I'm in the same boat about Russian history - and the best part is that I recently finished Les Mis, which has a different perspective regarding the Napoleonic wars, so I'm trying not to get too confused.

And then when you are done that, do be sure to read Vanity Fair, which likewise covers the Napoleonic Wars, although not as extensively as War and Peace, and from a British perspective. Then you'll have the French, Russian, and British perspectives. Perhaps after that you could find Austrian and Prussian novels set in that era, as well. If you do, be sure to let me know.

I am almost done re-reading Sense and Sensibility, which I have been enjoying.

Well, I finished TMWWT today at work, and I have to say I enjoyed it pretty well. The narrator did a great job of capturing voices for all of the characters. I was a bit baffled by the last chapter or two, though, so I may go back and actually read those through gutenberg.org so I can get a better idea of what happened. I had to do this with the opening chapter as well. I'll probably reread/re-listen to this one sometime.

Arwenel, I read Mistborn several months ago and enjoyed it. I haven't had a chance to finish the trilogy, much less read any other of Sanderson's books, but I bought the second and third books on a recent trip and look forward to reading them as time permits.

Yay!

Still on my Sanderson kick -- i'm working my way through The Way of Kings, bought an e-book version of his novella Legion, and read one of his earlier novels Warbreaker which is available for free on his website.

Legion is possibly his shortest work thus far; it could have been a little longer, as a few plot points are left unresolved, but the story isn't really about the plot. It's about a man, Stephen Leeds, who is a schizophrenic with remarkably vivid and quirky hallucinations, all of whom are experts in various fields -- J.C. the Navy seal, Ivy the psychiatrist, Audrey the handwriting analyst, etc. The concept didn't sound too interesting to me at first, but i read the available excerpt and had to buy it -- it's hilarious, and the hallucinations are all characters in their own right.

It's already been "optioned", though i'm not sure if that's for TV or for a movie. Either way i'm definitely hoping it gets made, because it has the potential to be great as either.

Warbreaker, while a more typical Sanderson story, is lighter in tone than some of his other books. I'll probably be buying it in hardcover or something here shortly.

It's kind of awkward that this is the one available for free, not because it's poor quality or anything, but because it has the most objectionable/questionable content i've seen in his books. Don't get me wrong, it's not dirty or profane or gory, but there's a fair amount of sexual innuendo, several of the main characters are believed by many to be gods, and one character is consistently described (though not in detail) as wearing seriously immodest clothing. But if you're okay with anything that might show up in a PG-13 movie (since you don't actually see anything and very little is described, i would consider it a very soft PG-13), i recommend it.

On a not-Brandon Sanderson note, i tried to read War and Peace a while back -- i got part of the way through, but it didn't capture my interest enough to last me through a chapter describing a battle.

I read The Man Who Was Thursday a while ago as well. I liked it at the start -- especially when Gabriel Syme

And then when you are done that, do be sure to read Vanity Fair, which likewise covers the Napoleonic Wars, although not as extensively as War and Peace, and from a British perspective. Then you'll have the French, Russian, and British perspectives. Perhaps after that you could find Austrian and Prussian novels set in that era, as well. If you do, be sure to let me know.

Yes, I was meaning to get Vanity Fair, after reading about it in English Lit. and then seeing you were reading it! That sounds like a very thorough look at that era of history, through literature at least. Haha, yes, I'll let you know! I think it might be helpful to also read a few history books on it, too.

Well, I made it past the first chapter of War and Peace. I've lost count at how many times I've read the soiree at Anna Pavovlna's house over these three years. But I got a better picture of the characters. I'm still interested in it at this point! Pressing on.

Shastastwin, I had to do the same thing - I had to reread select parts from the book over again until I finally understood it.

Arwenel, what was it about the end that you found weird? That was somewhat my intial response to it, too. I thought the whole thing was sort of in vain. But after reading it a few times, I think it clicked. I definitely need a reread, though.

Arwenel, what was it about the end that you found weird? That was somewhat my intial response to it, too. I thought the whole thing was sort of in vain. But after reading it a few times, I think it clicked. I definitely need a reread, though.

Well, first

I was probably skimming some -- bad habit of mine, i know -- but also it's been years since i read it, so memory isn't the clearest. I've tried to read some of Chesterton's other stuff, but he really just isn't to my taste.

Finished The Way of Kings (by Brandon Sanderson, of course). When you pick up a 1000+ page book that is the first in a projected ten-book series, you can probably expect that you'll need to re-read it again to pick up everything you missed. I've spent probably more than an hour scouring a fan wiki trying to make sense of various aspects of the book, and i'm still not sure how much i understand.

It was really good, though. Parts of the book were not the type of things that i found particularly interesting, but the writing was engaging enough that the story didn't drag and i didn't find myself getting sick of certain characters or story-lines. It also struck a good balance between predictability and uncertainty -- i've read a few books where i was conscious i had no idea where the story was going, and it was an odd feeling; while i was surprised by some of the twists in The Way of Kings, i never had that feeling, which was nice.

Sanderson is, in my opinion, a fantastic world-builder, and though the story was mostly focused on one particular culture he did a great job giving glimpses of the other ones in existence, and i look forward to reading about them in other books.

I finally finished Metro 2033, and felt it was a really great book with great characters, imaginative setting, complex plot, and at times some really terrible translation. The book is so wonderfully atmospheric that I can think of no one who wouldn't be dragged into this tale head first. The protaganist of the book, Artyom, leaves his home station in the Russian Metro system, which has become one of the last bastions of humankind in Russia after a nuclear war ravaged the surface of the planet rendering it inhospitable to humanity. His station has been coming under increasing incursion by an almost alien race of mutants from the surface called "dark ones", who have dark black skin, pupil-less eyes, tentacles, and horrifying psionic abilities. He leaves his home station on a quest to reach Polis, the cultural and political leadership located in the distant center of the Moscow metro, but his travels end up taking him along tunnel systems overrun by seemingly paranormal entities spawned by the metro itself, or Fascist groups calling themselves the "Fourth Reich", or through the Communist "Red Line" that runs through the middle of the metro. Artyom engages in a series of adventures that read much like Dawn Treader, actually, in that they are individual adventures set in a general book-wide plot (the goal of which is to save Artyom's tiny home station on the periphery of the massive metro system, and eventually the whole of the metro itself), but the adventures generally have little to do with one another as they progress.

I loved this book! I am definitely going to be purchasing the video game they made of the book and will eagerly purchase the follow up novel Metro 2034, if they ever make an English version of it. I would LOVE to talk to wild_rose and De-de about location names and general Moscow geography (Artyom makes a trip or two to the surface for short periods) and perhaps a ton of other general purpose questions too! If you like Sci-Fi, I have absolutely no doubt that you'll enjoy this book. It does have a very dark atmosphere (something Russian/formerly Soviet Sci-Fi is famous for) but this really just adds to the experience. Some profanity in the book but nothing lewd that I can really remember. 4 1/2 stars out of 5!

I understand, Arwenel. Sometimes Chesterton writes things, and I have to do a double take and remind myself again what literary era he lived in, because he really deviates from the popular writing style back then.

Well, I finished Catching Fire. I enjoyed the main storyline -

I recently read another book called Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. It was about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings' children. It was a really eye-opening book. The author does a very good job depicting the ostensibly awkward relationships and capturing the unfortunate facts of life. The thing I appreciated about the book is that the author seems to simply just lay the facts before and then make the reader conclude what they see. My opinion on it was different than the author's depiction, but she brought up many points of view that it was possible to ponder them all... if that makes sense.
Several characters express opinions on the matter, and it is really up to the reader to make up his or her own opinion. It ended heart-rendingly. I got teary, and it's hard for a book to make me in just one four-sentence paragraph. The conclusion was very powerfully written, and the author drove home her point with good ol' "show vs. tell."

To add to more sad books, I read The Man from the Other Side by Uri Orlev. It is a translation of a Hebrew book written about the author's friend's life in occupied Poland. It had two inappropriate sections which I'd warn about before reccommending it, but the book was interesting, being a true story. I did not agree with some philosophies brought up in it as well, and it's not my favourite or anything, but I mean, it was more a biography than a story, so it was what it was.

Now I need something lighthearted.

I understand, Arwenel. Sometimes Chesterton writes things, and I have to do a double take and remind myself again what literary era he lived in, because he really deviates from the popular writing style back then.

...

Now I need something lighthearted.

I get the feeling Chesterton and Charles Williams would have got on well together. Williams' books sometimes do that for me.

Glad to hear you liked Catching Fire.

I know the feeling of needing something lighthearted. I'm currently in the middle of 3 very heavy and/or saddening books: All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg (a memoir), Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher (in which there's a huge civil and martial war on), and A Clash of Kings by G.R.R. Martin (which I'm listening to at work, and which has several wars on in addition to all the less savory aspects of Martin's storytelling, including several scenes I wouldn't care to read, watch, write, or listen to ). I'm planning on listening to The Horse and His Boy once I've finished that one, since it will be my newest audio book and I'll need something much more enriching after spending 30+ hours in Martin's world.

I read the last book i ordered, His Majesty's Dragon. On the whole, i liked it quite a bit, but while i think i'd like to read the sequels i'm not sure i'd like to buy them. I'm not really sure why ...

A few things bugged me about it, i know. The classicism wasn't atrocious, and was certainly accurate to the period, but i found it grating whenever it appeared anyway. I definitely would've appreciated spending more time with the other characters, especially Harcourt, Granby, and Berkley. And of course the casual attitude toward sex.

That being said, i really did like it. It took a little while to adjust to, but once Laurence and Temeraire started bonding it went faster; the relationships between (almost) all the dragons and their handlers were adorable.

I'm thinking about reading the Wingfeather saga next; not any time soon, unfortunately, due to issues of money, but soon-ish. Has anyone here read those books?

I finished Rosemary Sutcliff's The Sword and the Circle, the first in her Arthurian trilogy. It was good, and had a few stories that I hadn't heard of before. (The other two books are The Light Beyond the Forest, and The Road to Camlann).
I'm also rereading Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman: A Tale of the Crusades. It's a very interesting and exciting story, (if a bit wordy),but unfortunately the book is out of print. I found it at the library, and the edition is really old.

With the Enders Game adaptation coming out later this year I'm really interested in the books. Has anyone here read them? What did you think of them?

I really enjoyed Ender's Game. If you go in expecting large scale fleet battles and dogfights in space you'll be disappointed though since most of the book is spent in Battle School where youngsters like Ender are being trained into the next super-genius General/Admiral. I really enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing it on the big screen!

Card had apparently conceptualized and mentally plotted out Speaker of the Dead, EG's direct sequel, and wrote the latter so that he could proceed with the former. SotD is primarily concerned with a new sentient race discovered on a backwater world and how humanity will deal with them. Meanwhile, even though it's several millenia later, Ender is still lurking about the galaxy and awaiting a chance to right a terrible wrong he committed when he was younger, and finds it with this new species. It was a good book but very different in tone and subject matter from its predecessor, and it took me a bit of time to get into it. I'm curious about the followup to this book too but haven't gotten around to borrowing it out of the library yet. Hope that helps a bit!

Agreed, Ender's Game is fantastic. I don't personally like Orson Scott Card, but this book in particular is a very well written and thought-provoking story.

Still on my Sanderson kick -- i'm working my way through The Way of Kings, bought an e-book version of his novella Legion, and read one of his earlier novels Warbreaker which is available for free on his website.

Sanderson was recommended to me on Amazon. For people here who've read him, Which of his books would you say is the best to start with?
I recently read the Twilight saga for the first time ever. It just really wasn't my cup of tea. However, I really enjoyed Stephenie Meyers book The Host. I get a sense that the story screaming to be told out of this woman is one of motherhood and death. If/when she gets through these sensational best sellers to write it.

Still on my Sanderson kick -- i'm working my way through The Way of Kings, bought an e-book version of his novella Legion, and read one of his earlier novels Warbreaker which is available for free on his website.

Sanderson was recommended to me on Amazon. For people here who've read him, Which of his books would you say is the best to start with?

The Mistborn trilogy -- The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages -- was my first experience with Sanderson, and i'd say it's probably a good place to start. If an epic trilogy sounds like a bit much for an introduction, the standalone story Warbreaker is available for free on his website (brandonsanderson.com), though as i noted in a previous post it has slightly more questionable content than most of his other works.

If you do start reading him, i hope you'll post your thoughts about them. So far as i know, there's only one other person here who has read anything by Sanderson.

Thanks to an iPod app, i've been reading some old books -- Call of the Wild (re-read), Our Mutual Friend, and Dear Enemy which is a sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs. I finished the last one; i don't think it was quite as good as the first book, but it was a decent light read.

While on vacation, my sister and i took turns reading aloud chapters from Our Mutual Friend, but now that we're home i don't think we're going to be able to find the time to do that. I find Dickens is best read aloud, so i'll just have to read to one of my stuffed animals or the dog or something.

Mistborn. Okay, I'll check out come paycheck Friday.