I usually don't post here. Odd for being a writer but not necessarily much of a reader per say. But I just finished an impressive book by Douglas Richards called The Devil's Sword. It is about three young fencers who at a regional fencing tournament held in Nellis Air Force Bace are kidnapped and drawn into a complex plot to steal a weapon technology capable of bringing America to its knees. It goes into details about sport fencing in a pretty clear way, but the sport is more of the backdrop to the plot, rather than the emphasis on the plot. Being a fencer, it explains the sport very well and portrays it quite realistically. It is for readers 8-10 and up and pretty hard to set down. I read it the 268 page book in one evening. Great read.

This book has also inspired a story idea I've had for a while but wasn't sure how or when to tackle it. I'm so pumped right now (its half an hour past midnight and I can't sleep) I'm going to get it ready to start quickly. I'll just say spiritual warfare isn't the only topic in fiction I can handle. (see my link for my first book).

I've gone through most of my big stack of books, and I heartily enjoyed it. Halfway through The Two Towers now - I'd better order some more books! I think I enjoyed these three Unfortunate Events books better - I've only read them maybe once, and while some of them are more Unfortunate, some of them were a little bit nicer. The Ersatz Elevator has probably been my favorite so far.

I finally read my first Tintin story! Cigars of the Pharaoh and I Loved it!
And as Peter Jackson mentioned, Loved the slapstick humor in it.
After finally reading one of Tintin's stories I can see how it inspired Naughty Dog (the maker of my favorite video game) when making the Uncharted video game series (see the picture in my sig )!

I have Three Tintin Volumes 2, 3, and 6 each volume contains three stories. Unfortunately I still can't find the volume containing The Secret of the Unicorn!
I think I'll have to buy it on the internet.

I also went to Borders bookstore (who are sadly going out of business) and picked up eight books for a great price!

I picked up:

Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Moby Dick
Paradise Lost

I'm trying to collect all of Roger Lancelyn Green's books.
I managed to get:

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table
Tales of the Greek Heroes
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Tales of Ancient Egypt

Now if I could only find the time to read them all.

I picked up:

Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Moby Dick
Paradise Lost

I just finished Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. One of the best books I've ever read.

Now I'm starting his Space Trilogy. I'm excited, because I've heard a lot of good things about it.

~Riella

That's so exciting, Ithie - all of those books by C.S. Lewis were very thrilling, and I loved them all very much. I want to read Till We Have Faces again sometime . . . . and I feel like I need to read more of his books - I haven't read very many. But I don't know where to start - does anyone have any suggestions of some of his very good books? I don't care what they are, fiction, or no.

I re-read The Lord of the Rings over the summer and The Hobbit. They're just as good as the first time I read them. Every time I read them, I discover something new. A different small plot twist I didn't notice or a different scene where something happened that was cool. Or something. This time, I read the part where Aragorn and Gandalf and Rohan and Gondor decide to attack Saraun. Years ago, my dad ranted an antimated version of FotR and we watched it. Well, the part where the Black Riders try to kill Frodo and Sam and everyone in the inn freaked out my little siblings so we stopped watching it. So my dad told us how it ended.

He told us that

That's one reason I read them over and over and over. What will I get that I didn't get the last time?

Has recently read:

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K.Chesterton--it was...different. I'm not entirely sure I understood all of what Chesterton was saying, but the plot was interesting and thought-provoking if only to try and figure it out. I think I'm going to have to re-read before I can really say any more about it.

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers--loved it. I'm fond of a good who-dun-it mysteries and this one delivered. Death Bredon is a great main character and the many and varied people he meets are also good. I'm going to try more of her books at some point, but I doubt I'll like them as much as this one simply because I'm an advertising major and there's a lot of great advertising stuff in this one.

Midnight Dancers by Regina Doman--a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Definitely not as good as the first of her three fairy-tale novels but still a nice read. I did find myself often wishing that the girls would do something more constructive with their new-found freedom though (like buy a pair of jeans or something).

Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Ciber-thieves by the same--a retelling of (guess what?) Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. I liked it more than Midnight Dancers. Alex and Kateri are both really cool and even though there is a lot of technical talk (not sure how much of it is actually based in fact) it was mostly understandable even to somewhat computer illiterate people like me. I particularly liked De Cat. "Can I Haz Swordfights?"

Today I found two books at my job that made me squeal with excitement: a hard-cover copy of Tolkien's letters and a hard-cover Middle-Earth Atlas. It's so cool! There's maps and geographical descriptions of places in the Silmarillion, Hobbit, and LotR.

Speaking of the Sil, I'm currently reading it. I haven't read it since I was 14. I had forgotten that Gandalf was around during the First Age, and Galadriel's conversation with Frodo in FotR is so much deeper after reading about all the things she did before coming to ME.

Elanor, on the topic of books by C.S. Lewis, I thought Abolition of Man was good. I especially was riveted by the first essay, "Men Without Chests." It is disturbing in places but its a still relevant critique on our education system.

I struggled to read the Abolition of Man. I much preferred to read That Hideous Strength which covers much of the same ground using the readability of fiction.

I really like what I've read of Letters to Malcolm. The Problem of Pain is good too. So is A Grief Observed, though it's very sad.

~Riella

I think I'll try Abolition of Man, even though I did just recently read That Hideous Strength. We'll see what I think.

*puts Fencer's recommendation on her reading list*

Dot, you've just read one of my favourite Lord Peters! Murder Must Advertise is the first one I read as well--though, technically, it was a book on tape. I'd recommend a collection of short stories next; if you can't find a complete collection, I think I'd recommend Lord Peter Views the Body.

Warrior 4 Jesus, I think I read That Hideous Strength too young (I was about 11). I'd finished the Narnia series and found the space trilogy and assumed it would be similar. I have re-read it since but some of the images scared me the first time and still freaked me out when I read it again.

Elanor, I'm interested to see what you think. Especially, what do you think about the Tao? Happy reading.

I am currently reading Rumors of Another World by Phillip Yancey. Some chapters seem better thought than others. But overall I like it. He weaves stories and ideas together really well.

Conina, is that necessarily a bad thing? I think the demonic (the UnMan, Head) are meant to be creepy. If they weren't, I'd be more worried.

I agree, that the creepiness was supposed to play a main part in all three books - if you didn't find it weird, I don't think you'd be getting the right impression. And I admit, I like creepy books.