Books and Reading, v. 2011

Continued from 2010.

Date: January 16, 2011

Author: Robert Coontz (Administrator)

Categories: Things We like

Comments RSS TrackBack 436 comments

1

Sans Orchestre

in January 17th, 2011 @ 01:35

first post?
Does anyone have a Kindle or other e-book reader? I’m curious about how well it performs…

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muselover

in January 17th, 2011 @ 01:58

Hey, welcome back!

In response to your question, my only ebook reader is iBooks on my iPod Touch, which works fairly well. I still want a Kindle, though, if only for the larger screen size.

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2.1

muselover

in January 17th, 2011 @ 01:59

Oh cake, I meant to make that a reply but accidentally hit cancelar. CHOKLIT AVAILABLE FOR GNOMES! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE!

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oobatooba

in January 18th, 2011 @ 17:16

This book has recently come to my attention: Starship Titanic
started by the great Douglas Adams before he (sniff sob sob SOB! gulp)died was then finished by Terry Jones of Monty Python!
I am going to go read it right now!

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3.1

Piggy

in January 18th, 2011 @ 18:47

As I understand it, Adams designed a video game by that name, and Terry Jones wrote a novel based on it entitled Douglas Adams’s Starship Titanic. I believe Adams was fully alive during the entirety of the writing of the novel; he himself told Jones to write it. (Both Terry Jones and John Cleese did voice acting for the game.)

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oobatooba

in January 21st, 2011 @ 07:12

You might be right. I just heard that from someone who is such a Douglas Adams geek that they would know such things, then I got the book for christmas.

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Thanks For All The Fish42

in January 21st, 2011 @ 19:27

I read it awhile back. Actually, before I read HG2G, and sadly I wasn’t impressed. The plot itself is funny to look at, but while reading it there aren’t too many things that made me laugh out loud.

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3.1.1.1.1

Ebeth

in January 21st, 2011 @ 21:54

the game is funny and really impressive for it’s time

but god is it difficult to play he likes to mess with you

i haven’t read the book though

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Mikazuki

in January 19th, 2011 @ 17:43

My ELA teacher is having us read Newbery books, and do chapter reports on them. RAR.

Of course, I’d already read quite a few of the Newbery books the library had, so that was irratating.

The book I ended up with won the medal in 1942. XD It hadn’t been checked out of the library since 1996. I can see why, too; it’s incredibly boring.

On the subject of good books, I’m attempting to read The Hunger Games trilogy but I can’t find them; my library has all three checked out and there’s a hold list. I read the first chapter of the first one at the local coffee shop/used bookstore (It’s a really awesome place) but the book was $18 because it was actually new, so although I really liked it I didn’t buy it.

It frustrates me when I can’t get books I want to read within a few months, because then I forget about them. I should really just order books like that over ILL, but, well, I keep thinking that they’ll be returned in a few days and it just seems kind of unneeded. I love ILL, though.

Books! I really need to find some good ones!

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4.1

oobatooba

in January 21st, 2011 @ 07:20

I wouldn’t recommend the hunger games unless you want to be permanently disturbed.
this part is now a SPOILER SPOILER! SPOILER! HUNGER GAMES SPOILER!
The firs book just seemed excessively gory with little character development
second book was horribly structured, and seemed like a filler so the series could be a trilogy
Third book was likewise horribly structured, especially the both needlessly violent and lame ending. I have been told by fans of the books that the scattered writing style is a metaphor for Katniss’s life, but I think it’s just bad writing.
I’m surprised that you can’t find them anywhere since they’re so popular.

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4.2

Thanks For All The Fish42

in January 21st, 2011 @ 19:44

Newbery Books- I just read The Graveyard Book, and it was mind-blowing. If you haven’t read that yet, do it.

The Hunger Games is a great trilogy, I think. I highly recommend it. In response to oobatooba, I’d like to retort for the sake of arguing (I honestly can’t stop myself).
POSSIBLE SPOILER PROBABLY NOT TOO BAD BUT I’M PUTTING ONE HER ANYWAY HUNGER GAMES SPOILER NEVERMIND I JUST READ THIS, IF YOU HAVENT READ THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY DONT READ
The first book had plenty of character development. Katniss has a past with her father, she is burdened with her family, and she struggles with her hatred for the capital. Peeta has to deal with his love for the capital. Rue doesn’t have much, but Katniss defies the capital when she dies. This helps a growing hatred for the capital. The ending of the book is a testimony to Katniss’s resilience, she is willing to defy the capital to save lives. Excessively gory? That’s something I just don’t understand. The book is about teenagers killing each other, and honestly, I’d agree with you if the book was centered around the gore and fighting. The truth is that that is only a premise for the real story to develop, but it’s exciting nevertheless.

The second book had to be there. New characters were introduced and other important plot developments were definitely there (ex. marriage to Peeta, fake pregnancy, introducing of President Snow). Back to lack of character development, that’s what Catching Fire was at heart. We learn that Peeta is truly innocent and Katniss still does not love him. Also, the title itself shows that it was about kicking off the rebellion. It was about how Katniss became a symbol of the rebellion (the bird on the bread in the beginning!). There is a lot of substance here.

The third book is a symbol for war. To say that it was needlessly violent is saying that there aren’t people in the world dying for no reason. It shows that this is an anti-war book, and it also reveals that Katniss can’t trust anyone. So many themes are unveiled when she doesn’t know who to fight for and when people she loves are dying at the hands of her so-called rebels. I don’t find the writing scattered at all, what do you mean exactly?

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oobatooba

in January 22nd, 2011 @ 14:47

I get that, and I know that a lot of people feel that way about the third book, but I feel that It’s an excuse for disorganization and bad writing. Having read the other two books, which weren’t very metaphorical, I just don’t feel that the author meant to do that. I feel that people are over thinking this.
Although Katniss does have some back-story in the first book, i feel that it’s generic, and Katnisss still seems two dimensional to me. How many books have you read where there is a character with one or no parents? I didn’t feel that Katniss’s back-story fleshed her out, or that her actions were believable.
The second book does have lots of events and characters, but I feel that these could have been successfully inserted into the other books without a second hunger games. Katniss could have learned about district 13 halfway through the first book, and could have preformed some rebellious act before the end of the first hunger games that would make her suspect to president snow, who could introduce himself at that point in the series. the girl on fire thing was almost enough any way. the characters who become important later from the second hunger games like nuts, Bolts, Johanna and Finnikin ( I probably got a few of those names wrong)could be mixed in with the important tributes such as Cato ,Peeta and Rue. The clock arena could just be the first one, and they could rig up the same electric thing at which point they could bust the force field and escape to district 13 . The going on tour thing was Messed up any way, so my version doesn’t need to include it. We go from there to book 3 as it is with a possibly less lame and more structured ending. I’m not saying that the events in book 2 were unimportant, I’m pointing out that while the events were each individually important, the book was badly structured. I actually think that most of book two should have been introduced earlier.
I also disliked the romance in the books, both because it was lame and didn’t resolve well. In my version, both Peeta and Gale would die, so Katniss wouldn’t have to end up with either of them.
I think that the ending felt half done because the author couldn’t really decide what kind of ending they wanted. I would have been satisfied with a really depressing twist ending, or a resolved happy ending, but not a mixture of both. Especially around president snow. What’s the point of katniss making a plot central choice if snow just dies anyway, and in a very clichÃ©d way too.
when I said that I fond the writing scattered, I meant that the book seemed badly structured. it seemed like a jumble of events that weren’t in logical order. I also feel that a lot of things were set up, and didn’t happen in a non-twist, boring way.
Since this post is getting ridiculously long, I would like to finally clarify that when i said gruesome, gory and excessively violent i didn’t only mean that the writing was gory, but that the entire concept felt twisted and sadistic. I know that it’s exiting, and I couldn’t put the book down when I read it, but I think that that’s also sadistic and twisted.
Now I feel that I’m arguing for the sake of arguing, and this will be my last post on the matter since i like the Graveyard Book too.

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muselover

in May 27th, 2011 @ 12:02

The only book in the series that I found unnecessarily violent was Mockingjay. That was also the only book in the series that I didn’t consider fantastic.

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4.2.1.1.1

Cat's Meow

in May 27th, 2011 @ 17:35

HUNGER GAMES SPOILERS WITHIN
I did not love Mockingjay the first time that I read it, mostly because it wrecked me emotionally. I did love it the second time, when I read it along with the community at reading/blogging site called Mark Reads. Some of the difference was that I wasn’t so caught up in the plot twists and “what happens??” and I could digest the book on a deeper level. For one thing, I completely misunderstood Katniss’s assent to the new, Capitol Hunger Games “for Prim” and Haymitch’s “understanding her” by voting the same way.

It was violent, yes, but I accept that because that’s how war is. My English class just read All Quiet On The Western Front (trench warfare in World War I) and is learning about Vietnam now. It’s all part of a unit on the universal, traumatic effects of war. The Hunger Games trilogy would easily fit into this unit because a lot of the impact that the Games have on Katniss and the other tributes is exactly what happens to the protagonist in All Quiet. These books aren’t necessarily fun to read, but I think Suzanne Collins definitely had the war themes (moral shades of gray, killing civilians for the greater good, paranoia and uncertainty, good people doing bad things, etc.) developing the whole time.

There were things that I would change, of course. I would absolutely have Katniss go to her own trial, as that could have been an extremely dramatic scene as she tried to justify her actions, and the ending with President Snow could have been better as well. But overall, I ended up really pleased with the entire series after I read it through for the second time.

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4.3

Mikazuki

in January 21st, 2011 @ 20:51

4.1- Ah, but I’m so desperate for reading material these days I seem to be reading stranger and stranger novels; I’ll read almost anything, as long as it’s not boring. *sigh* You come across such nice novels if a) your mom gets you a book from the library because you’re sick, but she gets it in the adult section for some reason and b) you read whatever she tells you to, because you’re really bored. Such as this really funny novel of short stories. There’s one about this owl who just wants to learn things, and then there’s another about a toad, a turtle, and a duck who are complaining about their jobs, and the duck makes an offhand remark that the toad and the turtle take as rascist and they get mad at him, and then one of the stories is about a chicken who begins to question her sexuality, and then there’s the dog who’s wife is cheating on him…ANYway, back on subject. Sorry, Oobatooba… I’m tired, which I shouldn’t be but I am, and I tend to ramble when I’m tired.
I don’t honestly mind goriness at all…

4.2- Yeah, I did read it (SUCH a good book…!!!) and most of the others from the last few decades, too, not to sound braggy or anything. (See, parents? This is what happens when you restrict computer time and don’t have tv! (*not that I’m complaining about the last part) I’m forced to read! And then I have to read boring books!)

Just kidding. Actually, I love reading, and I have been known to read while also watching television at a friend’s (and doing multiple other things, such as walking down the stairs and doing grocery shopping, and occaisionally trying to get away with reading while running in gym class)

I’m really sorry, this post is completely rambling and I’m not sure if it’s halfway coherent. I’m exhausted but, it’s only 10:00! *pinches self* I blame it on my cold.

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shadowfire

in January 19th, 2011 @ 22:15

Urgh. I’m reading “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” in English class. Now, I have no personal objection to the book, but my teacher is a William Blake fanboy and is convinced every single poem is filled with deep symbolic meaning. Yes, I know the symbols are relevant. Not everything, though. But along with that he’s convinced his interpretation is the correct one, and no one else’s is. It can’t be that hard to teach English 9 in an engaging and relevant way. Our teachers used to be teenagers, didn’t they?
End rant. Sorry.
I’m slowly working my way through Godel, Escher, Bach. There are lots of interesting paradoxes to sidetrack me, so it’ll take a while. When I’m done, I swear I will finally finish Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Which, while a very interesting book, has been too large to finish since the school year started. Or something.
Wow, that was a long post.

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Princess_Magnolia

in January 21st, 2011 @ 15:08

Re: Other thread – New releases of Harry Potter books? What? I’m sticking with the originals. American versions, that is.

I’m reading this really great biography of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden right now.

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6.1

oobatooba

in January 22nd, 2011 @ 14:49

The American versions only have about 2 words changed, so there’s really no difference, except that the English covers are better.

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Princess_Magnolia

in January 30th, 2011 @ 15:19

The American covers are better.

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vanillabean3.141

in January 21st, 2011 @ 18:10

I’m reading Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku, and it’s a tremendous amount of fun. Anyone who likes science fiction and/or physics would enjoy it.

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Agent Lightning

in January 23rd, 2011 @ 13:01

I like Ender’s Game. It’s good.
The American versions of Harry Potter changed some things like British words for things, I guess not to confuse people although they still used trainers for sneakers and pudding for dessert. For the longest time I thought that they meant actual pudding..
Also (don’t quote me on this, I might be wrong) I think they changed Philosopher’s Stone to Sorcerer’s stone. To appeal to American readers, I guess they didn’t want kids thinking it was about philosophy. My mom told me this and seeing as she is wrong about some things (saxophones, for instance) I don’t know… the legends are all so contradictory…
Another good but sligtly silly and possibly a bit young for MBers series is Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. Once you get past the cover (which you should not judge it by), it’s worth reading.

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Koko's Apprentice

in January 23rd, 2011 @ 15:29

They did change it to sorcerer’s stone-I would like to read the real british version sometime (i’m american)

Ender’s game is in my opinion the best Sci-fi book ever written. It has an engaging plot and excellent character development.

I am a huge fan of the Eragon books

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8.1.1

Agent Lightning

in January 24th, 2011 @ 10:21

I agree. Even though on the Cliche thread they are all saying it’s not original, and they do have a point, they are still good. I enjoy reading them and I will die if the 4th book does not come out soon… AAAAHHH!!

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oobatooba

in January 30th, 2011 @ 13:51

i was so upset when that turned out to not be a trilogy! The entires series was setting you up to think it was a trilogy, and then it wasn’t. i kept telling myself when I was reading the book that “It must resolve towards the end, it’s just taking a long time”, but no!
When i read eldest, for some reason i got the pocket sized version. It was actually longer than it was wide, so I felt like I was reading an accordion!

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8.2

Thanks For All The Fish42

in January 24th, 2011 @ 11:45

I’m in love with Ender’s Game. Everything about the plot was great.

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Agent Lightning

in January 28th, 2011 @ 18:33

I love the ending.

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oobatooba

in January 30th, 2011 @ 13:52

Ahhhhhhh Enders Game! I’ve always wanted to try goofing around in zero gravity….

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KaiYves- Go, STS-133!

in January 30th, 2011 @ 16:36

Who hasn’t?

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Thanks For All The Fish42

in January 31st, 2011 @ 14:57

The entire time he explained his zero gravity strategies, I was so eager to just jump into a room and start flying.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in January 23rd, 2011 @ 19:47

I just finished reading The End and I did like it a LOT more than last time. Reading them all in a row, searching for hidden clues in Lemony’s narration was much more fulfilling than wating for each one to come out and forgetting what happened.
This time I caught a lot of hidden aspects of the narration that I completely missed last time. Such as “I didn’t realize this was a sad occasion” …I was very happy when I realized what that meant.
Also, I think it’s fitting that many of the Bauldelair’s mysteries are solved, but for the characters, not for the readers.
I thought the best part was…

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER when Lemony Snicket himself shows up in book 12. And he got the sugar bowl! That was the one thing that I was frustrated about last time, that there’s practically no mention of the sugar bowl in The End and I didn’t know what had happened to it. But Lemony Snicket got it! Yayayay! The ending of the series is entirely fitting. I don’t know what I was thinking last time.

STILL SPOILER Speaking of the sugar bowl, does anyone have any guesses as to what’s in it? I don’t think it’s the Snicket File, because Count Olaf has that, even though its importance suddenly decreased in book 11 with the sugar bowl. But maybe the file Count Olaf has is fake, and the real one’s in the sugar bowl? Also, I don’t think it contains Medusoid Mycelium because 1) Every character acts as if Medusoid Mycelium has been contained under Antwhistle Aquatics the entire time and never released to the outside world and 2) because in the narration sometime Lemony lists off Medusoid Mycelium and what’s in the sugar bowl as two seperate items. The sugar bowl could contain horseradish, because in “A Series of Unfortunate Events” Mrs. Bauldelaire (Beatrice) states that she and her husband stored some in a vessel, and then Klaus’s narration cuts off. The vessel could be the Vessel For Disaccarides, or the sugar bowl, but I don’t think that a bit of horseradish is worth all of the strife that occurs over it. Plus, it’s stated that whatever’s in there is of great value to both the Bauldelairs and the Snickets. Lastly, the contents of the sugar bowl could be just a mystery, just like the Great Unknown. But it’s fun to speculate. UNSPOILERIFY

I can’t wait for his new book to come out!

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9.1

Kittymine

in July 9th, 2011 @ 21:13

Oh man, I remember when I read all of the Lemony Snicket books in 8th grade. The 13th had just come out so I read all of them straight through. T’was awesome.

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Mikazuki

in January 24th, 2011 @ 19:52

I am making a compromise with myself: I’m disscussing books, so it’s alright for me to be on the internet. *ahem* It counts.

I’ve been attempting to read Shakespeare due to lack of reading material, reluctence of parental units to go to the library soon, and boredom. I got a few pages into Romeo and Juliet before getting irritated with the language and reading every sentence several times, because otherwise I don’t get it. In short, I’m completely failing at reading it. XD
My conclustion thus far (SPOILER EXCEPT NOT REALLY) : Romeo and Juliet were idiots. I do like the writing though.

I did read Ash. It. Was. Amazing. I fully recommend it to anyone. (SORT OF SPOILER SORT OF SPOILER, SORT OF) The plotline was absolutely amazing. I escpecially loved the Cinderella spinoff (although Malinda Lo changed it quite a bit! But it was better!) (I love fairy-tale based stories, for some reason.) And the writing…! The writing was really rich, vivid, beautiful… ASH RULES.

*ahem* Sorry. *deep breath* Had to get that little squeeing out there.

I also enjoyed the fact that Ash ended up with Kaisa, the nice, safe, human, person, instead of the dangerous, beautiful fairy. Observe the following conversation.
CLASSMATE (CM): Whatcha readin?
ME: Ash.
CM: Oh, is it good?
ME: Very.
CM: What’s it about? Oh, is it about vampires?! (No, I have no idea how en came to this conclusion)
ME: Erm, no, although there is a dangerous, mesmerizing fairy.
CM: Ooh! How does the main character end up with him?
ME: …she doesn’t. She ends up with the king’s huntress.
CM: Oh. Huh? Well, that’s…stupid. *stalks off in a superior manner*
ME: No. Just no.

I reread Eragon, and my main objection to it is not that it’s unoriginal, but that it’s incredibly boring (in my opinion) . I remember falling asleep the first time I read it (to be fair, I was rather tired) but it was worse than I remembered. Maybe the rest of the series gets better, but…meh.

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10.1

Errata

in January 25th, 2011 @ 08:50

Oh, yes. I read all of Romeo and Juliet a few weeks ago, and they were total idiots.
I was also shocked by how young Juliet was. Thirteen years old. That’s younger than I am! I always pictured her as seventeen! And her mother was pushing her to get married!

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10.1.1

bookgirl_me

in January 25th, 2011 @ 10:07

Hey, people married much earlier back then! *wasn’t surprised* Our class is reading Macbeth at school, a decision I fully support. So much more fun! I’m trying to think of more than three main characters who survive, but otherwise I’m good.

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Lizzie

in January 25th, 2011 @ 11:32

Although I believe it was only the upper class that married quite that young.

What I think is funny are that the exceptions to statutory rape laws are usually called something along the lines of “Romeo and Juliet laws”. Romeo was 23. Juliet was 13.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in January 25th, 2011 @ 12:05

I don’t think the play says anything about Romeo’s age. As he seems to have plenty of time to hang out with his friends and no particular adult responsibilities, I’d guess that he’s a few years older than Juliet but still in his teens.

(As for Juliet, her mother mentions that she herself was married when she was about Juliet’s age.)

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Lizzie

in January 25th, 2011 @ 18:08

hmm, I could have sworn I saw some source that said Romeo was in his early 20s. I suppose it might have been in the notes to the old edition I have, since I can’t find anything online.

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Alice

in January 28th, 2011 @ 01:18

I was always of the impression that he was sixteen. Not sure where I got that idea though.

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Rebecca Lasley (Administrator)

in January 28th, 2011 @ 02:14

Shakespeare never specifies Romeo’s age. His main source material says only that Romeo is too young to have a beard. But in that poem Juliet is almost sixteen. In another version of the story she is nearly eighteen and Romeo slightly older. Presumably, then, Shakespeare’s choice to make Juliet so young was deliberate. He even takes care to remind the audience how very young she is.

Contrary to what modern-day people usually assume, in Elizabethan England the median age of women at marriage was their mid-20s. Although girls could be betrothed as young as 12, marriage that young was rare and generally frowned upon. Juliet’s youth, therefore, would have made quite the dramatic impact.

Considering how much Shakespeare was at pains to emphasize Juliet’s age, I would assume he left Romeo’s vague on purpose.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in January 28th, 2011 @ 08:56

Doesn’t Juliet’s mother say that she also married at 13? It must be a family tradition.

Maybe that’s what the feud was about: Capulet stole Montague’s girlfriend. The play never says what started it, but it would pretty much have to be either love or property, and I get the impression that it hasn’t been going on for generations. Also that the older generation is getting tired of it by the time of the play — after all, Capulet lets Romeo crash his party, even though Tybalt is eager to murder him. It’s the young folks who are really into it: Tybalt and (no doubt under his influence) Juliet herself, who seems thoroughly caught up in the drama of it all. And, oddly, Mercutio, even though he’s neither a Montague nor a Capulet.

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10.1.1.2

Agent Lightning

in January 28th, 2011 @ 18:41

It was because they had no vaccines and could not live as long.
Person:”I was married at twenty-two”
Person from the past:”You’re an alchemist who found out the secret to eternal life?”

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10.1.1.3

Armada

in February 24th, 2011 @ 15:44

The average age of marriage in Elizabethan times was 26 — upper class children would have marriages arranged for them when they were young, but wouldn’t actually consummate them until later. Romeo and Juliet are young no matter how you cut it.

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Bibliophile

in January 24th, 2011 @ 20:51

There are versions of Shakespeare with translations beside the original text. The writing isn’t as good, which is why I wouldn’t recommend a translation by itself, but that doesn’t matter much in copies that include the original, too. I agree about Romeo and Juliet were idiots, though.
I think I’d like to read Ash. Who’s the author?

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11.1

Mikazuki

in January 25th, 2011 @ 16:03

Malinda Lo.

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Koko's Apprentice

in January 25th, 2011 @ 13:26

I just had a test on Romeo and Juliet today

In my opinion the book is way overrated. You hear about this romantic love story, but when you actually read it you realize that Romeo and Juliet are just impulsive teenagers that fell in love because they thought the other was good-looking

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12.1

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in January 25th, 2011 @ 14:02

And as a result, both they and a fair number of other people die. Isn’t that sort of unusual and interesting?

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12.2

Mikazuki

in January 25th, 2011 @ 16:06

Not to mention the fact that Romeo was *quite possibly* in love with Rosalind, and he just…decides he loves Juliet? Because he saw this pretty girl at a party?

I did hear this incredibly interesting theory about it however. Perhaps Romeo & Juliet is what happens in a true love stories, except instead of detailing their whole life stories, it’s packed together.

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12.2.1

Bibliophile

in January 25th, 2011 @ 22:58

Also, when Romeo is (ROMEO AND JULIET SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT AND PLAN TO! IT CONCERNS MAJOR INFORMATION ABOUT EVENTS) exiled, why on Earth doesn’t Juliet just leave, too, if they really can’t live without eachother? It would be much simpler and easier than what they actually did.

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Princess_Magnolia

in January 30th, 2011 @ 15:23

Parallel structure worksheet: “Going to a dance is more fun than to cry about Rosalind.”

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starr

in January 26th, 2011 @ 18:10

I know this is off topic, but here’s my little reading update…

I finished reading Mockingjay a little while ago, and wasn’t really happy with the ending, but the book on the whole was well written. (For some reason I felt like the ending was really rushed – did anybody else feel the same way? Maybe it’s just me. I only read it once, I’ll have to go back and re-read before I make a final conclusion on how I felt about it.) I liked The Hunger Games the best out of the trilogy, though, although I felt like the most disturbing, thought provoking parts happened at the beginning of Catching Fire. I literally stayed up for hours thinking about it.
Right now I’m re-reading HP5 (And planning on re-reading the full series start to finish when I’m done.) and reading Paper Towns by John Green for the first time, which so far I really like but I’m still towards the beginning. It’s funny and already I love the characters – I’ve heard great things about the book as a whole, so I’m excited.

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13.1

oobatooba

in January 30th, 2011 @ 13:56

A fellow hunger games dislike-er (sort of)! I think that the entire book fluctuated between too rushed, and slogging.

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13.2

Marfwarrior

in February 25th, 2011 @ 00:04

PAPER TOWNS=EPIC WINFACE
the first bit is funny, the middle is thoughtful, and the last bit is also funny and the last three pages are thoughtful. All around bloody fantastic. I need to read that book again.

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13.2.1

Pseudonym

in February 25th, 2011 @ 17:14

I just read that. It was so good.

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14

Koko's Apprentice

in January 26th, 2011 @ 18:54

I think that Mockingjay was the worst of the 3. The ending didn’t leave the warm fuzzy feeling I expected it to, and the action was stunted, and couldhave been better done. The first one was by far the best, which is why I have the audiobook, and the second one was well done but not quite as good. The third sadly fell short of my expectations.

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14.1

Princess_Magnolia

in January 30th, 2011 @ 15:23

The first one was the best.

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14.2

Thanks For All The Fish42

in January 31st, 2011 @ 14:52

The first was definitely the best. I would say that I liked Mockingjay more than Catching Fire though, not that any of them were bad. I think it finally brings Katniss’s true opinions and realizations into the main plot, so for me it was great because of the plot developments. The ending was a bit rushed, but I honestly believe that she did everything for a reason…

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14.3

oobatooba

in February 22nd, 2011 @ 20:30

You expected a warm fuzzy feel with the Hunger Games?!?

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14.3.1

Koko's Apprentice

in February 22nd, 2011 @ 20:50

Speaking metaphorically, of course. What I meant by that was an ending that tied up loose ends and really finished the book.

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15

Alice

in January 28th, 2011 @ 01:23

Two words: Horatio Hornblower.

Other words: Slaughterhouse-5 (for book club, I suggested we read Vonnegut, but I haven’t started yet). Heart of Darkness (for English class). James Herriot. And stuff.

Re: Romeo and Juliet: I’ve always liked R+J, though it’s never been my favorite. Just don’t try to apply logic.

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16

Agent Lightning

in January 28th, 2011 @ 18:42

Logic makes sense, but it ruins some things.

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17

oobatooba

in January 30th, 2011 @ 14:00

Woooooooo! slaughterhouse 5 is an awesome book! Have you read cat’s cradle? I really liked that one.
The Chrestomanci chronicles are also an excellent series, by Diana Wyne Jones.
I agree. Romeo and Juliet seem very stupid. But, if they did logical things, where would the drama be? Most of the plot (and the good parts) depends on the stupidity of the characters.

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18

Choklit Orange

in January 31st, 2011 @ 07:21

I have a Kindle!

Okay, technically it’s my mother’s Kindle and I’m not allowed to use it, but still.

I just finished The Return of the King. Again.

Has anyone read Julie and Julia by Julie Powell? I found Powell to be an obnoxious and unlikeable character, although I couldn’t dislike the movie because Meryl Streep played Julia Child.

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18.1

Selenium the Quafflebird

in January 31st, 2011 @ 10:19

Wow, that’s an amazing coincidence. I got a Kindle two days ago.

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18.2

Mikazuki

in January 31st, 2011 @ 14:29

Yeah, I read it. I know what you mean…obnoxious is understating it, hah. Half the time I was thinking Is she trying to be funny? and the other half Well, she’s a *****.

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18.3

Koko's Apprentice

in January 31st, 2011 @ 17:37

My school has a kindle but its always out of charge and noones allowed to take it home, so I just don’t use it. What I am wondering is how my school got a kindle when we are cutting teachers and classes

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19

Princess_Magnolia

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 11:28

I checked a book called Radiant Darkness out of the library. It’s about Persephone.

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19.1

Radiant_Darkness

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 13:45

Persephone is what, the goddess of flowers? Please. Please.

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19.1.1

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 14:08

Persephone (in Roman mythology, Proserpine) is the queen of the dead. She’s the daughter of Ceres/Demeter. Hades/Pluto kidnapped her to the underworld. Remember the story about the pomegranate seeds?

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19.1.1.1

Radiant_Darkness

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 14:28

Queen of the dead? I can live with that.

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19.1.2

Mikazuki

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 15:20

Also the goddess of spring, I think.

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19.2

Jadestone

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 14:44

PERSEPHONE FOREVERRRRRRR

That’s my favourite greek myth. And also the inspiration for my favourite poem, The Garden of Proserpine.

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19.2.1

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 15:08

Have you heard of Anais Mitchell’s musical “Hadestown”? (She calls it a “folk opera.”) It’s a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice story, in which Persephone plays a major role. You can find scenes from it on YouTube. She’s based in Vermont but is taking a concert version on tour right now.

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19.2.1.1

Jadestone

in February 17th, 2011 @ 21:34

Oooh! I shall have to look that up! I saw an interesting modern version of Eurydice last saturday, it was very cool.

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19.2.2

Errata

in February 3rd, 2011 @ 11:04

Persephone was always my favorite Greek goddess.

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19.2.2.1

vanillabean3.141

in February 10th, 2011 @ 18:18

I suppose you haven’t read The King Must Die.

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19.2.2.1.1

Errata

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 08:26

No, I haven’t.

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19.2.2.1.1.1

Koko's Apprentice

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 08:37

Please move in our chess game, Errata! *pays PoPo fine*

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19.2.3

oobatooba

in February 22nd, 2011 @ 20:32

I like the gorier ones with peoples spleens getting eaten. The ancient Greeks really had morbid imaginations, huh?

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20

Alice

in February 2nd, 2011 @ 23:10

17- Cat’s Cradle is fantastic. I think my favorite one is Galapagos.

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21

Koko's Apprentice

in February 10th, 2011 @ 16:09

Has anyone read The Giver by Lois Lowry? That’s one of my favorite books. A lot of people think the ending was abrupt and don’t realize there are two sequels that give a bit more closure.

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21.1

Mikazuki

in February 10th, 2011 @ 17:50

First of all. I was just going to post something about The Giver.

I just finished it. I absolutely loved that book for 2/3 of it. It was one of those books that just make you think.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS GIVER GIVER POSSIBLE SPOILERS GIVER PLEASE WATCH OUT, WARNING WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE GIVER WATCH OUT!!!
But. The. Ending. It was abrupt. A good plotline should really start out slow, ease up, reach the summit, and gently curve down. For The Giver, it was more like it went up to the summit and came crashing straight down. I do realize that there are two sequels, but…even books with sequels have to have some sort of an ending, or at least a To be continued… , if they’re cliffhangers. The Giver really didn’t have a good ending- no closure at all. You don’t get to find out anything about the community, you don’t get to know what really happened to Jonas. One of my [morbid] friends pointed out that the sled, the celebrations, all of it- were a lot like the memories. She thought that he was dying and he created it all himself, and there was really nothing there.
Other than that, it was a wonderful book, it’s just, I dunno…she spent all of this time building up interesting characters, setting, et cetera et cetera, and then she just ends it.

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21.1.1

KaiYves- Go, STS-133!

in February 10th, 2011 @ 18:45

POSSIBLE SPOILERS GIVER GIVER POSSIBLE SPOILERS GIVER PLEASE WATCH OUT, WARNING WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE GIVER WATCH OUT!!!
I feel the same.

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21.2

Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in February 11th, 2011 @ 20:25

The sequels did The Giver no justice at all… I think I ranted about this on an earlier thread?

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21.2.1

Trojan Tiger

in February 17th, 2011 @ 22:04

… There are sequels?

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21.2.1.1

Trojan Tiger

in February 17th, 2011 @ 22:05

… There are sequels? I don’t know how that last post was posted (accident). What are they called?

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21.2.1.1.1

Bibliophile

in February 18th, 2011 @ 12:37

Gathering Blue and Messenger

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22

oobatooba

in February 17th, 2011 @ 19:58

I didn’t know about the Giver sequels, but that book doesn’t seem like it could use a sequel. I didn’t like it that much (kind of creeped me out) but i know other people do.
I actually read starship titanic, which i have been postponing since i posted that i had to read it. It was OK, but lacked the pure randomness that you expect from Douglas Adams

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23

Axa

in February 17th, 2011 @ 21:16

Does anyone else have the problem of too many books to read, with the result of reading none of them? That keeps happening to me…D:

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23.1

Piggy

in February 17th, 2011 @ 21:24

That always happens to me. I’ll read a few chapters of one and then get distracted by another.

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24

oobatooba

in February 22nd, 2011 @ 20:34

I used to do that all the time and one day I just decided and…quit. I really don’t know how it happened…

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25

Axa

in February 22nd, 2011 @ 20:58

I just finished a really excellent book about North Korea called Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. It’s based on a series of articles the author wrote for the LA Times that I remembered as soon as I picked it up. I realize after reading it how very little I knew (/know) about North Korea. Absolutely fascinating.

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26

Cat's Eye

in February 22nd, 2011 @ 21:39

On the topic of Romeo and Juliet:
Does anyone else find there to be evidence that Romeo and Mercutio were in love? Or at least David-and-Jonathan-style really close friendship? After all, Romeo is very wordy and slow and melodramatic and overpoetic when it comes to his troubles with Juliet, but when it comes to Mercutio dying he’s suddenly all “GAH INCOHERENT RAGE TYBALT DIES NOW.” It seems like way more of a gut reaction.
I say they were in love because I wear constant slash goggles, but what if Shakespeare’s point was that the bonds of friendship are stronger than the bonds of love? When it comes time for Romeo to choose between saving his marriage and leaving Tybalt alone, or avenging his best friend, he chooses Mercutio over Juliet without a second thought.
Then again, he is a really impulsive, hotheaded guy. But previously his impulses were all “omg luv!” and “sure let’s get married!”, not “I will now commit murder!” So I think he really did love Mercutio far more than Juliet. Maybe the point of the whole play is “bros before hos”?

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26.1

Axa

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 00:17

RAD BROMANCE

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26.2

Errata

in February 24th, 2011 @ 13:57

I came away from Romeo and Juliet with the impression that it was not, in fact, about true love at all, and it’s a bit ironic that we think of it as the ultimate love story now. To me, it looked like a story about a clueless, daydreaming guy and a disobidient girl who made stupid decisions and couldn’t make a rational decision to save their lives (literally). So yes, I totally agree that he cared more for Mercutio than for Juliet.

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26.3

Armada

in February 24th, 2011 @ 15:56

‘M with you on the slash goggles — there was one R+J production I’ve repeatedly heard of where Mercutio was a drag queen… But that aside, I think it’s an interesting idea. I’ve read a book on Shakespeare’s plays which offers the theory that a lot of Shakespeare’s comedies are about friendship versus love — that is, same-sex affection versus heterosexual affection. Not necessarily implying slash, but still an interesting idea.

And yes, I said comedies. Romeo and Juliet is at least half a comedy. It’s only when Mercutio dies that things get dark all of a sudden…

Pertaining to some of the other comments, I too find it rather ironic that so many people hold up Romeo and Juliet as a classic example of true love when most of them have actually never seen or read the play and have no idea what it’s actually about..

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27

Koko's Apprentice

in February 22nd, 2011 @ 21:58

Interesting theory *thinks about it*
I like it, only one thing. If Romeo really had a stronger friendship with Mercutio than he had a bond of love with Juliet, why did he kill himself over Juliet’s death and not really torment himself all that much over Mercutio’s death, even though it was basically his fault. Sure, he feels guilty, but it isn’t really a big part of the play.

Also, Romeo was an extremely impulsive person, and he killed Paris in an impulsive act as well as Tybalt. One was a rage and one was in self-defense not knowing who the other person was, but still. I think Romeo’s more extreme emotions are over Juliet, not Mercutio.

Still, it is an engaging theory, that definitely has merit.

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28

Koko's Apprentice

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 08:14

My last post was in reply to Cat’s Eye. I forgot to click reply.

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29

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 13:41

Has anyone here read Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman? It’s the (fictional) diary of an English girl in the year 1290. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Sample entry:

23RD DAY OF SEPTEMBER
There was a hanging in Riverford today. I am being punished for impudence again, so was not allowed to go. I am near fourteen and have never yet seen a hanging. My life is barren.

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29.1

Mikazuki

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 13:44

Ooh, love that book. It’s hilarious. (POSSIBLE SPOILER POSSIBLE SPOILER< I REPEAT< POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT) The Saints are really funny too.

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29.2

small but fierce

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 13:46

Yes, I’ve read it.

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29.3

Jadestone

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 15:56

Oh wow, I read that ages upon ages ago. Actually I think I may have listened to it on cassette tape. Yep, definitely on tape, because I remember haring a scene or two while I was in the bathtub. I would drag my cd/cassette player/radio into the bathroom with me and listen to books on tape because bathing was boring otherwise. OH, MY CHILDHOOD.

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29.4

Axa

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 17:10

Yes, I did! I can still picture the front cover right now! That title always stuck in my mind.

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29.5

oobatooba

in February 24th, 2011 @ 07:32

I love that book!

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29.6

Sirius the dog star

in February 24th, 2011 @ 09:52

Yes, I read that! It was so funny!

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29.7

Alice

in February 24th, 2011 @ 14:08

Yes! And The Midwife’s Apprentice, which I liked more because the girl called herself Alys. *is conceited*

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29.7.1

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in February 25th, 2011 @ 03:37

She must like the name. Catherine has a friend named Aelis.

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29.8

Princess_Magnolia

in March 3rd, 2011 @ 16:35

I loved that book.

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29.9

kiwimuncher

in May 26th, 2011 @ 20:40

Yes, I have. That book was simply awesome. It was actually a Battle of the Books book one year I believe.

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29.9.1

Daisy*chain

in May 26th, 2011 @ 23:17

Battle of the Books! Woohoo!

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29.10

oxlin

in January 9th, 2012 @ 22:36

Yeah!

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30

small but fierce

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 13:47

Has anyone read Go Ask Alice? I am in the middle of it and am thoroughly disturbed by the fact that it’s true.

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30.1

Rebecca Lasley (Administrator)

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 14:24

There’s actually considerable doubt about whether the book is true. Interesting to know it’s still circulating. I remember reading it in middle school where it was very popular in a whispered sort of way.

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30.1.1

Koko's Apprentice

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 16:03

I believe Snopes has an article on this very thing. According to Snopes, the book was not true and it even has one of those “this book is entirely fiction any reference to person living or dead blah blah blah” things

They also did some kind of fancy test and determined that the book was not written in an adolescent way, using more big words than one would expect for a diary made for her eyes only.

Snopes has a lot more details, I’m just saying some of the more convincing parts of the arguement.

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30.2

Princess_Magnolia

in March 3rd, 2011 @ 16:36

Yes; it was very disturbing, and I definitely believed it was true. What do you mean it’s not true? *checks Wikipedia*

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30.2.1

Princess_Magnolia

in March 3rd, 2011 @ 16:43

“The story caused a sensation when published and remains in print as of 2011. Revelations about the book’s origin have caused much doubt as to its authenticity and factual accounts, and the publishers have listed it as a work of fiction since at least the mid-late 1980s. Although it is still published under the byline “Anonymous”, press interviews and copyright records suggest that it is largely or wholly the work of its purported editor, Beatrice Sparks. Some of the days and dates referenced in the book put the timeline from 1968 until 1970…In an October 1979 interview with Alleen Pace Nilsen for School Library Journal, Sparks claimed that Go Ask Alice had been based on the diary of one of her patients, but that she had added various fictional incidents based on her experiences working with other troubled teens. She said the real girl had not died of a drug overdose, but in a way that could have been either an accident or suicide. She also stated that she could not produce the original diary, because she had destroyed part of it after transcribing it and the rest was locked away in the publisher’s vault.”

Sorry, wall of text.

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31

Pax the Hamster

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 15:52

For English this year we read Into the Wild, which I am thoroughly in love with. Most of the kids in my class didn’t like the guy’s philosophy, but I loved it. I want to marry a man named McCandless and have a child named Chris.And I want him to *SPOILER*SPOILER*SPOILER* not die on his wonderful adventures.

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31.1

Cat's Eye

in February 23rd, 2011 @ 20:11

Hm, Into the Wild…
I think Chris McCandless’s philosophy was admirable, but he definitely could have been smarter about his expedition. And I think it was pretty cruel of him not to talk to his family for such a long time. Even if they disagree on lifestyle choices, that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to hear from someone they love.
But yeah, his whole philosophy gives me happy shivers. I dunno, there’s something about wandering the wild openness of the nation, living off your wits and the land, that appeals to my sense of awesome. The American Dream lives, huh?
Which reminds me! I have a declaration to make! Off to the Random thread!

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32

Alice

in February 24th, 2011 @ 14:14

I’m rereading Little, Big. It’s even more amazing now that I’m older, and also WAY more in touch with my witchy hippie magic side. It makes me want to be married at Midsummer, and go on a journey walking with no money, and find all the doors deeper and deeper into the smaller and smaller worlds.
-deep sigh- &hearts:

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33

Axa

in February 24th, 2011 @ 14:33

question: if romeo and juliet is not to be looked to as an example of true love (or whatever you’d like to call it), what is? on a literary level, that is. Put another way: instead of reading Twilight and thinking that’s what one should aspire to (spoiler: you shouldn’t!) what would you suggest in its place? Of course pretty much anything would be better…but even as a side story, I dunno. I’m not sure what I would say myself.

i suppose it’s difficult to even categorize things like that though. I’m sure everything is arguable. I was reading an interesting foreword to Pride and Prejudice about, to summarize, whether or not certain gender paradigms and that kind of thing still hold in the story.

errata: “To me, it looked like a story about a clueless, daydreaming guy and a disobedient girl who made stupid decisions and couldnâ€™t make a rational decision to save their lives (literally)”

i think that pretty much captures teenage romance though, doesn’t it? To some degree…
They are foolish but the tragedy is that something essentially innocent sets of a series of unhappy instances. I think the fact that everything is so exaggerated and seemingly dire really hit the mark. Dunno…

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33.1

Thanks For All The Fish42

in February 24th, 2011 @ 22:29

Well, are you looking for a realistic example or an example that one should aim for. I think Romeo’s impulsiveness makes it less than ideal, but as for portraying emotional youth, it’s realistic (in a bit of a melodramatic fashion). Twilight…. Well, there’s simply nothing realistic about it. I think it’s nothing to aim for, and nothing to compare with. It’s unique in that way…

There probably aren’t any books based around romance that are normal and/or ideal, because that wouldn’t make for a good story. I think the best examples of true love come in books where love is a side story, and where it does not consume the mind of the main character, because really, there should be more to life.

As for specific examples… Well, the romance in Harry Potter is pretty realistic, and I would say that it is ideal/true love at the end. Again, though, it’s only a side story.

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33.1.1

Axa

in February 24th, 2011 @ 23:22

oh, i do think it’s realistic in its depiction of emotional youth, but i was just going off of errata’s comment that it’s maybe not so great that it’s the go-to love story. the harry potter example is along the lines of what i meant. full on romances are usually pretty ridiculous. hmm, my question is a bit muddled….

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34

Midnight Fiddler

in February 24th, 2011 @ 15:08

29 (Robert)~ Yes, I read that book. Karen Cushman is a great author, I’ve read several of her books and enjoyed them very much.

30 (sbf)~ I read Go Ask Alice awhile back, a few years ago I think. I thought it was good.
Re: controversy about authorship:
I’ve just skimmed the snopes article, and it looks like it is a fake, what with the same “editor” doing several other books on similar themes (teenagers making bad decisions and meeting terrible ends).
However, as a diarist myself, I find their analysis of the writing style a bit less persuasive. Perhaps I’m just weird, but I’m pretty sure I use the kind of words I normally include in my speech in my journal. It’s true I’m writing it just for myself, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t make it as eloquent as possible. It’s like a present to myself, why wouldn’t I take pride in it? [ramble] Perhaps with my background in history I also feel that since I’m keeping journals, eventually, some historian will quite likely find and read them, and I might as well present myself well. One good way of being famous and remembered hundreds of years in the future is to keep a good journal, although nowadays with the massive amount of data on the internet and in magazines probably not as much. [/ramble]
Also, they mention that she goes into a great deal of depth over her first LSD trip, but mentions very little about her heartbreak. Now, I’ve not done drugs, so obviously I haven’t written about it, and when I did feel crushed in the romance department I wrote a fair amount about it, but there are plenty of insignificant things that get far more press in my journal than huge decisions or changes. One of my most recent entries departs my usual structure of “this what happened today” and maybe a bit of “this is how I feel about it” to be a “dear self” letter. Okay, so that’s fine, why does it matter? Because this was after something that, according to the writers of the snopes article, should probably be written in huge capital letters and sprawl on for several pages.
What I’m getting at is that someone other than me reading my journals (I’ve kept one fairly reliably for about 5 years now) would miss a lot of the details of my life, and they’d probably ascribe a lot more importance to things that I don’t care much about but written more on for some reason. But who knows, perhaps some historian will publish my journals (perish the thought!) and their authorship will come into question because of their oddities. Or maybe not, since they’re rather consistently erratic.

My apologies for a monsterpost on journal-writing styles. Out of curiosity though, are there any other diarists here who would share how they write? Could we have a journal/diary thread to discuss it maybe? That seems like it could be an interesting sort of conversation.

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34.1

Armada

in February 24th, 2011 @ 15:36

Seconded on the journal/diary thread idea…My journal is very kinda erratic, I put myself under no obligation to write in it every day or to write about ‘what happened today,’ and I don’t use the ‘dear diary’ form — instead I use it to write down my thoughts and feelings on various things, brainstorming on stories, thinking out loud (um, as it were) to myself, notes I want to remember, funny quotes… all sorts of things. I draw in it occasionally too, when I don’t have other paper handy.

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34.2

Axa

in February 24th, 2011 @ 23:36

My only new year resolution (more of a general goal though, really) was to keep a journal this year and write something for every day. I kind of got behind on that, but I’m working on getting back to it. I was actually just typing up some of it now…
That’s one thing, I’ve realized that journal-ing goes much better if I type everything out, since my handwriting is all but illegible and i can type more quickly than i can write. I agree with you that the “big words” claim is kind of ridiculous…kind of insulting too?
i do like to keep a journal though. i’m glad too, because there are days and dreams that i’ve described in great detail that i would have forgotten the bulk of had i not taken the time to write them down.

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34.3

Princess_Magnolia

in March 3rd, 2011 @ 16:46

My writing style is very structured; I make sure to use correct grammar and spelling and everything. I also do tend to go off on tangents.

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35

Choklit Orange

in February 25th, 2011 @ 04:41

Re: Go Ask Alice– I think they’re probably right about its not being true, but I don’t like the “proof” that was offered. Teenagers do in fact use big words.

I just began reading Game Change by Mark Halperin and John Hieleman. Gossipy, but irresistible.

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35.1

Koko's Apprentice

in February 25th, 2011 @ 08:37

I completely agree with you about that, but they say that teenagers tend not to use big words when they are writing something only for their eyes. Apparently something private like a diary uses smaller and a less sophisticated writing style, because the writer doesn’t need to think about how other people are going to interpret it.

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35.1.1

Bibliophile

in March 3rd, 2011 @ 17:52

I don’t remember the diary of Ann Frank very well (I read it 2 years ago), but unless I remember incorrectly, I think it used big words, and if so, that would prove that theory incorrect.
I have several other arguments, but they only apply to me, and I’m not a teenager yet, not to mention the fact that I seem use bigger words than most of the people my age I know (according to them, anyway; I didn’t notice it before I was told), so I don’t think I count.

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35.1.2

Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 24th, 2011 @ 20:52

Well my diary certainly does NOT use big words. Mostly because I write in it at night.

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35.1.3

Maths Lover â™¥

in July 25th, 2011 @ 02:36

I write informally and pay less attention to grammar, but use as many big words as I would in conversation. Usually because I’d rather use a big word than a phrase that means the same thing.

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36

LittleBasementKitten

in March 21st, 2011 @ 14:19

So we’re reading the Giver in Englidh class and I read ahead…it’s pretty intense.

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36.1

Koko's Apprentice

in March 21st, 2011 @ 15:19

I read that at first in… fifth grade? Anyway, its a very intense book.

Rereading it now, I see a lot of things that escaped me before,

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musketeers33397

in May 26th, 2011 @ 05:37

My class read that a few months ago. I enjoyed it, but being the immature people that they are, the only chapter my classmates were remotely interested in was the one in which Jonas gets ‘stirrings’.

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ForestRanger

in March 24th, 2011 @ 14:28

If anyone doesn’t already know the fourth book in the Inheritance Cycle release date is out. It is set for November 8, 2011. The name is “Inheritance”, with a green dragon on the cover. You can see it at shurtugal .com.

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Koko's Apprentice

in March 27th, 2011 @ 11:02

When I went to the author’s booksigning he talked a lot about the book, but he never said if the green dragon was the last dragon egg that hatched or not. I always expected Shruikan to be on the cover of the final book.

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Agent Lightning

in March 27th, 2011 @ 12:53

I have several theories about book 4, but I am hesitant to share them here because I have a hunch that they are right and if they are, I don’t want to give out any spoilers.
I have this way with predicting what’s going to be in books. Movies are the worst. I was watching this *embarrased cough* Disney channel movie (WITH MY SISTERS WHO ARE TEN AND FIVE) and during the first twenty or so minutes I figured out what was going to happen and called it. And my friend (who was babysitting with me) and I kept making connections between the movie and my other friend’s book she is writing…. it was pretty funny. As in really funny. Which made up for the predictableness of the movie.
Sorry, that was off topic. Oh well, if I didn’t rant occasionally…

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 24th, 2011 @ 20:53

FINALLY. That’s all I have to say.

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Rainbow*Storm

in March 26th, 2011 @ 23:58

MOCKINGJAY SPOILER.
I thought Mockingjay was the worst in the series too. Let’s see, in the first few pages we learn that Cinna (no! Not Cinna!) died randomly offscreen. Then Katniss hangs out in District 13, films propaganda commercials instead of actually fighting the war, and gets knocked unconscious every other chapter or so. They find Peeta in a rescue that Katniss took NO PART IN, and apparently he’s insane. Eventually they go to the Capitol, where Finnick promptly dies in a total Big Lipped Muttation Velociraptor moment. The pods mimic the Hunger Games, but less in an “exciting survival stuff” way and more in a “tons of pointless violence” way. Katniss shows she has no problem killing innocent civilians. Then Prim dies. *sob* Katniss misses the DOWNFALL OF THE CAPITOL while in yet another painkiller-induced dream. Later she votes to kill the Capitol’s innocent children, Completely Missing The Point of the entire series. She is told to execute Snow, but shoots her own leader instead due to something Snow, possibly just trying to save himself, said. Snow dies spontaneously anyway. Katniss mopes suicidally in prison while the future of Panem is decided, and eventually it becomes some sort of republic. Katniss moves back to District 12 and marries the still-somewhat-insane Peeta, who pressures her into having children. Meanwhile, Gale goes to District 2 for no apparent reason, just to resolve the love triangle. The end!
Books 1 and 2, however, were awesome.

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Agent Lightning

in March 27th, 2011 @ 13:16

I love the Terry Pratchett books!!!
The Discworld series is amazing!!!!

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Rainbow*Storm

in April 4th, 2011 @ 23:39

SPOILER SPOILER BRISINGR SPOILER.
So I finished Brisingr in time for Book 4. My random opinions:
– Eragon is getting less likeable with every book. He’s supposed to be a noble, peaceful Rider, but he STRANGLES a conscripted soldier who’s begging for his life because he Knows Too Much. That could have been a perfect opportunity for a character-defining “I. Never. Would” moment, but instead we get to see Eragon use his cool new ninja skills to kill a defenseless human in cold blood. Really, Paolini?
– On the subject of Eragon, a new sword??? I really liked the idea of the hero using a historically “evil” sword, to show that it’s the person and not the weapon that matters, but I guess the author’s taking the cliche route.
– I don’t like Eragon/Arya. I mean, she’s decades older than him and a different species! *squick* I feel like Eragon becoming immortal and elfish was just a plot device to allow for Eragon/Arya.
– My favorite characters at this point are Saphira and Thorn. The dragons seem to be almost the only ones who aren’t Mary Sue-ish or psycho. Plus Saphira’s funny and awesome, and I just feel sorry for Thorn. Also, I like Nasuada. She’s cool.

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Koko's Apprentice

in April 25th, 2011 @ 17:36

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ERAGON SERIES SPOILER ENTIRE SERIES SOMETIME MENTIONED HERE SPOILER WARNING

I’ve always thought that Eragon/Arya was doomed. Rather, I’ve had a theory that Nasuada was the one that the prophecy spoken by Angela. Here is my reasoning
1. She is of noble birth. This was part of the prophecy
2. She showed special interest in Eragon, walking up all the stairs in the first book while she could have just used a messenger/mirrors
3. Another part of the prophecy said that the love was powerful. While Arya is a princess, she has little political power whileas Nasuada rules all of the Varden

Maybe, maybe not. But I still think it’s possible.

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Agent Lightning

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 15:15

SPOILER SPOILER ERAGON SPOILER SPOILER BRISINGR SPOILER SPOILER THE WHOLE SERIES SPOILER SPOILER
Ok. So:
-I have definetly thought of Nasuada as being a possible romantic interest, although not so much toward the later books because she is the ruler of the Varden and would not do anything that was not going to be beneficial. But we shouldn’t rule her out.
-Yeah, I agree with Rainbow*Storm’s whole “Eragon is being a less likable character” thing. Yeah, I was cringing at that part in the book. The author smoothed it over, like the whole “I really hate killing” thing.
-Speaking of that chapter… If you read the author’s note… A Doctor Who reference? Really? I mean, it was really off topic, among other things.
-I’m just glad Eragon/Arya didn’t work, because 1) that would be cliche and 2) it would be mushy and 3) it would get in the way of the plot and 4) Arya is smarter than that! Even if she is a Mary Sue.

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vanillabean3.141

in April 19th, 2011 @ 19:00

I finished The Hunger Games at 1:00 in the morning (I couldn’t put it down!). It was excellent, and terrifying, and now I have to go read the other two books.

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vanillabean3.141

in April 24th, 2011 @ 00:36

I downloaded Irene Iddesleigh. *happy flail*

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ZNZ

in April 25th, 2011 @ 11:30

Watership Down was EPIC and AMAZINGFUL and BRILLIANT. So now I am reading The Plague Dogs.

So far I have resisted the urge to throw it across the room.

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Bibliophile

in April 25th, 2011 @ 12:08

Really? Cake. That’s too bad. I agree about Watership Down and was planning to read Shardik; I hope it’s more like the WD than PD. What’s it about?
Also, this is kind of out of the blue, but Randomosity, why do you hate HP and LotR? I didn’t think to ask you until it was too late to do it except out of context.

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ZNZ

in April 25th, 2011 @ 12:43

Plague Dogs is about these dogs who escape from this place where they are tortured and mistreated FOR SCIENCE! Which is a pretty good premise, but it’s SO SO dull and NOTHING HAPPENS and it’s all REALLY REALLY ANNOYING. And in the middle of everything he stops and goes on for a page or so about what he thinks about FREEDOM, and in most of his dialogues everybody’s speaking in these thick thick accents and so I have literally NO CLUE what anybody’s trying to say or what’s GOING ON. [/rant]

Of course, you might still like it. You shouldn’t base your decisions about reading it on what I think.

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Piggy

in April 25th, 2011 @ 14:49

It’s a different type of book written for a different purpose. Watership Down was originally a bedtime story. The Plague Dogs was a novel the whole time.

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ZNZ

in April 25th, 2011 @ 15:16

Yeah, I can see that.

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Mikazuki

in April 25th, 2011 @ 15:32

Pride and Prejudice is going well, but SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER POSSIBLE SPOILER SO WATCH OUT< POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR PRIDE ADN PREJUDICE Mr. Darcy is slightly evil. Jane…he broke her heart, just because (and he hardly knew her!) he thought that she didn't love Mr. Bingley. A noble protecter…er, not really. I adore Elizabeth, however; her refusal of his marriage was simply lovely. GO ELIZABETH…

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vanillabean3.141

in April 25th, 2011 @ 16:11

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER POSSIBLE SPOILER SO WATCH OUT POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Well, it wasn’t only that he thought she didn’t love Mr. Bingley, but also because he didn’t want his friend to get married to someone with little money. He’s still very proud at that point. He was honestly trying to do what he thought was best for his friend, but for all the wrong reasons.

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Mikazuki

in May 4th, 2011 @ 16:31

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER POSSIBLE SPOILER SO WATCH OUT POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

I finished it. And…all of my arguments against Mr. Darcy have evaporated…what? When did that happen? I…love…Mr…Darcy…

GREAT book.

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Errata

in May 4th, 2011 @ 17:25

Yeah. I’m rereading it. Very good book.

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kiwimuncher

in May 26th, 2011 @ 20:37

I know right? Darcy is amazing. ^^

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 24th, 2011 @ 20:56

Everyone loves Darcy eventually.

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Princess_Magnolia

in May 6th, 2011 @ 20:22

Okay, so I got yelled at for bringing this up on the R&R thread so I’m posting it here, like I’m supposed to. We’re reading Romeo and Juliet in English and I really like it – I especially appreciated Act Two Scene Two, or the balcony scene. Also, although I didn’t approve of Romeo’s behavior in Act 1 Scene 1, I liked his monologue: “Why then, o brawling love, o loving hate/O anything of nothing first create…Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs,” etc. I don’t like Tybalt and I think Mercutio is too raunchy.

I also started reading Gone With the Wind. Historical fiction is the best way to learn history. I highly recommend that.

Mikazuki – I just love P&P, especially Mr. Darcy, and especially the Lydia episode.

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Axa

in May 6th, 2011 @ 21:43

okay so once again, i agree with this. i think it has a bad rap and everyone looks at it the wrong way: LITERALLY. i think it is very much akin to saying “why does paris like helen tho, i don’t think she’s that pretty, w/e”. Tragedies like romeo and juliet often dance into ludicrous territory because (in my opinion) love is ludicrous and so is hate– another point the play makes. there’s not much emphasis put on why the capulets and montagues hate each other, just that they really frickin hate each other. also, like the legend of troy, the love story is kind of a means to and end (or at least the ‘instantly falling in love’ bit)

i never had much appreciation for this one (so cliche! everyone likes it! stay here while i brood and emulate hamlet!) until i watched “shakespeare in love”, it gave me a huge appreciation of the play that i didn’t have before.

also i have a big fat crush on benvolio so i am 100% biased.

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Princess_Magnolia

in May 7th, 2011 @ 11:34

I LOVE Benvolio.

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Armada

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 14:12

Everyone should love Benvolio.

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shadowfire

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 15:40

That seems to be much of the point of his existence.
I’m rather fond of Mercutio, even if his puns are a bit painful.

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Armada

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 16:59

*nods* Yes, Mercutio and Benvolio are my two favorite characters in the play; I can’t really decide which one I like better. XD

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Bibliophile

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 17:24

Seconded.

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shadowfire

in May 26th, 2011 @ 22:23

We’re acting out scenes for our English final (<3 my teacher, even though it's Romeo and Juliet and I'm a bit tired of it) and I'm intending to be Mercutio. Anyone who can make elaborate, poetic sexual innuendoes in iambic pentameter has my vote.

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shadowfire

in May 27th, 2011 @ 18:10

Alas, I was almost last to choose, so I’m Romeo. In Act 1 Scene 5, where Romeo first meets Juliet at the party. Gratuitous ho yay with a girl I don’t really like! Hurrah!
(I was really hoping a guy would be Juliet, just for the lulz. We have several girls being male characters, but none the other way around.)

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kiwimuncher

in May 26th, 2011 @ 20:36

Yes, Mercutio is raunchy, but he’s so likable! ^^ He was my favorite character without a doubt. You should go see it acted out instead of simply reading it. When you have good actors actually doing the parts, the characters really come alive and it’s a lot better.

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Armada

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 14:16

My favorite book for something like the past 12 months: Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Who else has read it? Show of hands please?

I’m also rapidly becoming obsessed with MegaTokyo (my friend’s-cousin-who-I-see-once-a-year-at-Passover introduced me to it), but I’m not sure if that’s a discussion for this thread…

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Agent Lightning

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 18:08

Since there’s not a Movies Based On Books thread, I’ll put this here.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS THE FIRST MOVIE REVIEW
If any of you were wondering about the first Deathly Hallows movie, I saw it, and they did a decent job of it. What I’m worried about is the second one. I saw a trailer, and it worried me.

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Choklit Orange

in May 26th, 2011 @ 04:07

They could make it a Disney-style animation in which a prince shows up and kisses Hermione and I would still go see it, just because.

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Agent Lightning

in May 27th, 2011 @ 16:12

I would bring tomatoes to throw. And get kicked out of the theater.

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Tesseract

in May 22nd, 2011 @ 22:52

The Catcher in the Rye. I know opinions on this book are very mixed, and the first time I read it I didn’t like it much, but I’m finding myself loving it this time through. What’s frustrating me is I’m finding what I like about it to be inarticulable. I don’t relate to Holden exactly, except that I do, but not really. I feel an intense kind of pity for him, but it isn’t quite pity either. This book makes me want to be understood, which is ironic because I can’t make myself understood when talking about it. I feel like I’m going in circles without saying much of anything here.

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kiwimuncher

in May 26th, 2011 @ 20:34

I understand completely. I remember that the Cather in the Rye left me confuddled inside after I read it and a little bit confused. It’s one of those books that you read once but are still chewing over a month later.

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Thanks For All The Fish42

in June 28th, 2011 @ 18:38

Catcher in the Rye is one of those books. My friend had already read it twice or thrice and told me that you had to read it twice to really get it. Instead, I just read it really closely the first time. The whole thing seems to be a contradiction, really. I was kind of disappointed when she said, “Holden really is a phony.” And I kind of was acknowledging it and denying it up until then. What I got out of it is that there’s no such thing as an act that is phony, but you yourself shouldn’t be a phony. I think there should be pity for him, because he can’t seem to accept that fact that he is very cynical about everyone (perhaps he isn’t always right). Of course, one might just get mad at him for doing things he just said were phony on the page before, but the point is that he doesn’t really get it, or he doesn’t care. It really is just a frustrating theme.

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Potatospudman

in May 23rd, 2011 @ 15:00

I’m reading Angel, the 7th Maximum Ride book, and it is great! SPOILER SPOILER POSSIBLE SPOILER MAXIMUM RIDE SPOILER I like Dylan. Hes a good guy who just wants to please Max. Also, I do not like Fangs new flock. I just don’t. SPOILER OVER
I’m also reading the lost symbol and its amazing as well. SPOILER SPOILER POSSIBLE SPOILER LEAVE NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE LOST SYMBOL WE WANT NO CASUALTIES SPOILER Mal’akh is bothersome. He’s very scary. Also, I don’t like the CIA, especially Sato. I hope Peter is OK. I also hope Trish didn’t die but I bet she did.

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musketeers33397

in May 26th, 2011 @ 05:29

Oh, I absolutely love the Maximum Ride series! I don’t like Fang’s new flock either. Especially Max II (I know I shouldn’t call her that as she changed her name, but I can somehow never remember what she changed it to) I can’t wait till the last book in the series is released!

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Tesseract

in May 23rd, 2011 @ 17:44

I’d been meaning to ask this for a while and Spud’s (is it okay if I call you that?) post reminded me: Can anyone explain to me the craze behind Maximum Ride? I read the first one two-ish years ago and it didn’t do much for me, but I know some people love them.

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Rosebud2

in May 23rd, 2011 @ 18:29

Frankly, I have no idea.

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FantasyFan?!?!

in May 26th, 2011 @ 06:08

I liked them when I first read them, in…10th grade, maybe? I read all three that were out in one day. A few years later, I picked up the fourth book, and…it didn’t do anything for me. I just chalked it up to growing up and changes in temperament. Suddenly, Max’s independent, can’t-trust-anyone attitude and constant snark seemed more annoying than intelligent. Also, there were all these random new superpowers developing, and…yeah.

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Potatospudman

in May 26th, 2011 @ 16:23

I know what you mean. I hated the fourth one. It sucked.
But the others were good.

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Koko's Apprentice

in May 26th, 2011 @ 17:02

I thought the first three or four were great and still reread them every once in a while, but after a bit it started to seem like how the warriors series once seemed to me: Great writing, but repetitive plot after a while and I couldn’t keep up with the new books that were rapidly being released.

The only book that is sort of new in the series that I really liked was Fang. I liked the fresh point of view that gave new life to the same old “bad guys chasing us but we kick their butts at last second” plotline.

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Mikazuki

in May 26th, 2011 @ 19:45

Mmm, I read the first one a while back and I loved it; it was one of those books that I couldn’t put down. (Not really saying much, though; I can’t put any book down.) But then I read the next few…and my enthusiasm evaporated.

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kiwimuncher

in May 26th, 2011 @ 20:31

I really enjoyed the books at first. Now they’re starting to annoy me. I mean seriously *spoiler just so you know*, why work throughout the first few books to get Max and Fang together and then essentially remove Fang from the picture in the next book, replacing him with some freak of nature that stinks suspiciously like Edward Cullen? Plus, throughout the entire series, Max has been supposedly trying to save the world. But I don’t see her doing that any time soon. In fact, she’s as far from saving the world as she was in the first place. I feel like the entire plot of the book has in fact swerved from her saving the world to her hanging out with this new perfect half guy. In the last book, there was hardly in action at all. Where’s the flying kids running from crazy scientists and ruthlessly killing monsters? That’s what made the books interesting. I must admit that I’m a blood and guts person when it comes to movies and books. Mr.Patterson has found a hit with these novels and is attempting to string them out I think.

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kiwimuncher

in May 26th, 2011 @ 20:25

Right now I am engrossed in reading the third Mercy Thompson novel by Patricia Briggs. It’s a fun read. ^^ I recommend it, along with the Sookie Stackhouse novels (which are apparently nothing like the TureBlood TV show, which I have not seen and apparently am not missing much of by not watching it.) Of course… for ye young innocent minds, neither series would be all that…. erm… appropriate.

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muselover

in May 26th, 2011 @ 22:33

I just read The Discourager of Hesitancy.

HE STIL DOESN’T TELL YOU IF IT WAS THE LADY OR THE TIGER!!!

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Agent Lightning

in May 27th, 2011 @ 16:18

Max Ride: SPOILER MAXIMUM RIDE SPOILER MAXIMUM RIDE SPOILER MAXIMUM RIDE
I HATED The Final Warning. It’s like, hey, we’re in the Arctic, we’re wreaking havoc at military school, hey, now we’ve been kidnapped, wait, who’s this dude and why are they keeping his organs in jars? Hey, it’s cool, (what sort of name is UBER-director????????????????????????) and look another globalwarming induced hurricane… gotta go

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Mikazuki

in May 29th, 2011 @ 20:43

I think my favorite book at the moment is Hold Still, by Nina LaCour. It makes me cry every time I read it.

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Spudman

in June 1st, 2011 @ 19:29

Anyone reading The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney? I’m on the newest one (#8) and I love it. I highly recommend it.

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ZNZ

in June 1st, 2011 @ 20:53

Has anyone ever read Ella Minnow Pea? It’s… let’s see if I can remember… a “progressively lippogramatic epistolary fable.” I started reading it, and it’s really good. I highly recommend it. It’s set on the island of Nollop. Nevin Nollop, inventor of the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is from there. They have a statue to him with the sentence on. Then the letter Z falls off, and they decide he’s speaking to them from beyond the grave, so use of the letter Z is forbidden, and all books containing it are banned. Then the letter Q falls…

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Mikazuki

in June 2nd, 2011 @ 19:24

I’m…I’m in love. AND I WILL MARRY MY BELOVED.
(Er, once I find a time machine.)
“What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for they true-love take.”
Clearly, I woke up and saw Shakespeare.

Just finished A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I liked it a lot better that Romeo and Juliet. The words seemed to roll off my tongue until I was dizzy with delight BECAUSE THOSE WORD WERE BEAUTIFUL I TELL YOU. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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Koko's Apprentice

in June 20th, 2011 @ 18:03

We have to read Lord of the Flies for my English class over the summer. It sounds interesting and while I have always been curious about it in the past, I have neglected to read it until now.

Thoughts, anyone, ~~or maybe a small essay on the mood of the opening chapter~~?

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in June 21st, 2011 @ 14:14

One thing to remember is that generations of children (Golding included) had grown up reading adventure books about British kids who get marooned in exotic places, cope with their situations with decency, pluck, and aplomb, and even manage to have fun. Lord of the Flies asks, “Would they really?”

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Koko's Apprentice

in July 8th, 2011 @ 17:36

I just finished it. Good read, and now my procrastination until the end of summer to start on the writing assignment begins.

I think the kids were extraordinarily lucky to be marooned on an island where both food and weather were not huge problems, although I suppose Golding did that intentionally so he could better focus on plot points he wanted to move into the spotlight more.

Did our Piggy take his name after LotFs’ Piggy?

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in July 8th, 2011 @ 17:56

Piggy says his name has a different origin, the specifics of which he has never revealed on the blog.

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Piggy

in July 8th, 2011 @ 21:38

Oh, no, I’ve revealed it once. I’m not that mysterious.

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Koko's Apprentice

in July 9th, 2011 @ 16:42

WHERE! I MUST KNOW!

Or you could just tell us again.

If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to go on a rampage through past random threads until I find it, then move on to others, and that would take ages!

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Piggy

in July 9th, 2011 @ 17:17

I don’t remember.

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Koko's Apprentice

in July 9th, 2011 @ 20:32

You don’t remember the origin of your name or you don’t remember where you posted it?

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Piggy

in July 9th, 2011 @ 20:39

I don’t know where I posted it. I’ll let you look for it.

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Koko's Apprentice

in July 10th, 2011 @ 16:45

GAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Why must you torture me like this?

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Alice

in July 8th, 2011 @ 18:40

I would. (Maybe. Also, I’m not British.)

I think it really would have helped if there weren’t as many children. Especially the littluns really added to the general chaos. If it was like, the Swallows and Amazons, they would have been totally fine.

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Thanks For All The Fish42

in July 8th, 2011 @ 20:20

Also the purpose is to make fun of society (comparing them to children). To make that realistic you have to have a somewhat ignorant general populations, i.e. the littluns.

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Alice

in July 8th, 2011 @ 20:34

Well yes, but I mean in terms of successfully coping with their situation with decency, pluck, and aplomb.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in July 8th, 2011 @ 21:19

Perhaps you would, on your own. But suppose you were stuck with them? It’s hard to be Wendy if the Lost Boys won’t cooperate.

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Alice

in July 8th, 2011 @ 21:38

Very good point. Oh god, the kids I’ve had to deal with… -shudder-

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Mikazuki

in June 22nd, 2011 @ 16:11

Marden’s has cheap books! (My boycotting-chain-stores policy is: No national chains, unless they are reasonably Not Evil and are pretty much not a choice to boycott. Marden’s is a state chain.)

-The Accidental Family
-Annie on my Mind
-Hamlet
-Watership Down
-Lily and Dash’s Book of Dares
-The Spellman Files (In Paperback!!!!!!!!!)
-Revenge of the Spellmans ♥
-A Wind Called Amnesia/Invader Summer (Two novels by the same author in one volume.)

I have actually only finished both Spellmans, Annie on my Mind, and Lily & Dash’s Book of Dares. Has anyone else read them? Thoughts?

I also purchased, at my local Coffeeshop&Usedbookstore, The Secret of Lost Things and Pride and Prejudice (although I may have mentioned that before).

We also stopped by a bookstore near the Marden’s and there was NEW BOOKS and I was practically salivating because they were all so pretty and shiny and new. Merlin’s pants, I am so superficially superficial about books.

I swear, though, the books in the YA section of the store were in one of three categories: Books I reallyreally want to read, books I love, or…books I had checked out of the library last week.

ARGH. It was fairly painful because they were expensive and we were just killing time because we were waiting for a pizza. But there was Thirteen Reasons Why, Speak, Impossible, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (Odin’s Beard, I love that cover), and there were others but I can’t remember them all now…

I feel surrounded by pretty books and I am overwhelmed by a strong sense of book love. It’s fairly comical.

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Bibliophile

in June 22nd, 2011 @ 20:16

I know how you feel. I recently went to the biology gift shop at Harvard, and I wanted everything there, but I’d just bought a bunch of books, so I couldn’t afford more than one (a signed copy of The Honeybee Democracy), and to make matters worse, I live in Texas, so in all probability, that was my last chance. Unless I move there when I grow up, that is, but I haven’t even thought about that.

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Mikazuki

in June 22nd, 2011 @ 21:39

Oh, that’s too bad The books I saw were mostly ones I could get elsewhere.

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Errata

in June 22nd, 2011 @ 22:32

Cheap books are great! One of our local bookstores provided me with two Terry Pratchetts and an Artemis Fowl for three dollars total. And I’ve only been there twice since I started buying books.
I don’t really boycott any bookstores at all, partly because Mom says we have too many books (I think she’s gravely mistaken) and so I don’t get to go very often, and partly because I’m naÃ¯ve and think that anybody who sells books can’t be that bad.

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59.3

SilverLeopard

in July 13th, 2011 @ 04:45

I really liked Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares! It wasn’t that typical boy gets girl thing, more like SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER girl’s brother tries to get her a boyfriend, girl has a correspondance/adventure with boy, girl screws up really badly, but things end up working out. /ENDSPOILER
But there were bits that really made me think about what life is like. Like when Dash talked about “the last Christmas where en had really hoped/believed/been happy”. And when Lily shared her Shrilly story.
But yeah, in my opinion, it was a good book.

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Mikazuki

in July 13th, 2011 @ 09:34

I liked it as well. It seemed upon the surface to be a typical romance story but it wasn’t… (Although it appears that I made a typo, as I did not, in fact, get L&DBoD, but Nick & Norah’s infinite playlist, which was not, in my opinion, as good. Oh well, I have read Dash & Lily, which was why I got this one…)

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Selenium the Quafflebird

in June 22nd, 2011 @ 22:22

Psmith â™¥

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60.1

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in June 23rd, 2011 @ 05:51

The P is silent, as in pshrimp.

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Selenium the Quafflebird

in June 23rd, 2011 @ 06:20

Yeah, I know. Unless that was meant to be a general statement.

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Thanks For All The Fish42

in June 28th, 2011 @ 18:40

The Perks of Being a Wallflower has left me thoroughly awe-struck. The entire thing made me feel depressed and elated at the same time. One of the oddest reading experiences for sure.

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Kittymine

in July 9th, 2011 @ 21:53

My best friend and I went to the library two weeks ago, where I exited with a stack of books (recommended by said friend). I’ve read through almost all of them at this point. Here’s a listing with my opinions:

The Goose Girl – first in a series. I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to read the next one. Made me cry, actually, but that may have been more because I was overtired.

The Demon King – first in a series. I’ve just started reading that one and it’s very interesting.

The Pale Assassin – Appears to be the first in a series because the ending is an obnoxious cliffhanger. The book is on a middle school level. I didn’t like it particularly because the plot did not really move and the main character goes from being a complete airhead to having a thinking brain within the space of a few pages.

Sphinx’s Princess – also the first in a series. Middle school level. This story reminded me a bit of The Pale Assassin in a stylistic way, but was a much better read.

Scorpia Rising – The final Alex Rider book *sob*. I enjoyed it, but I shall not say more to avoid possible spoilers.

I, Q. – A series of small, quick read books about spies and the secret service and brainiac kids, one of whom is looking for her presumed dead mother. Definitely middle school level, but I enjoyed them anyway. There are several books in the series, but I’ve only read two so far.

Witch & Wizard – This one I actually had as a book on CD since the paper variety was not available. Perhaps if I was reading it myself I would have liked it better, but since it was being read to me, it moved slowly. And the characters were driving me crazy because the just wouldn’t catch on. The one silver cloud was that the boy main character was being read by Elijah Wood

The Warlock – Book number 5 in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. I like the books, but I think Michael Scott is dragging the series on too long. But I need to find out what happens. This one jumped around between places a lot, which was somewhat confusing, but it pieced together in the end. Also middle school level.

Dreadnought – 4th H.I.V.E. book. I was cracking up through most of the book because many of the lines were so cheesy or purposely clichÃ©. The plot was really good. Middle school level.

Ender’s Game – I know this one was mentioned earlier, and I shall agree: Best Sci Fi ever. My younger brother is currently reading through about every Orson Scott Card book that exists.

Terrier – Haven’t actually started this one yet, but it has been well recommended by my friends.

On a slightly different note, I received a set of books from my Opa as a high school graduation present. There are four books, entitled (respectively) The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers, and The Last Letter Home. These books form The Emigrant Novels, by Vilhelm Moberg. Originally written in Swedish, the books are about a group of Swedish immigrants in the 1850s who are bound for America. The primary focus of the story is on the family of Karl Oscar Nilsson, who has left his poor homestead in Sweden in pursuit of the fertile farmland of Minnesota. The novels are historical fiction and are definitely classified as Adult. I’m enjoying them and I am currently in book three.

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Armada

in July 10th, 2011 @ 23:16

Shakespeare/slash fans:

Thoughts on Leontes/Polixenes or Polixenes/Camillo in Winter’s Tale?

The production I’m in currently has Polixenes come on putting his clothes on at the beginning of Act 4 Scene 2 while he’s speaking to Camillo. I asked Polixenes’ actor today what the cake that’s supposed to be about, and he said it was just, um, something to be doing while talking? Oooookay then…

Leontes/Polixenes is more textual than productional, but I think it’s still valid theoretically…. I’ve heard it mentioned in a few Shakespeare criticism books. I just love searching for Ho Yay in Shakespeare. XD

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Koko's Apprentice

in July 12th, 2011 @ 10:16

Has anyone here ever read Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari?

I got it for my birthday from my sister and read it in about 2 days.
SPOILER IF YOU PLAN TO READ IT.
Good writing and plotline but not much wrap-up and closure at the end.

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SilverLeopard

in July 13th, 2011 @ 04:54

I went to the Anne Frank Huis while I was in Europe. And I got her diary. Which was… wow. The last line — “If only there were no other people in the world” (or something like that) — seems really real. I mean, three days after she wrote that, she and her family would be on their way to a concentration camp. She was a very good writer, and she wanted to be an author — she revised her diary when she heard that letters, diaries, any account of WWII would be published, and she wanted to write a book about her time in the Secret Annex.
Another good book is Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet. BY NEIL GAIMAN AND TERRY PRATCHETT. AWESOMEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!! READ IT.
And now I’ve gotta go. Bye!

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Mikazuki

in July 13th, 2011 @ 09:50

I’ve read several books lately, here are my evaluations:

The Accidental Family: Amusing, fairly odd, not great but okay for light reading.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson: It was really good! Although, from all the people who have read it and given me reviews, it sounded a lot better. I mean, it was a great novel (and an interesting premise…did I actually get away with that, spellcheck?!) but I’ve read a lot that were better. I’m currently rereading it, in hopes that it’s one of those books that get better every time you read it.
A Wind in the Door: Finally, I read this! OH WOW SO FLAMABLAMABLOUS. I love A Wrinkle in Time, and the sequel was just as good and weird! I love the author’s take on the universe. Everything is science oriented but still it carries fantasy. Charming book.
Jane Eyre: OH YEAH, I GOT JANE EYRE, IT’S IN PAPERBACK AND HAS AWESOME COVER ART, BE JEALOUS
Hold Still: Did I tell you I got this too? Because I diiiiiiiiiiiid! I’ve already posted a review somewhere.
The Secret of Lost Things (or something like that): Er…’twas good, I suppose, not exceptional. Didn’t really draw me in, but it was worth the read.
Bloody: Hahahahhahahahaha. Right. I give it one star. It’s up on Amazon now though, so that’s good…

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Pseudonym

in July 13th, 2011 @ 16:29

I just read Will Grayson Will Grayson. Actually, I read it about five times in a week. (I was on vacation, and it was one of the only books I had.) It was pretty good, although I almost always hate romance-y books.

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Mikazuki

in July 14th, 2011 @ 16:21

I agree.

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Sophia

in August 19th, 2011 @ 11:12

I’m reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson right now. I feel like I SHOULD like it, but it’s rather depressing and just kind of slow moving.

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66.2

Agent Lightning

in August 19th, 2011 @ 15:35

I’M READING JANE EYRE!! RIGHT NOW!!! I HAVE MY OWN COPY!!! *squee*

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67

POSOC

in July 19th, 2011 @ 18:57

The thing that annoys me most about H P Lovecraft is how oblivious all his protagonists are. They’re always utterly shocked by “twist” endings that have been so heavily foreshadowed that a sensible reader would guess them halfway through the story.

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67.1

axa

in July 19th, 2011 @ 21:05

oh man, stephen king wrote this great book about writing (it’s called ‘on writing’ lol) and he mentions how authors should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses, etc, and one of the examples he gives is Lovecraft and how he was just really bad at dialogue. there were some examples that were pretty funny, though of course i no longer have the book checked out. i just thought of that though, i mean i just think his strength must be in amazing descriptive power and characters end up secondary, which i totally understand and angst over since i do that. RUN ON SENTENCES FOREVER.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in July 19th, 2011 @ 21:22

The problem may be that they don’t realize they are characters in a story. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of foreshadowing in my own “life.”

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POSOC

in July 19th, 2011 @ 21:28

That’s true. It might explain why they cling with such fervor to “rational” explanations even when it’s clear that an “irrational” explanation is a lot more consistent and reasonable. They’re never willing to take the Dirk Gently option.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 24th, 2011 @ 21:02

Anyone here read James Fforde’s Thursday Next series? I find them hilarious, random, and epic. Sometimes a little too random, but that’s OK. Something Rotten is my favorite so far, but I haven’t read One of Our Thursdays is Missing yet.

Right now I’m a little more than a third of the way through Anna Karenina. Please don’t tell me how it ends. It’ll probably take me another month to finish it.

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Sophia

in August 19th, 2011 @ 11:14

I read one of them (don’t remember which now, but the one with the Other Thursday). It was very funny, but I never got around to reading the others.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in August 19th, 2011 @ 15:42

You mean the one with Thursday5 and Thursday1-4? That’s the fifth book!

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POSOC

in August 7th, 2011 @ 21:06

Here are some of my short book reviews for a summer assignment. They’re currently being written in a headachy haze, so I hope you find them funnier than the teacher will.
Un Lun Dun — “Mieville proves heâ€™s actually constitutionally capable of writing a happy ending — softer side, or publisher-mandated lies to children? We may never know. ”
Beyond the Shadows — “Not so much a â€œstoryâ€ as every cool idea the authorâ€™s ever had, thrown together in a pile with no regard for coherency or quality. The literary equivalent of a deep-fried Twinkie. “

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Sophia

in August 19th, 2011 @ 11:16

I’m currently stuck in the middle of Speaker For The Dead. Ender’s Game was ridiculously fantastic, so I assumed I would like the sequel. But it’s kind of hard to get into, and Orson Scott Card’s politics seem both more front and center, and slightly creepy. Anyone else have the same problem? Ah well… I ‘ll just keep reading.

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Lizzie

in August 19th, 2011 @ 12:33

I had that problem with Ender’s Game.

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Koko's Apprentice

in August 19th, 2011 @ 15:25

I kinda felt that way too with Speaker, Xenocide, etc. I loved Ender’s Game, though.

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Errata

in August 19th, 2011 @ 11:57

I counted last night, and I believe I’m in the middle of reading eight books. Counting only the ones that are with me right now. Three of those are for school.
The rest I have no excuse for.

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Agent Lightning

in August 19th, 2011 @ 15:54

Has anyone read the books Epic and Saga? I forget who the author is, but I enjoyed them. I don’t know if there were any flaws, seeing as I was on a car trip most of the time and band camp when I read the sequel. I really liked them- TWOO had been reccomending them to me for a while, and I didn’t regret when I finally got around to reading them. I’m sure there were some flaws, but don’t tell me them or else it’ll ruin the fond-memories-of-a-book-you-read-months-ago experience. Anyway, I’ll definetley be reading the third book.
Also, has anyone read I am Number Four? It was enjoyable. I read it via stolen Kindle late at night at band camp; is it as good in print? (I’m just not sure if part of the thrill was catching up to and surpassing my friend in where we were in the ebook added to the thrill of new technology and the suspense of staying up late in a different bed with the muffled cries of teenage musician girls wildly partying while getting hyper on gelato and pizza in the background.)

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Randomosity101

in August 19th, 2011 @ 20:25

I just started re-reading A Series of Unfortunate Events (minus the books in said series I don’t have). I read most of the series the first time through before joining MuseBlog, and having been on MuseBlog for about three years puts some aspects of the books in a totally different light. For instance, I never previously paid attention to the fact that the illustrator, Brett Helquist, has apparently illustrated for Cricket magazine. Also, in The Bad Begining *SPOILER* when they are talking about Sunny’s experience in the tower, her contribution to the conversation is “Cake!”

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Armada

in August 23rd, 2011 @ 19:56

Wait…. “Cake!” as in “[censored expletive]!” or as in literally “Cake!”?

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73.1.1

Ambystoma Maculatum and Joolb (~)_+)

in August 23rd, 2011 @ 20:56

I’m fairly sure it was literally “Cake!”

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Agent Lightning

in August 24th, 2011 @ 14:26

It was, because I remember not being an MBer and thinking of conventional frosting-covered pastries.

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Armada

in August 23rd, 2011 @ 12:44

Dear Guy Who Does The Percy Jackson Audiobooks:

I thought you were a good reader, until I heard the way you voice Ethan Nakamura. Now I just think you’re racist.

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Thanks For All The Fish42

in August 23rd, 2011 @ 15:56

Finally reading Discworld. I’ve read his The Wee Free Men but that only half-counts because I feel like it’s more focused on Young Adult-y-ness than on Discworld. If that makes any sense. Regardless, The Color of Magic does not disappoint, no matter how confused I an get at some points.

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ZNZ

in August 23rd, 2011 @ 16:07

If you think you’re confused then just be glad you didn’t accidentally start with The Light Fantastic like I did.

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Agent Lightning

in August 23rd, 2011 @ 17:35

Or accidentily go to the library’s website and put a hold on the graphic novel like I did.
“WHAT IS THIS COMIC BOOK? I ASKED FOR A NOVEL!”

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oobatooba

in August 25th, 2011 @ 07:29

There. Is. A. Graphic. Novel?!?!?!?

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75.2

Ambystoma Maculatum and Joolb (~)_+)

in August 23rd, 2011 @ 20:59

Later books in the series have more of a unified plot, so you’ll probably end up less confused if you keep reading. They’re all still hilarious, though.

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oobatooba

in August 25th, 2011 @ 07:33

I think that Orson Scott Card should pay me a lot of money for advertising. Ender’s game was on the high school’s summer reading list, and I spent a good amount of my time circling it on every single list and writing “Best Book Ever” as well as drawing stars and lines all around it.
Has anyone read any of Walter Moers’s books (13 1/2 lives of Capitan bluebear, Rumo, City of dreaming books)?
Also, the Chrestomanci Chronicles?

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ZNZ

in August 25th, 2011 @ 16:18

– I recently read Ender’s Game, and enjoyed it a lot.

– I recently obtained a copy of The City of Dreaming Books, and I’ll be reading it soon. (How was I to resist that title? Well, I wasn’t.)

– Chrestomanci! Chrestomanci! Chrestomanci!

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Errata

in August 25th, 2011 @ 23:14

Chrestomanci! Yes!

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76.3

Koko's Apprentice

in August 26th, 2011 @ 10:12

My English teacher met Orson Scott Card once, I really wanted to!!!!!!

She has a picture with her next to him.

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76.4

Cerulean Pyros

in September 5th, 2011 @ 15:42

Chrestomanci = whoop of joy! (Really, I adore Diana Wynne Jones in general. I’ve not read anything by her I disliked.) I have a question about Chrestomanci, actually. In my copy of Charmed Life, the name of Christopher’s wife is spelled “Millie.” In all the other books she appears in, it is spelled “Milly.” The fictional character she named herself for in Lives of Christopher Chant is also “Milly.” Has anyone else observed this inconsistency, or is it just my copies?

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76.4.1

Cerulean Pyros

in September 6th, 2011 @ 08:11

Huh. I got that backwards. She’s “Milly” in Charmed Life and “Millie” in the others.

Now, have I made any errors in this post? I think not, but they do seem to appear when I’m not looking.

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77

LittleBasementKitten

in August 25th, 2011 @ 09:13

Has anyone ever read Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer (oh gosh that last name :lol:)? I didn’t like it but I felt compelled to keep reading. I’m now reading the “sequel” The Dead & The Gone. Again, don’t like it but have to keep reading.

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Bibliophile

in August 25th, 2011 @ 09:47

That’s how I felt about the Warriors series at one point. The books didn’t seem that great, but somehow I was addicted anyway. WHAT WAS THIS NONSENSE HOW WOULD I STOP. Anyway, it just happened one day, abruptly.
I’ve read The Dead And The Gone. I thought it was okay, but I didn’t read Life As We Knew It.

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KaiYves

in August 25th, 2011 @ 11:31

Same with me and The Kingdom Keepers. Not the best books, but I will get the next one when I find a bookstore that has it, just because I want to know what happens next.

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77.2

Agent Lightning

in August 25th, 2011 @ 16:06

That book gave me nightmares. That I liked in a twisted sort of way. And now I keep wondering what will happen (I didn’t read the sequels because my language arts teacher says they’re rubbish.)

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Mikazuki

in September 5th, 2011 @ 10:14

Is anyone else reading Wildwood? It’s written by the lead singer of the Decemberists. So far it seems pretty good. Very odd.

I just got two books off Amazon for free. Shipping, too. !!! Has anyone read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender or The Night Circus? Or The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating?

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Pseudonym

in September 5th, 2011 @ 11:03

I read the Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. (Does this need a spoiler warning?) I was a little confused by the conclusion, especially how the book sort of transitioned from semi-realistic to semi-ridiculousness.

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Bibliophile

in October 1st, 2011 @ 12:30

…That sounds a lot like a story someone in my RELA class wrote. It goes on about someone’s terrible, miserable life and then reveals that it’s a piece of cake–literally. Is the book anything like that?

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Pseudonym

in October 1st, 2011 @ 13:03

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Somewhat. It starts off with the main character being able to taste people’s emotions in food, and then at the end her brother turns into a chair.

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Mikazuki

in October 2nd, 2011 @ 08:21

Yes, I did think that that was a little odd. (Sorry for not having responded to your earlier comment, by the way, but Amazon took forever and I have only just read the book.)

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Agent Lightning

in September 23rd, 2011 @ 15:40

There are telpahic tardigrades in the book The Search for WondLa

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79.1

Agent Lightning

in September 30th, 2011 @ 10:31

Oh dear, so many typographical errors. I apologize, everyone. Is anyone doing Battle of the Books this year? I’m joining this year after two years of regretting not joining.

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Cat's Meow

in September 30th, 2011 @ 20:03

I’ve never heard of Battle of the Books. Could you tell us about it?

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Agent Lightning

in December 22nd, 2011 @ 15:10

Ach, sorry I didn’t see your post until now.
It’s basically a competition done by school teams. Each year a new booklist is made (different lists for elementary, middle, and high school) and teams read the books and prepare themselves to battle with other teams at competitions (our school team got to state last year) by answering questions about the books. Examples:
In which book is a boy’s stepmother cut into T-bone steaks? (Answer: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer)
In which book does a girl begin school on the last day of the school year? (Answer: Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool)
The answer has to be a book on the list. The competition requires careful reading of the books, combing out every last detail, squeezing the books dry.
It’s a lot of fun, but basically you can’t read any books that aren’t on the list during Battle season.

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Bibliophile

in October 1st, 2011 @ 12:28

Well, Otto’s the only one who’s telepathic, but they’re all elephant sized, benevolent, awesome, intelligent, peaceful aliens who ought to rule the universe. It’s an amazing book. Everyone should read it. There’s going to be a sequel and a movie, too! And another sequel! I’m just annoyed that it doesn’t have any fansites yet. Maybe I’ll make one when I have time.
Otto almost got to be the main focus of the paperback cover picture, but he didn’t. It’s quite unfair.

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80

Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in October 9th, 2011 @ 00:51

I’m trying to read Watership Down again in what little free time I have. Everyone’s shocked that I’m actually reading a book for fun, just because we all have so much work to do!

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in October 9th, 2011 @ 00:52

STFP: Inheritance, just come out already so the series can finally be over. Thank you.

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Koko's Apprentice

in November 11th, 2011 @ 17:58

Just came out!

I know a good portion of the blog doesn’t like the series because of the copying some think is involved, but regardless of whether he stole the Star Wars plotline or not I think its good writing, and I’m getting it tomorrow.

Someone at my school got it and he said its really good!

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in November 19th, 2011 @ 01:14

I just got Inheritance for my birthday. It’s really weird seeing it for so cheap on Amazon (with prime it’s only $15, pre-order was $12). I haven’t even opened it, actually!

I’m just upset that it took him so long to finish it; he wasn’t able to accurately judge how long it would take. He had to add another book, for Pete’s sake! Yes, I know it’s his first time writing, and yes, I shouldn’t rush him, but it takes so long! Brisingr came out a little more than THREE YEARS ago! How is this even possible?

It’s one of those series that I’ve grown out of, yet feel obligated to read anyway. I mean, the first book came out when I was in elementary school, and only three books later I’m in college. Remember when Inheritance was at its height? When it even competed with Harry Potter? That was six years ago. It’s kind of sad, really.

All the same, when I read them I am entranced. I just feel slightly ridiculous and ashamed of myself afterward.

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82

I-Man

in November 23rd, 2011 @ 10:47

Love Inheritance. Love love love. I’m so glad Paolini’s writing improved from the way it was in Brisingr.

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Koko's Apprentice

in November 23rd, 2011 @ 13:39

SPOILER SPOILER INHERITANCE SPOILER SPOILER INHERITANCE SPOILER

I loved the writing, but the references to atomic theory and other sciency concepts he kept sneaking in seemed a bit weird and out of place in a fantasy novel.

The two examples that really irked me was Angela’s explanation of her speed spell, and the Eldunari explaining to Eragon that all matter was really made of of tiny particles composed mostly of empty space.

Those were the 2 main examples, but there were a bunch of references to radiation he kept sneaking in too.

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Randomosity101

in December 1st, 2011 @ 18:05

SPOILER SPOILER LASTBATTLE OF THE ICEMARK SPOILER SPOILER.

I finally started reading Last Battle of the Icemark. After reading Blade of Fire I was sure Medea would survive being cast into the Spirit Realms. But I didn’t expect the third book to be quite so centered on her. I’m overjoyed; she’s my favorite character!

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Randomosity101

in December 1st, 2011 @ 18:06

SFTDP.
AGAIN, SPOILERS!

Though I don’t exoect her to survive this book.

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83.1.1

Randomosity101

in December 1st, 2011 @ 18:07

SFTTP.

That should be “expect”. Sorry. Might there be a helpful spelling gnome around?

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84

Agent Lightning

in December 22nd, 2011 @ 15:14

Hm. Anyone know that book called I Am Number Four? About an alien-*cough*- who comes to Earth pretending to be a human- *cough hack*- and chooses the fake name John Smith?- *couch hack cough hack*-because his planet died- *hackhackhack*- in a war at the hands of another alien race- *cough cough*- and now he’s saving the Earth and stuff
Excuse me, I think I *coughcoughhack* need a cough drop.

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85

KokoÂ´s Apprentice

in January 2nd, 2012 @ 14:04

Has anyone ever read Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Green?

I was watching the NOVA series based on it and figured IÂ´d ask for it for Christmas and just finished it now. Great book, and it really explains the concepts well.

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86

Alice

in January 2nd, 2012 @ 15:55

John Irving
Setting Free the Bears

Wonderful but dreadful.

I have been reading since I woke up and now it is two o’clock and I am done and wow. It started out really inspiring because as a college student there is little I would rather do than get a motorcycle or a scooter and a friend and go running around with no plans, but then it got upsetting and then more upsetting and then kind of painful in a really good sort of way. but kind of hopeless too because zoos are such awful places but it’s not really realistic to just let all the animals loose and ahhhhhhhh.

Good book. Highly recommended.

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87

Jadestone

in January 2nd, 2012 @ 16:35

List of books I got for xmas/birthday:

– The Last Dragon, Jane Yolen, illustrated by Rebecca Guay
– Creatures of the Night, Neil Gaiman
– Goddesses, illus. Rebecca Guay
– American Gods and Anansi Boys (one volume), Neil Gaiman
– The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft
– The Complete Brother’s Grimm

happy happy Jade

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88

Jadestone

in January 2nd, 2012 @ 16:37

Oh and just finished the last book in the Wicked Lovely series, Darkest Mercy.
SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT? NOT REALLY BUT KIND OF
I’m glad she found an ending that worked for it. I thought I was going to be unhappy with where it went, but it actually worked pretty well.

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89

FantasyFan?!?!

in January 2nd, 2012 @ 22:13

86–Alice–it sounds interesting. I’ll add it to my reading list.

I’ve been doing so much reading this winter break. Which is something you might be able to pick up on, what with every other post of mine being about books, the library, etc.

Anyhow, I sort of want to talk about the books I’ve been reading, because I’ve been thinking a good deal about them, and I do want to share these thoughts with someone.

So here goes. I went on a Diana Wynne Jones reading binge with this library trip, and more than half of the books of checked out are by her. I grabbed House of Many Ways, because I still have not read it, this new book by her that I hadn’t seen before, and nearly every Chrestomanci book that was on the shelves. And I think I posted something on her memorial thread along the lines of RIP DWJ, I’ll miss her writing, but it wasn’t until now rereading her books that it hit me like a bullet. There are going to be no more additions to these wonderful universes that she built. And I loved them so much…

Also on my checkout list was Summerland, which I read for the first time years and years ago, and loved. I’m not sure how a story based on a combination of baseball, Norse mythology, and uniquely American tall tales and fables wormed its way into my heart when I don’t even like baseball. But it’s an excellent read regardless. I’m not saying much about it, because I’m not sure how to, but I do recommend it.

And then there’s the Ranger’s Apprentice series, another set of books I first read…a while ago, can’t quite pin down the age but probably somewhere between the ages of 12-15. I didn’t even plan on reading this series; my brother, it turns out, had checked most of the books out, because he clearly got his excellent reading taste from me. Anyhow, when I first read this book I wasn’t big fan. It was alright but not fantastic, a good way to pass a few hours but probably not read again. It seemed fairly generic fantasy stuff, and I was at the point where I had read a lot of generic fantasy stuff. Yeah. Even I am not the biggest fan of fantasy when you see the same tropes used and abused over and over and over again. And I didn’t even know what a trope was back then.

The later books were different, though. It firmly established the world and its cultures as being alternate ones of our own, and not even mix-and-match. Even the names of countries are ones from antiquity. It also firmly established magic as not even being possible (excepting forms of hypnotism-like mind-control, mostly as a way to retcon mental powers in the first book while still having continuity.)

Which leads to its own set of complaints, I’m afraid. I spent a lot of time banging my head over the fact that ACTUAL VIKINGS DID NOT HAVE HORNED HELMETS, among other things. Everything is clearly the theme park version rather than something that has a lot of historical research behind. (Something of a shame, since as I’m sure you’ll agree, history is full of fascinating things.) And nearly everyone speaks the same language. Fluently. I do give them points for having fake-Arabs that don’t fall into the stereotypical opressed-women theme. Which is a whole ‘nother rant.

My working theory with this story is that it’s actually set into the far future, on a second earth, where everything is more-or-less the same as their original cultures but not quite. Obviously there is no support for this theory in reality, and it comes form the part of my brain that things we ought to have Kung-fu tournaments instead of waiting in lines, but it would explain things like the language thing and the far ahead for it’s time gender equality, and the strange creatures int eh first book. Not that I have a problem with that. As long as I don’t take it as alternate history too seriously I’m fine reading it.

Aaand I have given far to much thought to a fictional world. Kudos if you read that. If you have anything to say about it, even better. *hopeful smile*

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90

oxlin

in January 9th, 2012 @ 20:55

Book recommendations because I feel llike it: Freedom and Necessity. Have I talked about this one before? It is fantastic.

Books by Ellen Kushner in generla, but particularly The Privilege of the Sword. A young woman is told that she must go into town and live with her uncle. She gets excited for high society things but then discovers that she is to learn to fence and sword fight and does not want to do this.

Youâ€™ve all read The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, right? Classic. Excellent.

Pick up a Rich Horton or Terri Windiling and Ellen Datlow or Kelly Link, Gavin Grant, and Ellen Datlow Yearâ€™s best Fantasy sometime. Theyâ€™re worth it.

Theodora Gossâ€™s In the Forest of Forgetting is full of brilliant fairy tale like things that are also worth it.

Connie Willisâ€™ To Say Nothing of the Dog is hilarious and Brilliant

I havenâ€™t yet read Steampowered II, but Steampowered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories is fantastic.

Etc. Etc.

Laurie J. Marksâ€™ Logic Books. So far, Fire Logic, Earth Logic, Water Logic (in that order) about a really cool world and many queer people having adventures and trying to achieve peace.

Copy pasted from the random thread because I wasn’t sure how often people checked this thread any more.

I’d also recommend Ellen Klages’ books.

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91

Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in January 23rd, 2012 @ 02:32

I’m back from my nostalgia trip to the previous Books and Reading threads. Whee! It’s kind of sad how we don’t really post here anymore.

I’m also surprised that I didn’t post an Inheritance rant. Well here it is. I didn’t like it one bit. A lot of the more interesting plotlines are never cleared up.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Who is Angela? Who were the two mysterious people from Brisingr? WHAT DID BROM SAY TO ERAGON AS HE WAS DYING?!?
And also Arya just happens to get the last dragon? Really? Everyone was predicting otherwise because we thought you were better than that, Paolini. Seriously.
END SPOILERS!!!

I also did not appreciate the Doctor Who references (there are two in Inheritance, one in Brisingr. This would seem contrary to my fangirl-ness, but I just hate them. It’s like Paolini was thinking: “Oh, I love Doctor Who! I know, I’ll put in blatant references to Doctor Who that have no significance to the plot at all! That’ll show everyone how much I love Doctor Who!” No. Just no.
References have to be subtle, so subtle you don’t notice them unless you’re looking. That’s what makes them cool. For example: The Young Wizards series. In the third book, High Wizardry, Dairine is fleeing from alien pursuers and gets cornered in a bar. Fortunately, a mysterious man helps her out by directing her toward a safe place to teleport and creating a distraction by acting uproariously drunk. Guess how this man is described?
“He was built slight and strong, wearing a white shirt and sweater and a long fawn-colored jacket; a fair-haired young man with quick bright eyes and an intelligent face.”
Hm, sounds familiar… Fifth Doctor, anyone? Although the author left out the celery, his one identifying trait. But that’s what makes it a good reference! Intentionally VAGUE! If she had put the celery in there, it would have randomly been the Fifth Doctor in her series of books. It makes no sense. But this man, he could be anybody. But he’s probably the Fifth Doctor. That’s what makes it awesome!

Rant is over! Conclusion: Inheritance was bad. Really bad. Definitely the worst of the series.

I haven’t been reading anything lately, which is kind of sad. Oh, I remember! I read The Hunger Games for the first time on the plane ride back from home. It was OK. I mean, I can tell it was written for an age demographic lower than mine. I don’t think I’ll continue, seeing as everyone was disappointed with Mockingjay.

…So, I’m going to get people to post on this thread more! What books are you reading right now? How do you like them? Any recommendations?

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92

Tesseract

in March 28th, 2012 @ 19:29

In which Tess has way more opinions than are usually prompted by children’s books.

Cookies for you if you read all of this, and GAPAs, thank you so much for moderating. I know it’s long.

The Report Card is a children’s novel by Andrew Clements. For anyone who might not know, he’s the author of Frindle. Frindle, The Report Card and the rest of Clements’ similar books (A School Story, The Landry News, etc.) take place in school settings and are about smart, creative, interesting nine- to twelve-year-old kids that have the power to make a difference in the world. They were some of my favorite books from elementary school and I still page through them every once in a while.

I picked up The Report Card this afternoon, mostly on a whim. With college admissions decisions coming out this week for most of my grade, it seemed like a relevant choice.

A short summary: Nora figured out when she was two that she was a genius, and ever since that time, she’s been hiding it from everyone–her parents, her teachers, her friends, even her best friend Stephen. Stephen is an average student who, since grades and test scores have started become much more important as middle school approaches, has been feeling really stupid and down on himself. To make a point about how grades do not indicate how smart you are, Nora decides to bring home a report card with all Dâ€™s. Her fairly intense parents arenâ€™t happy with this, and neither is the school. Ultimately thereâ€™s a lot of upset as Nora is found to be actually incredibly brilliant. She and Stephen cause some uproar by getting people to fail a lot of tests. In the end she gets to explain her point properly and chooses to stay in the regular school system instead of taking gifted classes or skipping grades. For a more detailed summary, see Wikipedia.

This book came out in September 2004. I have it in hardcover and I loved Andrew Clements, so I assume I got it very shortly thereafter. I was ten, in fifth grade. I remember liking the book very much, but also being a sort of fascinated with that I was not with Clementsâ€™ other books. It unsettled me a little, made me a little uncomfortable, caused me to feel a little challenged. I donâ€™t think I understood why at the time. Iâ€™m sure I had opinions on the theme of the book, but almost eight year later, I canâ€™t remember them.

Rereading the book now, though, as a college-bound high school senior, I am more able to latch onto some of those opinions. The book still makes me uncomfortable, but it is a complex discomfort. The book can be interpreted in multiple ways. Some of the interpretations endorse ideals I agree with, and some endorse (not entirely conflicting) ideals that make me upset and frustrated.

Some messages presented by The Report Card with which I agree:
Kids should have some time just to be kids. The pressure of school can be crushing.
Learning should be fun. Nora does a lot of research on her own time and has gained for herself an immensely broad education. At the end, by choosing to stay out of the gifted program, she could continue to cruise through her classes and challenge herself with material in which she is truly interested and about which she genuinely wants to learn. You get more out of anything if you actually care about it. For this reason, reading a book or visiting a museum can, for some people/in some cases, be a far better educational tool than sitting in a classroom.
Your grades do not indicate how intelligent you are. There are probably better, more meaningful ways than grades to evaluate academic success. Even when we take into account the fact that there are things that grades can do that, say, written evaluations cannot, such as provide a standardized basis for measuring achievement, there are still many, many facets of a person and even facts of a personâ€™s academic progress that cannot be summarized in an average of tests and homework grades. This is also true regarding college admissions tests, something I spent a lot of time thinking about this summer. America uses a relatively holistic admissions process, of which the SAT or ACT is one part, while some Asian countries like Japan use a single, intense admissions exam. I have friends who didnâ€™t do terribly well on the SAT who I consider to be some of the smartest people I know. I personally have the good fortune to test extremely well, but what would happen to me if I didnâ€™t, under a system like that? What would happen to my friends? No matter how â€œcomprehensiveâ€ a test, a good portion of what it measures is how well you take tests, even more so how well you take that particular kind of test. Itâ€™s absurd to expect everyoneâ€™s abilities to be quantifiable in the same ways, if at all.
Intelligence shouldnâ€™t just be used for getting good grades. Itâ€™s important to try to make a difference. Nora makes a point about something in which she believes strongly.
You should be able to set your own definition of success. Nora says this, near the end of the book: â€œShouldnâ€™t I have something to say about what I want to accomplish? What if what I really want is to be normal? What if being normal is my big goal in life? Is there anything wrong with that? To be happy and read books and hang out with my friends and play soccer and listen to music? To grow up and get a job and read the newspapers and vote in elections and maybe get married someday? Would that be so terrible? I know that Iâ€™m different, and I hope Iâ€™ll always be smart. But I donâ€™t want to get pushed ahead so that Iâ€™m always trying to do what someone else thinks a person with my intelligence out to be doing. I want to use my intelligence the way I want to use it. And right now I want to be a normal kid.â€ I bounce all over the place reading this passage. I start off in absolute agreement and then I get confused. We are taught that there is a â€œrightâ€ way to do life, and that is to accomplish. We do as well as we can in school and we should get a good career and so on. My instinct is to agree with this, because it is very, very important to me and a big part of my personality to always try as hard as possible. Thatâ€™s taken a bit of a hit this year because Iâ€™m a second-semester senior with awful classes I donâ€™t care about, but even now I still do every piece of homework assigned to me, even if I could easily get away with not doing so. I value effort and crave accomplishment, not for the end results so much as for the process of accomplishing. But Nora makes a decent point, in a way. What if you actually do not care about that? Why does it have to be important to you? What if youâ€™re completely content with doing just enough, happy with (what society would view as a) mediocre career? Shouldnâ€™t that be okay? Itâ€™s your life.

However, something turns up in that passage, as it does throughout the entire book, that I have a lot of issues with. Itâ€™s â€œnormal.â€ â€And right now I want to be a normal kid.â€ â€œWhat if being normal is my big goal in life?â€ Nora hides her intelligence for five years. She hides it in part because she doesnâ€™t want her parents pushing her age, but also because she wants to be â€œnormalâ€. She says, â€œI want to stay in the normal classes because I like normal kids.â€ There is a strong implication in this book that smart kids are, especially when acknowledged as such, â€œabnormal.â€ That smart kids canâ€™t really be friends with â€œnormalâ€ kids, that they all feel superior, that they can no longer relate. Being a smart kid who likes being smart and who does not want to mold the way en presents enself to be â€œnormalâ€ is not something that this book communicates as being okay.

There are a few examples of this. The one kid in the gifted program that appears in the book at all is presented as a snotty little brat who thinks heâ€™s smarter than he is and that heâ€™s far superior to anyone else. This is not an image that gifted programs need. I was in one, and as far as I could tell, there was never a prevailing sense of superiority. I certainly never thought myself better than the non-AIG-program kids. I never looked down on them or tried to make them feel stupid. And yet for most of middle school I got the sense that the other kids thought that this was what we thought of them. I remember having a discussion in math one time about â€œwhy they donâ€™t like us.â€ I got taunted on the bus for being in â€œsmart school.â€ (I had the good fortune to not have to endure much teasing in childhood, so these things stand out.) Somehow, without doing anything (of which I was aware) to deserve it, we had had forced upon us the kind of negative image that this book is perpetuating. Somehow, people end up with the idea that â€œsmartâ€ is abnormal, a bad kind of abnormal. In The Report Card, the only character that is smart and likeable is Nora, and Nora makes a huge deal of hiding her intelligence for her entire life so that she can be â€œnormal.â€

Smart kids do not need to be â€œotheredâ€ in childrenâ€™s books. Smart kids do not need to be made to feel like there is something wrong with being smart, ever.

Hereâ€™s a description of Noraâ€™s sister, Ann. â€œIt was Annâ€™s junior year in high school. Ann is tall, blond, athletic, and intense. Kind of pretty, too. People say I look like her, except Iâ€™m not tall. And my hairâ€™s more reddish than blond. And I try not to be intense. So I guess those people who say we look alike are crazy. Ann had been elected junior-class president. She was cocaptain of the girlâ€™s field hockey team and the girlsâ€™ basketball team. She had been the youngest member of last yearâ€™s Math Decathlon, and the team had placed first in the state competition. Ann was taking four Advanced Placement courses and one honors class. She was trying to graduate from high school a semester early. She wanted to get a scholarship to Georgetown University and study international relations. Intense is the right word.â€ Ann is portrayed in a neutral-to-negative light: the unsmiling, intense older sister who does everything and has given into the pressure of the system. When itâ€™s revealed that Nora is a genius, Annâ€™s primary reaction is upset at not being the â€œsmart oneâ€ anymore. She and the boy mentioned in the previous paragraph are the only glimpses we get of labeled-smart children in this book, and neither is portrayed terribly favorably. The narrating voice seems to paint them as having been, in a way, destroyed by the system of AIG education.

AIG education does not destroy. Pressure can crush and torture us, expectations can well near break us. But there is nothing wrong with being smart and I hate that this book encourages hiding intelligence for the sake of being â€œnormal.â€

For context, I was in my districtâ€™s AIG program from fourth until eighth grade. For me, that learning environment was incredibly positive. I was launched from being bored in school, tolerating it, to being excited about learning. All of a sudden, it was okay to be really interested, and even more so, there were things to be interested in. Fourth and fifth grades were the years I learned that learning could be wonderful, and middle school was an extension of that. Being smart was okay. Being smart was good.

And that is something that needs to be encouraged.

Relatedly, another thing that upsets me is that the book seems to be almost angling for elimination of tracking/other gifted education. This is something that I have seen in my school district. My program had completely disappeared from existence at the middle school level until the year I entered sixth grade, and it barely made it (after a lot of school board meetings) that year. The former superintendent was a big advocate for differentiated classrooms in high school, where honors and regular students would be in the same classroom. What would happen at the high school level would be exactly the same as what happens at the elementary school level: the standard-level kids, especially the ones that are behind, would get 95% of the teacherâ€™s attention, and the honors kids would get three times as much work with no one to help them through it. This is not a solution. This is a way to make school boring, frustrating to the point of tears, and an impediment to genuine learning, the exact opposite of what it ideally should be.

So yes. The Report Card, I agree with you here: Grades do not indicate how smart you are.

But itâ€™s okay for them to indicate that youâ€™re smart.

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Agent Lightning

in April 14th, 2012 @ 15:16

I don’t remember The Report Card that well, but everything you said, just yes. My middle school has no real AIG program (the main extent of it is sort of vaguely informing people of opportunities to enter essay contests and such, and then of course relentlessly comparing standardized test scores) but I know what you mean about loving it– I adored AIG in elementary school. We got to make airplanes and spaceships and go on quests and it was awesome. Also, that was a very nice post, very well structured. Bravo!

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92.2

Mikazuki

in April 14th, 2012 @ 18:34

I agree with everything you’ve said. I remember reading The Report Card in elementary school, and I remember liking it, but I remember feeling uncomfortable with it as well. I didn’t really know why, but–yes. Everything you’ve said. These are my feelings.

I got put in an AIG program in third grade (I don’t really know what AIG means, but I assume it means something along the lines of advanced, or whatever.) and I remember before that I hated school. I had a pretty awful second grade year in general–a bunch of unrelated family crap happened; I had to get an operation–but what I remember most is being totally and completely bored out of my mind. For third grade and fourth grade the program was excellent. In fifth grade, it went downhill, and my mom wound up taking me out of school for math. Basically, the AIG program at my school kept getting whittled away at until there was almost nothing left. I think last year was the first year since 4th grade that I have had a math teacher that taught me things consistently. I would say a “competent” math teacher, but that’s a bit misleading, because they taught other kids fine. This teacher was only for less than half of the year, also. Before that, computer programs that didn’t explain things and extra work were what I had.

What I’m trying to say is that, for me at least, trying to have AIG programs and be in them has been a struggle for me, simply because AIG programs are being overlooked, or brushed off as unnecessary, more and more. And I think that’s quite awful. Kids need to have the resources available to them to learn, because that’s the POINT of school, and if schools are cutting AIG programs, they’re denying kids that opportunity to learn.

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93

muselover

in April 14th, 2012 @ 11:29

Thoughts on The Casual Vacancy?

Meh. I kinda hoped she’d be a Harper Lee: one really good work, then done. I suppose I’ll read it, though.

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93.1

Bibliophile

in May 7th, 2012 @ 16:49

Why? Why would you prefer an author from whom you’ve seen nothing that isn’t a “really good work” not to even try to produce any more? Even if it isn’t anywhere near as good as Harry Potter, that doesn’t mean it’ll be a bad book.

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94

Rainbow*Storm

in May 7th, 2012 @ 00:30

Rainbow has been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman short stories lately. I read Fragile Things and Smoke and Mirrors in quick succession, so I don’t really remember which stories were in which books.

Liked: October In the Chair, The Problem of Susan, Feeders and Eaters, Strange Little Girls, Every Good Boy Deserves Favors, Other People, The Black Cat, Instructions, Snow Glass Apples.

Disliked: Tastings, How Do You Think It Feels, Foreign Parts. All for roughly the same reason, but especially Foreign Parts. There is absolutely no blog-appropriate way to describe the messed-up things that went on in that story.

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95

Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in May 7th, 2012 @ 01:06

Rainbow brought me here!

I did end up reading the rest of The Hunger Games. I thought the ending of Mockingjay was very well done. It’s appropriate. That’s really all I can describe it as.

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Bibliophile

in May 7th, 2012 @ 16:50

Thanks–I’m glad I’m not the only one who actually likes the end of Mockingjay. I can’t wait to find out what my dad thinks of it. (He’s reading Mockingjay; he’s been hooked since we saw the movie; I think he’s actually a bigger fan that I am).

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muselover

in May 7th, 2012 @ 17:12

Seriously. I liked Mockingjay.

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96

Mikazuki

in May 7th, 2012 @ 17:21

Nina LaCour is brilliant.
Everyone go read her latest book The Disenchantments go read it go go go

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97

FantasyFan?!?!

in May 13th, 2012 @ 21:06

I can tell that my first back-from-college library trip is going to become a thing. A huge thing where I check out more books than I can carry and forget my bag. And then spend the rest of the day in a happy literary-induced fog.

In other words, I’m catching up on the Percy Jackson series. My brother has started reading them too, and I’ve been borrowing the books he checked out. (Seriously. my brother has excellent reading taste. I was a bit surprised at his, at first. He’s been the the brat for so long, but now it seems like there’s more to him.) I’m waiting on him to finish The Last Olympian and then I’ve got the first two books of the sequel series to chow down on.

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98

bookgirl_me

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 07:14

SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER:

While writing my french-history paper, I finally realized that somehow the plots makes no more sense to me. I mean, Alec was Sophie’s son, so wouldn’t Charles have still seceded Franz-Joseph (still Alec never really seemed to keen on ruling)? Why were they trying to kill him anyway- he couldn’t steal the throne out from under Franz-Joseph and Charles was, no offense to Alec, by far the better candidate for the throne so why Volger wanted to usurp him I have no idea.

For that matter, why did he want to stop the war before he knew that Austria-Hungary might lose (and after practically all the money the nation had had been invested into the weapons industry)? For that matter, why did he think that Austria-Hungary losing sooner would make things better? I get that he probably wanted to stop the fighting, but he must’ve known that the empire was breaking apart and that Cislithania (give or take modern Austria), which his ancestors had ruled for a little under 700 years, was too small to support itself and couldn’t feed itself, which would lead to years of suffering and famines. Then, he also might’ve considered that the winning countries might ask for some form of retribution (like they did the last few times). I guess the way he just abandons his people bugs me a little.

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Bibliophile

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 10:12

Um… Could you please tell us what that’s a spoiler for, so that I can know whether it’s safe for me to read or not?

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98.1.1

bookgirl_me

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 10:47

Oops, sorry. It’s sort of a spoiler for the Levithan series by Scott Westerfeld.

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99

bookgirl_me

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 07:49

SFTDP:
What I meant was that Charles was a pacifist at the time, so it made no sense for Alec to come forth.

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100

ZNZ

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 15:35

Has anyone read Among Others? Is it any good?

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oxlin

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 19:51

I have! It is quite good. Mostly it focuses on reading SF/F books and finding people who also do so. Jo Walton’s books are quite good in general. I’d recommend them!

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101

Jadestone

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 20:06

Started Jude the Obscure! Apparently it’s going to be quite emotional. I’m not very far in yet.

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101.1

Axa

in June 3rd, 2012 @ 22:59

I AM HERE FOR YOU WHEN YOU NEED ME
YOU WILL KNOW I MEAN WHEN YOU GET THERE

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102

ZNZ

in June 12th, 2012 @ 21:38

I re-read Harriet the Spy today. It really does hold up well on re-reading. AlthoughI find myself empathising with the classmates more than I have in the past. Especially Janie and Sport, poor dears.

Also I finished The Chosen (by Chaim Potok) for the first time. It is excellent. Then I started Davita’s Harp. I’ve been told that it isn’t as good as the rest of his novels, but I like it a lot so far, so we shall see.

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103

Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 13th, 2012 @ 01:37

SPOILER SONG OF ICE AND FIRE SPOILER SPOILER SPECIFICALLY A STORM OF SWORDS SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SONG OF ICE AND FIRE SPOILER SPOILER SPECIFICALLY A STORM OF SWORDS SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
726 pages into A Storm of Swords… OH MY GOSH ARYA’S NOT DEAD *proceeds to do awesome dance and punches the air*
I have yet to read the chapter though so it might be awful but WHO CARES ARYA’S NOT DEAD

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103.1

Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 15th, 2012 @ 22:05

SPOILER SONG OF ICE AND FIRE SPOILER SPOILER SPECIFICALLY A STORM OF SWORDS SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SONG OF ICE AND FIRE SPOILER SPOILER SPECIFICALLY A STORM OF SWORDS SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Well ok nothing happened to Arya, that’s a relief. But when I reached the last page of the book…. CATELYN WHYYY NOOOO

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Jadestone

in July 15th, 2012 @ 23:33

THOSE BOOKS

TWISTING YOUR HEART UP

TEARING IT IN HALF

TAPING IT BACK TOGETHER

THEN STABBING IT WITH FIRE

*shakes fist* GEOOOOORRRRGE!!

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Cat's Eye

in July 16th, 2012 @ 00:27

SPOILER SONG OF ICE AND FIRE SPOILER SPOILER SPECIFICALLY A STORM OF SWORDS SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SONG OF ICE AND FIRE SPOILER SPOILER SPECIFICALLY A STORM OF SWORDS SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

THAT BOOK IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BOOK IN THE SERIES

JOFFREY’S DEATH IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SCENE IN, LIKE, ANY SERIES

BECAUSE YOU SPEND TWO AND A HALF BOOKS HATING HIM AND HATING HIM AND HATING HIM AND WANTING HIM TO DIE HORRIBLY AND ENVISIONING HIS HORRIBLE DEATH WITH PLEASURE

AND THEN HE DOES

AND HE’S TWELVE

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 19th, 2012 @ 00:34

Yeah Storm of Swords is probably my favorite so far!

I read the “Afterward” of A Feast for Crows and was a little bit disappointed that I wouldn’t be hearing from Dany or Tyroin in this book. Well at least I don’t have to wait five years to read A Dance with Dragons!

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Rainbow*Storm

in July 14th, 2012 @ 22:08

(Not sure if this should go here or in Movies)

What does everyone think about casting for the Good Omens miniseries? People on the internet seem to favor various combinations of HP, Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Tom Hiddleston. Also, I totally think both Gaiman and Pratchett should get cameos as random bystanders or something.

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Cat's Eye

in July 16th, 2012 @ 00:35

I think Gaiman and Pratchett should get cameos as a KGB agent meeting up with an MI6 agent feeding the ducks at St. James’ Park.

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Catwings

in July 16th, 2012 @ 00:36

did anyone even mention “Attack Of The Smart Pies” ?!?!?! i love that book! i love the part where…. oops no spoilers! read it for yourself! find out what happens (oh gosh i love that book)

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 18th, 2012 @ 15:06

I have never read Harry Potter.

Are you looking at me funny through your computer screen?

It’s true. I never have. I have recently decided that I am tired of missing jokes and inadvertently making references to the story. Basically, I am Curious.

So: Advice? Any advice on approaching a book series that I have been greatly spoilered for; that I have missed out on reading with my friends as releases came; that I avoided reading for years, mainly so that I could avoid being Mainstream? The most daunting of these is the first, as I know quite a bit about who dies and who turns out to be working for Voldy and who falls in love with whom.

(Go ahead and express your shock/excitement/dismay, too!)

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in July 18th, 2012 @ 15:16

My advice: Start at the beginning, read to the end, and stop.

(“MuseBlog: Keeping Things Simple Since 2005.”)

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Jadestone

in July 18th, 2012 @ 16:28

I agree. Even if you know how it ends, it’s a series worth reading anyway. I’ve reread them and enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed reading any other book, even though I knew what would happen. Besides, even if you know the main plot spoilers, I’m sure there’s LOTS that hasn’t been spoiled. Even if you’ve seen the movies!

I say just give it a try.

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 18th, 2012 @ 18:26

Thank you! Knowing that there is additional interest encourages me to actually read them. (Agatha Christie, to illustrate my hesitation, is all straightforward plot, so even a little information is too much.) I haven’t seen the movies, but I am aware that they contain such fine and familiar actors as Michael Gambon, Helena Bonham Carter, and David Tennant, so the watching will follow the reading.

I’m used to rereading books, but that’s a friendly, familiar, what-did-I-miss-last-time experience. Reading something with plot knowledge but practical ignorance is new–the closest experience is that of reading reinterpreted fairy tales or myths, but those are old, old, stories that come in many variations anyway.

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Lizzie

in July 18th, 2012 @ 19:30

I disagree strongly with you on your parenthetical statement – Agatha Christie, to me, at least, is very little about plot and very much about atmosphere. I’ve reread a lot of her books – even the ones without a straightforward murder mystery, like At Bertram’s Hotel – over and over again and while I can’t always remember who did what at the beginning, I normally do halfway through or so. It doesn’t matter, though, because her descriptions of the characters and the settings and the little tea shops owned by widows are so wonderful.

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 19th, 2012 @ 12:13

Interesting! My impression of the particular Christies I’ve read was that the sections of scene-setting and characterization were intangible clues to the mystery. If I know whodunnit at the start of my first reading, I spend so much energy observing the arrows she drew towards the culprit that I lose sight of the misdirections. I enjoy misdirections. So, I can’t tolerate being spoiled for Agatha Christie’s books. Rereading is a different matter–if I’m rereading any book, then I choose to know how it ends, and go back for remembering or enjoying viewing from a new angle.

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 18th, 2012 @ 16:54

{Laughs.} Thanks! That is what I was intending to do. I realize now that I didn’t ask for what I actually wanted to be told. I don’t know what I was hoping to be told–maybe that there is substance beyond the major arc, or that my foreknowledge shouldn’t ruin it. I think that’s it: Expectation of enjoyment even though I avoided things that would have made it more fun.

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Tesseract

in July 18th, 2012 @ 16:47

My advice is to not go into them trying to force yourself to love them, because that will make it feel forced and uncomfortable. Odds are very good you’ll end up liking them, of course, but try not to have really strict expectations for yourself going in!

I could post a big thing here about how much I love Harry Potter (…I already kind of did that with my muserology) but I’m not going to. Let your experience be your own!

Happy reading!

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 18th, 2012 @ 18:31

I won’t worry! I know I like things with some similarities, so I do expect to like them. Should I not, I’ll at least know that, and my younger self will feel justified and cocky. And then I’ll go read something else.

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Catwings

in July 18th, 2012 @ 19:46

YOU HAVN’T READ HARRY POTTER?!?!?! JERK GET OFFA MUSEBLOG!!!
just joking.
don’t hate me for this but i don’t read it either

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Cat's Meow

in July 18th, 2012 @ 20:09

I don’t know if this would be interesting to you at all, but there’s a neat site out there on the Internet called “Mark Reads” where this guy named Mark reads books and series for the first time and posts about it. He reads them one chapter at a time and does one post for each chapter, so a lot of people read along with him. Harry Potter was one of the first series he did, and the posts are hilarious and a lot of fun. These books are great on their own – and you might prefer reading straight through the first time – but if you’re looking for an “experience”, you should check out something like that on a later read-through. (Yes, I’m assuming you’ll read them more than once. Most of us do, eventually.)

Honestly, just enjoy it! Reading Harry Potter for the first time is an experience that I kind of envy.

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Tesseract

in July 18th, 2012 @ 21:21

I love Mark Reads. It’s like reading the series for the first time all over again.

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Cat's Meow

in July 18th, 2012 @ 23:17

YOU READ MARK READS? This is a happy revelation! I’ve never known anybody else who does!

And yes, exactly! Honestly, some of my favorite MRHP reviews are the AIM reviews with all the keysmashing because they are just pure flipping out over the awesomeness of reading Harry Potter for the first time.

Plus, the things Mark notices and latches onto are often different than I do, so I get a different perspective on everything.

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Cat's Eye

in July 18th, 2012 @ 23:35

Oh my god, you two read Mark Reads too? I guess it is fairly Muserly…

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Cat's Meow

in July 19th, 2012 @ 18:09

Wow, I love finding out that people I love love things that I love.

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Tesseract

in July 19th, 2012 @ 22:07

Me too!

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 19th, 2012 @ 12:11

I look in on Mark Reads sometimes! Someone tipped me off that he will eventually be reading Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief/Eugenides/Whatever-Else-They’re-Known-As books, which I lurrrve to bits*. I watched him read Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride. He’s reading Sandman right now, I think, which is a series that I really want to read–but someone checked out all that my library owned and then lost them! Grumble.

Anyway, I’ll look at his Potter posts later on. If you’re interested, I’ll tell you how it goes for me! (I wouldn’t do each chapter. More like each book.)

*Queen’s Thief: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia; A Conspiracy of Kings. More, someday. Twisty, wise, clever, funny, sometimes heart-wrenching. Interlocked and multi-faceted. Still surprising after half-a-dozen readings. Changed the way I regard narrators.

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oxlin

in July 23rd, 2012 @ 22:55

I should re-read Attolia. I’ve only read them once since I only discovered them in 2009 or so but I remember waiting for Conspiracy of Kings to come out.

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 8th, 2012 @ 14:55

I am gleeful! You’ve read them! Yes, you should re-read them. Turner is so good at presenting information from a truthful cross-section of the whole picture–and then the picture twists and widens, and everything looks different. And then I read them again, knowing whatever I learned, and pick up on sentences differently.

That’s probably enough rhapsodizing for the moment.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 19th, 2012 @ 00:32

My cousin once said that she’d be willing to lose all her memories just for the chance to read Harry Potter for the first time again.

It is very good. It kept (and will keep) its enjoyability all the way from when I first learned to read until probably way into the future. Nostalgic lens? A little bit, sure. But if you’ve read and liked other young adult fantasy, Harry Potter is one of the best of the bunch.

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 19th, 2012 @ 12:10

I appreciate your input! I do like fantasy very much.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 19th, 2012 @ 23:33

So… Is anyone excited for the new Lemony Snicket books? I sure am. The first two chapters are floating around on the internet and they are quite interesting!

Also, I’m still excited for The Book of Dust and Garth Nix’s new books, yadda yadda yadda. Although ETA on both of those is far in the future.

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Bibliophile

in July 20th, 2012 @ 13:58

New Snicket books? Awesome! I’m officially excited now.

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Agent Lightning

in July 24th, 2012 @ 06:54

New Snicket books? I never did read the thirteenth book, but I’ll have to check those out.

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Prussia=Awesome

in July 23rd, 2012 @ 16:06

Is the new Nicholas Flamel book any good? I really want it, and I don’t buy books much, I wait until they’re at the library. No spoilers, please.

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Bibliophile

in July 23rd, 2012 @ 19:41

I found a free conservation biology textbook online! I really don’t know how to tell you how delighted I am. Then again, maybe I don’t need to.

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Bibliophile

in July 23rd, 2012 @ 20:40

One of the authors is suggesting things society should do to lessen the environmental crisis, which included the line, “Start a global World War II type mobilization to shift to more benign energy technologies and thus reduce the chances of a worldâ€wide conservation disaster caused by rapid climate change.” I agree, but I was rather shocked until I managed to get past “Start a global World War II.”
Anyway, it’s amazing!

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KaiYves

in July 23rd, 2012 @ 21:07

At least they didn’t say “Start World War III”.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in July 24th, 2012 @ 00:54

Halfway through A Feast for Crows and am really sick of all the ironmen.
Also am missing Dany/Tyroin/Jon to ease the boredom but the Jamie/Cersei dynamic is interesting. Did I metion that Arya’s awesome? She is.

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Prussia=Awesome

in July 27th, 2012 @ 11:43

I just finished the first Witch and Wizard book. It was awesome.

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ZNZ

in July 27th, 2012 @ 17:31

100.1 (oxlin): Thank you! I’m a little more than halfway through it now. It’s lovely – I was a bit worried I wouldn’t like it because I haven’t read most of the books she talks about, or indeed much SF at all (fantasy is rather more my area), but I needn’t have worried; it turns out that the important things are the same.

We went to a used book store this morning. I was delighted to find a couple of the Myth-O-Mania books – did anyone else ever read those? They’re Greek myths as narrated by Hades, and they’re very funny. I used to read them when I was younger, but the library got rid of them and I haven’t found them anywhere else. I got them for a gift for my brother; I think he’ll like them. Also, I got some Wimsey novels I haven’t read yet for myself (Five Red Herrings and Murder Must Advertise, but in one volume).

I’ve also been reading The Dresden Files. I’m on Fool Moon right now (no spoilers please!). Harry is great. Ever since I finished the Discworld books I’ve rather missed being in the middle of a huge series.

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Bibliophile

in July 27th, 2012 @ 18:40

You finished the Discworld books? That’s… well, congratulations.
I’d love to do something like that, but I’m saving my money, and the library doesn’t have them all. It isn’t even reasonable about the ones it has–you’d think it would at least have the second book in the series! But no, Equal Rites is not to be found. I hope one of my school libraries has it; I’m starting high school next year and will also have access to the library at a local community college.

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TNÃ–

in July 27th, 2012 @ 20:55

It took me three years to finish them all. And then another almost-year to buy all the ones I’d borrowed from friends or the libraries, and then the rest of that year and a good bit of this one to get my hands on the Science books, which I had to order from the UK.
It’s… quite an undertaking, to say the least.

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ZNZ

in July 27th, 2012 @ 21:18

I started reading them 2010-ish, I think?

Although I still haven’t read any of the Science books.

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TNÃ–

in July 27th, 2012 @ 21:29

The first one I read was Thud! back in my sophomore year I think, which was a mistake because… yeah. So I waited for a really long time before reading Hogfather and that was really when I got into them.

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ZNZ

in August 4th, 2012 @ 14:52

The first one I read was The Wee Free Men. I loved it, but I had no idea that it was part of a series. (Also, I thought Terry Pratchett was a woman.) Then I started hearing about the rest of the series from various sources). I found The Light Fantastic in the library (a really horrible place to start from, but I managed to follow it pretty well) and fell in love.

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FantasyFan?!?!

in July 27th, 2012 @ 21:38

I’ve been working my through the Dresden Files too.Don’t worry, I actually can’t spoil Fool Moon for you. Because my library didn’t have the earlier books, I just jumped in and started with Dead Beat, which is like…number 7. So yeah.

Also Codex Alera. I’ve only read the first one of that, but it’s good too.

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Mikazuki

in August 1st, 2012 @ 13:27

I read those! (Myth-O-Mania, that is.) To this day, I still have a hard time with Hades being portrayed as the bad guy.

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ZNZ

in August 1st, 2012 @ 14:51

Yeah, so do I.

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Bibliophile

in August 1st, 2012 @ 18:14

Me, too, but that’s mainly because a) The ancient Greeks didn’t think of him that way, and b) Sure, they had different moral standards than us, but if you want to apply modern ethical standards to Greek gods, they’ll all turn out to be ‘bad guys.’

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Cerulean Pyros

in July 31st, 2012 @ 10:18

((Do posts about forthcoming book-based movies go on Books and Reading or on Movies? Hmm, picking the more active one.))

Peter Jackson has announced that the film adaptations of The Hobbit will be a trilogy.

This is because, as I understand it, they who own the film rights also own the film rights to the Lord of the Rings appendices. The information contained therein about “Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur”, (Jackson’s phrasing) will provide the basis for the additional plot.

I think this pleases me, because I have every reason to expect well-done movies. I will not be pleased, however, if the filmmakers do not utilize the amount of screen time to actually tell the story. They cut down LotR for time constraints, and did a good job, I think, of choosing what to include. But I am worried that they may actually struggle to stretch the material of The Hobbit and the relevant appendices.

Thoughts?

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Bibliophile

in July 31st, 2012 @ 18:40

It sounds like a great idea; I’d love it if they could include everything from the book, although in that case, it would be more like a musical. And maybe, if there’s time left, they can add things from other canon that are related. If they add anything new, though, I’ll be furious. The LotR movies were great about that, but The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was a great movie, and that didn’t stop its sequels from being awful, so I’m cautious.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in July 31st, 2012 @ 19:21

Some important events in The Hobbit happen offstage, though. I don’t think it would hurt to show what Gandalf encountered when he went to investigate the Necromancer, for example. (Nor do I think any director could resist.)

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 1st, 2012 @ 10:56

Yes! When reading The Hobbit, I have always wanted much more about the Necromancer than I was given. The Appendices of Middle-Earth give only a little embellishment. Whatever is shown will have a dose of good-quality fanfiction in it.

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Bibliophile

in August 1st, 2012 @ 18:08

How many of Tolkien’s other Middle-Earth books have you read? They go into much more depth. I think there are at least 17, not counting LotR.

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 09:48

17?! Wow. No, I’ve read LotR and The Hobbit only. I have chosen to skip The Silmarillion, as unfinished books irritate and depress me. I have been under the impression that the Histories of Middle-Earth were essentially collections of information not mentioned in the stories. Kind of like reading reference materials, I was told. Is this true? Do any of the books discuss the Necromancer?

After I posted, I realized I had messed up a phrase: not “the Appendices of Middle-Earth”, but the Appendices commonly published in the back of The Return of the King.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 10:26

The Necromancer is Sauron, who apparently was menacing Mirkwood before Gandalf helped drive him into Mordor.

When Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, he wasn’t even planning a bigger Middle-earth story, and it’s clear that he wasn’t sure who the Necromancer was. Basically, the Necromancer was a plot device to get Gandalf offstage during important parts of the action. Now, of course, any prequel to LotR will have to be consistent with the main story and show details that hadn’t been worked out when The Hobbit was all there was.

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 11:12

Oh! Yeah, I missed indications that they are the same entity. I am now reprocessing information…. Ah. I see.

I had been wondering how the filmmakers would deal with inconsistent villainous forces. Knowing this, I imagine the difficulty will simply (!) be in framing the story to draw arrows for the audience without the characters’ awareness of future events. Also, featuring portents and story-linking situations without being overpowering could be tricky–too much “Dark Days are Coming!” would make the dwarves look ignorant or petty for wanting their valuables and heirlooms back right then. I’m rambling now.

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Bibliophile

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 18:17

Most of them aren’t unfinished as in ‘stopping in the middle’; they just haven’t been edited enough for Tolkien to want to publish them. This is true of even most of Unfinished Tales. There are bits where Tolkien might have wanted to change the plot, but that’s usually mentioned, if not always in the book with the incorrect plot.

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Bibliophile

in August 8th, 2012 @ 17:08

The History of Middle-Earth series is actually largely composed of ideas Tolkien started to work with and then changed his mind about, like Tol Eressea becoming England. Those books are useful if you’re interested in his creative processes, but I don’t consider them canonical, certainly not reference material. There are some descriptions and so on that would be reference material if they were completely accurate, but it’s mostly stories and poems, as far as I can tell. I checked them out from the library without knowing what they’d be like, you see; I haven’t read the series all the way through and probably never will.
So far, the only canonical, post-humously published things from the LotR universe I’ve read are The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, but I plan to read everything else eventually. What I have read contains some reference material but is mostly stories. However, The Silmarillion is written in an archaic style, and it’s extremely serious (no Hobbits or anything), and most people (myself included) find it rather hard to get through (One reader apparently exclaimed, “It’s like the Old Testament!”). However, it is definitely worth it, in my opinion; it is extremely beautiful and powerful and just amazing.
Unfinished Tales is a mix. Some of the Tales are written in the style of The Silmarillion, some in the style of LotR, and some in the style of The Hobbit; it varies.
But I know there is definitely information about Sauron in there.
By the way, I also highly recommend all of his completely unrelated works such as Farmer Giles of Ham (except the ones he condemned after their publication, like Goblin Feet–those are mediocre, but he got over them). They are well-written and creative and often hilarious, delightful to read.

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 9th, 2012 @ 14:51

Thank you very much for all the information about further explorations in Middle-Earth! I now have a much better idea about which books encompass what.

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ZNZ

in August 9th, 2012 @ 19:01

There’s also The Children of HÃºrin, which is very good, although if you’ve read The Silmarillion you’ll already know what happens.

I have Unfinished Tales but haven’t read it yet, and I haven’t been able to find any of the Histories. As for his other works, I’ve only read Tree and Leaf, which I adored. It’s not a novel, just a short story and an essay (“Leaf by Niggle” and “On Fairy-Stories” respectively). Have you read it?

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Bibliophile

in August 10th, 2012 @ 11:23

The Children of HÃºrin is in Unfinished Tales, so I’ve read it. I agree that it’s quite excellent.
I’ve read Tree and Leaf; I adored it, too. I found it in the collections The Tolkien Reader and A Tolkien Miscellany. (I highly recommend them both; they contain some really excellent stories and poems. There’s quite a lot of overlap in their content, though; I only got them both from the library because I couldn’t find the bits that aren’t overlapping anywhere else in the library. They also contain works that Tolkien didn’t actually write, just translated from Anglo-Saxon, but those are also amazing.
By the way, they also contain a bit of Middle-Earh canon: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Since they’re extracts from The Red Book, they technically are reference material, but they don’t feel like it; they feel like funny, creative, hobbit-style poems, which they generally are.

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Jadestone

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 11:10

They are in fact doing this!

I think showing what Gandolf’s up to will be awesome.

Also, we have to remember Bilbo was unconscious for a lot of the Battle of Five Armies, and I personally am very excited to see Beorn tearing up the place.

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Jadestone

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 11:13

ALSO

I wonder how they’ll treat the elves. Will they be as somber as they were in the LotR movies? Or will they make them jollier and more whimsical, like they were in the The Hobbit, implying that the somber attitude came wiht the darkening of times?

I mostly really want them to be singing. Also I can’t wait to hear they had BETTER include the dwarves singing “Over The Misty Mountains” in Bilbo’s hobbit hole. It’s my favorite song in the book and I’ve got most of it memorized and I just want to hear it so bad.

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POSOC

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 12:47

They do! The song is in the trailer

…although it might end up being a deleted scene, because Trailers Always Lie.

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Jadestone

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 13:25

As long as it’s in the extended edition I will be able to BARELY COPE, I SUPPOSE.

Also man this means watching The Hobbit is going to be like marathoning LotR. Which I do like 4 times a year anyway but now Hobbit-LotR marathons will be A TEST OF STRENGTH instead of just super long.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 13:47

They wouldn’t dare.

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Piggy

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 13:55

I saw The Dark Knight Rises last weekend and they played the Hobbit trailer beforehand. As soon as the dwarves started singing it I was covered in goosebumps.

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Jadestone

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 14:55

I WAS SO UPSET IT WASN’T SHOWN FOR ME

I have gone to 3 different movies hoping for it and I have been FAILED EVERY TIME

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Cinnamoon

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 17:57

Youtube is your friend.

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Choklit Orange

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 13:26

I feel like they kind of spoiled the elves (slightly) in the LotR movies by making them so somber, so we’ll probably never get to hear Tra La La Lally, Down in the Valley.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 11:25

And is it true that Frumious Bandersnatch is playing both the Necromancer and Smaug?

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Jadestone

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 13:21

I hadn’t heard that!!

I looked on IMBD, and for the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey it lists Nathaniel Lees as the voice of the Necromancer and for The Hobbit: There and Back Again it lists the Bandersnatch himself! That’s interesting and exciting!

Something that makes me sad about 3 movies: if Smaug gets pushed to the 3rd movie then it will be even LONGER I have to wait to be able to dress up as Smaug for opening night D:

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LittleBasementKitten

in August 2nd, 2012 @ 10:09

I just finished “Great Expectations”. While I can’t say I understood everything, it was a pretty good story. I’ll probably read the SparkNotes before school starts, just to get a better idea.

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Reasons.

in August 4th, 2012 @ 00:27

Infinite Jest. That book is crazy. Footnotes and chapters in the footnotes and oh god what have I gotten myself into. At least it will function as an adiquite excuse to avoid A Game Of Thrones.

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Lawson (Theo)

in August 5th, 2012 @ 11:01

Why would you avoid Game of Thrones? I love that series, it is very good.

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Bibliophile

in August 5th, 2012 @ 15:42

I’ve heard excellent things about it. I’m not allowed to read it, though.

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Reasons.

in August 5th, 2012 @ 16:15

It’s not that I don’t think that it’s good, it’s merely that it hasn’t really grabbed my interest. I’m kind of trapped, though, because my girlfriend would really like me to read it.

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Lawson (Theo)

in August 5th, 2012 @ 11:03

Ok, I have been reading the Bourne trilogy, by Robert Ludlum. I am on the second book, and before watching the movies I want to know if the movies are as good as the books?

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Bibliophile

in August 5th, 2012 @ 15:44

I’ve never heard of that series, but I can tell you with relative certainty that they are not.

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 8th, 2012 @ 16:30

Reading Harry Potter for the first time–finished Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone! (I am choosing to call it by that title, rather than …the Sorcerer’s Stone, but I did read an American edition.)

I enjoyed it! I did! I thought it was charming and imaginative and well-executed. If you want more detailed observations, leap over the spoiler warning hedge…

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE AKA HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

I wasn’t overly spoiled for the plot of this one. Characters and framing, sure, but not the plot after reaching Hogwarts. I knew Snape wasn’t really working with Voldy, but I didn’t know about Quirrell in advance. I did look at the girl I understand Harry to eventually marry with more interest than I otherwise would have.

I liked the beginning, with its sense of celebration of something I had no business knowing about, and the pitiful Dursleys, who saw nothing joyous in it! Then we got to “You-Know-Who”–I did know who, and things made more sense.

I want Dumbledore’s light Put-Outer, and the flying motorcycle Sirius Black loaned to Hagrid. Yes, please.

All three heroes are intriguing; I think Ron Weasley’s my favorite of them. I want more Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, and more of characters who were only barely mentioned, like Parvati Patil. But certain adults–! Dumbledore is magnificent, actually saying a few words, when expected to make a speech; claiming that his heart’s desire is socks! I adore Professor McGonagall, though the reasons are less clear. She’s a very solid-feeling woman character. Full-grown women characters don’t always seem believable to me, but Professor McGonagall is someone I could know, or even hope to be (except for the spell-casting): Thoroughly commands respect, but quite kind, and tries to be fair, and she has emotions and struggles reasonably when stressed. And Hagrid! Hagrid needs several meanings of “bless his heart”: “Bless his heart, he’s a good person,” “bless his heart, that was unnecessary, but appreciated,” “bless his heart, that was foolish–but kind,” “bless his heart, I don’t know what to say, but want to appear pleasant.” And he’s comical, but good at his job, which isn’t usual.

Quidditch is inventive! I looked up the rules of Muggle Quidditch.

The lingual jokes were fun. I really enjoyed deciphering the names used. (Draco Malfoy? Dragon Bad faith.) I did mildly spoil myself for the function of the Mirror of Erised by translating the inscription.

Anticipations for future volumes: This volume spent a fair chunk of time setting up the basics, so I expect to be exploring the wizard world in greater depth. I’m looking forward to meeting Sirius Black. I know his relationship to Harry, but I don’t know his personality. I’m excited about him, now. The guy has a flying motorcycle. I want more Hogwarts students. At this point, I only feel acquainted with a few of them.

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Bibliophile

in August 8th, 2012 @ 17:18

I won’t give you any spoilers, but I can’t wait until you’ve read the other books so I can ask what you thought of some of the details.
I will say that Pottermore provides you with more (fascinating!) information about Professor McGonagall and is spoiler-free, provided you stay in the first book. I don’t like Quidditch; I would normally recommend that you read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (a fanfic that I’m sure you’ll love) to learn why, but it contains spoilers, so I recommend you wait until finishing the canon series. Suffice it to say that I find the Snitch unnecessary and think it defeats the point of everything else in the game.

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 9th, 2012 @ 15:14

I can’t wait until you can ask me what I think! I’ve put a library hold on the next one…

I’m holding off on Pottermore for now. One reason is that I expect it to be visual, probably conflicting with my head-canon. By the time I’ve finished the reading, my head-canon should be comfortably settled enough not to be uprooted by other people’s mental pictures. More McGonagall will be good!

The Snitch is bothersome to me, too, but I’m intrigued by the multiple balls, and I like it that players on the same team have different missions. The information I saw about Muggle Quidditch said that some or most teams value a Snitch capture at only thirty points, which does diminish the over-importance of it.

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Bibliophile

in August 9th, 2012 @ 15:49

That makes sense, about Pottermore. It is very visual, although it tries not to show major characters’ faces much. Still, it was a bit of a shock to see its version of Mrs. Weasley. Pottermore’s character images are more like those in my head than those in the movies are, though. And by the time you finish the series, all of Book 2 might be up, or at least more of it. I’m a bit impatient, although it can’t be as good as Book 1 because of the lack of the Sorting and the wand-buying.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in August 9th, 2012 @ 17:35

I can’t wait for book three though, there’s definitely going to be another personality quiz! *nudge nudge wink wink*

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Jadestone

in August 14th, 2012 @ 14:03

HELLO THERE

if you have any other questions about Muggle Quidditch please feel free to ask me! I am captain of my college’s quidditch team. And the snitch being only 30 points (or 35 in some cases, to prevent ties) is really really helpful. Esspecially when you’re running, not flying, which uses up much more energy I believe. The snitch is also a person. Our snitch wears fairy wings and we were given money this year to buy a gold jumpsuit, whcih I am excited for.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in August 8th, 2012 @ 20:05

Aieeee I love Sirius so much! He’s so great; you’ll get to know him much better later!

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 9th, 2012 @ 15:15

YAY!

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 13th, 2012 @ 11:05

Finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

I didn’t like this one as well as the first, but I am not disappointed.

This book had a definite prevailing theme: Prejudice and bigotry. The attacks on Muggle-born students, the cruelty towards Squibs, the assumptions made about Harry for being a Parseltongue, the assumptions made about Malfoy for being an insufferable so-and-so, about Hagrid for seemingly being a repeat offender, about Lockhart for being glamorous, about Ginny for being a little sister, poor treatment of Nearly Headless Nick for not being headless enough… People are awful, sometimes, and I’m glad Rowling addressed this in her world. I do, however, want some good Slytherins. Not just Slytherins who aren’t as evil as assumed, but Slytherins who actually do some good. Also, I want to make comic strips about Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy reading Harry Potter now. Pride! Prejudice! First Impressions!

Learning more about Hagrid made me very sad. He was wrongfully expelled, and on the strength of that mistake alone, he was arrested. Hopefully, the wizard authorities will think more carefully before arresting people in future books.

Reading about Dobby made me very sad. Because slavery. An enslavement that involves self-punishment, and Dobby sees nothing wrong with this. Now that he’s free, I wonder what he will do with his life.

Reading about Moaning Myrtle made me very sad. She was miserable when alive, died because she was hiding from a bully, and still feels attacked now that she’s dead.

I did enjoy reading about Herbology. Mandrakes! Strange plants!

The Weasley family is lovely. In particular, Mr. Weasley’s fascination with Muggle technology is fun–and wise of Rowling. Wizards aren’t the only cool ones! We Muggles have plenty to be proud of. That this message was introduced after leaving the increasingly horrid Dursleys, and before the intended Mugglecide began, is very good.
And the Weasleys have a flying car! A flying car that came to life! The flying motorcycle has somewhat more cool factor for me, but I would love to ride in the car.

More Dumbledore being awesome, more students met, more quirky magic, more Nearly Headless Nick, more history of Hogwarts, more information about Voldemort. All good.

Speaking of Voldy, I did feel that the resolution was quite a lot like the resolution of the first book. I hope that the Voldemort-Was-Controlling-Whichever-Character-Appears-Weakest thing isn’t a theme. I am glad that, with that route being taken, it turned out to be Ginny he was controlling. She was being treated like such a child beforehand! She is only a year younger than, say, Hermione, but she was marked The Weasleys’ Little Sister by everyone, which lead them to patronize her terror, instead of examining it. We didn’t see anyone else as sick with fear as Ginny, but nobody found that odd.

Thoughts about …Prisoner of Azkaban: Is Hagrid the title character? Will we learn what Lockhart does with his newly-blank memory? Seems like a traumatic thing to never be mentioned again. (Incidentally, nice contrast between famous Lockhart and famous Harry.) What will happen to Mr. Weasley? Who will the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor be? Will it be Sirius Black? Will Sirius Black appear at all? Will people start taking Ginny seriously? Will Harry avoid spending the whole summer with the Dursleys?

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Bibliophile

in August 13th, 2012 @ 19:58

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
It’s interesting to see the theme develop, for sure. It’s interesting how even the supposedly “good” characters are not unaffected; in the first book, Ron mentioned a second-cousin who was a stockbroker (accountant in the American version), “but we don’t talk to him.” I’m sure he doesn’t realize why that is, but even the Weasleys seem to have some anti-Squib prejudice. I mean, Filch is nasty, but being a Squib is not a valid thing to joke about, even if the person who’s a Squib is nasty. His comment about Neville’s hardly being able to stand a cauldron right-side up is relevant, too; sure, he might seem ‘almost a Squib,’ but he’s using an inherited wand, for goodness’ sake! How can you expect anyone to do magic well with a wand that didn’t choose en? And even if he is an awful wizard, that’s no call to go insulting him behind his back!
You know, it’s interesting, but even though Lockhart is repeatedly described as handsome, the illustrations don’t depict him that way. That’s always really annoyed me.
Does Dobby see nothing wrong with his enslavement? I got the impression it was more that if he said anything implying that he did, he’d have to torture himself. Remember, when Harry said he must not have met any decent wizards, he unthinkingly shook his head and “almost spoke ill of [his] family, sir.”
Oh, Herbology is awesome, isn’t it? I love learning about magical plants–and animals, too. That’s not a spoiler, because JKR has published Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, and it’s obvious that that, at least, will contain lots of information about them. I wish I was a witch and could study them when I grow up.
It was a bit hard for me to respond to this without giving any spoilers, but I’m glad you’re enjoying it so much.

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 14th, 2012 @ 08:57

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Oh! Yes, I meant to say something about Ron’s remarks. I recall the stockbroker/accountant relative, but I did not, at the time, read it as “we don’t talk to him, because he has no magic,” but as “we don’t talk to him, because he rejected the wizard world, and therefore us.” I do not know which seems more likely, now, and I’ve no idea whether or not this will come up again.

I had meant to mention that remark about Neville. He was trying to say something fair-minded, about the pointlessness of Mugglebloodism, but it just came out as rude to another group.

It’s interesting to see so many attitudes towards Muggles reflected through one family: Ron, compared to his father, compared to his father’s boss…they’re all trying to be fair, but none of them have unfiltered Muggle contact. Have they met any Muggles who are neither the families of wizards/witches, nor the witnesses of magical shenanigans? I expect only briefly. Do they personally know any Muggles? I don’t think so.

Mm, I don’t find GrandPrÃ©’s illustrations of Lockhart handsome, either. I seem to have atypical ideas about attractiveness, though, so I didn’t much notice.

What I meant was that Dobby didn’t seem to see anything wrong with the self-punishment. He was exercising free-will in trying to save Harry, but he wasn’t bothering to stop hurting himself when the Malfoys couldn’t see, so I thought he considered self-torture rational. I looked, after reading your post, and noticed him saying that “his family” would know if he didn’t hurt himself. So I know why he carried on. I don’t see any evidence that the Malfoys would know, but I only saw him with Lucius Malfoy briefly, in unusual circumstances. I need to see Dobby as a free being before I know his real attitudes and habits.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? Oooh…

Urgh, I’m sure. When I’ve finished reading, I’ll have to ask for all the spoilery conversation! I am enjoying it, especially since I can talk to you, and others, about them!

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in August 14th, 2012 @ 11:33

Fortunately the formula only exists for the first two books!

Unlike A Series of Unfortunate Events where you have to sit through seven books of “bad guardian then escape from Count Olaf” before it gets good.

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Bibliophile

in August 14th, 2012 @ 14:06

I think Snicket did that on purpose, to annoy us.

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KaiYves- Curiosity Will Lead The Way!

in August 14th, 2012 @ 15:06

I don’t know, there were some clever bits even in the “formulaic” books with the inventions and the humor.

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Bibliophile

in August 14th, 2012 @ 15:32

Oh, I agree–I loved those books. I was annoyed at them, too, though. It’s a bit hard to explain, but they infuriated me and amused me at the same time.

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Agent Lightning

in August 20th, 2012 @ 09:30

I know just how you feel. Snicket could have made a normal series where the Baudelaire children have many hardships but then they don’t keep having unlucky breaks one after another and actually end up happy but instead gave them unlucky break after unlucky break, on purpose, to annoy us. I loved those books, but I never read the last one. So I don’t know what happens.

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in August 14th, 2012 @ 11:35

STFP: J.K. Rowling does a very good job with tying up loose ends. Almost every character gets their story concluded in the following books. Seemingly unimportant details from the first books come back with relevance in the later ones! It gives the series so much re-readability.

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Bibliophile

in August 17th, 2012 @ 13:35

Wherever did people get the idea that fairy tales end justly? Just because the ones that didn’t weren’t told to them as children, and they never bothered to look for more? I recently read The Tinderbox by Hans Christian Anderson (because it was in an anthology I was reading, not because I’m a fan of his), and it was so different from the traditional image of the story where the heroes prevail and the evil people are punished that it was actually kind of amusing. For those who haven’t read it but don’t mind spoilers, it basically goes like this: A soldier is casually walking along to who-knows-where. He happens to pass by a witch, who offers him as much money as he wants. She tells him that if he goes to the bottom of a deep hole in a certain tree, he’ll find 3 doors, each leading to money guarded by ferocious dogs. She explains how to get past the dogs and says that he won’t be able to get out of the hole on his own but that if he takes a rope, she can pull him back safely. Understandably, he is eager to accept the offer but suspicious of an ulterior motive. He asks what she wants in return; she says she demands nothing, as long as he also gets a tinderbox that her grandmother left in there. He figures there’s nothing to lose and goes in, not bothering to ask why she wants the tinderbox. When he comes out, though, he realizes that if she’s willing to pay him that much for the tinderbox, it must be more useful than it seems, so he asks her why she wants it. When she won’t tell him, he decides he wants it, and I guess she’s ugly and female and therefore has no value or something, because he kills her and steals the tinderbox. He discovers it has the power to summon the dogs and control them. He gets them to kidnap the princess in the night, and he kisses her and has them send her back. She tells her parents about her strange dream; they don’t want to worry her, but they’re afraid it isn’t a dream, so they send a servant to keep watch over her while she sleeps to see if anyone really comes. The dogs come again; the servant follows them; the soldier is arrested. When he’s about to be hanged, he summons the dogs, and they kill the king and queen. Apparently, he got lucky, because apparently they were evil or something, and the people declare him king and let him marry the princess (it’s not indicated that she had any say in the matter). What kind of sick mind would consider that just, I have no idea…

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Agent Lightning

in August 20th, 2012 @ 09:33

I remember reading some fairy tales– it might have been the Blue Fairy book, or maybe the Red Fairy book or possibly the Orange Fairy book, and being a bit terrified.
My favorite story, I think, was about the man who had to choose between silver and sand as payment. He chose the bag of sand and, traveling home, was able to use the sand to put out a fire and save a princess, who he married.
Some of the stories I wasn’t able to follow as a result of not knowing the definition of the word “woo”. It made the plot quite confusing.

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KaiYves- Curiosity Will Lead The Way!

in August 20th, 2012 @ 09:41

Reading a simplified version of the myth of Persephone scared me as a kid– she never really escapes, she’s still bound to return every equinox…

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Cat's Eye

in August 20th, 2012 @ 11:53

Later in life, I came upon a few people who interpreted the myth of Persephone as that Persephone had chosen to go to Hades (I remember a really lovely poem somewhere in the back annals of the Poems and Songs threads that had that interpretation). I always liked it a lot.

Greek myths, though. There aren’t a lot of happy endings hanging around there. Seriously, Theseus? Oh, yay, you killed the Minotaur, go you, your father is dead. (Not to mention Ariadne, ouch.) And Io– oh, yeah, Zeus, you’ve been cheating on your wife and she’s figured it out, clearly the best solution here is to turn the poor girl into a cow and lying about it instead of being, I don’t know, someone who meets the barest standards of decency and admitting you did something wrong. Zeus was a jerk. Hands down least favorite god. (Apollo was also a jerk, especially when it came to Daphne and Cassandra– no means no, dude, holy cake!– but not quite to the same extent that Zeus was.)

Also, Jason. Oy. They don’t even try to pretend that ending’s happy. I love Medea beyond all other loves, she is queen of my heart, that tragedy is absolutely lovely.

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KaiYves- Curiosity Will Lead The Way!

in August 20th, 2012 @ 12:17

That’s what makes Odysseus and Penelope’s story all the sweeter.

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Jadestone

in August 27th, 2012 @ 21:02

DID SOMEONE SAY PERSEPHONE

sorry, that’s just my favorite Greek myth, and I get unreasonably excited when people bring it up

AND THAT POEM YOU MENTION IS MY FAVORITE POEM, it is called “The Garden of Proserpine” and is by Algernon Charles Swinburne and I shall try my best to refrain from posting it here since I’ve posted it on the blog at least 5 times already.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in August 27th, 2012 @ 21:15

And recited it over the telephone to at least one GAPA.

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Jadestone

in August 27th, 2012 @ 22:41

I REGRET ONLY THAT THE ANSWERING MACHINE RAN OUT OF SPACE

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Oobatooba

in August 22nd, 2012 @ 13:34

As to where, I think it’s from Disney. Disney movies repopularized a lot of fairy tales, but when Disney made their movies of fairy tales, they wanted to market them to children, but times had changed, and people didn’t consider decapitation and cutting off parts of your feet to fit them into shoes to be subjects for children anymore, so they changed them and cut those parts out. Also, you can get away with a lot more violence in print than in an animated movie. Anyway, I think that they left people with the impression that all fairy tales end like that.

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bookgirl_me

in August 22nd, 2012 @ 16:50

I think you have to differentiate between (I’m unsure of the correct terminology, so I’ll just leave it German) VolksmÃ¤rchen and KunstmÃ¤rchen.

VolksmÃ¤rchen are the “people’s fairy tales”, that were told around fires and passed down from generation to generation, changing as they went. Those usually feature the underdog prevailing, such as Cinderella or Hansel and Gretel, since they were meant to be uplifting instead of depressing and the audience could identify with the main characters and the challenges they faced (evil stepparents, poverty, etcâ€¦). The most famous ones were all complied and written down by the Brothers Grimm, but they existed long before that.

KunstmÃ¤rchen are the “art fairy tales”, fairy tales specifically written by an author. Anderson is one of the most famous fairy tale authors and, imho, probably the most depressing. Examples include The Tin Solider, The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid. These don’t always end well and they often have some sort of moral or theme, are usually more complicated than traditional tales and/or are just plain depressing.

((I know this because a) it was part of my 5th-grade German curriculum and b) when I was six, I had a “Read ALL the fairy tales” phase, which went from Anderson to African folktales about how hippo started out hairy and went bald in a brushfire and how zebra got his stripes by complaining to god after being shortchanged at the horns & tusks line. This whole fairy tale thing was also why I wanted to be a princess, decided to be pope instead. And people wonder why I turned out so weird.))

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Cat's Meow

in August 19th, 2012 @ 16:04

Bibliophile, have you ever heard of or read a book called “My Family and Other Animals”? It’s an autobiography that I’m reading at the moment, and the author/main character seems like a kindred spirit of yours.

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Bibliophile

in August 19th, 2012 @ 18:32

Thank you very much for the recommendation! I’ve never heard of it, but I just requested it from the library, and I’ll be sure to tell you what I think of it afterward.

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Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in August 19th, 2012 @ 21:23

It’s a very good book. Muse ran an excerpt in October 1997. I see that somebody also turned it into a movie in 2005. Well worth investigating.

That reminds me: we haven’t updated the Muse back issues for a while. Would anybody like to help?

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Cat's Meow

in August 19th, 2012 @ 23:09

Yes, it certainly is so far! My dad recommended it to me while we were at the Oregon Zoo a few weekends ago.

I’m simultaneously reading Les Mis – talk about different genres! I’m enjoying both quite a lot, though, and I have a good balance of reading choices depending on my mood.

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FantasyFan?!?!

in August 23rd, 2012 @ 01:21

So I’ve been reading Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan series. I’m very nearly done with the third and final book. And I loved it. That was a bit of a surprise, actually. It’s been on my to-read list for a while now, because I like steampunk, but I’d experienced a bit of Hype Aversion, I think. Although when I went to the bookshelf, and realized that the author’d written other stuff I liked, I was like, well, no wonder.*

So basically I love the setting. Worldbuilding is always a good way to get my attention. And now my brain is spinning off in all these other directions–like how exactly are fabricated beasties created? I want to know, in a s much detail as I’d expect from one of my science courses. I like genetics, and now I’m putting together what I know with the setting, and coming up with big fat questions.

Also the political setting, and the cultural ones. The Ottoman Republic. This…this completely changes the setting of the middle east. It’s not colonized, or at least not any more than the Ottomans did, and all of those artificial borders drawn by colonial powers that have messed the region up so much are not there. And the 20th century Middle east will look a lot different than the one we had, and in all honesty I think it was a lot more optimistic, though there will no doubt be problems. Like, I know that the Arabs at least perceived discrimination against them, a fact exploited by one TE Lawrence when he got them to fight against eh Ottomans. And who is he in this universe? and does the CPU take care of that? Lilit seems to indicate that they fall into the old trap of revolutionaries–once you’re in power, the ideas you came to power by suddenly seem a lot less appealing.

The US being divided. The sheer amount of (accurate) Eurocentrism and racism, although that last was more implied, but I really wonder about the US…

I end up speculating about people, too. Like who was Gregor Mendel in this universe? His work influenced heredity and genetics; how would that change if Darwin had discovered DNA before that? Either way, his stuff is pretty clearly Darwinist in nature, but he was Austrian, firmly in Clanker territory. Was he one of those rare creatures, a Clanker Darwinist? Also, he was a monk, how does that jive with the perception of fabrications being godless? Did he just sit in his garden, breeding ferocious varieties of pea plant? Could plant fabrications be perceived as less godless than animal ones?

We know the Darwinist use penicillin, and i’m inclined to believe they have more advanced medical procedures. Nonetheless, do they actually know enough to formulate a cure for cancer, which given the level of technology in the setting should be perfectly feasible, if they know what to look for. And is it just me, or do you think Nora Barlow broke her grandfather’s ban on using human life chains in a fabricated beastie when she made the perspicacious loris? Or did she just circumvent the rules technically, using say the parrot’s ability to speak with chimp-like intelligence?

World War II! Will it be a thing? The author’s note at the end of goliath seems to indicate no, but depending on how exactly the German reparations are handled the type of environment that led to the Nazi rise could happen again. (And if it doesn’t, will we see Hitler as a painter?)

Um, yeah anyways, as you can tell from my speculations, this book certainly caught my imagination. Has anyone else here read them?

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oxlin

in August 23rd, 2012 @ 10:46

I’ve read the whole series. I like hearing your speculations!

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 27th, 2012 @ 19:09

SPOILERS! SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

This one managed to be really interesting, even though I was very spoiled for it.

So, I said that …Chamber of Secrets addresses bigotry and prejudice. I think …Azkaban addresses fear and anger, and the connection between the two.

Yes to Harry leaving the Dursleys. Just when I thought I had a sense of how wretchedly abusive his life with them has been, Aunt Marge showed up. I am so glad he has the hope of living with Sirius, but I am fairly certain that won’t actually happen.

So, yes, Sirius Black. Siriusly. (<–Overused joke, to be Sirius. Okay, I'm done.) I was spoiled for his non-evilness, and had every expectation of loving him. I like him, oh, yes. I don't know him, yet, but I have an impression of him as a nice man, when he isn't in a tenuous mental condition brought on by a really loathsome false friend. Most of that impression of kindness comes from his letter at the end. (I approve very much of giving the owl to Ron–Pigwidgeon, I think?) For the rest–well, hey, Harry felt murderous towards his parents’ betrayer, too. I notice that, barring Snape, everyone who knew Sirius as a young man expressed their lingering shock that he was the apparent traitor. Yes, I think I’ll like him. Sigh–he’s going to die soon. I’m trying to brace myself. I don’t think it’ll work.

Peter Pettigrew I detest even more than I expected. Not only did he cause Sirius and Remus to question their friendship, he made Ron and Hermione bitter with each other for a distressing duration. (Hugs for Hermione, she had a rough year.) Stop breaking up friends, Scabbers! I really like Harry’s reasoning about Pettigrew being unworthy of the effort of Lupin and Black.

Speaking of Lupin: LOVE. Just love. He is so very sweet to everyone, without being the least bit condescending. I did know he was a werewolf…actually, from the moment I learned his name, because Lupin = Wolf and Rowling does that.

I wanted to talk about Snape: Backstory! I was anticipating it happily. It helped, but I am a bit confused: See, I thought that Snape hated James for saving his life…and for stealing Lily’s heart. Didn’t Snape fancy Lily? Or have I been misled by fan creations (which I am trying to avoid, at the moment)? You may say yes/no, but I don’t want details, please.

Another question: have I missed an explanation of what a warlock is in the HP universe? The word often means a male witch, but that doesn’t fit.

My low opinion of Cornelius Fudge gets lower. Stop hurting Hagrid! Making him cry is like killing an animal for acting on its instincts when provoked, even though someone is willing to care for it! Oh, wait…it is. No, the time travel doesn’t make me less indignant.

Yes, thank you, to the three-dimensionality triple play presented by the loverly Marauders’ Map: 1) Harry being faced with temptation 2) Harry giving in to it 3) Harry facing repercussions.

Additional good: The dementors are strong and frightening, and I love it that chocolate is healing. Like the Knight Bus–Rowling, please don’t stop providing me with fodder for my imaginary vehicular fleet. Crookshanks. Buckbeak! More sentient portraits :&hearts:. Love the genre-thwart of most of the scenes with Professor Trelawney. Time travel! More information on Hogwarts students, yes!

Segueing from that last: Cho. I like her. She smiles at her opponents. Harr-ee has a girrrrl-friend! Well, soon. I know they’re going to be an item. Should be fun. I enjoy watching Our Heroes suddenly become teenagers.

(Side note: My favorite part of Quidditch is Lee Jordan’s commentary. Swearing and broom-squeeing and side-taking. Keep it up, man!)

There were some things that didn’t work for me. The scene in the Shrieking Shack, for example, was very infodump-heavy, which, considering the number of characters present, sometimes became difficult to follow. I cheered when Hermione started asking questions. I had been beginning to wonder if Our Heroes had left the room.

I still want some good Slytherins. Please.

Also, I am rather annoyed by the “Harry, you truly are your father’s son” thing. I don’t think it’s fair to Harry, in terms of his individual merit and need to be distinct. And what of Lily, eh? Eye color. I hope this is a characters issue, not an author issue.

Somewhere in reading, I realized I’ve crossed the border between “yes, I like this” and “yes, I am a fan of this”. Soon: “Harry! Did ya put yah name in tha Gahblet of Fyah?” Ooh, anticipation!

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in August 28th, 2012 @ 01:17

YESS A FAN!

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Cerulean Pyros

in August 29th, 2012 @ 09:11

I am! Incidentally, in 117.1.1.1.1, you were anticipating a book three quiz. To determine patronus?

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Cello-Playing Mathematician (AKA Kyra)

in August 29th, 2012 @ 12:31

Yuppers! Although it probably will come next year…
Waiting for Pottermore stuff is approximately a eighth as fun as waiting for the new books.

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Cerulean Pyros

in September 1st, 2012 @ 11:16

{Grins.} That’s another reason I’m holding off.

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Bibliophile

in August 30th, 2012 @ 22:38

Dumbledore did say Snape hated James for saving his life. Now it appears to be different. I never found an explanation; my guess is that the whole ‘feed him to a werewolf’ thing was Sirius’s idea, and James talked him out of it at the last minute, so he did manage to save Snape’s life, but he was still friends with the boy who tried to kill Snape, so of course Snape would hate him and even blame him.
As for Snape and his affections, nothing is said in the first 3 books about who (if anybody) he loves. Fanfics are often set in alternate universes, too, so there are stories that ship him with all sorts of characters–Harry, for instance. Snape/Lily is probably the most popular Snape pairing, though. You’ll eventually find out what the reality is on the issue.
Rowling said that the eyes were symbolic, but I’m not sure how effective that was.

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Cerulean Pyros

in September 1st, 2012 @ 11:30

Thanks so much! I was struggling to remember what I have so far read in the cannon and separate it from what I have seen elsewhere–and then, to separate elsewhere spoilers from elsewhere speculations.

Oh, yes, I’m quite aware of nonsensical shipping.

I am now wondering what they are meant to be symbolic of. Green can be equated with springtime, so renewal, rebirth, hope? I like that theory, but won’t be surprised if it changes. I’ll pay more attention to the context she mentions it in.

(I’m partway through GoF, now. Some of the funniest scenes yet, I think, and I’m falling in love with Bill Weasley.)

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Bibliophile

in September 2nd, 2012 @ 18:08

I think it’s not the green that’s supposed to be symbolic, but the fact that the body part that he got from his mother are the eyes. I think there’s a saying about eyes being the windows to the soul, for instance.

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Cerulean Pyros

in September 3rd, 2012 @ 17:09

Bibliophile, I’m replying to your eyes comment here, so as to consolidate posts…

I hadn’t thought of that–I had my Art History lenses on–and it does make more sense. Interesting.

‘Kay, everyone, I’m ready to talk about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS YE HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED!

Carrying on with the idea of each book having a theme–study of allegories, you have done things to my brain, tra la–I’m going with “envy” for this one. Harry becomes champion–> envious students. Cho goes to the ball with Cedric–> envious Harry. Hermione goes to the ball with Viktor–> envious Ron. Harry has money, Ron doesn’t–> envious/embarrassed Ron. Ron has a loving family, Harry doesn’t–> envious Harry. There was a lot of it!

Yay! More Weasleys! I like Bill and Charlie. I like all the Weasleys, except Percy–and I feel he has some issues, with which I empathize, and he does have good qualities. I just wouldn’t want to spend any time with him.

I was much less interested in the Quidditch World Cup than I was in the circumstances surrounding it. Wizards trying to act like Muggles–by wearing things like kilts and ponchos and flowered nighties, in jarring contexts. And camping! Time Lord-influenced wizard camping. Yeah, I’m certain that the tents are inspired by Doctor Who.

I knew that there was a tournament thingy involving foreign wizards, and that the Goblet of Fire played into it somehow, and Harry’s name ended up in the Goblet without his consent, and he would win. Not a lot of surprises in the telling, but I really enjoyed learning about each new challenge. Harry’s insistence on making the competition as even as possible was very good–and, yay, Cedric was into it also. And there were dragons! And a maze! And merpeople! Krum seems all right. Awkward with his fame, I think. Fleur–not sure about her. Her bluntness vacillates between endearing and tactless. I know I’ll see her again, so I’m interested in learning if she knows when she’s put her foot in her mouth. Either way, I very much appreciate how far her personality is from her ~Magical Maiden~ appearance.

More house-elfs! Okay, interesting. Excepting Dobby, who I now see is a screamin’ rebel by house-elf standards, not one of them wants to be free! That’s…really interesting. It’s a social thing, it seems. Freedom goes against their ideals. Okay, I want a history of house-elf labor practices. Did the house-elfs have that instinct prior to becoming workers for wizards? Or is their standard attitude the result of dealing with the situation they were given, and/or dissenting house-elfs not sticking around to spread their thoughts. In other words, is this aversion to freedom ascribed to the people themselves, or their oppressors? I understand that these house-elfs, at the time of this story, are happy, but I am unsated.

Also, we’ve got Death Eaters. Oh, good. I’d been wondering what the difference between a Voldy Fan Club member and being a Death Eater was. Now I know it’s very simple! No difference! The Dark Mark is new to me. I’d seen it, but didn’t know what it meant. And, hello, Voldemort! Now in an independent, free-standing format! New packaging–same great evil! (What am I doing?)

On with the D.A.D.A. professor musical chairs! Mad-Eye Moody…who is Barty Crouch, Jr.! Surprised? No, I was spoiled. I have seen, briefly, David Tennant doing alarming things with his tongue in the latter role. Don’t understand, though, why Barty was so nice to everyone. Why? And now he’s dead.

Another theme with this book: Adolescence! The Yule Ball, tetchy tempers, angst, astronomy humor–oh, to be fourteen again. (Actually, fourteen was a mostly-good year for me. But still.)

Rita Skeeter is horrid. Not even just doing her job, just being mean.

And Sirius Black is, indeed, a lovely man. Or dog. As soon as he showed up, I started having fantasies of him meeting Mrs. Weasley–and I was not disappointed! Yes!

Next book predictions: Er. A bunch of good characters will form a titular anti-Death Eaters organization? And Nymphadora Tonks will show up? As will Luna Lovegood? And people will die.

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Bibliophile

in September 3rd, 2012 @ 21:03

I was impressed at your predicting the Harry/Cho thing. I did awfully in terms of noticing romance; I didn’t even understand that Ron was envious–I really believed him about ‘fraternizing with the enemy.’ Granted, I was 10, but still.
I’m curious: Do you know anything about Luna Lovegood, other than the fact that some of her family members (possibly including her) went to the Quidditch World Cup? I felt the same way as you about that, by the way.
I think Barty had to do a plausible impression of Moody, so as not to be detected. Moody’s friends with Arthur Weasley, so he can’t be a bad person; if Barty didn’t act like him, he’d have been detected.

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Cerulean Pyros

in September 4th, 2012 @ 16:21

Well–I remember somebody, or somebodies, on the blog expressing annoyance that Cho and Harry had been shown kissing in a trailer for one of the films, so I had an idea that there was at least a smidgen of canon romance between them. And strange stomach-region jolts generally indicate attraction. (In books, especially.) Mm, I think a number of things in GoF would have gone over my head at ten years old. Students in the rosebushes, for one. (Actually, the appeal of that still goes over my head. Rosebushes are scratchy.)

Luna: I know she has whitish-blonde hair, wears rainbow-colored glasses at least sometimes, and believes in creatures that even wizards think are mythical. Our own Luna the Lovely is named after her. Oh, and she wears earrings made out of or shaped like a plant that resembles orange radishes. (Incidentally, I expect that I’m not yet aware of everything that I’ve been spoiled for in OotP. I know some things that will happen, but I don’t know which book I should expect them in. Snuffles will probably be killed in this book, ’cause I think a certain young woman who prefers to be called by her last name only and a certain werewolf don’t get married until after that… Urghle, I sound like I’ve been hanging out with Professor Trelawney.)

I understand that idea, but the dots haven’t connected yet. Barty was not behaving in a very coherent way while under the influence of Veritaserum, so…was he really sane enough earlier to have that much self-control? Or does Veritaserum make well-ordered thoughts difficult? I know, having experienced it myself, that a part being played can be hard to slip out of, but I’m amazed he was able to assume the role to begin with. Well, I shall shrug and read on.

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Bibliophile

in September 5th, 2012 @ 20:57

Ah, so you have some idea of the movie version of Luna. Most of that is true in the books as well; there’s only one minor detail you mentioned that differs. (Also, I just have to mention that picturing you hanging out with Professor Trelawney is hilarious. It’s giving me almost as much amusement as when my friend mentioned that she wouldn’t want to “have a tea party with” Redd from The Looking Glass Wars).
Any potion forcing you to do something would probably bring other short-term effects. You know what the Imperius Curse feels like. This seems different; my guess is that it temporarily empties people’s minds of everything unrelated to what they’ve been asked. This would include current emotional state. He seemed more emotionless than insane to me. I could be wrong, though.

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Cerulean Pyros

in September 6th, 2012 @ 16:20

Luna is one of the few characters whose name I could attach to their moviefied version before I began reading. The number has increased somewhat, now. I’m reading OotP (finished “In The Hog’s Head” last night), and have met Luna. I saw she has “dirty blonde” hair, not whitish-blonde–is that the differing detail? (Hangin’ with Trelawney…{Badly-muffled giggles.} If I were taking Divination with Trelawney, I think I’d have to turn it into a class about something else. In this case, creative writing, with an emphasis on exploring symbolism and the meanings attached to fixtures of Nature by the classical cultures. Employ lots of polite smiles, and suppress snarky comments by writing them in the margins of my notebook. Having just learned about the famous ancestress Trelawney is anxious to live up to, I sympathize with her, but she really does not need to prophesy death just to make herself feel better. I say that as a person with an often morbid mind. Oh, I read The Looking Glass Wars! Or some of them, I don’t recall the end… Anyway, I think I could only have a tea party with Redd if Homburg Molly came, too.)

Oh, I really like that thought about emptying people’s minds. Hey, the copy of GoF hasn’t gone back to the library yet…where is the scene? Ah! At the beginning of the Veritaserum conversation, it reads: “[Barty’s] face was slack, his gaze unfocused.” Shortly after, “Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat, expressionless tone.” This carries on until he starts talking about Voldy: “Crouch’s head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face. ‘My master came for me.'” After a bit, same topic, “The smile spread wider over Crouch’s face, as though recalling the sweetest memory of his life.” At the end, “‘My master’s plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards.’ The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head dropped onto his shoulder[.]” How nice! He’s described as expressionless and insane! That’s why I had an overall impression of insanity, I think. He’s expressionless until he’s talking about Voldy, thus he doesn’t really care about anything else. When on the topic of his fixation, he’s all gleefulness. Hm, I suppose he could have gotten through the ordeal of being Moody by reminding himself that it was for Voldemort.

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POSOC

in September 9th, 2012 @ 17:32

George R. R. Martin’s age on his upcoming birthday + (number of years it took to finish ADWD x minimum number of books remaining in ASOIAF) > average male life expectancy in United States

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Cerulean Pyros

in September 12th, 2012 @ 19:00

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

The theoretical overlying theme of this one was harder to spot. Secrecy, I suppose?

Dementors in Little Whinging! That was fast. Mrs. Fig is not really a Muggle! Why does this excite me so much? I don’t know. Petunia reveals awareness of Azkaban! Oh, wow, what else does she know? Nice parallel, by the way, between the Dursleys’ claim that Harry attends St. Brutus’s Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys and Dudley’s maturation as a juvenile delinquent.

Moving along to the Order of the Phoenix. Why, hello, intriguing new characters! The real Mad-Eye Moody? G’day. Kingsley Shacklebolt, pleased to meet you. Hiya, Tonks! {Attempts to wave, but bangs elbow on table.} Heh. No wonder I like her. Additionally, importantly, REMUS LUPIN is back! Oh, gleefulness! Why, Sirius Black, how nice to see you! Your house is…er. I quite like the…uh. Can I do anything to help? Ah! How are you, Weasley family? Okay, avoid being in the same room with Sirius and Molly. Especially if Remus isn’t there. I really do like the contrast between the ways Sirius and Molly try to take care of Harry. Oh, Molly and the boggart. Sob.

Meanwhile, Harry is having issues. I’m glad he behaves in a believable way, taking his frustration out on the wrong people, because he has no one else to take it out on. Mostly, I’m sympathetic–except I was startled when he forgot Ginny was possessed by Voldemort. I thought Ginny handled this rather well–have I mentioned I like Ginny? I do.

Ooh, magical bureaucracy, magical government corruption, and victory! Barely. Eep. Dumbledore is right: squashy armchairs are the most appropriate courtroom furnishings.

I see no redeeming qualities in Professor Umbridge. I hope Rowling didn’t do anything to make her into a sympathetic character later, because she is just…unforgivable. Harry is (probably?) permanently scarred physically, and certainly scarred emotionally. I acknowledge that the struggle for self-control is good character development for him.

Dumbledore’s Army! Laudable behavior, you lot. Carry on.

So, the vision Harry had of Arthur Weasley being attacked? I think that’s when I started talking to the book. Aloud. “What? No! No, no, no. Stop!” This behavior provoked great amusement from the person in the room with me. I’m glad everyone was okay, and that Sirius had company. Arthur tried stitches! Oh, Muggle medicine is so exotic and dodgy. Remus talked to the lonely werewolf! {Hugs Remus.} Gilderoy Lockhart…last time we saw him, he figured he’d make a terrible teacher. Now, he’s cheerfully declaring that he must’ve taught ’em all he knows. I suppose that means he’s recovering. Neville treats his mum so much better than his grandmother does…I hope she treats Neville okay.

Continuing with the house-elf ethics debate, we’ve got Kreacher–not sure he’s usually as unpleasant as he is to Sirius, so I’m opting not to comment yet–and Hermione’s knitting. Hermione has her heart in the right place, but she needs to check her privilege: she’s insulting the house-elves.

I look forward to reading about how Grawp and Hagrid manage.

Poor Cho. I hope she gets her grief and affections sorted out–and realizes that mourning and trying to find a new sweetheart are better spaced out.

More Luna Lovegood, please! She’s marv.

Yeek, Snape’s worst memory. I guess Harry showed up, and suddenly Snape had power over someone uncannily resembling his tormentor…yeek, no wonder he can’t stand Our Hero.

Percy. Oh, Percy, what are you doing? The impression I get is that he tried to balance his desire for his father’s approval (I got that in …Goblet of Fire) and his reluctance to make what he sees as his father’s mistakes. He has chosen, now, which is both distressing–for the effect on his family, mainly–and very good for the depth of the plot. He rejected the heroes, without going to the villains’ side.

I am mostly disappointed by the prophecy. That’s solely because I am not fond of the “Chosen One” trope, or the “You and Only You” trope; they take some of the impact, the empowerment, the choice out of the hero’s fight.

Only a few things left to say: Sirius Black is dead, as I expected. I wasn’t expecting…I wasn’t expecting it to be such a near thing. If he hadn’t fallen through the gate… I also was not expecting Dumbledore to have messed up–at least, not yet, and not in so many distinct issues. These both add to the feeling of tension that I have. Of course the good guys will win, but it seems harder than I thought it would before I began reading.

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126.1

Cat's Meow

in September 12th, 2012 @ 23:12

Just keep reading. I can’t pose anything resembling a counter-argument – yet! It’s fun following these posts, though!

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126.2

Bibliophile

in September 13th, 2012 @ 18:07

I second Meow. I think you’re going to love Book 7. But you notice things I don’t! It’s really interesting to see your perspective.
The real Moody is the main reason I’m convinced that Barty Crouch Jr. did lots of research on Moody and impersonated him, but of course, I wasn’t able to tell you that before.
Professor Umbridge and Luna Lovegood are, I think, the characters that Rowling was most ingenious for. This is one of the reasons why this book is my favorite.
When Lockhart said he’d be a terrible teacher, he remembered nothing. I expect at that point, he knew something, at least.
But yes, we really saw a new side to Neville here, both with his parents and with the DA! That made me happy. I suspect that the grandmother is far too strict, though; Neville seems like way too much pressure has been put on him.

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126.2.1

Cat's Meow

in September 13th, 2012 @ 21:33

Anybody who’s a fan of those other sides of Neville should read a fanfiction called “Dumbledore’s Army and the Year of Darkness”. I don’t usually read fanfiction, but I believe somebody else on MuseBlog suggested it to me, and it is mindblowingly good. I consider it an 8th novel in my head-canon because it grows and gives dimension to a lot of characters that got short shrift during the main storyline while still remaining true to how Rowling already established them and the Hogwarts world. I can’t really say any more because of spoilers (I already typed and deleted two -_-) but definitely take a look after you finish Book 7!

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FantasyFan?!?!

in September 14th, 2012 @ 01:25

I liked Dumbledore’s Army (really did), but I’m not that fond of the sequels. At some point it just seemed to be gorn and grimdarkness under the label “being realistic”. Also, since then I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the author and him being sexist and whatever.

Could we talk about fanfiction on this thread? You read it after all, and I don’t quite think it’s enough of a thing to deserve its own thread. Also I’d feel awkward talking about it on other sites.

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126.2.1.1.1

Cat's Meow

in September 14th, 2012 @ 13:06

I agree about the sequels; I read maybe a chapter and gave up because I simply didn’t like the direction they were headed. A certain level of darkness seemed appropriate in the first because – well, circumstances (no spoilers here), but it felt realistic for what was going on. However, just like I don’t need a sequel for the main storyline, I don’t feel the need for sequels there, especially considering what they are.

I think talking about fanfiction is fine, as long as there are appropriate spoiler warnings both for the fanfiction itself and the source material.

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126.2.1.1.2

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in September 14th, 2012 @ 13:15

You do read it, so I’d say it’s logical to discuss it here. It’s about time to start a new Books and Reading thread, though. Any objections?

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126.2.1.1.2.1

Robert Coontz (Administrator)

in September 14th, 2012 @ 14:13

No? So be it!

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Sinusoidal on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???Can someone create a guide on how MB works and how to use it and post and all that? What are the kinds of topics MB talks about?
Sinusoidal Polyglot on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???Hi! Sinusoidal here! This is my first post on MuseBlog. I come from ChatterBox (See my posts there). If I’m not supposed to give my email, why is it r…
You can call me "Fitzy" on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???I sent a post a few weeks back, but I don't think it was approved. I stumbled across this place a few weeks ago and did some brief digging into it. It…
Piggy on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???Hello friends! I've been trying to think of something meaningful to say for the last couple weeks, but nothing quoteworthy has come to mind. When peop…
You can call me "Fitzy" on The Hare & Hedgepig, v. VIAlas, I fear I am too late to assist with this food. Surely it must have spoiled by now? It's a shame. This is a lovely-looking spot, and quite cozy t…
You can call me "Fitzy" on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???I was never a user of this site. Never a user of any blogs or forums on the internet really. Never got the hang of the social internet, and ADD means…
ibcf on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???Same problem has kept me away like a pool of flesh eating bacteria, ha. Never mind what I've had to show for myself since; the ignominy of the nonsens…
ZNZ on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???I'm not sure exactly how I ended up back here, but I was so pleasantly surprised to see posts as recent as these last! It makes me happy to think of y…
Piggy on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???Well, today marks my 17th 'Blogiversary. Somehow that number, anything less than my current age, sounds too small, as though my self and my MuseBlog s…
Piggy on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???I ought to pick out some Twain to read myself. One of my half-treasured possessions is a dark green hardback set of his works published in the 1930s o…
gimanator on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???Now that I'm here, I also have a long overdue thanks for the recommendation of Life on the Mississippi: it was the perfect suggestion. It had been a l…
gimanator on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???Goodness, that's an anagram I haven't seen in a long while! I've been watching for your resurfacing, Piggy. I even (briefly) wondered if the site outa…
Piggy on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???I've realized that since my employer finally made me take a company laptop a few months ago, after a few years of using my personal computer to work f…
Piggy on The Hare & Hedgepig, v. VIIf anyone has an appetite, the wungs are getting impatient at how long it's taking me to eat the loaf of pumpkin bread they've baked to match (in shap…
gimanator on Random Thread: Spring 2023 to ???I'm back for the latest dispatch! I was mistaken about two things: I thought this post would be about two months earlier and I thought I would have fi…
Piggy on The Hare & Hedgepig, v. VIOh dear, they've done milkshakes now. Where did that mop go....

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