A Few Book-Baths

      Today I left 11/22/63 in my locker (it was pouring outside, I didn't want to get it wet), and it's got me thinking about the books I've destroyed or mangled over the years.

1. Eragon- I loved this book sooo much (even after figuring that it was essentially a mash-up of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings)... I read it so many times that it literally fell in two! I was naturally scared to death for a bit (okay... that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's true nonetheless) before I brought the two uneven halves to school, where a teacher did some fancy stuff with tape. To this day I don't know how it put it back together. About a year later, I sat and read on the swings, went in for dinner, forgot about it, and found it the next day, a wet heap of paper. Why I didn't think of rain, I don't know, and I was left with two halves of a soggy book haphazardly held together by peeling tape.
2. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers- My first time reading the book, on a trip to Disney World with family, I decided to bring the book down to the pool. We (we being me and my dad) sat at what I thought was far enough from the pool so that what we had would not get wet. Evidently that was not true- it received a light drizzle of water, enough to crinkle the pages, but not enough to cause the ink to spread. I was miffed, but it didn't ruin the vacation.

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal

Review: The Dark Tower VII- The Dark Tower

      Alright... It's over. I hate finishing good series, if only because I love living along with the characters, and finishing means I can't be with them anymore (almost sounds insane, right?). My life, since spring break early this year, has been nearly dominated by Roland, Eddie, Jake, Susannah, and Oy. I'm honestly wondering what it'd be like not reading about their adventures- because they have been such a constant force in my life. Anyway, how do I begin reviewing this 1000+ page book?

      Let's start with the positives. I could go on and on. The character growth among these five is stunningly amazing- even Oy, despite being a dog/raccoon- type creature (called a billy-bumbler). Of course, Eddie is my favorite character by far... His jokes were timely and awesome, and brought an element of hilarity to bad situations. The fulfillment of Roland's dream, laying his eyes on the Dark Tower, was great. Roland's being thrown back to the beginning of the series is a concept I find fascinating, and has me thinking. How many times has he been through the journey? After Susannah's, Eddie's, and Jake's reunion in New York, will they appear in Roland's next journey? Is the Crimson King still trapped as a set of eyes on a balcony of the Tower, or is he back in action? Have the Beams been permanently saved, or will Roland have to stop the Breakers again? Will Roland have to face off with Mordred again? The questions go on and on.

      Here come a few things that set me off a bit. One, I feel like that with the amount of energy put into the fact that Mordred was this sort of evil guy that would help destroy the Tower (or Roland), his death seemed a bit quick and inconclusive to me. I almost felt a bit let down by the fact that he posed so much of a threat throughout this book, yet he didn't really hinder Roland and friends much at all (except for the huge sidequest he caused, in Song of Susannah, but that's another book). Two: I'm still not sure how I felt about the inclusion of lightsabers  (Although those were in Wolves of the Calla), exploding snitches, and all the pop culture references that were put in to move the plot along. (Hey Jude is popular in both worlds?) I'm left wondering whether King had lost inspiration at these parts, or was trying to tie our world and Roland's together.

      All in all, I loved the series. I have it up there with Lord of the Rings as a series (although there's no way King matched the extensive background that Tolkien put into Middle-Earth). Might I add how coincidental it is that I finished the series on the nineteenth of November? (The number nineteen is a big plot element throughout the series.)

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal

Literature By Character

      In this post I'll list out some of the characters I've loved the most throughout my readings. They won't be in any particular order, just a general list of my favorites.

• Eddie Dean (Dark Tower series, Stephen King)- I really like Eddie for millions of reasons, but mainly because he has such a dark past to him, yet he's such a purely awesome and hilarious person... and I feel like if I would have acted much like he did had I been put in all the bizarre situations that Roland put him through. 
• Samwise Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien)- He's such a great, loyal friend who never leaves Frodo's side. Of all the characters in LotR, I've always identified with him the most, with all the motivations that drive him.
• Johannes Verne (The Lonesome Gods, Louis L'Amour)- He's well-read, he's sure of himself, and there's something definite about him that I identify with. I genuinely wanted to see what he would do next.

       Yeah, it's a short list... I'll make another post when I think of more.

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal

Authors I’d Like to Meet

      Who wouldn't like to have a long conversation with the people they admire? Ask them why and how they did what they did? Here's a list of authors I'd like to meet and talk with.

1. Stephen King
2. Michael Crichton
3. J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Louis L'Amour
5. Zane Grey
6. Ray Bradbury
7. Douglas Adams
8. J.G. Ballard
9. Isaac Asimov
10. Charles Dickens

What would I ask them? Here's another list.

1. How did you find your love for and talent with writing?
2. Where did you get the ideas for your stories?
3. How do you feel about the success of your novels?

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal

Me, The Vaguely-Omnipotent Blogger

      With this post, I'm going to do a sort of 'profile' of myself. Have fun!

      What can I say about myself? I'm seventeen years old, in high school. I do enjoy writing, but I'm terrible about getting around to doing it (I'm trying to challenge myself by posting something every day). I can be opinionated about certain things, but I prefer not to be very outspoken about those opinions. I can be described as a 'nerd'- I like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc; I'm into computer-stuff, and I am a huge bookworm. Certain things do set me apart from other people (I believe)- I prefer cold weather to hot weather, I'm actually pretty anti-social outside school, I can be very stubborn, I listen to classic rock music (The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beatles, etc), I would rather use Windows (or a Linux distribution) than a Macintosh.
       I love, love, love keeping up with events around the world. I'm obsessed with world history, and I want to really keep up so I can recount to my children and grand-children what life was like in the crazy beginnings of the 21st century. It would be cool to keep a video diary so my descendants can actually see me in my youth, but alas, I have neither the video camera nor the patience.
      What do I want to do with my life? I have no clue. I'm thinking about going more into social sciences in college, and seeing what happens after that. Maybe living in a small town all my life, one where I know everybody, and where I could walk to all the places I needed. Maybe opening my own little business. I wouldn't be able to do the whole big-city thing. I can't handle the unadulterated chaos, the constant bustle, and the noise of the city. That's just me, I guess, and I'm just fine with that.
      Is that enough? I hope so- I'm out of anything to say.

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal

My Current Reading Addiction

     Being the avid reader that I am, I have noticed a trend in the books that I read. Once I read a book, and I like it, I seem to become almost an addict to the works of that author, in a way. I have done so with J.R.R. Tolkien (author of the Lord of the Rings), and also with Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park). This 'addiction' of sorts lasts maybe for a year or two, as I become tired of the author.

     Right now- I'm into Stephen King novels. He's got to be one of the best authors of our time (okay, I admit, I am a bit biased). I'm wrapping up the Dark Tower series as of the moment I type this.. afterwards I'll take a short break as I take a chunk out of the backlog of books I have yet to read.

     What I love about the stories he writes isn't the horrific scenes or the extreme level of detail that he goes into, but the depth of the characters the he creates. You end up truly loving the characters, and want to  cheer them on through their hardships and congratulate them when they succeed with something. When you finish the book, you feel as if you had really known each character, and that they had been there for part of your life. It almost affects you when a character suffers a grievous loss, or they suddenly die in some way.

     There are so many possibilities when you really take some time to read. The written word can express so much more than film, I think. Novels aren't constrained by the amount of time people are willing to spend reading something, but rather how much people would rather read, and I believe that makes a big difference.

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal