Always among our favorite things.
Continued from Books and Reading, Part 3, of course.
Patience, Please
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Always among our favorite things.
Continued from Books and Reading, Part 3, of course.
Thank you for the new thread.
And thanks for clearing up the title. Either I haven’t lived long enough to understand these kinds of references or my copy just didn’t have that footnote. Either way, it’s an interesting concept. And the book was very well written.
Books I recommend:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Micheal Pollan: I really interesting book, following the history of four meals. One McDonald’s, one Industrial Organic, one local, and one hunted and gathered. Terrifically insightful, I would recommend it to anyone considering becoming a vegetarian, but it is a thought-provoking book anyway. Also read The Botany of Desire by the same author.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak: About a girl growing up in Nazi Germany, with an interesting narrator.
The Book Thief… I heard about that one. Does anyone know the title of a book about a dragon that lives in a book? Or something like that? All I know is there was a dragon, and there were books. I never read it, so I can’t give more details than that.
I think it’s called The Fire Within, or something like that.
feel free to tell me if you’ve acquired/read any Charles de Lint books. I’d like to hear what you think of them!
I’m reading The Mysterious Benedict Society right now. It’s quite a fun book. It’d be more interesting if more of the puzzles were put into it.
I recommend Someplace to be Flying by Charles de Lint as well as other books by de Lint.
Hmm…..what am I reading at the moment? Nothing, really. I’m still waiting for Attack of the Smart Pies to be checked into my local library. Some bum beat me to the book, and now I have to wait a few weeks before that person turns it in.
4- No, The Fire Within is about clay dragons and squirrels. I read it out loud to my little sister. It was sappy, but kind of good. Good enough to make me want to read the other two.
I got The Omnivore’s Dilemma for Christmas, at the sugestion of another museblogger…Violetfire, I think it was. I have only read a few chapters, but it does seem pretty interesting.
I am currently reading The Sunlight Dialogues by John Gardner. It’s really good. So far its just about this policeman, but he’s made it really interesting. And its a relief after all the trashy teen novels I’ve had thrust at me recently to actually read something well written.
I’m reading Jane Eyre. I feel I have to.
Has anyone here ever ready any science-fiction/fantasy by John Crowley? Engine Summer or Little, Big? Just curious.
6- At least your library has it. Ours doesn’t.
10- I tried reading Little, Big, but it was a bit… adult. So I stopped.
I thought that might be true. It’s also very long and full with literary in-jokes. Not for everyone.
Engine Summer might be worth a look, though. It’s very different, and much shorter. It’s hard to find, though, as it goes in and out of print a lot.
Right now I’m reading Master of The Moor, by Ruth Rendell. And this is supposed to be disturbing??? What the hell? The cover is kickass, though.
2- The Book Thief is one of the bestest bestest flambambabulous-est (is that how you spell it? o.O) books EVER! ok. rant over now.
The Messenger (also by Markus Zusak) is purdy good too. but I like the Book thief better.
5- Oh, I read that recently. I was depressed because I got the chess question at the begining wrong. There’s something at the end where the author tells you Mr. Benedicts first name is hidden somewhere, and I found it. It wasn’t to hard to find for me, but I always check the obscure places first.
2/8- Oooh, yes, good book. O.o makes you wonder if corn really is the intelligent species… (not really, but it is very interesting). I did it for a book report earlier this year because I read it over the summer. It really makes you think…
Also 2- I just got The Book Theif from the library. Will read.
I’m currently reading (or starting/attempting to) The Origin of Species. When I first picked it up I thought, “Oh, this won’t be too hard. It’s skinner than I thought.” Then it was in size 9 font or smaller… urg. Will take longer than expected.
10- ooh, yes, I’ve been vaugely meaning to read those for a bit. (well, Little Big, haven’t heard of the other one. I’ll keep them in mind.) Have you read The War for the Oaks by Emma Bull? If I see recommedations of books like The War for the Oaks and de Lint’s work I usually see Little, Big there too so I though you might’ve read The War for the Oaks.
5- I’ll have to keep an eye out for things that look suspiciouly like his first name. cool!
I’m currently reading The Positronic Man in my quest to read the whole Foundation series. I can’t find a couple of those short stories anywhere, though. So aggravating. Any Asimov fans out there?
The Book Thief! The best book in the world! I forced that upon my friends and then they became addicted like me. I also like Abarat. I am currently readin the Throne of Jade which is the sequel to His Majesty’s Dragon. I am also reading Slaves of the Mastery which is the sequel to the Windsinger.
18- I have most of the Foundation series, courtesy of my mother. They stare at me accusingly from the bookshelf because I keep putting off reading them.
Reminder to self: must get book thief. I’ve read I Am the Messenger, though. It was… interesting. Good, but strange. Though, now that I think about it, I read nothing but strange.
I read the first chapter of The Book Thief. It does have an interesting narrator. He’s not alive, but he can’t be dead, in the same way that a river can’t drown.
16- still looking for name. “the missing aren’t missing, they’re only departed.” all the rhymes and rhythms in that book made me happy. ^_^ Both the Whisperer’s and Constance’s.
The Book Thief. I looked it up on th library web site. It doesn’t seem my kind of thing at all. Does it have any… magic? If it doesn’t, I’m fairly sure it is NOT my kind of thing at all. But still… If you don’t try new things, life is boring. So here goes.
Whoa.
Here does NOT go. Hold position… 41? I’ll pass, thanks very much. I’m sure the line will get shorter after a while. I’ll read it then.
Whew. It must be amazingly popular.
I am currently reading “Be WIth You” , which is a translated Japanese novel. It’s really very good, I recommend it. It is a bit reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut’s style of writing, which is odd, because I’m also reading Slaughterhouse-Five right now.
I requested Book Thief and Omnivore’s Dilemma from the library! They both sound really interesting.
I also like Jodi Picoult’s books. I like My Sister’s Keeper the best. It’s about a girl who’s sister has Leukemia, and the only reason she was born was to be an organ donor for her sister. It’s really good.
I finished Jane Eyre! It got extremely interesting.
okay, all you peoples. for the best books you’ll ever read, just go to any search engine and type in “Diana Wynne Jones books”.
28- Best books I ever read? Not entirely, but they are very good. Particularly (I’m going to subject you to the longest list ever now!):
Howl’s Moving Castle
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Archer’s Goon
Well, it wasn’t as long as I thought. I’m still recuperating from reading all thirty of her books in one go.
I highly reccomend Treasure Island, to each and all of you. Also, for more stuff slightly similar to that, Ian Lawrence’s High Seas trilogy.
I’m reading The Stone Light right now. It’s pretty good.
The book thief is narrated by Death, and It is during the Holocaust and it is sad *sobs* but wonderful. I Am the Messenger was wierd. Not in a good way.
22- Constance was my favorite. I wrote her “rules and schools are tools for fools” bit on the back of my math test because I was out of time and didn’t know the answr. I think I put “you’re enjoying my suffereing, arn’t you?” at the bottome of that test, too. My teacher started laughing when I handed it to her.
Hint on the name: don’t bother keeping your eye out for it while you read.
26- My Sister’s Keeper was really good. I felt so bad for the brother, Jesse… he never got any attention…
I’m about halfway through The Book Theif now. We’re learning about the Holocaust in school (first period, actually, so I am properly depressed for the rest of the day. Esspecally because my teacher’s (sub, actually, normal teacher is on maternity leave) great-grandparents were killed in the Holocaust. He even knows what concentration camps… :cry:) This way I can read it durring class after the test and stuff because it fits in with the subject.
Hmm. I should probably study for the test, seeing as it’s tomarrow…
The phantom tollbooth is good.
9-Isn’t that slightly masochistic? I hate Jane Austen. Ick.
18-Me! Me! Me!
SCIENCE FICTION I THINK MUSERS WOULD LIKE THAT THEY NORMALLY MIGHT NOT BE AWARE OF:
Charles Addams
Gregory Benford
Ben Bova
C.J. Cherryh (uneven, Cyteen)
Tom Holt (The Portable Door, the comic novels are great, but the historical fiction isn’t as good)
Fritz Leiber
Stanislaw Lem (Peace On Earth is a good place to start; you may like Fables For The Cybernetic Age and probably Hospital Of The Transfiguration)
Tim Pratt
Frederik Pohl (Narabedla, Ltd.)
Alastair Reynolds (exceptional space opera)
Rudy Rucker (The Hacker And The Ants)
Joel Rosenberg
Eric Schlosser (If Fast Food Nation is too much for you, try Chew On This)
Charles Sheffield
A.E. van Vogt (Slan)
Yevgeny Yevtushenko (Don’t Die Before You’re Dead is beautiful but sad, and Babi Yar is quite heavy)
MUST-WATCH SCI-FI ANIME CLASSICS [Shortlisted Essentials]:
Akira
DNAngel
Ghost In The Shell
Revolutionary Girl Uteno
Space Battleship Yamato
33- Jane Eyre isn’t by Jane Austen. It’s by… Charlotte Bronte, I think.
I checked out Frek and the Elixir (Rudy Rucker) from the library, but I never read it. I’m not a big sci-fi fan unless it’s a movie. Nor am I an anime fan. My dad is though, and consequently I’ve seen a lot of sci-fi anime, some good, some bad. (Appleseed, for example, could be put under “bad” IMO.)
I like austen. I didn’t like Jane Eyre though.
Yay asimov!
Right now i’m reading obama’s book, one of the wheel of time books (can’t remember which), anansi’s boys (re-read), republic (k that one’s pretty confusing), and i’m about to start the book club book, which i forget the title of but it’s memoirs of a boy soldier.
Because post 35 is the top post in the recent posts bar, there has been no moderation in the past 1 1/2 hours.
31- haha, good way to turn in a math test. I finished it last post that I wrote about and was searching for various things. Though I figured out that they use the international version of the code which makes sense as Mr. B’s from Holland. Haven’t found his name yet, but haven’t looked since last night, either. Don’t tell me where it is, though!
For Future Reference,
All “Rants” must be at least 5, yes 5 full length lines long to fully quailify as a “Rant”. All other, so-called rants, such as the ones by our newer bloggers, that are self proclaimed rants, are not in fact rants but more of a ttyr. A ttry is a baby rant, that hopes to someday become an actual rant. To fully classify this, this because it is more than 5 lines of text is a rant.
hpb rocks
how do you get a hpb to pop up?
how do you get a hot pink bunny
to pop up?
38- Don’t worry, I won’t. As for me, I found his name but then- oh. That would be a hintis-thing. Never mind, heh heh.
28-I’m not a fan of Diana Wynne Jones. Really.
32-Yes, but it’s a kids’ book.
34-Frek and the Elixir was great. I liked it very much. On the other hand, I love sci-fi of all varieties, including cyberpunk, so there you have it. Appleseed was horrible! I think I gave up on it after using up all my barf bags.
I’m still trying to decide whether I like Roger Zelazny or not. One of his books was used in a CIA plot, though. Isn’t that cool?
Does anyone like the ‘Lensman’ series by E.E. “Doc” Smith? I’m a big fan of them.
Try the “Animorphs” series. It’s great! “Goosebumps” is ok, but….after a couple months, I started hearing noises. Weird, unexplainable ones. Really!
32-Nah. I didn’t like it that much. Possibly because it was below my reading level. And I can’t read time. And because…I DON’T LIKE DOGS. BECAUSE I HAVE 3, YES 3, CATS.
I am reading Idlewild by Nick Sagan and enjoying it. My good friend gave it to me as a birthday present as Sagan was one of the few authors whose works I hadn’t read when she questioned me.
44- And what’s wrong with kid’s books? I read them. (I very rarely read an adult book, but I spend most of my time in YA.) But anyway, it doesn’t matter.
46- well, I have four. So there.
I thought the Phantom Tollbooth was weird. But it’s been many years.
I’m reading My Side Of the Mountain right now. I love that book, but I hate the sequels. They’re all wrong.
I liked the Phantom Tollbooth, though I read it a while ago.
What’s wrong with kid’s books?
Phantom Tollbooth was ok. i still read kid books occasionally. they can be really good, actually. YA, however, i mostly shun. Somehow i skipped from dr. seuss to shakespeare, i’m still not really sure how. But i never really read those in-between books like goosbumps and animorphs (and phantom tollbooth, which i didn’t read until a couple years ago) Sometimes i like to go back and see what i missed. most of the time i come to the conclusion that i didn’t miss much, but sometimes i’ll find something i really like.
Wanna see something weird? Go look up Poison. Make sure you get a good look at the cover. Then look up Nightmare. Compare the covers. Notice something?
46-What do you mean by “reading time”?
48-Nothing, really. I just don’t like them.
I can’t stand the Enders series. Ick.
I read mostly books that are either “junior high” or “young adult” in one of the libraries I go to, though the same things are in the kids’ section of my other library. I’ll occasionally go slightly younger than that, or sometimes into adult books. I don’t really care as long as it’s a good book.
53- Ditto!
54-omg. I still think of the pokemon whenever I see the word ditto. I haven’t liked pokemon in years.
52-really? i thought you would, being (i think) an asimov/heinlein fan…it’s not really on the same level, but there are similarities.
i think the wheel of time series has slightly restored my faith in fantasy/adventure. the first book is your usual quest with unlikely hero stuff, and the second’s basically an escalation of the first, but once you get into the third and beyond, it’s actually pretty good. surprisingly original, and rather belgariad-esque.
i haven’t been to the library in a million years. they must think i died or something.
according to yeti, the book sale is soon though
i got soooo many books at the last one. they’re really cheap 
What does ditto have to do with Pokemon?
57-there was (is? I’m not sure if pokemon is still popular) a pokemon named ditto. It looked like a pink blob with a face, but it could change into any other pokemon, hence the name. I think it was the first place I ever heard the word ditto, which is why I still think of it even years after I lost interest in pokemon. I used to be completely obsessed with it.
58- My sister’s into Pokemon. I don’t really think about them at all.
I first heard the word “ditto” in Through the Looking Glass, (I think) used by either Tweedledee or Tweedledum, which brings us back to the usual topic.
Wasn’t there a muse article ages ago (or was it Cricket) on Lewis Carrol?
60- Dunno.
60- If there was, I want the back issue. If there wasn’t, there should be.
I just finished My Side Of The Mountain. I hate the ending! *sob*
52: What’s wrong with them??
*cries*
Now would be a bad time to mention those are my favorite books and pretty much got me obsessed with OSC. Just speculation… is it because they’re not “true” sci-fi?
52- I thought that’d be true. It makes sense, you not liking the Ender series.
63- Agreed.
Oops! I pressed submit before I thought of something else.
I don’t like Hunchback of Notre Dame (The real one, not the disney one) Everyone dies! Well, all the main characters do. If it had a mildly happy ending, I would have loved it. But as it is, I probably won’t ever read it again. That’s the main reason I like Jane Eyre. It has the only really happy ending from that time that I’ve read.
I love books for kids! I especially like going back and reading the books I loved in elementary school…
56-Yes. Like a colonoscopy is similar to a colonic.
64-I have a couple reasons. ONE: They’re too representative of scifi. That isn’t anyone’s fault, exactly, but I feel like the wide spectrum of science fiction is blocked by Ender. TWO: They explore absolutely no new territory. About as exciting as the coconut matting on your doorstep. THREE: It reads like For The Living had a retarded love child with Slan. Think about it. FOUR: The names. “Buggers”? “Salamander Army”? Come on.
FIVE: The ansible is from Ursula K. Le Guin. And that’s just not okay, to do that. SIX: It should never have left Analog. SEVEN: It owes its ass to the Vorkosigan novels.
65-Why? You don’t have to tell me, I’m just curious.
68-I lurvie that its so Deja Vu
I went to the library today. They didn’t have any new books, but I managed to dredge up a few that looked interesting, plus Watership Down, which is really what this post is about. It’s huge! It has tones of pages and minuscule print!
ALL WRITERS! Report to the RRR fairytale thread at once! No time to lose! Good story in progress!
I always thought that Watership Down was supposed to be depressing. Though while not exactly cheerful, so far it it’s less depressing than some books I’ve read.
69: Hrumf.
Regardless, I pored over every book in the series and was fascinated by them.
I am reading The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint and it is good so far. Anyone read it?
I’m reading some Agatha Christie now. Just for the sake of reading something, otherwise I’m bookless.
75- yup! I have! I like that one^_^ It’d be cool to read more about Imogen(e?) in future Newford books.
Okay, okay, I get it. Watership Down could be construed as depressing. Or at least heavy.
75- Yeah, I liked that one. Especially Pelly.
I tried Watership Down. I didn’t get past page 5.
FS- Do you like Christie? I read And Then There Were None and it was good. I’ve not read much else by her, but she’s one of my mom’s favorites.
26- my sister read that book and got depressed. when we did a law class we set that plot up as a mock case before the supreme court: does the parents have custody to the child or the child? very interesting.
96-hey, someone recommended those to me. are they any good? like, exciting/new/unique?
51-compare Poison to Storm Thief! and they’re by the same guy! he needs to get a new illustrator.
i finally got my hands on the Assasains Apprentice books! i am in the middle of the first one. are there more Farseer books? robin hobb is a very good writer, even if he’s not the most origina.
i love the ender books. of course to really admire orson you have to read the bean series also. very offsetting. gives you more taste of his idea of the future. he’s probably accurate in his estimation. although he kinda left out the part about how we’ll be choked on our own industrial fumes!
started the Abhorsen trilogy (is it a trilogy?) and i really like it so far. Death is quite an intereesting territory. sabriel is not the most original character though.
74-I recommend you try some Heinlein. I think you’d like it.
81- Hmm, no kidding. I wonder if it’s the same girl, but they made the lighting green and photoshopped on a respirator and dreadlocks. It’s the same font too.
I like the Abhorsen trilogy too. I’ve been thinking about underdeveloped main characters a lot today, and I’m actually perfecting a sort of philosophical theory-type thing. But that wasn’t what you were talking about, was it? You just said she wasn’t very original.
I’m going to cut short my ramblings now.
81-No, Sabriel is not. I still think she is great, though. Lirael is more interesting, in my opinion. I can connect with her her more. (shy, book-reading…)
has anyone read those two new books about the kid with an alter ego killer? thay looked so stupid that i didn’t get them. were they any good? i forget the title of them. i’ll probably remember it as soon as i get up. *sighs*
84- (continued) librarian . . .
Yeah. I like her.
85- Nope, I’ve never read ’em.
Well, actually, I’m not shy once I get to know someone, but I’m not assertive enough to ever initiate a conversation with a stranger. Or, for that matter, to keep it going.
Hmm. I’m reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
I know the Chronicles of Narnia have christian undertones, but he doesn’t even try to hide it here. The entire book is correspondence between a “devil” named Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood. It’s a little, I don’t know, disturbing. Not the plot really, but the obviousness of the, for lack of a better word, propaganda. I asked my best friend, a devout episcopalian who hasn’t missed a day of sunday school in ten years what she thought. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: So I’m reading this book, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Have you read it?
Molly: No.
Me: It’s all about this devil trying to help his nephew “rescue” someone from christianity.
Molly: Yeah, he was a very christian writer.
Me: I know, I read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but he doesn’t even try to hide it here. It’s sort of strange.
Molly: He was a great writer. He had a really happy life. I mean, look, Neitzsche. He died alone and friendless (they must have studied it in sunday school or something, because that was completely random. A little thrown, I decided I wouldn’t correct her, we didn’t have much time. We were between classes.)
Me: Well, at least Neitzsche gets quoted. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone quote C.S. Lewis
Molly: (Defensive) Well, you must not hang out with very smart people then.
It was sort of surreal. I didn’t mean to offend her, she’s usually pretty objective. I don’t know, anyone ever read it?
88-nope, but maybe i will…….
i like lireal a lot better than sabriel. although in the secondbook they portray sabriel a bit better. touchstone is a lot cooler. and no, i’m not a bigot against women.
alice, the person on storm thief is supposed to be a boy but “he” looks exactly like poison! oh dear. if you ever publish your books get a really original and unique illustrator.
89- I know “he” is supposed to be a boy, but he might not be . . .
Did anyone read Lady Friday? I thought it was definately not as good as the other four. Nothing much happened.
91- Yes, I read it. No, it wasn’t as good as the others, but it was terribly addictive, just as the whole series has been. I think my favorite was either the first or the second, because since then they haven’t been quite as surreal.
88-“She’s the sort of women who lives for others. You can tell the others by their haunted expressions.”
Note: Please pronounce “sci-fi” SKIFFY, (rhymes with “Jiffy), not “Sky-Fi” (rhymes with “Hi-Fi”). Thanks.
I pronounce sci-fi sigh-fi. It makes more sens than than skiffy.
I pronounce it sigh-fye. Not unlike Alice.
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I just read Attack of the Smart Pies. The advertisement in Muse had a summary that made the book sound like more than it really is. There aren’t hundreds of pies flying through the sky anywhere in the book, and the Muses aren’t really in the middle of a Great Pie War. What really is going on is that Kokopelli confessed a weakness to Urania during astronomy night and imediately regretted it, so in order to show Urania that he was rough and tough, he persuaded Chad and Aeiou to build him a high-tech pie launcher, and then he pitches some pies at Urania, but ultimately fails when Emma persuades Chad to build some defenses against these pies. The book made me feel really sorry for Darrin Drinkwater, because of the guilt he must’ve had for killing Emma’s parents by accident and for what he had to put up with from Emma. It annoyed me that the book’s jacket summary said Drinkwater was an evil stepfather, which he wasn’t. He was the nicest stepfather for years until Emma pushed it to far and he made a few bad judgements. Overall I was slightly dissapointed with how the story went, though I did like how it explained what the Muses do for jobs and how Intelligent Air works. The way Gonick puts it, Intelligent Air is strangely belivable! Oh, gotta go.
I just finished Watership Down. It was extremely good. Note: Fire-Bringer is plagiary! I could recognize quite a few of the adventures from Fire-Bringer. Sometime I’ll read Plague Dogs, which is also by Richard Adams.
I am now reading Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. So far, so good.
96-sorry, but whenanyone says firebringer i am reminded of the midnighters trilogy by scot westerfield. its really annoying when you get titles mixed up with book material. anyway, whats it about?
sci-fi is pronounced sigh fye. say science and just leave off the ents and then say fy. at least thats how i always say it.
97- It’s about some anthropomorphic deer, who have this prophecy, and one of the deer (the one in the prophecy) takes some other deer and runs away from evil leaders . . . You get the picture. Anyway, it’s highly predictable and made me cry a lot because there’s lots of deer getting killed and . . . other things that I won’t say for fear of spoilers. It’s an alright book, but not only is it plagiary, it’s cliched in most parts. Prophecies are so overdone.
My favorite books are
Ranger’s apprentice series
Uglies, pretties, Specials series
Artemis Fowl series
Harry Potter series
Lord of The rings
Hugo Cabret
Anything Sci-Fi or disturbingly weird
97 – I suppose technically it should be pronounced, sigh-fih, but who cares?
100- i do! well, not really. but i like it that way.
99- ooooh! some taste! (or rather, someone who reads what is uber-cool!) i am at my library right now getting out specials. when is the next Rangers Apprentice book out? anyone know?
i just realised that i’ve been on all the Books and Reading threads. cool! i’m a veteran at something! (even if it is only writing about reading weird/strange/funny and sometimes good books)
The dictionary says “sigh- (like ‘he sighed deeply’) f_eye (like ‘eye’ {your eye; the thing you see with})
And so,
Sci-fi
And there you have it.
*groan* I have to choose between DOuglass Adams and Lewis Carroll for my summer book report. I am torn. Dreadfully torn… Carroll is for mainly a younger audience, but there’s some political stuff tied into his books that I’ve heard about but havn’t really researched that would be interesting. But, a report on Adams would be so fun to do, and I wouldn’t get tired of writing it… help?
103-Adams. There’s a limited source of information on Alec Dodgson, and there’s a great biography on Adams.
“Skiffy” is cooler. It’s a sign that someone reads Analog or Asimov’s, and not just Orson Scott Card. Sniff.
I’m rereading the Hornblower books. Again. And some steampunk.
104- I have never read Analog or Amisov’s, and nor have I read Orson Scott Card. The closest thing to sci-fi I read (or practically) is His Dark Materials. And some Peter Dickinson. (Eva, The Weathermonger.)
I’m reading Gideon the Cutpurse. The plot is okay, but the writing style seems really amateurish, and there is that horribly cliched father/son side to it. You know, it goes like this: father and son get into a fight, and the son flings some cutting words at his dad as he storms off, only to get whisked away to an alternate universe/the past/etc. The father is remorseful, and the son is resentful for the rest of the book. In the end they are reunited and apologize to each other.
I just today finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It is really good Has anyone here read it? The plot is great, but hard to follow sometimes. The characters are all really distinct and special in their own ways and they all have their own distinct names that tell who they are. For example, one boy, Sticky Washington, is called Sticky because everything he reads sticks in his head, and he can memorize and remember anything. There are a lot of puzzles to the book, too, for those who like Chasing Vermeer and the Wright Three.
3-I think you are talking about Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton. EXTREMELY GOOD BOOK!! EVERYONE READ IT!
Sorry for the triple post but
99-OMG! HUGO CABRET IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS!
108- I don’t think so.
And I forgot to say what I came to say.
Gideon the Cutpurse has improved markedly. The writing style is not nearly as bad as I first thought, but I still don’t like the father/son cliche.
97-i say sigh-fie. like *sigh* Fie! or something like that. skiffy sounds like skippy. or spiffy. it’s a kewl word
right now i’m reading…
-still some book from the wheel of time series (which definitely improves once you get past the first two generic fantasy books) i think i’m on maybe the 7th or so now?
-obama’s (still! i should finish that one tonight)
-a long way gone (the book club one…memoirs of a boy soldier. it’s really depressing)
-henry IV part 2 (which i have actually never read. i’ve always loved part 1 though. we just bought it. dad insisted we already had it, but i’ve looked everywhere and haven’t seen it, so i made him buy it anyway. besides, you can never have too many copies of shakespeare)
-and that’s actually all right now. that’s not many books for me. i usually read six or so at a time.
I wonder if Terry Pratchett will write any more YA books. I hope so.
105-Try it. You might like it.
113-Definitely. In my opinion.
I’m reading the new Weber/Evans, Hell Hath No Fury. Excellent so far. I started reading last night, am on page 245, and love it. Honor Harrington was okay, and I never really liked Evans, but together the boring parts are cut out and more people die. Good books.
I also read the new Alastair Reynolds thing, Zima Station. Really good. But hard. Reynolds and Peter Watts should write something together–they both have that diamondhard edge, and hey, Watts might make a halfway decent space opera writer.
107- Both Jadestone and I have! ^_^
114- reccomend me something, Queenie!
107- Yup! Hey, did you find the name, e~a?
I finished Gideon the Cutpurse. I will read the second, but if they don’t bring Kate back IMMEDIATELY I will not bother to finish the series. Peter is not very likable.
My mother says I should read Charles Dickens. Which one of his books is the best to start with?
She also says I should read Charles Delint’s short stories. (I know I spelled his name wrong, but I’m not sure what the correct spelling is.)
116- no, not yet, though I haven’t really been looking. Any hints? I must be bad at that sort of thing…
117- Tell your mother I like her choice of reading material! de Lint is a quite good author and I especially like his short stories. You could also read Someplace to be Flying by de Lint! Does your mother own the short story collections? (the Newford collections?)
118- No, she doesn’t. She doesn’t own Charles Dickens either. Time to go to the library, I guess . . .
The only Charles de Lint book I ever read was Jack of Kinrowan, and I didn’t much like the main character. That’s nothing new though, and other than that it was quite good.
hey GAPAs? could you put this back on the remember these threads thread? Thanks!
118- Hints? Hmm… it’s not in the part of the book where the reading is done
121- that’s what I thought. I had an idea of where it might be…
haha! found it!
Anyone read Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith? And the sequel, Court Duel. Pretty good.
124- No. I like duels though.
I didn’t like Endymion Spring so much. I t had a good plot, but he ending was weird. I read the Mysterious Benedict Society and that was very good. I liked the Faerie Wars and the Purlpe Emperor series. I can’t remember wat the third is called…
I saw a review for a book called The Invention of Hugo Cabret, or something like that . . . I’m hold position 30!
115-You might want to try The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, or maybe On Basilisk Station by David Weber.
124- Yes! They are both in a one volume edition now under the title Crown Duel. I like Sherwood Smith’s work.
128- mmm, I’ll keep those in mind. Thanks Queenie!
123- Nice
That was one of the first places I looked, actually, then decided it wasn’t it and went through the pictures. The I went back to it and thought ‘Oh wow. How could I miss that?’.
heh, yeah I thought it was in the pics too. Oh and in one I figured out which version they use. My encyclopedia had two versions of the code. yeah, it’s obvious when you see it. Plus when you know what you are looking for. I kept looking in the illustrations specifically one where I saw something that could be code but actually made no sense.
have’nt been on the blog in a while…..so hello again! oh, on a previous book blog i think that someone reccomended a book called The Thief. i read that a while ago and WOW! i really loved it! very good plot, good characters, good plot twists and very well written. i highly reccomend it.
okay, now to go to the library and get some de lint….any good books of his that have’nt already been said? i am going to check out four-i think julieb recoomended them or someone…maybe it was fridgey.
i read-or started to read-edmyion spring and i got bored out of my mind! idk….i really didn’t like it. i got the the climactic beginning of the end an stopped. hated it. maybe someday i’ll finish it. did anyone read The Cup of the World? did you like it? i am in the middle of it and so far am confuseled….its wierd.
Ok, has anyone read the Sherlock Holmes stories? I am forging my way through and have noticed Mrs. Watson is misteriously missing from the stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Does anyone know whether I missed something or if this is just a giant plot gap?
134- Hmm. No, I didn’t notice. But since the stories skip all over the place time-wise, It’s not really important. I don’t think.
132- are they his four newford collections? I remember telling someone those titles on here a while back. I don’t think fridgey reads de Lint and I don’t know about Julieb. How many of you do, anyways?
134- I’ve only read a few Holmes stories but are you sure that Watson doesn’t appear in them until a certain point where he is introduced?
Anyone read books by John Bellairs? I may have asked that before…
136- I read The House with a Clock in its Walls and the one that comes after it, the one with the coin. I was too tired of his style to read the Letter, the Witch, and the Ring.
135- Well, this is after Holmes “dies,” so it’s definitely after Watson is married. It says he sells his practice and moves back to Baker Street, but makes absolutely no mention of what has happened to Mrs. Watson.
136- No, all the stories are narrated by Watson.
I have de LInt on my reading list, but sadly I haven’t been able to find anything by him. My local library is really bad at carrying books people actually want to read.
the de lint books are: Tapping the Dream Tree, Moonlight and Vines, Dreams Underfoot, and The Ivory and the Horn. anyone read them? any good? let me know!
I just figured out something. I havn’t read a good book in a long time. And my libarary is closed.
My mom came back from the library with lots and lots of books! Hurrah!
141-lucky
139- mmm, then it was probably I who recommended them. I’ve read them all. I liked them all. They are collections of de Lint short stories and they bring out the magic in everyday life. So, yes, good. ^_^
142- Sort of. Only one of them was for me (The Secret Hour) and of all the ones for my sister, only one or two looked like something I would read.
144-the secret hour is the midnighters book right? that series was strange. very sad ending. me didn’t like it. but scott westerfield is a very good author (Uglies, Pretties and Specials) that trilogy wasn’t too happy either. he’s still a good author. (why am i arguing with myself?) well, any book can be good….to someone.
145- Well, it’s all I have to read, so I’m going to read it. He wrote those other books? Those did not appeal to me. I didn’t read them.
146- Yeah, Scot Westerfield wrote those too. Uglies ect. wasn’t that bad, but not one of my favorites. Midnighters was better, even though the ending was sad as jj said.
Went to B&N yesterday to get books for the plane ride, which will last 17 hours, many of them in daylight. ≥.≤ Uhg. But getting books was fun, even though mom didn’t let me buy what looked to be the possibly most funny book I have seen: It was co-writen by Douglass Adams and the producer of Monty Python. It was also thin, with large text, and not what’s going to last me a whole plane ride, so I didn’t get it.
). Got the Salmon of Doubt too, cause I’m doing a book report on Adams and it has lots of interesting things about him in it. I’ll probably bring tha one with.
I did, however, get The Complete Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which has all the books in it plus an intor+extra Zaphoid story. I can’t take this with however because it’s too big and I would die if I lost it (it also has gilt-edged pages and the writing on the cover is gold, making for a very shiny appearance
And as for books to take with, I got (e~a be proud of me here) Someplace to be FLying and The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint. Both seemed good for reading for a long time and like they would last both a few hours and my attention span.
I can’t read them till Saturday though. Mom’s hidden them so I can’t possibly finish any before we leave. Oh well.
147-I have an Ultimate Guide, in paperback and the gilt-edged hardcover that’s meant to look like the Bible.
Has anyone read any of the Horatio Hornblower books?
148- Ah! Ultimate. That’s the word I was looking for, not compleate.
You’re right, i does rather resemble the Bible. Ha.
Read Ken Follett. Pillars Of The Earth is bloody fantastic.
Now reading: Heimskringla: Sagas Of The Kings Of Norway; the Poetic Edda; and The Man From Saint Petersburg by Ken Follett.
148- I read the first two, Mr.Midshipman Hornblower and Lieutenant Hornblower. (Yay! I spelled Lieutenant right!)
Has anyone here ever read The Lost Years of Merlin series, or the Great Tree of Avalon? Or the books about Kate by T.A. Barron? He and J.K Rowling are my favorite authors!!! I also read this good book called The Claidi Journals, Wolf Tower, Wolf Star, and Wolf Queen. It was a really good book, but there were a few boring parts.
147 – yay! de Lint! Where are you going that has a seventeen hour plane ride? Tell me what you think of them!
152- Which Kate? Kate Gordon (The Merlin Effect) or Kate Prancer (Heartlight, The Ancient One)? I read The Merlin Effect and The Ancient One, but not Heartlight. I also read the first Lost Years of Merlin. I really enjoyed that last one, but the others didn’t hold my attention very well. They were very well written, but so much so as to lose some of the gripping-ness that should have been there. Or at least the Kate ones.
I’ve never read the Claidi Journals, though I read the Piratica books by the same author, and the first one was really, really, good. But the next one was boring for the first half, though it picked up in the second, as soon as Felix and Art stopped bickering. I wonder how much room was left for a sequel . . .
Anyone here read The Search for the Tinker Chief? It’s very fairy-tale-ish and good.
I liked the Lost Merlin Series a lot. T A Baron is a great author.
I finished The Secret Hour! At midnight, no less . . . It was good. I now am positively obsessed with 13-letter words.
156-yay! me loves them also! Sarcastically controversial nullification is…..and i can’t think of any mor that would make sense. well, you get the point. watsername the math girl was cool.
those merlin books were….well, cliche? i read two of them and was bored. very cool application of magic though. i’m pretty sure i know what happens in all of them though. i read the summary of the ages in the tree book thingy.
whats pillars of the earth about?
I’m reading The Traitor King, for lack of anything else. It’s not a very good title, but the story isn’t bad, except for that eternal problem: I cannot find it in my heart to like the main character. I wince at each new thing that sets him apart, makes him special. If he was a side character I wouldn’t mind, but honestly, I hate reading a book about someone like him. Other examples of this are:
Peter Schock (Gideon the Cutpurse)
Jackie (Jack of Kinrowan)
Titty Walker (Swallows and Amazons)
Titty is more because she is such a main character, along with Roger. What about Susan? John is not as prominent as Titty or Roger, but Susan doesn’t get enough credit at all.
157- Here name was Dess. Short for Desdemona.
what is the secret hour about/ who is it by?
160- It’s by Scott Westerfeld. There’s a town, and in the town, at midnight, for an hour, everything just stops. Raindrops stop falling in midair. Everything turns blue. Well, that’s the secret hour, and during that time there are things called darklings that come out and prowl around. There are three or four teenagers who were born on the stroke of midnight, and they can walk around and move in that time too. It’s about a girl who moves to that town and discovers that she is one of them too. It’s really good.
I recommend Utopia by More. Sir Thomas More. It’s lovely. If anyone finds a copy of it in the original Latin, please let me know where!
I also recommnd all things Lovecraft.
As well as mythology. One can never read enough of it. From the Egyptian Book of the Dead to the Bible. From Shiva to Odin. From the Maya to the Celts to the Greeks. It’s all lovely stuff, so long as you don’t take it seriously.
What else, what else?
Haven’t read de Lint or Westerfield.
I finally got a copy of Don Quixote to read this summer. We do it in Spanish IV, so I thought I may as well have read it already. It’s in English, though, but I think I noticed a Spanish copy in one local bookstore. Huzzah for a high Hispanic population in the area. You can find lots of things in Spanish around these parts.
There’s also a really froody short story by Garth Nix which is basically a creepy, modern-day version of Hansel and Gretel. It’s good stuff.
Gah, reading through this thread makes me want to hit the library. Perhaps I’ll volunteer to go to the pool and just walk up to the library….. *sneaky*
Hmm
There’s this really amazing story called I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. By Harlan Ellison. Brilliant. Haunting.
I also got The Fountainhead by Rand, and am loving it. And I picked up Les Miz…surely someone here has read it? I dunno, book club’s seeing the Broadway, so I figured I’d read it this summer. Should take about a day.
Yay, reading!
I also love The Great Gatsby. It’s so….so….everything.
Don Quixote is very long. When I read it as a teenager (over a summer, the way you are doing), I had trouble getting through Part One but enjoyed Part Two.
You can buy a Latin-English dual-text edition of Utopia on Amazon for a mere $110.
14- Yay, another person who delights in wonderful book covers. Yes, I do judge books by their covers, in the most literal sense. “ZOMG COOL COVER *checks out*” That’s why I read Arabat.
81- Melikes the Abhorsen Trilogy. Read also another book, I think it’s called something with “The Wall” in it. But it has another story about two of the characters…
I re-read Bill Bergson Lives Dangerously yesterday. Method writing if I ever read it. But it was good. Unfortunately, it’s such an obscure series that the library doesn’t have either of the others!
You know, the goodness of a foreign book depends not on the author, but on the translator. Unless I learn Sweden and read some of Astrid Lindgren’s books in her native language, I cannot say how good of an author she is. That’s a weird feeling.
Guess which books the first lines come from!
1) Polly sighed and laid her book face down on her bed.
2) The streets were still wet but the storm clouds had moved on as Hank drove south on Yoors waiting for a fare.
3) “Too many!” James shouted, and slammed the door behind him.
4) She scowled at her glass of orange juice.
5) Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house.
166-
1) Dragons in the Water, Madeleine L’engle.
2) Don’t know.
3) The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper. That is SUCH a good book! One of my favorites.
4) The Blue Sword, by someone whose name eludes me.
5) Coraline, by Neil Gaiman.
167- one is incorrect, 3- I love it too! yay!, 4- Robin McKinley.
you should post your own first lines!
Some first lines of my own!
1) Some years ago in the city of York there was a society of magicians.
2) It was years before Christopher told anyone about the dreams.
3) When Conor woke up on November Eve, he knew at once it was one of those strange days when anything could happen.
4) He woke up suddenly, as if from a deep sleep full of unrecoverable dreams.
168- I did. Aww, darn, I know I saw that somewhere. *racks brain* Er . . . is it Madeleine L’engle at all? Because it could be that other one, The Arm of the Starfish. Except I didn’t read that one. Oh! Duh! Fire and Hemlock! How could I not notice! *feels idiotic, like usual*
169- 1) Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?
2) The Lives of Christopher Chant?
171- Both correct.
WEll my MOTHER REFUSES TO BUY ME BOOKS!!!!!!!!! GARGH!! IT IS SO ANNOYING!!!!!!!! I wanted to get book 1 of the midnighters trilogy, but I was not allowed.
173-not allowed, or she wouldn’t buy it for you?
my mater only buys books if i convince her that she’d like to have it around the house (or a second copy, or if it’s shakespeare, a fifth or sixth copy…). actually, it’s usually easier to convince dad. especially if it’s somewhat historical
163- Hmm, I’ll try to hang in, then, through Part One. Ooooooshiny. Gar, maybe for the birthday… “Hey parents, would you like to get me a $110 book I’ve already read in one language?” “What?” “It’s dual-text! How crazy awesome is that?” Hmm, or I’ll have to dig out the cash myself….Thanks for the linkage, though ^_^ *gives virtual choklit*
173- I have the same problem. I just leave her, purchase my own books, and leave as if I’m not carrying a heavy bag. ^_^
I just requested the fourth Montmorency book! Yippee! Maybe… It doesn’t look as good as the previous ones, and they’ve all gone downhill since the first. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort. (What effort? Yes, that is the question, isn’t it?) Does anyone know?
Ack, sorry for the double-post, but I still have stuff to say.
Since becoming a writer and paying attention to writing styles, I can only stand one writer for so long. For example, LOTR – even with brief intervals for things like Hornbower and The Education of Robert Nifkin (quite funny, btw) – was sorely testing my limits, and trying to read The Hobbit afterwards could have soured my taste for Tolkein if I’d kept it up. The same thing would have happened with almost any book-series you could name.
Has anyone had experiences similar to that?
177-No.
162- Sorry, haven’t read it. My sister was in the play, though. She played a street urchin (she was so close to getting Cosette, too)
I’ve been meaning to read Don Quixote. I mean, I read an abridged version like six years ago, but I’d like to read the full book (even if it is a translation) And apparently long.
I am slightly euphoric. And procrastinating. But the euphoria is caused by books, so we’ll stick to that. My mother bought me 9 books off my amazon wishlist and a bookwarm plush microbe, the ones Robert told us about. (was it Robert? One of the GAPAs, at least) I’m really excited.
If this is a double post, sorry.
177- 1. No, I don’t usually tire of writing styles. I sort of get used to them and end up reading everything the author has written (or at least, everything I can get from my local library, which is not much) But I couldn’t stand reading Tolkein in the first place, sorry to all you Tolkein fans, so it may just be that. Oh, and Re: Robert Nifkin: don’t torture me. The library actually had it, my mother insisted I let my brother read it (which he never did) and returned it before I got a chance. I don’t get that boy. How can he not enjoy something written by Daniel Pinkwater? Sure, it can be strange, but with a product like Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars you put up with it. Groan.
177- how about pendragon series! uughh! i read all eight and almost puked. same story, different characters. or redwall. ditto to pendragon. writing style reeked after the 3rd book. i read all 17 of those. some twice. yep, it was torture.
the fourth montmorency was better than i expected. hated the third. to tragic and sudden. definetely worth spending 3 hours on. yeah it was kinda short.
i read Hoot by the Hiaason fellow. funny but a little cliche. i read it in 3 hours and my parents were horrified. couldn’t read for the rest of the night. Flush was better. i read that in 3 hours also but ommitted mentioning this fact to mater and pater.
finally started reading asimov. read the first foundation book. wow! can’t beleive i missed out for so long. what were his masterpieces? info please!
started ruby in the smoke. what were the other books in that series? also started Seperation of Power by Vince flanders of something. anyone read it? terrorists and all that. tom clancy style. btw, i loved The Hunt for Red October by Clancy. even bought the movie. sean connery is amazing.
Alice, hows the book going? or story, or whatever. point me to where you posted it.
I’m listening to My Friend Flicka on tape right now. It’s good, much better than you would expect.
181- I’ve paused that for a time, because of SF, but when I’m done I’m going right back to writing TMW. ANyway, I can’t link to it right at the moment because I’m going to go clean the kitchen, but I’ll be back, and I’ll post a link to the newest draft of Chap. 1.
183-okay
Here, jammin j. The first chapter isn’t so great, but it’s all I’ve posted so far.
151-Beat To Quarters and Flying Colours were the best of the lot.
MINI BOOK QUIZ:
The last book you read:
The funniest book you read:
Favorite genre:
Favorite subgenre:
Best book moment:
Best book name:
Worst book character name:
Best book you remember from childhood:
You want to write a book about:
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick:
Worst book you had to read in school:
Best classic you had to read in school:
The book you recommend to everyone:
The book you wish you wrote:
The book you wish no one wrote:
The book you take to read on the plane:
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals:
MY ANSWERS:
The last book you read: Nightshades, by Theodore Sturgeon
The funniest book you read: The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Favorite genre: SF
Favorite subgenre: Military/adventure SF
Best book moment(s): The Marvin’s phone call-parking lot-battleship sequence in The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
Best book name: Hairstyles of the Damned
Worst book character name: Horatio Hornblower
Best book you remember from childhood: The Little Prince
You want to write a book about: an epic Armageddon/Ragnarok battle between Crocodile Dundee and Indiana Jones. Maybe it would be better as a movie.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: a Regency romance novel, maybe one by Georgette Heyer
Worst “book” you had to read in school: The Watsons Go To Birmingham or To Kill A Mockingbird
Most tolerable book you had to read in school: The High King
The book you recommend to everyone: Dune and further chronicles thereof
The book you wish you wrote: Starburst Pohl and everything Ben Bova/Charles Sheffield ever wrote
The book you wish no one wrote: To Kill A Mockingbird
Book you take to read on the plane: “My diary–one should never be without something sensational to read.” JK. Collected Works of P.G. Wodehouse
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: Tom Holt, Spider Robinson, Ben Bova, Polyhymnia
The GAPAs should answer the quiz too. Please? Please? Pleeeeaaaaaaaaaase?
186-I screwed up. The answer to the first question is Nightshades, by Sturgeon. *beseeches GAPAs kindly, with big puppy eyes and quivering bottom lip*
The last book you read: I take it you mean finished, not currently reading. Bill Bergson Lives Dangerously.
Never.
The funniest book you read: Rosie is my Relative.
Favorite genre: Adventure.
Favorite subgenre: Adventure with lots of ships.
Best book moment: Huck Finn realizing that he was supposed to be Tom Sawyer in The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn. Not funny, but surprising.
Best book name: Don’t even ask me to answer that one.
Worst book character name: I don’t know. I can’t think about it right now. I’ve read way too many books.
Best book you remember from childhood: Cannonball Simp though it ought to be Madeleine in London if what my parents say is true.
You want to write a book about: Fairyland.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: Burning books?????
Worst book you had to read in school: I don’t go to school, and I hardly ever get books assigned to me.
Best classic you had to read in school: Like I said. See above.
The book you recommend to everyone: Whatever I’m reading at the moment. The Golden Compass.
The book you wish you wrote: I don’t, generally. Wish I wrote someone else’s book.
The book you wish no one wrote: Whichever book my sister has been talking about unceasingly for the past week. It varies.
The book you take to read on the plane: I’ve never been on a plane, but I think I would take either Watership Down or Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. They’re both very huge and very good.
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: Writers have websites? Just kidding. I don’t really watch particular writers, just particular series’.
The last book you read: First time or
reread? I’ll assume first time. The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The funniest book you read: H2G2, duh.
Favorite genre: Mystery (Currently. I go through phases. Sometimes it’s scifi, fantasy, historical, etc.)
Favorite subgenre: Funny mysteries. idk.
Best book moment: YOU CAN ACTUALLY CHOOSE ONE?!?! Your obviously much less indescisive than I am.
Best book name: The Hollow Choclate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.
Worst book character name: *shrug* None come to mind
Best book you remember from childhood: The Giver by Lois Lowry
You want to write a book about: I don’t want to write a book
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: The Pearl by John Steinbeck. I loathe that book.
Worst book you had to read in school: See above
Best classic you had to read in school:The Phantom Tollbooth in elementary, Animal Farm (though I had read it before) in middle, Flowers for Algernon in frosh. The seniors read The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time (which I have already read) I’m so jealous.
The book you recommend to everyone: Probably The Giver I don’t know, everyone’s different
The book you wish you wrote: The Jasper Fforde books. They are really brilliant
The book you wish no one wrote: Oh god. I can’t decide.
The book you take to read on the plane:Whatever I buy in the airport bookstore.
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: N/a.
186- I’m assuming that plane ride takes several days, if you plan to actually finish all Wodehouse. I mean, straight through with no breaks. I’d probably pick Wodehouse to be stranded on an Island, though.
188- You’ve never been on a plane?
189- Never. I don’t get out much.
MINI BOOK QUIZ:
The last book you read: Well, I’m reading The Faery Reel, a collection by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow right now.
The funniest book you read: Hmm… I liked The Misfits by James Howe and also the Blue Avenger books by Norma Howe. (yes, they are both Howes; no idea if they are related, though)
Favorite genre: Fantasy
Favorite subgenre: Urban Fantasy
Best book moment: Mm, the endings of a lot of books. Can’t think of anything specific right now but if I do, I’ll tell you.
Best book name: The Radioactive Boy Scout
Worst book character name: mm, can’t think of one now
Best book you remember from childhood: Oh, lots. One of my favorites (then AND now) is The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.
You want to write a book about: Bubbles. (don’t worry, there is more to it than that, I’m just not sure yet.)
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: err… I don’t know really.
Worst book you had to read in school: The Scarlet Letter
Best classic you had to read in school: The House of the Spirits
The book you recommend to everyone: Someplace to be Flying (you guys should know that… I recommend it enough here…)
The book you wish you wrote: Fire and Hemlock
The book you wish no one wrote: I have no clue
The book you take to read on the plane: American Gods
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: Charles de Lint, Sharyn November (yes, I know, she’s an editor) errr… probably more.l
Good quiz, queenie.
err… though I don’t actually wish I wrote it. I just think it is brilliant. She wrote an essay on writing it. here: http : / / ist-socrates . berkeley . edu/~arcadia/ childrenslit/ childrenslit . htm if the gapas keep the mostly harmless link with spaces. Scroll down until you see Diana Wynne Jones with one through seven next to it at the bottom. It helps to have read the book before the essay, though. Gapas, add more spaces if necessary and if you keep the link.
[Indeed, that link appears mostly harmless — Rosanne]
I really should get Someplace to be Flying one of these days . . . I know, I should have already read it by now.
As for Fire and Hemlock, I really, really, liked it when I was reading it, but afterwards I didn’t so much. She put too much of the real world in. But then again, I may be overdeveloping my first reaction at the end, which was, “I don’t get it. Maybe I should read it again?” And I can’t stand turning right around and reading a book again.
193- read the essay that I mention in 192! it is by Diana Wynne Jones on her writing of the book and it clarifies a lot of things. It’s quite a good book and essay. Re-reading Fire and Hemlock helps to clarify things too. One think I like about that book is how you can discover so much each time you read it.
Hmm, that’s interesting. Really interesting.
The last book you read: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn I think, you don’t mean currently right? Cuz currently I am readi nthe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Once and Future King.
The funniest book you read: Rover Saves Christmas I tin kthat’s what it’s called…
Favorite genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Favorite subgenre: Fantasy w/magic involved
Best book moment: Erm…
Best book name: LeiLani, Cassandra Day
Worst book character name:Priscilla. And Morton
Best book you remember from childhood: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Fireman Small
You want to write a book about: Moi! No not really, I have a boring life. Well, does script frenzy count?
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: LITTLE WOMEN!!!!
Worst book you had to read in school: The Cay. My god that was boring
Best classic you had to read in school: WE haven’t read any so far, but Flowers for Algernon is good. is that a classic?
The book you recommend to everyone: ABARAT!!!!!!
The book you wish you wrote: The Prophecy of the Stones. I could have done a way better job.
The book you wish no one wrote: Another book I hate? Anything by Mary Higgins Clark.
The book you take to read on the plane: the Neverending Story
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: None.
Oh! I loved Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs! God, I haven’t read that book in years. Why Little Women and The Cay? Neither are that bad.
The last book you read: I can’t remember. It was probably H2G2.
The funniest book you read: See above.
Favorite genre: Fantasy
Favorite subgenre: i’m not sure.
Best book moment: What?
Best book name: Journey to the River Sea.
Worst book character name: I don’t know!
Best book you remember from childhood: The little princess
You want to write a book about: Unsure.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: BURN BOOKS? My views are the same as Alice’s on this subject
Worst book you had to read in school: The Daydreamer.
Best classic you had to read in school: We haven’t read any.
The book you recommend to everyone: Dunno.
The book you wish you wrote: Dunno.
The book you wish no one wrote: Dunno.
The book you take to read on the plane: Dunno.
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: Dunno.
I really realy really hated little women. sorry if I offended anyone, but they just sit and sew and sigh and dance and read and reminisce. Nothing HAPPENS!! Except for when the one dies, but htat was lame too! Sorry, but it was just so long with no plot I can’t stand it. And you’reright, the Cay wasn’t that bad.
188-Have you really never been on a plane? I have a complete Wodehouse collection. Actually they used to, but they took 1 book away because they thought it was a bomb.
It was a fourteen-hour plane flight, okay? And they go fast.
199-Me too! I think it maybe was good in the 1850s or whatever, but it’s outdated and it just DRONES ON.
None of the GAPA like me or my quiz. WAAAAAAH!!!!
Sorry to double post, but Julieb, have you read the Foundation series yet?
(200) Nah, just didn’t have time to answer. But here goes — though I took some liberties with the questions.
The last book you read: Neurology of the Arts: Painting, Music, Literature, Clifford Rose, ed.
The funniest book you read: can’t think offhand of anything funnier than H2G2
Favorite genre: nonfiction, especially science and history
Favorite subgenre: neuroscience, physics, evolution; biography, cultural and technological history, linguistics
Best book moment: the flash of understanding something that never made sense before, or whenever I read something that makes me rethink what I believe or how I see the world
Best book name: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
Worst book character name: any cutesy pun that telegraphs the character’s symbolic meaning or personality, e.g., Ransom in C. S. Lewis’s science fiction trilogy or any number of Anthony Trollope’s characters
Best book you remember from childhood: Through the Looking Glass and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
You want to write a book about: something
Alternate answer to the above: a history of the universe written in poems, songs and (my own) illustrations
Worst book you had to read in high school: The Pearl
First book you ever fell asleep reading: Billy Budd
Most tolerable book you had to read in high school: The Loved One, Evelyn Waugh
Best classic you had to read in high school: The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy
The book you recommend to everyone: anything by Chaucer
The book you wish you wrote: Ulysses, James Joyce
The book you wish no one wrote: oh, well, someone would have written as bad or worse
The book you take to read on the plane: I write or draw
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: nothing on a systematic basis
198- I LOVE Journey to the River Sea!
200- Never. And I’ve only been on a train once or twice.
Journey to the River Sea is great. I love Eva Ibbotson and have all of her kids books.
eva ibbotson? i remember when i first read one of her books…i think it was something about aunts in the title. anyway, i was just hanging around after skool cuz mom was in a meeting (this was back when it was too far to walk, when we lived near GR) and i picked it up randomly and i’m pretty sure that was the one that i took home without realizing it (it was a library book…:oops: :D). anyhoo, so i read that and a few others, and they were all great.
The last book you read: the last one i finished, or the last one i read? the last one i was reading was the long, dark tea-time of the soul, the last one i finished was prelude to foundation
The funniest book you read: h2g2 or anything terry pratchett
Favorite genre: science fiction or fantasy
Favorite subgenre: subgenre? like comedic fantasy? let’s go with that
Best book moment: the moment where i finish, look up at the clock, and realize that i’ve been in another world for over an hour
Best book name: oh man, idk.
Worst book character name: those really cheesy ones that try to be all clever and subtle and FAIL MISERABLY. especially the ones that give away plot points by trying to be smart.
Best book you remember from childhood: ooh, tough one. ummmm…probably that one about dolphins…forget the title. it’s really old though. it was my mom’s
You want to write a book about: i don’t really want to write a book.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: nothing. burning books is stupid.
Worst book you had to read in school: lord of the flies
Best classic you had to read in school: pride and prejudice
The book you recommend to everyone: i recommend a lot of books to everyone, but i guess tale of two cities and/or ivanhoe
The book you wish you wrote: if i wrote them they wouldn’t be the same book, now would they?
The book you wish no one wrote: eldest (or eragon, but eldest even more so)
The book you take to read on the plane: whatever i’m reading
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: none, actually. my cousin kept sending me series of unfortunate events email type things, so i knew about that, but other than that nothing.
205- Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.
alice-read you’re chapter. 300% better than the first. way more comprehensive and descriptive. good emotional culturing. not to dramatic, just right. one eensy problem. what does sara look like? and the town?(by that i mean the current technological standards). anyway, it was a ton better. keep writing!!!!
The last book you read:ummm…flush? no, foundation. oops, it was ruby in the smoke. hey, i read fast so i lose track.
The funniest book you read:some of the artemis fowl books were hilarious
Favorite genre:no comment
Favorite subgenre:any adventure
Best book moment:dunno
Best book name:house of the scorpion
Worst book character name:bobby
Best book you remember from childhood:my fathers dragon
You want to write a book about:anything
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick:dunno
Worst book you had to read in school:phantom tollbooth
Best classic you had to read in school:dunno
The book you recommend to everyone:
The book you wish you wrote:
The book you wish no one wrote:
The book you take to read on the plane:
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals:
sorry, not enough time to finish. gotta go!!!
207- Thanks! I’m glad it’s better. I’m utterly sick of it, I’ve read it so many times.
201- No, once again they’ve been shifted to my summer reading list. But I have a 4 hour car ride in my future, so there is a distinct possibility I’ll actually have time to read this year. Ack. I have so much scifi on my bookshelf that I haven’t read, courtesy of my mother and aunt. I actually have about ten copies of the old Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine from the 80’s(can you believe they they saved them?) Let’s see… Crichton, Bradbury, Asimov, Zelazny, Herbert… God, who came up with these titles? Anyway, I’ll get through all of them eventually. Of course, somehow I only own the last book of every series, but hey, thats what the library is for.
Ok, Ok, Little Women is not very exciting. But there is much worse.
207- Why The Phantom Tollbooth? I loved that book.
I also posted the second chapter.
I’m reading Moonheart by Charles de Lint right now. It is quite awesome and enjoyable. I finished The Faery Reel recently.
I am reading wolf tower by Tanith lee, My sister keeper by Jodi Piccoult, Romeos Ex by can’t remeber, and skimming a book about the smithsonian. It originally cost $60.00 but I bought it for $1.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, at the library book sale shelves.
202-Thanks. I feel better now. Even though Mr. Coontz, Sir Baker, the Kangaroo, and Polyhymnia obviously hate me.
209-Crichton’s not scifi. Zelazny takes a special, special kind of reading taste (i.e. mine), Herbert is subpar, but you’ll enjoy Bradbury and Asimov.
212-“Romeo’s Ex”? Sounds good. I am still the best thing that could ever happen to him, though. *sniffs*
I’m reading Midnighters vol. 3: Blue Noon. So far it’s been good, but I realized recently that if I hadn’t heard about it here, I never would have thought to pick it up. The cover art, the titles, and the author – none of them speak to me. I may have got it based on the jacket summary, but I’m not really sure I would have. I never read that type of thing.
I finished Blue Noon. It wasn’t very sad. It was as sad as the story had it in it to be, but there was no outcome that could have had me bawling my eyes out like in some books. Twas good though.
Here are my answers…Some of them I would probably change if I could go back and look at every book I have ever read, but here are the best answers I can come up with right now…
And I copied Rebecca Lasley’s questions, which seem to be a bit different than everyone else’s. Oh, well. They look good to me…
The last book you read: My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult.
The funniest book you read: I’m going to have to go with H2G2, although I may have read something funnier…I just can’t think of it right now.
Favorite genre: Definitely Fiction, either that or Creative Non-Fiction.
Favorite subgenre: I like adventure stories, and memoirs.
Best book moment: An idea for a story or something (usually I get them while reading), or the feeling that you’re in the story. Which kind of makes you staltified and really out-of-it, but it’s an amazing feeling.
Best book name: I’m going to have to go with The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Worst book character name: Hmm. Patsy, probably. The name drove me crazy throughout the entire book. Mostly because it didn’t fit her personality.
Best book you remember from childhood: I have a few good ones: Little Women, The Secret Garden, and The Velveteen Rabbit.Oh, also, Peter Rabbit.
You want to write a book about: Oh, gosh. I don’t know. I have so many ideas floating around in my head I don’t think I can answer this question…at least right now.
Worst book you had to read in high school: The Clan of the Cave Bear
First book you ever fell asleep reading: Across Five Aprils
Best classic you had to read in high school: The Odyssey. I only had one year oh high school (so far), and that was by far the best one we read.
The book you recommend to everyone: Oh, I can’t even begin to answer this one. Don’t make me choose!
The book you wish you wrote: I don’t really “wish I wrote” anything…the credit goes rightfully to the author, who spent a lot of time writing and coming up with the ideas. Maybe I’m not understanding the question?
The book you wish no one wrote: Um, I guess that goes hand-in-hand with the “worst book,” doesn’t it?
The book you take to read on the plane: Hmm. Probably somehting easy to read that I’ve read thousands of times, like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: None…
216- ooh! ooh! yeah! (on best book moment) I start writing after reading a passage I liked quite a lot! ^_^
213- Well, no, not really, but it’s The Andromeda Strain so it got lumped in there. And I’ve officially started Foundation. If it’s as good as I, Robot I’ll be extremely satisfied. And The Martian Chronicals are next in line(after I finish the entire trilogy, of course. If that’s as good as Fahrenheit 451, I’ll be having a great summer.)
216- Oh, another book I loved an haven’t thought about in forever! The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler… a true classic. I think I had that one on tape…
217- Yeah, some books (and some passages) are like that. Mortal Engines had me writing insanely the whole while I was reading it.
219- mmm, maybe I should read that, then^_^
MINI BOOK QUIZ:
The last book you read: Well, I just finished Abarat, but I started it in the middle of Middlesex, cus I borrowed it from a friend.
The funniest book you read: I can’t say I read it, but I listened to David Sedaris: Live at Carnegie Hall on tape. “Aside from a few pleasantries, Santa doesn’t SPEAK Turkish!”
Favorite genre: Nonfiction
Favorite subgenre: Memoir, followed by books on the carnival/sideshow/freak show/freaks/etc
Best book moment: I don’t know…
Best book name: I don’t know…
Worst book character name: Yeast. Don’t ask.
Best book you remember from childhood: Narnia, even with the strong Christian undertones.
You want to write a book about: Probably a memoir, cus I have a /lot/ to talk about. When I do write though, it’s always fantasy/adventure or something.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: Never. Ever. Ever. Ever.
Worst book you had to read in school: Holes, but only cus I had to read it like five times.
Best classic you had to read in school: Romeo and Juliet.
The book you recommend to everyone: Running With Scissors
The book you wish you wrote: I have to pick one?
The book you wish no one wrote: Oh god, there are some awfully written books that killed me a little there were so bad. None came to mind.
The book you take to read on the plane: A new memoir.
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: Augusten Burrough’s site.
MINI BOOK QUIZ:
The last book you read: The Virtue of Selfishness
The funniest book you read: Probably H2G2
Favorite genre: Sci-fi or fantasy, I can’t decide!
Favorite subgenre: Dystopian anything…
Best book moment: I dunno, when I realize that I totally agree with something in a philosophy-type book, or that something in that sort of book makes complete logical sense!
Best book name: Steal this Book!
Worst book character name: I dunno…
Best book you remember from childhood: THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH!
You want to write a book about: I dunno, but I’d kill off the protagonist at the end.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: Hmm, I don’t think I could do that… perhaps this nasty old book [I can’t remember the title] of my father’s about making certain projects that said as a disclaimer something to the effect of: “Do not attempt to teach girls these techniques, for they unable to understand/do them.” AARGH.
Worst book you had to read in school: A Separate Peace
Best classic you had to read in school: The Great Gatsby
The book you recommend to everyone: Anthem, by Ayn Rand
The book you wish you wrote:Oh! I couldn’t chose!
The book you wish no one wrote: A Separate Peace
The book you take to read on the plane: H2G2
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: I don’t, I just watch Amazon…
Last book: The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
funniest book (that I can remember) : Seinlanguage, by Jerry Seinfeld
Favourite genre: fantasy, sci-fi and esoteric
favourite subgenre: social criticism
Best book moment: Understanding the _point_, the arguments.
Best Book name: The Satanic Bible. Just so beautifully provocative.
Worst book character name: Harry Potter. hatehatehatehatehate
Best book from childhood: The Prince, N. Machiavelli. Just kidding, probably Roald Dahl’s stuff.
You want to write a book about: Something intertwining norse mythology with a modern criticism of social life and religion.
If you could arrange for a book to be eradicated: The Holy Bible. Duh.
Worst book you had to read in school: Le Petit Prince
Best classic you had to read in school: I read all the classics on my own, but so far in the italian literature i’ve managed to enjoy Verga’s short stories.
Book you recommend to everyone: Either The Satanic Bible or Aleister Crowley’s The Book Of The Law
Book I wish I wrote: The. Satanic. Bible. Obviously.
Book I wish no one wrote: The. Holy. Bible. again, obvious.
Book I read on a plane: Satan Speaks, The Devil’s Notebook, The Book Of The Law.
Websites I watch: None. I don’t read new stuff.
223- Is Crowely’s book interesting? He was the “ordinary morality is for ordinary people” guy, yes? I think so… Oh, and if you’re looking for social criticism, just read some Rand. She’s genius. ^_^
seperate peace! oh my gosh i hate that book with all my heart. watsisname…gene or something was a complete whack. sheesh. okay, the phantom tollbooth pales in comparison to that one.
223- gotta love social criticism. wait, dosen’t everybody? thats what we all have in common….our sense of hating each others differences.
i started Daughter of the Forest. has anyone read it? is it good?
225- “You only go to the beach with your best friend.” That book was pure death!
224: Crowley was extremely intelligent, but allegedly the book of the law was written under a trance… So how much is gimmick, how much is thoughtful reflection, and how much is, shall we say, divine writing?
225- I read The Forestwife. That was good. But it’s not the same thing.
Gordan Korman’s series (Island, Everest, Dive) are awesome!
I am starting Ender’s game, and I have just fnished Girl With a Pearl Earring. And I am finally done with the Once and Future King! That book was sooooo long.
I just finished Archer’s Goon by Diana Wynne Jones today!
231- Ooh, I ♥ that book! What did you think of it?
See, I have this strange hate of Dianna Wynne Jones. No offense to anyone, but her writing style just annoys me. I think I got turned off when I read the Witches of Worm at about 8. That’s by her right? I also don’t like the Christopher Chant and the Chresomanci (something like that) Chronicles. Her books seem to be too much describing things and not enough action.
Wh owrote the So You Want to Be a Wizard series? The first one was good, but I cannot get past page 20 of the second one.
233- I have never read Witches of Worm. I don’t think it’s by her, but I don’t know… And it’s Chrestomanci. I liked The Lives of Christopher Chant and the Pinhoe Egg, but I couldn’t stand Charmed Life. At this point, the only one of her books I would read it it was given to me is Archer’s Goon. Oddly, that was one of my very favorites.
234- Diane Duane. You have to ignore all the science-fiction-y stuff to enjoy them. Actually, my favorite one was the second one. Deep Magic, right? I really didn’t like the third one. It didn’t seem fair that – Oh wait, spoilers. Never mind. I didn’t care for the most recent ones as much either, Wizards at War, A Wizard’s Holiday, The Wizard’s Dilemma, A Wizard Alone. But they were still good.
Arg. Why do I only have the first, third, and fourth novels in the Foundation series? *Grumbles*
I’m re-reading We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea. Arthur Ransome is/was a really good author.
Finished Ender’s Game. It was good, but I don’t think there need to be sequels. Not that I’ve read them. It’s like PotC. The first one was good, could have been a stand alone. But then they decided they needed a sequel, and 3 was better than two. So I won’t read the sequels to Ender’s Game. Cuz I thin kthe story is over. And that’s fine with me.
238- That’s very wise. I agree. (About PotC, that is. I’ve never read Ender’s Game.)
I liked Diane Duane’s books. Anyone read the Hungry City Chronicles?
Prarilius Canix (240), I haven’t read the Hungry City Chronicles nor any of Diane Duane’s books. But I’ve been curious about her Young Wizard series. I’ll ask the obvious question: How does it compare to Harry Potter?
241- How does it compare to Harry Potter? Well, if you make Harry Potter a teenage girl who stumbles upon a book and turns into a wizard, then meets a boy and they team up to save the world from Entropy (which is not entirely bad) and they go an a sci-fi quest through a desolate brown city, then it’s pretty much the same thing. Of course, that’s only the first book…
240- I read the first one, Mortal Engines. ‘Twas good, but for some reason I didn’t read the second.
I enjoyed what few books from the young wizard series. It seemed a bit more intelligent, and had something of an occult/pagan spin to it.
241- How does it compare to Harry Potter? There’s just no comparison, because Young Wizards is so much better. Funnier, better written, more sophisticated, and (insofar as anything involving magic can be) more realistic. One warning: as soon as you read Young Wizards, you will never again enjoy J. K. Rowling as much as you did before.
244- Yeah, I agree. But I stopped enjoying J.K. Rowling as much when I was about ten, a long time before I read the Young Wizards. I was never a huge fan anyways. They (Harry Potter) are good books, but not that good. Definitely not in my “core library.” But then again, neither is Young Wizards.
Has anyone read Ella Minnow Pea? Was it good?
It is a bit slow. The plot idea is wonderful, but the book is writtten in letters. The main character annoys me, and not much happens. It was reccomended to me in 5th grade, and I picked it up the other day. I liked it, but, as I said, it was kind of slow. Have patience. Read something else at the same time. Good if you have not much else. Ok, I am making you not want to read it. Go ahead. Gawd, I just said the same thing over and over and over. Sorry Alice.
Okay, thanks. Most main characters annoy me, and I like the idea of epistolary novels. I also like to write them, so it will be good for me to read one.
I am currently reading The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner which is excellent and recomended by me.
248- Dracula is written in that manner. ^_^ Well, letters and journals, but close enough.
I’m having a jolly time re-reading Salinger goodness. I highly recommend Nine Stories; The Laughing Man is my favourite of the bunch.
(237) We Didn’t Me to Go to Sea is my favorite in the Swallows and Amazons series! Arthur Ransome is one of my favorite authors. I’m re-reading Peter Duck right now. Have you read the whole series? Which is your favorite? I haven’t read past Secret Water, but I will eventually.
I spent yesterday reading Daniel Pinkwater novels. Those are funny.
What anti-war novels have you guys read? I’ve read Catch 22, Johnny Got His Gun, and Slaughterhouse . I was noticing similarities between them…for example, they all have distorted views of time. have you guys read these books? What do you think of them?
My favorite was Catch 22.
i haven’t read any of those, only The Red Badge of Courage and A Farewell to Arms. Personally, I don’t enjoy reading those books, but they are really good.
For Fantasy, Dogsbody is my favorite. The Young Wizards books are also high on my list.
The last book you read: Septimus Heap. We were in the middle of moving and I needed a fast read.
The funniest book you read: a joke book?
Favorite genre:fiction
Favorite subgenre: fantasy
Best book moment: When I forget myself.
Best book name: Blue Mist in Black Sunlight. Or A Wolf Shall Devour The Sun.
Worst book character name: Stuart Little. Ugh.
Best book you remember from childhood: Call of the Wild
You want to write a book about: too hard to explain.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: NEVER BURN BOOKS!
Worst book you had to read in school: There’s a Bat in Bunk Five’s prequal.
Best classic you had to read in school: Huh. You obviously don’t know my school. There’s a Bat in Bunk Five’s prequal was considered a classic. Most of the kids had trouble reading Doctor Seus.
The book you recommend to everyone: Lord of the Flies
The book you wish you wrote: Dogsbody. But I’d have done it a bit differently.
The book you wish no one wrote: Those books about Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
The book you take to read on the plane: A Harry Potter Book. keeps my mind off the Airplane food.
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: Diane Duane’s.
251- I read every single one except the unfinished one. Unfortunately, the only ones I own are
Swallows and Amazons
Swallowdale
Winter Holiday
We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea (the title says it all!)
Secret Water
Great Northern?
I’m not sure which is my favorite, honestly. When I wanted to read Peter Duck it had to come all the way from Alaska! You would think that it would be a bit closer.
252- I read Dogsbody. ‘Twas alright, but not my favorite.
253- Another one? *groans* I’ll never be able to see the words “Lord of the Flies” again without feeling like I should read it.
does anyone else read classics? you know, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte.
my random thoughts
253- “lord of the flies” …..never read it, however i guess i don’t plan to.
Christopher Paolini rocks!!!!!!!!!! (author of the book eragon, and it’s sequel, if you don’t know who THAT is)
Harry Potter has become a little depressing for me
this is soooooooooo cool!!!! (it’s my first time on)
255- A newbie! *pies jubilantly*
I really like Wuthering Heights, but I found it kind of difficult to get into Jane Austen. All of the Bronte sisters died really young.
Don’t worry, we all know who Christopher Paolini is.
I agree whole-heartedly about Harry Potter.
Yes, MuseBlog is infinitely cool.
256- i just read a whole paragraph and then try to get the main idea out of it. tis wrather sad.
254- Lord of the Flies really makes you look twice at “civilized” civilizations.
255- Borzois are awesome! Personally, I prefer Pharoh hounds and Afghan hounds, the borzois a little to dependent for my tastes. Of course, a chihuahua being my pet, I really shouldn’t mention independence. The Borzoi’s quiet, calm, noble and perky characteristics make it a superb addition to the sighthound group. the Borzoi’s history, however, is enough to chill anyone’s blood. As it’s other, less common and more gruesome name hints (the russian Wolfhound), it being bred to kill the noble hunters of the wild is a direct link to the extinction of the European wolves.
now, the Pharoah hound is a beautiful, graceful, noble, and speedy animal!
Go dogs!
oh, and here *throws rhubarb pie*
256- I enjoy the depressing Harry Potter. Gives me someone to laugh at.
257- very sad.
255-NEWBIE TIME!!!! WELCOME PIES!!! *pie, pie, and more pie* I think Harry Potter is pwnsome (duh) but depressing? Maybe. I dunno bout that.
Yes. MuseBlog deserves those ten o’s on so that you gave us.
259- No. It needs 11.
uh-oh. newbie just said that eragon rox. he’s in trouble now. well, anyway-Welcome to MuseBlog, borzoi lover! i just found out what in heck a borzoi was. its a dog, right? well, someone said something about war books. read Empire by orson scott card. its set in 2013. american civil war. realllllllly cool. i am reading foundation series and i love it! what are all the books? how many and what titles? i finished daughter of the forest and i loved it. written by whodahecky janis or something like that. i have never read HP. yep, thats wierd.
258- yaay!!!! someone else knows about the existence of borzois!
they are such drama queens and make a big deal out of everything.
261- what is wrong with eragon? i had to read ender’s game by orson scott card of school, and then my parents glimpsed it. uh oh. lets just say their a little paranoid. i don’t think the language arts teacher will ever have the class read it again. ahh well..thats life.
260- muse blog deserves a gazillion million exclamation points
Alice, have you ever read any of the Scottish folk tale collections by Sorche nic Leodhas (pen name of Leclaire Alger)?
263- No. Should I?
Well, I’ve never known anyone else who’s read them except my brother (who ran around the house chanting “I am the ghost of Hamish MacDonald”), but considering your interest in things Celtic, I wondered if you might have come across them. I discovered them because I haunted the folk tale section of the library.
Although they were published as children’s books, I enjoyed rereading them as an adult. The author specifically collected stories that had never been written down and she recounted them with Scottish flavor and vocabulary (glossaries provided).
Here are some of the titles:
Heather and Broom: Tales of the Scottish Highlands.
Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland.
Claymore and Kilt: Tales of Scottish Kings and Castles.
Sea-Spell and Moor-Magic: Tales of the Western Isles.
By Loch and By Lin: Tales from Scottish Ballads.
Twelve Great Black Cats, and Other Eerie Scottish Tales.
By the way, Alger (1898-1969) was homeschooled and became a librarian.
265- That is just too weird to be true. I have to get those now. Thanks!
265- those look sooooo cool. i’m on my way to the library right now!
homeschoolers rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just requested the few that my library has.
I hope you enjoy them. Let me know what you think.
lucky duck
i forgott
i still have a few days before there’s even a chance of me going to the wonderful, glorious library.
*sob*
(and telephones are not reddily available at mi casa
Well, I’m not going to the library any time soon either, so you’re not alone.
So has *anyone* (you too, esteemed GAPAs) read The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner?
265- ooh, those look amazing!
272- Nope.
Has anyone here read Mistress Masham’s Repose by T.H. White?
261- Yes. it’s a dog. *slightly exasperated. no ofence*
272- nope
273-nope.
Borzoi lover! Did you ever read Call of the Wild? It’s what made me interested in reading. we really need to find a thread where we can talk dogs.
274- i totally agree that we should have a dog thread! that would be awesome!
brief history of borzoi
bred as wolf (yes) hunting dogs, borzoi’s were a sign of russian royalty..durring the russian revolution, most of these dogs were slaughtered and the only reason they still exist today is because the Czar (king) gave away pairs to neighboring countrys beforehand. mine are from the english line, first bred by queen victoria.
unfortunetaly, i have never read the call of the wild, but i have read iron will, the story of a iditarod sled dog team
We need a new Cats and Dogs thread, is what we need.
Sqweeness! I’m going to the library tomarrow to get the Harry Potters!
277 – Does book 7 come out tomorrow?
278- No, it comes out in July. 7/7/07.
Alice (273):
I read Mistress Masham’s Repose just a few months ago. That was one good, weird book. I like how it blends the fictional world of Gulliver’s Travels into the plot. And how it paints some of the adults as so very rotten — but also funny. And how amazingly creative it was. I loved that the little people rode around on rats.
I also enjoyed the oblique references to British history. I had only recently learned who “Mistress Masham” was. In case you’re wondering … (and even if you’re not) … Abigail Masham was Keeper of the Privy Purse under Queen Anne. She supplanted Sarah Churchill as the queen’s favorite. This all took place in the 1700s and has basically nothing to do with the book (as far as I could tell).
279 – That’s peachy keen.
280- I always thought that Mistress Masham was fictional. I guess not. Hmm. After reading that book, I tried to read Gulliver’s Travels. I didn’t get very far, since it was written in the 1700s and was practically impossible to penetrate. I was disappointed when there was no glossary or phrase book in the back, but, reading it again, I didn’t miss that the phrase book was the only copy in the world.
I really like T.H. White; the only book of his so far that I’ve utterly failed to get through is The Master, and that was a little after I failed to get through Mistress Masham’s Repose. (I was only 9. . . or maybe 10.)
The only other book by T.H White I’ve read is The Once and Future King. I read that when I was in jr. high school (or maybe it was high school) and I loved it.
283- I read The Sword in the Stone.
book 7 comes out on the 21 of July. Not 7/7/07. It was a projected date, but J K Rowling did not want to be rushed. Do you know if te movie comes out on the 13th or the 11th? I read the Once and Futrue King, and it is very long and very good. Are there other famouse Arthur books w/ Mordred or Morgan Le Fay?
285- Okay, sorry. I wasn’t keeping track. “Didn’t want to be rushed”? What could possibly be more rushed than having to complete a book by a set date?
285-there are the books by gerald morris..they are based on old ledgends, but are, thankfuly, easier to read..and funny, if you like old wit. they arn’t very famous, but you library probably has them.
i just finished the shamer chronicles, anyone else read them? if so, what are you thoughts?
287- I read the first one, The Shamer’s Daughter. It was alright. Not something I would reread, though.
279 – No, it comes out on 7/21/07.
I’m listening to LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring right now.
I added some stuff this far in. I’m still working on it. This is just the end of page 2 typed!
Chapter 1
“My decision is final. You must marry him!†an old, balding man shouted. In the corner of the room a man sat grinning like a Cheshire cat. He had every reason to smile. A young girl stood, head bowed, before the old man. Her name was Garnet and her pale face was stained with the tears pouring from her sparkling green eyes. Her tears were the sad sort, not angry or happy, but hurt and dismayed. If you could have looked into her eyes at that moment you would have seen wisdom beyond her young years, and a great grieving within her.
Garnet’s father sat at an old mahogany desk, waving his older still walking cane about emphatically with anger. He could not understand why his daughter so stubbornly refused to marry Criston. The smiling man had seemed quite genuine about his affections for her and had offered her father a sum he could not refuse. Yet Garnet seemed to hate him. If you saw her at that moment you would have seen the depths of her anxiety. This room would normally have entranced her; it’s beautiful flowers, skylights, and fountains. Now she could only gaze at them through blurry eyes.
Glittering tears ran down Garnet’s face as she swept from the room, her silky blue dress trailing behind her. Sobbing uncontrollably, Garnet stumbled up the wide, red, velvety castle stairs to her room, the third door on the left. There she fell upon her large canopy bed and wept. Her spring green room had been decorated especially for her two years prior. It had twittering birds, a balcony, fountains, and walls painted to look like a forest. Her love of nature often overwhelmed her and gave her a peace of mind.
“No, no, no!†she thought, “I cannot marry him! He would kill me without a second thought! My poor father. Bought out by Criston’s offers, believing that Criston loved me. He does not know that after he marries me, Criston will send one of his assassins to kill him. Oh, my poor father.â€
A generous and loving girl, Garnet cried for both her and her father’s fates if she should be wed locked to Criston.
Garnet attempted to do something to make her forget her troubles. She picked up the book she had been reading, the novel of a woman who had lived her own life and escaped the forces that tied her to tradition. Wishing desperately she could do the same all the thoughts came seeping back. Unable to contain her tears any longer she cried and cried until finally, she fell asleep.
Garnet was right, though. She had, unknown to Criston and her father, heard the wicked man speak to a man with a large scar on his cheek. A party had been held in her honor by Criston to show his deep affection for her. The stacks of money he kept deep within his house were not dented by this affair and it was filled with unbearable company in Garnet’s opinion. She had tried to be polite at first, speaking with the guests, answering questions. Quickly, she had become tired of it and resolved to sneak out into the fresh air and remove her shoes. She had excused herself and crept toward a balcony where she knew she could climb down a vine. As she reached her destination a voice clearly rang out in the semi-darkness. She had known immediately it was Criston. He clearly told the man that, upon his orders, he must kill Mr. Contende by any means possible. If found out he must not talk or he would be dead by the next day. The man had nodded vigorously and Garnet had hid behind a deep purple curtain until they were gone, then snuck away, following her original plans.
Garnet knew the only way to prevent her father’s death was to not marry Criston. But how could she not? Tradition declared that if her father consented to a man’s proposal the girl could do nothing about it. In Doreldan strict laws forced any female to follow the orders of her father, whether it was marriage or getting tea. If they refused they could face severe punishment or even execution.
As she dreamed she imagined the woman from her book, clasping a cloak about her neck and looking around warily. She moved silently, through a deep and mysterious forest, knowing that if she was caught her father would punish her by allowing her only bread and water for many months. It was not something she relished. She walked to a large stable and saddled a horse, comforting it so it would not make any noise. She slipped out of the barn and continued through the forest, this time on horseback. Her journey continued many miles and through several days. Finally, one night, she reached a fence. It seemed to stretch on endlessly towards the sky, but she knew she must get over, so she began to climb. It took her only half an hour because the fence was not as high as it seemed. When she reached the ground on the other side her hands and feet were cut and bleeding but she knew she was free.
Garnet woke with a start. In her dreams a plan had formulated, thanks to the book she had been reading. The book said that the woman had realized she could do nothing in her own country but the rights of the next door country were much easier. Garnet realized it was simple! Her father, an earl of the king could do nothing outside his own country. Though her father’s lands were extensive, they were also near the border of Bilikii. In Bilikii, she knew an old friend of her’s lived in the capital city Bantala and would be very glad to take her in. They had originally lived very nearby but had moved into the neighboring country because their business had been failing. How would she get there?
Rabbity, you have the wrong thread. This is Books and Reading, not Books in Progress.
It’s very good though! I like the way you expanded it.
166- 2 is Someplace to be Flying!! Which I read and is an amazing, spiffy, flamablamablous book. I love you for sugesting it. Forever and ever.
The last book you read:
Um… the last book I finished reading was The Lost World by Michael Chrichton.
The funniest book you read:
H2G2. I saw one co-written by DA and the Producer of Monty Python that looked funny, and on the back it had the words ‘WARNING! THIS BOOK WAS MOSTLY WRITTEN WHILE THE AUTHORS WERE NAKED!’ on the back in large print, which amused me.
Favorite genre:
Fantasy, fiction, folklore/mythology, sciffy,some non-fiction, ect…
Favorite subgenre:
Er… same as above?
Best book moment:
Ooh, dunno
Best book name:
Great Lies To Tell Small Kids
Worst book character name:
Oh, so many. Some of those sickening kids bok had really bad names…
Best book you remember from childhood:
I don’t think I’ve quite left it yet.
You want to write a book about:
I’d really like to finish the one I started for Nano in the fiction catagory, but I also think it’d be interesting to write a comentary on things. Like the world.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick:
Ooh. Maybe my 8th grade literary text book… I don’t think there was even poetry in it…
Worst book you had to read in school:
The Pearl
Best classic you had to read in school:
Hmm, dunno.
The book you recommend to everyone:
The book you wish you wrote:
The book you wish no one wrote:
The book you take to read on the plane:
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals:
Oops, I have to go now… I’ll finish this later…
291/292 txs. oops
290-oops! u got the wrong thread. well, that was a good opening for a book. it was a little weird, i mean, she’s on the bed crying her heart out thinking completely coherently about the consequences to her daddy’s actions. don’t you think you should reveal what will happen from the marriage a little more subtly? sorry, thats just my first impression. keep working
i finished the first 2 foundation books and i am completely hooked! what are all the other ones called?
287-isn’t that the series with the girls power to make anyone feel bad about their deeds? she has to go save her brother or something?
262-eragon was a good book. its just that everyone on MB was noticing that his plot was completely plagurized (sp?) from a ton of sci-fi/fantasy mega-authors. Star Wars, wheel of time and stuff similar to that. because of that, we were kinda bummed out realizing that we already read this book under a different title 3 times over. what did your parents dislike about enders game? the language? bit of advice-don’t let parents know what your reading…..they’re all paranoid!!(actually, my parents knew i read enders game and my brother openly proclaimed it to be one of his favorites)
295- Yes, it is. (About the Shamer chronicles.)
Parents not liking what you read? GAH. [I saw this mentioned on 295]
I agree with jammin j. Just don’t tell them. My lovely mumsy threatened to burn A Clockwork Orange when she found it in my room. I don’t even want to know what she’d do to my Necronomicon… o_O Not telling always works. And having so many books, it’s hard to sort through all of them. Censorship is majorly evil.
The last book you read: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
The funniest book you read: I don’t know, frankly. I always find it hard to rank things beyond liking or disliking.
Favorite genre: Fiction
Favorite subgenre: Either Science Fiction or fantasy.
Best book moment: I don’t know. What do you mean by “book moment”?
Best book name: I’m not sure.
Worst book character name: Again, not sure.
Best book you remember from childhood: Ask me again when I’m an adult.
You want to write a book about: Don’t know.
If you could arrange for all copies of one book to be burnt, you would pick: Nothing.
Worst book you had to read in school: The Long Road to Gettysburg.
Best classic you had to read in school: Not sure.
The book you recommend to everyone: Ooh, not sure.
The book you wish you wrote: Not sure.
The book you wish no one wrote: This question should be deleted from the questionnaire. The answer would be the same as the burning question. I think…
The book you take to read on the plane: I’ve never been on a plane.
Writers whose website you watch for new arrivals: None.
Well, those are my answers.
298- Well that was informative.
298-you have expanded my knowledge of yourself greatly. i now know what book you read in school.
297-you have to have a strategy with parents and your reading. if i go to the library and get a “bad” book, i always get a “good” book also. throws them off the scent. i sorta let them know what i’m reading if its “good” and omit the “bad”. so technically its not lying, its just omitting certain truths. wait, thats a quote from a book isn’t it?
we need a new thread don’t we? GAPA’s? new thread pleas, this one is slowing down.
Um. Why would you be reading books that your parents disapproved of anyways?
Well for example my mom disapproved of the Da Vinci Code, so I borowed it from my friend, read it during school, and fell in love with it. Soon enough I accidentally took it home, my mom blew up, and then got over it. So then when Iread Shadow of the Wind, my mom go mad b/c there was a lot of sex related stuff, but the book was marvelously well written and I liked it muchly.
My parents do not approve of what they call “easy reading” so whenever i get a Harry Potter book or something, I always bring a Grapes of Wrath or something.
3- I really think that you are talking about Endymion Spring. It’s a good book.
I read the “the Book Theif”. And cried my eyes out.
My mom just realizes that she can’t really censor what I read anymore, because I read at a higher lever and I’m older. I read things like Wicked in 7th grade and she didn’t mind.
I recieved Wicked as a birthday gift and then never read it. Perhaps because I hat the Wizard of Oz books.
I read Wicked and then received it as a birthday gift. But the friend who gave it to me knew I’d read it. And I enjoyed it. I’ve also seen the musical! ^_^
I’m reading Claymore and Kilt right now, and I have to ask… Did the ancient Scots do anything but kill each other?
304- I’m not. I’ll have to ask the guy I heard about it from . . . Though he most likely doesn’t remember.
(309) Occasionally. Since the stories are organized on themes, that particular book may have more of it than some of the others.
300- That works too!
I always have awkward experiences in bookstores. Someone will be talking to someone else about a book they might want to get. And I’ll have read it, so I’ll start talking to them like “EGAD I loved that book!” Or “don’t read it! You’ll burn!” Remind me to work on self-control. And if I loved it, they’ll ask why and I’ll reply with something random. Or they’ll ask if it’s appropriate for someone of a certain age and I won’t have a clue about that. Or if a person with certain interests would like it. And I also won’t have a clue about that!
311- Yup, it does. Heather and Broom so far has very little killing at all. It’s more like a collection of fairy tales, and Claymore and Kilt is more like a collection of historical tales.
312-i have done the same thing at one time or another.
i finished the first three foundation books and i loved them so much!!!! i also found out what the other ones were. there are i think ten, and 8 of them are by asimov. i think.
alice/301-well, sometimes i’ll be reading a series and the first couple of books are perfecly fine, while the other one progessively begin worsening and worsering. i want to finish the series, but my parents would not approve of the content. i then will read the books but skip the evil parts.
314- Oh, I see. I generally drop a book like it was on fire when I come across something disturbing.
312- haha, I do that too. One time I was in a bookstore and I’d overheard this woman tell her daughter who looked similar in age to me to pick out one book. They were in the same section I was in (the fantasy section) and the girl looked a bit unsure of what to get. I recommended Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown which ended up being two books instead of one. The bookstore we were in is a quite awesome one, Avol’s in Madison Wisconsin. (No GAPAs I don’t live in Madison no need to snip. Nor do I live in the same state as Madison.)
315- what is your definition of disturbing? I’m just curious…
316- I got The Blue Sword yesterday. Is it good?
Disturbing = sexual or overly violent. Um… language sometimes, but it has to be really strong. That’s pretty much all.
317- the blue sword is excellent! I’ve re-read it a ton of times since 2001!
Alice, guess what I’m reading right now! I think you’ll like that I’m reading it…
319- Um… The Wolves Chronicles? The Lives of Christopher Chant? Swallows and Amazons? *hasn’t a clue*
*Still in hell as she realizes the only english books that the library has are Harry Potters*
Oh, a REALLY good book is The Wolving Time. Patrick some-guy.
Excelent stuff. Easy, smooth (huh) and fun.
320- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell!
322- YAY! I’m so glad! Do you like it?
I’m reading The Blue Sword. It’s very good.
323- Yes, I do though it is slower paced than I might like. Maybe that’s only because I’m at the very begining, though. (page 57)
324- What do you think?
325- It is very slow at the beginning, ’tis true. It took me ages to start reading.
I like The Blue Sword a lot. It has a good setting. The time period is more late Victorian/early Edwardian than your average fantasy with “sword” in the title, and that is immensely refreshing in itself. I’m not very far in, though, so I couldn’t say much else about it yet.
News flash! Terry Pratchett is working on another Wee Free Men book, tentatively titled I Shall Wear Midnight. Rumor has it that it will feature somebody named Esk. Do any of you Pratchett fanatics know who that is? I don’t, and I need your help.
I haven’t even read Wintersmith yet.
318- Just finished reading that yesterday, we had it but I hadn’t read it. Decided to if people here gave it good reviews…it was good.
327- Ooh, fun. But no…
Kiki the great, please click on my name. I have a question.
^^ once mentioned Esk, so she’d probably know.
Everyone who has not read the Wolves Chronicles, read them NOW! The first one is The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, but it’s almost a separate novel and if you prefer, you can skip it. (It’s very good though.) The second is Black Hearts in Battersea, and you can easily follow it if you haven’t read the first one. It’s also where they introduce Dido. (Yay! Dido!) Then comes Nightbirds on Nantucket, then The Stolen Lake, and then The Cuckoo Tree. You can go on to read Dido and Pa, if you like, but The Cuckoo Tree is a good place to stop.
The Stolen Lake is very different from the others, though just as good, but if you’re linear-minded, look at it as apart from the series. It was written after The Cuckoo Tree, so there are no references to it in the latter.
You have to put aside all thoughts of time to read these books, and enjoy each one as though it were it’s very one novel, with nothing else going on in other books.
327 (PC)- Esk is a female wizard from an old Discworld book called Equal Rites.
You shall all read George R. R. Martin right now. Although his books probably count as ‘disturbing,’ they are far too good to resist. NO MORALIZING 8D
331: I read the first one a very long time ago and loved it, but I thought its ending was bad. I didn’t realize there were so many more to follow it until recently. Did you read them all? I should read them.
333- I have read them all. Most of them several times. And the Is books. Avoid the Is books. The ending of The Cuckoo Tree is just lovely. You really don’t need to read past that.
Okay, I’ll stop discouraging you now.
I am in the middle of Wintesmith, but he did this weird thing wher ehe wrote the end i nthe beginning and then explained,which threw me. I also got the 6th Charlie Bone, which is definately not as good as the others. Anyone read Fairest? I realy did not like Wicked, personally. the book I mean. Haven’t seen the musical yet.
334: Okay. . .
Which one is the Cuckoo Tree?
Is books? Okay, I shall stay away from them for whatever reason. You didn’t discourage me, you confused me. Same difference!
336- Do you mind spoilers? If you do, don’t read beyond this line:
SPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORISSPOILERSFORIS.Is.is.Dido’s.half.sister.it’s.short.for.something.or.other.
NARNIA PWNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
336- The Cuckoo Tree is the fifth one, in which . . . In which many exciting things happen, including a very interesting scheme involving St. Paul’s Cathedral.
333- When you said the first one, did you mean Wolves or Battersea?
331- I’ve read: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Black Hearts in Battersea, Nightbirds on Nantucket, and The Cuckoo Tree. However I read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase a while ago and may wish to re-read it. I am also currently on page 241 of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and you’re right, it does pick up after a while. So far, it’s quite good and I have every reason to believe that it shall continue to be such.
I’m reading A Girl Named Disaster, and I’m almost done. I’d been debating about whether to read it for months, and I finally gave in. It’s good.
I finally re-found the sciffy section of our library. They moved it, and I went through all the shelves by where they’d been looking for de Lint. They ended up being way back behind the cds and vidios. :eyeroll:
On the ver bright side, I now have Widdershins and Starship Titanic. Whee!
(340) The recorded (audiobook) version of Jonathan Strange is excellent, too, though the narrator didn’t know how to pronounce Sidhe (“she”).
343- silly narrator, I knew Sidhe is “Shee” and I’ve had fewer years than the narrator to learn that fact (probably)
342- yay de Lint!
343- I knew that after reading Wise Child. I think my mom explained it to me. I was very little, too.
What is Jonothan Strange and Mr. Norrel about? would i like it? i haven’t been to the library in about two weeks! my life is coming to an end. maybe i’ll go tomorrow. i can only hope! i started reading Dreamcatcher and was thrown off by the excessively strong language. then i lost it and left the house for a week to go camping.
246- It’s about two magicians, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I can’t really generalize it, because so many things happen.
I’m rereading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. It’s even better than I remembered.
i went to the library and lo and behold, Jonothan Stange and mr. Norrel was on sale! i bought it for a quarter. i also got out the other foundation books.
349- A QUARTER?!?!?! That’s really cheap . . .
350- libraries sell books for not much money. it’s quite nice. when the book gets removed from the collection due to damage and/or people not reading it they usually sell it. I bought my copy, however, at a used bookstore for four or eight or six dollars. something like that. It is hardcover and purty!
My dad gave me my copy for Christmas when I was eleven.
my copy is in perfect condition. it is hardcover with a black and white cover illustration. on the inside flap the price listed is $27.95. the only reason they sold it was because they already had another copy. so hah! i owe a ton of money on my library card.
gah! they’re mutilating The Dark is Rising into a weird weird form for the movie! Gah! *dies*
I AM BOTHERED!
354- I knew they were making it into a movie, but how do you know it’s mutilated? *is very concerned* They’re making Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell into a movie too. I’m not sure whether to be outraged or delighted. At the moment I’m just speculative.
354- Oh, great. Those are also good books. His Dark Materials and The Dark is Rising (well, the first is horrible [Over Sea, Under Stone] but the rest are good). What else is there?
355- imdb, the preview, etc. Oh, hmm… They better make JS & MN well!
I think The Golden Compass will be much better than The Dark is Rising.
356- Over Sea, Under Stone isn’t horrible! I like it! Though my favorite is The Dark is Rising out of the whole series and it *has* to be the one they spoil… *grumbles*
I also like Over Sea, Under Stone, but my favorite was The Dark Is Rising–exactly what e~a just said.
On JS&MN (the movie)–I have a friend who has also read the book, and loves it as much as I do. We have had lengthy (and I mean REALLY long) conversations about the upcoming movie, and if you were to put us in a room together, it wouldn’t surprise me if we turned to that topic again. I wonder if they have a preview out . . .
I read the Dark is Rising series about a year ago on the recommendation of my nephew. I had never heard of it before. I really enjoyed it. My only criticism of the books is that the girls came across as terribly stereotypically “girly.” That didn’t stop me from having fun reading them, though.
I didn’t realize there was a movie in the works. Coooooool!
351- wow. my libery withdawn books are free !
360- no, I mean the books they’ve gotten rid of. They sell those. The rest of the collection, the stuff you check out, is free.
Actually, in the The Dark is Rising series, there was just one girl who bugged me. I don’t remember the stories that well any more. But I think it was an older sister. Maybe she bothered me because I’m an older sister and she reminded me unpleasantly of myself.
362- Um . . . Mary Stanton? Barbara Stanton? I think those are the only older sisters, besides Jane.
I think it might have been Jane. Anyway, no big deal.
No, no, no, NO!!!!! I won’t see it! *hides under the bed* I probably will end up seeing it, actually, but I can already spot too many mistakes just from reading the summary. I can’t see the trailer yet, because it’s really late and my computer is painfully slow.
I saw the trailer. I watched it with two different mindsets at the same time. My “purist” mindset, which adores the book and hates the movie for giving Will Stanton a girlfriend (
He’s supposed to be eleven!) and other such awful stuff, and the “outsider” mindset, which has never seen the books in her life. The purist hates the movie, and the outsider thinks it has amazing potential for awfulness but also might be good. So. I dunno. I’ll see it and try to maintain an outsider view the whole time, or at least keep quiet about it. Maybe if I saw it in the theater, I could manage to keep my mouth shut the whole time, and not be constantly spurting outraged corrections.
WHAT?!? Why did they do that? That could change the whole thing, it would mean that either Will would have to bring her along with him or not tell her. If it was the latter, he’d be even more reluctant to do anything. If they continue, it could change his attitude toward Jane. *throws rotten tomatoes at movie director/writer*
367- I think that he brings her along. And his older brother. Max. Who was Max? *rummages around in boxes* Wasn’t he the artist? Back to the girl: I think she might be magic herself, judging by the fact that the picture shows her holding a golden light.
The website is called seekthesigns. com. I think.
361- no, that what they call old books that the libery gets rid of “withdawn”. all the books are old and nobodys checked the out for,like,20 years.I have,like,15 books that that cart.
369-english please?
i loved the dark is rising series!!! i read it all twice. i hate it when they make books into movies. it always wrecks them. i barely made it through eragon w/o throwing pu or being thrown out for spouting outrageous comments on how horrible it was. and the book isn’t even one i love. i feel sorry for whoever is going to watch those movies with me.
368- Wow. They’ve wrecked it. It might be worse than Eragon. Besides, if he was bringing anyone it would be Steven.
369- actually, they call it “weeding” and the books “weeded” and then stamp withdrawn on the pages and then they sell them or if they’re really destroyed, recycle them. They also sell donations that they don’t need sometimes.
368- and they make Merriman use a mace. it’s horrible.
372- They do WHAT??????
*fumes* I won’t be able to just not see it, because I love those books and therefore have to at least give the movies a try. It may be amusing to see my mother disturbed by a movie adaption of a book, but I may be too disturbed myself to find it funny. *thinks of Treasure Island* If they make it like that I will be FURIOUS.
374-yep, same here. btw, hows the book going?
375- It’s coming along okay. I’m slowly getting my momentum back, but it needs work. I posted Chapter 2 somewhere, but you might have already read it.
376-best of luck!
About The Dark is Rising movie: Will has a girlfriend?! Maybe she’s an “old one” too. That wouldn’t be so bad.
I have decided that for every “fluff” book I read this summer, I am also going to read a classic. So far, I’ve read The Great Gadsby, Catcher in the Rye, Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves, Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foundation, The Martian Chronicles, and Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar. BTW, at CTY we formed a small “we have taken a violent dislike to Holden Caulfield club”
What’s “fluff”?
(379) Three Men in a Boat is a bit fluffy, but I love it. (Fans of Robert A. Heinlein may remember that it was Kip’s father’s favorite book in Have Space Suit, Will Travel.)
339: Oops, I didn’t see you wrote. Anyhow, as a very late answer, no, I read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and I plan to read the other ones. . .When I get around to it.
Well, the ending of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase isn’t really the greatest, is it? It certainly didn’t make a lasting impression on me, because I finished it two or three days ago and have only a vague idea of the end.
380- If you’ve read HP 5 & 6 you’ve read a lot of it. It’s filler, you know, to fill up space and make it longer. So that she can cut down more trees.
384-haha.
i started JS&MN. so far so good. when i finish i’ll let ya all know what i think.
383- What was the book about? I forget…That’s how much I hated it.
386- A pair of girls whose evil governess took over their house and sent them to live in an orphanage. Not for everyone.
Wow. I’ve managed to almost completely forget what happened. I still don’t remember the book. Oh well.
387- i read that book and thought it was stupid. completely boring. finished it in 1 day. very easy reading. i might have been for school. i can’t remember. maybe thats why i thought it was stupid.
Oooh!!! Here is my recommended book list…. (not in order)
1.) Water Shaper By Laura Williams McAffrey
2.) The Lost Years of Merlin series By T.A. Barron
3.) The Great Tree of Avalon series By T.A. Barron
4.) The Ancient one By T.A. Barron
5.) Heartlight By T.A. Barron
6.) The Merlin Effect By T.A. Barron
7.) Farie Wars By Herbie Brennan
8.) The Purple Emporer By Herbie Brennan
9.) Ruler of the Realm By Herbie Brennan
10.) The Claidi collection By Tanith Lee
11.) The Young Wizard series
12.) Doomed Queen Anne By Carolyn Meyer
13.) Harry Potter By J.K. Rowling
14.) The Royal Diaries By Various Authors
I have read so many more than that but I cant think of any more at the moment.
Huh. I loved it when I read it but also forgot what happened. I re read it recently, though. (Wolves of Willoughby Chase that is)
I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE Keys to the Kingdom! And Harry Potter, and Inheritance, and Bionicle (they do have books)! Here is some of the things I think will happen in Book 3 of Inheritance:
The last dragon will be green and female. I originally thought she could be yellow, but cancelled that out after remembering Glaedr. She will be female because Murtagh’s and Glaedr are male and only Saphira is female. She will be on the bad side, but she and Murtagh will turn on the king and strike him down when all hope seems lost. Then Murtagh, the girl, Eragon, and Oromis will become the first four of a new age of dragon riders.
392-well, ithink murtagh will die. all the rest will most likely happen though.
js&mn is coming along nicely. very interesting plot. i’m very slow at it cause i’m still reading foundations edge, fourth in the foundation series. this is a extremely good series. everyone should read it.
I’m reading Bluebeard, by Kurt Vonnegut. *waits for people to die of shock* Uh-huh. Exactly. But it’s good.
I once interviewed Kurt Vonnegut’s brother Bernard for a science article I was writing. He was a meteorologist and had discovered a form of lightning that strikes backwards. (Fortunately, he did not die of shock.)
Now reading Beowulf, various Discworld books, and the Necronomicon.
396- My library has TONS of Discworld books. *drool*
HELP! Several years ago, like five, I read a book. (Many, actually.) This particular book was about a boy (who may have been named Jonathan). He was being drawn to this one grave/memorial, and in the end he went down a mineshaft and brought up with him the skeleton of a boy that had been missing for centuries/decades/a really long time. Only while he was down the mineshaft, the boy wasn’t dead at all, but alive, and they were trying to get out. I remember all sorts of details, and so does my mom, but not the title. In the morning, the coal ming boy and his two brothers and their dad left before the sun rose, and didn’t come back until after dark. The grave had the dad’s name and the names of the two older brothers, and then, in much smaller letters, almost like an afterthought, the name of the youngest boy. The cover was a darkish blue, with black silhouettes. In the end, the modern boy had a conversation with his mom. Does anyone know this book? Would you be able to identify it if I gave more details?
Last night I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I enjoyed it!
378- I don’t think so. In the preview at the theater, it was some girl on his bus. With blonde hair.
395-was that a pun? if so, hahaha! it was clever.
399-why’d ya like it? opinion? i’m still in the pg. 200’s. cause i took a break and read maximum ride and evil genius.
btw, Evil Genius was a great book. kinda like artemis fowl, but longer and more complex. and no faeries. whats the next book in the maximum ride series?
hey, guess what! i broke my arm! not very helpful when you try to read to have a big cast on your arm. it hurt.
402-
How? 
403-i twas walking along this fence, and i tried to jump from one post to another. not smart. i fell down, tried to break my fall, and broke my arm instead. currently, i am wearing this huge cast. its annoying.
404- Jeez. Lovely.