Hmm... okay. Well, young kids wouldn't read these books. When I say 'kids', I mean those heading towards their teens.

I LOVE A Series of Unfortunate Events! They're some of my favorite books, although I haven't read them in awhile.

Another book I really love and need to read again is The Phantom Tollbooth.....

Out of curiosity, are there any translation snobs here for Heidi? I just read the Helen B. Dole translation, (because it was the new copy that isn't falling apart...) and there were whole passages that I didn't remember at all. I'm not sure if it was just my faulty memory, or if the old copy took a page from Peter's book and skipped all the hard words.

Other than that, it was not what you'd call an elegant translation.

Nionel, if you liked Letters from the Tilt-a-Whirl, I highly recommend Dorothy Sayers' Letters to a Diminished Church.

*remembers that she was going to comment on Elanor's re-read of the Prydain Chronicles, but doesn't remember what she was going to say*

I'm liking this section well enough but I can't quite get on board with Sir Gawaine, I don't understand how you can chop a lady's head off and have everyone be ok with it? Especially since King Arthur was trying to stop people in power doing things like chopping people's head off I'm definitely hoping to read more Arthurian literature after this, I'm drawing up a list (any recommendations are welcome!)

It is strange, isn't it? Gawaine does all these horrid things and then Arthur goes "Ah well, that's unfortunate, but don't beat yourself up too much about it."

A while ago Ly gave me a bunch of Arthurian suggestions and Is aved them but now I can't find them on my harddrive or the forum archives. I've only read the medieval "Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight," parts of Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, and Roger Lancelyn Green's King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. Both Malory and Green's writings are very blow by blow accounts of events (quests and such), but Green is from the 50s (I think) and is for children and Malory is medieval and long and dense. I wouldn't recommend either for pleasure, really, but Green's is a nice work to give you a basic understanding of most of the myth. "Sir Gawaine" is a fun alliterative poem which I would recommend if you're at all interested in reading one of the earliest accounts of the legend. I am yet to find my perfect account of the myth, but I think White's was by far the closest.

viridian_hues: What is The Bright Young Things series about? As far as I'm aware, "Bright young things" is a phrase coined by Evelyn Waugh in the 30s. It refered to the wealthy, young, responsibility-free British upper class who did nothing but drink and party in the 30s. Is the series related to Waugh in any way?

Talk about long time no see. I haven’t been here in absolutely ages, however, it seems the whole thread has been moving slowly

I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading lately, though mostly for school. I read As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury for my Faulkner class. Faulkner has completely captured my heart. I usually cannot stand depressing literature, particularly modern lit, but Faulkner, despite being an absolute form and narrative genius, is truly talented in creating incredible characters. The characters of AILD and TSTF are so well drawn by both their consciousnesses and their actions. He also paints quite a southern atmosphere and I love his treatment of multiple classes and races of people. The Sound and the Fury was particularly impressive, though difficult. I’m now reading Light in August, which is not as impressive so far. The prose is simpler, the narration, less internal and the characters less interesting. It has a kinetic plot though, so I’m interested to see where it goes. I never thought I would prefer form and character to plot.

I also read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short novella Erendira (the real Spanish title is MUCH longer). It was a devastating plot, but the writing and atmosphere were absolutely gorgeous, so I've resolved to read more Marquez. I wanted to wait to read 100 Years of Solitude until I can read it in Spanish, but I'm not sure I'll ever be quite good enough to read it in Spanish.

I also bought Les Miserables from my library's one dollar rack (which usually only has old technology and math textbooks). It's my first non-abridged copy. I was too niave last time to realize I'd accidentally picked up an abridged one.

I didn't bring any books with me to college. What was I thinking? I'm an avid reader.

Anyway, so I went to a small bookstore yesterday and bought three used books: Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, The Riders of High Rock, and Catlow; the last two by Louis L'Amour. I bought Freakonomics because my Econ teacher reccomended it last semester. It's very interesting.

I bought the two Louis books because my entire family are avid Louis L'Amour fans. He's a Western fiction author. My parents, when they got married, each had a complete set of Louis L'Amour novels (L'Amour wrote about 90 novels). They decided that they did not need two complete sets of Louis's and they donated my mom's set to Bishop's Attic (a Salvation Army type thrift store). My dad's set was kept for some time until it was given to my dad's cousin's family so the cousin's boys could read the books. The understanding was that the Louis's would be returned once the boys left home. Well, the boys have long since left home as well as the youngest child, a girl (who is my roommate currently ), and the books have yet to be returned. So my dad is working on building up another set. I bought the two because I knew we didn't have them and I could read them here at college and then take them home and give them to my dad at Christmas. I'm always on the lookout for Louis's that we don't have yet. Anyway, I discovered upon closer examination that one of them, we actually do have but the other we don't but oh well. I now have good books to read! And I'm going to check back there often and try to find more.

I read Jane Eyre the other day. That's the perfectest, perfectest book. I love it so much.
And I'm reading this AWFUL old book, called Guyfford of Weare (or something like that). It's trying to be in old english, but it's abominable. The author had no talent at all, it's very cliche and predictable and the characters are all abominable. Why did someone let that person get published?!!!!!! xDD But I'm going through with it for laughs.

Thanks to dear Ela, I just got The Count of Monte Cristo and am going to be reading it I basically know what the story is about, I saw a French tv series, but I heard that they changed the story there in certain places so I am looking forward to reading it

Ela, I'm glad you liked Jane Eyre, I loved parts of it and hated other parts . I can't say it is one of my favorite books, but it is very well written and really captivating, I was glued to it for the whole day

I just finished reading a book called "The Lost Island Of Tamarind" by Nadia Aguiar and WOW! I have not read a book that pulled me in and made me forget the world the way that one did in a long time!! it was so well written and it lured me into it's pages, keeping my eyes glued to the pages, making me feel like the story was happening in real time, right before my eyes! it was epic, intriguing, and the plot has many awesome unexpected twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat! and the actual contents of the book are more awesome than the basic plot from the back of the book lets on

plot:

Maya Nelson isn’t your typical thirteen-year-old. She’s spent her whole life living on the sea with her marine biologist parents, her younger brother, Simon, and baby sister, Penny. Maya used to love living on a sailboat, but lately, everything feels terribly claustrophobic. Maya longs to go to school on land. To make friends. To lead a normal life. But when a violent storm hits and Maya’s parents are washed overboard, life becomes anything but normal. The children manage to steer the boat toward a mysterious island, to a place that doesn’t exist on a map.

Welcome to Tamarind, where fish can fly, pirates patrol the waters, jaguars lurk, the islanders are at war, and an evil, child-stealing enchantress rules the jungle.

Maya never imagined she’d have to face so many dangers. But then, who could have imagined a place like Tamarind. . . .?

read it! it's amazing!

I haven't been able to do much reading for pleasure lately, a lot of my reading time has been taken up with school books. I finished The Grapes of Wrath the other day, for my school - I don't think I liked it. I mean, it's depressing and sometimes unpleasant, I didn't like the characters too much, though they weren't your normal, cliche people.
I did like the style of writing, and some of it was very very beautiful. I love the chapters that were devoted to just a little something that had nothing to do with the book, just describing something. That usually annoys me, but it was lovely in this book. And all those confusing conversation chapters that were hard to read, and even harder to describe. I liked them. Interesting book.

I have almost no time to read for pleasure, but I like to read some easy books from time to time just to relax when I have a chance to breathe. I'm currently reading Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick (third in the series). Scotty is by far my favorite character, he's levelheaded and actually has respect and draws moral lines. I can't stand Patch. He is so frustrating and he has absolutely no morals. I wish Nora would just forget about him and run away with Scotty.

Is anyone interested in The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater? I read the first chapter today. The world feels fascinating, but the story itself doesn't sound awfully original, to me. I did not form an opinion on the writing style yet.

I read my 3d Dumas book yesterday - and I was disappointed. It was 10 years later, the sequel to The Three Musketeers. I'd been wanting to read it for quite awhile, but halfway through I had to look at the cover to make sure it was by Dumas, or someone else. You never knew who was the main character, so you never got to start liking someone - when you did, they faded out. That was annoying.
It just didn't seem nearly up to the notch of the other books I've read by him. Oh well. It was interesting.

Adeona, I am. I'm a sucker for horse stories. I haven't got my hands on a copy yet, but I'm not expecting to be blown away by it, if you know what I mean.

I haven't read the Scorpio races, but I've read Shiver, Linger, and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater. I enjoyed the poetic style of the writing, but the plot was rather boring.

John Grisham just came out with a new novel: The Litigators. Does anyone else like his work?

I saw it at the store and bought it for my dad for Christmas. He loves John Grisham and was actually the person who introduce me to John Grisham.

Anyway, it looks really good and I want to read it so bad but I won't let myself. I'm going home for Christmas so I'll read it after I give it to Dad and before I come back to college.

Here's the synopsis:

The partners at Finley & Figg—all two of them—often refer to themselves as “a boutique law firm.” Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenly unemployed, any job—even one with Finley & Figg—looks okay to him.

With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law. An extremely popular drug, Krayoxx, the number one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, produced by Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion, has recently come under fire after several patients taking it have suffered heart attacks. Wally smells money.

A little online research confirms Wally’s suspicions—a huge plaintiffs’ firm in Florida is putting together a class action suit against Varrick. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of people who have had heart attacks while taking Krayoxx, convince them to become clients, join the class action, and ride along to fame and fortune. With any luck, they won’t even have to enter a courtroom!

It almost seems too good to be true.

And it is.