Scrounging through boxes containing remnants of my past life, I ran across some paperbacks. Most of them were mine, and I had read them long ago, but it seems that at some point my father's books overflowed into my old room before my mother packed up my things. I found Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men in amongst the bad Piers Anthony novels (the Xanth series) and grabbed it along with Dune by Herbert, slipping them into my carry-on bag while I was packing. OMAM made for quick reading on the...

I've been harping on my relationship for far too long. It's time to write about what I promised when I started this blog --nerdy stuff. This is a link my old roomie and fellow Tolkienite sent me. I got a kick out of it and thought I would share. http://uncyclopedia.org/images/b/bd/Europe_middle_earth.JPG Link Along the same lines, here is my favorite website for Hobbit and Elf name generators http://www.chriswetherell.com/hobbit/ Link http://www.chriswetherell.com/elf/ ...

I recently finished reading Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. This fictional story about the woman who was Pope is a fairly good read. The writing is a little dry in places, but much more original than say, Dan Brown. I found it entertaining and enjoyable. Pope Joan is a semi-historical figure / legend who I hope existed just because. The author makes no allusions to historical accuracy and in fact gives you the real historical dates at the end of the book and tells you what she c...

I find myself getting more and more frustrated by all these people that watch Spider-Man (2); X-Men (2); The Hulk; The Fantastic Four; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; and the list goes on (for about a mile of 10 pt, Arial font); and then try and act like they know the story lines of the heroes involved. These are the same people many times that get upset if you act like you know Star Wars from watching the movies, or even Harry Potter. A majority of these people would rather die than a...

I actually read this book several months ago, but just finished it's sequel, so I figured I'd drop a review of this one first, and then another review for the sequel. Anyway, a couple of buddies at work recommended the book to me, and I think it was pretty good. It's not the deepest book out there, and if you just want a light read and are into military history and military technology, you might like it. It's essentially the plot of the movie "The Final Countdown", which for those who...

Just a few words to encourage folks that haven't picked up The Broker , by John Grisham, to give it a try. I've liked pretty much all of Grisham's books, though I've not read a few of the library he has available. I did however recently breeze through The Broker, and really enjoyed it. It was a great read, and was highly entertaining. Perhaps a little predictable, but still well worth the time spent reading it. It's out in paperback (which is what I read), and less expensive (by f...

Terinspirasi posting kemaren [ GORO² B0S0 ENG-GRES ! ], saya pengen menawarkan pada temen-temen untuk merasakan wisata kota Jogja di atas "ayunan sepeda onta", he he he masuk akal gak yaa ... ?Iya, uang hasil penjualan [ sepeda federal ] kemaren aku belikan sepeda klasik Jowo - Onta [ merk Simplex-Amsterdam ], foto-foto sepeda klasikku ada di link [ ini ]. Sepeda wisata dilaksanakan sejak pagi hari hingga malam hari, melewati Hotel Garuda, Malioboro, Kepatihan, Matahari Mall Malioboro, O...

I despise bad writing, but particularly bad writing that makes it into print. Julia Ecklar's novel "Star Trek: The Kobayashi Maru" is such a case. The book is so poorly written I had to read it in fits and starts over a period of a month. It is so forgettable that between readings I had totally forgotten what had come before and had to do considerable back-skimming to recapture the thread. I cannot remember a single time I've ever had to do that before, and I've read thousands of books. ...

One of the books that I'm doggedly trying to complete is The Canterbury Tales, by that charming fellow Geoffrey Chaucer. It's not my first attempt, and sadly, I'm certain it's not going to be my last, either. But I'm pleased with myself for the effort, but that's precisely what it is. And I have put forth a lot of effort in this. I've done a fair bit of research about various publications of The Canterbury Tales and, I can agree: it's all about the translation. And this is where Welsh...

Both my roommate and I have preordered the new Harry Potter book. We cannot wait for it to arrive in the mail the day it is released. I'm curious to see if this one will break all the records set by the last one. So who's preordered it already? All those of you that like to speculate, tell me what one character you think is most likely to die. We all know that characters must start dying, since there is to be a war of epic proportions, so which character is going to kick the bucket?

I'm nearing the end of the main body of Sci Fi work of Isaac Asimov. I've now consumed the Foundation Series (7 books), The Empire Triology (3 books I had to track down used since they're out of print), The Robot Triology, several of the robot shortstory books, and Robots & Empire (the book to tie Robots, Empire and Foundation together). Not to mention a few of the not quite integrated works (though hinted at in his later Foundation books); Nemesis, The Gods Themselves and End of Eternety. ...

JMS, the man who developed Babylon 5, works on the Spider-Man comic book also developed a mini-comic book series called Rising Stars. Rising Stars is a limited series comic book about 113 children who are given super human powers and how they grow up and deal with it (along with their peers and their government -- the United States in this case). The story started out well but JMS, who seems unable to get along with anyone (that's right fan boys, I think JMS has some ego problems) stopped ...

This is for all of you that like the unusual. This series by Laurell KJ. Hamilton is just that. Here's a preview from the first book "Guilty Pleasures" in the series. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know if you do. This is one series where you don't know what to expect. My name is Anita Blake. Vampires call me The Executioner. What I call them isn't repeatable. Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fan...

In the autumn of 1880 many strange stories were afloat in India concerning the studies and practices of what is now widely known as occult science, indulged in and made manifest by the late Madame Blavatsky, the authoress of _Isis Unveiled,_ who claimed to possess in a high degree, by nature, those attributes which spiritualists describe (without professing to understand) as "mediumship". Prominent members of Anglo-Indian society associated themselves with Madame Blavatsky, supported her, ...

Rudy’s Workshop This is the story of the head elf, Rudy and his life of never-ending grief and craziness on the North Pole. Santa is always drunk, drowning his depression over Mrs. Claus #2 running off with the ex-head elf, Marty. So, with Santa constantly hung-over, Rudy is promoted/stuck with running everything. The Pole as everyone calls it is a major urban/industrial world to itself. They have immigration problems, organized crime, neurotic elves, and all the same type of people and ...