A couple of months ago, when I heard that The Hunger Games had a sequel, I put a hold on Catching Fire at the local public library. However, I was person 21 to have a hold on it at the time, and I was beginning to lose hope of actually getting a copy before Christmas break. But I also happen to work at the college library, and despite having a rather small children's/YA section, tonight as I was sorting books to be shelved I found brand spanking new, never checked out copies of both Hunger Games and Catching Fire. There are advantages to working in a library.

Catching Fire is going to have to wait a few days, but I'm hoping to get it read over Thanksgiving break, along with most of the The Scarlet Letter.

Oh, do you work at a library as well, Rivulus? I do as well, and I have to say the biggest perk to working there is getting first dibs on everything! Well, first, second, or third dibs. I got to bring "Catching Fire" home the day the library got it. Do tell what you think about it once you've read it!

I finished reading Emily of New Moon yesterday, and I am already halfway through Emily Climbs! I love these books and I think L.M. Montgomery had awesome talent, and she is one of my favorite authors, along with Baroness Orczy (she wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel and other books), C.S. Lewis (we all know what HE wrote! ), Louisa May Alcott (Little Women and other books) and many others.

Does anyone else have similar tastes?

Pogginfan and Avra, thanks for your thoughts on The Scarlet Pimpernel! I enjoyed it very much, although I don't quite like Marguerite, Sir Percy is just wonderful. I'm definitely going to read more of the series. Besides, I've always loved that historical period.
ForeverFan, I am glad you liked The Tenant of Wildfeld Hall! I loved it, even more now in my second reading than in the first one. About your spoiler

As regards The Thief and the gods

Amira:
(On The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)

I posted more thoughts on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall here, if anyone so cares.

I bought The Queen of Attolia today at the store, so I'll see how I feel about the serious at the end of reading it. It should be interesting, of the brief synopsis' I've read for the three in the series, this one seemed to be the one I was most drawn to, if that makes any sense.

I also bought Shirley by Charlotte Bronte, although I couldn't remember if I read that it was Shirley that was slow and dragged out or Villette. >_> Oh well, it wasn't too much.

As for my reading...I just finished (finally!) The Railway Children. I've had the book for some years and always meant to read it, as I was slightly familiar with the storyline due to a play version we saw of it once years ago, but I never got around to it. Until now. I quite enjoyed it- the writing style was lovely and at times for some reason I was reminded of the writing style of Narnia, but I'm not sure if that was just imagined or not. The illustrations in my copy were lovely too- they looked like they were actually drawn back when the story was first published, as they had a certain air and style about them that seems to only come from illustrations actually drawn back then. Anyways, it was a lovely easier to read novel.

well, latly I have been reading the "Leven Thumps" books by Obert Skye! I love those (I was just rereading them for the 3rd time!)!

Believe it or not, I'm still reading The Fellowship. I've been extremely busy and then I had to return it to the library but I just got another copy out and I've finished book1 so hopefully I should be done soon.

I read the LOTR books for the first time years ago:
I read The Hobbit in two days
I read The Fellowship Of The Ring in a week
I read The Two Towers in two weeks
I read The Return Of The King in two weeks

First off, Maddy, AMAZING Megan Whalen Turner interview. Thanks so much for posting. "It has humor"—that's pretty much the biggest understatement ever. I read it for the first time in a large public gathering place on campus, and started reading selections to random acquaintances who were passing by. They're still talking to me, so the brilliance of her answers must have been enough to make up for my general weirdness. Oh my, that interview makes me love MWT ever so much more.

I finished reading Emma myself two days ago or so [...]

I read your review of that on your blog, and I must say I enjoyed it. Very thoughtful and insightful. Do watch the BBC miniseries when it makes it over here, but don't set your hopes too high; I found parts of it quite aggravating, although other sections were wonderful.

I'm also very glad you enjoyed The Railway Children! That was one of my favorite books as a child, and I've been fighting an urge to reread it recently. (I think I'll wait until my little sister and I finish various other projects, so that the two of us could read it together. ) I don't think it's at all an accident that Nesbit's prose reminded you of Lewis, as she appears to have been a great influence on him; note that the opening lines of The Magician's Nephew reference "The Bastables," the protagonists of Nesbit's The Treasure Seekers among other books.

I read The Fellowship Of The Ring in a week
I read The Two Towers in two weeks
I read The Return Of The King in two weeks

Oh, come now, Liberty, don't gloat. I'm with Glenstorm—this reread is taking me an incredibly long time to get through. But honestly, I prefer this to rushing through it.

Part of this is due to time, though. I have four research papers due in the next two weeks so obviously a lot of my time has been taken up by them. That said, I have been able to read and review two books over this Thanksgiving break (titles link to LT reviews). First, acting on my earlier urge following a seminar about the state of India today, I reread Lloyd Alexander's epic fantasy The Iron Ring. I love this book! Like all of Alexander's work, it can be a bit goofy at times, but the story itself and the questions it asks more than make up for the occasional flaws. It's probably my favorite of the author's standalone works, and is making me want to find copies of The Chronicles of Prydain and The Westmark Trilogy pronto. Then I read the Marianna Mayer/Kinuko Y. Craft version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses aloud to my sister again. I'm a big Craft fan and after King Midas and the Golden Touch, I think this is her best picture book. Mayer's text is pretty good too, although a bit long for reading aloud.

I like reading books slowly-you get more out of it. I used to be a fast reader, and I can still read fast if I want to, but I prefer to take my time. That's why I don't think I'm gonna do that Les Mis thing .

I would like to announce that I have made serious progress in LOTR. (Getting a computer virus will do that to you... ) However, I'm now past Helm's Deep!! I keep forgetting that it's not the huge drawn out thing it is in the movies. Hey, who knows? I might have this finished before Christmas! I love Gimli & Legolas's ongoing count. I've also realized that Theoden's "recovery" (for lack of better term, any help there?) is far more dramatic in the movies.

Thanks, lys! I was afraid everyone who had read the Attolia books either knew about it already or had gone into hiding. Reading MWT's answers to the questions made me realize that this is definitely the creator of Gen. March seems so loooong to wait. Speaking of... I am deeply jealous of those who have already read CoK due to their ARCs. How does one go about becoming the kind of person who gets advanced copies of books? This could be valuable knowledge...

My, my. I've been absent about a month and have only missed about 4 pages of postings. It must be November. All the literary folks are off writing!

I haven't been reading much in this past month, but I did read The Stranger and Death of a Salesman for school. I enjoyed Salesman somewhat. Obviously, it's very depressing, but incredibly well-written and a wonderful American play. Arthur Miller is wonderfully inventive while telling a story that is surprisingly ordinary.

I also have read a bit more of both McKinley's The Blue Sword and Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, but my terrible habit of reading multiple books at once means that I also picked up Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book in the meantime. I finished that one. I thought it was pretty good, though it moved kind of slow and stories that have less overarching plot and more parcelled short stories are not my favorite. I enjoyed his Stardust much more, but he's a good writer for children. I was surprised by the violence of the opening and probably wouldn't hand it to my children before their teens. The illustrations are very good though. Overall, it's a good children's story [sans opening] with so-so characters and some interesting plot elements. It does contain some fantasy demon/ghoul/ghost plot elements, so if you object to that, then stay away. I really liked the character of Bod's guardian Silas. I wish he could have been in the book a bit more.

Fanny: I've never read Shirley, but I can tell you that Villette certainly drags.

I really want to do a Lloyd Alexander plunge. I've wanted to read his Prydain Chronicles for a while now. Maybe after I finish TCoMC, but at this rate, that'll be in 10 years.

I am taking 3 lit classes next quarter to catch up with my major now that it's finally official and it looks like I might be reading Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for my Medieval lit. class. I'm excited and apprehensive at the same time. This could be a busy quarter.

How does one go about becoming the kind of person who gets advanced copies of books?

In the case of R. J. Anderson, you're a published author with some sort of connection to the publishing house. I think. Perhaps there will be an author blurb from her on the cover?

Anyway, I intend to be stalking Sounis (and the blogs of the people who are giving their copies away) in hopes of winning a contest...

Ack! I'm doing loads of Harry Potter fandomizing at the moment, as I just finished reading the series. They did definitely pick up, as I expected. J.K. Rowling is quite a good writer, and I discovered that they aren't the huge mess of dark evilness that a lot of people make them out to be.
I also picked up an old E. Nesbit book, The Enchanted Castle, mainly becuase I know Lewis like E. Nesbit. Not sure what I think yet.
Hoping to start Eragon soon...

Anyway, I intend to be stalking Sounis (and the blogs of the people who are giving their copies away) in hopes of winning a contest...

Oh, yes. Definitely. As if I'd win or anything though.

Ack! I'm doing loads of Harry Potter fandomizing at the moment, as I just finished reading the series.

I did the exact same thing! And now a couple of my friends think I'm obsessed with them and I'm really not. Sure I enjoyed them, they were engrossing and I liked the characters really well, but I don't visit a Harry Potter fan site every day to check for more news on the next movie and interact with other fans. Nor do I stalk their Livejournal community. There is a difference. Which HP books were your favorites?