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Ender’s Game [The Book]

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Inferno by Dan Brown

Last week I finished reading [or more like devouring] Dan Brown’s latest book, “Inferno“. And well, wow! For me this book is now in a tie with “The Da Vinci Code” for Dan Brown’s best. As usual he has managed to put a lot of interesting ideas and generally “food for thought” in the book. But then the plot was also amazing this time, and felt like a bit of an evolution. So, I really enjoyed it. Totally recommended.

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The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Meanwhile, in my so called “parallel reading”, I finished reading one of the most amazing, most brilliant non-fictions I’ve ever read. “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is must read for anyone who has an interest in thinking / learning about how the world functions!

I came across this book completely accidentally, and it truly took my breath away. And now I think I’m going to read the rest of what the same author has written…

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The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Couple of weeks ago I finished reading Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol“. I’m big enough a fan of his writing I would say, and had already read everything else he had written aurl[1] long time ago [before the Da Vinci Code movie was made…], but somehow never got to this one. When I heard the news that “Inferno” was finally released, I picked up “The Lost Symbol” and pretty much devoured it!

Plot-wise this was probably not my favourite Dan Brown book. That however does not mean that I didn’t enjoy the book. It just means that this book was even more of a textbook than his previous ones. Generally Dan Brown has the tendency of teaching through his books and getting many messages through. In “The Lost Symbol”, there is simply much more of that, than story telling. That being said, I really found what was being “thought” quite interesting, and in some ways very much in line with my own way of thinking. So I did in fact enjoy the book quite immensely.

Now, finally to “Inferno”. =)

How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers

I just finished reading “How We Are Hungry” by Dave Eggers. The book is a collection of url[1] short stories, most of which are more like images of a situation than actual stories. I’ve read books in this style before and I’ve not always been a fan of them, but I really enjoyed reading this one. The very last story, “After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned”, which is told by a dog, is probably my favourite. =)

Couple of nights ago I finished reading “A Dance with Dragons“, book 5 of “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. Meaning that now I have to wait till next year [supposedly] to get my hands on the next book. Too much of a bloody cliff hanger…. *sigh*

Well, it’s been quite a trip. It’s an amazing universe GRRM has created, with characters that are believable and understandable, and plots and events that are impossible to predicts. Everything can happen, everyone can die… and apparently everyone does die… =P Heroes make disastrous mistakes and the most brilliant set ups go gloriously wrong, and then the devil saves the day….. And you can’t put the bloody book down. =)

Oh, and regarding the TV series… as great as the series are, they’re not nearly as good as the books, so if you’re a fan of the TV series just go and read the books… Especially in the more recent episodes the TV series has been deviating more and more from the books, somehow annihilating some interesting aspects of the story line.

So, now I’m going to go about finally finishing Codex Alera [which I’ve been stretching as much as I could! =P]. And after that… we’ll see.

The Art of Dramatic Writing (1946)

So for a bit of out of the box [or, out of “my” particular box] reading…. I recently read this. Don’t ask how it happened. But it’s interesting.

Araris – The Art of Dramatic Writing (1946):

Inheritance Cycle

Much faster than I myself anticipated I would, I just finished reading the 3rd volume in the “Inheritance Cycle” by Christopher Paolini. Mind you, this is why I love eReaders… I read the 3 volumes, each between 700 to 800 page, in a matter of about 2 month while I’ve only had the time to do this kind of pleasure reading while waiting for public transit and such situations. The eReader gives you the ability to use every spare moment as such. Anyhow…

The first volume, titled Eragon, I found a tad bit boring. The story went forward a bit too slow for my liking, and it was lacking some depth. The second volume, Eldest, was more interesting. Just a bit more. The third volume, Brisingr, is most certainly the best of the 3. It’s a lot more exciting, the plot finally finds its real direction and depth, there’s much better character development and altogether it’s fun to read. The only problem is that [although the 3rd book was released September 2008] the 4th and final volume won’t be out until November this year. I have no idea why there’s been such a huge time gap between the release dates of each volume of the series. So the 3rd volume ends at a terrible cliff-hanger, and now wait till the next one happens…. =P

The Inheritance Cycle in general isn’t one of my favourites in the genre so far, to be completely honest. However, it’s still one of the better ones, and worth a read if you have the time. I guess the main issue that I don’t enjoy about it, is the lack of originality. Influence from Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and many other big names in the genre is too obvious, it pretty much slaps you in the face.

I also have to mention that the movie that was based mainly on the first volume, Eragon, doesn’t really do the books any justice. Inheritance Cycle may not be the most amazing work of literature, but it’s a 100 times better than that trash of a movie they’ve made out of it, which doesn’t even visually resemble the descriptions in the text.

Of course my general view of the series may very well change [possibly improve] depending on how the last volume will turn out. If it ends up being as “good” as has been promised, maybe it’ll find it’s place among my favourites. 😉 So I guess I’ll just have to wait till November to find out….

Meanwhile though, I just started the first volume of “The Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. Yes, the same series that they’re basing the TV series “Game of Thrones” upon. The same one with so far 5 [and to be in total 7] volumes, each between 900 to 1000 pages. =D Huge undertaking, but I think I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this….

Silver Surfer: In Thy Name

Just finished reading “Silver Surfer: In Thy Name“. A 4 volume comic series published during 2008. Totally loved it. Really really enjoyed the cynical theme of the story, very much reminding me of today’s global politics. Totally recommended to anyone into Silver Surfer or superhero comics in general.

Silver Surfer 2011

And I just finished reading the last issue of Silver Surfer 2011, 5 issue comics. As it is often the case with Silver Surfer, it was poetic, painful, sad and pretty impressive. So yes, if you’re a Silver Surfer fan in general, chances are you’re going to enjoy this quite a bit. Oh, and don’t forget to check out the recent 4 issue “Annihilators”. That one’s also pretty cool.

 

Also on my current reading list: The 2011 “Mighty Thor” mini-series, as well as “The Thanos Imperative” which unfortunately I never got a chance to read before. And yes, you’re not imagining things, there is a pattern here. It’s all story arcs featuring the Silver Surfer. What can I say, I’m obviously a fan. =P

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Hey, I'm Aasemoon, and this is my blog which has been around since 1998. Childhood toy project that ended up growing up with me. You can reach me here: aasemoon.blue

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