Conn Iggulden: Emperor Series (4 books)

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I would have to say this has been one of the best reads ever!! Back when I was a kid I would read like crazy. It seemed that stopped around the time I got to high school. But I always had a book near my bed or I would carry it to school with me and read when I had the chance. It seems I have not lost that desire to read, I just had to find a good book. Honestly, it was hard to select the first book(s) to do a review on b/c I've read about 4 or 5 good ones in the past few months. I decided to select "The Emperor" series due to how infatuated I've become with Caesar and the Roman empire. It's historical fiction which can get a bit frustrating b/c you think you're learning something but end up finding out that history has been twisted a bit to make it a better story. For example, Caesar was apart of the battle that crushed the slave rebelion led by Spartacus. I've since learned that this could be true b/c Caesar was a genius when it came to war and you think they would've wanted him there but there is no proof that he actually took part in it. I won't give away any more examples b/c it will give parts of the books away. All the main characters in history are in this book, Pompey, Antony, Servilia, Cato, Sustenious, Crassus, Cleopatra, etc. The book starts as Julius (Gaia) is being trained as a young boy along with Brutus (Marcus). His dad spared no expense to get him to be both educated in the art of war and to become quite the fighter. Marcus was by far the superior fighter but people just wanted to follow Caesar. People believed in him despite the fact that he was obviously egocentric. He was good at hiding that and making it seem like he was concerned by Rome and the Republic. Perhaps at times he was but he forgot about it too often. Still, these books cause you to grow quite fond of both Brutus and Caesar and in the end, you don't know who you liked more, at least I don't. Through out the story, a few amazing characters were created, the gladiators that were now free men who trained Julius and Brutus were briliant fighters. One who seemed more like a father figure while the other was just a bully who respected strength and toughness and nothing else. I liked them both. The third guy that followed these two around for most of these books was a strange healer from some far off country. He must have possessed some sort of magical ability b/c he could heal people by simply putting his hands on them. He was old yet was quite the fighter. He reminded me a bit of a humble Gandolf from Lord of the Rings. He chose to stay with them only b/c he knew he would see interesting things. Despite all the war and killing he would see. I could go on and on about these books. They are the kind of books you don't want to put down. I would have to say they are probably a bit better than The Gates of Fire. And that was a great book!! Books included in the series: The Gates of Rome: Emperor The Death of Kings Emperor: The Field of Swords Emperor: The Gods of War

Kite Runner/ Thousand Splendid Suns

Okay...well, I guess that it is my turn to do a book review. I am going to do one on two different books, Thousand Splendid Suns and Kite Runner, just because they are by the same author Khaled Hosseini and I also read them one right after the other. I read these books a couple of months ago and I really liked them. Both books are heart breaking and had my crying at several different parts of the story so if you are in the mood for a tear jerker these are your books. But I must give warning that if you are a gentle reader then these books are probably not for the faint hearted.

I am going to start with the Kite Runner just because that is the one that I read first. This book is about a story of 2 boys, Amir a wealthy son of a businessman in Kabul and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. The boys are inseparable they live and grow up together. They spend most of their days running kites and telling stories until a tragic childhood event takes place changing their relationship forever. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, this childhood incident stays with Amir and haunts him still as a grown man, even when he is married and has established himself a life in America as a successful novelist. Because of these demons that haunt Amir you find the twist and turns in the story to be so real that you forget that you are reading a novel. You are on this quest of forgiveness with Amir as he finds himself back to his war-torn native town trying to find closure to his childhood choices that have greatly affected his adult life.

Now for Thousand Splendid Suns if I had to read one over again it would be this one. It is a story of two generations of characters, Miram and Lialia , the book spans from 30 years beginning with the Soviet invasion and ending with the overthrow of the Taliban. As they move from childhood to adults they are brought together by the tragic sweep of war, the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness, share and try to love the same husband who in return beats them both. It is very hard to not say much other than that or else I will end up spoiling the plot. My favorite books to read are books that teach you something along with a great story. This story is not just a great, although overwhelmingly sad, story, it is history lesson of Afghanistan's last thirty years -- as mentioned above from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban. You also learn how women had an appalling time living under the Taliban regime, which I sort of knew already but you have no idea how horrible the conditions really were. The childbirth section will fill you with horror!! The author really does such a great job with his stories and making them seem so real that after I was done reading it I was a little disturbed what I just read was fiction!!

I am going to stay away from the whole political discussion of these stories because you could easily get yourself in one. I just want to say that for me, these books help put it in perspective of why we are helping these people and the country of Afghanistan. Not only was there two great stories to go along with the books but I learned so much about the country and some of the history of Afghanistan itself. The beauty and violence of this country, the food and customs and smells of the city. The desolation of life and the loss of the country to madmen who are running it with only wealth in their mind and will go to the extreme of destroying a country and their own people to get it!!

If I had to give these books a rating I would give them both 4 high fives. I really and truly loved the stories and the history behind the stories at the end of the books you are so engrossed in them that you feel like hugging the books..... well....at least I did!!

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

I read Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson about a month ago. I enjoyed it very much. It was a very easy read, just 300 pages, so I was able to finish it in one day. It took me a couple of chapters to get into it, about halfway through it started getting really good and I couldn't put it down!

The book at the beginning is about a little girl, Jane, who has a mother who is beautiful and rich, but is very cold to her. She has an imaginary friend, Michael, who is her best friend and the only one who loves her. He leaves her when she is eight and the rest of the book is about the grown up Jane and how her life turned out. Michael somehow pops up in her life again and it is interesting to see her reunited with him when she is adult.

There was just a little bit of bad language and a little sexuality, maybe PG-13 worth. The story was an interesting and different spin on a love story that I think women will enjoy! We really haven't come up with a rating system yet, so until then I'll just say I would rate it 3 high fives.

Oh, the only think I didn't get was the cover, the girl on the cover has dark hair and the main character, Jane is blond, that was strange!

Let the reading commence . . .

I'm so excited about our new "exclusive" book blog! LOL! This is a place where we can share what we are reading whether we love it or hate it. We can maybe rate the content of the books we read. I'm sick of picking out books that have too much profanity or other bad things without any indication or warning. I guess if we do that we'll have to come up with a rating system. We could also do ending spoilers like Jessie suggested. Since that time she was trying to find out the ending of "The Thirteenth Tale", but couldn't find any spoiler sites!

Jessie, you should write about "Breaking Dawn" since you were probably the first person in the world to get a copy and you finished it first! :) Please wait till I'm finished reading it, though. It shouldn't be too long!

So, I'm putting the following out there for labels/categories:
reviews
spoilers
random

That's all I can think of for now. You can change or add labels as you think of them. I just wanted to get the ball rolling!