Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Book #2) by J. R. R. Tolkien

Whereas the first book in the trilogy set the story and introduced the characters, this second installment just amazed.  The party was split and much of the time in confusion and worry and as a reader you are drawn right in.  I could not stop reading.  There is less action than the prior but much more character development and bonding; in particular Sam and Frodo, and Gimli and Legolas.  The tone of the novel was also more somber which goes to show Tolkien's mastery of writing.  By simply removing songs it went to show how dire times were and how characters had more important items to tend to.  Simply amazing.

A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Fire and Ice #5) by George R. R. Martin

A Dance with Dragons (Song of Fire and Ice #5) filled in a great deal of gaps and answered a greater deal if questions left by the fourth book.  I did not enjoy book four very much and enjoyed it eben less after reading book five which pointed out that the story was being told out of order and some of the foreshadowing fell flat.  Leaving book four behind, which I will gladly do with no hesitation; nook five was awesome. An intense and quick story with twists and turns I did not see coming; the series was revived and left me eagerly waiting the two final installments.

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Fire and Ice #4) by George R. R. Martin

A Feast for Crows (Song of Fire and Ice #4) has the unfortunate task of trying to follow Book #4 of the Gamer of Thrones series, which was monumental.  For me, A Feast for Crows fell short.  The direction of the story was odd, and the choice of characters who the story is progressed through their tales was not the greatest, but I guess George R.R. Martin did not have too much of a choice because he slimmed his character pool quite extensively, but even those who are still around did not really make an appearance. Also, so many of the other characters were killed in this book just my mere mention that they died in once sentence as an update from someone else.  At first I was thinking to myself that this book was just alright, but then at the end when I thought back and asked myself what really happened that advanced the story I could not really come up with anything.  All those pages and nothing of importance; that kinda annoyed me, but if I want to continue reading the series I guess I had to read this one, although if I skipped it I would not really have missed anything.

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Fire and Ice #3) by George R. R. Martin

Of the first three books of the Game of Thrones legend I have read thus far, A Storm of Swords (Song of Fire and Ice #3) is by far the fastest paced, most exciting, and contains the most jaw dropping moments.  If you thought you had any notion of where George R.R. Martin was taking the tale, you would definitely reconsider after everything is uprooted.  Wow and fantastic are the best way to describe this masterpiece.  Also, for those who like to compare the book and the television show, the first two books and the first two seasons parallel each other pretty well, but season three and book three start to diverge.  Characters missing, or there events being replaced by others, people at different places in the realm, and the most surprising is that where season three of the television show ends, there is still about another half or full season worth of story left in the book.  I would not be surprised if the television show starts to drag out and make multiple seasons out of the books, perhaps to make more money, but more than likely (in my opinion), to allow George R.R. Martin time to finish writing and releasing book 6 and 7 before the show catches up.

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Fire and Ice #2) by George R. R. Martin

The most captivating story continues in book two, picking up where the first book left off, A Clash of Kings (Song of Fire and Ice #2) expands on the epic Game of Thrones tale and introduces the true power struggle that is unfolding.  Most of the characters stories kept building and building, and although nothing of real substance happened in this book, the foreshadowing is fantastic and I am truly captivated to continue reading to see what happens next. 

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom

In general I try not to judge a book by its movie, but in this case the sole reason why I read the book was for my love of the movie.  That being said, this book did not entertain nearly as much as the movie, was not as emotionally charged, and the main character left a lot to be desired. Thanks, but no Hanks.

Inferno by Dan Brown

This book was good, but not as good as I was hoping (based on the first three Langdon books).  I was starting to get frustrated with how heavily the story relied on memory loss, and although everything was tied up and explained to my satisfaction, I still had to suffer through the beginning.  The story does have the vivid descriptions of art and scenery that Brown is a genius at, and the puzzles to be solved and the clues given are interesting.  Without giving any spoilers, I did find the ending a little shocking, in a good way, so that being said perhaps I did enjoy the book more than I thought (the second half is far better than the first half, so be patient).