Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman I expected this to be like Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. And I got what I wanted. It’s a tightly paced retelling of the old Norse creation myths. Problem is, there aren’t many of them. I suspect that’s more to do with lack of surviving source material, given what Neil Gaiman says in the foreword. Maybe a long time ago there were scrolls and scrolls of Loki and Thor stories. Now all we’ve got are comic books. And if you’re any fan of Marvel’s interpretations, this is required reading. The nice thing is that the re-tellings are up to date. I expected something Shakespearean or textbook-dry, like…
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The Books I Read: March – April 2016
Firefight by Brandon Sanderson For some reason, my library sent me Calamity, the third book in the series, before Firefight. This made me have to buy Firefight and quickly read it. Last year, Steelheart was one of the very very few five-star books I read, so I figured I had to pick up the sequel. It does a good job of expanding on the world established in the first book, while not deviating too much from the formula (going to a city to kill a powerful superhero). This time, it’s a water-manipulator in a flooded Manhattan, who’s got an exploder and miscellaneous other villains. Like most second parts of a…
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The Books I Read: May – June 2015
Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul by various authors If you haven’t noticed, I could use a little pick-me-up for my writing these days. Or maybe a Phoenix Down or Philosopher’s Stone. We all need some motivation some times. I was hoping that this book could add a little gumption to my typing fingers. But the articles just don’t give much to inspire. In fact, a lot of them did the opposite. They told me just how much more others achieved with so little to start with. The “genius” authors as I call them — the ones whose success and talent cannot be duplicated or learned. It just comes naturally…