The Diary of a Player

The Diary of a Player is Brad Paisley's autobiography. How he got where he is, and who helped him. I love country music, and Brad Paisley is a favorite of mine. I went to see him sing in Vancouver and it was awesome. I follow him on twitter, so I knew that it would be funny. I also enjoy learning about my favorite people, so this was an easy read.
 Brad Paisley seems to have remained humble in his stardom. A lot of the book is thanking people, and the stories behind why they are important. He has stories about just about everyone in country music, and a section of captioned pictures with many of them. He talks about Playing rock music in high school because that is what his peers wanted to hear, and he just wanted to be cool. He talks about how his music is influenced by all sorts of music, bluegrass, jazz, blues, rock, classic rock...
I don't think that it is the type of book that anyone who isn't a Brad Paisley fan would pick up to read. It talks about inspiration for his songs which is only interesting if you know the songs. I enjoyed hearing the stories behind the songs, and behind the artist. 

The Hobbit

To say that it took me a long time to read The Hobbit would be putting it lightly. I originally started to read The Hobbit about ten years ago when I was in grade 8. We had silent reading time in English class. I finished The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit seemed like a good place to go from there. I was on chapter 13 when I discovered Star Wars books. Those distracted me from The Hobbit for the rest of High school, and then I never really got back into the mood. I have read The Lord of the Rings once a year for the past ten years, but I have never cracked open The Hobbit. When I went to see The first of movies this past December I decided that I needed to read the book, and finally finish it.

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, is the story of Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit who is taken (somewhat unwillingly) on an adventure with Gandalf the wizard, and a company of Dwarves. They meet with all sorts of beings, some of whom help, and some of whom hinder the journey. The book is filled with the extensive description that Tolkien is famous for, which is wonderful in some places, but in others there is too much and the story seems to drag.

I can't help but compare it to The Lord of the Rings Which I love. They are set in the same world, with some of the same characters, but they are very different. In essence, The Lord of the Rings is a good versus evil story. The good guys must save the world from the evil guys. While it has many unexpected twists and turns, the reader knows the true purpose. The Hobbit, follows Bilbo who is helping the Dwarves reclaim their fortress and fortune. At first it seems like they are up against a dragon, but the story changes in the last few chapters throw the whole story into more of a gray area. The whole thing seemed to be driven by the greed of the Dwarves, and the people with whom they come in contact.

You probably can't tell from this, but I really did enjoy the book.  I can see how it is more of a children's book than Tolkien's other books. I'm glad to have read it, and will probably read it again before another ten years goes by.