let’s talk about books

i haven't have had much time to read lately, so i'm back to skimming through some of my old favorite titles. these include a number of fantasy books: Naomi Novik's Temeraire series (His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, The Black Powder War) and Susanna Clarke's challenging but hugely satisfying Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. There is also John Keegan's masterful Mask of Command and Capt. John Kincaid's droll autobiographical account of the Peninsular War — Adventures in the Rifle Brigade and Random Shots from a Rifleman.

i'm not sure why, but for some reason i find Napoleonic wars fascinating, particularly the Peninsular War (1808 - 1814) which took place in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). i even plodded through vols. 3 and 4 of Sir Charles Oman's A History of the Peninsular War, which a lot of my friends find baffling if not downright bizarre.

in fact i have yet to meet anyone (locally at least) who shares this interest. i guess that makes me a bit of an oddball. big deal.

and then, there's my durable list of old Georgette Heyer favorites (she's like an updated version of Jane Austen, but a lot more funnier and easier to read) and James Herriot's stable of delightful books recounting funny and heartwarming scenes from his veterinary practice (All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, etc.)

fantasy films: eragon

i managed to watch Eragon last sunday. as fantasy flicks go it wasn't all that impressive. basically, it was okay i guess (the 3 LOTR films have really spoiled me for any other film in this genre), just not the kind of movie i'd like to see again.

considering its huge budget (ca. $100M) and weighty cast (john malkovic, jeremy irons, djimon hounsou, and rachel weisz who provided the voice for Saphira), i'm surprised i didn't like it more.

after reading a synopsis of the series (Christopher Paolini's Inheritance triology), i soon realized why. i don't know what prompted the filmmakers to make such changes but really, i wish they hadn't messed up the storyline. i don't really expect the movie to be 100% faithful to the book but in my opinion the alterations were clumsily handled. even the stars' performance was disappointingly disjointed and colorless. oh well…