Updates and a request for feedback.

So, When I started this blog, I intended to post a review everyday for the first two weeks. For the most part, I've accomplished this, but now it's time to loosen up the schedule a little bit.

From here on out, you guys are definitely going to get one post a week, probably on Mondays. More than that will depend on what's happening in my life otherwise.

But in the meanwhile I wanted to ask my readers about what they like and don't like, so I can give you more of the good stuff. So I was wondering: how do you feel about the length of my posts? Would you like to see longer and more in-depth reviews, or do you like them better short and sweet? Should I open up the reviews a little more? I read quite a bit of Graphic Novels and such; would you guys like to see reviews of those as well, or should I just stick to more traditional books? Do you have a book you would particularly like to see a review on? Sometimes I see news about various authors, and sometimes I want to comment on it, and put my two cents in, would that kind of stuff appeal to you?

Feel free to answer any of the above questions, and if you have any other ideas, they are definitely welcome.

Thanks for reading guys, I hope to continue to inform and entertain you, and that we'll have lots of discussions and stuff in the future.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty 80/100

I never managed to get into the movie, very much. I'd half watch a scene or two, and then move on. The gross out factor was a bit strong, and I admit, the rumors of people running screaming from the theater, and becoming violently ill and so on did nothing to encourage me.

Without the intrusive visuals, however, this is an excellent, creepy and psychological story. The pacing is sharp, I don't remember being bored for a single page. I read it in one sitting, staying up way later than I should have. The really interesting part of this story is how long it is able to keep you guessing.

At every point along the way, it offers other explanations for what is going on with the possibly possessed little girl, from the physiological and psychological to the religious or paranormal. the reader is given plenty of options as to how they want to interpret the events. This makes it all the more upsetting, as you're never really sure what is going on.

Eragon by Christoper Paolini 60/100

The first word that comes to mind when thinking about this book is "Meh." It wasn't terrible, and I really see where a young adult could read it, and find it immensely enjoyable; the prose is accessible, the pacing is decent, and the characters are at least superficially likable. There's a good deal of drama, mystery and and strangeness... If you haven't read a fantasy book put out in the last 50 years.

If you have, you see pretty much every turn of the plot coming from a mile away. Paolini, unfortunately doesn't create anything new with his world, instead giving us a synthesis of all the old fantasy mainstays.

I will give him credit though; he does a decent job of cleaning them up, and packaging them for a new generation, and for younger readers who might be put off by the writing style and mature themes that run throughout most adult fantasy novels. If you haven't experienced much of the fantasy genre, or if you know a dragon loving kid, This is just the book you want. More experienced fantasy readers, however, won't find much to hold their attention

Cell by Stephen King 25/100

Cell phone zombies? Really? These were my thoughts on picking up this book, but being a more or less confirmed King fan, I felt obliged to read it anyways. That's what good fans do; they stick with you through the bad and the good.

To be fair, it wasn't *awful*... it was just missing something. There were plenty of places to go with this premise, and you see King approaching them, and then scuttling away, repeatedly. About halfway through the book, the zombies themselves become really interesting, and more horrifying. I felt there was a lot more ground to be covered and lots more scares to be gotten out of them, but the author simply didn't want to take the time.

SPOILER ALERT: (I usually try really hard to keep any spoilers out of these reviews but this was so bad, I really can't let it pass without comment.)The ending was a crappy Lady or Tiger thing, but by then I just didn't care enough to even begin to speculate. Quite frankly, after the crushing disappointment that a certain other King book has brought me, my reaction may be more about that other book than this one. /SPOILER

This is a good light read, but doesn't stack up at all against his great horror epics. This same book by another author would have been acceptable, but we know that Mr. King is capable of so much more.

Rose Madder by Stephen King 89/100

I really feel that this is one of King's most overlooked works. Especially for someone who's read dang near everything the man has written, this gives King fans the feel of one of Uncle Stevie's works... except not. Face it, when you read a great deal of any author you start to understand the way their mind works, and plots can become predictable. King steps outside the world you expect him to inhabit, while still remaining firmly in it somehow. There are references to other novels, but the places the plot head are not something you expect from one of the author's works. Instead he goes somewhere strange, unpredictable, and surreal, and tense.

I've seen quite a few bad reviews of this book, dismissing it as too strange, or running from surreal into merely laughable, but I think it may just be that it was simply not what his fans were expecting from him, which is not a bad thing by any means. Get outside of your expectations of King's work, be willing to indulge a different flavor of strange than he usually serves you and you might just find yourself liking this underrated work.

Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco 77/100

I'm going to be totally upfront here. I read this book, but I don't really feel like I understood it at all. I don't know if this is the fault of the author, the translation, or my own lack of intelligence. While there are parts of the book that I found fascinating, especially the parts dealing with Voodoo, I read for long stretches of time with absolutely no clue just what the hell was going on. I found it hard to parse the events often, and found myself frequently rereading pages, and feeling like I missed something.

But since the book has such a reputation for greatness, and the parts of it where I knew what was going on were really interesting, I can't wholly condemn this book. But I didn't understand it well enough to give a warm recommendation, either. If you are the kind of person who enjoys being challenged by a book, by all means, read it. But if you're just looking for a little entertainment, then this is definitely not for you.

Whoops!

I know, for the first 14 days of this blog, I said I would make a post every day, and this is the second time I've failed to live up to that. But I have a very very good reason today: I'm reading the Hunger Games, and I'm afraid they've pulled me in, and I just plain forgot the time. Sorry 'bout that folks. Of course that means today will be another double post day, so if you like double post days, well you're in luck.

Thanks for you patience guys, and I hope you enjoy today's posts!