Great Books

Dania was harping on me again for not posting on this, so I promised her I'd write something today. I don't know why. I really don't have anything to say. My rants flow better in person, when I get some feedback as I am ranting. I guess I'll just have to make do.

Actually, I thought about doing a rant, but I can't really come up with any good topics. Today you'll have to deal with a rave. I'll just kind of type and whatever comes up stays (minus typos). You know what book series is really good? Orson Scott Card's Shadow series. The first book in the series is Ender's Shadow which is a stand-alone companion novel to his better known Ender's Game. I really like Ender's Shadow better, though. I connect better to Bean than I do to Ender. In fact, as the series progresses, I find myself more and more like Bean. I'm not claiming to have the super-extraordinary mind powers of Bean. I'm not a genetically engineered human. But there are several situations in which Bean's thought processes are highlighted, and I find my thought processes tend to be very similar to his. I think the same way Bean thinks, and thus the series entraps me. I come to learn more about my own behavior by examining Bean's. I'll call it exocentered introspection. Yes, I totally just made that term up. I honestly will find myself in conversation and say things almost exactly the way Bean says them in the novels. I highly recommend this book series. It even has some good political commentary in the later books.

Another good author that any self-respecting sci-fi/fantasy fan should read is Brandon Sanderson. He is, quite simply, the best currently-writing fantasy author. His works are comparable to Tolkein, although I still think they may fall a bit short.  His writing is much more accessible, however, than Tolkein's, as it uses 21st century English instead of Tolkein's early 19th century structure. His debut novel, Elantris, is probably the hardest of his books to get through (though I think it is his best), so I recommend starting with the Mistborn trilogy. And if instead of heavy fantasy, you prefer some humor, his Alcatraz books are the funniest novels I have ever read, bar none. I seriously laughed out loud at least once every 10 pages when I read those books for the first time. Sanderson is definitely my current favorite author, with Elantris, Mistborn, Well of Ascension, and Hero of Ages (the three novels in the Mistborn trilogy) all making it into my top 25 books I've ever read. I am an admitted fantasy junky, but even those who aren't the biggest fantasy fans should read his books.