Tierza, that book sounds like an interesting read. I don't know about the unicorn bit though, it sounds a bit girly.

LOL, W4J! Unicorns are a girl's best friend...

In this case, though, it really isn't girly, it's actually pretty grim, although Ariel the unicorn is probably the purest thing in it. The author wrote this when he was 19, and in an apocalypto-destruction-blow-em-up phase. I was surprised he didn't put a darker creature in there as his sidekick.

Okay, ww and lys: it's a DATE!

Can I invite myself to this party? I'm pretty good at moving books around. I promise not to get distracted and read too many...

I also did not realize everything that went on in the Aerin/Luthe relationship; when I figured it out a few years later, I was rather shocked.

Heh. I figured it out the first time I read it, which rather ruined the story for me. I read Blue Sword first, and then went on and loved the first half of Hero and Crown, and then... Well, that, and the fact that Tor wasn't as awesome as he was supposed to be.

PELS, Northanger Abbey is very good. Very funny, too, so don't let the cover fool you into thinking it's dark and creepy.

Northanger Abbey? I once picked that up at the Library, but the cover freaked me out a bit. So, if you end up reading it, let me know what you think!

It's one of my friend's favorites...I've decided to give it a try. Jane Austen tends to make my brain hurt, but since I enjoyed P&P I'm trying to be more open-minded.

And if ever you need book suggestions, I've read alot of good books you might be interested in.

I may take you up on that sometime

Have any of you read Screwtape Letters? I tried to, but with my small level of intelligence, I sadly sat it down after the third chapter.

I want to. I saw it at Barnes and Noble the other day, but opted instead to buy P&P and Zombies.

PELS - I would give Northanger Abbey a try if I were you. The book parodies the gothic novel genre, so the main point of the story is that there is nothing frightening in it. (Except for a certain young lady named Isabella Thorpe. She just scares me. )

I tried reading Peter Pan to my five-year-old brother yesterday. He asked me to, but I didn't get more than 6 pages into it. It's very odd... I love it, but it all went straight over my brother's head. He kept stopping to ask me "Who's George?" "Who's Mr. Darling?" "Are they talking about Peter Pan?" "Are they talking about Wendy?" "What about Peter Pan?"

Tierza, I looked for the book you mentioned at the local library and they don't have it, which really doesn't surprise me that much because everytime I go in there looking for a book they don't seem to have it. I don't think they start carrying stuff unless it's donated or someone makes a request for it specifically.

The originals aren't being harmed via the modern translations. . . .They're terribly difficult to read, especially when you had to study them intensely for school and hate every moment because you couldn't understand a dem thing (I guess being dyslexic doesn't help). Shakespeare's plays were meant to be watched, not read. If some people are making the works available in more a easily-read language, I personally don't see a problem with it, as long as they do so respectfully.

I also had some bad experiences with Shakespeare in high school, notably The Merchant of Venice. And you're right! They're meant to be watched. But I learned to love Shakespeare in grad school and now Merchant is my favorite play. I assigned it to my students two semesters in a row. And guess what version I used? An original version alongside a modern translation. At least it introduces them to the beauty of Shakespeare's language [and it is beautiful!] while also helping them understand the play.

You and I have the same favorite part of The Pilgrim's Progress! When I first read the book years ago I was going through a very tough time with something in my personal life, and when I got to that passage....well, let's just say it was precisely what the doctor ordered. It's the portion of the book I genuinely treasure the most.

Great!

Really, all this summer, the only Book I really read was the Bible. Otherwise my reading was practically nil. I'm hoping to create better habits though.

That's okay! Better the Bible than nothing, I say!

Last night I dreamed that the Mods on N-web made a whole little "sub-section" under the Spare Oom completely for books and movies. Doubt that will ever happen.

LOL!

Have any of you read Screwtape Letters? I tried to, but with my small level of intelligence, I sadly sat it down after the third chapter.

I've read it once, but not recently. I admit some things are hard to understand, and I didn't particularly care for the final chapter. But not finishing it has nothing to do with intelligence! I had the same reaction to Treasure Island, Heart of Darkness, and Tom Sawyer when I first tried to read them! But I picked them up later in life and "treasured" them.

Wow, this thread has started to pick a good pace!

Smart girl.

Well, of course.

Amira, would you be up for opening the Bronte sisters SF when its turn comes? If not, that's okay, I can open it. Just thought I would give you that opportunity if you wanted it!

Thank you very much for the opportunity, I would love to! Please, tell me what I should do and when that would be, tomorrow I am going on holidays, with no access to the Internet, and won't be back until the beginning of October.

Poor Professor Bhaer. Everyone I know (including myself) prefers Laurie to him!

Well, I am with 220 on this. The first time I read it when I was a small child I preferred Laurie and didn't like Bhaer. But on later readings, when I was a bit older, I started to like him; plus, I thought that Jo's and Laurie's relationship would never have worked, they were more friends, partners, and had too strong personalities. Gabriel Byrne's performance in the 94 version has done a lot, er... I mean nothing to make me like Bhaer even more.

Some of my books to read while I am away are:
The Historian
Special Assignments, by Boris Akunin - I am going to read the English translation of a book written in Russian. Crazy!
Some books by Ngaio Marsh and Mignon G. Eberhart - classic mystery stories are my weakness
One of lord Peter's books, maybe Gaudy Night? (not sure if it is this one). Anyway, it seems that it is difficult to find them in the right order, they are being published quite randomly. Well.
And that's all! I doubt I will have the time to read all this, but if not, I have a good supply for the autumn.

EDIT: My Attolia books have just arrived on the post. Yay!

Hello again!

Mel, I knew I shouldn't let the cover bother me, but I wouldn't like reading a book with a strange cover... I'll be sure to read it someday!

BroadwayFreak, Jane Austin makes your brain hurt? Why? When I tried to read Pride and Predjiduce, I ended up putting it away, due to the boring side of it.

Faun_Song612, thanks for pointing that all out. I really will someday try to read it. Have they made a movie of it?

220chrisTian, that happens with me alot too. When I was young I couldn't finish a book, due to large words, and lonnngg sentences that I wasn't able to comprehend. But now, after I go back to read books I read about three or two years ago, it shocks me to see how much I missed.

Anyyyyway, yesterday I started to read The Silver Chair again. And after reading it nine times in the past, there was a sentence in there I've never read before! I was quite surprised and re-read it.

Finally... my review for the last of the Legends of the Guardian Kings...

Sitting down to read this last book feels like sitting down to the last course of a fine meal. Return of the Guardian-King wraps up this series in an amazing fashion.

Abramm Kaladorne has been rescued from the Mataians and spirited away to recover. He strikes out for a lodge in the mountains in hopes of reaching the Chesdan homeland before winter sets in. However, Eidon has other plans for him.

In the meantime, his wife is reunited with their sons after their escape from Kiriath and is being pressured to remarry. Her suitor is charming and mysterious, but there are darker currents under the surface.

This book is hard to put down as Abramm must come to rely on Eidon deeper than he ever thought possible. The outcome is never clear until, towards the end of the book, Abramm finally is reunited with his family and friends. Definitely, a real page turner.

This may sound like a strange bit of reading, but I'm a veterinary majour so I'm allowed to read books like this

The book is called Poseidon's Steed and is a non-fiction book about sea horses.

ISBN 9781592404742

I read the first chapter last night, and although I don't agree with the bits about evolution, it's filled with a lot of really interesting facts, and is written in beautiful language that is equally simple to understand.

I can only hope that it doesn't take the usual turn of non-fiction books, and go into a long-drawn out narrative about how this impacted the author's life, because it would be a real waste if it did.

I've started reading Believing in Narnia, and so far it's good, if a bit... "Yay friends!" about Narnia. I pretty much know about all of the "spiritual secrets" (so far, anyway) in the book. But then, it is for kids, and I've been reading these for fifteen years or so. HOWEVER. She gets stuff wrong! In the LB synopsis, she says that Aslan blows Jill and Eustace to Narnia on his breath! And that Ginger is a leopard!! No. Just no. I get worked up about the little things, but if you're getting easy little things like that wrong, then WTHeck??

Jo: I'm jealous of your poster. I remember seeing that one in the movie theatre at age 12 and thinking, "Oh, that's a movie for those books Daddy likes so much."

PELS: Northanger Abbey is Austen's first novel and it's very fun and humorous. It's one of my favorites of hers. BBC has made a few adaptations, but there has never been a big screen one.

mara: oh, that's tough. I never know whether I can trust anything people say when they make mistakes like that.

I read Tolkein's "Smith of Wootten Major" yesterday. It was lovely, but very short. It seemed underdeveloped. I felt sad at the end like it could have been much better. I received a copy with the Pauline Baynes illustrations, so that made me happy. I thought it was interesting that she illustrated a Fairy ship as having a dragon head. I wonder if she was influeced by her prior work with VDT.

I started reading The Count of Monte Cristo yesterday. I think I'm going to like it. Edmond Dantes seems like just my kind of protagonist. What is the best translation in the opinions of the illustrious members of NarniaWeb? I'm reading the Penguin Classics version, so it's translated by Robin Buss.

I read so much! So tomorrow I'll be reading something totally different, but today I'm eading this SUPER LONG AND SUPER, SUPER, BORING book, How To Read A Book.
The irony of it all!
Wow, everyone here sure likes books! 11 pages already! This seems like my kind of place.
Mar_Girl- Believing In Narnia is a fanfic right? wow. Gingern is so not a lepord!

Oy, I had to read How To Read A Book for school and I absolutely HATED it. It was incredibly long and so frightfully boring, that it took almost a year. I swore never to pick up that book again for as long as I live.

On to brighter news, I'm almost finished with The Sherwood Ring and I must say that I am enjoying it greatly! I can't wait to see how it ends.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

He kept stopping to ask me "Who's George?" "Who's Mr. Darling?" "Are they talking about Peter Pan?" "Are they talking about Wendy?" "What about Peter Pan?"

Oh dear. I'm sure my 4 year old brother would do the same.

That's okay! Better the Bible than nothing, I say!

Absolutely! I'm very thankful I'm in that habit... For "From the Lord comes wisdom, and from His mouth comes understanding and knowledge!" (Prov. 2:6 paraphrase, as I can't remember the exact wording.)

In the LB synopsis, she says that Aslan blows Jill and Eustace to Narnia on his breath! And that Ginger is a leopard!! No. Just no.

Hm. That's odd indeed.

(Interesting av and sig set, Rising_Star) ...? What (or who should I say) exactly is it? Looks like Dakota Fanning to me.) [/off-topic]

Yay! I finished http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/13720000/13723659.JPG The First Volume of Sherlock Holmes just today! On to Volume II, of the same (or possibly greater?) thickness. About 700 pages I believe.