I love Ivanhoe. I think it starts out slowly (the first chapter was, like, the most boring one I'd ever read until I read more boring ones in other books. [example needed]) and then builds to a rich tapestry of characters and events. Mystery! Adventure! Fires! Kidnapping! Secret Identities! Betrayal! True love, fencing... oh, wait.... Somebody else used that to describe a different book.

I also really like the Phantom Tollbooth. Do let us know what you think of The Virginian, flam.

I think I like my stories streamlined, or hop-around.

I'm currently re-reading Peals of Lutra, which is particularly interesting when contrasted with the more recent Doomwyte. Pearls hails from what I'm going to call the Golden Age or heyday or the Redwall series (because it comes in the middle of all my most favourite stories), and even though

it has a much more lighthearted feel to it than Doomwyte. The characters are more bubbly and it feels like they have more depth than the ones in Doomwyte who seem to be carrying around more baggage. (Although I'm quite fond of Brother Torilis, the saturnine squirrel.) I'd been thinking that Doomwyte was a nice change from the usual Redwall plot, but I think I'm talking myself into not liking it as well as I thought I did. [/ramble]

Space Trilogy was just weird. Just plain....weird :S

Like Ivanhoe, most of Scott's books are very long, very descriptive, and very confusing Rob Roy was good, Kenilworth was depressing, AJoanna was obsessed with Red Gauntlet. I'm sure she won't mind me reminding her other that......

I was bored and got a Stephen King novel from the library, Pet Sematary. Holy cow. I read about half way: usually at night, my primary reading time. Bad idea. That stupid, stupid cat. Last night I gave up and just read the ending. I didn't want nightmares. And so glad I skim read it, that thing is creepy. And not kid appropriate. But mostly creepy.

I have read Don Quixote, and thought it was very funny.
And Ivanhoe is one of my favorites ever. I loved the excitement of it, and the characters. My favorite character was undoubtedly Rebecca. I also liked Scott's Robin Hood, and Wamba is the funniest thing. Like in this scene:

I agree that Doomwyte is better than the other new Redwall books.
And I completely agree on LOTR.
The other books that I'm trying to find time to read are:
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett.
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander
Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien.

okay, I tried reading Cornelia Funke's new book "Reckless"

I didn't like it because it had no character delevopment and every chapter had a new and more confusing character or plot line. I didn't understand half of what was going on and I didn't really enjoy the main character's attitude.
this book is the first thing she's written since "Inkdeath".

reading it made me want to go back and reread the whole trilogy so I could see how everything fit together

So ... did everything fit together? How do you like the trilogy as a whole now?

I'll be interested in your thoughts on The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen too; I don't recall that being one of my favorite Alexander books, although the cover art of my copy is by Paul O. Zelinsky (!).

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.

A lot of old books are like that, of course, and multiple story lines are an especial mainstay of the Victorian era, from which we get much of our British fiction (but of which, of course, Scott had no part; rather he was a forebear). But I hear you: based on the one book of his I've read, and my dad's comments on the many he's read, I've come to decide that Scott has issues of focus, like establishing a main character. Often there will be a nominal main character and another one who basically steals most of the interest away from him/her. I do plan on reading more Scott at some point, including Ivanhoe, although from what I am led to believe, that one's mostly worthwhile for Rebecca and Wamba.

sweeetlilgurlie, I would hesitate to make a judgment about Till We Have Faces on a first read. It's an extraordinarily complicated book; I felt like I only got half of it when I read it. When the time comes for me to reread, I'm going to prep myself by reading some more traditional version of the Cupid and Psyche myth, followed by the book of Job (which some people also find weird, depressing, and without a satisfactory ending ).

Regarding the different story lines, I have enjoyed books of each type you mentioned. I do like a little hopping around to spice things up ... but usually only in moderation. And I have an especial liking for streamlined multi-character storylines, I think, when they are done well.

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.

I really should try to read one of those at some point, as I've watched and enjoyed film versions of each ... Runaway Jury the movie is particularly good.

*is distinctly uninterested in anything written by Cornelia Funke*

I'm not reading much of anything right now, to tell the truth, and probably won't be for another week. I finished Beauty, and loved it, of course. Now I'm just waiting for finals to be over. And for some of my LibraryThing reviews to get written.

I liked the Westmark trilogy overall. I think it is Alexander's next best work to Prydain.

I have now also finished the first three Earthsea books. The strange thing about them is that there's a deceptively simple plot, but they seem to have layers of meaning. Also, some gorgeous writing. I think I compared it before to looking into a pond or a lake--simple on the surface, but then having reflections that seem to go all the way down.
I haven't started The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen yet. I have finished The Arkadians, though, and I loved it. It was just...happy. There was lots of fun, and nobody died and everyone got a happy ending.
Right now I've also started Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham.

Well! I see it's been some time since I posted here, it's not because I haven't been reading, though. Definitely not because of that.

Here is a short run down of what I've been reading (school books, and other non fiction books that I've been reading for the fun of it, aside):

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. I really liked this one- it was a quick read but the prose I found quickly drew me into the story and wouldn't let me go until I had finished the book. The writing style was not overly complex but rather simple, but I think it worked to the book's advantage, as the storyline itself was straightforward. I like Agnes very much, and I was quite satisfied with the ending.

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte. For the most part, I enjoyed this one as well, despite the fact that some (important, I think) conversations were in French and I only know a smattering of French, so therefore had to skip those parts. Well, for a few I was really curious about, I used an online translator and got the jist (or is it gist?) of what they were saying. I must say though that I was disappointed in the ending- I'm not entirely sure why, however. It was a happy ending, but.... has anyone else read it? If so, what did they think?

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Some months ago, I promised wisewoman that I would read it, and I bought it shortly after that, but only read it a week or so ago. At first I thought that Sara was just a little too perfect for me (but then, maybe some seven year olds really are like that ) but that soon went away and I enjoyed the rest of it. Especially the ending. Not because it was over, but because it turned out very nicely indeed.

I think, in the end, I liked The Secret Garden better.

I also started reading Zane Grey's Heritage of the Desert but only got a few pages in and started other books. Maybe it didn't help that I saw one of the old 1930s adaptations of it first- and liked it, once I figured out it was not the Randolph Scott version (the case said it was...)- and was expecting the book to begin like the movie. Ah well. I'll probably continue it at some point. I'm still reading War and Peace, and taking it nice and slow. I'm really enjoying it- as always.

That pretty much sums up my fiction reading. Oh, I did read two more P.G. Wodehouse novels- The Return of Jeeves and Bertie Wooster Sees It Through. They were funny, but not quite as funny as Right Ho, Jeeves, which I read last year, I think.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy along with Malkah and ForeverFan.

How has that been going for you?

You sure do pack a lot of reading in there, Lady Haleth! I've been meaning both to reread Westmark and introduce myself to Earthsea for some time now ... better get cracking!

A lot of people I know seem to find The Arkadians annoying. I don't think it's his best work -- not by far -- but it's a lot of fun, especially if you're familiar with Greek mythology and get all of the inside jokes.

Oooh, also, I went thrift-shopping this morning (yes, that is a verb) and picked up several books for almost nothing ...

# Seven Great British Short Novels, containing novellas by Evelyn Waugh, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, GEORGE ELIOT!, etc.
# The Ambassadors by Henry James
# Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
# Sorcery and Cecilia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermeyer (been looking for this one for quite a while )
# The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
# The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighth Annual Collection, including tales by such authors as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, and my beloved Patricia McKillip

I can see why people wouldn't get into The Arkadians as much, since its not nearly as serious as Alexander's other works. But I liked it!
I've finished A Hat Full of Sky yesterday, and intend to start Wintersmith today--a very appropriate book, since there is snow!
i'm also rereading The Weight of Glory for what seems like the hundredth time.

The last two books I've read have been The Mirror of Merlin, the fourth in T. A. Barron's The Lost Years of Merlin series, and The Thief of Always by Clive Barker.

I liked Mirror well enough. The third and fourth books in this series feel a little flat to me compared to the first two. I will say that the highlight of the book was the last section which included a visit from

. I'm hoping the fifth and last book doesn't let me down.

The Thief of Always was very good. I read it on a friend's recommendation. The style is very light and fast-paced, but very dark as well. The recommending friend said that the book takes fairy tales back to their dark roots. I'd have to say this is a fair assessment of the book, though it wasn't as dark a book as he painted it, nor as much a fairy tale. Still, I liked it a lot and though there were a few ambiguous moral comments, Barker seems overall to understand good and evil and their relationship to each other. One of the highlights of the book was seeing Barker's own illustrations scattered throughout the story.

Still rereading The Tombs of Atuan

We need to get wisewoman in here. She loves the Earthsea books and would be thrilled you're reading them, Lady Haleth.

The Tombs of Atuan is definitely my favourite of the Earthsea books. I'm a bit over the first book and I don't remember much of the third.

I'm currently reading A Geography of Time by Robert Levine. The book follows a researcher as he travels the world and examines how different cultures and cultures perceive time and what that means for the way they live. It's fascinating.

I quite liked the first Earthsea book, as I thought Le Guin had a much better grasp of what an teenager with great magic power would really be like. But I loved The Tombs of Atuan too. Except for the cover of my copy, which is from the TV series and features a blond Ged and a Chinese Tenar.
Still reading Wintersmith and Farmer Giles.

So I finished Out of the Silent Planet today. It was a good book, enjoyed it very much. I prefer Narnia to it though. (I've also read The Screwtape Letters, part of The Great Divorce, which I do plan on finishing, and Mere Christianity which isn't a story). I loved the end parts of the book where

, definitely intrigued me to continue the series, though I already planned to do so.