Have been reading quite a lot though, nothing beats lying in the sofa with a good book after a hard day's work. Have finished two books since my last post; Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson and Sharpe's Tiger by bernard Cornwell.
Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Vol. 1)
, is the first book in a series of so far eight books (the author claims the series will, in the end contain ten books. I personally greatly enjoyed the book. The characters are great, the plot is good and complicated and the book introduces quite a new and fresh magic system. I can't wait to read the rest of the books, and recommend this book to other readers of fantasy.Sharpe's Tiger (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #1)
, is the first book in Bernard Cornwells series of historical fiction about the british soldier Richard Sharpe. Sharpe is a soldier in the English army fighting in India in 1799. He is, after problems with a sergeant, sentenced to quite a flogging, but is instead sent on an undercover mission into the muslims' troops stronghold. Cornwell is an excellent writer of historical fiction. His books are educational and interesting, with memorable characters and a good plot. He writes in a way that is very easy to read, and it is hard to put down the book. This one I also greatly recommend.Currently I am reading 1984
by George Orwell. Started yesterday and not too far into the book yet. So far I like it, it brings up a lot of issues about politics, privacy and, in my mind, is a big attack on socialism and communism. More to come of this book later.Hmm, very tired today, have been a lot of work lately and can't wait to hit the sack. So will not write much today, in fact this is it. Until next time
cya
, telling the history of Dublin up until the 16th century. The story is continued in a sequel, which I unfotunelately don't have at the moment. The book was very good, following a few families through the ages, thereby telling the story of Dublin. Rutherford writes in a very interesting way, putting the characters in tight spots, which they often get out of in interesting and unexpected ways, if they get out at all. Definelately, like the rest of his books, a recommended read.
, the seventh of nine books in Garth Ennis' Preacher series of comics. I absolutely love this series, the plot is great, every page is filled with action, the characters are interesting and stands out, and the story is filled with references to religion, the bible, westerns, history and movies. In Volume 7, the protagonist jesse is at a loss about what to do, just having been shocked by a lot of things. He don't know whether to continue his quest of finding God and make him resume his responsibility. Eventually he ends up in the small town of Salvation, Texas where he meets the sister of his childhood friend. Suddenly, he becomes sheriff of the town and starts a little war against the meat-baron Odin Quincannon. He also takes, later in the story, takes to buttons of peyote in an attempt to figure out what has really happened to him lately. The story is great, violent, sometimes macabre, with many interesting twists and turns. With Ennis' writing, you never really know where the story is going, as surprises keeps popping up. Salvation, a small town, holds many surprises, including the Clan and Jesse's long lost mother. With Salvation, the Preacher Saga continues strong, and this volume was quite a relief after, in my opinion, a little drop in quality in volume six. Have to find the money somehow, to buy the last two issues so I can see where the story ends.
, and as soon as I got home from work I went to the couch and read the whole issue. War in the Sun continues the story in good ol' Preacher style. It begins with a background story, this time about Herr Starr, the new allfather of the grail. Then, when the story resumes, we follow Jesse, Cass and Tulip to Monument Valley in Arizona, where Jesse plans to have some peyote to help him communicate with the entity, Genesis, stuck in his head. Everything does not go as planned of course, as both the Starr, with the US army behind him, and the Saint of Killers, is there; waiting for him. The story is still very good and intriguing, allthough sometimes the weirdness can go a bit too far. Cannibals living in abandoned mines, a rejected NASA aspirant making huge, obscene messages in the desert to greet the astronauts in the space shuttle, nuclear bombs, Arseface's dreamworld... It's all there. It almost seems as if the authors are running out of new, original and clever twists in the plot that shocks the reader, and just keep throwing every shocking thing they can think of into the story. The artwork is still brilliant though. In many ways, the issue reminded me of 
, Rodrigues' Grindhouse movie. But Preacher is still a brilliant series and very much recommended.
is Khaled Hosseini's first book, and became very popular. Now it has even been made into a motion picture. After reading 
I was a bit disappointed by this book. The book tells the story of Amir and Hassan, growing up in Kabul in the 70s. Amir is the son of a rich merchant, while Hassan is the son of a servant. They grow up together and become friends even though their are seperated by their class differences. Their friendship changes one winter when Amir fails to help Hassan when he most needs it. Amir and his father than moves to the US, struggling to live in a completely new culture. After Amir's father's death, Amir returns to Afghanistan, where he gets a change to redeem himself from his past sins.
, by Iain Pears. The novel tells the story of three men living in different times. Manlius, the Gallic aristocrat living at the end of roman civilization, Olivier, the poet living at the time of the Black Death, and Julien, the scholar living in the first half of the 20th century. All three men shares a love for a woman, and the love of wisdom, philosophy and literature. Olivier builds upon Manlius' writings, and Julien builds upon both Manlis' and Olivier's writings. The cool thing abot the book is the fact that it tells their stories simultaneoulsy, therefore not chronologically. It jumps back and forth in time to show the similarities between the protagonists. Haven't gotten that far into the book yet, so will write more when I get further into the book, or when it's finished.
by Edward Rutherfurd, a very good book just like the rest of his books. I know I have already written some about his books and his other books, and this books falls into the same category. The history of England's New Forest told through the eyes of a few select families, which we follow through the ages. As always, Rutherfurd's stories have quite a few unexpected plot twists, and often problems solve themselves in quite amazing ways. A highly recommended books.
. In the story, the creatures you read about in fairy tales have been driven from their homeworlds by their common enemy, the adversary, and have fled to New York where they have settled. Their community is pretty much run by Snow White, with the big bad Wolf as their police officer. Then one day, Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk rushes into officer Wolf's office, claiming his girlfriend Red Rose, sister of Snow White, has been brutally murdered. The rest of the story in the first volume focuses on Wolf's investigation into the murder, Pretty interesting stuff, a good plot, cool characters, lots of humor and good artwork as well. The character Prince Charming is funny, while Pinocchio is hilarious. So if you want to meet your favorite fairy tales characters in a new and modern setting, check out fables.
, still by Edward Rutherfurd. This time, the story is about the history of The New Forest in south-east England. The novel is written in the same style as Sarum and London, telling the history of the place through the eyes of a few select families. Like anything else I've read of Rutherfurd, it is very good. The New Forest has been linked to witch-craft in the middle ages, something Rutherfurd incorporates into the story. In the foreword he confesses his ignorance of the subject, and how he used modern Wicca books to learn enough to write about it. Having some knowledge on the subject myself, I feel the books kinda falls short a bit on this subject. Modern Wicca was revived only recently, and has borrowed a lot from the Golden Dawn and Crowley, and I have some doubts that a witch in the middle ages would use the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, or something close to it. But apart from this, the book so far has been very good, definelately recommended. I am so glad I listened to my mum and started reading Rutherfurd's books.
,does not continue the plot started in the first three volumes, but instead goes back in time to tell the story of four of the characters you have already met, but not learned too much about, in the preceding three volumes. Saint of Killers tells the story of the Saint of Killers, who he was and how he became the Saint. Written as a western, it has more than it's own share of action and violence, as well as the appereance of the devil and several scenes set in hell. Very entertaining. The Story of You-Know-Who tells the story of Arseface, the son of a cop first set on Jesse's trail, his teenage rebellion and his failed suicide attempt. By shooting himself in the head, but surviving, Arseface ends up with a mutilated face, hence his nickname. The Good Ol' Boys is a very funny action-movie parody, containing two-dimentional cliche characters right out of bad action movies. The whole story is hilarious and so out of place within the larger plot, I was laughing a lot when reading it. The volume itself doen not add much to the Preacher story, but contains three interesting stories about minor characters, all in all I liked it. of course it fits into Preacher in the way that you never know what to expect when opening a new issue.
, we return to the story of Jesse Custer and his mission to make God stand up to his responibilities. In an attempt to unlock the screts locked up with Genesis in his brain, he travels to New Orleans to try some old-fashioned voodoo. This does not go totally according to plan as they run into a group who Cassidy has met earlier. In an earlier visit to New Orleans, Cassidy meets a fellow vampire, who after becoming bitten reads every book he can find about vampirism and sets out to cope them, word for word. This pisses Cassidy off, who himself liead a life nothing like that you read in vampire books. Cassidy sets out to change his fellow vampire, but things does not go according to plan. This issue also brings a lot of character development. You learn a lot more about the main character, and their relationship starts to change after certain events, like Cassidy telling Tulip he is in love with her. At the end of the volume you have the feeling the characters you have come to love might be a bit different that you thought.
, where we first meet the protagonist, Jesse Custer, and his two side kicks; his ex-girlfriend Tulip and the hard-drinking Irish wampire Cassidy. Jesse, who is a preacher in a small Texan town, sees his whole congregation burned to ashes by the half-angelic half-demonic entity Genesis, who also merges with Jesse, leaving Jesse on the run from the law. From Texas, the story continues in New York, where Jesse and his companions not only are troubled by Genesis, but also by the Saint of Killers, out to kill Gensis aka Jesse, and the Reaver-Cleaver, a sadistic serial killer. I won't go into too much detail here since I don't wanna spoil the story if you are gonna read it, but it is good, violent but good.
, where we learn more of Jesse's history and how this seeminlgy not so perfect christian ended up becoming a minister. In this volume, God also makes his first appereance, trying to get Jesse to back off his trail. God, you see, one day suddenly left his job, leaving heaven in the care of his angels. Jesse, upon finding this out has decided to find God and make him take up his responsibility again. Cassidy, on the other hands, finds his girlfriend dying of a heroin overdose and sets out, with the help of Jesse and Tulip to avenge her. Towards the end, the Grail also makes an appereance. The grail is a society protecting the ancient and holy bloodline of Christ. Kinda similar to the DaVinci Code, but so much more fun and satirical.
, Jesse and Tulip are headed to France, to the grail headquarters, to rescue Cassidy who is held captive by them. Jesse also meets an old friend of his dad, who died when Jesse was only five. Through him, Jesse learns more of his dad, who he only has a fleeting recollection of. Towards the end of the volume, we also learn Cassidy's history, how he became a vampire, what powers he then gained and how he came from Ireland to the America.