Dead Blog

I came upon this blog today to find that it had died. It was not a sudden death it was a gradual death from neglect and starvation. I will not try to revive it by throwing excuses, though there are many, I just hope that I have not come to late to attempt to revive it.

First before I do a review I'm going to try to remember all the books that I read since I last updated this blog, Hopefully I don't forget to much. I have also decided to include plays of Shakespeare as books even if they are shorter than a full length novel.

19. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
20. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
21. Henry V by William Shakespeare
22. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - By an Anonymous Poet of the 14th century
23. Flyte by Angie Sage - Second book in the Septimus Heap Book Series.
24. Blink by Ted Decker - An interesting thriller with religious themes
25. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
26. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Now for the review:

I have recently discovered the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan. So far I have immensely enjoyed the first and second novels of that series. At first glance they seem to be extraordinarily long fantasy novels and they are certainly that, but I think that they possess some qualities beyond that make them intriguing.

The world that Robert Jordan paints is quite an intricate one with many characters. The story starts in a small out of the way village and slowly expands in scope. I don't know for sure to what extent it will eventually reach. The worldview of this world seems at first to be quite dualistic and seems to have themes of reincarnation and a repeating history, look at the title. These themes might be there but the more I read the more some of these seems almost seem Christian, and Tolkienesque, but again I will have to continue reading to see for sure.

Besides these themes I just enjoy reading the books. The names are engaging, if at times hard to pronounce, the plot is enchanting, the characters are well portrayed, and the theme of good versus evil is hard to miss. At this point in time I can recommend this book without doubt to fans of fantasy books as I have not found any objectionable content. But best of all each book in the series has at least 600-700 pages and there are 14 of them in all.

A very belated update to the list

I haven't updated this in such a long time that I'm not sure I'll remember all the books I read but here it goes in list form:

  15. Jeffery Monmouth's a History of the King's of Britain - A good read for English History Buffs and King Arthur lovers.
  16. Xenocide by Orson Scott Card - This is the book following Speaker for the Dead. I enjoyed it but there was quite a bit of quasi-religious themes some of which were troubling.
  17. G. A. Henty's Winning his Spurs, A Tale of the Crusades this is a historical fiction novel written well by G. A. Henty. The plot is fairly straightforward, the characters behave as expected but its still a fun tale of a boy winning his knight's spurs in the crusades by King Richard I's side.
  18. The King's Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi - This is a book written seperately from the movie by the same name that won Best Picture. It's mainly written by the grandson of the man who helped cure George VI of his debilitating stutter. He was consulted on the movie and that spurred him to write this book, which reads as a duel biography of both Lionel Logue and King George VI.

Still behind schedule to read 100 books this year. Must catch up.......

More books for the list

Mid-week update. I am realizing more and more that while I might be able to read all books that I haven't read before. There are certain books that I have only read once that I might want to read again. So I have decided that as long as the details of the book are vague in my mind I will count it towards my goal.

13. I read a non-fiction book on Merlin it was an interesting read. It chronicled the various literary appearances of Merlin since his debut in Jeffery of Monmouth's history that I'm currently reading in school. The book gave me not only an insight into this famous wizard but also to Britain in general and the history of that time.

14. Today I was snowed in so after some time outside, I sat down and read The Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. I read Ender's Game once and it is one of the books I want to read again. But this book is set 3000 years later with the same character. You might ask how its possible but thanks to the wonders of Science Fiction and Einstein's theory of Relativity it is more than possible. I really appreciate Orson Scott Card's ability to tell a good story. I don't agree with some of what he's saying but the way he tells his storys is fun to read.

Books 11 and 12

Book 11 was Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie. I enjoy all Agatha Christie mysteries and this one was no exception. I was able to predict the ending but that was probably due to the number that I've read.

The other book I read was Stardust by Neil Gaiman. This is a fantasy tale of love and adventure. I knocked this one out in a night and it was pretty good. It was witty at times.

I seem to be able to knock out 2 books a week, but I still need to read more.

7, 8, 9, 10 before I forget

This is going to seem a lot like a list and that's because it is.

Book 7 was a Robert Ludlum novel The Icarus Agenda. I really enjoyed it it was thrilling and quite long at around 700 pages.

Book 8 was Beowulf the Anglo Saxon epic poem. Again I enjoyed it. It really is epic in the true sense of the word.

Book 9 was yet another Robert Ludlum book entitled The Ambler Alert. This is a book with an ending that surprised me. It was a page-turner and hard to put down.

Book 10 was the Song of Roland. This is another medieval epic poem. This time it was French. It is one of my favorites that I read this year. It tells of an ambush by the Saracens against Charlemagne. It would make an awesome movie but knowing Hollywood it would now be told from the Saracen perspective.

The Five Fakirs of Faizabad

First of all I finished my 6th book this year and the 6th book in the children's book series The Children of the Lamp. This is a fun little series chronicling the lives of two modern day genii. I have overall enjoyed the series but I have noticed that the farther you get into the series the more pluralistic it gets in regard to religion. Overall though I have enjoyed the series and would recommend it to a discerning reader. The Five Fakirs of Faizabad was a fun read. Ninety four to go

The Scarlatti Inheritance Book #5

The Scarlatti Inheritance By Robert Ludlum is a fun thriller that will engage you with its World War II setting and corporate dark dealings. It deals with the son of a self-made billionaire who joins the Nazi cause in his pursuit for power and his mother who tries to do anything to stop him from ruining everything his father did. I enjoy Robert Ludlum's books and this one was no exception. The Scarlatti Inheritance is an afternoon well spent.

In other news I recently watched the movie The King's Speech with my parents and I enjoyed it immensely. I can not think of a movie I have enjoyed watching as much or that was as well made. I enjoyed it enough that I put a hold on the book that its based on at the library.

Five books down ninety-five to go!