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Post Tagged with: "books"

The Scarred King by Rose Foreman & Josh Foreman – Spotlight

Today I want to do something different. Instead of talking about me and what’s been going on in my life, I want to give the spotlight to someone else. Josh Foreman. If you’re part of the Guild Wars 2 community, you’ll probably know this name and have experienced his work in-game.

His latest adventure is the release of his first book, co-written with Rose Foreman, his mother. The Scarred King: Exile is book one of three and part of the larger Tales of Talifar series. The story follows Bowmark on his journey to claim the throne.

He’s creating a new world, Talifar, through his stories. His experience as a game designer is definitely helpful and seeing work on the map was inspiring. (I still have to make a map of Lunis Aquaria.) He has information on new races and the areas on his site, and I suspect more will be added soon. Read his conceptual ideas to find out more.

On one of his recent streams, he mentioned that there are eleven books in the making for the overall series and I suspect more are coming. This is just the beginning. Josh has big ideas, which includes a game among others.

If you like fantasy adventure stories, check out The Scarred King and follow Josh on Twitter and Amazon. You can buy the ebook and the paperback on Amazon now.

101 Goals, 1001 Days: Reading All The Books

In one of my earlier posts I asked for recommendations for books and movies and you’ve given me a ton! I’ve made a list of the twenty books that I’m going to read for this goal. The other books I’ll add to my general to-read list, which I’ll read whenever I find the time and have access to the book.

I only have 28 movies so far (not shows, just movies) so if you have any recommendations beyond these, please let me know. I also know there are a handful of movies that I probably won’t like and maybe a few that I won’t be able to find since they’re old. I’ve also added the years to the movies as a reference point. If I have the wrong movie, do let me know as well, since I wasn’t sure about a few.

I want to thank everyone who’s recommended me books and/or movies. I really appreciate that you took the time to share the books/movies you love. I hope I can help spread that love as well.

Books

  • The Siren by Kiera Cass
  • Bloody Jack by L. A. Meyer
  • Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara
  • East by Edith Pattou
  • It by Stephen King
  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  • The Princess Bride by William Goldman
  • His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
  • Borne by Jeff Vandermeer
  • Sabriel by Garth Nix
  • Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer
  • Alif The Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
  • Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
  • Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone
  • Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • The Guernsey Literature and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
  • The Four by Scott Galloway
  • Weaveworld by Clive Barker
  • Hyperion by Dan Simmons
  • We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor

Movies

  • 5 to 7 (2014) (already watched this one, liked it very much)
  • Primer (2004)
  • The Guernsey Literature and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
  • Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)
  • Pirates (2014)
  • The Princess Bride (1987)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 (2017)
  • Black Panther (2018)
  • A Silent Voice (2016)
  • HAL (2003)
  • Interstellar (2014)
  • Inception (2010)
  • Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain (2001)
  • Network (1976)
  • Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
  • Moon (2009)
  • Hawk The Slayer (1980)
  • The Sword And The Sorcerer (1982)

101 Goals, 1001 Days: Recommend Me Books And Movies

I need your help for two of my goals. I need 20 books and movies recommended that I’ll read/watch. Will you help me out?

Movies

There’s a catch though. You can recommend me your favourite movie, but if it’s Saving Private Ryan or Victoria (the new Netflix Horror), I’m not going to watch it. I don’t watch horror movies or movies centered around wars. Especially the most recent ones. They just don’t appeal to me.

A few exceptions that I did watch are Pearl Harbor and La Vita E Bella.  I don’t think these movies are war centered, but tell a story with the war as a background. I loved Memoirs of a Geisha and it’s still one of my favourites. The war is ever present, but it’s still not what the story is about.

I have watched a fair share of horror movies in the past. Recently, just seeing a realistic zombie is enough to give me nightmares.

(It happened after I saw the zombie mask in a Loot Crate box and I dreamed about a zombie apocalypse that evening. Not fun.)

So please, no horror movies or movies with zombies. I will not watch them.

Besides these two, I watch nearly everything that isn’t too art house. I probably won’t finish a French experimental movie about two dancers who only talk using dance. I did watch Coco Before Chanel (2008) and liked it more than I thought I would.

Movie genres I enjoy: romantic comedies, drama, fantasy, science fiction, animation (Eastern and Western), historical.

Movies I enjoyed: The Lord of the Rings franchise, Harry Potter franchise, anything Disney, Shawshank Redemption (1994), Stardust (2007)by, Pride and Prejudice (2005), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Angels & Demons (2009)

Books

This is where it gets interesting. I’m a bookworm and I’ve read so many books already, but there are even more that I haven’t read. I’m looking for non-mainstream books. The hidden gems. The names that don’t get pushed by the Big Five. Self published books are very welcome! I review nearly all of the books I read and I’ll happily do so for any self published work.

Even in books, there are genres that I don’t enjoy. I don’t enjoy thrillers or crime. Unless they have something supernatural. I’m all for angels and demons. Zombies in books are okay, but preferably not too many. I don’t read much horror, but I won’t skip over it if someone recommends it.

I will not read erotica.

Genres I’ve been reading lately: fantasy (not the epic kind), romance, young adult, dystopian, science fiction (not the hard kind), historical.

Books I’ve enjoyed immensely: the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, the Dark Gifts series by Vic James, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, the Wicca/Sweep series by Cate Tiernan, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Abarat by Clive Barker.

If you want to know which other books I liked and/or have read, check out my Goodreads profile.

I already asked UnwiseOwl and he recommended Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and someone else said It by Stephen King. Please leave your recommendation in the comments. If someone already named that book or movie, reply to that comment so I can bump it up on my priority list.

I’m looking forward to all your recommendations and widen my view on books and movies, discover new authors, actors and directors.

101 Goals, 1001 Days: Inspiring TED Talk About Book Covers

Chip Kidd is hilarious. I watched his TED Talk on book covers, because book covers are, well, part of my job. I review books and write my own. The book cover is the first thing people will see when they grab your book from the shelf, but it’s also the thing that can catch the attention of a digital browser. I don’t think enough people realize how important it is and that self published authors don’t invest enough in. Chip Kidd explains how he designs covers and how he translates a story to art. I love his play with slip-on covers on the hardcovers. It made me look at cover design a little differently.

101 Goals, 1001 Days: Books To Read And Read

Since I’ve started reviewing books on Narratess, I’ve been reading much more. This year so far I’ve read 27 books and I hope to finish at least 40. My Goodreads Reading Challenge says I’m ahead of schedule, which is good. So I know that I’ll can complete my goal of reading 100 books with the 43 I already have as of this writing. Probably not this year, but I’ll get there next year or early 2020.

I’ve read 5 non-fiction books since I started, so I don’t think my goal of reading 20 non-fiction books will be a problem either. I still have a biography to read (my pick was Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance) and I still have a few books on writing that I need to finish (Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer among them). If you know a great non-fiction book which isn’t political, war-related, but preferably creativity, inspiration or business related, please let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for more great books.

I still have It by Stephen King down as my horror book to read and the one for “Read book, then watch the movie”, since I can both quickly. But there are so many book based movies I might pick another one to read first, watch later. I still have The Circle by Dave Eggers and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett which is nearly done as well.

Here are the last 20 books I read. I don’t know which books I’ll be reading the rest of the year, but Warcross by Marie Lu is one of them. I’m really excited about reading another book which features gaming.

The 20 books I read recently

Bright Ruin
it was amazing
tagged:
recommended, dystopia, fantasy, and young-adult

The Things We Said in Venice
it was amazing
tagged:
recommended, dutch, contemporary, and romance

Sworn to Conflict
really liked it
tagged:
fantasy and young-adult

The Book of Peril
it was amazing
tagged:
fantasy and romance

The Reckoning
really liked it
tagged:
contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and young-adult

And That's When It Fell Off in My Hand
liked it
tagged:
young-adult, romance, and contemporary

The Awakening
really liked it
tagged:
fantasy, young-adult, and paranormal

Sworn to Raise
really liked it
tagged:
fantasy and romance

Nib + Ink: The New Art of Modern Calligraphy
really liked it
tagged:
language and non-fiction

The Summoning
liked it
tagged:
fantasy, paranormal, and young-adult

The Underwater Ballroom Society
it was amazing
tagged:
fantasy, historical, and science-fiction

School for Psychics
it was amazing
tagged:
fantasy and paranormal

Awakening
really liked it
tagged:
fantasy, romance, and young-adult

Dark Magick
really liked it
tagged:
fantasy, romance, and young-adult

Blood Witch
really liked it
tagged:
contemporary, fantasy, romance, and young-adult

The Coven
really liked it
tagged:
fantasy, romance, and young-adult

Book of Shadows
really liked it
tagged:
young-adult, paranormal, romance, and fantasy

The Gatekeeper's Sons
it was ok
tagged:
contemporary, favorites, romance, and young-adult




goodreads.com

101 Goals, 1001 Days: Read A Biography

I’ve reading way more non-fiction the last few years, but I’ve never a biography. It’s time that I picked one up. Finding an interesting biography is hard, because the ones that I do find interesting are mostly autobiographical, which is not what I want for this goal. I want an outsider perspective on a person.

Looking through a few lists and the store fronts, noticed two books which caught my attention: Totto-chan: The Little Girl At The Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance. Both books are very different and would probably be shelved in different categories if the shop used subcategories.

Totto-chan is about a young girl who didn’t fit in with the standard school system, but eventually finds a school master who can help her. What I find the most interesting is that her story begins before WWII, in Japan. It’ll give me a new perspective on the Japanese school system, growing up as an outliner and gives me a glimpse of Japan pre-war.

Elon Musk is more straight forward. Journalist Ashlee Vance shows us the life of the visionary business man and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. I admire people with strong visions, people worth following. I believe Elon Musk is such a person. Reading his biography will either confirm that or crush my hopes. All in all, I hope that this book will give me the motivation to move forward and inspire change.

For now I’ll read Elon Musk for this goal, but I won’t forget about Totto-chan, because I can still read it for fun or for my ‘Read 20 non-fiction’ goal.

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