Books: Chapter One!

[Miss Rosario]

*peeks in*

Well, I've never really posted in this thread before... but I suppose there's always a first time.

Last night I finally finished the Harry Potter series, after much tension and suspense, and it was wonderful (yet a bit sad) to reach the final conclusion. J.K. Rowling had so many unexpected surprises tucked away in Deathly Hallows; I stayed up about half the night to finish it, unable to put it down so close to the finish. Over half of my favorite characters ended up dying, but the actual defeat of Voldemort was absolutely amazing.

I'm also going to try and check out The Thief from the library tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect; I've heard both recommendations and complaints (both on NarniaWeb), so I guess I'll just find out for myself.

[Aravis Narnia]

Curiously, the last book I read would be The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. Some part could be very controversial by present day standards- even though the author does not seem to be putting any group or gender down maliciously.

[pogginfan]

Kate: No way! That's a rather large coincidence. But as they say, great minds think alike.
Definitely agree with you about WH. I think I would describe it as a nightmare, every character is just awful. It probably didn't help that I was expecting Heathcliff to be a romantic hero, then he turned out to be a selfish criminal. Seriously, I think it's one of the worst books I ever read.
So you're reading 'Great Expectations'? I'll probably read that one soon. Right now I'm starting 'Bleak House'.

Yes, you should. I just finished The Last Olympian today. It was awesome!

Is that the last one? I suppose I'll pick up that series after I'm done with 'Bleak House'.

[7chronicles]

I'm almost done reading Tongues of Serpents, which is the sixth book in the Temeraire series.
I Love some of the new dragon characters, and I can't wait to see how this book ends.
Something I really enjoy is the constant bickering and irritation between Temeraire and Iskierka.
And Caesar seems to be a Dragon version of Rankin, poor Temeraire.
I really liked how Naomi Novik included the "Bunyip" which is a creature in Australian Mythology (one of my favorites).
I Love Kulingile, and the scene where Dorset tells everyone that he will be a heavyweight dragon is one of my favorite scenes in the book so far.
I really hope I don't have to wait to long for book Seven. I became very spoiled in 2007 when I started reading the series, Naomi Novik released the first three books in 2006 and I had to wait a year for book four, nine months for book five, and I had to wait two years for book six.

[Lady Haleth]

Yes, The Last Olympian is the last book in the series.
And I see what you mean about The Four Loves. He doesn't seem to be putting down anyone in a mean way, but some of those passages on friendship would probably be taken badly now. If women are trying to be friends with men, but they don't care about any of the things the men care about, well...that friendship wouldn't work.

[Liberty Hoffman]

Mel: well, I can sort of see how that works, but it seemed like there wasn't enough of Mary or baseball in the series to make the ending end like that..... IMO. I guess I was just dissapointed by the ending after all that had happened.



Booky: yes, I know he played baseball through the whole series, but I just didn't get the end and as I said above ^^ I was dissapointed by the ending. oh well.

[Glenstorm the Great]

I started reading The Riddlemaster of Hed today. I'm also reading The Thief and Battle of the Labyrinth. And I'm almost done with Authentic Beauty.

Yes, you should. I just finished The Last Olympian today. It was awesome! Though I didn't like it that Michael Yew died. I liked him. And I love the scene where Hades comes out and confronts Kronos. As well as the Party Ponies, Dionysus playing Pac-Man, Clarisse pulverizing the drakon that killed Silena, and Percy's mom firing a shotgun at monsters. It and The Titan's Curse are probably the best of the series.

I was upset about that too. But it's still awesome . I'm on Battle of the Labyrinth now so I'll be able to show you how un-annoying it is .

Yes, it is. It's about a boy who wants to become a knight, but he's not supposed to because of the class distinctions in his world. And he does. I thought the summary sounded horribly cheesy when I read it, but it's really, really good. For whatever reason, it reminded me of the story of David... It also reminded me of Stephen Lawhead's In the Hall of the Dragon King.

Ok I will try to find it at my library sometime . Haven't read that other book...

Yay, Percy Jackson fans! I love that series, and The Last Olympian is my favorite. Those books sure helped me memorize my Greek gods for history class. Did you know that Rick Riordan is writing a new series called Heroes of Olympus? It continues the Percy Jackson storyline. Book One, The Lost Hero, comes out October 12. I can't wait!

. I've always been obsessed with Greek mythology so I didn't need help with that . Yes I am so excited for that series! I'm hoping Percy is a counselor in that book!

I also really like The Red Pyramid. I love Egyptian mythology, probably because of my cat obsession.

lol . I really like that book too, but it was kinda of annoying at the same time. I knew waaaay more Egyptian mythology than Carter, which is not right since his dad is an Egyptologist and he lives in Egypt alot! He should have known way more about the gods than he did. I also disliked Sadie. Which is funny since I love that name, so she probably would have been my favorite character if she hadn't been so feminist and mean to Carter .

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I'm sure not many of you here are old enough to read, nor interested in reading The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. I've been making my way through them. There are 10 volumes and I'm currently re-reading the third volume. The series is about a character called the Sandman; he's the King of the Dream World and his siblings (the Endless) who live the dream-world. It's about the power of dreams and the dreams we have (for good and evil) and humanity's need for good stories. It's very good but rather mature at times - the genres it covers fluctuate from horror, to fantasy, to sci-fi, superhero, surrealism, thriller, general fiction, historical fiction, Shakespeare and myth. I read it mainly for the writing and the premise because the art, at least in the first few volumes, is nothing to write home about. That said, the cover art is amazing. If you're a mature reader (and by that I mean at least 17) and enjoy complex and thought-provoking fiction, give it a go.



I'm also continuing Stephen King's The Stand. 700+ pages in and still counting.

[Silver the Wanderer]

Yes I am so excited for that series! I'm hoping Percy is a counselor in that book!

That'd be so cool! Did you know you can read the first chapter of The Lost Hero online? If anyone's interested, go here: http://www.camphalfblood.com/. The password is newhero. (It's okay to post the password since Rick Riordan put it up on his blog.)

lol . I really like that book too, but it was kinda of annoying at the same time. I knew waaaay more Egyptian mythology than Carter, which is not right since his dad is an Egyptologist and he lives in Egypt alot! He should have known way more about the gods than he did. I also disliked Sadie. Which is funny since I love that name, so she probably would have been my favorite character if she hadn't been so feminist and mean to Carter .

I wish I knew more about Egyptian mythology! Hopefully Sadie'll get cooler in the next book, haha I really like Bast and her leopard-print jumpsuit and cat powers, but I was sort of disappointed that Carter and Sadie gave up their powers. I like it when they turn into birds!

Last night I finally finished the Harry Potter series, after much tension and suspense, and it was wonderful (yet a bit sad) to reach the final conclusion. J.K. Rowling had so many unexpected surprises tucked away in Deathly Hallows; I stayed up about half the night to finish it, unable to put it down so close to the finish. Over half of my favorite characters ended up dying, but the actual defeat of Voldemort was absolutely amazing.

I got DH at midnight when it came out, and 36 hours later, I had it all read. It's by far my favorite in the Harry Potter series, and I'm really excited to see the movies! I'm really glad they're splitting it into two parts because so much happens in that book. My favorite part was the battle for Hogwarts. I love it when Professor Trelawney drops crystal balls on Death Eaters' heads! I'm really sad that Lupin and Tonks die! Right after becoming parents too! Arrg! And poor Dobby...but my favorite character is Sirius, and he actually made a brief appearance in DH, so I'm happy.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Yes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows really is the pinnacle of the HP series. Just like any great novel, the book allows the reader to experience a myriad of emotions, not all of them pleasant.
Glad you enjoyed it Miss Rosario. The book kept me up at night too.

[Bookwyrm]

The Red Pyramid:

The fact that Carter and Sadie gave up their god powers is one of the things that I really like about the book. Fantasy is full of kids who gain magic powers and overnight are the best in the world at it, with no practice or effort at all. It's nice to see some fictional characters getting god-mode handed to them and turning it down in favor of growing naturally in their powers.

Haven't read a whole lot lately. Still reading Till We Have Faces. The last book I finished was World War Z, the premise of which is that the zombie apocalypse happened and humans won. It's the story of the war, told by the survivors. It's actually surprisingly serious and well-told.

[Ithilwen]

Hello! Can I join this book group?
I'm reading three books right now: Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.

Has anyone here ever read A Series of Unfortunate Events? I read them back in 2005, and was just obsessed with them!


~EJ

[narnialover4]

I'm finally reading Karen Kingsbury's new book, Take Four! It's a really good book so far!! I know there's going to be some conflict between Bailey Flanigan and Cody Coleman, but they'd better still end up together because otherwise, I will be sooooo angry!!
Another book I'm reading right now is Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist. That's a good read too.

[Lady Haleth]

Rereading The Lord of the Rings (just got to the March of the Ents! Yay Treebeard! ). Also rereading The Lightning Thief. Planning to reread the Narnia books.

[joy93]

The Chronicles of Brothers are great books some of my favorite authors are- C.S.Lewis , Jane Austen, Wendy Alec(Chronicles of Brothers author),William Shakspeare. Also i love the Earogon trilogy!!!! it is really great!! My brother absolutly love the Percy Jackson trilogy!!! I might try reading those books. Right know i am reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen I AM CONSTANTLY READING A BOOK!!! when i do not have a book that i am reading my family thinks that i am ill or something cause it is so unlike me !!!

[Silver the Wanderer]

Bookwyrm,

SHOW SPOILER

now that you put it that way, I agree. I guess I just wasn't expecting it. Usually the heroes don't give up their powers until the end of the series. But a break from the norm is nice! It makes me wonder what's going to happen in the next book now that their god-powers are gone.

Right now I'm rereading VDT. I plan to reread all the Chronicles, but I'm starting in the middle.

Just curious, has anyone heard of a series called Dragons In Our Midst by Bryan Davis? It's a Christian fantasy series about a boy and a girl who find out their parents were once dragons, and they've inherited dragon-traits. Oh, and there's modern-day dragon slayers hunting for them. The story is wonderfully written and impossible to put down, and it's full of inspiration too. It's by far one of the best series I've ever read. Plus, Narnia references pop up occasionally.