Shamoozal.com - Smorgas Board

A Feast for Crows (George R.R. Marting) - Jan 3

Wrapped this one up around 1:30 am last night. Not my favorite in the series by any means, but it had a few great moments. I think my biggest gripe with the current state of the series (as far as I've read) is the fact that we, the audience, know so much more about what is going on than the characters do and we're just waiting for them to find out. I won't list any actual instances to keep it spoiler free, but it's very frustrating to me.

I wouldn't mind so much if some of these plot-lines got resolved, but it seems like theres just a ton of shit hanging out there. I'm hoping we don't get to the last book and it turns out to be a marathon of wrapping things up in the last 5 chapters.

Anyway, all that aside, it's on to a Dance with Dragons for me.

Yeah, I still loved Feast and Dance, but they are definitely my least favorite. Splitting it into two books was a big, time consuming mistake.

Feast is easily the weakest in the series. I really liked Dance though. I don't know where I'd rank it but 3 is the best, 4 is the worst and the other 3 fall in between.

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Not sure how I feel about that ending, must process.

I know how you feel.

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I'll grab some of the theories going 'round the intertubes and post them in the thread.

I AM OZZY by Ozzy Osbourne - February 4th

Finished this book up while sitting on the toilet three times today after an all day drinking marathon on Friday. Its really an awesome book. So many crazy stories that I'm surprised Ozzy didn't die 20 times already. He's got another book out already called Trust Me I'm Dr Ozzy with even more wild stories so I plan on getting that one day too. But for now I have a book about craft beer that the wife got me for Christmas that I want to check out next.

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Hard-boiled Wonderland & the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie
Before They Are Hanged - Joe Abercrombie
The Last Argument of Kings - Joe Abercrombie

Great American Craft Beer: A Guide to the Nation's Finest Beers & Breweries by Andy Crouch - March 22nd

This was a really cool book. I've gotten into trying different beers within the last couple of years. This book starts with the history of beer and how microbreweries have become really popular lately. Then it describes every single style of beer imaginable and the author's favorites from each category. I marked off all the one's I've had before and look forward to trying some other interesting sounding ones. Then it ends with other weird beer tidbits like special glasses, food pairings and the 25 greatest beer bars. Two of them are actually in Philadelphia. Monk's Cafe and Tria. Definitely gonna have to check them out. Its a cool book to throw on my bar and look through from time to time.

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New fantasy series, GET! Loved it. Similar to ASOIAF in scale, but not nearly as dense/complex. Keeps its focus on its main characters with little great houses and political intrigue, though there is some. Great characters, cool settings, some good humor, and great action.

531 pages, not sure how many are in the series though. At least 3, for sure. Series is called 'The First Law.' Check dat shit out.

THE BLOODY NINE! THE BLOODY NIIIIIIIINE!

Great, but ended up being kind of a downer. Taking a little break before the stand alone novels in the series, but I don't know what I'm going to read now.

Belushi: A Biography by Judith Belushi Pisano and Tanner Colby - July 4th

This was an awesome book. Done in the style of The Chris Farley Show (or actually that book was done in the style of this one) and its all just excerpts from interviews with various people. Goes over John Belushi's whole life from starting out in a small Albanian family to doing improv shows to SNL to musician to movies. I thought it was a great read. And pretty crazy how he was fucked up on coke for most of his career. And he was a real dick when he was on drugs too. Cool facts also like he was supposed to be Bill Murray's part in Ghostbusters. I added some of his lesser known flicks to Netflix to check out one day.

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Death Clutch: My Story of Determination, Domination and Survival by Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman - July 27th

Finished Brock's book really quickly. Its an easy read. It goes through his whole career from college wrestling to WWE to NFL tryouts to pro wrestling in Japan to UFC to diverticulitis. It ends with his win against Shane Carwin and the Epilogue mentions his loss to Cain Velasquez. Its funny because in the book he says how pro wrestling was just a way to pay the bills and he was never a fan, he wanted to get out of that career early. And now he's back. He tried to go back after the failed NFL attempt but Vince offered him a rookie contract. I guess they finally worked something out now that he had some UFC credentials. Anyway, good read. Enjoyable story.

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Cock Chestner.

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Mr. Funny Pants by Michael Showalter - September 20th

This was probably the oddest book I ever read. Its partially a biography and mostly just absurd. Definitely has The State/Stella humor all over it because its really out of left field with most chapters. In fact, I'm not sure how he even got a book deal to do this (which he even discusses in the book). Anyway, it did make me laugh but it wasn't the greatest piece of literature. I'd rather have a real account of his life then some of the ridiculous shit he talked about.

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