*thought Daughter of Time was by Josephine Tey, who is also awesome* Your copy wasn't missing a page of type, I hope?

I received three books for Christmas:
Emma by Jane Austen (When I opened it, my sister said "I want to read that!" Fortunately for her, I'd already started it, so I should be done soon. )
The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila
Patterns of Fashion vol. 1 by Janet Arnold
A few more titles should follow when I spend my Barnes & Noble gift card.

As for books that I plan on reading in 2010, the two I'm waiting for are N. D. Wilson's Chestnut King which comes out end of January and Megan Whalen Turner's Conspiracy of Kings which is a bit later.

Nice gifts, everyone! I forgot to say I also got a Barnes & Noble giftcard.
Small piece of unimportant news I forgot to tell you: Last week I went to a yard sale and found Nicholas Spark's Message in a Bottle (what? My sister's favorite movie is A Walk to Remember and she liked the book, so. Plus the cover is pretty), a beautifully illustrated picture book of The Nightingale, and The Four Loves!! The Sparks and Lewis books were at a yardsale at the same place where I bought all three LOTR movies for $15. I was so thrilled.

Began reading Emma today. Too fun. So far I am amused instead of infuriated by everyone's quirks and blindness.

I recently started reading the Hardy Boys series by Franklin Dixon. Even though I'm a little beyond them, I find them very interesting and can't seem to stop reading them! Anyone who likes adventure and mystery should definitely read these.

The last book I read was Utopia by Sir Thomas More. Some say it is the first fantasy novel- and I kind of agree, even though there were no dragons or unicorns. I especially like the second part. Interesting how he chose the name to mean both "no-place" (meaning that no place like that exists) and "ideal place" (which he seemed to believe). It may have inspired some of the ideals of socialism- though nowhere near as extreme as communism.

Sadly I didn't get any books, but I did get the "new" film versions of S&S and Persuasion by BBC...

I read A Christmas Carol for the first time last week, I really enjoyed it, and I think I'll make it a tradition to read every Christmas.

As for books that I plan on reading in 2010, the two I'm waiting for are N. D. Wilson's Chestnut King which comes out end of January and Megan Whalen Turner's Conspiracy of Kings which is a bit later.

Me too.

I'm currently reading Sent, The Time Quake, and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma. Sent looks boring so I haven't really started properly reading it yet. AAAnd I read the ending of The Time Quake and I didn't like it so I haven't actually started from the beginning. But I'm really liking The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma so far. I don't see why more people don't like them. I wouldn't say the Mysterious Benedict Society books are favourites or anything, but they're so fun. And there's something about the formal, stiff writing that I just love... which is... weird

*should post in the Books thread more*

The Utopia book sounds interesting, Aravis Narnia. What's it about, besides Utopia?

I forgot to say that my sister gave me an adorable bookmark, and that my parents had also given me Berean giftcards for my baptism. I went to check out the new store yesterday, but they didn't have anything I wanted to buy. I had all the C.S. Lewis books they had in stock except for one that was a compilation of selections from his other books, most of which I own anyway. There were several lovely Narnia books, but they're so expensive! I think I'm just too cheap.

Am about halfway through Emma. Am now getting annoyed at the characters.

does anyone like "Red Rock Mysteries" by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry?
I have read all 15 books SO many times! I love those!

What are they about exactly?
I didn't care for Left Behind. But I did enjoy their series of 5 books of The Wormling:

The Book of the King
The Sword of the Wormling
The Changeling
The Minions of Time
The Author's Blood

I loved the first 3, the second 2 were good but less engaging.
Of course, these books are for kids, and some "jokes" are obviously targeted at them but the story I found to be very good.

After this I'll read Little Women...I'll tell you what I think of it!

Little Women is an EXCELLENT read!!
I hope to read Little Men sometime soon.

I've finished reading The Wild Things by Dave Eggers (yes, the novelization of the movie - Where The Wild Things Are). Eggers, the author explains that the Max of his book is a combination of Maurice Sendak's childhood (from the original picture book), Spike Jonze's childhood (from the screenplay developed into a movie) and his own childhood (the screenplay developed into a novel).
The book was great - honest, raw and written from the mind-set of a 8 or 9 year old boy. There are parts I enjoy from one that are not in the other and vice-versa but overall they're both fantastic.

How the original picture book is better:
- it's succinct
- much is said in few words and illustrations - dark, sad and deep but not overly
- layout is well thought-out and purposeful
- the illustrations are very cool
- the scene where Max imagines his room is becoming a jungle (it wasn't in the movie. That's the only scene I truly miss)

How the movie is better:
- in the novel the owls are just sentries for their fortress and they don't have names, in the movie Bob and Terry get a bigger part and they add an interesting dynamic to the show
- the art direction is more raw, and bare-bones. It's more naturalistic and intense
- it has amazing visuals and quality music
- the movie's ending is more powerful

How the novel is better:
- Max, his home life and relationships are all more developed
- includes more scenes from the original picture book - eg. hanging from the trees, the parade
- the land of the wild things is more varied and fantastical
- it's dark and deep but suitably light-hearted at times
- several scenes are shifted around to make more sense
- overall , there's more context, detail and variety than the movie

You will get a more rounded experience if you read the original picture book, the novel and also watch the movie.

I'm re-reading Uncharted by Angela Hunt.

So I just finished reading Atonement and I don't really know what to think of it.
The ending is depressing sorta (to me anyway), and it made me remember everything else that was sad that happened throughout the book. I'd still say it's a good book though, it kept me interested.
Although I felt I knew pretty much what was gonna happen before it did,
I feel like there was a lot included, a lot of details, that I have no clue why they were there (example the experiences during the war). And sometimes there were a few pages I had to read rrrreally slowly to understand it, a little too poetic for me maybe.

Alas, I can only say I got one book for Christmas- which was the latest Dear Canada diary, a collection of short diary entries from the various other diarists, but all with a Christmas theme. I enjoyed the other one that I had of it, so I hope that I'll enjoy this one too. Although the other one had all my favourites, ah well.

I finished A Christmas Carol a day or two ago, and was found it quite enjoyable, especially the characters and their journeys. My edition of it also had The Chimes in it, which I read after that, but I'm afraid I must admit that I did not understand one bit as to what it was supposed to teach- the themes, lessons, etc. It was mildly interesting, but confusing as well...has anyone read it, and if so, what did you think of it?

Mmmmhmm. That sounds right. And she did live there for awhile. I always felt rather sorry for her, especially now that I can't remember her name.

Yes! Her name was Lisa/Lise (depending upon the translation), and I felt rather sad for her as well....

Still coming along on War and Peace, of course. I'm about 430 pages in, if that helps any. It's most interesting, as always.

I love Black Ships Before Troy, 7chronicles—perhaps even more than The Iliad, if you can believe it. I've glanced at The Wanderings of Odysseus once or twice but never brought myself to read it. I miss the flashback device from The Odyssey, and the nudity was a bit off-putting.

Let me also express envy for kotwcs' Tolstoy volume and mara's copy of The Nightingale—the former piqued my interest when it was put out through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program a few months back, and of course I'm always looking for well-illustrated fairy tale picture books.

Sadly I didn't get any books, but I did get the "new" film versions of S&S and Persuasion by BBC...

This is a bit off-topic, but the most Persuasion (to which I assume you were referring) wasn't done by the BBC, but ITV; the BBC was, however, involved of the '95 version, which I find far superior.

Yesterday was a big book-buying day for me. One of the local thrift stores had a huge 75% off sale, so Mom and I got up early to head over there, and I ended up paying about $4 for 7 volumes. Then we dropped by the library, where I not only checked some books out but peeked into their sale room, making yet another acquisition for 50 cents. Later that afternoon we visited Half Price Books; they too were running a sale, this time of 20% off, but I still felt like a spendthrift when I paid $7 for 3 books, particularly after the prices I had found that morning. I thought my book-buying was over for the day, but then Mom and I ran into yet ANOTHER thrift store while waiting for our take-out Indian food, and between the great literary selection and 50% off sale, I walked out with 11 volumes for less than $3. So, my acquisitions:

1st thrift store
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosselini
- Random Harvest by James Hilton (a lovely 1941 first edition)
- The Jules Verne Omnibus, containing Around the World in Eighty Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, From the Earth to the Moon, and "The Blockade Runners"
- Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers
- The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers (an audiobook read by Ian Carmichael, who apparently used to play Wimsey for the BBC )
- Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
- The Iron Lance by Stephen Lawhead

Library sale room
- The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

Half Price Books
- Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
- Sherwood by Parke Godwin
- A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

2nd thrift store
- Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
- Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer
- A lovely 9-volume set of famous mystery novels in hardcover, including And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, The 39 Steps by John Buchan, Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler, The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers (a duplicate, I know ), Assignment in Brittany by Helen MacInnes, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (another duplicate), The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

hmm are you sure lys...? On the back it says BBC Video...this is the one I got http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/imag ... n_DVD2.jpg [/offtopic]

Ooh my edition also has The Chimes (and American Notes) FF! I haven't read it yet but I'm planning to. Is it interesting?

Ian Carmichael read the audio book version of Murder Must Advertise my dad got from the library. That was my introduction to Lord Peter Whimsey. Good stuff! (And it's not a duplicate if one is audio and the other a book. You can read along in your book! "You'll know it's time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring... like this.")

I finished Emma this morning. I must say, it really was like the mini-series! I was shocked.

I also want to know why it is that all those lovely quotes by Jane Austen one sees floating around always appear in the mouths of the characters who don't appreciate the sentiment they utter...

*wants to read The Daughter of Time again* It's come up twice in almost as many days...

I read A Christmas Carol for the first time. Started on 12/24/2009 and finished on 12/28/2009. Five days for 5 chapters; although it wasn't exactly one complete chapter per day.

It was interesting to compare the book to the movie versions, including the most recent one just released. Some small scenes and minor characters have never made it to a film version and the films have rightly expanded others. (IMHO)

Began reading The Hobbit yesterday. My first time reading it and am enjoying it after finishing chapter one today. Having seen the LOTR films, my mental image of Gandalf and Bilbo are from the characters as created in the movie versions. And why not?

Happy reading all.