Isn't Beauty just such a comfortable book, Lady Haleth? I can see why I reread it so many times as a pre-teen/teen. The characters are so lovable. I foresee myself spending many more hours with them in the future.

Yes, it is. I think I will reread it at some point. It was so peaceful, I definitely want to read it again. It also made me even more of a fan of McKinley's writing than I already was--that she could do a peaceful book as well as more action-oriented ones.

And her descriptions of rustic living are just sooo wonderful. Here's one I just came upon:

When spring came I dug up the garden and planted it, and weeded it, and prayed over it, and fidgeted; and almost three years of lying fallow agreed with it, because it produced radishes the size of onions, potatoes the size of melons, and melons the size of small sheep. The herb border ran wild, and the air smelled wonderful; the breezes often stirred the piney, mossy smell of the forest with the sharp smell of hers, mixed in the warm smell of fresh bread from the kitchen, and then flung the result over the meadow like a handful of new gold coins. I pruned the apple trees--there were also the remains of an old orchard, and a few of the trees were still productive--and had high hopes of the next winter full of apple jelly.

You're reread the Westmark books already? Didn't you first go through them a few months ago?

Yes, I love the description.
I read the first two of the Westmark trilogy a few months ago. Then I went to college and found the last one at the college library and read it. Then reading it made me want to go back and reread the whole trilogy so I could see how everything fit together. I'm on the last one now.

Me and my sister bought The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's Scores, and it is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you Love LOTR and Music, I would recommend this book!
It also came with a Rarities CD which has music not heard before!
Me and my sister were so happy when we saw that The Return of the King’s trailer music was included on the CD, we have wanted it forever but could never find it!

Here is Amazon’s description:
Howard Shore's Academy Award-winning score for The Lord of the Rings has been hailed as among the greatest film music ever written. Sweeping in scope, it is an interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth as music --- an operatic tapestry of cultures, histories, languages, and principles. The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films takes the reader on an unprecedented journey into the heart of this history-making opus with extensive music examples, original manuscript scores, a rarities CD, and fascinating glimpses into the creative process from the composer himself. Includes: Foreword by Howard Shore Introduction by Fran Walsh Sketches by John Howe and Alan Lee Includes Exclusive Rarities CD of unreleased LOTR music Color stills from the films

I just finished reading this book:

it was awesome! don't let the cover fool you - it's way better than I expected! it was epic!

I'm reading A Hat Full Of Sky by Terry Pratchett.

I've actually begun to read CS Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. I'm about half way already, bought the next two to go straight through too.

After that I bought two Tolkien books, as I plan to re-read The Hobbit and LOTR soon, so I figured begin with two I haven't read before: The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin.

actually, in between I am going to read Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott, (love Little Women and think Little Men is very good too). In between Lewis and Tolkien that is.

Wow, it's been a while since I've been in here! My book collection has expanded a bit since my last post in here though...

I went thrift storing today, and found a couple paperbacks which I promptly bought. I got David Copperfield (by Dickens), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (by Mark Twain), and The Phantom Tollbooth ( ) all for $1.15 (total). I haven't read the first two, but I bought 'em anyways. I haven't read Tollbooth in a very long time, and our other copy fell apart years ago, so I decided to be random and buy it.

I got a lovely compilation of stories by O. Henry at another thrift store yesterday for $5, and it is looking excellent on my shelf (where it will most likely stay for quite a while. ).

I bought Four Faultless Felons by Chesterton on amazon.com a few weeks back and it arrived yesterday, so I am currently working my way through that. It's pretty short, so I expect to finish it soon. I'm liking what I've read so far (as always).

I'm also about 2/3 of the way through Ivanhoe now. I'm liking it well enough, but I'm finding all of the different story lines to be a bit much at times. It just keeps jumping around and going back to fill in what happened to so-and-so while such-and-such was happening to this other person, and so I'm not getting through it very quickly.

I noticed that there was some discussion about The Virginian a page or two back, and it aroused my curiosity. As luck would have it, our library had it available, so I've checked it out and am hoping to read it as soon as I finish FFF.

I've actually begun to read CS Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. I'm about half way already, bought the next two to go straight through too.

I'll admit that I've read the series and didn't like it. I hate to say that about a Lewis book, but I just didn't find the first two to be very interesting at all (though I did think that they were probably the best of the series), and I really disliked the last book. That may just be me though. I have a friend who has read it as well, and he liked them (if I remember correctly), so... *shrugs* To each his own.

--- flambeau

I felt that Lewis's Space Trilogy was really something that needed to grow on you. I zoned out completely when I read the first book because I thought it was so boring, but about I year ago I picked up Perelandra and read it and liked it quite alot.

It's a very interesting dynamic in those books. They aren't your typical Science Fiction at all. I feel that they usually begin very sloooooowly and then speed up. I can't put them down when they get like that!

A Lewis book that I dislike is Till We Have Faces. I thought it was weird and depressing, and the conflict never seemed to resolve. The world wasn't vividly sketched out and I couldn't picture it with my imagination. Add to that I didn't like Orual AT ALL, and you have the reason I don't like it.

You're reading Ivanhoe, Flam? Me too! I have to for school. I've made it through the first chapter . Yes, I'm so very dedicated to reading it. I shall have to at least try steadily reading it and tell you what I think.

As for the rest of you, what do you prefer?

-A streamlined storyline, a story that tells what happened chronologically, start to finish,
-A flashback storyline, where nearly as much of the plot is told in flashbacks as in the present,
-A hop around storyline, A storyline where the different happenings of many different characters are told in detail, even though the events happened simultaneously,
-A streamlined multi-character storyline where the stories of different characters are told, but the stories have happened chronologically even though they are in different places,
-or A puzzle storyline, where the author uses seemingly unrelated events at first to create a unified whole as the story goes on.

I just finished reading The Pelican Brief by John Grisham. It's a very good one although not my favorite. My favorite is The Runaway Jury. That is an extremely good book, well thought out and has an excellent plot, IMO.

Reading John Grisham has changed the way I think about legal procedings. Several of his books are about mass tort litigation. I got a postcard the other day about how I could be part of a lawsuit like that because my laptop might be one that has a certain defective part. I looked at that askance and was like, "The lawyers are going to make so much money off of this!" because of reading John Grishams. They've also gotten me really interested in law. I'd really like to read some books and learn more about it.

I have not been able to read very much lately. I'm simply too busy. It took me two weeks to read The Pelican Brief! I used to read dozens upon dozens of books: four or five decent sized books a day (by decent sized I mean about the size of one of the CoN) but I've gotten older and now longer have the time. *insert wistful sigh*

I'm almost finished reading Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper. I'm enjoying it so far, and I'll give you all more complete thoughts on it when I've finished.

As for the rest of you, what do you prefer?

-A streamlined storyline, a story that tells what happened chronologically, start to finish,
-A flashback storyline, where nearly as much of the plot is told in flashbacks as in the present,
-A hop around storyline, A storyline where the different happenings of many different characters are told in detail, even though the events happened simultaneously,
-A streamlined multi-character storyline where the stories of different characters are told, but the stories have happened chronologically even though they are in different places,
-or A puzzle storyline, where the author uses seemingly unrelated events at first to create a unified whole as the story goes on.

I prefer steamlined storylines the most, just because they tend to draw me into the story more. The problem I have with hop around and multi-charactered storylines is that all too often, I'll be reading from the point of view of so many characters that there's no one character I can really identify with and/or come to love. Instead, I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters and become too busy trying to keep them straight.

There are many exceptions to this, though. Most of the time, when a multi-charactered book is part of a series, the author will focus on only a few characters at first, then expand point of views to different characters as the series goes on. A lot of my favorite books are like this. But to really pull a multi-charactered storyline off, the author has to make the reader really get to know all of their characters. Only then will I come to love them, and I can't really enjoy a book without loving the characters.

flambeau, The Phantom Tollbooth!! I have a copy of that from when I was 10 years old. It's the only book I own that's all beat up! Bound together with tape! I would die if one of my books now was like that. But I love the book (can't wait for the new take on movie).

flambeau & sweeetlilgurlie,
I can definitely see why some might not like The Space Trilogy. I wasn't sure about it at first myself, I've been debating for years. Though it's not as great as Narnia, for me, I do like it. But I admit that I will definitely have to read it a second time to take it in fully.

Question: anyone here have a Nook Color, for B&N's ebooks?

I am currently reading Don Quixote. It's a bit of a long story, but I am trying to manage the small fonts of the book. It's like LOTR, only it is more...... medieval. Has anybody here, read the book? :-/.

I just finished LoTR, for what is probably the millionth time - how I love that book! It's so amazing . .
And I'm reading The Language of Baklava. It's a memoir of an American/Jordanian girl, and her life moving back and forth and trying to place herself. It has some super funny parts, and is really enjoyable.
And sometime I want to read all the Attolia books again, but since we only own three of them . . I'll wait till my sister gets The King. (Christmas is coming up! )