Amph What book are you reading right now?

Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne

 

Dark Tower 1 by King.

It's really dry. I also read Cujo which was brutally devastating and extremely claustrophobic.

 

The Rosie Project (2012) - Graeme Simsion



This book is narrated in the first person by a genetics professor/researcher who is more than just a little bit on the Aspergers spectrum. As the book begins, he’s preparing to begin The Wife Project; it’s time for him to have some female companionship and if a genius like him can’t figure out how to do it, no one can. Well, maybe no one can. Anyway, one thirty-two page questionnaire later, he’s ready to start his project. But then free-spirited Rosie shows up and she’s everything he doesn’t need and . . . you know where this is going. This book is actually really enjoyable. There’s not a single plot surprise in the whole thing, but it’s a pleasant surprise to see that Simsion knows how to let his characters really breathe. He writes the entire book in the voice of this professor and it’s absolutely flawless, never an out of character moment. Rosie herself gets surprisingly developed; she isn’t just another Manic Pixie Dream Girl (or whatever they’re calling them these days). As the book goes on, her own troubled nature begins to come to prominence and you realize that this isn’t just a story about a woman teaching a man how to love – it’s actually about two people who really do need each other. And the book is genuinely funny. I rarely laugh out loud at a book, but I did several times reading this one. At one scene, I just put the book down, covered my face with my hands and laughed for a good minute. This isn’t great literature by a stretch, but it’s a really, really entertaining novel and it’s a quick read too. Recommended. 3 ½ stars.

tl;dr – genuine humor and surprisingly deft and expert characterization save this rom-com from the ever present clichés. 3 ½ stars.

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About to start "The Campaigns of Napoleon" by David Chandler

 

The Son (2013) - Philipp Meyer



Really interesting book here, only Meyer’s second. I haven’t read his first, American Rust, but I’ve actually already got a copy on loan from the library, which should give some indication of how I feel about The Son. So, there’s nothing particularly new about either the thematic resonances or the form of this novel. It’s the story of Eli McCullough, born the day Texas achieves independence; Eli’s son, Peter McCullough, a man ill-suited to following in his father’s footsteps; and Peter’s granddaughter, Jean McCullough, a woman with the grit and fire to pick up Eli’s mantle where the intervening generations have left off. The book alternates chapters from the perspective of each of them, covering a period of nearly two-hundred years, all told. It’s obviously a story about the American West, the Oil Boom, the passing of the Native Americans, the violence inherent in settling any new land and the inescapable nature of the sins of the past. Like I say, nothing new in all that. But Meyer is a really wonderful writer; the voices of the three main characters are all very different and he writes with a raw immediacy that makes the novel feel, in a bit of a reversal of what I kind of expected from the book, more visceral and emotional and less mythic. One expects this to be a book about the myths of the American West and, in a way, it is, but it’s also intense and in your face in all the best ways and much more about the actual people than about the archetypes they embody. It’s a book that’s maybe a hair too long – it clocks in at around six-hundred pages and there’s a bit of a dead patch around page five-hundred or so that could stand some tightening. But that’s not enough of a flaw for me to ding the book; it’s definitely a book I can highly recommended. 4 stars.

tl;dr – multi-generational epic of the American West is old-school in its structure and themes, but it has a fresh, visceral intensity and a compelling cast of characters that overcomes any possible clichés. 4 stars.

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The Yearling. A wonderful coming-of-age novel set in the late-1800s Florida scrub. The supporting characters are strong, but the real standouts are the protagonist, Jody, and his father, Penny Baxter. Rawling's writing really captures Jody's mind as an adventure-loving, rather careless youth caught up both in the self-absorption of childhood and the wonder of nature. It's a really well-done child's POV but also really thoughtful and insightful in terms of the experience of childhood. And Penny Baxter is one of the great father figures of fiction. Tiny, but a tireless pioneer providing for his family, faultlessly honest, patient and understanding, and trying to bring his son into manhood while still indulging his need for play and trying not to squash his spirit. He's truly a wonderful character, and it's no coincidence that Gregory Peck played him in the film version (though I couldn't help seeing Paul Newman in my head). The story is packed full of incident and flavor, and Rawlings wonderfully captures the atmosphere of the pioneer backcountry. Hunting, farming, visiting town, cooperating and clashing with their raucous neighbors, the Forrester boys -- it's all fascinating, and all ultimately about survival, the key theme subtly lying behind the entire book. Just a fantastic classic.

 

William Shakespeare's Star Wars

After that, Wuthering Heights.


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For fiction - just started Stephen Booth's Dead and Buried last night.

 

Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy (coffee table style book) - Lots of great pictures and quite informative for the format. Particularly interesting since this aspect hasn't really been covered in depth in the various "making of" books and DVD supplements for the OT.

 

After finishing off Otherland it was good enough to go ahead and read all 4 books. I now own 3 of 4. The pace is neither fast nor slow, it's just that the books are so loooooooong.

Now reading River Of Blue Fire.

 

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 2

 

The Old Man and the Sea.

 

Maul: Lockdown

Saw the timeline & almost started crying. Will never see the timeline again in a new book. It even had the "Empire and Rebellion" books.

 

I'm now on Debt of Honor.

 

Still Dark Tower.

 

Yeah. A universe of 150 novels, just thrown away.

 

These Otherland books, which are all about virtual reality, appear to be using(it has not been flat out said yet) children hooked into a system to act as free processing power. The Matrix was going to use this idea but Disney thought audiences would nto understand that so people got used as energy instead.

 

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Volume 2 Omnibus

 

I am reading The Humanist Headkick Collection by David Hollingsworth

 

Me too. Such a great series.

 

Star Wars: Death Troopers; So far I'm impressed with how well written this is. The prose is clever, the atmosphere almost tangible and the characters feel three dimensional. It's also a fresh spin on a universe that has really gotten bogged down in galactic politics and such the last decade or so.

 

I was a bit disappointed with Death Trooper, actually. I liked the concept, but it was marketed as Han and Chewie and Zombies which sound like it should be pretty awesome, except that Han and Chewie don't show up until a good chunk of the way through the book.

 

I like the characters so much that I'd actually prefer if Han and Chewie didn't show up (they haven't yet. Only 50 pages in). I love Han and Chewie, but what makes this story so interesting is that it doesn't involve The Force or Clones or galactic politics or characters we know front to back. At this point Han and Chewie would just feel like fan service.

 

Red Harvest was better imo. Hestizo was a horrible protagonist but really good story otherwise imo.
Also like Maul: Lockdown except for the ending.

 

I don't know much about the plot, but I know it got mixed-to-bad reviews. I might follow up DT with it.

I bailed on Lockdown about 1/4 way in. Just couldn't get into it.