on Religion and religious history. Also in each of these books there are characters who achieve great powers and are considered Gods. These characters are ordinary people who usually through no particular effort of their own, become Gods. I find this theme in Sanderson's books to be very interesting especially considering his belief system (he is LDS).

The emphasis on religion is refreshing especially when we are constantly bombarded either anti religious or just plain irreligious attitudes in most pop media today. Some authors hint at it but no one I have read (beside regional or niche authors) has detailed religious beliefs as thoroughly as Sanderson. And as a person of strong religious beliefs I really do enjoy seeing characters who display such faith.

The Lost Symbol

For as much as I enjoy Dan Brown's books I also despise them. The Lost Symbol did not change my perception of Brown's writing abilities. The strength of Brown's books are his research and his ability to extrapolate from that information a world that is so close to being real that many people take his "fictions" as "facts." This is in the purest sense science fiction (which is probably why I still enjoy these books).

What I do not like about Brown's books are the way he cheats to create urgency. Brown writes his novels in the Third person all knowing point of view, however even though the narrator knows everything he does not reveal this very promptly. This is prevalent through out Brown's books and it continued to bother me in this one. Brown could still create this same sense of urgency by using a third person limited point of view (similar to Orson Scott Card, Brandon Sanderson, Shannon Hale, Stephanie Meyer, JK Rowling and many other). By using third person limited and shifting characters (as Card, Sanderson and Hale do) an author can create just as much urgency as Brown creates without making the reader feel as if he is being cheated information.

If I were to compare this to Brown's other books I would place it third behind Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code but well above his other two (the one nobody has ever heard of).

Warbreaker

After reading the Mistborn trilogy I was excited to try another novel by Brandon Sanderson. The first one I was able to get was Warbreaker. I had not heard anything about this book before I just knew the author, but the way this book came about also interested me. Sanderson wrote this as an online book. He would write a chapter and then post it online with a new chapter coming out every week. This is reminiscent of many previous books that were originally published as serials in magazines or newspapers (i.e. Asimnov's Foundation, Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and many others).

I really did enjoys this book. Sanderson creates another unique world with a detailed magic system and a rich history that is hinted at throughout the book and revealed more in-depthly towards the end. Twists that should have been expected yet floor the reader are ever present and the conclusion is very fulfilling.

If there is a fault with this book it is in the lack of details that I was expecting. Motivations of some peripheral characters is not very clear and I was hoping for a more detailed explanation of the magic system that is in effect in this world. For whatever faults there are it was still a good book to read.

The Book Thief

I don't know what I expected when I picked up a book narrated by Death but I was hoping for a little bit more of a happy ending. Happy isn't even the right word. Many books that have depicted World War II can be uplifting. Stories of triumph in depressing times are inspiring and there can be many things that we can take out of these stories. The Book Thief had all of that potential but the conclusion of this story fell very very flat. (Spoiler Alert:) EVERYONE DIES, and there is absolutely no resolution after the fact. This young girl who makes tremendous strides after losing her parents and watching her brother die then loses everything and everyone she has come to care about and that is the end of the story. How does she deal with it? That is the real struggle, that is the story I want to read about, everything else is a set up for this.

The other thing that I really did not like about the book was how the Narrator continually inserted him self into the narration even though he had very little to do with it most of the time. He adds excessive foreshadowing and opinions on what is happening that pulled my so far out of the story that it was very hard to get back into it. When I read I just want to immerse my self in the story and enjoy what is going on. When an author does something that pulls me out of it, I enjoy the story so much less.

The actual story was very good but I hated the ending and the narration was awful.

Ender's Game

This was my fourth time reading what I still consider my favorite book. And it is still as good as ever. This should be on the list of books that everyone should read.

Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages

I think that I am getting tired of Young Adult Novels. It is a great Genre but they really are not doing it for me right now. They are the 20 minute sit com when what I am craving is a 3 hour epic. Part of my problem with this is I am very selective of which Adult Fiction books I am going to read because I would really like to avoid some of the more gratuitous material present in so many Adult novels.

When I heard of a recommendation for Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy I was interested in trying it out. I have a new author to add to my favorites and will be reading the rest of his books as soon as I can get a hold of them.

These books impressed me not only by the unique world that the author creates but also by the subtle twists that he inserts into the plot. I typically am pretty good at guessing the conclusion and picking up on a lot of the foreshadowing in books. Sanderson has succeeded at embedding these twists so deeply into the story that and they surprised me so much that I was urged to keep reading. Sanderson did not use cheep tricks (like Dan Brown or some other authors) to keep you reading. There was enough information to feel satisfied and yet a constant impulse to continue with the story.

This story, these characters have been ingrained in me so much that I find myself continuing to think about them even a month after finishing this book. There are lines from these books that I continue to think about "There is always another secret," "Unfortunately, I am the Hero of the Ages." There are scenes that were so moving that I still think about them. In short this is an amazing story that goes against convention and is surprisingly very very good.

The Princess and the Bear

It had been a long time since I read the Princess and the Hound and when I heard that there was going to be a sequel I was a little interested. I don't remember it being that impressed with the Princess and the Hound so I did not have very high Expectations. The Princess and the Bear met my expectations. It was a good story but there was not enough conflict or action to balance the characterization (at which Mette Ivie Harrison excels). A good story and it could stand alone as well.

The Dangerous Book for Boys

I had heard about his book a few times and was curious to see what was in it. Most of what I had heard was good. I was even more interested when I recognized the one of the authors as being the Author of Th Emperor series that I have been reading. However I was not so impressed with this book. The information presented is great information such as "Things every boy should have" and "How to Build a Tree House" or "How to make a perfect Paper Airplane". Again great information but I found this very similar to a Boy Scout Manual (complete with the page of badges at the end of the book). Great information in this book but it is nothing more than a pale imitation on a Boy Scout Manual.

The Actor and the Housewife

Can a married women and a married man be friends with each other? That is the central premise of the Actor and the Housewife. This friendship is complicated and every aspect of it is explored, especially the possibility of a more intimate relationship.

As always I enjoyed Shannon Hale's writing style and there were many times during this book that I found myself laughing out loud. It is an extremely well told story and I am glad that I read it but the benefit of this book is in the discussion that it can contribute and the ability to make you think about things. It made me question some of my previously held thoughts and reconsider things.

I would highly recommend that after reading this book one also read the article about Emotional Fidelity that was in the Ensign in either Aug or Sept. Between these two one could find a way to walk the careful line of friendship while married.

Emperor: The Death of Kings

The Second book in the Emporer Series and this contunues to improve upon the premise set up in the previous book. This really is a great series and the comments and critiques I offered in the post about the previous book apply here as well.

In this book both Brutus and Ceasar are making names for themselves and return to Rome as Heroes. Their friendship is renewed and they begin working together bring about the Rome that they idealized in their youth. The fractions in their relationship are begining to appear and it will be interesting to see how the next book continues to reflect how their ideals are diverging.

Bill Peet An Autobiography

When I was young I remember reading the picture books of an incredible author whose pictures and the verses that went along with them were entertaining enough to read over and over again. Now that I have kids of my own I have redicovered this author and shared it with my children. I had known this before but I was reminded of it again when I watched the Sword and the Stone that Bill Peet had also worked at Disney. His animation style is present all throughout the Sword and the Stone and I also catch a glimpse of it in some other Disney Animated Movies. So when I was walking through the library the other day and I saw this book on Display I thought it would be interesting.

The layout of this book was no different than any of his childrens books with about a half page of text and an illistration to accompany it. However it was almost 200 pages long. Even though this was writen to a young audience I found a lot of the information very interesting especially when he started working at Disney. He worked on every disney animated movie from Snow White to Jungle Book, however what I found most interesting were his insights into the origional workings of the Disney Company and his numerous run ins with Walt Disney including his final dispute which led to him quiting to begin writing full time.

This is an amazing story of a boy who began as a talented artist dreaming of illistrating childrens books but was no good at writing. He eventually ends up as an important person within Walt Disney's circle of colleagues. After growing into writing screen plays for annimated movies, he learns how to tell stories and begins a prolific career in writing children books. An excellent story for anyone who enjoys classic Disney annimation and Childrens books.

The House on Mango Street

My Brother Matt introduced me to this book and I borrowed it from him because I will be working much closer with some of the Hispanic students this next year and I thought it might give me an understanding of what some of them might be experiencing.

The House on Mango Street is a series of vignettes told from the point of view of a young girl growing up in Chicago. Each chapter is a series of thoughts and experiences of this girl almost as if they were excerpted from her diary. The writing is good and some of these vignettes I appreciated more that others. I did enjoy it for the most part but there is no plot or any kind of substantial story line that keeps you reading from chapter to chapter. If this book had been any longer than it's hundred sum odd pages I would not have even come close to finishing it.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I have always had an appreciation for satire and find comedioc spoofs entertaining when they are done right. However, they are rarely done right. Because of the constant disappointment of these comdies over the past few years (Scary Movie, Date movie, Disaster Movie etc.), I have shied away from the genre for awhile. But when I read a review for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies I though it might be worth trying again.

Seth Grahame-Smith took the origional Jane Austen text and added to it the subplot of a Zombie plague sweeping England. Austens text (from as much as I can tell) is still in tact for the most part however Grahame-Smiths additions tend to appeal to the baser sex (as opposed the the fairer one). Grahame-Smith does play it for laughs as he uses his zombie plot to add over the top violence and gore. He also uses this to add motives to some characters behaviors.

One of the problems with this work, espcially at the begining, the additions were very obvious as writing styles changed. However as the book went on the changes became less obvious to the point where I had to ask some one who had actually read the book if certain things were included. The additions did tend to be entertaining especially the fight scenes between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy after he proposes (the first time) and then the fight between Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth at the end. However the additions did get old after awile and I found myself only reading because I had never read Pride and Prejudice before and that was the story I wanted to read.

The Sisters Grimm: The Everafter War

It seems like I have been waiting a long time for this book to be published and now I am wondering if the series will ever end. This is the seventh book in the series and they are not difficult reads. It really only takes a day or two to get through each of them but the stories have been interesting, especially the fractured fairy tale elements. However each story introduces new plot twists and more information than you ever expect. As exciting as that is sometime in this case the story just seems to get longer and stranger. I really didn't feel this way about the series or even this book until the very end. Over all an interesting read but I am about done with this story.