Alan's "Whatever" Blog

Books, Music, Sports, Gaming and Fishing!!   What more is there?

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Jumper by Steven Gould

Jumper - Steven Gould

Just finished this one up yesterday, needless to say I liked it.  I wasn't "wowed" by it, but it was good.  It had more depth then most YA novels, with a few parts that were actually quite sad.  One thing though...it had almost nothing to do with the movie!  Not that I'm complaining, I liked the movie, and I liked the book(probably more), it's just I thought there would be more similarities.

 

The book is written in a first person POV about a teenager named Davy Rice.  He is the product of a drunken and abusive father, and because his father also abused his mother, she ran away from him and left Davy also.  One day Davy is is about to get beat by his father and before he knows it he's jumped himself to the public library.  After that he runs away from home and starts to learn more about his jumping ability.  Soon he finds himself in need of money so he decides to rob a bank, and of course with his ability there's no way for the law to catch him.  He counts the money later and finds out that he has stolen just of a million dollars, so he's set for life.

 

One thing I wanted to point out, that I mentioned earlier is the fact that that the book was almost nothing like the movie.  Aside from the names of the main characters, and the fact that he can jump from place to place, they are nothing alike.  In the book he meets Millie in a movie theater, their not classmates like in the movie.  Also the whole jumper vs paladin thing the movie had going on doesn't exist, at least not in this book, not sure about the sequel.

 

I kind of liked the fact that the book is so different from the movie.  Many times I've watched the movie before I knew it was based on a book and it has sort of ruined the book because, even though the book holds 4 times the story the movie does, I still know the ending.  Not so with this one, they are completely different stories, so if you've already watched the movie and are hesitant to read the book don't be.

I've Just Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by (Grimlock) the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord 

 

 

1. What was the last book you marked as 'Read'?

 

Death Whisper's by Tamara Rose Blodgett

 

2. What are you 'Currently Reading'

 

Jumper by Steven Gould

 

3. What was the last book you marked as 'To-Read'?

 

The Wolf's Hour by Robert McCammon

 

4. What book do you plan to read next?

 

Salvation by James Wymore or The Wolf's Hour by Robert McCammon

 

5. Do you use the star rating system?

 

Yes

 

6. Are you doing a 2014 reading challenge?

 

I have one going but I started late and haven't really been working at it.

 

7. Do you have a wishlist?

 

Does my tbr list count? =P  I've never really used wishlists that much.

 

8. What book do you want to buy next?

 

Wolf's Hour Robert McCammon

 

9. Do you have any favorite quotes? Would you like to share a few?

 

Here's a couple I have on GR profile.

 

 “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.” 
― George S. Patton Jr.

 

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” 
― Albert Einstein

 

 

“There's something ugly about the flawless.” 
― Dennis LehaneSacred

 

10. Who are your favorite authors?

 

Michael J Sullivan, Jim Butcher, John Conroe, Mike Mullin.

 

 

11. Have you joined any groups?

 

I have, but I don't participate much, I seem to keep up with the other bloggers more.

 

12. Are there any questions you'd like to add to this tag?

 

Nope

 

I don't know who want's to do this or not, or who's already been tagged, so here's a couple.

 

Tag your it!:

 

Whiskey in the Jar Likes To Read

 

Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Reading progress update: I've read 73%.

Jumper - Steven Gould

Ok so I really like this book so far, but there's almost nothing the same between the book and the movie, no wonder they didn't make a second movie.  Lots of times I hate reading a book after I've seen the movie because I already know how it ends, but this one is so different that the endings are gonna be completely different, I'm not even done with it and I already know that.  Oh BTW it's a little bit of a tear jerker in the middle of the book, I won't give it away here but just know there's a very sad part in the middle of the book.

Reading progress update: I've read 16%.

Jumper - Steven Gould

Funny how a movie can be so different from the book, for instance Millie is not a classmate he once had a crush on, he meets her at the movies in New York, and she's three and a half years older then him.  It changes the whole dynamic of the story between the two of them, and I for one think it's better this way!  

DNF at 30%.

Wolf's Trap - W.D. Gagliani

I'm done, I can't do it anymore.  This book showed a lot of promise, I mean come, on a cop who's a werewolf is chasing down a psycho killer, what could be better then that?  But alas the writing just felt very blah, and the characters didn't have any, oh I don't know.....character?  I'm just disappointed because I really did want to like this one.  

 

Why I watch Hockey
Why I watch Hockey

Getting sick of hearing all the basketball fans talking today at work.  So here's a little something for my fellow hockey fans on here!

Reading progress update: I've read 20%.

Wolf's Trap - W.D. Gagliani

I'm still on the fence with this one, the writing style is a little tough.  The serial killer, however is very well done, and let me tell you he's a sick MF'er.  This is what I think of when I read the killer POV of the book.......yeah creepy just doesn't quite cover!

 

 

creepy

Reading progress update: I've read 5%.

Wolf's Trap - W.D. Gagliani

This sounded pretty good, a werewolf-police detective.  It's been a while since I've read a good book featuring a werewolf.  So here's hoping!

Death Whispers

Death Whispers - Tamara Rose Blodgett

I had a few reservations about this one, but it ended up being a pretty good book.  Written in a first person format of a young boy named Caleb Hart.  The book starts out with Caleb finding out that he has an "Affinity of The Dead" when he starts hearing the thoughts of the frogs that they're dissecting in biology class.

 

I'll give you a little back history here, the book is set in the future(year 2025), and scientists have mapped the human genome.  In doing so they found out that most humans are capable of having special "abilities" (empathic, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, that sort of thing).  One such ability is Affinity of the Dead, AFTD for short.  This power allows the person to interact with the dead, such as sense where bodies are buried, or feel what a person felt before they died, some can even raise corpses from the grave.  AFTD is a very rare ability and we eventually find out that Caleb has the potential to be really powerful.  Because powerful AFTD's are so rare the government have a keen interest in them, and now Caleb has to use his powers to protect his friends as well as himself.   

 

All in all it was a pretty fun read, plenty of exciting scenes with good character dialog.  The characters are well written, and the world building isn't bad.  I did notice that the story arch seemed a little weak, I didn't really feel a build up before the finale, it just sort of happened at the end of the book after watching Caleb deal with one problem after another that goes along with having AFTD.   

Reading progress update: I've read 95%.

Death Whispers - Tamara Rose Blodgett

Just one more page

 

This was me last night, I so wanted to finish but I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. lol

Reading progress update: I've read 30%.

Death Whispers - Tamara Rose Blodgett

Yup, still riding this YA wave I've been on lately!!

 

This one's going pretty good so far, kind of a mix Sci-fi and paranormal.

 

9 Foot Great White Shark Eaten Whole!

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I came across an article in Google news, that said: "9 foot long Great White Shark Eaten Alive", and of course I read it.

 

Apparently marine biologists had tagged a female great white shark with a data/tracking probe.  A couple days ago the tag washed up on the beach, the information that was retrieved from it was astounding.  The tag showed that it had been dragged from relatively shallow water down to 1900ft.  Now for the interesting part, the shark's body temperature slowly decreased as it went deeper, but once it reached 1900 feet the sharks's body temperature jumped from 46 degrees to 78 degrees.  So what could have caused the spike in body temperature?  The marine biologist's seem to believe that the shark was eaten....whole.

 

Killer whales have been known to kill and eat great white sharks, although never whole.  And because the tag was reading the shark's body temperature all the way down to 1900 feet we know the shark was alive when it reached that depth.  It is possible that a killer whale killed the shark at 1900 feet, but the deepest recorded dive for a killer whale is 800 feet, which means if it was a killer whale they just smashed the old deep dive record.

 

So begs the question, what killed this great white?  Is it just a killer whale and we really have no idea what their capabilities are?  Or is there some other giant sea creature out there that has yet to be discovered?  Remember, live giant squid measuring 16 feet in length were just discovered ten years ago by Japanese researchers.  It's also said that we know more, and have explored more of the moon then that of the ocean floor, so we really have no idea what kinda of creatures could possibly be down there.

Source: http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/06/nine-foot-great-white-shark-eaten-by-unknown-sea-creature
Fishing Buddy
Fishing Buddy

I saw and couldn't stop laughing, and since I love to fish I figured I'd post it up!!

SPOILER ALERT!

Rise of the Elgen and Battle of the Ampere by Richard Paul Evans

Rise of the Elgen - Richard Paul Evans Battle of the Ampere - Richard Paul Evans

I'm gonna lump both of these reviews together, because the story continues from book 2 to book 3, and frankly I don't feel like writing two separate reviews.

 

Book 2

 

Rise of the Elgen starts out with Michael and his friends driving back to Idaho from the Elgen academy in California. When they get home they find that their families are either gone or under surveillance by the Elgen. So they crash at a friend's house while they're going through information they found at the Elgen academy. Within this information they out that Michael's mother is being held at a facility in Peru. With the assistance of a mysterious organization, Michael and his friends fly to Peru to rescue his mother and, if possible, shutdown the Elgen facility.

 

 

***Spoilers for book 2 below***

 


Book 3

 

 

 

Book 3 starts out with Michael separated from his friends after escaping the Elgen power plant. Michael is assisted by a local tribe, and while he's with them he meets another electric child named, Tesa. With Tesa in tow, Michael strikes out to find his friends, who have been captured by the Peruvian military. Eventually Michael get his friends out and the Voice manages to get them to a safe house. However the Voice is not done with Michael and his friends, he wants them to sink the flag ship of the Elgen armada.

Overall both books were enjoyable reads, however neither did anything new. I mean really, Michael and his friends can get captured/saved only so many times before it starts to get a little old. The characters are well written with pretty good depth considering the repetitive story line.

(show spoiler)

 

 

I just heard this on the radio and loved it, I'm already a huge fan of "House of the Rising Sun" especially by The Animals.  But I really like Five Finger Death Punch, and I happen to think their rendition is awesome.

 

  The video above is an abbreviated version that only plays "House of the Rising Sun".  The full video actually contains two songs which you can watch here http://youtu.be/sXYIxJScSik but be warned the beginning song has explicit language and content.

Reading progress update: I've read 27%.

Rise of the Elgen - Richard Paul Evans

Just finished book one last night, and figured to give the second a try.  So far so good!