Lost for words
26 Jan
Since the launch of Mighty Ape last September I’ve been far more motivated to read books than I was previously… mostly thanks to them being within arms’ reach of me. Here’s what I’ve read in the last four months…
This is actually four books (with part three being split into two volumes).
Well. I was more or less addicted to each of these volumes whilst reading them, and am very much looking forward to the next edition, A Dance with Dragons. I’d go so far as to say that this series is probably my all-time favourite book.
The books are written in a way that each chapter is devoted to a certain character and yet Martin has an uncanny ability to make every chapter and every character interesting in its own right. The story is epic in nature and the important characters number in the dozens and yet it all feels effortless.
I recommended this very, very highly. The only downfall is that there is still three unpublished volumes to come.
Running 50 marathons on consecutive days caught my eye as a rather extreme thing to do. Turns out Dean Karnazes is a rare breed of runner, one who partitipates in severe endurance events ranging from 50 to 200 and more miles. 50 Marathons chronicles Karnazes’ successful attempt at running 50 marathons in 50 days in each of the U.S.A.’s 50 states. It’s an easy and inspirational read.
I’ve never read a graphic novel before, so Watchmen seemed like a good place to start considering its status as one of Time Magazine’s “100 English-language Novels from 1923 to the present”. It’s a definite read, but it came across to me as something that may have felt a lot more like genius when it was first released in 1987. Reading it for the first time over 20 years later, some of the novel came across as a little predictable; but that may not be Watchmen‘s fault.
More from Karnazes; this is actually his first book, but I read it after I read 50 Marathons. Ultramarathon Man tells the story of some of the extreme distance events that Karnazes has survived, including running a 200 mile relay race by himself. Again, an easy and inspirational read.
True to its name, It’s not about the bike is about more than just cycling (although cycling is covered too, and it’s quite interesting). Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1997 and this book goes into great detail on his cancer treatment and manages to tell the story of a truly inspirational comeback to the world of professional cycling without ever sounding like a fairy tale. I plan to read the follow-up book, Every Second Counts, in the near future.
I’ve read various other books from J.R.R. Tolkien including classics The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but also the more biblical and complicated The Silmarillion. The Children of Hurin is probably a little more along the lines of The Silmarillion, in that it’s more of a tale than an adventure, although it is certainly an easier read than The Silmarillion is. There’s a lot of history and lore mentioned that could have potentially made it difficult to follow, but that isn’t really the case. Certainly worth reading for fans of Tolkien’s other work, if only to get a taste of the the early age of the world, thousands of years before Bilbo and Frodo’s adventures.