Elijah David

September brings autumn with it, and though that may not be official for another three weeks, I want to jump-start the season with a run down of some favorite books to read in the fall. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Aside from the fact that this book begins in the fall, it just has such an autumnal feel to me throughout. It has forests and traveling and longing for both home and adventure, which encapsulates the spirit of the season for me. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury I'll try not to overload this list with Halloween-ish stories, but Something Wicked is such an autumn-infused story. Will's father even calls the carnival's denizens "The Autumn People". Bradbury and this book may be partly responsible for my own love of autumn. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis Really, Narnia in general can feel autumnal, but The Horse and His Boy  is the most autumnal, with its arid atmosphere and the Hermit of the South...

I recently re-read two books: one that I love and one I was lukewarm toward the last I read it. Both are first books in their respective series, and both were picked because I want to read the rest of their series soon(ish). Since my experience with them was so dissimilar despite the similar reasons for reading them (again) so close together, I thought I would write up some quick reviews of the two. First off, The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I've read this book three times now, and it gets better with each reading. Turner's skillful use of an unreliable narrator who never outright lies to the reader, but continually withholds information in such a way as to lead the reader to the wrong conclusions, makes this a landmark in the young adult genre. I picked this one back up to start a reread of the series before the fifth book, Thick as Thieves , releases later this week. (Spoiler alert: I won't be finishing the series before the release, but I will probably read at l...

Currently Writing:  Merlin Book 2 Currently Reading: Dune by Frank Herbert                                 The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (reread)                                 The Woodcutter by Kate Danley (Kindle) I've been wanting to do another Top 10 post since the first one. I can't do a Top 10 Books general post because there are just too many I love, so I decided that Top 10 rereads was the best way to go. So here, in no particular order, are my Top 10 Books to Reread: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis I'm counting this whole series as one book, not only because I have an omnibus edition, but because I love to read all of them again and again. All told, I've probably read the whole series five or six times, and individual books anywhere from that number to ten or so. I never come out of rea...