So far I've read:
The Scarlett Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
The Crucible (Short story)
Both have been for school. My class is curretly reading The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (which I've read before, pretty awesome book) and I'm trying to read Watership Down (Richard Adams) in my spare time, but I can't stand reading two books at the same time, so I'm waiting to finish it. Scarlett letter and Crucible were okay, but I'm sick of reading American literature. I have to wait til next semester to read British literature
Incognito D wrote:Mere months after buying my original GBA, Nintendo trolled me hard by releasing the SP.
Well, it's done. I've read every Fables volume. All of them pretty good except vol 13 because of that stupid crossover story. Volume 14 seems to get things back on track though so overall I give the series a major thumbs up
Considering what I want to do next now. Jump into Morrison's Batman run, check out some of Neil Gaiman's work or maybe finish something I started a lot time ago(buying and reading all of the Preacher tpbs)
Also finished the Illyria:Haunted 4 issue series. Great story and art and makes some major changes for her character. Even if you don't read Angel comics and only know her from the fifth season of the Angel tv show, I think it's still a pretty good read.
RyaNtheSlayA wrote:
Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
B is for Bad Poetry, by Pamela August Russell
The 13 Crimes of Science Fiction, Edited by Isaac Asimov
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein
Kull, Exile of Atlantis, by Robert E. Howard
The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty The Great Train Robbery, by Michael Crichton
Von Ryan's Express, by David Westheimer
Sphere, by Michael Crichton
TOTAL: 9
So I've read three more novels since my last update. I'm an enormous fan of Michael Crichton's work, and have now read all but one of his fiction stories released under his name, though I've yet to read any of the books he released under the pen names John Lange, Michael Douglas, or Jeffrey Hudson. I'm a little wary, as that last novel happens to be one of his later works, Next, and the few instances I've spoken with others who have read it, they weren't impressed. But anyway, onto the books...
This is the second time I've tried reading The Great Train Robbery. Victorian England is a subject I generally dislike, so my predisposition towards disliking it kept me from succeeding the first time, while my love of crime stories (amongst which British crime stories often excel) kept me riveted for the second. It's an interesting mixture of historical fiction and analysis of what happened in The Great Train Robbery, and I was thrilled to find extensive use of underworld slang (with adequate translation of course). While not my favorite of Crichton's, it was damn good.
Sphere was another one that I had never read, though I have no good reason for not doing so. I've seen the film and was surprised at some of the changes made from the novel. But the book was more effective overall, even if I will forever see Norman as Dustin Hoffman and Harry as Samuel L. Jackson. Norman's constant examination of people's subconscious motives was astute and entertaining, though I wonder if Crichton's motives for writing the book at least partially included an attempt to combat arguments against psychology from those who study the "hard sciences." Still, it made for a gripping thriller.
Now Von Ryan's Express is a bit different. I picked it up for $0.25 at a used book sale. It's a historical fiction based around an Italian POW camp in WWII, in which recently captured Colonel Ryan forcibly inputs discipline into the unruly prisoners before eventually helping them escape by taking over a Nazi train and running for Switzerland. It reminded me a lot of films like The Dirty Dozen, The Inglorious Bastards, and The Great Escape. This book was also turned into a film, starring Frank Sinatra of all people, but I've unfortunately not seen it yet.
Probably a bit late to the book scene but I just finished Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. It was every bit awesome as I hoped it would be.
Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant, by Karen Traviss
Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky
Halo: Cryptum, by Greg Bear
So the last novel I read was a Halo book (obviously) written by science fiction author Greg Bear. It went in depth into the events before the Human vs Covenant time line right back to the time of the Forerunners and the events surrounding there demise. It's a pretty quick read so I'd recommend picking it up.
Now to read Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson...
I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Radical by David Platt
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas *new* Edmond Dantes is a badass.
"There are two ways to get enough. One way is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less." G.K. Chesterton
1. Disquisition of Government - John C. Calhoun
2. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
3. Breaking the Backcountry: Seven Year's War in Virgina and Pennsylvania, 1754-1765 -Matthew C. Ward
4. Christianity in Latin America: A History - Ondina and Justo Gonzalez
5. The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America - Walter R. Borneman
6. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570
7. John C. Calhoun and the Price of Union - John Niven
8. Hall of Mirrors - Laura A. Lewis
9. Inka Bodies and the Body of Christ - Carolyn Dean (half read)
10. Texas Revolution - William C. Binkley
11. Wild Yankees - Paul B. Moyer
12. Fries's Rebellion: The Enduring Struggle for the American Revolution - Paul Douglas Newman
13. Taming Democracy - Terry Bouton
14. Dimity Convictions - Barbara Welter (new)
15. The Faces of the Gods - Leslie G. Desmangles (new)
16. The Presidency of James K. Polk - Paul H. Bergeron (new)
The last three books I had to read for school, I can finally read books I want to now. Dimity Convictions was an a somewhat disjointed book about woman in the 19th century. The Faces of the Gods was about the relationship between voodoo and Christianity in Haiti. It sheds a lot of light on what is actually part of the voodoo religion.
The Presidency of James K. Polk is self explanatory, it deals with his White House years.
B is for Bad Poetry, by Pamela August Russell
The 13 Crimes of Science Fiction, Edited by Isaac Asimov
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein
Kull, Exile of Atlantis, by Robert E. Howard
The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty
The Great Train Robbery, by Michael Crichton
Von Ryan's Express, by David Westheimer
Sphere, by Michael Crichton The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
Hondo, by Louis L'Amour
The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli
We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore (Ret.)
TOTAL: 13
Ooph, again been a while since I updated this sucker. I've finished four more books and well on my way through the one I'm currently reading.
The Last Unicorn is a children's fantasy classic that I don't really see get talked about very much. But since it is my girlfriend's favorite book, I decided I would sit down and give it a shot. I loved it, it made me think of the many creative children's novels and novellas I've read over the years. I'd hold this up there with The Phantom Tollbooth and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory any day.
I've been told before that Hondo is the best of Louis L'Amour's Westerns, and I wanted to give it a shot. I haven't read many of L'Amour's books, but his autobiography had an enormous affect on me in 2007, and I've slowly begun to explore his work in my spare time. I'm glad I did, as I enjoyed this one more than The Quick and the Dead. It certainly is a quality Western. Now I need to see the film.
The Prince was a very interesting read for me, as much of it strikes me as common sense that is both timeless and eerily prescient to the modern world. Anyone interested in political science should read it for its views on totalitarianism, but should keep in mind that the ostensible prince is not limited to merely royalty.
We Are Soldiers Still is the sequel to We Were Soldiers Once and Young, and while very different in its focus (concerning the return to the battlefield years later and meeting the enemy as opposed to the specific conduct of the actual battle), it should still be required reading for anyone interested in the US-Vietnam conflict. It also reveals vital information about the Vietnamese view and cultural attitude concerning the war and contains vital lessons that the United States should try to understand for continued success in the world.
