(I can't tell you how relieved I was to see a real live fantasy creature after all those potatoes, oy vey)

I read this and couldn't help laughing. A horror story...about potatoes? I've heard of authors lacking inspiration, but potatoes? Oh, wow. A horror story for the poor reader, maybe.

Right now, I'm reading Ivanhoe. I finished several delightful books from the library, including several books from a great series called The Children of the Lamp. It's very good and interesting. Have any of you heard of it? The premise is that two twin children (they're twelve) named John and Phillippa Gaunt discover that they are Djinn and, when they begin their training under senior Djinn Uncle Nimrod, they spiral off into a series of adventures. The writing style is excellent, and the ideas don't let me guess the ending until we're there, but in a very good way.

I have noticed in past months something that quite bothers me: grown-ups, or even young adults, refuse to read "children's" books because they were written for that genre. Even if the books are marvelously well written, they won't pick them up because of the age group they were written for. I find this quite sad. Maybe it's why the child inside so many people become stifled or something. Why do you think that people have this mindset, everyone? Have you got it, and what do you think about it in any case?

Edit: narnian1 and flam, you two will have to tell me what you think of Ivanhoe.

I'm sure flam will be able to tell you about it. As for me, I'm not reading that book- never heard of it actually.

Heh ... I'm pretty sure the potatoes story was supposed to be comic-horrific. And in its way, it worked. But it just elicited a Why am I reading this? reaction from me.

I just read the latest John Grisham novel, The Confession. I love his books but I'm not really big on his endings. The last few I've read have had endings where

I'm never super satisfied with John Grisham's endings. But I still love his books. Explain that.

ly: Over the term we read Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing (I'll admit to not reading this one since I already did 2 summers ago), Henry V, The Winter's Tale, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth (a reread for me). It was a lot of Shakespeare, but I enjoyed it more or less. I think that at one point Will and I were enemies, then he inspired distaste, now we are acquaintances who are mildly pleased to see one another. It was lovely reading Macbeth as a more mature adult. It's a magnificent play and probably my favorite of his. So, overall, the class was a success and he has moved up in my esteem. Which is your favorite?

LH: I remember Skeleton Key was one of my least favorite of the AR series. Get ready for Scorpia, that one was the best.

sweet: I definitely haven't got that mentality. I adore children's literature and believe that a really good work of children's literature should appeal to all audiences because childhood and naivete is something that everyone has in common. I don't think you'll find many people on this site with an antagonistic mentality (we are after all a site dedicated to books intended for children), but it is certainly a mentality I've encountered in the world at large.

narnian1: Ahh, you're right! I misread flam's post. I've edited your name out for sweet's.

Brideshead is getting very sad, but I can tell that this is going to be a novel that stays. I can't get it out of my head.

It's been awhile since I've posted about books. I think the last one was that I had just checked out Boy Meets Girl by Josh Harris?
It was much better than 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye', I'll tell you that.

I am about to read To Kill a Mockingbird. Many say it's a very good book. I also heard it here too in NW that it is a great book.

Yes, it is. It was the first book I ever read that was written for adults, and I loved it.
I just finished The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen. Lloyd Alexander rocks, as usual. I especially liked the fact that he doesn't stick to what you think of as 'typical' or even Western fantasy--this one was set in a Chinese-type setting. I also just finished Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham, which was very funny.
As for the children's book thing, I actually prefer them. Most of my reading tastes run to either young adult books, or classics originally written for adults. Then again, when I was younger, I was reading books that everyone thought were too old for me:

There is no book worth reading at the age of ten that is not equally worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond

C.S. Lewis.

Kate: You may remember this, but I am head-over-heels in love with Much Ado About Nothing, and have been since the age of five. I doubt any other Shakespeare play is going to eclipse it in my mind; it's just such a perfect piece of drama-infused comedy. I agree that Macbeth is a great play, but the only time I've read it, rather than seen it performed, I was rushing in order to discuss it with my brother so that he would be better prepared to write a paper on it. Oy vey. Rather ruined it for me at the time. I also like Merchant of Venice a lot, out of the ones I've read. Don't care for Twelfth Night much -- I had to read it last Spring for Renaissance Literature, and I just couldn't relate to any of the characters. It does feature excellent wordplay, though.

*seconds all the recommendations of To Kill a Mockingbird*

Wow, before I read To Kill a Mockingbird, I am going to read "Inside Narnia: Prince Caspian". It was my exchange gift in our Christmas party.
Anyways, I am so excited to read the book! Has anybody read the Inside Narnia: LWW?

I'm reading Vanity Fair again, for about the third time. I really enjoy reading it, though the story itself is pretty miserable. The subtitle is most fitting - the novel without a hero. There is just about no one likable in it.
But it's still a fun read.

Any Game of Thrones fans here?

I actually just started reading the first book. My LotRO kin leader loves the series, so he's been posting all the clips about the HBO show on our website. It looked interesting, so I checked the book out from the library. I'm liking it so far.

Now I see what everyone was talking about. They are absolutely hilarious, but they're also more than that. There was a lot about what real power is, about not using it to show off, and about staying loyal to your friends.

Yay! I'm glad you like Pratchett, since he's one of my very favorite authors. I still need to get my hands on the new Tiffany Aching book, I Shall Wear Midnight.

I'm having to read 1984 for schoolwork now and I'm not enjoying it. I'm hurrying through it, though, to get it over with as soon as possible.

I read 1984 a few years back for a British Lit class. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but it is a very powerful novel. Stuck with me. I preferred Animal Farm though.

I've read quite a few books since I last posted about what I've been reading.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher: Set in vaguely in the future, presumably after an apocalypse, this is the story of two teenagers. And yay! they didn't end the story by falling in love! Anyway, Claudia is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a sealed prison that the planet's undesirables were sealed into years before. The outside world is ruled by a Queen and they are forced to live in a facsimile of what I assumed to be a Regency novel. Technology is rare and hidden where no one can see it, for fear of huge fines from the government. Claudia is set to marry the Queen's son, but is looking for a way out. That leads her in a quest to find Incarceron. Meanwhile, inside the prison, Finn, is looking for a way out. The prison was meant to be a utopia for those inside, but the AI running it developed a malevolent streak and life inside is horrific, violent, and short. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series when it comes out this month.

The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh: A young servant boy at a monastery discovers a hob in a hunting trap in the woods. He takes him home to nurse him back to life and becomes involved in a search for a buried angel. I thought this could best be described as charming. There's a sort of old-fashioned children's book vibe to it in places. I thought it went off the rails into preachiness a few times, but it had some nice ideas and a good mythology. I'm hoping there will be more books set in the same universe.

The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black: An anthology of stories. Interesting twist on the vampire mythology, a version of Red Riding Hood that I really liked, an twist on Tam Lin, and a nice story about reading things in and out of books were the highlights. Not a bad set of stories, but nothing I would rush out to buy. A few relationships that some NarniaWebbers would find objectionable, so you've been warned.

Brain Jack by Brian Falkner: An absurd techno-thriller deluged in entirely too much technospeak. Oh and everything is wrapped up by deus ex machina, so yay.

The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness: The first and second entries in the Chaos Walking trilogy. The trilogy is set in a series of colonies humanity established on a distant planet. Upon their arrival, they quickly learned there was something about the planet that gave men Noise, their every thought it audible to all around. Women do not have Noise, but can hear the Noise of men. Since men and women can butt heads just fine without telepathy, this only strains the relationship. Then add in hostile natives and it's not a pretty situation. Anyway, the trilogy begins thirteen years after the colonization with Todd, the last boy left in Prentisstown, a town with only men. He discovers a teenage girl named Viola, a survivor of a scout ship crash. There are more colonists arriving within the year and I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say the mayor of Todd's town is crazy psycho. So Todd and Viola are forced to go on the run along with Manchee, Todd's talking dog. The telepathy thing again.

I'm not normally a fan of stream-of-consciousness, but I thought that it worked very well here. Be forewarned, this is probably the most brutal YA series I've read since The Hunger Games Trilogy and actually reminds me quite a bit of those books.

And then finally there's I Am Number Four, written by a dastardly duo of a scheming literary sweat shop proprietor named James Frey and his hapless sidekick. Google James Frey if you want to know why he is now on my Most Despised list. Long story short, this is the worst novel I have read since Twilight and the execrable Daniel X book by James Patterson. It features one-dimensional characters, a one-dimensional protagonist, one-dimensional villains, shallow romance galore, terrible writing, plot holes, logic fails, and just sheer bad writing. Considering the hapless sidekick graduated from Columbia, I would think someone at one point should have told him that if you're going to insist on telling instead of showing, your telling needs to at least be interesting. Half the conversations in this book are summarized, which pretty much insures no characterization. And the absurdity of the romance. For all that Bella/Edward is evil and must be destroyed with fire, this romance is worse. Literally all they do is kiss. There's nothing even slightly believable about it. I think my favorite logic fail though, was when the protagonist and his "best friend" climb into a truck the "best friend" explicitly states hasnot been touched or driven in eight years and they're able to drive off in it with no trouble. Oy vey.

I was interested in the movie, but now that I've read the book, I wouldn't touch the movie with a ten meter pole.

Ly: I remember your admiration for Much Ado, but I wasn't sure if it was your favorite. I agree with you that Twelfth Night isn't all that impressive. I had heard great things about it, but was generally disappointed in it. The plot didn't really make sense to me. Well, the two individual plots made sense, but not together. There wasn't really very much overlap. And I thought the characters were sort of annoying. Merchant is very interesting. There's a lot going on in that play, good and bad. I like Portia.

sandy: Enjoy Mockingbird. It's probably my favorite American novel. It is truly one of the greatest novels of all time and it's very accessible since it's written from the point of view of a child.

*Dislikes 1984 very much*

Booky, I'd just heard of Incarceron the other day. I'm not really feeling compelled to read it just now, but maybe in the future.

Agreed on 1984. Great writing and a really gripping story, but if you know anything about Orwell you know he's not going to end it on a happy note. Still I think it's one of those books everyone should read and digest at least once in their lives.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher: Set in vaguely in the future, presumably after an apocalypse, this is the story of two teenagers. And yay! they didn't end the story by falling in love! Anyway, Claudia is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a sealed prison that the planet's undesirables were sealed into years before. The outside world is ruled by a Queen and they are forced to live in a facsimile of what I assumed to be a Regency novel. Technology is rare and hidden where no one can see it, for fear of huge fines from the government. Claudia is set to marry the Queen's son, but is looking for a way out. That leads her in a quest to find Incarceron. Meanwhile, inside the prison, Finn, is looking for a way out. The prison was meant to be a utopia for those inside, but the AI running it developed a malevolent streak and life inside is horrific, violent, and short. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series when it comes out this month.

Oh yay. I love Incarceron. And they're making a movie of it with Taylor Lautner as Finn. Lack of yay there, but I'm still kind of excited. About the second book... I've heard before of Sapphique only just being released this month... but the thing is... I've already read it. Like a yearish ago. It was at my library. So I am now mightily confused and that is why I put aside my lurking tendencies for today to inquire after if anyone knows why.