Blackwood Farm

One of my other favorites things to do in life besides Photography is reading. In my earlier years, I read a lot of Tom Clancy, those high tech military, espionage, spies and sorts. I had always been fond of the military since my two brothers joined the Air Force out of high school. Probably one of my favorite ever was Red Storm Rising, which I've read like 8 or 9 times, a fabulous book that talks about World War III. Note that this book was made during the Cold War in the 1980's so it suited that time and made it more than a possibility.

After Tom Clancy, I began reading Steven Pressfield, another warfare guru but focused on Greek Warfare, particularly Alexander the Great (whom I was named after by the way), Athens and Sparta. My favorite book of his was Gates of Fire, which tells the story of the 300 Spartans who defended a narrow pass against the 2 Million man army of Xerxes of the Persian Empire. If you've seen the movie The 300, this book is 10 times better and with more emotion and passion. I really would recommend this, I've read this at least 7 or 8 times as well.

I've also read the 4 Dan Brown novels, the DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons and the 2 others. Angels and Demons was my favorite and recently got a chance to see the movie when it came out in May. Here's a disclaimer, I enjoy the book for the book, I don't believe of course in the story of the book especially about Jesus and the Catholic Church, since I am a practicing Catholic. But never the less, I enjoy the book for the thrilling moments and the intrigue.

The Harry Potter series was a fantastic read, especially the last 3 books where we found out more about Harry and Voldemort's past and how they are linked together. I am very excited to see the Half Blood Prince which is one of my favorite books of the series.

I enjoyed reading some Tom Patterson books, but once you've read one, they all seem to sort of be the same. I like his books because they are fast reads, the chapters are small, the book always moves fast.

Yes, I've read the entire Twilight series with Eclipse being my favorite of the 4 books. I like the moments of competition between Vampire and Werewolf/Shapeshifter, but what is most intriguing was the superhuman abilities they posses.

I bought my first Ann Rice book a couple of weeks ago, called Blackwood Farm. Of course I've seen the movie Lestat so I know of Ann Rice from before, but never really dived into her books until now. I finished Blackwood Farm last night and I thought it was brilliant. The characters were well developed, you couldn't help but feel that Aunt Queen was your mother too, and that Jasmine and the other helpers were your family. You felt remorse for Goblin, hatred for Petronia, admiration for Pops and Quinn.. You felt like you were with him the whole time, cheering him on, applauding some of his decisions, hope that he would find a way to be with his true love Mona. A terrific read, I definitely would recommend this to all.

Now that I've read my first Ann Rice, I am thinking of getting The Witching Hour, which tells a tale of the Mayfair witches, which are also mentioned in Blackwood Farm.