On Writing: Book Review

I'm one of the people that would read Stephen King's grocery list if he published it. A "constant reader," if you will. I haven't read a Stephen King book I did'nt like.

On Writing is an great read even if you have no interest in becoming a author. I've read it twice and wouldn't hesitate to read it again. King is such a pro, he writes in a way that feels conversational. Reading one of his books is like listening to an old friend tell you a real whopper of a story.

On Writing reads like an extended introduction in one of his novels. Less than half of the book is dedicated to the real nuts and bolts of writing, most of it is about his childhood and how he got into writing as well as the time when he got a few of his first books published up to his accident when he was hit by a car. If you ask me On Writing could serve as the framework for a movie about Stephen King.

I highly recommend this book. 5/5 Stars

*Photo from Amazon.com

English Grammar for Dummies

I must be more of a "dummy" than I thought. I Found this great reference book English Grammar for Dummies. All the "For Dummies" books that I have read have really impressed me. When I was first getting into photography, most of what I learned was from Digital Photography All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies.

These books are written very simply. Just about anyone can pick them up and understand what they are reading without getting confused.

My one beef with this book is the examples the author gives. She goes though the trouble of breaking down complicated information about punctuation and sentence structure so it's easy to read and understand and then gives these terrible examples.

Here is one:

"Lochness snatched the atomic secret and quickly stashed it in his navel."

Come again...? Almost all of the examples are like this. They have characters with bizarre names doing bizarre things. Im sure this is intentional to be funny and entertaining, but it is distracting.

Other than the crazy examples I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to get a refresher on English grammar.

*Photo from Amazon.com

Ghost Story

I just started reading Ghost Story by Peter Straub. Good so far, but im not really sure where it's going.

Book Review: Ender's Game

This being a "writers" blog, I thought it would be appropriate to include book reviews. My first review is on Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. The 20th anniversary audiobook edition. If your looking to pick up a copy; here it is on Amazon.com http://xrl.in/2xwm. You can also read a review from the author there.

Quick Summary: Set in the future, Ender is a six year old boy sent away to battle school where he must learn to save mankind from an alien species known as "The Buggers."

Review (no spoilers): I had a friend in high school (maybe it was middle school) who tried to get me to read this book. “It's about aliens and video games,” he said. I'm not sure why I wasn't immediately sold; guess I was too busy reading about dragons and wizards. He ended up telling me about how the book ended, and I thought it sounded interesting, but never got around to reading it.

I finally got around to reading Ender's Game; listening to it to be more exact. Ender's Game is a great read. I like how it's a story about kids acting and speaking like adults even though they are very leery of them. It would be easy to forget how young most of the kids are until one of them calls the other a "fart eater."

Really, the only thing I didn't care for in the book the number of battles in battle school. They were entertaining at first, but got old fast. I didn't feel like they moved the story along. I felt like the author could have said everything he needed so say about these battles in two or three of them. It would be a bit like JK Rowling taking chapter after chapter to explain every aspect of every Quidditch match in the Harry Potter books. Sure, its fun to read a little here and there, but it's not the real meat and potatoes of the story.

What was most interesting to me was the interaction between Ender and his classmates; despite having the odds against him he still managed to make friends. Equally interesting was Ender's struggle to be a peaceful person despite every aspect of his surroundings trying to make him a killer.

I highly recommend this book.

Please feel free to leave comments about this review

*Photo from Amazon.com