Purpleotter, you could try the Mistmantle series by M.I. McAllister. There are five books: Urchin of the Riding Stars, Urchin and the Heartstone, The Heir of Mistmantle, Urchin and the Raven War, and Urchin and the Rage Tide. They don't have quite as many different kinds of animals as Redwall does (mostly squirrels, hedgehogs, moles, and otters, with swans and ravens appearing as well). But they're still really good. They have a lot of intrigue, mystery, action scenes, and funny characters.

Purpleotter, you could try the Mistmantle series by M.I. McAllister. There are five books: Urchin of the Riding Stars, Urchin and the Heartstone, The Heir of Mistmantle, Urchin and the Raven War, and Urchin and the Rage Tide. They don't have quite as many different kinds of animals as Redwall does (mostly squirrels, hedgehogs, moles, and otters, with swans and ravens appearing as well). But they're still really good. They have a lot of intrigue, mystery, action scenes, and funny characters.

Thanks I'll check those out.

Purpleotter, I don't know how similar this is to the Redwall series, but the Warriors series by Erin Hunter are good animal stories. They're about cats, instead of the wide variation that the Redwall series had, but I still enjoyed them. They're basically about these cats, which live in clans. They're fairly good books-having interesting characters and a fair amount of action. There's also the Seekers series, by the same author, which I've actually only read the first book(or most of it), but is about bears.

A few days ago, i read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I'd heard about it, and knew most of the big plot twists, but i figured i should give it a shot.

Well. I don't know if i can say i was disappointed, since from the start it didn't strike me as a book i would adore. Writing-wise, it was pretty good. It fell under the category of "English books that refer a lot to plants", which since i know virtually nothing about plants was a little irritating, but the descriptions were not completely unimaginable.

It managed to conjure up something of an atmosphere for me, which is impressive - i have very funny standards that way; even i can't completely understand them - but i thought the "villains" were somewhat lacking. I can't be too hard on it, though: part of my dislike stems from the fact that all the ... evil, so to speak, was completely ordinary, but any supernatural elements likely would have come across as overdone.

I think i'll give the Olivier/Fontaine adaption a look (especially since it does away with the most morally objectionable aspect of it), but i don't think i'll read the book again. Not a complete waste of time, though.

I've read practically nothing save my Bible and devotional for the past semester because my sisters recently moved out of the house and took all of their books with them, leaving me in the horrifying realization that my library is practically nonexistent. I don't have so much as a Jane Austen novel. I believe I could list almost all of my books right now.

Depressing? I think yes. All of the books I own I purchased for either school or our church denomination's youth conferences. I only have two books that I purchased for sheer enjoyment. This Christmas my parents gave me a gift card for Amazon and I used it all to purchase five books. Yaaaay!!

I was originally going to spend my money purchasing new music for next semester, but my mom decided that she would like to buy any music I would use in school and let me spend my money on something that I simply wanted. So, I went ahead and bought Regina Doman's Shadow of The Bear, Waking Rose, and Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Cyber-Thieves and then Karen Hancock's The Enclave and Arena. My list of books lacking in my library is beginning to diminish ever so slightly.

For any of you who are Ted Dekker fans - he's giving away a free book to everyone - it's the first one in his latest series.

For those who haven't read Dekker - this would be a good way to see if you like him.

http://unbouncepages.com/identitydownload/

I'm getting into the DragonKeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul. I'm on the first book, DragonSpell. I read fast so I'll be on the second one before I know it

Currently re-reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in preparation for the miniseries coming eventually.

Parableproductions, that's actually Part 1 of his latest book. I downloaded Identity a couple days ago but haven't read it yet.

Bone is a hefty tome comprised of 9 volumes that make up one huge epic fantasy, a humorous adventure totaling 1,332 pages. It's the largest graphic novel I've read since Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki (itself an excellent read).

The story is largely character-driven and revolves around three cousins, the Bones. They resemble, well, nothing. They're vaguely humanoid but are almost featureless and look like something out of a Sunday morning newspaper comic. The Bones have very distinct roles. Fone Bone is the every man, Phoney Bone is the trouble-maker and Smiley Bone means well but is easily swayed to do the wrong thing. There are numerous other characters, the most important being a teenage girl called Thorn and her Grandma, Rose. Much of the humour is derived from two not-so-evil Rat Creatures who love to eat quiche.

Towards the beginning, the story is largely character-driven and played for laughs but as it progresses, the story kicks into high-gear and there is more at stake. While the adventure turns increasingly darker (ala The Lord of the Rings), it never altogether abandons it's distinctive character-driven humour.

The artwork in Bone is consistently very good and the story is generally well-written but at times, the pacing is off. There are also some spelling and grammar mistakes and elements of the story could've be more original. Finally, I didn't care for the kangaroo-humanoid design of the Great Red Dragon. Overall, Bone is a great read.

Not recommended for young children.
Bone contains: moderate fantasy violence and some disturbing imagery (and many jokes that would go over their heads).

8/10

The Sanctuary is an evil, evil book. And by that I mean it's a terribly dark and intense read, perhaps Ted Dekker's most realistic and disturbing story to date. The book continues Renee Gilmore's and Danny Hansen's story as told in The Priest's Graveyard and is largely set in a State Corrections Facility. Heavy themes therein don't make for light or necessarily enjoyable reading (more than a few times I felt sick to the stomach and later, convicted) but they're important and the book is difficult to put down.

The main characters are well-realised and the Christian worldview shines through loud and clear, without being preachy (although the Epilogue undoes some of that). Maybe I've read too many Ted Dekker novels or just too many thrillers in general but I saw the final twist a mile away (not that it lessened my admiration for the book). To say any more would spoil it for the reader.

Just a warning, The Sanctuary is rather violent and disturbing but the book doesn't glorify evil, it brings the evil into the light and in the process examines sinful humanity and prison systems via the nature of Law and Grace and Judgement and Redemption. My friends, after a number of average books in the last few years, it's great to see that Ted Dekker is finally back in fine form!

Finally, there are a number of spelling mistakes and some strange metaphors used but overall The Sanctuary is a very good read. Just be sure to follow your reading of the book with something light and cheerful.

7.5/10

Warrior 4 Jesus - good to see another Dekker fan. I knew that the free book is book one in the series - I thought that was what I said. I think this is a really good way to see if you like the author.

Dekker does get quite intense in most of his work, but I really like his writing. The Circle Series, The Lost Books, and The Paradise Series are favorites. (When I read "Showdown" the first time I was working at a daycare and was reading while I was patting one of the kids trying to get them to go to sleep - I suddenly realized I was patting the kid with a little more "umph" than I intended - not hurting them, just not the pat that would lull them to sleep. I had to switch to reading Janette Oke while trying to get the kids to sleep!)

I'm currently listening to the unabridged versions Chronicles of Narnia whenever I'm in the car. While at the office, I'm listening to the Harry Potter books. I'm also doing a read the Bible in 90 days program. As soon as I have time, I'm going to start on the Dekker book that I downloaded.

No harm done. I've read all of Ted Dekker's books save the non-fiction Muslim dialogue one and The Drummer Boy. My favourites are definitely Thr3e, The Circle Quartet and the Paradise novels. I feel Dekker had dropped the ball (most of the time) these past few years, but it's good to see he's back again.

I'm going to be taking a unit on Shakespeare next semester too, although I'm pretty sure we'll have books assigned to us. Not that I'm any expert on S'peare, (I've watched his work more than read it) but I do really like and recommend The Merchant of Venice. (...) I think his romance stories are a bit, erm (at the risk of sounding sacreligious) silly?

Thanks for the suggestion. I currently have Macbeth, so I'll go with The Merchant of Venice next. That one's a comedy, correct? If so, good - I agree with you on his romance stories. I tried reading Romeo and Juliet because it was the only Shakespeare lying around.... yeah, never doing that again.

So has anyone else put together a reading list for 2013?

Just a few of mine:

-The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien (have read, but a while ago, and might as well read it with the others to do it properly)
-The Two Towers – ” “
-Return of the King – ” “
-War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
-The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (reread)
-Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome (was halfway done with it and then someone at the library requested it. Oh, when people want the book you have, too, and snatch it from you early... but then you want to talk to the person because they've been reading the same book as you. )

We went to the library yesterday, and after like three months I was able to roam about the shelves with freedom to search for things to read.
What I got:
The Man Who Was Thursday. I'm attempting to read it again.
War and Peace - The Modern Library edition. I didn't put any specific one on hold and just got this one because it was there (and was substantially lighter than the blue hardback copy that was also there), but I don't know how good it is translation-wise. I'm finding it much easier to read than I last did when I tried to read it two/three years ago, but I don't like the way some names are spelled ("Andrey", for instance, for "André") and there's no index to tell me who the characters are related to. Additionally, to the name thing, there's inconsistency with what people are called... although, if I recall, in the original, the character's names are written differently at random?
The Lacemaker and the Princess (reread) - a book about a fictional character who was friends with the Princess Royale of Versailles, Therese, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's oldest child. It's a fantastic historical fiction. I read it almost four years ago, so it was interesting to see my impressions of it now compared to when I initially read it. I liked it and understood it better this time around, though there are a few things in it I'm nitpicky about. I finished this one yesterday in one sitting.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (reread)

Double post, sorry! It has been more than 24 hours, and I really had to post because I wanted to ask for help.

I just finished The Man Who Was Thursday. The book sufficiently beat me up. I have so much to say about it and so many questions about it. I can't believe it. First of all, on the simplest comment, the writing style is brilliant. Chesterton really, really mastered strong usage of writing. Everything is properly and sufficiently said, and the dialogue is perfect. The humor in the lines is unbelievable ("Just the Syme!" "My aunt did not play Wagner well.") -- did he take a time portal to the 21st century and see what would make us laugh?!
The plot itself is very interesting.
So, that was a condensed version. I was so on-edge about this book; I finished it in less than three days. Could someone explain it in detail to me? I'll give you... chocolate and things like that.
Oh, and another update.... I've completed 1/13th of War and Peace.

I really enjoyed "The Man Who Was Thursday". I've read it twice and plan on reading it a second time. At times the book was very confusing and some parts were a little dull (towards the beginning) but overall, it's brilliant. I don't know how to explain the story, it almost defies explanation but you need to understand it in the context of the times Chesterton wrote it. He wrote it during a great faith crisis. He was struggling with many doubts about his Christian faith and exorcising some of his personal demons in this very surreal metaphysical satire, spy thriller/adventure novel. Following this book he wrote "Orthodoxy". So it must've worked well. Go fig.

The Man Who Was Thursday was probably one of the most enjoyable books I have read. I do plan on rereading it.

I don't know how to explain the story, it almost defies explanation

No wonder Chesterton was called the prince of paradox. I encounter parardox in the book, and even in reflecting on the book.
There were sentences in the book that were almost undecipherable and needed to be dwelled on and reread several times.

Ah, the background for the book paints a clearer picture. He did a fantastic job, at any rate.