So. I just finished reading The King of Attolia. That took me all of two and half days and now I'm wishing I'd slowed down and spread things out a little bit!

Here is a condensation of my thoughts:
Upon finishing TT: "Better then average, if not quite as good as I was expecting. I'll go ahead and read the next book."
After reading QoA: "That was odd. But I haven't read a book this good in ages!"

Megan Whalen Turner has got to be some sort of author genius.
KoA is very unique and much more intelligent then most books written nowadays. Costis as a new character holds his own. I love his little moment in the guard room when he

This is the first book I've read by Agatha Christie, so I will give her another shot, but so far I very much prefer Dorothy Sayers.

On book banning: Last year, my history teacher told my class about a school where the dictionary was banned from the library because there were definitions of swear words in it and the school didn't want kids to look them up. I think banning the dictionary, of all things, is a bit extreme; after all, it's not like the dictionary was written purely to define bad words.

My school library opened recently, so I've got a lot of good books--Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card; Ptolemy's Gate, by Jonathan Stroud; and Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier are the books I've been reading lately. I've also been rereading Little Men.

One of my favorite book covers has to be Un Lun Dun, by China Mieville.

I also love the cover of Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier.

I really love the details in the cover; there's just so much stuff going on.

I'm reading Nicholas Sparks' True Believer
I'm in chapter ten now and I just got to something that I had to look up. Fascinating!

1898's book: Futility. and 1912's sinking of: Titanic

reading ordinary books can sometimes bring about some interesting historical facts

Adeona, you should read "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie next. I thought it was a really cool book. For some reason, it felt like a very modern book, but when I read "Murder on the Orient Express" that felt like a very classic book. Did anyone else get that feeling?

Pyxis, ooh, Un Dun Lun looks interesting! What's the book about exactly? (minimal spoilers would be good - thanks)

Adeona, it's a pity that you didn't enjoy Murder on the Orient Express. I quite enjoyed it. Agatha Christie was known as the Queen of Crime and really helped to bring murder mysteries into the main-stream. I haven't read any Dorothy Sayers. She was a Christian though. What books do you recommend of hers?
Try Agatha Christie's The Big Four. I love that one. It's very different from much of her other books. There's no will of inheritance to kill anyone over but it's a great story of intrigue and espionage.

Thank you for the suggestions, sillygoose and Warrior 4 Jesus! I will keep them in mind. And Warrior, I haven't read a ton of Dorothy Sayers' work, but my favorites have been Murder Must Advertise and The Nine Tailors. Both very good mysteries.

I just finished reading Gifts by Ursula Le Guin; I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It was very interesting how she wove an intriging story in which very little happened. I think I need to read more of her books.

Also read Into The Wild, a whole bunch of Nicholas Sparks books a co-worker lent me (The Last Song was my favorite of the bunch) and a really funny book called The Science of Superheroes. That is a must-read!

Warrior 4 Jesus, Un Lun Dun is about a girl and her friend who have to save an alternate (sort of Wonderland-like) London from this thing called the Smog; however, things don't work out quite as planned. It's a really good book, though it starts out a bit cliche.

So. I just finished reading The King of Attolia. That took me all of two and half days and now I'm wishing I'd slowed down and spread things out a little bit!

What a lovely coincidence! I just finished reading The King of Attolia this afternoon! Ah, what a marvelous book.

Does anyone get the feeling, after they've read an Attolia book, that they have missed myriads of important details even though they've absorbed the story? I always feel like that with this MWT books. It's a good thing,though. I feel like I might be seeing new things every time I read it.

First off, I LOVE GEN! He's just SO great. I hate it when the story of anyone ends when they get married, and the adventure and romance of Gen and Irene just keep going! I think the reason is that it's their electric characters and interesting plotlines that propel the story along. Sheesh, how I love it! I can't shut up about it, not even kidding!

Interesting thoughts, Adeona! I felt like

Now I'm curious about Sophos, and yes, I did get ACoK from the library. I've heard it's about him! Eep, I'm excited!

Sweeet, I completely agree with you about missing details! Many times I would read a sentence and feel like I just wasn't "Getting" something...
Because I can't get ACoK quite yet (which is good as well as bad; now I won't finish the series so quickly!) I'm rereading KoA right now. Sure enough, there's tons of little things I'm understanding better now.

I agree that the main plot is

I was just thinking how much I missed the bookish talk with the bookish people. Here I am.

Since it seems that we're on the subject of the Queen's Thief: I'm not a huge fan of the series but I am a huge fan of the

in The King of Attolia because it is so funny, thrilling, romantic, etc. I love it so much.
Gen definitely has a very interesting side to him in KoA, he is the king and he has full authority over them (well, the Queen backs him up). But I agree with whoever said his willingness to be pushed around was because of his unwillingness and fear of being their king.
I can follow the books up until the ending scene of KoA and following, those parts confuse me somewhat, I admit. I guess a few reread are in order!

At the moment I am reading Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. One of my guy friends is a big T. Pratchett fan and owns nearly all his books, my friend found out that I had read some of his books and liked them and he has been loaning me choice morsels ever since. Anyways. I am having a bit of a hard time getting into this book but it has just recently (yesterday-ish) started to really come together for me. I'm beginning to really get curious about the ending and feel for the characters. Vimes has just beginning to be a fav. character, and I'm wondering about and waiting for the little swamp dragon to have the moment of glory that I assume is coming for him. I will probably be finished with Guards! Guards! very soon.
Afterwards I have Men at arms all ready and waiting.

Un Lun Dun does sound really typical and uncreative but I may just have to try it for it's name and cover. Yet another thing added to the unending to-read.

Pyxis said Un Lun Dun began in a cliche manner, not that it was typical and uncreative as a whole. At least it's not another Tolkienesque fantasy (cough The Inheritance Cycle cough).

Pyxis said Un Lun Dun began in a cliche manner, not that it was typical and uncreative as a whole. At least it's not another Tolkienesque fantasy (cough The Inheritance Cycle cough).

I know. I can't stand that.

W4J, how many books are about 1-4 children who discover a world in distress and have to save it? I say typical for that reason. I've heard from other people who've read it that it is just a young person's Neverwhere--therefore, uncreative.
Me? I've never read Un Lun Dun so I can't say if it is good or bad, I can say what it sounds like it would be and what I've heard other people say. Phyxis says that it ends up being good and, who knows, if I read it I might agree.
At the moment, I'm thinking I would probably find it typical and uncreative but because of it's interesting title and cover I have put it on my to-read.

oh. my. word. I just finished reading The 39 Clues: Into The Gauntlet (book 10) and it was AWESOME! I was sobbing at the end

! that book was amazing! now I have to go back and re-read the whole series in order all over again!