Book Tag

Now here is a tag worth doing, one based on books!! Enjoy! (I got this from my friend from ward's blog).

1. Total Number of Books I've Owned:
I'll have to go do a quick count.....and it came in currently at 425 (with an estimated 30 books in storage...)

2. Last Book I Bought
Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

3. Last Book I Read
Purple Cow by Seth Godin (a good book on marketing and making a unique and remarkable product).

4. Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me

1. Homeland by R.A. Salvatore (this was the book that got me into the Fantasy Fiction genre and Salvatore remains my favorite author to this day, thank you Salvatore for countless hours and hours of enjoyment)

2. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (This one makes the list because it was the first novel that I read in sixth grade. Before that I read the Goosebumps series which was the series to read when I was young and that's why they're here as an honorary mention. My influential sixth grade teacher found I had a sophomore in High School reading level and encouraged me to read something at my level, thus Jurassic Park. The same was my favorite movie at the time and is still a timeless movie. The movie, on VHS, is still the best and most memorable present I have ever received from my Grandpa and Grandma Fiet. One last side note, thank you Nicole for using a sharpie on the book to block out all the foul words for this sixth grade reader. Thanks Crichton, RIP).

3. Scriptures. Those are a given and they are definitely the most influential on me as a person and are a continual guide to my life.

4. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (I think I read this in 8th ? grade and I include it because it was one of the only required reading books throughout my education that I enjoyed. I have heard more than one author say that they didn't enjoy reading in middle/high school because they either give you stupid books, or books that you aren't ready for yet. Apart from this book, everything I read in school that I enjoyed, I chose myself. Plus, Bradbury has become one of my latest favorite authors as I discover more and more of his genius as a writer. He truly is a literary genius and an artist of words)

5. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (My first enjoyable classic. Need I say more? Dumas is a brilliant writer and I discovered him in my first semester of college. Dumas has since inspired me to break out of my Fantasy/Sci-Fi shell and read other types of writing and other classics).

Now I'm supposed to tag....do it if you enjoyed it...

Eragon

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Eragon was a really good fantasy read. Not the best epic series ever, but considering the author started writing this at 15 years old and was a New York Times Bestseller by 19, you have to give him some respect.

The first 30 pages were tough to get through for a staunch fantasy reader (just look at my cloud of things read!). Things seemed repeated from other fantasy series. For example: the brutal, northern mountain range near Eragon's hometown is named "The Spine," hmm, reminiscent of "The Spine of the World" in the Forgotten Realms? Yep. And the biggest city near to Eragon's hometown is named "Carvahall," while I can't put my finger on it, I feel like I've seen this elsewhere. Anyways, it had very generic first pages that were not very gripping.

I can't exactly put my finger on a certain point in the story but it's like the book is a ship launched from a beach: the beginning is not smooth at all; but once you get past the crashing waves and into the deep blue sea of the story, it just sucks you in. I can't wait to dive into the next one! Thanks Paolini for a great read!

Oh, and the other thing that kind of bugged me was a moment when Eragon went out onto the plains and a storm was brewing overhead. He looked up into the thunderheads and imagined the clouds to be the vaulted ceiling of a majestic Cathedral, with pillars, and flowing arches. He grew up in a little po-dunk town at the rim of civilization and has never seen a mid-sized town, let alone some kind of Cathedral. The only other way he would have heard about it would be from some story-teller or Bard, and when do Story-teller's relate the "tale of the grand Cathedral?" I digress and found this artistic writing device to be unbelievable, though it did make a nice mental picture.

Ok, a slow get-go and one sentence that I found to be not believable is no grounds to put down this book. It was a great read, with minute flaws. Hence, four out of five stars.

View all my reviews.

Poll (Participation Required)

Well, right now I am reading a great book called Point of Impact by Stephan Hunter (for those who don't know, and I'll assume that's everyone, it is the basis for the movie Shooter, one of my favorites). The problem is this: I have so many books that I want to read that I don't know what to read next!! For me this has never been a problem, I always know which book I'm going to read next. So today when I was thinking about this (yes, I know it's sad that I think about it), I thought "maybe I'll blog about it and see what my readers (i.e. family) have to say about it?" Also at the same time it's a chance for me to see who else reads my blog apart from my sisters and brothers (hint, hint).
So here is the list of options (in no particular order):

-Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
-Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
-Eragon by Christopher Paolini
-Foundation by Isaac Asimov
-Total Recall by Piers Anthony
-The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card
-The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card
-Treasure Box by Orson Scott Card
-The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
-Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
-A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
-Old Man's War by John Scalzi
-The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
-The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley

Obviously I am open to suggestions but will place two restrictions:
1) My book budget is maxed-out through October so I probably won't be able to buy your suggestion (and I don't like libraries)
2) I WILL NOT READ the Twilight series (or The Host), sorry

So thanks to all in advance for your votes and let me know what you think. Also, if you haven't noticed, I have been keeping a list of books read along the side bar of this blog (I actually had to create a separate list for comic books) so you can see what I've read so far this year, Thank You to Lisa Kirtley for that idea.