I wouldn't say that your reaction to Wren to the Rescue is disappointing, ww. It's almost what I think of it myself... except I happen to like it.

Yeah... that review came off a bit harsher than I intended. But I got more and more irritated as I wrote it . Maybe it's a book that has to catch you young.

Next up, I'm going to read Jane Eyre.

Heehee. My evil plot is working!

You don't like MacDonald, WW? Have you tried Phantastes? That's a really great one. I can see quite a few elements of fairy-tale, and faery-tale both in that one, so I want to read more of his stuff.

No, I haven't read that one but it's on my list (and my BM wishlist). I've heard it's really good; thanks for the recommendation!

Does anyone know a specific unabridged version of Les Mis that they could recommend to me to search for to read?

The Modern Library edition, with the original translation by Charles Wilbour, is unabridged and my favorite so far. There has been some discussion of a new translation by somebody-Rose, and after comparing a passage in the three translations — Wilbour, McAfee/Fahnestock, and Rose — I think it's clear which one is the strongest overall. "Special stethoscope" had me laughing out loud, sorry Julie Rose

Though to be fair, I rather liked the "greasy spoon" description...

ww: have you read Tahn yet?

No, but keep asking! I will one of these days!

Nice finds, lys! I especially recommend Sayers' Five Red Herrings and The Historian.

I think I'm in the minority of thinking Jane Austen's writings really...without purpose.

I join those who ask you to explain this further! And once you do that, we shall attempt to change your mind

Bella, even I admit Jane Austen's works have a purpose and I can't stand them.

I read M. M. Kaye's Death in Kashmir and liked it (review here). I have also started Charlotte Bronte's Villette and will post more about it in the Bronte Special Feature

I plan to read The Historian after Dracula, which means it will probably wait a while. Sayers I'm excited to try, but I never seem to find the earlier ones at sales, even though I now have three different volumes of her mystery novels and/or stories!

You know, I was just thinking the other day that there didn't seem to be much activity in this thread of late, when I reprimanded myself for looking at the matter so one-sidedly, and realized that all I post in here are catch-up posts and links to my reviews, as though all I meant to do was market them. In the future I plan to post more of my thoughts on the books I'm reading, and comment more on everyone else's books - in other words, become part of the conversation.

I do think that part of this is due to the fact that my current read is The Lord of the Rings, which, while wonderful, is sort of "old news." At the moment I'm in the middle of the Black Gate chapter. I had other thoughts to post but now I can't remember what they are!

I'm not entirely sure what to read after I finish LotR, but it will probably be something from my bookshelf here, which means that Murder on the Orient Express, The Invisible Man, The Maltese Falcon, Bel Canto (which I borrowed from my grandmother when home from break) and Scenes of Clerical Life will all be possibilities. When I've finished one or two of those shorter reads, I plan to go on with Wives and Daughters or Quo Vadis. And of course, I will also start Knowing God as soon as I finish my current nonfiction read (which also happens to be a devotional).

ww, because of your review and The Eyre Affair, I've been motivated to reread Jane Eyre. Maybe I'll like it more this time around. I just have to clear some space in my to-read pile.

The Maltese Falcon,

There's a book? I knew there was a reason I've been avoiding watching the movie. I want to read the book first and I didn't even know it until this minute!

I do think that part of this is due to the fact that my current read is The Lord of the Rings, which, while wonderful, is sort of "old news."

Same with me. Though it has been exciting: I almost lost my vintage copy of The Two Towers to a public school multi-purpose room (I was there for a rehearsal). My mother drove back and we were just in time to rescue it from a dirty cafeteria table. That was exciting! I might have hugged the book when I got it back, I was that relieved.

I've been reading Jeeves & Wooster short stories out loud to my sister. I'm having difficulty keeping myself from reading the next one to myself. But it's much more fun to read them out loud, even if I can't do Bertie's voice... I think I can do a pretty good Jeeves. In the volume we're reading, My Man Jeeves, Bertie is in America. Something about coming over to stop a marriage between his cousin Gussie and a chorus girl. Is this story related in another Jeeves & Wooster novel or book of stories? If so, which one?

The Modern Library edition, with the original translation by Charles Wilbour, is unabridged and my favorite so far.

I own that copy! The only thing I don't like about it is the picture of Victor Hugo scowling at me from the dust jacket.

The only Jane Austen story I like is Pride and Prejudice. The story goes along at a good pace and ends logically. Oh, and Emma is pretty good as well.

The other books that I've read by her just seem to speed along merrily and SCREECH to a stop. And you're like, "Wha? Wasn't the story just happening a second ago? It's done now?"

*lol's at sweeet's Jane Austen descriptions even though she's only read P&P*

I read M. M. Kaye's Death in Kashmir and liked it

Oh, hurray! How did you find it compared to other mysteries (aka Agatha Christie)? Did you figure out "who did it" before the end (I didn't ).

EDIT: Oh, just read your review and that answers most of my questions.

It's funny, since I've been working I've been reading more then when I wasn't. It's cause I have a half hour lunch break and if I don't have a book the time simply DRAGS, so I've worked my way through several CoN books, some rereads of my favorite "chick-lit", something by E. L. Koinsburg that I forget the name (something about T-backs?), some teen fiction. I'm thinking this will be a good opportunity to try JS&MN sometime soon...

I remember what I wanted to say about LotR: that there are subtleties to the relationship between Frodo, Sam, and Gollum that were inevitably glossed over in the movies. I just love this quote:

And yes, The Maltese Falcon is a book by Dashiell Hammett, regarded as one of the greatest mystery novelists ever; he is also notable for writing The Thin Man. Unfortunately, I don't have that subconscious adaptation prevention software installed in my cerebellum ( ), so I have watched the movie, but since I've heard it's almost word-for-word from the book, things should turn out all right. Or will that only make it worse...?

*also has the Modern Library Les Mis, but WITHOUT the dust jacket*

I think all the JA novels end perfectly logically, sweet, except for maybe S&S, depending on how okay you are with the various suitors. (It never bothered me.) Certainly I don't think they screech to a halt without a proper climax or denouement. I get fuzzy about some of them, but I find Perusasion, for instance, to have some wonderful closing chapters.

wisewoman said...

No, but keep asking! I will one of these days!

oh I will .

I think since I've started going on this thread that I've certainly gotten more books (thank you bookmooch ) but I think I've read about the same. Maybe less books but they've been bigger and longer.

I'm now on The Fellowship of the Ring- well not really I'm reading the prologue .

Love books. Love em. Some I read this year are...
Baronets Song - George McDonald
Shepard's Castle
Fisherman's Lady

Trouble at Timpetill- Henry Winterfeld
Gone Away Lake- Elizabeth Enright
Hostage Lands- Douglas Bond

I need to try out some new books now! "Bookly" advice is great since I'm always looking for a good read.

Oooh, nice list, The Scribbler! I've read 2 of the second three and I recognize the one I haven't read there. Uh, you've probably already read these, but how about the Crown and Covenant series and it's following series, Faith and Freedom, by Douglas Bond? (I've read the first and the second is sitting on my shelf, waiting). And Detectives in Togas and The Mystery of the Roman Ransom by Winterfield? I think there's also a sequel to Gone-Away Lake called Return to Gone-Away Lake, but I'm not sure as I haven't read either of them. Hm...have you read The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin (I think)? What other books do you like? Otherwise, I can go ransack my sister's room and see what she has besides Winterfield, Enright, and Rankin.

And, um, hi to all the Books people! Yes, first post here since the switchover. I, eh, haven't been able to read much since the semester started, so other Agatha Christie's The Secret Adversary (I love Tommy and Tuppence ) and an interesting inclination to reread 'light, fluffy' books that I read when I was younger (my sister has a theory that stress and homework and such can cause one to regress literary-wise ), I've not done much in the literary regard. Maybe I'll have time to read more...next semester? Hopefully, it should be a bit lighter then, homework and class-wise, but we'll see. But, I miss reading and I miss posting regularly in this thread (or even posting at all ). But I do read it.

To Alyosha, wisewoman, and all those are trying to convert me: I finally reread the Attolia books, and I still don't know what to think of them. I liked The Thief better the second reading, but I still can't get into The Queen of Attolia. Too much politics? Maybe. Both that one and The King of Attolia would probably be easier to follow as films.

I still don't much care for Eugenides or Irene (as people, that is. As character studies, definitely.), but I did like Helen and Sophos, and am rooting for their getting together in the next book.

For all you MBTI/four-temperaments people, here are the conclusions:

Eugenides: ISTP, Chlor-Mel
Irene: INTJ, Mel-Chlor
Helen: ESFJ, Chlor-Phleg
Sophos: ISFP, Phleg-San

Speaking of Attolia...

teaser for Conspiracy of Kings

No names, no spoilers.

I'm terribly behind in this thread...

I've finished Jeanne DuPrau's The People of Sparks, and while I enjoyed this new venture into the world of Ember I didn't like it as much as the first book (which also had the advantage that the whole idea of an underground city like Ember was new. Now, the setting is above ground and much more familiar). It's a fast, fun read, and Lina's venture to the city was interesting, as was more of the historical background of that world, but I generally prefer subtlety in main themes, and in this one, the 'cycles of revenge' message was anything but.

Nevertheless, I'm into the third book, the prequel The Prophet of Yonwood, and it's okay so far.

So, while we're on the military note, has anyone read All is Quiet on the Western Front?

I haven't, is it good? It's on my list, along with Guns of August, has anyone read that one?

In the future I plan to post more of my thoughts on the books I'm reading, and comment more on everyone else's books - in other words, become part of the conversation.

I'm glad to hear it — though I never took your posts as mere advertisements, and always regarded them as part of the conversation.

Ooh, let us know what you decide to read next! When you say The Invisible Man, you mean the one by H. G. Wells, not the one by Ralph Ellison, correct? Ellison's book is very good but very, very brutal and explicit. Definitely not a book I would read for pleasure. If you do pick up Bel Canto, let me know so I can warn you of the bad bits.

ww, because of your review and The Eyre Affair, I've been motivated to reread Jane Eyre. Maybe I'll like it more this time around.

Brilliant! See what literary peer pressure can achieve? I do think you will like it better on your second read. It's the sort of book that grows on you. Though I didn't expect it to grow on me so much as to swallow me as it did!

But it's much more fun to read them out loud, even if I can't do Bertie's voice... I think I can do a pretty good Jeeves.

I should love to hear your rendition! Comic characters are so much fun to read aloud. Peter Cecil does a wonderful job with Jeeves in his audiobooks.

I own that copy! The only thing I don't like about it is the picture of Victor Hugo scowling at me from the dust jacket.

I don't mind it, somehow. He looks properly serious and profound

How did you find it compared to other mysteries (aka Agatha Christie)?

You know, it definitely had a different tone. Kaye has more her own voice than Ngaio Marsh, I would say, and perhaps even more so than Ellis Peters when compared with Christie. I did figure out the solution, though it wasn't like I knew it was that person and couldn't possibly be anyone else. I just thought he/she was rather likely

I'm thinking this will be a good opportunity to try JS&MN sometime soon...

You know you want to... everybody's doin' it...

I think since I've started going on this thread that I've certainly gotten more books (thank you bookmooch )

Yes, thank you BookMooch! I've received... let's see... 277 books from it so far!

I need to try out some new books now! "Bookly" advice is great since I'm always looking for a good read.

You, my dear, have come to the right place! Welcome

my sister has a theory that stress and homework and such can cause one to regress literary-wise

Your sister is right (welcome back, btw, Valia!). I barely read for pleasure at all for the first three years of college. It was only in my last year that I started rediscovering reading for the sheer joy of it, and that rediscovery came slow. It's okay; just a season you are in. We miss your contributions here too, but you have different priorities right now. No worries

To Alyosha, wisewoman, and all those are trying to convert me: I finally reread the Attolia books, and I still don't know what to think of them.

Kudos to you for rereading books you didn't love! I'm sorry you didn't fall in love this time either, though. The politics is what makes the second and third books so fun for me. Everyone is trying to maneuver circumstances to serve their purposes, and Gen is usually the wrench that throws everything out of whack.

Speaking of Attolia...

I canNOT wait for that to come out. It seems so ridiculously far away, too. I think we have a Special Feature in the works for the release. We should all reread the series right before the fourth book comes out

I've finished Jeanne DuPrau's The People of Sparks, and while I enjoyed this new venture into the world of Ember I didn't like it as much as the first book

I agree with you about the reasons why The People of Sparks just wasn't as good as the first book. I think you will find the series just continues to decrease in quality as it goes on, unfortunately. Worth reading once, but I don't see myself ever rereading. I'll be interested in your thoughts on the third book, especially as there is a hobby in it that you are very knowledgeable about. I don't want to spoiler anything, so I won't say any more.