Well I decided to finish The Two Princesses of Bamarre (skipping over some of the sorcery ). I really liked it, although

I just started reading the Lord of the Rings. My cousin gave me a gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles for Christmas so I bought my own set about a month ago.

I'm starting with The Hobbit and have read one chapter so far! I just started a new job: 40 hours a week - 8-5 with an hour lunch, so I don't have tons of time. I'm just going to read a little bit each evening.

Lord of the Rings is awesome! I have a sister who is a FANATICAL lotr fan and I think she has read all of the books about ten times each! I've read the actual Lord of the Rings books twice each and the Hobbit once. They are really great!
Good luck with your new job too

Oh, great, narnian_at_heart; they're the most amazing books, I really hope you enjoy them! How lovely to be able to have your own copies, I got a really good hard cover set a few years ago, and I love them!

Bella, I would recommend Eagle of the Ninth. Also, much love for The Man Who Was Thursday.

So how are you liking Dombey and Son!? I really like Dickens although I find I have to be in the mood for him

I'm finding that I have to be in the mood as well--when I'm reading, I can go through about a hundred pages at a time, but it'll sometimes be days before I pick the book up again... I love it while I'm reading, and I love the story, but I'm not hugely motivated to keep reading like with a page-turner.

*sighs at the mention of Geoffrey Trease* Every time someone mentions him I get very sad that my library system doesn't have any of his books. It's probably time to check again and hope that things have changed...

waggawerewolf, you wouldn't happen to know if anyone has written a book about travelling through England visiting literary sights like Anna Quindlen's Imagined London?

Also, I may have lost my membership in the Honorable Society of Patricia McKillip Junkies, as I just found out today she released a new book...ahem, back in December. Oy

*turns in her membership slip on top of malkah's* First I've heard of it as well.

I recently read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel, and the first half or so was It's like if Lucy M. Montgomery were writing Rilla of Ingleside today, I think. It's set just post WWII and is told entirely through letters. The second half, though it came to a 'this is the ending you knew was coming and were waiting for!' was... different. Not that the characters changed noticeably, but it seemed to have lost its focus a bit. (After all, the main correspondent got to the island, and so it was harder to find letters to write?) Or maybe I'm biased because the characters weren't going into rhapsodic and snarky comments about their favourite books so much. Anyway, I mostly liked it.

*a rather dusty flambeau plods into the thread for an update on her reading*

Hey all! I just finished reorganizing the family bookshelf (hence me being dusty and sneezy right now), and had a lot of fun doing it! As I said to Mountie just a bit ago, there's nothing quite like handling large numbers of books to make you feel grubby and awesome at the same time!

I've been kind of on cloud nine this past week, because I bought sixteen books for $8 total!! *does a happy dance* I love thrift stores!!

Lady Haleth, I know you weren't talking to me, but I would like to thank you for recommending The Robe by Lloyd Douglas; I read it at the beginning of this month and quite loved it! The storyline was excellent.
I also read The Big Fisherman by Douglas, and liked it a lot too. I've checked out two of his other books and I'm looking forward to reading them.

@ Elanor: I finished Little Dorrit, and thought it was pretty good overall. I did speed read/skim quite a bit of it, but I liked the plot. I loved John Chivery, but I may be biased 'cause I loved him in the movie.

After reading an 800+ page book, I'm ready for some fluffy reading, so up next is The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Our family loves the movie, so I figured I could blow thirty cents to find out just how well it follows the play.

--- flambeau

flambeau said

I've been kind of on cloud nine this past week, because I bought sixteen books for $8 total!! *does a happy dance* I love thrift stores!!

lucky lucky you!!!!!!!!

After reading an 800+ page book, I'm ready for some fluffy reading, so up next is The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Our family loves the movie, so I figured I could blow thirty cents to find out just how well it follows the play.

I loovvvvvvvve that play - it's even funnier in writing than it is in the film Really, really funny

Oh and Elanor you mentioned a few days ago that you were reading P.G Wodehouse and enjoying them. I agree, they are soo funny. One of the best is The Imitable Jeeves, it is just so funny! I like his ones with Bertie and Jeeves the best. My grandfather put me onto them years ago as he remembered reading them when he was young

@ Elanor: I finished Little Dorrit, and thought it was pretty good overall. I did speed read/skim quite a bit of it, but I liked the plot. I loved John Chivery, but I may be biased 'cause I loved him in the movie.

Yay! I'm glad you liked it! I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed in it, this read through. But I think it was mostly my fault; I did skim, so I missed some of it. And some parts of it annoyed me. But some of the characters are just wonderful.

Oh and Elanor you mentioned a few days ago that you were reading P.G Wodehouse and enjoying them. I agree, they are soo funny. One of the best is The Imitable Jeeves, it is just so funny! I like his ones with Bertie and Jeeves the best. My grandfather put me onto them years ago as he remembered reading them when he was young

Yes, I really love the Jeeves one's; they were what I started out on, but now I've read all sorts of different one's, and I love them all. I actually enjoy the short stories the best; everything goes so wrong in the long one's, that it's almost painful.

I'm finally getting around to reading The Bell at Sealey Head; I'm going to start it today, and I'm really excited. It looks so good!

I was finally able to get "Snakehead" (the 7th book in the "Alex Rider" series by Anthony Horowitz) out of my library! I am part way through and it's very epic! oh I love this series!!!!! it's, IMO, the best spy series ever

*appears*

Since my last post (on page 43 or so, if anyone so cares ), I have read several books, and now that summer is here and I'm all done school for the year, I hope to keep up with this lovely thread more.

I finished War and Peace last month, and despite it being a lovely book, I was glad to have it done. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I read 3/4 of Churchill's History of An English Speaking Peoples, which was also excellent. I also read two other biographies on Churchill, the first entitled Alone: 1932-1940, which is the second book of three by William Manchester/his assistant, and the second biography on Churchill entitled Churchill: A Life, by Martin Gilbert. Alas that it was not the eight volume biography by the same author on the same subject, and only the one volume version. Oh well. I have also read and enjoyed a compilation of Churchill's Wartime speeches, from 1938 or so to 1941, the book of which was entitled Blood, Sweat, and Tears. My particular copy was from 1941 or so, but unfortunately has a hole eaten into its pages, which I think came from a bookworm. Does anyone know if the book would be safe to put with the rest of my books, since the bookworm it seems has been long gone? I've kept it separate just in case there would be some danger by way of infecting the rest of my books. The last notable book I read was Around the World in 80 Days, which was just as capital as the David Niven version of the film (and since we like that film a lot in our house, it is saying a lot!). At present I am reading Frontiers and Wars, which is a (sadly abridged! ) compilation of Churchill's earliest four non fiction books (The Malakand Field Force, The River War, London to Ladysmith, and Ian Hamilton's March, respectively). And in one paragraph, I sum up most of my reading for the past few months.

flambeau: I am glad that you enjoyed Little Dorrit, it is one of my favourite Dickens' novels- that and Dombey and Son (which I see is another novel that has been mentioned within these last few pages).

That is a great haul you had there, too! So many books for eight dollars! I was able to get four books myself for a very good price all in all, althou' it may not sound like it. I bought 4 for $36.00, but one was $20.00 and the rest are rare and/or out of print. So it's perhaps not in the same category of book buying deals as your's was. Or something to that nature and effect.

I loovvvvvvvve that play - it's even funnier in writing than it is in the film Really, really funny

After reading the whole thing last night, I have to agree with you! I laughed a lot while reading it; all of the characters say and do the most absurd things! I really enjoyed it, and it was just what I needed to read last night. Perfectly fluffy and amusing.

Yay! I'm glad you liked it! I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed in it, this read through. But I think it was mostly my fault; I did skim, so I missed some of it. And some parts of it annoyed me. But some of the characters are just wonderful.

I agree about the characters; some of them are just wonderful! My favorites were Amy, Arthur, John Chivery, and Pancks. I strongly disliked Amy's family; I cannot stand characters who set themselves up like they're so selfless, when in reality they're the most selfish people in the book. Ugh. Annoys me to death.

The last notable book I read was Around the World in 80 Days, which was just as capital as the David Niven version of the film (and since we like that film a lot in our house, it is saying a lot!).

Funny that you should mention that book! It's one of the ones I bought last week (along with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth), and I'm planning on reading it pretty soon.

Re: Dombey and Son - I've heard about that one, and our library does have it, but I think I'm done with Dickens for the time being. Maybe I'll read it later on in the year. I'll be sure to let you all know if/when I do.

lucky lucky you!!!!!!!!

That is a great haul you had there, too! So many books for eight dollars!

Thank y'all! I'm really pleased with them all, and can't wait to read them!

I was able to get four books myself for a very good price all in all, althou' it may not sound like it. I bought 4 for $36.00, but one was $20.00 and the rest are rare and/or out of print. So it's perhaps not in the same category of book buying deals as your's was. Or something to that nature and effect.

That is a great deal for rare books! (If it's any consolation, your four are probably more impressive than my sixteen pocket paperbacks. )

I read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie this morning. I know that it's considered one of her best mysteries, but I didn't find it all that impressive. Yes the solution was unexpected, but it was also rather far-fetched and not clear cut at all. The murderer's motive was also weak, at best. I prefer mysteries where the criminal has a definite motive for choosing that particular target (revenge, money, etc.), rather than randomly selecting people to fulfill a psychological somethin'-ruther.
Christie's best is still The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in my opinion. That one had an unexpected ending, but it was still plausible and understandable. I consider it to be the best mystery I have ever read.

--- flambeau

Funny that you should mention that book! It's one of the ones I bought last week (along with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth), and I'm planning on reading it pretty soon.

Hurray! Do let us know what you think of it, and the other two, of course. I haven't read the other two, altho' I think I read an abridged version of the latter at some point or other.

Re: Dombey and Son - I've heard about that one, and our library does have it, but I think I'm done with Dickens for the time being. Maybe I'll read it later on in the year. I'll be sure to let you all know if/when I do.

Sounds good! But don't pressure yourself. It's a good story, although there were several times when I found the object of Mr. Dickens' satire and (can I say it?) scorn to be not to my liking.

That is a great deal for rare books! (If it's any consolation, your four are probably more impressive than my sixteen pocket paperbacks. )

Well, if you want to get into a "your book haul was better than my book haul" discussion, my books were 200+ pages, and 3 out of 4 were hardcover.... But pocket paperbacks are good too.

I finished War and Peace last month, and despite it being a lovely book, I was glad to have it done.

Was this your first read? I can understand those feelings; it's somewhat painful for me to read. I get so mad at it sometimes.

I agree about the characters; some of them are just wonderful! My favorites were Amy, Arthur, John Chivery, and Pancks. I strongly disliked Amy's family; I cannot stand characters who set themselves up like they're so selfless, when in reality they're the most selfish people in the book. Ugh. Annoys me to death.

Oh, I know!! That kind of character jumps up all the time, but that doesn't decrease their awfulness. They're all so wretched!!!! I really want to watch the mini-series; my sister says its really good, and I want to like Arthur more, I wasn't very thrilled with him during this read through.

It's a good story, although there were several times when I found the object of Mr. Dickens' satire and (can I say it?) scorn to be not to my liking.

Oh, I'm curious; what exactly are you referring to here?

Well, I finished The Bell at Sealey Head. Oh, I know, I know, but I read very fast, and being sick, I had nothing to do today. I did like it; not immensely, but definitely much more than the other two books I've read by her. It was very sweet, and not too puzzling. I loved a lot of the characters and interaction, and etc.

I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie about a year ago. I wasn't expecting the ending to twist like it did (as I recall it was quite abrupt), but I liked it for the surprise.

As for current reads, I am currently working on Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Both authors have different styles that I haven't read much of before so it is interesting to do so! I completed Dickens' A Christmas Carol and did like it in the end.

Was this your first read? I can understand those feelings; it's somewhat painful for me to read. I get so mad at it sometimes.

Oh no, it was my second. It is just that I started it last July, so having any book on the go for ten months is not something I like doing.

Lady Galadriel, how are you enjoying Great Expectations? I read it two summers ago (I think it was) and enjoyed it well enough.