They changed that ending for the movie because it tracked better with test audiences - apparently the original ending is still around somewhere
I enjoyed Crown of renewal, but I really think the story should have been spread over two books. The last 150 pages featured too many abrupt stops, you could see the active effort to finish story lines, which made it a bit unsatisfying. On the side I read Persuader by Lee Child, very enjoyable thriller but as is often a flaw in Child's work the ending left me unsatisfied due to the unresolved tensions.
Been working my way through the Jack Reacher novels. I just finished the Visitor. My favourite so far is the second sith the militia. Fun reading but I sometimes don't like his writing style everyone seems to shrug and say "there's nothing to it". I've got Joe Abercrombies Half a King next and Sandersons Words of Radiance.
The First 20 Minutes Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better Train Smarter Live Longer By Gretchen Reynolds So far Ia m finding it very informative
Finished reading Time of Contempt and enjoyed it, so now reading Blood of the Elves. Also reading Hutton's Old Sword Play.
Currently reading [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Islamic-History-Firas-Alkhateeb/dp/1849043973/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409052001&sr=8-1&keywords=Lost+Islamic+History"]Lost Islamic History[/ame] and [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Awakening-The-Buddha-Within-Surya/dp/0553505378/ref=pd_cp_b_0"]Awakening the Buddha Within[/ame]. Both written in that easy to read style that makes you not want to put them down!
Currently ploughing through Necronomicon: the best wierd tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Cause I wanted to know who Cthulhu was (ok, I knew who Cthulhu was before this. I haven't been living under a rock. But I wanted it from the horse's mouth, as it were). He seems to have an unusual approach of trying to create mystery and horror by describing things as mysterious and horrifying... Some of them are pretty good, though. And, by Frith, the casual racism/classism! Always interesting reading something from the early 20th century .
Dhammapada translated by Gil Fronsdal It is a much better translation of the Dhammapada than Thomas Byrom's version. Fronsdal stays much closer to the actual translation of the text.
Had a little Jack Reacher binge, The Enemy and Bad Luck and Trouble were excellent, Nothing to Lose was a bit meh. Currently reading Paper Swordsmen: Jin Yong and the Modern Chinese Martial Arts Novel.
Church Pimps A book about a crooked preacher and con man that pretends to be a man of God to trick the congregations out of their money. The writer is a good story teller.
After the brief chat about Nordic horror films in the film thread I decided to rewatch Låt den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One In) again. Much better on second viewing. It also put me in the mood to read the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The film was a good adaptation of the novel, but as you can guess there is lot extra in the book; a few subplots and extra characters and Håkan's part in the story is a lot bigger and...longer. One of the biggest differences between the book and the film is how Elias and Oskar are portrayed. Elias is not the sweet little vampire he is made out to be in the film. he is incredibly vicious and manipulative; He is a vampire after all. I get the impression that the director of the film wanted to make the audience sympathise with Oskar as much as possible. Oskar in the book is a pretty messed up kid, he is involved in petty crime and also has violent fantasies, however Oskar's criminal tendencies are possibly a cry for help and allow him to have some form of control and power of at least one part of his life. A lot of people, for some reason, were confused about the relationship between and Eli and Håkan, but it's pretty much spelled out in the book. Håkan's history and highly dodgy sexual interests are clearly shown. But yeps, a pretty good modern vampire story. I gave it 4 out of 5 on Goodreads. John Ajvide Lindqvist also wrote a short story, Let the Old Dreams Die, to finish off the story and clarify what happens to Oskar and Eli, so I thought I'd read that and see what happens. The story is told by one of Oskar's neighbours who befriends a couple who move into the same suburb of Stockholm. One of the couple is a police officer who worked on the murders and even after retiring keeps up with the case and carries out her own bit of investigating. Quite a good ending to the story and the couple were an interesting pair used to get you wondering about Eli and Oskar and how their relationship worked out. I'll read the rest of the collection at a later date. Finally, Sworn in Steel - Tales of the Kin #2 (hurrah) by Douglas Hulick. I read about 5 pages of this and got bored as I couldn't remember what happened in the first book. Think I'll have to start the series again!
A Dance with Dragons 2: After the feast.... almost finished and in a quandry with what to read next before the next Song of Fire and Ice book comes out.... Hurry up George R.R. Martin mate!
I read Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan at the weekend, really enjoyed it. So much so in fact that I've started on Rise of Empire.