I've not read the latest Potter book. Maybe I should move that up on my list...

I mentioned a few days ago that I was reading Jeanne DuPrau's third Ember book, The Prophet of Yonwood. I've finished it, and while it was okay, agree with wisewoman's earlier comments that the first 2 books were better. This one just seemed to be stuck on the 'determining how to do "right"' theme than on anything else, and didn't seem as apocalyptic as other books I've read (it's a prequel to the first Ember book, covering some of the time before the "Disaster"). At first blush the connection to the actual construction of the city of Ember seemed almost an afterthought, added as an appendix at the end.

Regarding this book, wisewoman noted,

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 was looking for this, and was hoping it would be covered a bit more in the book, though the indoor planetarium sounds like something I'd like to have in my house. Another thing I would have liked to see more about was the 'crack in the sky' hinting at a connection to other universes (or the multiverse) - even though it is cited as a factor in keeping the world from going to war.

Next up is Randy Alcorn's Safely Home, which from the cover blurb almost sounds like a cross between his Heaven and a Frank Peretti thriller.

The last book I finished was "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. I have two books next on my reading list. One is "The Last Sin Eater" by Francine Rivers and "Girl Meets God" by Lauren F. Winner.

Fanny: Thanks for the response about Nicholas Nickleby. I liked his character in the adaptation I saw, so I was interested to know your impression of him.

Glenstorm: I've read The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind. It's really quite funny. Sure, it stereotypes, but it's strangely perceptive too. I read it quite some time ago, I was in high school, so maybe about 4 years?

Ly: Reading Dracula? I had quite an urge to read that after I finished I Am Legend last spring, but I never did. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

I felt so betrayed when I found out that many of the Nancy Drew series were revised. I picked up Password to Larkspur Lane and realised that the plot was different. I can't remember at all which I liked better. I only read the unrevised once and the revised I may have read 3 times or so.

stargazer: You did better than me. I couldn't even get through Prophet. I just gave up. I found it so tedious, dull, and uninteresting. I was able to swallow DuPrau's poorly veiled preaching in the first two, but the story of Prophet was so terrible, I just couldn't take a book that seemed that it was written more to progress an agenda than to tell a story. Even though I agree with many of DuPrau's ideas about conservation in the first two books, I didn't like the feeling that I got that they were the sole purpose of those books.

I finished reading Kafka's Metamorphosis and Douglass's Narrative for school. I found Narrative the more engaging read, though I hesitate to call it "enjoyable." The story of his life was exciting and well-written, but of course, terrible and shameful. Douglass is a master story-teller and his frank style gives the book such weight. Metamorphosis was very interesting and I think I might have enjoyed it more if it had been taught better by my professor, but the class is an English class for non-majors and she seems hesitant to give us any real information on these works and seems content to analyse them at an 8th grade level.

I'm also further in The Blue Sword. I finally got to the moment in which the plot will hopefully pick up.

I don't find Harry a particularly interesting character, though perhaps she will become more so. I also feel bad because I'm very uninspired by the desert landscape. I feel prejudiced against it; like I should appreciate it, but I just can't find it beautiful in my mind's eye.

I've also made my conclusions about McKinley's writing style. I know I've made disagreed-with statements about it in the past. I didn't like it in The Outlaws of Sherwood and then I changed my mind during Beauty and now am back to not really liking it that much in The Blue Sword. So here is my official statement. Her style is mostly pretty straightforward and tells the story pretty directly. I'm not sure why I didn't notice it in Beauty, but I still think that at least in Outlaws and The Blue Sword, she often tries to be ambitious and arranges words in unnecessarily complex ways that, while syntactically allowable, are awkward. She also writes incredibly long sentences with complex use of internal punctuation. Maybe I'm not reading closely enough, but I find it annoying that I often have to retrace my steps and return to the beginning of very long sentences and reread them sometimes more than once to understand their meaning and try to link the various comma-defined parts to each other. This happens to me often enough to count as interrupting the flow of the story. I still like her storytelling, and her prose is fine, but I wouldn't consider it far above average.

Hello again! I have lost track of this thread for a long time, but life has become quite complex lately, and I couldn't keep up *misses the old e-mail notifications*. Anyway, I see from the number of pages that it continues quite active. Good!
I have recently read The Historian and, although I have seen quite negative reviews in other forums, I found it a wonderful, gripping novel. It drags a bit at some point but even though it is so long it manages to keep the interest. There were moments when I was really afraid to raise my eyes from the book and find Dracula standing there!
And I have just finished reading the Attolia books. I am still suffering the post-Attolia effect, so I don't think I am going to be very objective, but I absolutely loved them. Absolutely. I had a little more problem with The Thief, but it was because I had very little time to read, so I had to stop in the middle of significant scenes and take it up again two weeks later remembering little

@Bookwyrm
Deathly Hallows was great, i've read it twice now and i think its definetly the best by way of J.K.R.'s writing, i still can't decide if i like DH or OOTP better.

Good points, kate, about DuPrau's Ember books. Prophet especially seemed to be written to advance a point rather than tell a story; the earlier books were at least different enough in setting (from our own world) to allow me to skip over the points she wanted to make in favor of the story.

(An aside: our group often talks about this with TV shows, like Star Trek, which often was not subtle when it wanted to make some social point. Our reply - also appropriate here I think - was, "Just tell a good story! The rest will follow.").

I mentioned reading Alcorn's Safely Home next. However, I've decided to try my hand at NaNoWriMo this year so that may delay my completion of that book.

Mel, I'm not sure if The Squire's Quest is the last book in the series or not. If it is, it's kind of an anticlimactic ending.

I finished Abarat a few days ago and really enjoyed it. Abarat has a fairly typical fantasy plot (child blunders into fantasyland, enters into epic struggled against dark forces, etc.), but the islands of the Abarat and the people that live on them are so unusual and interesting and wildly creative that it still feels fresh and different.

what is your favorite HP book Bookwyrm?

Besides the horrible names in the epilogue (I know their significance but they just don't suit the children) and a slab of 30 or so pages in the middle where the three young adults are waiting it out in the woods (and nothing happens), I believe Deathly Hallows is excellent. Easily the best, most complex, story-driven and character-driven of the series.

KJane: I read The Last Sin Eater by Rivers, and I really, really enjoyed it. I would recommend it.

At the moment I'm reading A Hunger for God by John Piper... It's quite excellent... I'm afraid I have quite a bit to learn.

The only other book I've really read lately is "Prairie Home Cooking"--which is--A cookbook. I enjoy looking through cookbooks and at the recipes, even if I don't make them.

I finally finished The Idiot yesterday! The book took me far longer than it should have, but reading time has been hard to come by lately. Anyway, I loved it! One of the best books I've read in a long time. I thought I had read psychological novels before, but they were nothing compared to this.

I also finished The Hunger Games, which was an exciting and very edge-of-your-seat read. Well written and some truly lovable characters (especially Peeta); I'd really recommend this one.

pogginfan, glad you enjoyed Persuasion!


Watziznehm, I highly recommend Emma! Second to Northanger Abbey, I think it's Austen's funniest novel (even beating P&P). Emma herself is quite an interesting character to read; someone who behaves quite badly for the majority of the book and yet manages to be so likable. Hope you enjoy it!

Something that just made my day: I was browsing my library's catalog and discovered they just got in The Bell at Sealey Head!! I've been wanting to read that for quite a while. It almost feels like the library ordered it just for me.

Ooh, The Idiot is heavily psychological? I might have to try reading it sometime.

Hmm, picking a favorite HP book is tough. I can narrow it down to OoTP, HBP, and DH. Maybe OoTP, even if Harry was obnoxiously angsty in the beginning.

OoTP is great overall but it does have a serious amount of padding to wade through in the first 3rd of the book. Rowling wasn't up to her usual writing standards there.

yeah OotP was very good plot wise, but it was a little on the long size, could've been trimmed down a bit. i liked how harry was angsty but it did get annoying after a while, the movie portrayed it well. i have names for each year and year five is the year harry went emo.

i'm in a headlock about deciding between OotP, HBP, and DH, they're all so good. i also really enjoy the third book, i love all the quidditch, and i really like Lupin. i also liked getting the background on the Marauders (something i also liked about OotP, when Harry looked into Snape's pensieve).