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Books: Chapter One!

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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby DiGoRyKiRkE » Aug 13, 2010 8:07 pm

Wow, I did a lot better than I thought I would!

I got 15/24. I missed:

Angela's Ashes, Watership Down, The Prophet, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, A Brief History of Time (although I recognised the author as Stephen Hawking), She's Come Undone, The Lost Symbol (although I knew I'd seen the cover before), The Little Prince, The Catcher in the Rye
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Lady Haleth » Aug 14, 2010 5:48 am

Trying to finish Narnia before I go to college. Need to read chapter 21 of Till We Have Faces for the reading group.
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Liberty Hoffman » Aug 16, 2010 1:21 pm

I just finally got a copy of the last book in Gordon Korman's "Kidnapped" Trilogy! yay! now to start collecting the "On The Run" series..... :D



and i got a new copy of "Inkheart that looks almost brand new from my local used book store! and I new copy of the first book in LOTR (FotR)! :D :D
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby ValiantArcher » Aug 17, 2010 1:03 pm

No catch up from me---I've read a good number of books since I last posted, for one thing, and I couldn't list them all. ;)) But I thought I'd poke my head in and mention a few of my most recent reads, especially since some of you might be interested in them. ;;)

I recently read Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George, which is a sequel of sorts to Princess of the Midnight Ball. It certainly wasn't a straight-forward Cinderella retelling and it was kind of dark (the darkest Cinderella retelling I've read...but that's probably not saying much since I can only think of a couple off the top of my head ;))), but I liked it. :) Sad note, though: The knitting in this book isn't near as impressive as in the first book. :( :P Also, there were quite a lot of changes from the original tale, though I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing.
These often made the story darker, such as a crazed and evil fairy godmother, glass shoes melted straight onto the feet, and everyone's wonder at the Lady Ella. And even the cinders themselves take on a 'deeper' meaning! I'm assuming that Marianne and Poppy were the stepsister figures, which meant everything really was upside down. ;))
I was a bit surprised at this since they're not really the original way, but I also was pleased with how the relationships ended up. There wasn't necessarily a huge amount of development, but it was okay. :)
There were some really humourous bits, too, that kept the story from getting too dark.
Like Rupert's (the King of Breton) desire to get Christian married, and the princesses. Christian's HELP! letter home was hilarious. ;))


I also read Spell Hunters (to the cool, Knife ;) ) by R. J. Anderson. I'm still a bit undecided about this one. Some parts of it I quite liked, and others not so much.
I so wanted there to be male fairies! It seems dreadfully unfair for there not to have been and for the whole continuation of the fairy race to hinge upon deception and robbery. :P And then I didn't really like/get the creativity sharing. I got that fairies and humans had to interact to be creative (or, at least, for the fairies to be creative. Are humans naturally creative then, but fairies just take it to greater heights?), but why was the creative bond such that they went crazy if they weren't around eachother? And what happened to those who were inspired on a lesser level, such as those that Adele (I think that was the Queen's first name) interacted with, when their fairies left?
I also feel cheated by the Paul/Knife relationship. :P I'd thought that there was going to be this really great friendship story (which almost never happens any more), and then it all went askew. And then I remembered Mel's comments about it being a Little Mermaid story and my hopes raised...and then dashed again as I remembered that authors nowadays don't kill off their main characters like that. :P
Paul himself I'm a bit torn on---I kept alternating between wanting to whack some sense into him and laughing at how funny he was. I imagine that how he acted was often how people feel after being paralyzed, but still! Why can't authors ever have their characters deal with it better, instead of having the same old cliches?
Knife was pretty good, though she occasionally annoyed me. Thorn was my favourite, I think, though Wink was pretty cool, too. :D The queen I'm undecided on: They kept wobbling back on forth on whether or not she was a good character or not, but I think in the end she was good, just a bit mysterious and rather, eh, demanding about what she expected, perhaps? :-\
Overall, I think I liked it*---I definitely would be interested in reading the second one. :)

I'm currently reading Mister Monday and liking it so far. I've 1-6 of the series checked out from the library right now. ;)) The first three just came in on hold and I promptly checked out the next three when I went to pick them up. I feel a bit bad for whoever had out the first three, as they'll probably go looking for the rest of the series. :ymblushing: But I'll try to read quick and return soon---university starts back on Monday! ;;)

*These are still preliminary thoughts and are open to change, especially upon reflection and discussion.
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Meltintalle » Aug 17, 2010 3:19 pm

Valia, I found the book my dad was talking about! The Reckoning I don't this is any of the ones we looked at?

*is cool* :p I think I need to read the book again before attempting theories for some of your comments... oh, the hardship.
But there not being male fairies makes for a puzzling mystery! ;)) Also, if there were male fairies, would there have been a story?
*has no clue what happened to the peripheral characters* They probably all turned to seafoam or something...
I think Knife, by nature, is a bit annoying. B-)
I also think I agree with you about the queen, though I still think she might end up being a villainess...
On the whole, what did you think of the world-building and author's worldview?


I had better luck with your recommendation, I think. :) On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness delivers, though the toothy cows weren't as big an element as I would have expected from their being in the tag line. ;)) It's got mostly hilarious footnotes--but it does go the juvenile 'it's gross so it must be included because gross is funny' route a few times. [-( All a question of taste, I suppose. On the whole, I found it very likeable for a book that spends most of the time setting the stage for the next book. (Or possibly the third.) It's a nice change from the hero being dumped immediately into a quest to save his world two or three times in the course of a series. And the mentor figure doesn't die! Haha! Err... wait. I suppose the role could have been split, in which case, half the mentor dies. Which just sounds weird. :p
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby mar_girl » Aug 17, 2010 10:57 pm

wisewoman wrote:Wow, really? I think the ending of MP is brilliant because it's happy without being unrealistic. Austen is quite honest about the fact that Fanny would have married Crawford if Edmund had married Mary. But that didn't happen, and the best thing that *could* happen for Fanny did. I don't see her life as servile or second choice; indeed, one could argue that although she starts off that way, throughout the rest of the novel she learns to stand firm on the things that really matter to her. And the other characters come to realize how very rare and valuable she is. I love Fanny because she, being weak, is strong.

And yes, though the denouément is pretty dispassionate, to me that is just a clever way of hinting at all the emotions and joys without dragging them out for public perusal. The swoony love scene is left to our imaginations, and sometimes that can be very effective. Austen never errs on the side of gushiness!
I don't see it as being all that happy (realistic? I guess so). I mean, an ending where it's like, "the worst-case scenario didn't happen to her! Whoo!" doesn't really leave me satisfied. It's all right but not that happy. Her life isn't servile or second choice; Fanny herself is. She's a charity case to her uncle and his family, making her beneath them, and she's too refined for her original family; she doesn't fit in anywhere. Aunt Whatever is horrible to her and she can't do anything about it; she just has to do whatever she's told. I do love that she doesn't cave to pressure; I admire her for that very much. But that doesn't make up for her whole life and her story's ending. Edward only marries her because he finally realizes Mary isn't the right person for him; that's why Fanny is a second choice. I felt like she deserved someone who loved her and chose her because of that instead of "she's the best option now that my first choice turned out to be a golddigger [or whatever Mary's main problem was]." I know, Edward loved her, but as a sister, and it doesn't feel right. And I dislike denouéments (is that what the wrap-up at the end is called? Cool word) because I feel that as a reader, I have invested my time and emotions into this story and the writer has let me into the characters' minds and hearts so that I care about them. The least the author could do is take me with them until the end! I'm not "public"; does the privacy thing really matter? I've been privy to all the personal stuff all along anyway. :P And I don't feel like imagining swoony love scenes, especially when all we're left with is the cold glass of water over the head of "and then everything worked out the way it was supposed to. The end." IDK, I prefer showing over telling. My sad stuff to good stuff ratio wasn't high enough. :P And while Pickwick wasn't my favorite Dickens, I really liked it! :)

shastastwin wrote:Mar_girl, my signature is a reference to the recent Mod Moot (which as its title implies is a gathering of Moderators). DrElwinRansom is able to do a fantastic impression of Christopher Lee, and so when I did my own impression I realized that compared to Dr. Ransom, "I'm like Christopher Lee at 12."
Hahaha, that is fantastic. Enjoy TQoA! :D

Silver the Wanderer wrote:;)) You should give [Rick Riordan's books] a try! My science teacher loves, them. :p
lol, maybe I will. Cool name! :)

Ooh, The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books, sandyentersNarnia. A friend of mine recently read it for the first time (at my recommendation) and loved it.

Kate: Urgh, that Twilightized P&P blurb was terrible. :ymsick: About as bad as the one on my Tor copy, which was all Oh-Em-Gee-romcom-y. And I hope my explanation above to ww's post helps explain my dissatisfaction. :) Thanks for your thoughts on Villette (and thanks to ww too). I've been there. :(

DiGoRyKiRkE wrote:Before the summer ends I really want to read Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke. I fell in love with Inkheart and was impressed with the direction the story of Inkspell went (although I think that Funke used a great many pages to tell a very simple tale), so I'm intrigued to see how she's going to end the series.
Same here. I want to read Inkdeath (SUCH a pretty cover), but I think I should probably reread the first two since I tend to forget about characters pretty easily. And she definitely could have made the books shorter. ;)

I love hearing about your reads, lysander. This quote of yours from your Briar Rose review is fantastic:
lys wrote:Unfortunately, Yolen seems to feel that she needs to continually remind the reader that this is a fairytale, despite its modern setting. So she has her characters constantly reference folktales in the stream of everyday conversation, which struck me as odd and abnormal. (The fact that I do this all the time is nothing to the point; I never claimed to be normal.)
LOVE. B-) =)) I read your The Brontës Went to Woolworth's review when it went Hot without realizing it was yours! I loved all the quotes you shared. I'm sorry that Briar Rose and TBWTW turned out to not be good; they sounded like the kinds of books I would love. Then again, that's what I thought about I Capture the Castle… :| Oh, I really liked The Maltese Falcon.

Bookwyrm wrote:I wish publishers would embrace the idea that artwork is not just for little kids' books.
This. :-bd (I believe that is the short-attention-span Internet way of saying "I agree wholeheartedly with your statement.") ;)

Enjoy The Hobbit, joy93! It is a great book. :)

ROFL at that Hobbit cover. ;)) Fun covers quiz! I got 21 out of 24, and only because I googled the Stephen Hawking one (and the red wax seal one. I KNEW what it was, I just couldn't remember the whole title!). I only missed Angela's Ashes, She's Come Undone, and The Prophet besides that.

What I've been reading:
Sense & Sensibility: I did like it, but not as much as my first read-through. Marianne irritated me, as did Mrs. Jennings. And Edward didn't seem to be good enough for Elinor. I dunno. I think in this reading I picked it apart too much. And the the Colonel Brandon/Marianne marriage still doesn't make sense/feel right. I still love Elinor, but as of now Persuasion is my favorite. I think it's because it has the least to annoy/disappoint me.
I bought Beyond the Wardrobe: The Official Guide to Narnia from a Christian bookstore because I had gift certificates. It doesn't matter how many Narnia guides I have, if you keep making pretty ones and putting them in the clearance section I will buy them. :P This one (movie tie-in) had some photographs of Lewis I hadn't seen before, and I actually learned a few new things. So that was good. (I also bought Epic by John Elderedge but I haven't read it yet.)
A friend (the one who read The Secret Garden) lent me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because I've decided to read all the HP books. I really liked it; fun read. I want to read the second one but the library has them all except for that one, of course. *shakes fist* X( :((
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane: I went into this book knowing it was going to be good but sad because I'd read two other Kate DiCamillo books (Tiger Rising and The Tale of Despereaux), and I was right. It made me tear up at parts. So good. :(( :ymsigh: :)

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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Lady Haleth » Aug 18, 2010 7:36 am

That cat picture is hilarious! That is our EXACT COPY of The Lord of the Rings! Though I'd have to disagree with him on The Silmarillion.
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby DiGoRyKiRkE » Aug 18, 2010 9:09 am

mar_girl wrote:Same here. I want to read Inkdeath (SUCH a pretty cover), but I think I should probably reread the first two since I tend to forget about characters pretty easily. And she definitely could have made the books shorter.


I don't think you'll need to do that. I read Inkheart back in 2008, and didn't read Inkdeath until last summer. Yet I haven't been confused. Not many old characters have been re-used thus far (except for the main characters of course :P). So far, I am in love with this book. I've got about 150 pages left, and I really don't want the book to come to then end :(
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Meltintalle » Aug 18, 2010 2:23 pm

*has read all the David Eddings pictured in the I'm a book lolcat* ;)) Well, I can't quite identify which ones the green and red are, but I'm 99% sure I've read them. :p
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby shastastwin » Aug 19, 2010 12:01 pm

Wisewoman, I did enjoy QoA very much, and I had forgotten how much good stuff was in it. I think it may have moved up to my favorite book, toppling KoA, which I hope to reread sometime soon.

Booky, I agree with your statement about illustrations. A friend of mine is making some based on characters in my first novel, and I've decided I want at least the hardcovers of my novels (when publishing comes) to be laced with illustrations (some full color and all full page).

I'm still trying to read The Gates of Sleep by Mercedes Lackey, and after that will come Riddle-master, which I've been wanting to read for a while and which that same friend who is drawing my characters is going to read concurrently with me. :) This is all of course going to happen whenever I have a break in my class readings, which will be the day after never. :P
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby wisewoman » Aug 20, 2010 7:50 am

Thanks for your favorite L'Amour titles, Mel. I've wishlisted them on my swap sites and will let you know when I pick one up :)

Kate wrote:Yes. Wisewoman and I disagree on this one. Do NOT go into Villette expecting a Jane Eyre.


We do? I agree with you about not expecting it to be like JE! It does drag a little, it's true ;))

Kate wrote:She is? I don't remember getting that implication at all. I suppose I could probably assume that, Fanny isn't the "Jane Austen type" to [spoiler]stay unmarried for want of love[/i], but I didn't think Austen was very upfront about it.


Oh yes, she is. Surprisingly so. Let me see if I can find the quote... Ah yes, here it is:

Would he {Henry Crawford} have deserved more, there can be no doubt that more would have been obtained, especially when that marriage had taken place, which would have given him the assistance of her conscience in subduing her first inclination, and brought them very often together. Would he have persevered, and uprightly, Fanny must have been his reward, and a reward very voluntarily bestowed, within a reasonable period from Edmund's marrying Mary.


mara wrote:I don't see it as being all that happy (realistic? I guess so). I mean, an ending where it's like, "the worst-case scenario didn't happen to her! Whoo!" doesn't really leave me satisfied. It's all right but not that happy.


I don't think this is textually supportable, though. Consider this, from the last chapter:

His [Edmund's] happiness in knowing himself to have been so long the beloved of such a heart, must have been great enough to warrant any strength of language in which he could clothe it to her or to himself; it must have been a delightful happiness. But there was happiness elsewhere which no description can reach. Let no one presume to give the feelings of a young woman on receiving the assurance of that affection of which she has scarcely allowed herself to entertain a hope.


Also, Fanny doesn't stay "second-class" in anyone's mind. In the last chapter, everyone finally realizes how much they admire her. Fanny is a second choice not through her own faults, but because the people around her have been blinded to her virtues. The whole point of her happy ending is that they finally open their eyes! I think it's lovely :)

stwin wrote:Wisewoman, I did enjoy QoA very much, and I had forgotten how much good stuff was in it. I think it may have moved up to my favorite book, toppling KoA, which I hope to reread sometime soon.


Yay! :D Isn't it just brilliant? I never tire of rereading the Attolia books!

I've been reading oodles of good stuff lately, including Where the Red Fern Grows, Michener's sprawling historical novel Chesapeake, a little biography of sorts of Roald Dahl, and The Castle in the Attic and The Battle for the Castle.

I'm currently listening to Simon the Coldheart by Georgette Heyer on audiobook and am reading Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree. After that I think I will tackle Trollope again, starting with The Warden.

*laughs at all the random irrelevant book covers*
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby DiGoRyKiRkE » Aug 20, 2010 8:08 am

Ouch, Amy. You're reading Where the Red Fern Grows. I'm sorry. I'll be praying for your tear ducts :P It's such a wonderful story, and I loved it when I read it in third grade, but I've never been able to read it again because it's so darn sad.

I've sworn off all books about dogs and cats. . . because they ALWAYS die in the end (e.g. Where the Red Fern Grows, Marley and Me, Dewey the library kitty, etc. . .)
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby wisewoman » Aug 20, 2010 8:12 am

Actually I've already finished it ;)). The link is to my review of it. And yes...
I got a big lump in my throat when they died at the end. I don't think I actually cried though. I had to keep my eyes on the road (I listen to my audiobooks on my commute) ;))


And yeah, I pretty much agree about this kind of book. You know what's coming. I was bracing myself for it the whole time.
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Meltintalle » Aug 20, 2010 1:39 pm

Whenever I re-read Where the Red Fern Grows, I skip the last chapter. :p

DiGs, I suggest you read some of Jim Kjelgaard's dog stories. Or maybe Jack O'Brien. They don't kill off their canine heroes. (Of course, now that I've said that, you'll pick like the one book where they do... not that I know which book that might be, so I can't even warn you against it. ;)) ) They're not 'great literature' but they usually take place in wild places that are fun to read about. You could also read Meindert DeJong's Dirk's Dog, Bello which might be hard to find, but is quite good. *ponders* There's Scout by Julie Nye, not to be confused with the Scout series by Piet Prins (which is also good but rather different). And don't forget Albert Payson Terhune! His Lad books are the most popular. They're based on things that actually happened to him and his wife and his collies and as such there are some sad stories in there Lady becomes roadkill! :(( And if you don't want Lad to die, skip Lad of Sunnybank which ends with Lad dying at a ripe old age many of them are made of awesome. He wrote fiction as well, and A Dog Named Chips is hilariously cute.

Stay away from Helen Griffiths. Every time I read one of her books I wonder why I bothered. Soooooooo depressing. 8-|

Cat stories are hard to find. Of course, there is The Cat and Mrs. Carey and probably the only Helen Griffiths I'd recommend, Moshi Cat. And Mary Stolz has written a few but I think hers are usually bittersweet. (Typical of her work.)

*goes to see where the Terhune books are hiding* I need to visit the Place again. :D
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Liberty Hoffman » Aug 20, 2010 1:48 pm

Meltintalle wrote:Whenever I re-read Where the Red Fern Grows, I skip the last chapter. :p




haha! I do that too! that book is so sad..... I bawled when I first read it and was depressed for days......I don't like it much :(( :p :D
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Re: Books: Chapter One!

Postby Lady Haleth » Aug 20, 2010 4:40 pm

I know. I liked the book in general but I hated that part. :( In fact, that's the problem I have with a lot of animal stories, true or fiction. Why do they always have to tell how the dog dies?
However, I would recommend The Summer of the Monkeys, by the same author, which is very funny and heartwarming. (With a happy ending! :) )
And for a true story, I'd recommend The Dog Who Rescues Cats by Philip Gonzalez (and someone I can't remember). A couple of the cats die over the course of the book, but the dog does not. (The dog did die a while ago, but the book was published while she was still alive, so you don't get the dying dog ending.)
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