Poll Results - Read a book?

Here's the latest poll results:

When was the last time you read a book?

Within the last month = 3 votes
Within the last 3 months = 0 votes
Within the last 6 months = 0 votes
Within the last year = 2 votes
What's a book? = 4 votes

Okay one of you admitted voting for the last one a couple of times. I wish all those "What's a book?" votes were mistakes or someone just goofing around. Not only are you messing with the integrity of my polls but you're bumming me out if that's how you really feel.

Personally, I read about 12-24 books a year. Last year I didn't read that many but then I was spending my time trying to buy a house from April 'till October when I finally closed the deal. I even keep a log and 3x5 cards on all the books I read. It's a habit I picked up in college when I had to do it for a class. I had to read 50 books in that semester. Luckily they were suppose to be books that kids in Junior or Senior High would read. It was daunting at first, but once you started to realize what books they liked and how short they usually were they ended up being fast reads. Of course, they were also filled with teenage angst and drama and the writing was usually pretty sappy. You just had to cringe and get through it. I think I ended up reading 52 books for that class.

Dain Bramage was never a reader. He looked at books as a pile of hundreds of little paper cuts waiting to strike at you. I turned him around. I asked him to read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. When he wouldn't comply I gave him the book for his birthday (or maybe Christmas) with a large gift card to Game Stop to use as a bookmark. I told him he couldn't cash the card in until he read the book. I didn't think he would stick to that but he did. And he loved the book. I think it took me two years to convince him to read the first Harry Potter book but he's been hooked ever since.

He's read the "Otherland" series by Tad Williams, "The Homecoming" series and the "Ender's Shadow" series by Orson Scott Card. He also picked up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series all on his own. (I'm so proud.) I then recommended the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. The last book in that series just came out last year in hardback and should be coming out this summer in paperback.

The first book in the series is called Mistborn: The Final Empire. It's kind of strange to have "final" in the title when it's the first book in the series. But it's a great series. The magic system in the book is incredible. Every time I've read the books I can't help but think "that would make a GREAT video game". Usually you have books made into movies. I can see that happening with this series. But it's the possibilities with the magic system that would make it a great video game, even an MMO video game.

People are able to 'perform' magic by first ingesting metal shavings and then burning them. But not all people can do this. If you can only burn one metal, like tin which enhances the senses, you're called a Misting. If, on the other hand, you're one of the few people who can burn ALL the different types of metal you're called a Mistborn. You can burn the metal to 'push' yourself off of anything metal, or burn another metal to 'pull' yourself towards a metal surfaces. You could burn another metal to see briefly into the future, which comes in handy when you're locked in a battle with someone. There's metals to soothe other peoples emotions . . . or to riot them up. If you're Mistborn and can burn them all it's wonderful. If you're a Misting you can be a specialist. Think of trying to fight someone while you (or them) are flying through the air bouncing off of metal spires or door hinges.

I've meet Brandon Sanderson many times at conventions. I even interviewed him for a podcast for a writing website I'm a moderator on. He's a great guy and he tells a great story (and he's finishing the Wheel of Time series for the late Robert Jordan). If they can make novels into movies then turn those movies back into "novelizations" they can certainly make this series into a video game. Maybe it could turn into something like the Expanded Universe of Star Wars. Except this time it starts with a book. And so should you. Pick it up and read it.