I'm glad you're reading The Discarded Image Mar Girl. It's my all time favourite non-fiction book by Lewis (of the ones I've read). Followed closely by A Grief Observed. It does help to have a bit of background in the Classical traditions and philosophies that were syncretized in Medievalism, as Lewis based the book on his lectures on the topic. He assumed that his audience would have that base knowledge also. But his explanations are clear and concise, and you should get a lot out of it even if you didn't have Oxford training in Classical Philosophies and Myth .

I am. It explains a lot of the stuff found in his fiction books. Not necessarily things, but that mentality of familiarity with the classics and stuff. And I love A Grief Observed, as well.

Some literary linkage, courtesy of my local used bookstore's Facebook page

Oh, so somebody's trying to steal my title, is he? Well, I suppose by definition lys can't become the Queen of Literary Linkage, so I shouldn't worry. I linked to the whereiwrite.org a while back. *Immediately saves the how to repair paperbacks link* GAAAAAHHHHHHH about the bookstore cathedral--a marriage of two of my favorite things. The new covers are interesting, but since I haven't read HP yet or SoUE I can't judge if they capture the books well. The His Dark Materials covers are pretty good. I don't like or dislike that style; I find it interesting but can take it or leave it. However, I LOVE his covers for TCON; they're the best of the lot.

Enjoy Screwtape! It's really insightful and profound, while also being hilarious. I just love Lewis — and I am heartily jealous of you taking that class!

Thanks! That class is so awesome. I love The Screwtape Letters--it's my 2nd favorite CSL book (TCON, the Ransom trilogy, and The Great Divorce are all tied for first ).

I'm phlegmatic/melancholy and the two siblings just younger than me both have choleric as their secondary personality. No wonder they don't "fit" the birth order molds very well.

Same. Here. Including the bit about the innocent expression.

What's wrong with Gandalf?

NOTHING. He is awesomeness.

I'm starting Abarat, since mar_girl likes it.

Ooh, yay! I'm surprised you remembered that. I really like how his story is the same as ever (kid from our world gets sucked into a Vastly Important Adventure only She/He Can Save the World From), but it's so unique. His amazingly vivid and creepy paintings also help elevate it. My library still does not have the third book of Abarat.

I've just finished reading Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué It's an old German romance about Undine, a water spirit who marries a Knight in order to gain a soul , rather sad how it ended but an interesting story. I found out about it after hearing that George Macdonald had read it, it was written in 1811. I'm not much of a romance reader, actual I think this is my first romance that I've ever read.

Oh, I read that (I'm not sure which version) in Tales Before Narnia. It was very interesting and sad, very much in the old style (you know, Hans Christian Anderson-type). That reminds me, I told my CSL class professor I'd lend him my Tales Before Narnia since he's never read The Forgotten Wood. Seriously, TBN is a fantastic anthology of Lewis's influences. I highly recommend it.

Betsie and G the G-- I hope you enjoy FOTR! Such a great book. Let us know what you think. And that's a lovely L.M. Montgomery book, Betsie.

I would recommend to anyone who is interested in The Space Trilogy, to read the book, Planets in Peril, by David C. Downing, which is a study of Lewis and the trilogy. I gave a review of it on LT

Thanks, MereChristian! I love that trilogy. I've recently read Out of the Silent Planet for my CSL class, and I'm reading Perelandra right now for that too. Thanks for that review; it really makes me want to read that book now.

So far this year, I've read roughly 60-65 books, considering what you count. I included the kids' books I've read, for example. I've included the books I've read for school, and the Bible. I barely read for leisure/fun during the school year. I bar myself from the library because there are wayyy too many distractions.

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

Really?? That's it? I thought you had read more. Those books are great. The only one I haven't read is Northanger Abbey, and I have a $1 Emma I bought from the library that I still haven't (re)read.

Good to see you, Valia!

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

I cannot see Gen as Choleric/Melancholy. He cracks wise too much. My brother is that temperament and he does too, but only with people he knows well. His smart-aleckness points towards Sanguine, while I agree with the Choleric. His skill as a thief does seem to point towards Melancholy. I don't remember Sophos ( ) and Irene's is good, but Helen as a Choleric/Phlegmatic? That's not possible; those are at odds. You're either one or the other.

Only one link from me: the authors of the new Peter Pan books

And now for what I'm up to. I reread and loved (of course) The Screwtape Letters. I also read Preface to Paradise Lost, which was interesting, but I feel I would have got more out of it had I read Paradise Lost, because then I would have known what he was talking about. I want to read it now, but I think (with my to-read list) I'll save it for when we read it in the Milton class I'm planning to take in a quarter or so. I'm reading Perelandra right now, and of course loving it.
In a book of CSL that I read, he had a David Copperfield shout-out/reference. I forgot which book it is, but he said something like, "It's Charles I's head getting in there again." I was like "!"
For my heroes lit class, I read parts of Christian's journey in Pilgrim's Progress, but not the whole thing. We're also about halfway through Oroonoko or The Royal Slave. I like it better than I thought, although of course I hate the attitudes towards non-Europeans and women. But then Aphra Behn is a product of her times.
Oh, my heroes lit professor let us know that the English department at my college had a mini-event where you could write a piece of poetry on the sidewalk in front of the building with colored chalk. I wrote a piece from Judith (the Anglo-Saxon poem) with red (actually pink) chalk. It was so much fun. I felt like a little kid again. Until next time I have some free time!

TheScribbler, I love Henry Winterfeld. In fact, I think I've read all of his books—or at least all of the ones that got translated into English. The two Roman mysteries (Detectives in Togas and The Mystery of the Roman Ransom) were my favorites, but Castaways in Lilliput and Trouble at Timpetill were good as well. My, that does bring me back.

*feels irresponsible in the face of Valia's homework-over-literature attitude*

I definitely will be reading Bel Canto, wisewoman. After all, I borrowed it from my grandmother, so I feel pressured to return it at some point, hopefully read. And I did glance into it just now; the first couple of paragraphs are simply luscious. I'll let you know when I start it.

And it's Wells' The Invisible Man that I'm planning to read. In fact, I may break off LotR to read it for Halloween—especially since my original plan to watch old horror movies as my commemorative activity isn't working out too well (why I have to do something commemorative at all I don't know, especially since I take a dim view in general of Halloween; but then I'm strange like that ).

Oh, so somebody's trying to steal my title, is he? Well, I suppose by definition lys can't become the Queen of Literary Linkage, so I shouldn't worry.

Only one link from me: the authors of the new Peter Pan books

*snorts* You're giving up ground, my friend. At this rate I'll have nothing to steal. (As a side note, I do really miss the demon emoticon from the old forum; I feel like a whole side of my personality is going on unexpressed.)

It doesn't surprise me that "Undine" reminds you of Hans Christian Anderson, as I believe it was one of the literary precedents to "The Little Mermaid." But it's sad, really? I've watched the ending of the opera on YouTube, and I was hoping it was true to the original story, because it's sooo beautiful, and not tragic like the original TLM. When I saw it, I thought, 'that's how The Little Mermaid was supposed to end!'

*GASP!* Actual Attolian words! (Thanks, Mel!!) And thanks to Bella for the date. Calendar duly marked. Now it's just what, five months away? And I second the need for a SF and a mass reread. I will re-check-out QoA and KoA from the library if necessary.

lys, I have the same issue.... except you're farther along than I am. (I just barely got into Lothlorien.) I forgot about the description of Kheled-Zaram. So pretty! I figure I'll have the entire book-in-three-volumes finished by December. At the rate I'm going, I'll be lucky to get The Moonstone read before CoK comes out. I suppose I can't really fault my schoolwork though; if school didn't exist, would I have ever read any of these books?

There's another Peter and the Starcatchers book? Cool, my sister loves those! (And I enjoy them as well; behind-the-scenes stories are great!)

I do really miss the demon emoticon from the old forum; I feel like a whole side of my personality is going on unexpressed.

You're not alone! And I miss the heart emoticon too. The new kissing heart is just not quite the same.

Ive recently read Gone, It was an awesome book, and Maximum Ride: the angel experiment, also a Really great book

just read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. that book is freakin awesome. discuss.

I finally got a new bookshelf! So, SO, SSOOO happy! I've been needing one for ages.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg33 ... 0_5287.jpg (my old bookshelf)

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg33 ... 0_5288.jpg (stacks next to my bookshelf)

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg33 ... 0_5289.jpg (new bookshelf)

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg33 ... 0_5290.jpg (most of these I got from the book swap at the dump!)

Now I thought I would have more room than before but everything just fit actually...guess I'll still have to get a small bookshelf with my Christmas money...

*has greatly missed this thread in the last few days but is indeed happy to be back* I was able to get quite a bit of reading done, though. (Our internet was out, you see...)

Firstly, I finished up Volume II of the Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. For the most part I enjoyed it- again liking the short stories more then the novels (The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear, the second which I really didn't like that much...), and I think my favourite of the short stories was His Last Bow.

After that, I read Rob Roy. All in all that was alright- at parts the plot was interesting but I found the Scottish language (which no doubt had to be included to be authentic, which makes me mind less) was sometimes tedious and too much for me. I'm glad the back of my book had a glossary in it of Scottish words/their English meanings, but I wasn't about to be flipping to the back every single time I came across a word I didn't understand. Thankfully I got the gist of what was being said though. It wasn't one of my favourite of Scott's works, though.

I then read two of the original (meaning full 200+ pages, first written in 1930s) Nancy Drew- The Secret of the Old Clock and Password to Larkspur Lane, which were quite delightful- especially the distinct 1930s feel of the books which the revised versions don't have as much of.

And that brings me to the end of what I've read. We went to the bookstore today, and I was able to come away with eight books or so for under $22.00. I bought:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Two Nancy Drew from the newer series (but not the newest)
The Innocence of Father Brown
Dombey and Son (Hurrah for a new Dickens!)
Right Ho, Jeeves
The Thief (Yes...the Attolia one. Is that the first in the series? If not, I shan't read it until I get the other ones)
and, last but not least:
Get Smart Again by William Johnston, one of the TV show novel tie ins featuring the great Agent 86. (And I hope 99 too!) The owner of the bookstore was quite amused when he compared the Father Brown to the Get Smart...he said something like two different ends of the crime/spy/detective sphere. He's right, of course.

Anyways. That pretty much sums up my reading over the past few days, I hope to edit this post later with comments on other people's posts and such.

Oh dear. You're going to hate The Thief. Prove me wrong, ok? I hope you don't. And yes, that's the first Attolia book. Jeeves, hurray! And I'm glad you haven't given up on Father Brown.

You read Douglas Bond, Glenstorm? Coolness. I have Rebel's Keep on my shelf and have somehow been restraining myself until I can get the first two. Duncan's War is en route from eBay currently, I think. ...wait, your copies are shrinkwrapped? Never mind. Love your old Dickens set!

Dppselej! Glad to see you here. Sophos and Helen...haha. I could sort of see that.

I haven't been reading much at all lately, apart from textbooks! I did pick up Dawn of the Promised Land by Ben Wicks the other day, meaning to see what it was about, and ended up reading almost the whole thing. It's about how Israel became a nation, lots of first-person accounts (like No Time to Wave Goodbye and his other WWII books). Fascinating stuff.

I cannot see Gen as Choleric/Melancholy. He cracks wise too much. My brother is that temperament and he does too, but only with people he knows well. His smart-aleckness points towards Sanguine, while I agree with the Choleric. His skill as a thief does seem to point towards Melancholy. I don't remember Sophos ( ) and Irene's is good, but Helen as a Choleric/Phlegmatic? That's not possible; those are at odds. You're either one or the other.

Someone else who knows about the temperaments! Go Mara!

Nah, they don't have to contradict each other. Sometimes it brings balance (my Chlor-Phleg brother seems to have all the good traits of both) and sometimes it makes you mercurial (my young Mel-San brother is either depressed or ecstatic most of the time!). Choleric and Phlegmatic are (in general) the more stoic, logical types, while Melancholy and Sanguine are more emotional--so they aren't on opposite ends with every single trait.

And I would say that Gen is waaay more Choleric than Melancholic...but I can't see him as a Sanguine. The smart-aleck-ness isn't quite the same as normal Sanguine annoyingness; I don't know how to explain it... It's very biting and dry, and he's a pest but it's more strategic than natural.

I then read two of the original (meaning full 200+ pages, first written in 1930s) Nancy Drew- The Secret of the Old Clock and Password to Larkspur Lane, which were quite delightful- especially the distinct 1930s feel of the books which the revised versions don't have as much of.

I'm becoming increasingly confused about these original Nancy Drews I keep hearing about. Where can I find them? How can I tell an original from the revised? And do you mean to tell me that the yellow-bound copies I read when I was ten and still have sitting on my shelf are NOT the originals? HELP! Admittedly, my Nancy Drew days are over, but I feel rather cheated, don't you know, and would like to look up a few of these elusive "originals." And a distinct 1930's feel is a definite plus.

Faun_song...let's see if I can help a bit. Don't feel bad about it being confusing, I often found it confusing too.

The ones you, and I, have on my shelf- the common yellow backed ones up to book #34 are the revised ones. The Originals were 200+ pages, the revised are generally speaking 180 pages or so. After book #34, they started writing the books in the series (this was in the 1950s) as having less pages, less chapters, etc. (also, they removed prejudices and made the books more up to date, which isn't so bad, because up to date back then was only to the 1950s or so) So, books after #34 are originals, the common yellow ones (for the most part. I have seven or so that are the yellow backed ones but are the full 200+ page stories, but I don't know how they didn't happen to be the revised ones) before #34 are generally the revised ones. Now, some of the revised ones are completely different stories- such as The Mystery at Lilac Inn or The Mystery of the Moss Covered Mansion. Others, for the most part, basically enhance the stories- adding in background detail and allowing the reader to get to know the stories better.

It's pretty easy to tell an revised from an original- as I said above the originals are slightly over 200 pages, and in some of them, Nancy is 16 instead of 18. Also, one thing I read somewhere is that if the copyright date is before the '50s- say, in the 1930s, this does not mean the book was printed in the 30s, just that that was the last time the book was revised. It's pretty easy to tell the difference all in all.

As to how to get them, apparently Applewood has put out many of the original stories in full, unrevised format. I personally don't have any of these (as I haven't found them in stores), so the full 200+ ones I have are either the odd yellow backed ones that for some reason weren't revised in that particular edition (meaning, I have two yellow backed ones of the same title, one revised, one original), or from the actual 1950s with the tweed covers. (There are several slightly different tweed covers from before the 1950s, but it's pretty safe to say that any tweed covered Nancy Drew is an original).

So. Does that help any? I personally read many of the revised growing up, and enjoyed them just as much, but I understand how it's nice to stumble upon or find the originals. They are great reads, even if they are sometimes simple in their writing styles.

Anyways.... If you'd like I can PM you a great Nancy Drew site where it has quite a bit of information on what to look for. But no pressure.

@ Alyosha: I'll try to prove you wrong then. I know I have in the past, so I don't think it will be hard.

Fauny, my guess is that the Nancy Drews were revised in a similar fashion to the Hardy Boys. (If I'm wrong, let me know, FF!)

So, a quick clue would be if they have 25 chapters instead of 20. Or if on the copyright page they say "This edition has been updated for modern readers". Colour of the endpapers might be another clue. If it's yellow bound with white endpapers, my guess is that it's been revised.

If it's an Applewood reprint, it's certain. You can find the original originals in antique stores, thrift stores, and used book stores.

Who is Judy Bolton, and why has Applewood reprinted more of her series than Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys put together?

EDIT: Beat to the punch by the expert!

Thank you, FF and Meltintalle. That helps. I believe, then, that my grandma has a few of the original Nancy Drews on her shelf. But when I read them, I didn't appreciate that fact.

Meltintalle - Judy Bolton is another teenage detective. I read a few of her books... they're ok. Judy's a little bit boring, but her life actually, you know, moves forward, as opposed to Nancy Drew who is a perpetual teenager. For example, in one of the books I read, Judy got married (all I remember was that it was a double wedding and her colors were RAINBOW. ).

Speaking of girl detectives, I still admit to liking the Ginny Gordon books. I think they were written by the same author of a few of the Trixie Belden, and Ginny is basically a citified version of Trixie, but I like her better.

Can you tell that my grandma and I used to collect teenage detective series?

Hehe yeah I haven't read them yet Alyosha...but I'm planning on it ! I have nother book of his too...can't remember what it's called but it's blue with a guy in a cloak on the front . I got those Dickens at the book swap for FREE!!! They're from the late 1860s...

I've started the Fellowship. I like it so far. I teared up when

Spoiler

Bilbo left. And then when Frodo left. I hope Frodo finds Bilbo sometime during the book...I like him.

Okay, I think I'm going to start keeping up with this thread.
Well obviously, I love, love books. And my latest read is Persuasion by Jane Austen, which I'm really liking. I've pretty much liked all her stuff that I've read so far, and Pride and Prejudice has to be my second favorite book.

Glad you're enjoying Fellowship, Glenstorm! LotR is currently my favorite series (and I suspect it will remain so for a long time). I assume you're going to read the whole series? And I suppose you haven't watched any of the movies?

No I NEVER watch the movies before I read the books (unless I'm "forced" to). Yes I'm going to read the whole series, I just got the second one out of the library yesterday . Oh, and btw, I'm reading Persuasion soon (after I finish LOTR)!