I think she had some rough patches with it especially with working with a character as complex as Ann. Paul was rather straightforward. Ann was not.

It annoyed me too that she basically retroactively included the O'Malley series like that. I think she should have left them out of it altogether.

Mmhmm. Yeah, I don't think Ann was handled quite as well as she could've. Also,

Ditto, I think she should've left them out too! *sighs*
Huh! Well, that still sounds a bit interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for the newest one, as well as the other two. (And I have a few others that I think I need to read at some point.)

Right now I'm reading The Plague (La Peste) by Albert Camus. It's an interesting book.

http://www.amazon.com/Plague-Albert-Cam ... 679720219/

Skimming the posts here, outside of Narnia, Tolkien, and classic fairy tales, I don't read much science fiction or fantasy. Anyway, I just finished a short Moody book called The ISIS Crisis. Here's my review.

https://artsandculturereviews.wordpress ... is-crisis/

I'm currently working on reading/re-reading "Les Misérables." I recently discovered, much to my disgust, that the Simon & Schuster edition that I have is not the whole thing! Despite the fact that it says "Complete and Unabridged" on the cover, when I compared it to the ebook, It was obviously missing quite a lot. I'm finally past the chapters about the Bishop of D----- and on to the story of Jean Valjean.

[the] edition that I have is not the whole thing! Despite the fact that it says "Complete and Unabridged" on the cover

Wretches! How dare they! That happened to me when I first read The Count of Monte Cristo. Except that it was missing the entire second half. It ought to have said "Complete and Unabridged" Volume 1, or something like that.

At the time, it seemed a rather odd place to end, with Dumas having introduced new characters in the final chapter, but I just shrugged and thought, "Oh well." I didn't realize until nearly ten years later how I had been duped

Has anyone here read The Penderwicks In Spring yet? I hadn't been keeping track of when the next Penderwicks book was coming out, and Mom was and had diligently requested it from the library as soon as it was available. It's not as lighthearted as the first couple, but excellent reading. I'm really glad that Jeanne Birdsall is continuing to write some of the best new family novels around.

I haven't read any Penderwicks books, but the series looks really nice. It reminds me of The House on Mayferry Street / A Flute in Mayferry Street (1977).

[the] edition that I have is not the whole thing! Despite the fact that it says "Complete and Unabridged" on the cover

Wretches! How dare they! That happened to me when I first read The Count of Monte Cristo. Except that it was missing the entire second half. It ought to have said "Complete and Unabridged" Volume 1, or something like that.

One of my daughters gave me a replacement copy of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings that had missing parts, my original copy having become a bit too well-loved. I ended up giving it away to the library, having found out, not quite quickly enough, that it was a badly collated copy of the work. I don't know about getting refunds, but it does seem to happen a lot in books where there have been many editions. Just be careful about what you do buy in well-known and loved books. And be careful about E-Books.

Currently I have been reading a book called Azincourt, written by Brian Cornwell, one of these UK historical fiction writers who puts in quite a bit of research and historical background into his writing. His main protagonist is Nicholas Hook, apparently a genuine historical person, who was one of England's famous longbowmen. The book is a gripping tale of how he fares along the way to the great battle of Agincourt, of 1415. Unfortunately it is a bloodthirsty tale, mentioning some of the realities of warfare, which in those times was every bit as cruel and gruesome as any current news item, and considerably more unsanitary in those days before modern sewerage arrangements, or standing, well-trained and well-provisioned armies. It also sheds an interesting light on the growing popular discontent in England with certain elements of the then clergy, more than a hundred years before Henry VIII"s break with Rome.

This book, which I bought for reading on the plane, has some interesting background information at its end, and, also, it doesn't hurt to read it alongside Henry V, William Shakespeare's play. Like many of my generation, we had to study for our Intermediate Certificates. I've recited a mock sendup version of Henry V's siege of Harfleur speech ever since, especially as one of our local Rugby League teams was, of course, St George. (Cry God for King Harry, England.. aaanddd... ST GEORGE!!! - which won every year at that time.)

I have read The Penderwicks In Spring . I didn't really enjoy it as much as the earlier books. It was interesting to read it from more of Batty's perspective. However, I was just a bit more interested in what Skye and Jane were up to than Batty, I'm afraid, so I would have preferred it to be more focus on the older sisters. What did you think, Rivulus?

Also I thought it was a bit odd that she (from what I've read) wanted it from Batty's perspective since she was closer to the intended age range of the book's readers (or at least what it was classified under), but then decided to have it be a little more of a serious book than the ones before. I could be mistaken on that being her choice, since I can't remember where exactly I read that, and whether or not it was a theory or something confirmed.

I would have also liked to have more scenes with Skye and Jeffrey. They are my favorite characters, though, so that could just be me.

I read the first two Penderwicks, but for some reason haven't read the latter two. I should remedy that soon...

I just finished John McNab by John Buchan and I really liked it. It reminded me of a cross between P.G. Wodehouse and G.K. Chesterton but with more hunting and outdoors and perhaps a dash of something else in there. The premise reminded me quite a bit of Manalive but I found it far less irritating and...well, I hate to say their remedy was more practical since it wasn't really, but it seemed more reasonable than the one in Manalive or maybe it just rubbed me better. At any rate, it was a good romp and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Anyone else read it?

I'm working on reading through my Hugo voting bundle. I'm almost done with the graphic novels, so I'm starting on the novels category. I'm alternating between The Three Body Problem and Goblin Emperor, which I just started. The Three Body Problem is a bit slow, but interesting since I haven't read a lot of Chinese fiction before, much less Chinese scifi.

I have read The Penderwicks In Spring. I didn't really enjoy it as much as the earlier books. It was interesting to read it from more of Batty's perspective. However, I was just a bit more interested in what Skye and Jane were up to than Batty, I'm afraid, so I would have preferred it to be more focus on the older sisters. What did you think, Rivulus?

I didn't mind the switch to Batty (and Ben) as the main characters. It would be fun to have more about Jane and Skye, but I think as they get older it changes the dynamic of how they react to things and their awareness of everything around them in a fundamental way. So, even though it's a more serious book, it's probably a very different story than if it was older Skye or Jane reacting to a situation. That is an interesting question and something I'll have to think about more. Elizabeth Enright in the Melendy books also let the younger siblings take over the point of view rather than following the older ones as they went off to school and work. Personally, I think I may also just prefer stories told from a "child's" perspective more than a "teenage" one. The teenagers frequently don't make any sense to me.

Re: the spoiler, that did seem like it was dealt with rather quickly, but at the same time I don't think she was trying to wrap up all the loose ends completely at the end, just to pull them together enough to show how things would change moving forward. There would almost certainly be more on that subject, we just may not ever see it in books.

I watched "The Note" trilogy on DVD a few months ago. I liked the first film so much that I started reading the book it's based on, by Angela Hunt. My local library also started its summer reading program on June 1.

It's been quite awhile since I've been here (actually, I don't remember the last time I was in here...), but I saw a conversation a couple pages back regarding American Sniper and Lone Survivor and thought I'd poke in. I read both books several months ago in anticipation of a military movie day with my brothers. Bawled my eyes out through both. Exceptional books (and films). Like SL, I definitely have a greater respect for everything SEALs go through in training, as well as a better image of what our troops go through overseas.

Aside from those and textbooks, I haven't been doing too much reading lately, although my sister just made me read The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin. It's the investigation of the main character's death by the deceased's professor-for-one-day written in the style of interviews. It was a pretty neat book, although it didn't end the way I had expected it to. It also dealt a lot with mental illnesses and the stigmas that surround them. It wouldn't make my favorites list, but a good read overall.

I also saw that someone mentioned Fairest by Marissa Meyer, which I haven't had the chance to read yet, but it's in my TBR pile right now and will probably be read in the next few weeks.

I was apart of that conversion, Melian_Maia, and this past week I finally got my hands on American Sniper and read it. Dad bought a copy of it, he put it with my brother's books and I grabbed it before my older brother. It was good, not great, but good. I think for the most part my time spent reading it was time well spent.

waggawerewolf27, I recently read Agincourt too! My brother made me read it, since I had him read Emissary by Thomas Locke. I thought it was extremely well written, but very bloody and I learned some new things I didn't need to. However it was definitely a history lesson for me and it did make my brother very happy that I read it.

I got The Fort, also by Bernard Cornwell, for my brother the last time I went to the library, I am debating whether or not I should read it.

Right now, I am reading Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose. I have only read a couple chapters so far, I really need to pick up my pace reading it since my little sis is waiting to read it. It is highly interesting read, I have only read a handful of books about the Revolutionary War (mainly Jeff Shaara's books) and this is definitely expanding my knowledge of it.

SnowAngel