I did enjoy it, Wagga; it was different than I expected, but not in a bad way. I think they meant contemporary in the sense of "not historical;" but I'd have to agree that they don't feel the same as what I think of as contemporary fiction--they have a sense of antiquity, of a lost age, of an era that is long past, almost fairytalesque.

I like a biography that presents the faults of the person as well. No one wants to read something that falsely lauds the subject to the skies. But there is a way of handling such matters that makes it tasteful, as opposed to how that particular book was done.

"Authoritative sources say..." You're right, how do we know that they are truly reliable? It behoves one to check everything.

I’ve read a few Grace Livingston Hill (1865-1947) books. She's also melodramatic, but I still enjoy some of her stories. Lo Michael! is a favorite. Yet I don’t remember An Unwilling Guest, another favorite, being melodramatic. The writing, characters, and plot seemed almost modern.

I had the chance to acquire a complete collection of GL Hill at one time. The lady was moving and didn't want to take it with her. I waffled and considered and debated and dithered, and didn't get them in the end. I've always wondered since if I should have taken up the offer, as they were all a matched set and in very good condition. The author I like better, though, was her aunt, Isabella Alden, also known as "Pansy." Now her books I would snap up in an instant, were they offered in such a fashion.

POLL: in children's literature, who is your favorite author and what's your favorite book?

Far too hard a question--just one? I collect children's lit, so I might be able to narrow it down to a dozen, if I was really sparing

I was reading Richer By India, an account of an American missionary family in India, a few months ago and two thirds of the way through she mentioned that she had been in charge of reorganizing the library. ...And that was pretty much all there was on the subject. It sounded like an epic project, too, so surely it could have merited a few more words.

I can vouch for "reorganising the library" being an epic project. Before I retired last year that sentence just about summed up my working life. No wonder the author you mentioned didn't feel like discussing it.

POLL: in children's literature, who is your favorite author and what's your favorite book?

I think that my answer would be completely explained by my presence here at all, to tell the truth. To elucidate, I probably loved Enid Blyton when I was younger, and I adored the illustrations of Norman Lindsay's Magic Pudding, even though it took me years to figure out what the Coromandel was or The Strand mentioned in one of the epic sailors' songs sung by Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff. But LWW, which I first heard of at a young age, has had more impact on my life than any of these books.

The school I first attended insisted on us learning three hymns. One was Nearer my God to thee, which was so memorably played when the Titanic went down over a century ago. The others were Lead kindly light and, most importantly, Abide with me. So we all sobbed our little hearts out when this hymn was sung by Meg to console her sister, Judy,'s pain, when she died saving their little brother's life, in Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians, Australia's answer to What Katy did, Anne of Green Gables and, maybe, Little Women. Seven Little Australians, The Magic Pudding and a Victorian (1833) monstrosity called The Basket of Flowers were available from the bookshelf in the Sick Bay dayroom, not the library, where schoolmates could borrow LWW.

Once I left that school, I read a lot more children's books, including the entire CON, especially when I spent a couple of years in what we called an opportunity class, which had a small collection of books at the back of our classroom that the teacher encouraged us to read. As well as Charles Dickens, these books included Moby Dick and Jules Verne's books as well as Robin Hood and Treasure Island. Ongoing reading of such titles was handy a decade later, when I did a Children's Literature subject as part of my Librarianship Certificate. During this TAFE course I was introduced to considerably more Children's Books, including Tolkien's The Hobbit, and then to The Lord of the Rings, which entranced me.

I did keep returning, again & again, to children's literature, including CON, especially when my own children were growing up. All of them learned to love to read, at any rate. As well as CON & LOTR, they read Paula Danziger, Judy Blume and Maurice Gee, a New Zealand author. And the day before I finally was awarded my Master's degree, I fell in love with JK.Rowling's Harry Potter series. I wouldn't say I've abandoned her, entirely, as she, too, has moved on into Adult Fiction from those days. But all through, I kept coming back to the Narnia series, especially when Prince Caspian was produced and there was some doubt about the VDT sequel being filmed at all. At that time, I joined NarniaWeb, instead of merely watching the PC trailer attached to it at that time.

they have a sense of antiquity, of a lost age, of an era that is long past, almost fairytalesque.

Yes, that sentence sums it up completely for me. This morning I remembered to change the calender to August, and found myself thinking that the new Spanish picture, the Alcazar of Segovia, looks remarkably like how the illustrations of Windri Castle appeared in my book, the Woods of Windri, a Christmas present which I kept all these years.

Currently, my reading is somewhat more adult. I've finished The Poisoned Crown, and have just started on the Royal Succession, the next one of Maurice Druon's Accursed Kings series. One thing I have enjoyed with this historical fiction series are the historic footnotes, which explain at length what was going on at that time from 1314 AD onwards, in French history. The next one in the series is She Wolf , about the English Queen of Edward II, whose relationship to France's Philip IV, who died in 1314 AD, explains so much about the 100 years' war, the French relationship to both England & Scotland, and the subsequent history of France, right up to the eventual French Revolution.

Today i finished Ruins by Orson Scott Card, which is a sequel to the book Pathfinder that came out in 2010. The third and final book is supposed to come out later this year.

It's a sci-fi series, involving time travel, politics, weird scientific consequences, and an entire world in danger of destruction. I have to say, i liked the first one much more than the second one - and even then i liked it better in its earlier stages. Card is obviously very knowledgeable, but it's frustrating to see a book become less and less about the characters and more and more about physics, time travel, morality, etc. By the end of Ruins i was so disconnected i'm not sure i'm going to read the third one. If you like Orson Scott Card-style sci-fi, though, they're a decent read.

Now i need something else to read, at least until Brandon Sanderson's next book comes out (or the Alcatraz books [also by Sanderson] i ordered show up) ...

I have three books on the go right now. I'm re-reading Till We Have Faces and The Four Loves - both by C. S. Lewis (but you knew that ) - simultaneously. They're complimentary to each other, because they each explore the nature of love. I've actually found both really enlightening this time around. They've given me some things to think about.

I'm also slowly making my way through the Annals of Tacitus.

Biographies: my distaste has mostly to do with content; I just find them boring. Although I prefer books on ideas and events, I love historical fiction best; minor characters are caught up in great events and meet great people (both heroes and villains). In this vein, I highly recommend April Morning (1961), My Brother Sam is Dead (1978), and James Fenimore Cooper’s The Spy (1821). All are set during the American Revolution. Regarding historical theory, it’s also a question of balance. Some people make things happen; others are trapped in those events. The best example is war, in which innocent boys kill each other at the whim of kings, tyrants, and generals. Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong (1993), which I started reading this week, portrays this truth very well.

Children’s literature: I don’t have any favorite authors, but I love fairy tales best. I once owned a book of seven fairy tales from around the world; “Cap O’ Reeds” was and is my favorite. I also like The Hobbit and the Narnia books. Kipling’s Kim (1901) is pretty good too. And I love Little Women.

wagga: you did a Children's Literature subject for your Librarianship Certificate? Very nice!

Other books I'm reading: Death Comes to Pemberley (2011) - morbid; The Giver (1993) - enchanting, disturbing, and lyrical.

I finished The Giver (1993) on Saturday, Number the Stars (1989) yesterday. I didn’t know Denmark was so kind to its Jewish population during World War II. I still remember reading Lowry’s first novel A Summer to Die (1977) in middle school, on my own. I was never assigned any of her books in school.

I began Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2006) this morning, having watched the DVD months ago. I don’t like the atheistic portrayal of Death, the narrator, but the writing is superb. Clearly I love World War II fiction and films.

So I know what I'm putting on my Christmas list this year. The Ball and the Cross by G. K. Chesterton. You know, the edition illustrated by Ben Hatke. I can't really imagine anything better than pairing Chesterton with Hatke's zany illustrations.

220, have you read Robert Elmer's Young Underground and Promise of Zion series? Your mention of WWII and Denmark (though now I'm second guessing myself if it's Denmark or Norway) reminded me of how much I enjoyed them. There's also Star of Danger by Jane Whitbred Levin and Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus if you want to go on a WWII in Scandanavia binge. And if you're interested in the French Resistance, Lucie Aubrac wrote down some of her memories as a member in Outwitting the Gestapo. (And makes a cameo appearance in Elizabeth Wein's novel Code Name Verity.) ...I could go on, but I'll stop now I guess.

EDIT: Speaking of the Ruritanian and Prince and the Pauper tropes, I randomly picked up the The Princess in the Opal Mask by Jenny Lundquist. It's a fantasy with a bit more 18th century feel and some echoes of Les Miserables. It also invoked a few more of my favorite things... dressmaker's shops and masked heroines... so I was a happy little reader. The sequel is coming out in November but this stood solidly on its own so it'll be interesting to see how the looser threads are picked up again.

Meltintalle: I plan to write a blog post on September 1 about literature and films set in World War II Poland (it's the 75th anniversary of the German invasion), which requires a lot of reading, so I’ll save Scandinavia for later. But thank you for the suggestions! I haven’t heard those authors or titles before. As a child, I remember reading a YA novel about Norwegian kids saving their country’s gold from the Nazis. Is this fact or fiction?

I read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles while I was on vacation and absolutely loved it. Bradbury sets up a bit of a Martian mythology of sorts; a Martian civilization on the decline. Still highly intelligent and focused, no longer warring with one another, and one focused on the arts and science and all things beautiful. In comes Man in a series of expeditions to explore and conquer the red planet and settle it, leading to inevitable contact (and all too often clashes) with the Martian natives. Bradbury has woven together a tapestry of short stories that tells a very enjoyable tale soaked in philosophy and sets it against the zenith of one culture which finds itself being slowly taken over by another with its own problems. The short stories are interconnected in several ways and characters you read about in one portion may appear in another later on. The Illustrated Man was filled with wonderful short stories of the same type but they were not at all related other than being a part of the daily stories told by the Illustrated Man's uh...illustrations. . It's a short read, and a deeply gratifying one and I must recommend it. 4 1/2 stars.

Coincidentally there was a miniseries based on this work made in the 70's with no less than Rock Hudson portraying Captain Wilder throughout. As I read the book I began to remember several of the vignettes portrayed in the miniseries. I may have to check that out again.

EDIT: I almost forgot, I read another great sci-fi book. The Witches of Karres by James Schmitz.

The image on the cover above captures the spirit of the book better than I can describe . This is old-school space opera, filled with raucous aliens, space pirates, interdimensional robot conquerors, a nosy Imperial government, and a trio of highly suspicious preteen girls who seem to have psionic abilities and extremely quirky personalities. The plot is kind of goofy at times and nearly impossible to describe but what makes this story so wonderful is the character interaction and the humor sprinkled throughout. It's a fun little book which managed to get a (well deserved) Hugo nomination in 1967. Shtwin, you'd really like this book I think and really recommend you give it a look. It's not high literature, just plain old fun space adventure. What a great movie this would make! 5 stars!

I'm glad to hear that you liked The Martian Chronicles, SL. It certainly has some of Bradbury's best stories in it. I'll have to look up that miniseries. I've been wanting to watch it for a while as my copy of the book features a cover with pictures from the miniseries.

I'll keep an eye out for that one, as well. It certainly does look like fun. Apparently a few other authors have banded together to produce a couple of sequels to it, but I'll likely hold back on those at first.

I am currently in the middle of no less than four or five books, depending on the day. For nighttime reading, I have Randy Alcorn's Heaven, which I am reading on high recommendation from our own Dr. Elwin Ransom, and A Gift of Dragons, which is the latest Pern book I've borrowed from my friend. It collects four short stories and novellas, and I had read the first story, "The Smallest Dragonboy," in school years ago. I didn't think much of it then, but it makes a great deal more sense now. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the story since characters from the first two stories in this collection show up in some of the later Pern books.

At work, I am listening through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I tried re-reading the books in anticipation of the last book or two being released, but the first book or so moves very slowly, a fact I didn't mind when coming into them fresh and gobbling up the bulk of the series on my first run. Listening to the audio books should at least help me get to what I think of as the really exciting bits in the middle (books 3-8). I also read a Kindle book on my lunch break. I'm almost through Sense and Sensibility, and I'm quite relieved to be so close to done. It moves at a snail's pace compared to P&P, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed this one as well, but it dragged. The plot and characters are good, but the narration ... meh.

I also keep a book in the living room for casual reading in the afternoon/evening. At the moment, this is an omnibus of Ray Bradbury's collections The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket called Classic Stories 1. It has had a few stories that I've really enjoyed and some that are not so fantasy-styled as I expect from Bradbury. There are a few Mars stories (most of which were in The Martian Chronicles), so that's always fun. There are also a couple of stories that show up in his novel From the Dust Returned. It's kind of fun to see these stories that Bradbury later connects into novels.

Ahhh, I am so glad you have Heaven, shastastwin! A marvelous, solid book of great hope, dispelling some popular misconceptions. And of course, above all, it is Biblically-based.

So, awhile ago a few of us were talking about Ray Bradbury (Bella, st, SL), and I thought I had saved our conversation for future reference, but I can't find it. Therefore, I need a refresher: what books of his should I begin with?

I had a substantial amount of gift cards to Chapters from my birthday in the spring and finally made the trip. With these I got:

*The Thirty-nine Steps and Greenmantle by John Buchan

*True Grit by Charles Portis

*the first massive volume (of three) of The Last Lion, a comprehensive biography on Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester, covering the years 1874 - 1932. I hope to purchase the other two down the road, both equally as huge. Tim Challies, the well-known blogger, recently recommended these and since I am a rather large fan of that British Bulldog ...

*From the Mixed-up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

*Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: I can't believe I have never read this, and am so eager to get into it.

Currently I have nearly finished a re-read of Pilgrim's Progress (the original): what a brilliant masterpiece! Talk about depth! Also I have begun C.S. Lewis and Mere Christianity by FotF's Paul McCusker. Whilst I have read a number of CSL bios, they have only just touched on this BBC period, understandably, as they have his entire life to cover, but this is an entire book on the subject. Most interesting and enlightening thus far.

The rest of our books are at our new place, so I'm eager to get back with those friends again (next week, for sure!). Except they're all still in boxes.

johobbit: I've seen two film adaptations of 39 Steps and one of True Grit (post-2000). I liked the films, but I've never had a chance to read the books. I loved Mixed-Up Files too, having seen 2 adaptations; I prefer the 1995 one with Lauren Bacall. I tried reading Uncle Tom's Cabin but read a few chapters before quitting. I didn't like Stowe's breezy style, too much like Orczy for me.

I started reading a spy thriller by Alan Furst called The Spies of Warsaw (2009). It's set in 1937-38 Europe. I'm enjoying the political aspects, but I don't care for the romance (fornication, adultery). Has anyone seen the BBC miniseries?

At work, I am listening through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Good luck to you on that, sir! That was a mighty long series...I got to about book #7 or 8 and finally threw in the towel because there was this horrible stretch where literally nothing happens. That and the whole 4 way mutual romance aspect the main character is involved in kind of irked me. It's an interesting world Jordan has created and he's populated it with really interesting characters (I liked Mat best of all) but the plot gets serious constipation from time to time.

I didn't like Stowe's breezy style, too much like Orczy for me.

Hey, I saw that!

So, awhile ago a few of us were talking about Ray Bradbury (Bella, st, SL), and I thought I had saved our conversation for future reference, but I can't find it. Therefore, I need a refresher: what books of his should I begin with?

By no means am I anything close to being an expert on Bradbury...that's Shtwin's class. But I can heartily recommend the ones I've read:

Farenheit 451 - Dystopic future where all books are illegal and firemen are responsible for the job of burning them.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - A carnival comes to town and two of the local youths discover it harbors some really dark secrets. This story has simply beautiful, lyrical prose and Bradbury can weave descriptions of small town life where you can smell the candied apples and hear the raking leaves and inhale that crisp autumn air as it blows through orange-leafed trees.

The Illustrated Man - Bradbury was a master of the short story and this one is packed with 18 or so of them. A traveler meets up with a former carnival worker while resting on the side of the road and discovers that the man is covered with tattoos, 18 (or was it 22?) in fact, and they change each day and each tells their own unique stories. The last tattoo tells the future of the person viewing the tattoos. A dark future usually....

And of course there's The Martian Chronicles which I just described a few posts back . I want to try out Dandelion Wine now. It's supposed to be reminisces about childhood and growing up in a small town. My cup of tea. Or wine in this case.

@stwin, SL, and Jo. I was talking with my husband about how you all were on a Ray Bradbury discussion kick right now and how I had never read anything by him, and he was like "Oh, I have 'The Martian Chronicles'" and went and pulled it off of our bookshelves. Shows you how much I pay attention. Anyways, I will have to give it a go and report back on what I think. I'm not typically as much of a Sci-Fi person, but I like a few here and there.

Shadowlander: sorry. I do like Orczy's plots, a lot, just not her style.

I haven't read a single Bradbury novel, but I did see a film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 earlier this year, with Julie Christie (1966). It was so strange.