Reading week...

The title might be a little mis-leading this week as Lincoln Uni don't do the whole reading week thing, however since this week has mostly consisted of catching up with friends I've got nothing to really talk about so instead I'm going to talk about something I take great interest in, reading.

I've spent much of this week reading Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and well it has been a battle. I started it around the time I was at regionals back in October and just haven't really put any time into it. I mean over summer before first year I finished around 13 books in about 3 months, I'm barely half way through two towers and it's been about the same time. However I have been fully enjoying reading it when I've gotten into it. I have noticed how different to the books the films are though. The battle for Helm's Deep is a very key moment in the film but in the book it seems quite short and almost as if it doesn't matter, despite it being the Rohirim's final stand against the armies of Isengard. I mean I can understand why the film heavily dramatised the moment as it makes for an interesting scene, like the other differences between the films and books, I can understand why they've done it and I'm not complaining they both work brilliantly. The films are still some of my favourite movies and the books are climbing my list of good books.

I think my favourite trilogy of books will forever be The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks as they are just fantastically well written, well paced books. I've read the trilogy at least 6 times over as when I start with one I just can't put them down until I've finished all 3. The way the story develops over the three books is just incredible, it drew me in instantly. Considering I bought the trilogy having never heard of it before, as part of a deal Waterstones were doing (something like buy two get one free) I was not disappointed by them in the slightest. I was kinda disappointed (if that's the right word to use) when I finished the last one and found out that was it. Brent has said that he might be writing another trilogy in the same world following on some years later however he is working on the Lightbringer trilogy at the moment. I've read the first one of that trilogy and I loved it, it was different to The Night Angel books but still a gripping story that I struggled to put down, I've got the second book laying under my bed waiting to be read after I finish Lord of the Rings.

My favourite on going book series has to go to the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. So many consistently good books with a captivating storyline and plot with multiple over arching elements that even after 13 books haven't all entirely come to light yet. I'm dying to get my hands on a copy of Cold Days however it's only in hardback right now and since I've got all the others in paper back I kinda cant start getting hardbacks now, but since I prefer paperbacks anyway I don't mind waiting a while.

I don't know why but I've always had a love of reading. There's just something about it that I find really relaxing. Maybe it's the way you can pick up a book and start reading about another world and just detach from this one. It's amazing the way you can become so taken in by a few words on a page that somehow manage to paint a vivid image in your mind of the events transpiring. Some books even have the ability to make you feel the tension as if you're there to experience it. Books manage to contain so much in so little space its amazing. They have the ability to make you laugh or (depending on who you are) cry with just a few words or pages.

E-books and E-readers will never appeal to me, I can see their pros and cons but I'll never be able to substitute a proper solid book. The idea of staring at a screen for even more hours of the day when we already spend so much of our time looking at them throughout our everyday live be it TV or computer. I can see why commuters use them, they're light and compact and easy to pick up and put down, automatically bookmarking your last page so you don't have to fiddle with a bookmark or whatever other scheme you use to mark your page.

I guess that's all I've got to say, I could talk for alot longer about books and reading but I guess I should call it for now. The weekend ahead should be awesome, traveling up to Attleborough to visit Christina, which I can't wait for, it's only been a week so far but it feels like a helluva lot longer.

Catch ya later folks