I also have The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope

I had to read that my junior year of high school. I did not like it at all. That was quite a while ago so I don't even remember why or even very much of what it was about. I should try reading it again. I have re-read several books that I hated as a pre-teen/teen and have since enjoyed them once I was older. Maybe you could write a review of it on here once you read it if you don't mind?

I've read more books already then I had all of last year!

I'm so so so excited for the next Temeraire book: Crucible of Gold!
After LOTR and Narnia, Temeraire is my third favorite book series!
I Love Temeraire!!!!
Comes out on March 6th!!!

Thanks for the opinions, guys! Actually, everyone I've talked to in Real Life about "Green" has not been a huge fan, so I'm not sure I'll read it. *shrug* I could go either way I guess. Right now I have a different stack I'm getting through, so... we'll see if I ever decide to read Green.

Current stack:

Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
I've wanted to read this one since I was 10 or so, and I finally decided to get it from the library.
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
For a book discussion some friends of mine are having. Any opinions?
How Green Was my Valley by Richard Lleywellen
I've heard this was good. Any opinions? =)

I've just recently finished reading North and South and Jane Eyre
North and South I loved, loved LOVED!!!! It goes into my list of favorite books
Jane Eyre...uh.....well, I've read better in my time, I didn't enjoy it at all, though there were some funny parts and the dialog in places was amazing. It's written very well, I guess the story just didn't sit with me

Currently I'm reading The Last of the Mohicans and so far I really love it
(it's waaaay better than the movie, which hardly follows the book at all )

I finally got my hands on "Caddy Ever After" by Hilary Mackay
she is one of my favorite authors and she's got a great style filled with humor and wit
"Caddy Ever After is the followup to three other books:

"Saffy's Angel"
"Indigo's Star"
"Permanent Rose"

"Indigo's Star" is my ultimate favorite I read it quite often and laugh every single time
"Forever Rose" is the book that comes after "Caddy Ever After" and I read it before I read "Caddy Ever After" because our library never got it, sadly but, I got it (finally!) at Barnes & Noble and it was totally worth it the characters in these books are so endearing and fun and I can't get enough of them
I highly recommend this series

Sure, narnian_at_heart! I haven't read The Sherwood Ring yet, but when I finish it, I'd be happy to post my thoughts on it.

What are the Temeraire books about, 7chronicles? I don't think I've ever heard of them before.

QueenSusan, out of your stack, I've only read the Levine. I believe I've heard of the Lleywellen one, but I don't actually know what it's about or what I heard.

I'm glad you liked North and South, wild rose! It's such a good book.
As for Jane Eyre, I quite like it, but I know it can be a divisive book---my mom and a couple of my sisters don't like mainly because they think it's very depressing.

I've heard of Hilary McKay before, Liberty, but I've never read her books. What're they about?

I'm currently reading Scotland's Black Death by Karen Jillings and rereading The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. I finished The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, but I'm still not really sure what I think of it. It was very weird and the whimsy felt kind of off to me at times. Also, I thought the climax/villain reveal was rather strained and kind of out-of-character---it was an interesting idea and the signs were there, but I didn't feel that the characterization/growth was there for what happened. At any rate, if anyone else reads it and wants to talk about it, I'm up for that.

I went to a huge booksale last night and came out with a good number of books. I wasn't really sure what I'd find, but I usually find a few things, so it was quite nice to come out with a huge bag of stuff (even if it meant I spent more money... ). I bought the following for myself:

Fire and Hemlock, Deep Secret, and Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones (Haven't read any of them, but decided I'd get them and give them a try)
The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer
The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan (Considering how new it is, I wasn't expecting to find one copy let alone two---my youngest sister is the happy owner of the second one )
Lady Friday, Superior Saturday, Grim Tuesday, and Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix (The first two are very lovely hardcovers with dustjackets in pretty much perfect shape )
Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney (My mom found it and then we had a discussion about whether either of us had read it or if the cover was just really, really familiar...so, I got it to see if we could figure it out. )
The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf; The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady; The Ballad of Sir Dinadan and The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight by Gerald Morris (I decided it'd been too long since I read the series, and I've almost never run across them at booksales, especially not in hardcover.)
Gift from the Mikado by Elizabeth P. Fleming (1950's little hardcover book with dust jacket and cute illustrations...for a dollar, I thought it looked interesting enough. )
Stand Tall by Joan Bauer
Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

I also got the soundtracks for Anastasia, 101 Dalmations, Ever After, and Sense and Sensibility ('95) for 50 cents each. Altogether, it was about $32.50, which is pretty good for 18 books and 4 cds.

What are the Temeraire books about, 7chronicles? I don't think I've ever heard of them before.

From Wikipedia

The story is set during an alternate history version of the Napoleonic Wars, in which dragons not only exist but are used as a staple of aerial warfare in Asia and Europe. The dragons of the story are portrayed as sentient and intelligent, capable of logical thought and human speech. The series centres primarily on events involving Temeraire (the titular dragon) and his handler, Will Laurence. The first book of the series centers on how Laurence, formerly a Captain in the Royal Navy, becomes Temeraire's handler, and their early training in preparation for battles against Napoleon's aerial fleet.

They are wonderful books! I'm absolutely in love with Temeraire!
The books are so well written and from what I've read historically accurate.
I first heard about the series in 2007 when Peter Jackson bought the rights to the series, and is planning on adapting them for either a tv series or movies!
I highly recommend them!

I enjoyed a spot of light reading the other night, when I dug out an old favorite for a re-read.

At first blush, Gordon R. Dickson's The Dragon and the George looks like another swords-and-sorcery-rescue-quest story (though there were fewer of those around back when this was published, in 1976). But it has a few quirks that make it fun. The main characters are from our world, but transported to a medieval type place. The story is serious enough (the title referencing the St George and the Dragon story), but doesn't take itself too seriously (if that makes sense).

There's some oddball humor that reminds me of Douglas Adams in phrasing ("A shout at the top of a dragon's lungs was something to hear, provided you had earplugs and were safely over the horizon") and characters (the wizard occasionally talks to the "Accounting Office," a sort of magical headquarters that responds with a disembodied voice in the air).

And there's one plot twist revealed very early in the book:

Thanks for the info, 7chronicles. I'll keep an eye out for the books.

I think I know what you mean by the story being serious without taking itself too seriously, gazer. And The Dragon and the George does sound like a fun book.

I recently read The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started it because I'd heard it wasn't as good as Pope's The Perilous Gard (which I love) but still worth a read. And I think, overall, I agree with the assessment. The book tells the story both of a modern* orphan, Peggy, who goes to live with her eccentric uncle in an unusual house, and of a particular adventure some of the house's former occupants had during the Revolutionary War, told by their ghosts. The story switches perspectives in the beginning or halfway through almost every chapter, which was rather distracting---I'd get interested in Peggy's story and then switch to the others' stories, and then be interested in their story and get swapped back to Peggy. The secondary story was also told from four different perspectives which added to the distractedness. Additionally, I found the conclusion rather predictable, at least along the romantic lines. Partially because of that, I enjoyed the first half of the book far more than the second half. Also, I liked the first two ghost narrators better than the second two. Overall, though, it was a decent book to read, but I didn't love it and it won't be one I reread again and again like The Perilous Gard.

(narnian_at_heart, was that review helpful, or did you have questions on anything else? I'm not sure if I really reviewed it, or just complained about the parts I disliked. )

*By modern I mean modern for when the story was written---1950s, I think.

I finished The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, but I'm still not really sure what I think of it. It was very weird and the whimsy felt kind of off to me at times. Also, I thought the climax/villain reveal was rather strained and kind of out-of-character---it was an interesting idea and the signs were there, but I didn't feel that the characterization/growth was there for what happened. At any rate, if anyone else reads it and wants to talk about it, I'm up for that.

I agree. There seems to be a class of books recently that could almost be described as 'whimsy for the sake of whimsy', which often just ends up weird.

For anyone interested, the Battle of the Books is in session.

There seems to be a class of books recently that could almost be described as 'whimsy for the sake of whimsy', which often just ends up weird.

Yes, thank you, Rivulus! I think that's pretty much it. When it's just 'whimsy for the sake of whimsy', it fails, as opposed to the stories where it's more 'whimsy for the sake of the story' or something. I'm not entirely sure how to define the distinction, but in order for whimsy to work, it has to be natural for the story...

Also, thanks for the reminder about Battle of the Books! I love that event, even if I usually forget about it and the books I like never win (not even their rounds usually). Speaking of which, it looks like I haven't read any of the books on the list this year except one, which I didn't like. Which, of course, means it won its first round. (The book is Chime.) Does anyone have any thoughts on any of the books in the running (or any of the ones that just got thrown out)? I'm certainly rather curious to read a number of them now!

I have also only read Chime from their brackets, unfortunately. I did find Between Shades of Grey at the library, though, so I will read that sometime soon.

Chime I didn't dislike, but I did not strongly like either. So, meh.

Scarlet and I recently read Courageous and I hate to say this but I do not recommend reading the book. It was terrible. Randy Alcorn add a several characters that didn't help develop the story more at all, subplots a million - I didn't like any of them, and backstory that didn’t enhance the main story. I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't.

I love Fireproof which was novelized by Eric Wilson, who did an excellent job. If Courageous the novel had been anywhere near the caliber of Fireproof the novel, it would be on my bookshelf right now. I love Courageous the movie, so I'll just stick with the movie and try to forget I read ever the book.

I think I need to reread Fireproof again soon.

SnowAngel

That was great, Val. I will probably re-read it at some point. That whole bit with he ghosts confused me a lot. I thought it was just some weird book about ghosts and stuff.

I agree about the whole

I just read the best book I've read in a long while - "The Last Thing I Remember" by Andrew Klavan, the first in a series of four books I just discovered it at my library while I was scanning the shelves for something I had not yet read it's an amazing book, wonderfully put together, beautifully written, thrilling, exciting, a true nail-biter. I couldn't put it down the end is a major cliff-hanger and I am SO going to get the next book as soon as possible
here's the plot outline:

Charlie West just woke up in someone else's nightmare.

He's strapped to a chair. He's covered in blood and bruises. He hurts all over. And a strange voice outside the door just ordered his death.

The last thing he can remember, he was a normal high-school kid doing normal things--working on his homework, practicing karate, daydreaming of becoming an air force pilot, writing a pretty girl's number on his hand. How long ago was that? Where is he now? Who is he really?

And more to the point . . . how is he going to get out of this room alive?

I highly suggest this book!! go get a copy and read it!!