Posted by: @mel

Posted by: @snowangel

So we now have a shelf full of Zane Grey westerns plus assorted other books which we don't actually have shelf space for yet.

Oh, no. That's what happens to me when I take myself to a booksale.  

We are so short on bookshelf space right now, it's sad. My grandparents are talking about downsizing, and we are really hoping they will want to part with a couple of bookcases and a few older books (they have a very nice hardcover of Laddie).

Most of the family was having a discussion at the dining room table recently and we came to the conclusion that our family just needs an eat-in library instead of house.  The cookbooks in the kitchen, classics in the dining room, etc.  

SnowAngel

@snowangel ah well, who ever said that books belonged in a particular place anyway ?

It's been a while since I've posted in this thread but thanks to everyone who gave book recommendations last summer!

@Jasmine_tarkheena, what are you reading currently?

@rainyweather, what are some of your favourite fantasy stories? re: comforting/light stories, I'm assuming you've already read Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted? I tend to associate Robin McKinley's Beauty with it a bit, probably because I think I read both of the around the same time.

@Anfinwen, it's always fun to run into someone else who has read and loves Enemy Brothers. Have you read any other of Constance Savery's books? (And I enjoy The Blue Castle as well! I see Mel has already directed you towards the webcomic adaptation. )

@SnowAngel, that's a great story about your mom and the booksale. Also, given your family's love of reading, I'm a little surprised that you all don't already have bookshelves in every room.

I've been working through a stack of library books I checked out last year and have renewed a few times - all nonfiction and set during WWII and/or immediately following. They've had some important information to convey, but most of them have also been hard and heavy to read.

I'm also trying to catch up on a stack of books that one of my coworkers lent me. I'm currently working through the inspirational/memoir animal story portion; all the books so far have been interesting but I don't usually read much in this genre. I have a valiant but faint hope of getting to the government/history portion of the stack before he finds the next book he wants to lend me.

For "fun" , I just finished a reread of The Two Towers and am looking forward to starting The Return of the King this week. I'm reading alongside a few other people off-NW and I've really enjoyed the discussions we've had; I've picked up on a lot of things that I either hadn't picked up on before or had forgotten.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

@Jasmine_tarkheena, what are you reading currently?

I'm not reading anything at the moment. I've been wanting to read The Prince and the Pauper, Les Miserable, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Three Musketeers, Phantom of the Opera, and a series of books called The Chronicles of Prydain, which has a similar element to Lord of the Rings.

@Jasmine_Tarkheena, all the best with making a decision between the books you listed! My preference is for The Phantom of the Opera over Les Miserables, but I don't know if that's a consensus opinion. I've read The Chronicles of Prydian before, but it's been a long time - I know there are a lot of fans of it, though, including some here.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

I've read The Chronicles of Prydian before, but it's been a long time - I know there are a lot of fans of it, though, including some here.

I've seen the Disney adaption, The Black Cauldron, which is probably not the best Disney movie, compared to Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin or The Lion King. Though I actually really liked it as a kid. Now I think about it, it almost reminds me of Lord of the Rings. A few years back, Disney announced they acquired the rights to the series once again, so I wonder if Disney will be making a franchise out of it. I know there are fans out there of the series, so it will be interesting to see what Disney will do to make into a franchise, like what Netflix is doing with Narnia.

Posted by: @coracle

@snowangel ah well, who ever said that books belonged in a particular place anyway?

True.  

Posted by: @valiantarcher

@SnowAngel, that's a great story about your mom and the booksale. Also, given your family's love of reading, I'm a little surprised that you all don't already have bookshelves in every room.

Well, it's not do to a lack of desire to have them everywhere, but a lack of wall space and money for bookshelves. A few years back a few of our bookcases bit the dust and we haven't replaced all of them yet, but we are working on it. However our family library is growing faster than we can get the bookshelves and no one is interested in waiting for more shelves before  buying more books. I just spent my Christmas money from grandparents on six more Stephen Bly books, pretty soon all five shelves on my bookcase are going to be double stacked with my books and DVDs collections.  

SnowAngel

Posted by: @mel

Also, speaking of The Blue Castle, have you seen the on-going webcomic adaptation? 

There's a what? I'm bookmarking that immediately. The Blue Castle is both my favorite Montgomery and one of my go-to comfort reads.

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

I've seen the Disney adaption, The Black Cauldron, which is probably not the best Disney movie, compared to Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin or The Lion King. Though I actually really liked it as a kid.

It's been awhile since I read the series or watched the movie, but I remember enjoying both (although the movie is actually a combination of the first two books). Now I'm trying to remember if my nephew still has my omnibus of the series . . . the cover is an unfortunate shade of pink so I haven't missed having it on my shelf.  

Meanwhile, Cytonic did come a week late, but I'm glad I didn't have to wait too long to read it. I think my biggest issue with Brandon Sanderson's Skyward series is that none of the sequels have been as good as the first book. Usually, his series have a steady momentum but this definitely feels like a side project. A third novella also came out, and I think I actually liked that one more than Cytonic. I think YA is just not one of Sanderson's strengths. However, I think the fourth Wax and Wayne Mistborn book is out at the end of this year and that is definitely one of his best series.

The scifi/fantasy book club I'm in doesn't have the entire year of books picked out yet, but in March we are reading Susanna Clarke's Piranesi which I've been meaning to read ever since it first came out. My first impression is that it's a lot shorter than Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  

Posted by: @valiantarcher

what are some of your favourite fantasy stories? re: comforting/light stories, I'm assuming you've already read Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted? I tend to associate Robin McKinley's Beauty with it a bit, probably because I think I read both of the around the same time.

I have read Ella Enchanted! I listened to an audiobook of it just last year because it had been so long since I had read it. I like it quite a lot, but The Two Princesses of Bamarre has always been my favorite Levine book. I've read several others of hers, including Fairest (an amazing twist on Snow White, it ties in to Ella Enchanted in some fun little ways, too), For Biddle's Sake (a short and sweet, humorous fairy tale), and The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre (the prequel to The Two Princesses of Bamarre and a twist on Rapunzel, which was good, but pretty sad and heavy). I've read a couple of her Princess Tales, as well. And I've been trying to get my hands on a copy of Ogre Enchanted, which I believe is a twist on Beauty and the Beast that ties in (like Fairest) to the world of Ella Enchanted. I haven't read Robin McKinley's Beauty, but if it's like Levine's books, I'll check it out!

As for favorite fantasy stories, I have quite a lot! I really like the author Brandon Mull's books, though. His series Beyonders (3 books) and Five Kingdoms (5 books) are each about kids traveling to another world. The Candy Shop Wars (2 books) is about magic candy that can grant special abilities. Fablehaven (5 books) and its sequel series, Dragonwatch (5 books), are about secret preserves in our own world where magical and mythical creatures still thrive.

I also really like Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. Disney recently made a movie of the first book, but I was really disappointed with it. It looked very nice with all the advanced technology, but the plot and the characters were so far from the books that I can hardly consider it to truly be Artemis Fowl at all. As far adaptations go, it's probably the most unfaithful and disappointing one I've ever seen. I was actually very excited for it, especially since Disney was making it and I really like many of their movies. It's unfortunate they decided to stray so far from the original stories. Anyway, I definitely recommend the Artemis Fowl book series to lovers of fantasy and sci-fi alike, as well as the sequel series, Fowl Twins.

The last one off the top of my head that I think is well worth mentioning is Jennifer A. Nielsen's Ascendance Series. I am currently rereading the third book of the series, The Shadow Throne. There are five books in total, though I haven't read the last two yet. The best one so far is definitely the exciting first book, The False Prince. I also read the Traitor's Game series by Nielsen, which was a good fantasy, too (though I prefer the Ascendance Series). Nielsen is a great author and she wrote several beautiful historical fictions, too. I love her historical fiction book A Night Divided.

And of course my most favorite fantasy stories are the Chronicles of Narnia. But I already mentioned those and The Princess and the Goblin. I did like the Harry Potter books, too, when I was younger, but it's been so long since I've read them that I no longer have an accurate impression of them, so I can't fairly count them as favorites.

@valiantarcher, Are the inspirational/memoir animal stories books like Rascal, or Owls in the Shower, or Wild Traveler, or Mutt, the Dog Who Wouldn't Be? (It's funny, the first three books I thought of in that particular category were all about raccoons... but I dug deeper and branched out a bit because surely there are more dog memoirs than raccoon memoirs... )

@rainyweather, I read the Ascendance series through book three--somehow I thought it was a trilogy? I really liked the first book, but thought the next two didn't have the same sparkle and cleverness. But if there are more books, that gives it a bit more of a chance to turn the plot around and end in a more satisfying place.

@dot, Oooooooh I hope you like The Blue Castle webcomic!  
I read Cytonic recently, and my impression was that all the interesting plot-advancing stuff happened in the background. I'm sure the backstory is important to resolve stuff, but I don't think I'm going to retain enough of it to fully appreciate the next book.

@SnowAngel, lack of space and bookshelves makes sense. Are all your shelves double-stacked and are there boxes of books under beds already?

@Dot, I didn't know you were a The Blue Castle fan too! I hope you enjoy the webcomic adaptation.
I am looking forward to the long-awaited fourth Wax & Wayne book (though with some trepidation) and can't really believe it may actually come out this year. Also, I hope you enjoy Piranesi! It's very different (and, well, shorter ) than Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, but it's very good.

@rainyweather, I've read about half your list of Levine's books but never tracked down the rest. I wouldn't say Beauty has the humour or style of Levine's books, but it is a fairy tale retelling and it especially stands out for positive sibling relations. Ahh, another Artemis Fowl fan! I enjoyed the series (...well, except 6 & 8, which I mostly pretend don't exist) and read the first of the sequel series, but wasn't engaged enough to be on top of tracking down the second book. I've also read The False Prince, but a) the other books weren't out at the time and b) it didn't stand out well enough for me to try to track them down when they did.

@mel, umm, no - more like "here are a bunch of animal stories by a vet; some are funny, some are inspirational, and some are sad but look what we can learn" and "here is a story about the bond between a service dog and his owner" and "here's a story about a cat who lives in a library"?

One more of the animal books down, two more to go.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

"here are a bunch of animal stories by a vet; some are funny, some are inspirational, and some are sad but look what we can learn"

That's not James Herriot, by any chance? A huge favourite of mine when I was in my teens! His stories are based on his real-life career, but with names changed (including his own). They've been adapted for TV twice — in the 1980s and currently — under the title All Creatures Great and Small, and I'm pretty sure both versions are or have been shown in the US as well. Since I moved to Northern England 6 months ago, I'm not all that far from the Yorkshire Dales where he lived and his stories are set, and there's a visitor centre devoted to him in his home town of Thirsk, which is definitely on my must-visit list!!

Posted by: @valiantarcher

"here's a story about a cat who lives in a library"?

And is that Dewey the Library Cat (can't remember if that's the exact title)?? I read that book back in... ooh, 2009 it must have been (remembering where I was at the time), and really enjoyed it, since I love cats and libraries!

If you like that one, or stories about cats in general, I'd recommend A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen — the true story of a young man struggling with drug addiction whose life was turned around when he rescued a stray cat... or rather, Bob, the cat, rescued him. It's a bit harrowing in one or two places, but a very uplifting read.

As for what I'm currently reading, at the moment I'm just discovering Elizabeth Gaskell, whom I somehow completely missed when reading "the classics" for school or for enjoyment years ago. She was a Unitarian minister's wife in the mid-19th century and worked to support people in sometimes appalling conditions of poverty, and that's reflected in what she writes. I had barely heard of her until just recently, as it turns out she was from the Manchester/Cheshire area where I now live!

I'm starting with her first novel, Mary Barton, which is really good so far, although it's almost brought me to tears several times already, as there are some very sad plot twists. Gaskell doesn't write with quite the same incredible flair as Jane Austen (of whom she was a fan!), but she's still an excellent writer. Does anyone else here know her works (I think the most famous is Cranford)? I may post more when I've finished the one I'm currently reading!

@mel The Ascendance Series was a trilogy. The author, however, promised some dedicated fans that if 'Jaron's voice ever came into her head again' she'd write more. Eventually, she got the idea for two more stories and now I think the series is completed with five books. I'm nearly done rereading the third, and can't wait to start the fourth for the first time, The Captive Kingdom. My sister read the last two books and liked them, though still not as well as the first. In fact, she's rereading the fifth right now! According to her, the fourth book takes place at sea, so I'm curious to compare it to books like VDT. I'm not sure what I'll think of it, VDT has set the bar pretty high for sea voyage stories. Anyways, Nielsen concluded the third book with a 'this person and marries that person and so on and happily ever after', seeing as she did initially intend the third book to be the conclusion to the series, so the fourth and fifth take place between the main events of the third and that glimpse into the characters' futures.

@valiantarcher I've a soft spot for fairy tales and fairy tale retellings, so I'll probably like Beauty! I'll add it to my OneNote Notebook I use as a list for book recommendations and books I plan to read. I'm assuming you like Artemis Fowl, too! You said you pretend the 6th and 8th books don't exist: how come? They certainly weren't my favorites- the eighth probably was my least favorite- but I'm curious what your reasons are for disliking them. As far as The False Prince goes, I remember really liking it a lot when I first read it, but after rereading it recently I didn't like it quite as much as before. Perhaps because all the surprises had been ruined. Or perhaps my taste in literature changed. I find myself liking more purposeful stories lately, rather than only entertaining ones. It doesn't hurt to read for fun, though, and I still read those kinds of books often (and enjoy them, too)!

Posted by: @courtenay

And is that Dewey the Library Cat (can't remember if that's the exact title)??

I had the same thought! I recently re-encountered that one when my little sister listened to the audio book.  
I don't have a strong guess for the service dog book since I can think of at least three different options (though two of them would probably have a couple of other identifying adjectives) that might fill the bill.  

I've read Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters and North and South, and though I don't remember much about the first I enjoyed the second one a lot.

Posted by: @rainyweather

@mel The Ascendance Series was a trilogy.

Oh, good, I'm glad I wasn't totally misremembering what I read! (which has happened. ) A sea voyage does sound intriguing.

I'm currently finishing up The Blades of Aktar series by Tricia Mingerink. It's not great literature, but it has been an entertaining mix of generic fantasy and a western, blended with a strong dose of melodrama and a few moments of unexpected depth. There've been so many near-death experiences, dramatic "I must do this thing!" moments, surprise family reunions and so on, and I've just been eating it all right up.  

@courtenay I've read some Mrs Gaskell. I read North and South at University, and remember it most for long dialogues, so perhaps it's time I read it again. I read the Cranford book about 7 years ago when staying with a friend. She had no wifi, so I read her books, and watched her set of the dvds of on my laptop. 

There were a lot of good northern writers and commentators on the social situation, including the changes caused by the Industrial Revolution.