What am I reading now?

"The Wastelands" by Stephen King - book three of the 'Dark Tower' series. Roland's quest continues.....

Review "The Drawing of the Three" by Stephen King

"The Drawing of the Three" is the second book in King's 'Dark Tower' series. It continues the story of Roland, the Gunslinger, on his quest for the Dark Tower.

In this book Roland must journey to our world through three magical doors to draw back three people to help him on his quest. Seems simple enough? How about if the three were a junkie on an airplane with several pounds of cocaine taped to his body, a schizophrenic woman whose other identity is evil and violent, and a homicidal maniac. Oh yeah, and the place where the doors are located is a beach where giant man-eating lobster monsters come out every night.......
As you can see, Roland has a bit of a hard time in this book.

But I enjoyed it more than the first book (Gunslinger) which was a little stranger. It was easy to read and hard to put down - a good combination. I can't wait to start the next one.

(Note: for fans of the "The Stand", which is the only other King book I have read - Roland remembers an encounter with an evil man named Flagg in this book!)

What am I reading?

"Turning of the Three" by Stephen King - Book 2 of the Dark Tower series.


So far it is much better than the first book - very entertaining.

Review of 'Oblivion'

The image to the left is taken from 'Oblivion', a computer game developed by Bethesda Softworks. It is not a staged "mock-up" screenshot - that is what the game actually looks like, and it is visually very, very impressive.

'Oblivion' is an RPG (role-playing game) but differs from most RPGs in that is a first person game (you view the game from the direct person of one person, instead of a top down view of everything going on) and involves some intense mouse use and button pushing. (In computer game terminology, the game is 'twitchy', which means that it takes some action and coordinated mouse use to succeed, as opposed to games that are more turn based and less intensive.) This first person perspective makes the game intense at times - as you creep along a darkened tomb with a flickering torch and something jumps out and hits you in the side while roaring...... well, I jumped a few times while playing this late at night.


The plot of the game involves a threat to the world of Cyrodil from a placed call (obviously) Oblivion. Portals are opening up around the countryside allowing monsters to stream through, threatening the peaceful citizens of the world and overwhelming the military. In a carefully orchestrated plot, the Emporer (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is assassinated and you are charged with finding his sole heir (voiced by Sean Bean - who was Boromir in the LOTR movies) and saving the world.



The game is entertaining and notable for several features:

1) The graphics are amazing. I think the overall graphics are the best I have seen in any game ever. I especially like the outdoor graphics - the grass, brush, trees, rocks are all just right. The grass and leaves move with the breeze.




The game has snow, rain, clouds moving across the sky. When your character walks on snow you hear a crunching sound, when walking across a stream you hear a light splashing sound.

2) The gameplay is very open and non-linear. By this I mean that while there is a main quest to be completed that it is not the only available to do. On the contrary, in Oblivion, if you want to ignore the main quest for weeks and enjoy the rest of the game, that is ok. Or do parts of the main quest, then leave it for days and come back later. There are so many other things to see and do that it is almost inconceivable to me that someone could 'complete' this game. There are hundreds of dungeons, caves, tombs, forts, camps, etc. to explore. And your character can be developed in any way you chose - the game has some preset classes (knight, wizard, thief, etc.) but you don't have to use them - pick what skills you like to use and combine them into a custom character. (Have it your way......) There are really no limitations on how you develop your character or choose the paths to adventure.



3) The amount of choice available in the game can be overwhelming at times. Where do I go next? What do I do? Many of the quests in the game just naturally come along - you sell some loot to a merchant, she asks for help with a competitor whose prices are suspiciously low, you follow this other merchant to his supplier and then discover the source of the cheap merchandise (grave robbing) and find the supplier to put a stop to it. But the supplier suspects you are on to him and has set a trap for you in a local graveyard.......


The bottom line: A very enjoyable and fun game. Absolutely worth the money. Lots of replay value. Amazing graphics and sound effects. Lots of choices. The game does have some bugs in it and will occasionally lock up and crash. It also requires a very serious PC and graphics card to run it (or an Xbox360).


This game is rated "T" for Teens and is not for small children or the squeamish. There are large sections of blood and gore in this game. If you cannot handle those scenes do not buy or play the game.



Note: In the interest of full disclosure, my brother-in-law was an artist who helped develop this game and I playtested the game before its release.

Thought for the Day

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)

Review "The Gunslinger" By Stephen King

The only Stephen King book I had ever read before this was "The Stand." After I a finished with the Dark Tower series I doubt I will read another one. He is an excellent writer, but I am not big into the horror stuff.

"The Gunslinger" is an interesting book - it is a combination of fantasy / sci-fi /western that leaves you wondering what is going on and where did these people come from? Some future post-apocalyptic version of Earth? Parallel worlds? The character of the Gunslinger (Roland) is a brilliant creation. He is a hero on a quest to find the Dark Tower, and perseveres where others would give up or change course.

The book is ambiguous enough and leaves so many questions unanswered that you feel the need to read the next one quickly.

This book was also strange and disturbing in parts. King has an excellent way of getting under a reader's skin and making you feel uncomfortable (I remember it well from the parts of the Stand involving Randall Flagg.)

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was different, and I have heard from others that the later books are much better, so I look forward to them.

What am I reading?

I am currently reading "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King. This is the first book of his Dark Tower series. My first impression (after 100 pages or so) is that this book is strange. But I have heard this book is the strangest and the series gets better and better, so I will wait and see......

Review "Sorcerer: Metamorphosis" By Jack Whyte

"Sorcerer" is the next book in Mr. Whyte's Camulod series. In this book Arthur comes of age (finally!) and Merlyn changes from military leader to sorcerer. Merlyn completes Arthur's training and leads him back home to fight a war and assume the throne.

Mr. Whyte does an excellent job of describing an era when Arthur could have existed and how the essential elements of the story could have come about (Merlyn, Camelot, the Sword, the round table, close friends from Scotland, etc.) And his setting seems to be very historically accurate to me (Saxons and Danes invading Britain and driving everyone before them.....some fringes of Roman civilization hanging on, Celts, Druids, etc.)

While I have stated before that this series is slow (and it is), I enjoyed it. It is a new and interesting take on the Arthurian legend using the historical fiction approach. But if you wanted to read a series about Arthur I would point you toward Mary Stewart or Bernard Cornwell first.

There are two more books in the series, but I am in no rush to read them.

My Ten Favorite Movies

Since it is summer movie season I thought this would be a fun post to do. I worked on this list years ago when someone asked me the question "What are your favorite movies?".

Note: I do not think these are the best movies of all time, just my favorites. These are movies that I love and could watch again and again. Many great movies are sad or disturbing and I just don't want to see them again (ie 'Schindler's List'.)

So here we go:

1. The Return of the King (Lord of the Rings)
2. The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings)
3. The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings)
4. The Empire Strikes Back
5. The Blues Brothers
6. Star Wars
7. Outlaw Josey Wales (my favorite western)
8. X-Men 2
9. Return of the Jedi
10. Saving Private Ryan (This movie should be required viewing for American high school seniors.)

Honorable Mention:
LA Confidential, The Matrix, Master and Commander, X-Men and X-Men 3, Shawshank Redemption, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Sting, The Magnificent Seven, Princess Bride

The worst movie I have ever paid money to see?
Easy - Godzilla (1998 version). It was amazingly bad - and I like monster movies.
The fact that this movie ended up grossing $350 million worldwide makes me question the taste of my fellow man. Were they all suckered in like me?

Thought for the Day

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed on and digested.
Francis Bacon

What am I reading now?

I am currently reading "Sorcerer: Metamorphosis" by Jack Whyte. This is the next book in the Arthurian Camulod saga by Mr. Whyte.

I enjoy these books, but especially right after the "Faithful Spy" they seem SLOOOOOWWWWWW.

At least Arthur will get the sword in this one. (I hope.)

Review "The Faithful Spy" by Alex Berenson

Mr. Berenson has written an enjoyable spy novel about an American agent who has infiltrated Al Queda. But of course the problem with infiltrating Al Queda is that it takes so long and you must truly convert to Islam and do lots of bad things so by the time someone actually does it........ the officials in the US government don't trust that person anymore.

The author is a reporter for the NY Times who has covered the war in Iraq and therefore has a real understanding of the motivations of both sides in the war. And unlike a Tom Clancy book, Berenson takes the time to show some of the things wrong with the United States and why some people hate it so much.

This book was exciting and hard to put down. It wasn't full of deep thoughts or meanings but it had a very plausible plot and lots of good action and characters.

So, if you enjoy spy novels by Le Carre or are just interested in a gripping summer read then I would recommend this book.

Thought for the Day

“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.”
Albert Camus quote

Levels of Books

I have a personal belief that books can divided into several different levels of quality and depth. There are good reads at every level, but you get different things out of each one.

In order from highest art form to lowest:

Literature. Big, serious books that ought to be deeply discussed in college courses. But not just books written hundreds of years ago. Some non traditional books I would throw into this category include "Life with Pi", "The Lord of the Rings", and "Dune" by Frank Herbert (the sequels do not fall into this category and the recent stuff by his son falls into the pulp fiction category.)

High quality books: Better than average books with real depth and characters. Examples include "The Time Traveler's Wife", "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night Time", "Song of Fire and Ice" series by George R.R. Martin, "Cold Mountain", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" by Stephen R. Donaldson, and the Roman series by Colleen McCullough. (The sequels to Dune written by Frank Herbert would fall here.)

Good books: Solid, well-written books. Enjoyable. "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, "The Stand" by Stephen King, Bernard Cornwell and Robert Harris for historical fiction, "Harry Potter" series, "The Da Vinci Code", etc.


Pulp fiction: Mass produced books read by large numbers of people. Entertaining but little or no depth. Grisham (almost all) and Chrichton fall into this category. (I am not disparaging these books - I read them! But I am just trying to differentiate between levels of quality....)

Crap: Too many to list. Everything by Dan Brown other than "Da Vinci Code" headlines this list. See my topic on books I stopped reading.

What am I reading now?

I am currently reading "The Faithful Spy" by Alex Berenson. This is a Le Carre-style spy novel with the hero being an American agent who has infiltrated Al Queda. But of course since he did get into Al Queda, many American officials no longer trust him......

So far, it is excellent - very enjoyable.

Added: This book is a real page turner. It is hard to put it down and stop reading. Also, a portion of the book takes place in Atlanta....

Review "The Fort at River's Bend" By Jack Whyte

This is the continuation of Mr. Whyte's Arthurian Camulod series. In this book Arthur is a boy growing into a young man. Since his enemies know who he is, Merlyn takes him away from Camulod to a secluded fort in Northwestern England. Here, with a few loyal friends, he continues Arthur's education and training.

I enjoy Mr. Whyte's historical fiction style of writing and his version of ancient England. But sometimes the pace of this series drags on me - Book Six is over and Arthur is a teenager who still hasn't seen or held Excalibur. And Mr. Whyte is still writing the series - so how long could it go? 15 books?

I enjoy it but I will still pick Mary Stewart, T.H. White or Bernard Cornwell's versions over this series....