the gathering storm

That felt good. I spent five hours in the bookstore reading the entirety of The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.

Originally supposed to be A Memory of Light, but in the foreword Sanderson noted that it was too massive to be published as one volume, so The Gathering Storm is either the 12th book of the Wheel of Time series, or just the first volume of the 12th book.

Anyway, book was epic. 700+ pages in 5 hours. I should have been doing my homework, but it was worth it. The conflicts still aren’t resolved, but I am getting a sense of where things are headed now, and I like some of characters better… Also, all the main characters had their little portions, unlike a couple of the past books where some characters were only mentioned in passing.

Didn’t read a new book in about two weeks due to life problems…

catching fire

Read Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the second book in the trilogy. The third book is supposed to come out sometime in 2010. This one seemed to be hanging in mid air… I generally don’t like the second parts in a trilogy because of that feeling; it’s also why I hated the second movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

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the hunger games

Read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins today, during my 2hr break between classes. Topic vaguely relates to one of my classes. I found the book in the “newly arrived” section, but the copyright notices page says first printing was last year. Also, I’ve heard great reviews about the book from a few blogs I follow back in June or July…

oh, Catching Fire is the second book in the series. Guess I’ll have to go look for it soon.

the lost symbol by dan brown

Read the entirety of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown in 2.5 hours today. It felt so good to read in a comfy bookstore armchair and lose myself in another world. The plot was blah, as usual for Dan Brown, but it’s always the details and esoterica that intrigues me. I love learning about random occult (as in “hidden”) things even if they never help me in my real academic life, aside from history classes. Anyway, I found the history of Freemasonry more interesting than Christianity and Catholic things.

It’s been a while since I’ve had the time to sit down with a book and read it from beginning to end without interruptions like worrying about class, exams, or homework. And yes, I know it’s a Thursday. But reading a book on a cold, rainy Thursday makes the day so much better.

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moontide by mercedes lackey

Reread Moontide by Mercedes Lackey today. It’s actually a novella, inside the anthology Winter Moon, which also includes stories by Tanith Lee and C.E. Murphy.

Also flipped a few pages of Terry Pratchett’s new book, Unseen Academicals.

Atonement, part 1

Read up to chapter 8 in Atonement by Ian McEwan. Never seen the movie, but I want to, after I finish reading the book.

Currently watching Merlin season 2, and 10 Things I Hate About You tv version as well during the week.

The Phoenix Transformed

Finally, a new book!
I read the last book of the Enduring Flame trilogy today, all 511 pages of it in one sitting. The Phoenix Transformed by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. Book felt it took way long to get to the end, though considering that I’ve read the books with a year’s worth of time separating each… maybe I’ll be able to read all 3 again in a shorter time span.

rennfest 09!

I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival yesterday, aka traveling back in time to 1543 of King Henry VIII’s reign. I’ve always loved reading about the Tudors and fantasy, so the festival was basically an indulgence to both. Lots of people dressed up from various time periods (Vikings to modern day) and worlds (see faerie wings), except that I went in normal 21st clothing.

Anyway, there was only 1 book shop, but there were a couple of stores selling hand-bound journals. It was a little hard to speak Old World English for more than 5 minutes, but I think the spelling has set in a bit. Mylde drinks aka sodas anyone?

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a decrease in reading

Somehow there’s always a decrease in my reading list when school starts. I have one very exciting professor, and the rest sound okay. But reading textbooks is not my idea of fun.

magic kingdom for sale — sold!

Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! by Terry Brooks was a fun short read, recommended on an aspiring author’s LJ. Apparently it’s quite different from Brooks’s Shannara series, but since I haven’t read Shannara, I don’t know.

Description from Amazon.com:

Ben Holiday is a lawyer who finds little satisfaction in his work. His yearning for a simpler life seems thwarted when he finds the magic kinddom of Landover, a close analogy of Earth, with precariously balanced powers threatening each other, massive pollution, and general discontent centering on a lack of faith in leaders. This first volume in the new series is mainly introductory as Ben meets the locals and dashes off a few impossible tasks to assert his right to the throne.

Okay, I cut some of the description because it was opinion, not summary. I think the book was lacking *something* but given that it was written well over 20 years ago, I’m hoping Brooks has evolved as a writer since then. Apparently the newest book in this series, Princess of Landover, just came out this summer, so maybe I’ll be able to find it in a local bookstore.