That is the first book of the series "song of fire and ice" It is a grreat book (if you do not mind the sex and torture in the books). But the series is not finished. If you do not mind those things it is worth reading.
Very cool. I like Animal Farm better, but 1984 is great as well. If you want to read something a little different by Orwell check out Down and Out in Paris and London. It's fascinating.
I can also add a vote from my 13 year old daughter who is reading Stuff Good Players Should Know, Intelligent Basketball from A to Z by Dick DeVenzo. Its a suggested reading in advance of Point Guard College she is attending in Denton this summer.
The Providence Rider by Robert McCammon was one of my three most anticipated novels of the year, and I was thrown off guard when it arrived nearly a month early while I was in the middle of reading the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Only through extreme willpower, did I slog through Monte Cristo before eagerly devouring the latest installment of Matthew Corbett. It's by far the shortest of the four novels, but it packs a walloping punch, hooks you from the opening, and doesn't let up until you read the final page. I would highly recommend reading the first three novels of McCammon's epic series before tackling The Providence Rider, but you could follow this tale without the first three novels. You'll just miss out on some salient details and a pretty large number of subtle nods to previous events and characters. Still McCammon does pretty well in providing previous key plot points in high-level detail. The novel starts out in New York with Matthew Corbett still reeling from his brutal adventure against Tyranthus Slaughter and Lyra Sutch. Against this backdrop, Matthew is quite reluctant to attend a dinner invitation extended by an emissary of the infamous Professor Fell. Fell, however, is not one to take No for an answer. Soon, explosions begin rocking buildings around the city and promise to continue to do so until Matthew takes Professor Fell up on that meeting. Fell is looking for Matthew to be a Providence Rider, someone who can ride in and deliver a much-needed boon to the Professor. The setting for this adventure, however, is far from New York. Instead Matthew must travel to the mysterious Pendulum Island where the criminal Master Bosses of Professor Fell's empire are gathered for a meeting. As one would expect from McCammon, this motley group of characters are a macabre bunch. Some are grotesque, others creepy, some downright violent, or a combination of those traits. Matthew has gone up against a few grisly characters in past books, but never quite on the scale of this one where he faces off against nearly a dozen adversaries. I was thinking a lot about first meetings of characters: Watson and Holmes, Gollum and Bilbo, etc. Sometimes when you read those passages you know that those characters will have a powerful relationship, in friendship or adversarial, throughout the remainder of the tale. Matthew gets his long awaited meeting with Professor Fell, although it unfolded in a manner I was not expecting. Still, the relationship between these two is irrevocably changed after this book. Matthew has mucked with the peripheral of Fell's organization before, but when he finds himself in the very heart of it, Matthew Corbett will do as Matthew Corbett does and be a fly in the ointment where he can cause so much more damage. McCammon's writing is in typical fine form: direct, florid, and visceral. At times, McCammon provides light-hearted whimsical details then immediately follows with gruesome notes, but they never feel cheap or throw away lines. His prose is some of the best out there, and McCammon is at the top of his game in The Providence Rider. Probably my only caveat is the book's brevity. I would have liked to see more of Matthew's adventures on Pendulum Island. There were times when I felt it all unfolded maybe too quickly. I consider that nitpicking though, because the tale itself is a rollicking page-turner, and it fits well within the scope of this 10 book series. In many ways, this feels like the opening of the second act. We now know Matthew Corbett and we have a better idea of Professor Fell. Now we get to see how these two will battle one another over the remaining 6 books. Get cracking, Mr. McCammon. Up next: 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I haven't read a new King book in 18 years, but I've heard so many good things about this novel that I decided to check it out. I enjoyed a reread of the Dragon's Eyes a few months back for a book club.
It's just such a long book. I want to make sure it is reallllyyyy good. I don't want to start the book if it won't keep my interest.
I just started The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The first thing that jumps out to me is the lack of chapters really captures the protagonist's exhaustion and lack of respite of any kind.
Finally finished Dance with Dragons. It seemed overly long for the amount of activity that took place - but the ending was pretty good. Some mega-spoiler-laden thoughts: Cool things: Spoiler 1) Let's hope that Daenerys' revelation of sorts after her flight out of Mereen finally gets her to stop being such a twit. She used to be awesome but this entire Queen sequence almost ruined it for me. 2) Ser Barristan's role at the end was fun to read. 3) Quite neat to see how he worked Theon back into this thing. Lame things: Spoiler 1) Annoyed at the minimal time spent on Bran and Arya. I still have no idea what role Bran is going to play and something more than two piddly chapters might have helped out a bit. Arya is just fun to read so it's annoying when instead I get saddled with another chapter about Daenerys b****ing about everything or Tyrion playing with a pig. 2) Bringing Aegeon back out of nowhere. I understand this is a deep, dark, mega-scheme of Varys but it's a rather jarring change-up to the story that does not fit all that well IMO. And Tyrion just happens to run into them... and Jorah too. That was a bit much. Very annoying things: Spoiler 1) The stupid dragon horn Victarion has. Obvious Deus ex machina. And like all Deus ex machina it's there because the writer got in a jam. How else can the Greyjoy's have any part in the Dragon-business? Lamesauce. What most aggravated me is that it's never alluded to prior to Euron showing it off in Feat for Crows. In fact, it's not until the last chapter in DwD that Daenerys offhand thinks about how "ancient Valyrians bound dragons to them with horns or whatever". 2) Jon dying. It's not that I'm upset - it's just that it's so hackneyed and predictable. Melisindre warns him over and over. Ghost warns him it's coming. It's like he took Rob's plot and totally recycled it. What's the point of showing us over and over that the direwolves have a special sense about this sort of thing if they never heed it? Finally, it seems like this instance was really just Martin wanting to prove that he'll kill anyone he wants - I have no idea how he plans to continue any stories about the Wall now - but it's certainly going to be weird reading those from...I dunno...Bowen Marsh's perspective? Oh well - moving on finally. Going to read another brewing book next.
Response to mega spoiler with mega spoiler: Spoiler Killing Jon gets him out of the Night's Watch. It was GRRM's plan all along. We all know he'll come back to life, and now he can go on to greater things. As for a Wall POV, maybe GRRM will just allude to it by showing people such as Bran and Davos passing through and hearing rumors, etc. Here's something for Joe Abercrombie fans:
A mega-spoiler response to your mega-spoiler response to my mega-spoiler: Spoiler I presume you mean via Melisindre? Not sure what to make of that. I never liked the whole "bring dead people back to life thing" - strikes me as such a lame plot device. But I guess it does get Jon moving on a bit...and possibly to Daenerys as I suspect Jon is/was much more than he seems (Rheagar/Lyanna).
again mega, etc, Spoiler Mel would be the obvious choice for resurrection, but I think Jon may be brought back by the old gods via the Night's Watch Godswood where he said his words or by Bran the Greenseer. Remember, Dany was 'reborn' in the flames of Drogo's funeral pyre (FIRE), now Jon may be 'reborn' north of the wall (ICE). Hence, Song of ICE and FIRE. Just because GRRM's series is uber-complex doesn't mean that these things can't end in a nice, neat bow. There are only two more books and it's time to start placing the players for the final scenes.
LeBron is reading "The Hunger Games"...lol http://deadspin.com/5911823/lebrons-choice-of-pre+game-reading-material-the-hunger-games
You poor soul. I don't think GRRM's wife is pushing for extra books. We'll know that when GRRM gives us three page descriptions of drapes.
How to Brew By John Palmer. One of the better books on the basics of brewing. Learned a few new things, but nothing earth shattering. It's a great resource though, and I'll probably use it more for the detailed information/charts than the brewing tutorials. If you're into brewing, this is a very good and inexpensive resource. Judas and the Gospel of Jesus by N.T. Wright The author, while an expert no doubt, is also a bishop. I tried mightily to not let that color my perception but by the half-way point it was impossible. He spends almost as much time criticizing secular scholars and media hype as he does analyzing the subject in question. It's a rather dry hit piece at the end, rather dully giving talking points for the interested christian to refute Jesus Seminar or other academic analysis of the Judas manuscript. That's not to say that he's wrong - he has plenty of decent points, but they're made dubious by his inability to admit any fault with the canonical gospels he's comparing Judas to. Ironically, his confidence rapidly demolishes his own argument, simply because his adversaries assume no such ideological starting point despite his protestations.
I thoroughly enjoyed 11/22/63. It had been so long since I had read King, but his typical motifs were on display (small town America, family strife, personal failings, and Maine) but done so in powerful ways. The relationship between Sadie and Jake was developed beautifully and resonated with me long after I finished the book. I'm not a JFK history buff, but I found the plot and Jake's attempts to change history to be fascinating. The final act got a bit King-wonky-weird, but the last chapter was spot on perfect. I'd recommend this one. I'm halfway through reading The Magister Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. Pat's Fantasy Hotlist has been raving about this series for two years, and I thought I'd jump in with it now being complete. I like the main character's plot, but Friedman is trying to wrap other elements from other characters' POV into the tapestry and I don't care much for that. I feel like all of the characters suffer and feel way too two-dimensional. I enjoy reading a female lead and a female author in the fantasy genre, but I do wish she'd let her lead shine a bit more. There's still a book and a half to see if this all meshes together, but so far I don't see what all the praise was for. Not terrible, but kind of underwhelming.
With school finishing up, I haven't had much time to read. Still reading through the final parts of Shadow of the Wind
The sequel got delayed until July 10. Drool. It lines up quiet nicely with a week-long vacation I'm taking. I want to read that sucker straight through on one of those days.
