What's the last book you read?

Just finished Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare, the newest Shadowhunters novel less than ten minutes ago. Maybe it was the length of time that's passed since I've last read one of her works, but the writing style seemed a bit different. Not necessarily in a bad way; though the way she writes love scenes are still so damn passionate and artful. Really enjoyed it and it actually taught me a good method for writing characters.

 

Not long stories, but I read The Call of Chthulhu last December and finished The Colour out of Space I think in February?

I really need to get more into reading, but I'm just such a visual person :\

 

For my Writing II class this semester I had to read a lot of utopian novels and while I wasn't particularly fond of the selections our last project let me choose from a selection so I picked Walden Two by B.F. Skinner. It's very dialogue heavy but there was something about the way everything was described that appealed to me. I don't necessarily agree with everything in the book but considering it was written in 1945 I'm not surprised some parts are a bit outdated/"outlandish" now. But it's worth a read to anyone interested in Utopian novels.

 

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. It is my second read through now.

If you haven't played the games...don't do it yet! While they are not exactly connected, the games do draw off the books heavily as "canon", which are just fantastic. Most of them have been officially translated now (and the others being worked on now) and I promise you the ride and wait is well worth it. You can really understand the bonds between thew characters or even the characters themselves reading the books. Plus, Ciri and Geralt just kicks major butt in the books! Besides the story and content, the writing is very good. Andrzej is incredibly talented and made a masterpiece.

 

I've had a lot of time to read for quite a while now. =3

Swimming to Antarctica by Lynette Cox: An autobiography about a long distance swimmer who shattered several records before swimming in several different places never swam before long distance. (Straight of Magellan, Bering Straight and a mile of Antarctica water) She has a fantastic way of story telling and goes into fantastic detail about each swim without boring you. She also spent nearly ten years talking to the U.S.S.R. for permission to swim the straight over the border into their territory. She became hugely famous due to the swim and was even mentioned in the peace treaty between the U.S. and the Soviets.

The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts: One of my favorite authors recently, author of the Eighty Dollar Champion which is another favorite book of mine right now. It's about the rescue of the horses in WWII and the men (civilians and soldiers alike) who risked their lives to save the beautiful horses (Lipizzaner especially, though the Arabian was extremely popular in that area, too.) at risk after Germany seized control of the majority of farms in Europe and several horses around the world. (Especially Lipizzaner, the dominant gene of white attracted Hitler to the breed unfortunately, they had practically every horse of the breed they could find under their control by the end.) and moved them to mostly Poland where they stayed until horrendous conditions and the Soviets forced them to move or have all of them slaughtered to feed the army if they were lucky. The soldiers brought the horses to safety from both sides (Germany and U.S.) At the risk of the higher ranking soldiers finding out and executing them on sight for disobeying orders and in Nazi, treason for believing the regime would fall at the end of the war. They saved the Lipizzaner breed through their actions.

It's a wrenching book, I was shocked how such a amazing story of courage, fortitude and hope could be soul-crushingly sad during it. They go into graphic detail about the horrors of war and what these horses and handlers went through to save these horses lives. I would recommend it to anyone who loves animals and wants to read about how much war can affect the civilians and animals. It also goes into fantastic detail about The Spanish Riding School now based in Vienna, Austria and their work. I always loved the Lipizzaner show and they dedicate the first five minutes to the people who saved the breed from extinction in WWII.

 

Latest that I finished would be Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle.
I stumbled across it when I saw one of my classmates reading it. Having been a huge fan of Rick Riordan's mythos books, especially PJO and HoO, AND knowing that this new series was a direct sequel, I got it as soon as I could and bingeread the crap out of it.
Not a single moment where I wasn't disappointed. It had the humor, heart and soul of all it's prequels, and it's even got some amazing cameos and expands on a few possibly vague plot points, also, plot twists. Even if you haven't read any of the previous books, it does a good job of gently reeling in any newcomers to the franchise.
All in all, I am very happy and will be continuing to read this. Book 2 can't come soon enough.

 

I've not made it far due to my schedule, but I started reading Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups and Crossovers. It's the sixth book in the WtC series by Marion G. Harmon.

Now I hear it's probably the weakest book in the series so far, BUT I think what it set out to do is goddamn amazing. WtC stars Astra, a new superhero in Harmon's original world and the series follows her growth as a hero. In this book, Team-Ups and Crossovers, Harmon actually has her crossover with other works, even allowing other writers to write chapters.

Velveteen Vs. is another original superhero fantasy written by Seanan McGuire. McGuire gave Harmon permission to use her characters and world and write the Velveteen part of the crossover himself.

Grrl Power is the only webcomic I follow passionately about a genre-savvy nerd who ends up as a superhero. It's written by Dave Barrack and it's pretty damn good. Barrack writes his own corner of the universe in Team-Ups and Crossovers.

K.F. Lim is a lawyer and big fan of WtC and was given her own space to write with, coming up with an original story -from what I can tell- for the character.

The main complaint I'm seeing is the difference in writing styles takes away from the book. Like I said, I'm not too far into yet but how cool is it that he published an actual crossover book with these other writers and a fan of his series?

 

Hello to all! Today I want to recommend the novel "Shadows in Paradise" written by Erich Maria Remarque. I re-read the whole work of Remarque at school, and some of the works were repeated already in adulthood, and the last one read the novel of Shadow in Paradise. I'm not a fan of the author, but I consider his popularity to be very well deserved.

 

Inferno
Novel by Dan Brown
I liked the book very much. Interesting and exciting story

 

The most recent book I finished was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

I'm aware that I hold an unpopular viewpoint, but I really didn't like this book. The biggest problem I had with the book is its storytelling. It felt like a lot of things were brought up for the sake of convince for the main character, who I found to be really unlikable. I understand that it's a power-fantasy story, but there are a lot of simple things that could have been done to make it a better story. I also didn't care for the constant barrage of 80's references. I have no problem with enjoying nostalgia, but it really added nothing to the story. It came off more like "you remember this, right? and this too" that it was boring.

(On a side note, I really like the movie adaptation. It fixes a lot of the story elements I have with the book.)

 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Still super messed up and depressing.

 

I’m currently reading the Ranger’s Apprentice series. I love the different stories that each book tell and continue on through Will’s life. There are 12 books in all (I’m on book 10 at the moment), a couple are single adventure books, while the majority are continuous in different parts. Example: The Burning Bridge, Icebound Land and Battle of Skandia (Books 2-4) all tie into each other, while book 10 takes some story elements from book 7. It’s kinda complicated because book 7 takes place before book 5 but other than that it’s kinda interesting. My favorite book has to be Halt’s Peril, I won’t spoil it but the events are so heart wrenching, I almost cried (actually though). So I highly recommend taking a look, dear John Flanagan has made a true masterpiece.

 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Rereading my Harry Potter books before I sell them!

 

I've just finished reading 451 degrees Fahrenheit, I recommend it!
I'm also really looking for some kind of service that can handle my task and help me do my essay!

 

Last book I finished was S. It's a peculiar read, but the unusual format didn't make for a cohesive story. I felt like I was left in the dark for most of it even though I read the included supplementary material. I wish more authors would try their hand at something like this. It has a lot of potential in mystery and maybe even fantasy novels, but S. specifically didn't hit all the high notes.