Posted by: @kokoro-hane

Posted by: @reepicheep775

 

I'm with you there. I much prefer what happens post-RotJ in the old EU books to what we got in the sequel films. Are the Thrawn Trilogy books the first EU books you've read?

Yup, they are! If you have any recommendations of other legacy EU books I should read next when I finish these (aside from the related novels to these), feel free!

Where to begin... 

The New Jedi Order series is usually my top recommendation. This series came out right when Star Wars switched publishing houses (from Bantam to Del Rey) and there is a noticeable shift in tone and interconnectivity. The NJO is about the galaxy and a new Order of Jedi led by Luke Skywalker vs. invaders from another galaxy. This series is really ambitious - and 19 books long, so know what you're getting into. But if you have the stamina, it's well worth it.

Zahn's other books are also a good place to go. He tends to re-use characters and expand on what he wrote in earlier books, so his books are kind of like a series-within-a-series. The Hand of Thrawn dulogy is a sequel to the Thrawn Trilogy and are probably my favourites after his originals of what I've read (and incidentally works really well as a prequel to the NJO), but they're all good. 

The Darth Bane Trilogy is really good if you want to know more about the Sith and what happened before The Phantom Menace. It's mostly told from a villain's perspective and I find that really interesting.

The Han Solo Trilogy by A. C. Crispin is also really good. These books tell Han's backstory (similar to the Solo movie, but in a lot more detail). You can tell Crispin went the extra mile to understand this character and find out what makes him tick. They're also just really good as stories. I'd probably like these even if I didn't know what Star Wars was.

@reepicheep775 Thank you for these lovely recommendations, will add them to my to-read list!

@Kokoro-Hane, what did you think of Cinder? Do you think you'll read the rest of the series?

Congrats on finishing the Anne series, @SnowAngel!

How were the Thursday Next books, @coracle?

How does The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia look, @Narnian78?

I finished Madeleine Takes Command a bit back - it was a historical event I hadn't known anything about before, so I enjoyed learning about it, but I'm afraid I never really took to Madeleine-the-character. I guess she never really felt real or well-rounded?
I also got my hands on several more Mary Ray books, which I enjoyed. She strikes me as having some similarities to Rosemary Sutcliff as far as plots and settings (though more ancient Greece and Rome than ancient Britain), but is far more willing to ask religious/philosophical questions (such as, how does God fit with suffering?), even if she doesn't answer them in-book. There were some moments where the characters' thoughts dimly reflected Christian truths, which was a little surprising but I rather appreciated.
I also finished the last book my coworker had lent me and returned it! And then he handed me two more to read - oh well. XD
Since I last posted in here, I've been to a couple more booksales and was looking at a full box of books that wouldn't fit on my shelves. So I've been working on getting some more of the books I own and haven't read before read - I made it through three (four, if you include a reread that I was doing to confirm I wanted to get rid of the book) this week, which I was pretty happy about. Now the box on the floor is less than half-full.
One of the afore-mentioned books was Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. I still can't decide if I liked the author's way of telling the story, but I overall liked the book fairly well. I would've liked a slightly more even approach to the parenting styles of the two different sides of the family or a more sympathetic look at the Aunts, but oh well. I'm not sure if I liked it enough to keep it, but I can see why @Mel and @aileth love it.

@valiantarcher the Thursday Next books were quite enjoyable, but there'd be a risk of feeling it was self-indulgent if one didn't really like the first three, or feeling confused if one hadn't read them! Time has moved on about 15 years, and Thursday and Landen now have a family, and are living normal lives (!) but there are still issues from the past that need dealing with. 

In talking about books, last spring, I've read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Lewis Stevenson. It's a dark, very human story. I kind of think of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, with Eustace's character development, as a light hearted version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

@coracle, glad you enjoyed your books! I haven't read them, but I've heard mostly good things about them from a few sources.

@jasmine_tarkheena, would you care to elaborate more on your thoughts about why you see a connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and VoDT? It's been a long time since I read the former and I'm not seeing the connection right off.

My reading push has slowed down some, but I'm happy to report the box sitting on my floor now only contains books that I bought for other people and that I actually have space for another book or two on my shelf. Most of the books that I've read recently have been ones I plan to discard, but I did have a few keepers.
One that I read and enjoyed was a collection from the 1950s of mystery stories; probably about half of them were stories I had read before (a Father Brown, an Edgar Allan Poe, and a couple other modern ones). Out of the other half, "The Case of the Perfect Maid" by Agatha Christie, "The Fenchurch Street Mystery" by Baroness Orczy, and "The Owl Hoots Twice" by Sax Rohmer were intriguing. A.A. Milne also had a story ("Nearly Perfect") that I can't decide if I liked or not, but it was humourously told.
I also recently read When Patty Went to College by Jean Webster. I haven't had much success with the others I've read by her, but I had been told this one had more of a P.G. Wodehouse feel/association to it, so I gave it a shot when I found it. Overall, I think I liked it, but I didn't love everything. The titular character was kept from driving me completely crazy only because she occasionally learned got her comeuppance and/or learned a lesson. On the other hand, students haven't changed much at all in the past 100+ years, and "The Deceased Robert" story was quite humourous.
I'm getting close to finishing my reread of The Return of the King, which has been excellent. I haven't started the books my coworker lent me yet, though I should think about it soon - on the other hand, I've really been enjoying reading and getting rid of books, and I also have a library book list I should really start working on.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

would you care to elaborate more on your thoughts about why you see a connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and VoDT? It's been a long time since I read the former and I'm not seeing the connection right off.

Both stories deal with the struggle of human nature. Dr. Jekyll transforming into Mr. Hyde is in some aspect similar to Eustace transforming into a dragon, except without the potion. The difference, Dr. Jekyll's form of Mr. Hyde is permanent, and the story ends in suicide. Eustace is transformed back to a human with the help of Aslan.

I ordered C.S. Lewis: Images of His World by Douglas R. Gilbert and Clyde S. Kilby.   This is the 2005 edition. The book looked really interesting with photographs of Lewis and the people he knew and had much biographical information on Lewis himself.  Perhaps other people here own the book or have at least browsed through it.  I have read one other book by Clyde Kilby, The Christian World of C. S. Lewis, and found it very enjoyable. The are many fine books written about Lewis’s life and work.

@valiantarcher 

The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia is great with all the information a fan could want about the series. There are also many photographs in the book along with the backgrounds of the actors and the making of the episodes. I’m sorry about the late response. 🙂

@jasmine_tarkheena I read the Wishbone version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but not the real one. If or when I do, it'll be interesting to think about the story from that perspective and see if I agree with you. Thanks for the idea.

I've also read Arabian Nights. It is a collection of stories. My favorite is Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves. Whenever I go to a store with automatic door, I want to say, "Open sesame!" How is it that if there was a cave that has treasure inside, and you have to say "Open sesame"?

I have just received my copy of A Mind Awake, which is an anthology of C. S. Lewis writings from many of his books. If you like a collection of quotes and excerpts from our favorite author this book will serve your interest.  I like the arrangement of topics which makes the quotes very accessible. I have another anthology of George MacDonald’s writing which was collected by Lewis himself.  These books are worthwhile references, and I would recommend both of them as very helpful in understanding our beloved authors. 🙂

By all means purchase C.S. Lewis: Images of His World  if you interested in photographs related to Lewis’ life and biographical information. It is a beautiful book which was well worth the money I paid for it.  The book has been around a long time (first published in 1973 and revised in 2005).  Douglas Gilbert and Clyde Kilby did a fine job on it so many years ago. You can always borrow it from a library if you don’t wish to buy it, but I think eighteen dollars is quite reasonable for a such a nice book. I recommend it highly to any Lewis fan.  🙂

Over the last almost two months I read 8 Stephen Bly books, absolutely loved reading them again. Now I'm reading the Little House books, currently I'm halfway through On The Banks Of Plum Creek. Why is it so much fun to read childhood classics again?  

And for audiobooks, I have been listening to the Rio Kid Adventures by Brett Halliday. I've listened to Return of the Rio Kid and Rio Kid Justice. I'm getting ready to start Death On Treasure Trail.

SnowAngel

Recently I purchased The Quotable Lewis edited by Wayne Martindale and Jerry Root, which is selection of  quotes from all of C. S. Lewis’s books. The quotes are arranged by topic and there are lot of them in 651 pages (including the index). Some of you may already own this book.  It is worthwhile as a reference if you want to know Lewis said about many different topics. Have any of you ever used this book as a reference?  🙂

@narnian78 I haven't, but that does sound useful. I hope there are plenty of Narnia quotes in it!  

I do have something that might be thought of as a sort of companion volume to that one: The Misquotable C.S. Lewis by William O'Flaherty. It's a collection of the most common quotes attributed to Lewis that either don't come from him at all, do originate with him but are often quoted with incorrect wording, or are quoted correctly but regularly taken out of context. I've just found an article by O'Flaherty himself in Christianity Today with examples from his book: Top 10 Lines Falsely Attributed to C.S. Lewis