Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama

LONG POST OF A BINGE READ OF A MANGA AHEAD- BEWARE. 

I tried not to mention anything that was spoilery, but like. Shrug.

I added a read more button because...I read like...basically the whole series and I don't wanna put you guys through that--there are some iconic gifs though

Volume 1:
I like....kind of know things because I've read some articles and I made the mistake of reading a post that said "No Spoilers" but definitely had spoilers (which I have tried to forget) 
WHY ARE ALL OF THEIR NAMES SIMILAR. I KNOW THEIR FACES BUT NOT THEIR NAMES. ...wait is this commentary on how we know people by how they look but not by who they really are.. No I'm overthinking and my one brain-cell can't take it. 
208 Pages

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

So this makes me uncomfy. Just like...War... But I guess it's good that war is making me uncomfortable.
Kitay is the best, and I love him. He's just a little nerd who loves to strategize and I love him.
And Nezha. I will always love Nezha.  
No one talk to me. I don't. I can't. I just like....
Rin's development throughout the book. Just. like. Wow.
Talking about the way that civil war ravages a country and how much it affects the innocent bystanders who are just simply trying to survive. Do I want to get on my soap box about the civil wars in the 1960s-80s. Yes I do. 
Did someone walk up behind me as I was finishing the book and see my crying.....yes. 
640 Pages

Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

This is a graphic memoir of Granny Lee Ok-sun, who as a young girl was abducted and forced to serve as a Korean "comfort woman" for the Japanese army during World War II. Accompanied by Gendry-Kim's black ink drawings, it makes for a dark, yet expressive story,depicting the heavy costs of war and poverty. I would highly recommend this for graphic novel fans. It's heart breaking, but it's soooo good.

Oh my goodness. This graphic novel. The feels...

480 pages

Read Harder Task #4

After We Fall by Melanie Harlow

After We Fall by Melanie Harlow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the book, but Jack has a past that was never cleared up what all happened. It would have been nice to have the missing pieces to get a better understanding of him. I just think that it would have made the book just that much better, because you don't really get to know him. I loved how the book started off, making you think one thing and it ended up being a completely different thing.  355 Pages

View all my reviews

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Unfortunately, this is the end of the line for me, and my actual score is more of a 2.5. I really wanted to love this one, but for me, it was drawn out and tedious. There was a huge lull from about 1/3 to 2/3, and I think this whole story could have been successfully accomplished and be far better in half the number of pages.

They still don't address the time travel issue in any way that is helpful or more satisfying than the previous novel, so I've effectively read 1,700 pages of a classic time travel novel and continue to have no answers or even clues to my most basic questions. All they did was give me more questions, and there's a point at which mystery and delay can be good for a story, but it's not after 1,700 frustrating pages of no real answers. I think I've finally accepted that actually addressing the concept of the story is never going to be a priority, and that sits poorly with me, since it's the concept that attracted me.

In addition, I got tired of rape scenes being used as filler to help drag the story out and add another 100 pages of drama. There's a limit to how much of that I want to continue to read, especially at this point.

This novel also diverged from almost everything I truly loved about book one, and that about did me in. Instead of being different or interesting, it took away all the things I loved most and expected me to hang on through those 600 or so middle pages of exhausting nonsense which did little to improve or progress the plot.

I just can't anymore. The characters aren't enough of a reason to continue on, especially now that I know these books are going to all be dreadfully long due to an inability to edit effectively, rather than a true need for each story to be so lengthy.

There's a phrase in the writing world that says, "kill your darlings." It basically means that if you want to have a good story, you have to be able to delete useless words, sentences, paragraphs, scenes, chapters, and sometimes even sections of your manuscript to create a better story. Unfortunately, there are no dead darlings in this monster. They're all there, and you have to read them all, no matter how slow, unnecessary, and boring they may be. And sometimes they aren't boring. Sometimes it's a funny scene but still completely useless to the story, in which case, I would have preferred some humor through a different method.

A drawn out story can be good, if there's enough motion to compel someone forward. There just isn't here, and I quit this book so many times and had to force myself to restart and restart and restart to finish it. While the ending was more interesting, it should have arrived 500 pages sooner, in order for me to continue onward. I don't by any means dislike a long book, but I can't slog through so many chapters of nonsense just to get to the good stuff. I'm not that patient. I think this just isn't my cup of tea after all, but I'm glad I finally know what this series is all about after years of wondering.

Book 148 Read in 2018

Pages: 976

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Art of War by Sun Tzu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is interesting, mostly because it’s ancient and has been translated to modern language. Beyond that, it’s kind of technical and list-y. You would have to really be into war and war strategies to take much out of it. I listened to it out of curiosity, since it was free on Audible channels.

This could be handy, in terms of theory and plotting war, for a fantasy writer.

If you aren’t planning war, or don’t tend to be fascinated by it, then this probably isn’t for you. However, the narrated version on Audible by Aidan Gillen (GOT) has a nice soothing sound for a book that’s all about war, so I made it through.

I think some of the tactics could be applied to other aspects of life.

Pages: 108

The Free by Willy Vlautin

Amazon description:

While serving in Iraq, veteran Leroy Kervin suffered a traumatic brain injury. Frustrated by the simplest daily routines, and unable to form new memories, he eventually attempts suicide. Lying in a coma, he retreats deep inside the memories locked in his mind. Freddie McCall works two jobs and still can't make ends meet. He's lost his wife and kids, and the house is next. Medical bills have buried him in debt, a situation that propels him to consider a lucrative—and dangerous—proposition. Pauline Hawkins is a nurse at the local hospital. Though she attends to others' needs with practical yet firm kindness, including her mentally ill elderly father, she remains emotionally removed. But a new patient, a young runaway, touches something deep and unexpected inside her.

320 pages

A Dance with Dragons, by Gearge R.R. Martin

This is volume 5 in the Game of Thrones series, and features the stories of Jon Snow, Tyrion, Daenarys and others, in a parallel timeframe with the events of vol. 4 in the series.  Daenarys faces the challenges of attempting to rule one of the cities she has conquered, often without success.  Word is getting about that there are dragons in the world again, and several 'heroes' set out to find them and persuade Daenarys to her side.  Much of the rest of the world is getting more and more bleak.  Some new characters come in to the saga, and some familiar characters meet untimely ends, leaving me to wonder where the story will go next.  1051 pages.

Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present by Max Boot

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

In war it is a fact that small bands of warriors are harder to defeat the a regular standing armies . A fact documented from the earliest of combat to the present day conflicts.

Audio:  34 hrs. 30 min.

Print:  784 pages

The Man Called Brown Condor by Thomas E. Simmons

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

The seven year old boy saw the airplane in 1911 and knew he wanted to fly, he left the south to Chicago, learned to fly, started a flying school. Later to prove black men could fly he served in Ethiopia as a pilot as the fought Fascist Italy in 1936.

288 pages.

The book of Jonas by Stephen Dau, read by Simon Vance

I picked this audiobook because the story sounded interesting-a young Muslim orphan who comes to America but has trouble adjusting to his new life.  Jonas' tale is interweaved with the story of the young American soldier who rescued him. Dau tries to describe the damage that war inflicts on soldiers and civilians but he doesn't give the reader any new insights on an age-old problem. I don't know if the fractured timeline doesn't work well in an audiobook format or if I just couldn't get interested in the plot.  In any case, the book didn't live up to my expectations. Unabridged, 5 hours 47 minutes.  272 pages.

Warhammer 40,000: Warriors of Ultramar by Graham McNeil

The Great Devourer has come to Tarsis Ultra. The alien Tyranids have come from outside the galaxy and their only goal is to consume everything in their path. Captain Uriel Ventris of the Ultramarines chapter of the Space Marines, the Imperium of Man's genetically engineered super soldiers, has arrived on the planet Tarsis Ultra with a coalition of allies to defend it from the Tyranid hordes. To do this he must use every ounce of skill and strength to defeat an unthinking enemy that knows no fear.

The second book in the Ultramarines Trilogy, the Warriors of Ultramar is probably one of the best novels produced for the Warhammer 40,000 series. It is grim and dark, but the characters are heroic and thoughtful. Uriel Ventris is a bastion of hope and humanity in a universe where those things are hard to come by. While some of the characters and side stories are rather unecessary, and the descriptions of how horrible and oozing with poisons and bio-plasma the Tyranids are, the book is a nonstop thrill ride of action and combat. Overall it is a good and exciting read.

Pages: 320

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Harper Audio. 11 hours 39 minutes
Read by Oliver Wyman

If you're offended by profanity you might want to skip this book.  But I can't imagine the story being told any other way. Billy Lynn and his army buddies are home on a two week victory tour.  They won a fire fight with a band of insurgents that was caught on tape by an embedded Fox News crew.  They are treated to parades, limos, complimentary Dallas Cowboy football tickets, and endless thanks for their service to their country.  They are also going to be shipped back to Iraq to finish out the rest of their deployment.  320 pages.

"The Proposal" by Mary Balogh

After being yelled at by the friend she's staying with, Gwendoline, Lady Muir, takes a long walk to clear her head.  She slips on her way up a hill and badly twists her ankle; she's not sure how she's going to make it back to town a mile away.  Major Hugo Emes, Lord Trentham, is staying with other former soldiers from the Napoleonic wars in the nearby estate when he sees Lady Muir fall.  Although he's now a lord, he's a middle class man who earned the title through heroic military actions, not family.  He takes her back to the estate where she must recuperate for a week.  Even though he has close friends from the aristocracy, he doesn't like most titled people and thinks they look down on him.  He tries hard not to like Lady Muir, a vibrant widow, but he's so drawn to her that he can't stay away.  Gwendoline also finds him attractive after getting used to his scowling and blunt manner.

Eventually, she goes back to London where she lives, and although he lives in the country, he goes to London for business reasons and to visit his half-sister and step-mother.  Constance is her sickly mother's caretaker, but Hugo knows she needs to be out in the world where she can meet other young adults and make a good match.  She begs him to let her attend one society ball, but he has no idea how to get an invitation let alone what she will need to wear and not look silly.  He finds Lady Muir and asks her to sponsor Constance for one ball, and she agrees. Will their mutual attraction be able to overcome their very different backgrounds and personalities to let them find happiness together?

Balogh is a wonderful storyteller, and this book reminds me of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  There is not much overt action in her books but more internal and external dialog about feelings, past events, and relationships.  Hugo and Gwendoline are total opposites.  Although a war hero, he's an introvert with social anxiety who would rather spend time in the country with his farm animals and gardens than with people.  She's an extrovert who loves the social parts of life and genuinely enjoys being around people.  But as they get to know each other, they find that they might just be what the other one needs.  This is another winner from Balogh and the first in her new Survivor's Club series.  320 pages.

The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson

A complex and indepth work, the book covers the period of the Thirty Years War (1618-1645) as well as extensively detailing the period immediately before the war. All the factions and nations involved are extensively profiled and discussed. Wilson also goes over much of the previous scholarship of the war in an attempt to make sense of the conflict's origins and causes. Well written and thoughtful the book does tend to get bogged down by an endless array of German princlings and locations. A good working knowledge of German geography would be useful to the reader. 851 pages.

Sun Tzu on the Art of War

author: Lionel Giles
pages: 197

This is what you have to read when you make a bet with a twelve year old boy. Actually wasn't a bad read, now I know how to win anything. :)

here is the inside cover blurb: These are the words of ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, whose now-classic treatise, The Art of War, was written more than 2,500 years ago. Originally a text for victory on the battlefield, the book has vastly transcended its original purpose.

Here is a seminal work on the philosophy of successful leadership that is as applicable to contemporary business as it is to war. Today many leading American business schools use the text as required reading for aspiring managers, and even Oliver Stone's award-winning film Wall Street cites The Art of War as a guide to those who strive for success.

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

This is the 4th in the 'Saxon Tales' series, which follows the struggle of King Alfred to drive the Danes out of England and establish a unified kingdom, in the late 9th century. The story is told by Uhtred, a Danish warrior and lord, who nonetheless has sworn to serve Alfred. Lots of action and swordplay, but I find the cultural conflicts between the Saxon Christians and Danish pagans most interesting. Well researched; the author gives some explanation in the endnotes of where he has followed history, and where he's added embellishments.
311 pages