Pioneer Girl = WOW. I was never assigned Wilder's books, but I did read the first three on my own as a pre-teen. I loved the detail, especially the meals in Farmer Boy. ^^

I just ran across the fact that one of Rosemary Sutcliff's books is available as a free ebook for some unknown amount of time...

Flowers of Adonis

For those of you interested in that sort of thing.

Thanks for that link, Mel! I love getting free books.

In other news, I finally found a copy of the first of Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga at McKay today! I'm excited to finally get in on this series.

SL, I also found the Witches of Karres, so I'll be checking that out sometime soon, I hope.

SL, I also found the Witches of Karres, so I'll be checking that out sometime soon, I hope.

Excellent!! Word of warning....the book is old school sci-fi, but even so the real enjoyment is watching the straightlaced but good-natured captain deal with his young passengers.

Yeah, I'm actually kind of excited for that reason. I haven't read a lot of sci-fi, and most of it is much newer than this one, so I'll be getting a new-ish experience.

I’ve been reading The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (2013) on my Kindle all week. It has dozens of stories by well-known authors: Isaac Asimov, G. K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark, A. C. Doyle, Thomas Hardy, O. Henry, Ellis Peters, Ellery Queen, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. These are the only names I know. The others are a mystery to me.

One of the book’s many sections is “A Sherlockian Little Christmas.” Gillian Linscott’s “A Scandal in Winter,” set in Switzerland and using a pre-teen girl as the narrator for a year-old death that Holmes solves, is the best. The story really lives. I also liked Queen’s “The Adventure of the Dauphin’s Doll,” Asimov’s “The Thirteenth Day of Christmas,” and Peters’ “The Price of Light” (Brother Cadfael). Enjoy!

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Mysteri ... 0345802985

I'm finally done with school for the semester and have a decent break to get some pleasure reading done! Over the semester, I took a Brit Lit course, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It was studying the earliest texts to about the early 1700's, which is not my favorite period of literature per se. From what we read, I loved Beowulf, gained new appreciation for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight since my first encounter with it a couple months ago in World Lit, and Faustus. I surprisingly liked parts of Paradise Lost, particularly Book I, but I felt like I was sympathizing with all the wrong characters.

For my winter reading list, I have Bradbury, of course, as well as Emily Dickinson, The Percy Jackson books, Oruan High School Host Club (A Manga my sister has been telling me to read for the past couple months), and Slaughterhouse Five. I've been picking somber war books lately, so I've been trying to find some Children's Literature to have a good balance.

Also, I recently decided to start my first read of the Harry Potter series. I've heard so much good about them from you all and from school, so I decided I'd give them a go. I'm on the first one, and I'm enjoying it so far. Rowling has a writing style that draws you in so well, especially with how she creates her settings.

@Aslan: I love British literature! I've taken quite a few graduate courses in it. I like medieval and Renaissance poetry the best, along with colonial fiction (1800s). Check out some of my academic papers on Student Pulse. I hope they're readable.

I finished Agatha Christie's The Labors of Hercules yesterday. It's about Hercule Poirot's final 12 cases, all modern versions of the Greek Hercules' labors. I highly recommend it. http://www.amazon.com/Labors-Hercules-H ... 062073982/

*wanders into the books thread*

Like my dear Aitb, I too am done with school and making efforts to read more books

Right now I'm reading Rick Riordian's The Lost Hero, the manga series "Naruto", another manga series called "1/2 Prince" (this is more on and off since its online), and a re-read of the first Harry Potter book. I forgot how well Rowling wrote

At first I had the whole "Aww, they're not the saaaame as the old characteeers" whine when I started The Lost Hero, but I fell for the characters a couple chapters in. I am really intrigued by the addition of the Roman twist to the world. I'm resisting the urge to devour the books in order to find out what happens (as I usually do with good series)

On another note, would I be the only one alone in hoping Riordian would do a series based on Japanese or Chinese mythologies?

@220chrisTian: I am a sucker for good mysteries, especially Agatha Christie! And as a mythology fan, I really enjoyed The Labors of Hercules! Which was your favorite one?

I finally saw The Book Thief on the shelf at the library, so I've been reading that this week. It's interesting what I've absorbed by osmosis (that the narrator is Death, there are characters Max, Rudy, and a girl, takes place during WWII) and what either wasn't mentioned or didn't stick. (Hans, accordion...)

Some of H Rider Haggard's books include She (Ayesha) and King Solomon's Mines,

His books "Fair Marguerite" or "Queen Sheba's Ring" are both really good.

"Fair Marguerite" has a pretty un-expected plot twist, though the rest is pretty predictable. A Spanish noble during the inquisition falls in love with a girl who's father is Jewish. He makes love to her maid so he can use her in his plot to kidnap Marguerite. Everyone (including the guy Marguerite really loves) ends up in Spain, and besides having to get away from the Spanish guy, they must rescue Marguerite's father from the Inquisition. But, like I said, there is a pretty unique plot twist.

"Queen Sheba's Ring" is fantastic! Like most old books though, the prejudices, or stereotypes, or notions of the time are pretty apparent. If you ignore that as eccentricity, it is completely enjoyable. I've heard the ending described as predictable, but I feel like the reader is really kept guessing. It's probably my favorite Haggard book so far. I read "Pearl Maiden" and thought it was horrible (too descriptive and made me feel uncomfortable).

Personally I prefer John Buchan's rather similar adventure novels which include The 39 steps, Greenmantle, a WW1 novel, and Prince of the Captivity which is set between the two world wars.

I've read "The 39 Steps." It has very little in common with the Hitchcock movie. There is no girl and the ending is quite different. It's very episodic, experience after experience, escape after escape, close call after close call. All the time your thinking "when will the running stop?" That's pretty much the whole body of the book. I still enjoyed it, though, and even listened to it recently on Librivox.

I've read two books so far this year.

Playing Saint by Zachary Bartels. Burgeoning mega-church pastor Parker Saint gets dragged into the investigation of a series of murders with occultic imagery and a concurrent (related?) search for an ancient relic of the Catholic Church.

As i put in my goodreads review, i wouldn't say the book was a disappointment only because it never really got my hopes up. The characters were pretty good for the most part, some of the humor worked well, and it felt like Bartels had done his research. That said, by the end of it i was wondering about the point of half the things he had included -- the secondary plot fizzled away to nothing, some of the most interesting characters (in my opinion) dropped out of the story for little to no reason, and after building up the demonic possession of the villain, the climactic battle between good and evil was solved mostly with guns and hiding, and was about as interesting and dramatic as watching paint dry.

I appreciated the realism the author incorporated in his story, particularly with the murder investigation, and that when he did quote Scripture, it felt natural, and he used passages - not just a single verse. And while the main character was flat and boring, his side characters show he has promise. But honestly, giving this book 2 out of 5 stars feels generous.

Firefight is the sequel to Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic America where there are people with superpowers, but no superheroes. The main character, David, is part of a group of people fighting back -- but after the events of the first book, there are a lot of unanswered questions about the nature of the Epics (super-powered people) and their powers, questions that really need answering.

It's pretty obvious by this point that i love Sanderson's writing. One of the things that impresses me the most is his ability to make plot twists both stunning and natural -- he weaves in hints about the ending through the book disguised as setting information or character detail, subtle enough that you don't recognize it, but clear enough that you don't feel he cheated. The end of Steelheart is one of the best examples of this, and while Firefight didn't have quite the same punch to it, it was still great in several smaller ways.

I read this book in one day, practically in one sitting. The only reason i can stand waiting a year for the final book is knowing Sanderson has a couple more books coming out in the meantime, including one of his 1000-page tomes. Man is a writing robot from the future, i swear.

I just finished re-reading the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. I read it a couple years ago, then re-read it a little bit later. Overall I had though it was a pretty good series, though a bit boring at times. I was quite surprised to find that I wasn't bored at all through the last book and read it as fast as time (and school) allowed. It shouldn't be surprising, but often am when I realize how the story and characters become all the more complex and deeper each time I read it.
But at the same time, I feel as if I reread it again in a few years, the story will probably become a little more clear. At least I'm hoping I'll understand it a little more. And maybe by that time her next book will have been published. I'm looking forward to it, though I know practically nothing about it. Has anyone heard if there's a possible year when it will be published?

The Steelheart sequel is out, Arwenel?! I'm going to have to hunt it down now.

No news on when the next book will be out, Summer. I'm so glad you enjoyed your reread!

I just finished reading Dance with Death by Anne Noggle, a collection of short interviews with WWII Soviet Airwomen. It was really quite incredible to learn about the female regiments and the female pilots, navigators, and crew that were involved in the bombing of the Germans on the front line.
In addition, I went to the uni library and checked out about a dozen books about WWII, particularly U.S. women in the military during it. I'm looking forward to learning more about their role in the war!
Next up, though, I think should be Heartless by Anne Elizabeth Stengl per Mel's (and another friend's) recommendation. Anyone else read any of her books?

The Steelheart sequel is out, Arwenel?! I'm going to have to hunt it down now.

Ditto!

I'm sort of wanting to do a re-read of King of Attolia, but I have a bunch of books queued up at the moment and if I add Firefight to that list...

I have Golden Daughter by Anne Elizabeth Stengl near the top of that list, but there's also some stuff on homesteading and a history of warfare and two fantasy tomes: Cylindere's Midnight by Jeffery Overstreet and a King Arthur retelling (I think? It's been so long since I requested it ) by Sigmund Brower.