Review: The Falls by Ian Rankin

Posted by lemiffe in Literature on Jan 5th, 2010 | 0 comments

I recently finished reading “The Falls” by Ian Rankin. I would consider it to be an interesting crime novel. It includes particularly interesting elements of history into the book, and is very well written.

The plot is concise, and I found no immediately-evident holes. There was an excellent use of Scottish history, and quite an extensive vocabulary, including Scottish phrases and words.

One thing I thought was a bit bothersome was the fact that from 3/4 of the book, till about 30 pages before the end, the pace seemed to slow down a lot. Everything seemed to stagnate, and the characters didn’t seem quite well to know what they were doing, or seemed to be getting nowhere. Considering this is a crime novel, a large book, and written by a respectable author, I find it amusing to see this kind of problem. However, it was just a small one in the whole picture.

I would rate the book 3.5/5 in a general scale.

Review: Bones of the Hills

Posted by lemiffe in Literature on Dec 4th, 2009 | 0 comments

I just finished reading Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden. It is the 3rd book in the Conqueror Series of Genghis Khan. I would like to share my thought on the book.

The hardback version is 518 pages long, so it proves to be a lengthy good read. It is mostly fiction, however, many dates, army sizes, names, and events are based on actual facts and tales written throughout history.

The book is very vivid and descriptive. While I am a fan of 1st person writing, this book was colourful and used a wealthy amount of grammar. It is fast paced, and I consider it the least boring book I’ve read in about a year. The most intense and emotional part (in my opinion) is towards the end, at four fifths of the book.

If you are looking for a historical novel to read through I can highly recommend this book.

Have you ran out of ideas for your blog posts?

Posted by lemiffe in Communication, Literature, Misc on Oct 8th, 2009 | 0 comments

I mean, seriously, we all face creative block sometimes, however, you might want to ask yourself this sometimes: Is my life really that interesting? Is what I have to say really that interesting? and, How can I spice it up?

I just read an interesting post that talks about cross-dressing as a method of overcoming the creative block, to be able to develop another “way” of thinking, as in thinking as the opposite sex would. It sounds interesting, however, I don’t think it should be necessary to reach those extremes. I live by a basic rule:

If you wouldn’t read what your writing down, you probably shouldn’t be writing it down in the first place.

If you run out of ideas, probably what you are doing right now isn’t interesting enough. The thing to do is find something you would really like to do, then blog about that. For example, go explore the world, take photos, learn a new language, start software programming, make your own website, learn to use photoshop, or a thousand other things come to mind.

Why? This is not only about blogging. Expressing yourself or your thoughts via a blog is only a way to reflect your own self on the web. So if your own self is boring, the best thing to do is to make your life less boring. And it is possible, it doesn’t matter if you work, or are too busy all the time, there is always a way to inch in a few things you would like to do. Think about it.

If someone managed to make a whole vlog series about “You Suck at Photoshop“, surely you can come up with something creative and blog about it. I don’t know, just evoke your wildest dreams, just think and act random, sometimes that’s the best way in enabling that creative part of your mind. That way you will never run dry. However, don’t blog without a reason. If you are not feeling it, then don’t go posting it.

Trains and Planes

Posted by lemiffe in Literature, Misc, Random Poetry on Oct 5th, 2009 | 0 comments

It is so fine, isn’t it? To travel on trains, planes and buses. From the morning, to the afternoon, overnight and day to day. From city to city, country to country, place to place. A man that moves is a man that sees, a man that sees is a man that knows, a man that knows is a man that can die and truly say he knew the world, saw the world, and lived in the world.

So these departure gates are there not to stop us, but to allow us to move on to the next town, to the next gate. Not to lock us in, but to keep us moving. And if we stay back, if we fail to see the world beyond these city lines, we fail to explore, and we fail to know more than what our own land has to offer to us. There is so much out there, there is so much beyond.

An Ode to the Inverted Question Mark

Posted by lemiffe in Literature, Random Poetry on Sep 25th, 2009 | 2 comments

Yesterday was National Punctuation Day in the U.S.A. and although I do not live in the US, I wrote this short ode to the Inverted Question Mark:

I am in love with the inverted question mark “¿”. It hangs like a light bulb, with such charisma and curves. It is but a mere symbol, however, a symbol so special to me. I am in love with this question mark, as it states the unraveling awkwardness of the world, a strange world in which I grew up in. ¿Is it true, my love, that a question should start with you? You represent a world with many languages, many signs, and many symbols. My inverted question mark, you represent change, beauty and awkwardness. My inverted question mark, you will always be my true undaunted love.