I had questions about the series of books known as Discworld. They seem pretty popular with friends of mine on here. I was wondering what they were like for content. Today, I saw some in a store, and opened one up. I happened to open the book up to a swear word. Was that just a rare occurrence, or is language a common concern for the Discworld books? And should they be read in any certain order?

I was also wondering about Patricia McKillip books? I've heard a lot of good things about her. Which ones by her are best?

And also, G.K Chesterton. Another author I've been wanting to try. The only book by him I've heard of is Manalive (because of the Manalive Conspiracy I see in people's sigs). Is that the best? And are there others?

~Riella

Ithilwen, I'm not an expert on any of the authors/books you're asking about, but I'm familiar with them all, so I'll give your questions a shot. Hopefully others will come along and weigh in as well.

Discworld: Content kind of varies by the book. I've read a handful, and sometimes there's a fair amount of language and suggestive content, and sometimes there's only a little. As far as order goes, I'm not sure it really matters all that much. I think there are only a few of them that are very closely linked; more of them are only tangentially linked with setting and secondary characters. If you're interested, too, Pratchett has written some books (the Tiffany Aching series, for one) for young adults, which are a bit 'cleaner'; you could give those a try and, if you like his writing, then read the Discworld series. Though, I'm not sure if Death really shows up in them and he's one of the most interesting characters.

McKillip: It really depends upon the person. Favourites around here seem to be The Bell at Sealey Head and In the Forests of Serre. As far as plot goes, The Alphabet of Thorn and The Riddlemaster series seem to be pretty popular/favoured as well. It can take a while to get into her writing, though, so whatever you choose, don't get discouraged if you're not instantly attracted or if you're confused by it.

Chesterton: He wrote tons of books. His most famous are probably the Father Brown series---detective stories about a mild-mannered priest with an excellent grasp of people. Also, that's where flam's username comes from. Another of his notable books is The Man Who Was Thursday, which is about a man infiltrating an anarchy society; it's a bit unusual, but very good. Also, as you noted, Manalive is rather popular on here. Personally, I wasn't very fond of it, but you may like it.

Personal reading has been rather scarce due to school , but over the semester, I have managed to get a few things in.
Entwined by Heather Dixon: I had a few issues with this book (mostly related to the main character), but all and all, I did like it. And some bits got stuck in my mind, such as the soul courtesy.
Foundling and Lamplighter by D. M. Cornish: Thanks for the recommendation, W4J! The first was actually on a recommended reading list I'd been going through, but your mention of it bumped it up on my To-Be-Read list. Overall, I rather enjoyed them and am rather disappointed my library doesn't have the third one. I'm currently trying to figure out a way for me to get my hands on it.
Ombria in Shadow by Patricia McKillip: To be honest, I've still not completely understood this one, especially the ending. But it was very pretty, and I rather liked what I did understand.
The Lost Hero and Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan: These were pretty fun and I enjoyed being back in their universe(s) again. It's definitely fun trying to piece together what I know of Greek/Roman mythology and Egyptian mythology (very little!) with the characters and events in the books. We just got The Son of Neptune out of the library and I'm looking forward to reading it; I may have to fight for it, though.

Well, I apologize for my long absence in this thread! I'm afraid I don't even have a good excuse.

And also, G.K Chesterton. Another author I've been wanting to try. The only book by him I've heard of is Manalive (because of the Manalive Conspiracy I see in people's sigs). Is that the best? And are there others?

I'm so glad to hear that you're wanting to give his works a try! Manalive is one of Chesterton's best, to be sure, but there are many others. A few that I recommend in addition to Manalive are The Man Who Was Thursday; The Ball and the Cross; Four Faultless Felons; The Napoleon of Notting Hill; and The Father Brown stories.
If you're interested in any of his non-fiction works, I highly recommend What's Wrong With the World. I seem to recall liking The Everlasting Man as well, but it's been several years since I've read it and so I can't give a great review on it.
Another good Chesterton related book is Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton by Dale Ahlquist. It’s a book that’s not so much about Chesterton, as it is about everything from a Chesterton perspective. Really great reading, and I definitely recommend reading it.
I hope that wasn't too overwhelming.

A quick update of my reading for the year, I have read a total of 136 books (meaning that I have surpassed my reading goal of 120 books for the year), and 113 of those were first time reads. Yeehaw!!

I recently re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This was only my second time reading the books, and I found that I enjoyed them moreso the second time than I did the first; I still think that Tolkien is too wordy at times, but he did write some endearing characters (Sam, anyone?). I also found myself actually liking Frodo; this rather surprised me, because I really disliked him the first time. I noticed the strengths in his character, rather than the weaknesses, and was able to appreciate him better.

I am currently reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and am nearly half-way through These Happy Golden Years. I have so many memories connected with this series! These books were a part of my childhood much in the same way that the Narnia series was with many of you; my mom read them to me when I was little, and so reading them now takes me back to that time in my life. This is the first time I have read the whole series as an adult, and it's the first time that I have actually been able to appreciate the amount of work that Charles Ingalls did to provide for his family. Caroline too. And can I hear a shout out for Almanzo? Anyone?

--- flambeau

Death does show up in the Tiffany Aching books, but not for very long. Though his appearances do tend to be minor cameos in the books not actually about him.

Content in Discworld books can depend on which sub-series you're reading. If you're reading The Witches sub-series, expect a lot of innuendo. You'll get swearing and violence in the Watch books, since they tend to focus more on the crime genre. The other sub-series can vary from book to book. Really though, the books never go above a PG-13 in terms of content. The worst sexual content you'll get will be the innuendo and I don't recall ever seeing so much as a single f-bomb in any of the books.

As for reading order, I've not read them in any particular order and wasn't terribly bothered by this. However, there is a suggested reading order that you can find here.

Coincidentally enough, I'm reading I Shall Wear Midnight, the newest Tiffany Aching book, at the moment.

I just finished reading "The Power Of Six" by Pitticus Lore (sequel to "I Am Number Four") and wow. wow. WOW! this series just keeps getting more epic! I can't believe I have to wait until next summer to read the next book! I wanna know what happens!
I Am Number Four and The Power Of Six are amazing and epic! read them! you'll be glad you did!

Does anyone have any opinions (Good or bad...) about I know why the caged bird sings? Were going to get it in English this week and I want to know if its any good before we start reading it. I know it has some ...unrespectable... parts to it, but I'm prepared because I have friends who read it last year and told me alllll about it >.<

Read Three by Ted Dekker last week (in about 3 days) and I really enjoyed it.

Spoiler

Of course, I already heard from everybody else who read it about the HUGE SPOILER= multiple personality disorder =END OF HUGE SPOILER, so that kind of took a little something out of it... but I still really liked it.
And they didn't tell me everything about the MPD- I only knew about parts of it.

So. =) The first and only Ted Dekker book I've read- I'd like to read the Circle Trilogy next... we'll see if I have time. And I've heard that not all his books are that great; we'll see.

Queen Susan, good to see someone enjoying Ted Dekker's novels!
I'm a big fan of his work but there are some of his that I think are rather mediocre (so I'm not totally biased to call everything he touches 'gold').
Here are my recommendations.

When Heaven Weeps
Heaven's Wager
Blink
Obsessed
Showdown
Saint
Sinner
Black
Red
White
Green
Adam
Boneman's Daughters
The Bride Collector
The Priest's Graveyard

These are his better novels (in my opinion)

Here is another shameless plug for my book, Battle Cry: Adventures in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Two big things just happened today. One is I got officially endorsement by a well-known Creation Science Speaker, Dr. Charles Jackson with Creation Truth Foundation to his over 5,000+ followers. Sales jumped dramatically from yesterday to today. The other thing is that it is now available on Kindle. I didn't even set it up, and yet it is now there. Paperback is $15.00, while Kindle is just $2.99. See the link in my siggy for Dr Jackson's review and for a sample reading of the first few pages.

Thanks for the suggestions, W4J! I'm hoping to borrow the Circle Trilogy from a friend pretty soon.

Aaand, in other news, I started Mockingjay last night!

@Queen Susan Awesome! I love those books! Who's your favorite character?

About Mockingjay:

But I liked Mockingjay. I thought it was really good, I liked the ending, I liked the character development, and I like the realism it had.

I basically just finished, so I guess I'm still sorting out my thoughts. Sorry they're so random.

I just got done reading
Drake's Journal: Making of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, by Nolan North (Nathan Drake)
It's a great inside look as to how my favorite Video Game was made, along with a lot of behind the scenes stuff!
After reading it, I appreciate all the hard work by all who were involved in creating this amazing and incredible game even more then before!
It is amazing to see how much work it takes to create one game!

7Chronicles, looks interesting mate. I haven't played Uncharted 3 but Tintin was a huge inspiration for Nathan Drake's character and the story. Did they mention that in the book?

@Warrior 4 Jesus: I know I thinks it's Awesome that they were inspired by Tintin! I can see the influence it had in the game!
Tintin was not mentioned,
the book was written by Nolan North, the actor and voice for Nathan Drake and is more about his experience working on Uncharted and how it was made, from his point of view.
It would be great if Amy Henning (the writer) wrote a book about the story and what she was influenced and inspired by to write such a brilliant story! No doubt Tintin would be mentioned.
If you ever get a PS3, you really have to get the game, it's a must play!
It's the story and characters not just the graphics (which are Amazing) that make all three of the Uncharted games amazing and memorable!