What up Fam! Hope all is well with all of you, sorry I haven't been on in a while. It is just that at this particular time every year, when the first hints of autumn are felt in the breeze and the days start to shorten, I begin to hear phantom marching bands blowing across the wind and catch the scent of freshly mown grass on a 100 yard field. In short, football. While my posts to this blog have slowed considerably as a result of my debilitating obsession, I have been able to maintain enough cortical functioning to read a few good books. Just a few, but here they are. Some are highly recommended, some, well....wait for the movie.
)) The Crook Factory, Dan Simmons. This one was included on my first book list post but it was the last one and I was reading it at the time. I finished it and it was awesome. Tells the story of Ernest Hemingway's last days in Cuba. He runs and operates within a spy ring in the early days of WWII. Dan Simmons includes an author's note at the end of the book. In this author's note Simmons maintains that his novel is much more a re-telling of actual events than a fictional story. Apparently all the events described in the novel are based on verifiable fact. And the events in the novel include Hemingway cruising off the coast of Cuba looking for a German U-boat so that he might toss a bomb down their open hatch. So yeah, Papa really was a badass.
)) Game of Thrones, George RR Martin. One of the main reasons this current post will be relatively short is the inclusion of this series. Five in all and none under a thousand pages. Very dense but absolutely gorgeous and extremely well written. Martin is simply the man. After over six thousand pages the characters still manage to surprise you in every chapter. The HBO series is mighty fine as well. Season 3 starts March 2013.
)) The Wind Through the Keyhole. Stephen King. One of the best from one of my favorite all time authors. Mom reviewed this not long ago so I won't go into detail. I will say that this novel fits perfectly within the Dark Tower series, so much so that I would actually recommend a new reader to the series read this novel between the actual 4th and 5th Dark Tower books. Again, it fits perfectly and does not give away anything in the three books that follow.
)) Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell. Tells the story of the single largest loss of life in the history of the Navy Seals. I LOVED this book. The first few pages almost had me in tears (i manned up though, you'll all be glad to know) and I simply could not put it down after that. Basically, four Navy Seals are dropped off on a mountain in Afghanistan to surveill a high priority target and potentially eliminate or capture said target. Things go terribly wrong. Another helicopter full of Seals and various other special forces members is sent to rescue them. They are shot down. One person survived the entire tragic deal, the author of this book. A must read for the pure emotion of it but also an extremely well written account of Navy Seals training, life in the teams, the planning and logistics of special forces operations, and the bond that exists between these men.
)) The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle, Patrick Rothfuss. I have the best mom ever. She got me a signed copy of this adult fairy-tale by one of our favorite authors ever. (and i don't mean adult like that, gosh ya'll, get your heads out of the gutter). An illustrated short fairy-tale with three separate endings. Frickin sweet.
)) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. Don't forget your towel folks.
)) Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell. A portrait of poverty in Paris and London by the author of 1984. A very good read. Semi auto-biographical. Orwell is a poor young man in Paris working in the restaurant and hotel industry. In London, he is straight up homeless. The material is pretty dire but Orwell is a genius and makes this novel highly entertaining. Witty and funny, like 1984, the humor makes the subject matter shine, heavy as it is.
)) Jaws, Peter Benchley. Disappointing. Really, a stinker. Brody's wife having an affair with the biologist Hooper? Hooper dies? My recommendation, wait for the movie. I'm sure it'll be a classic.
oh.....and I reread Ready Player One. Every good chance I'll read it again before the years out.
