Besides The Iliad I'm reading Black Ships Before Troy...I'm studying Greek literature and worldview right now in school. I'll also be reading The Odessey after I finish the other two...

A bit of literary news: JD Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye and other works, has died at age 91.

An update on Heyer's The Grand Sophy - I'm enjoying it, and recommend it to any Austen fans here on the forum.

I finished reading The Great Gatsby tonight. It was the first of the books I'm reading for American Lit. I liked it, but the end is just so crushingly depressing. Is that typical of the modern American classics? Next up is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.

Bookwyrm: I know what you mean! I had to read David Copperfield for school, and I hate that book! it's SO depressing and boring!

I am hopelessly in love with the Once Upon a Time series- yup, retellings of classic fairy tales. I loved this genre already- but these particular versions are just plain awesome. I read yet another one today- the retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. This one had plot twists and was not predictable at all!

There are more Jessica Day George books?! Eee!

The copy I have of The Goose Girl looks like this but the new ones look like this, which aren't too bad, but ... THEY DON'T MATCH!!!

I really enjoyed Austenland. When I was in America a couple of years ago I bought it, and it's still not available here! Crazy. I was horrified by some of the un-British things in it, though - there is no kool-aid over here, everyone! There were some nice moments in the story, however, and I must have re-read the ending about eight times ...

For Shannon Hale I can understand the UK not having some of her books; after all, she's American! However, when I was in the US I also picked up some of Eva Ibbotson's books, which are only just coming out here now. (They were out of print before.) What's that all about? She's been living in the UK most of her life!

I have been able to track down the next two Percy Jackson books at my library. I was disappointed by Sea of Monsters (though I liked Tyson) but enjoyed Titan's Curse much more. Percy really seemed to become heroic in the third one, and it reminded me a lot more of the Greek myths the story comes from. There are still a lot of "random" moments, though ... yet I suppose that fits with the mythology, too. I'm looking forward to the next ones - are there only two more?

one of my favorite books is "Inkheart"! I read the whole book out loud once.....that makes sense if you have read the book

Yes, AJ, two more Percy Jackson books. Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian. There are practically no "random" moments in that last one. It's kinda like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where every little thing is significant for the whole. It's my favorite one, I think.

I'm sorry you didn't like Sea of Monsters as well as the others. But yeah, Tyson's a sweetheart. I like him a lot. The Titan's Curse is my third favorite (and it introduces my favorite character, Nico di Angelo). I think you're right about Percy getting more heroic as the stories go on. I think it's partly because he's growing up.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

I just got Out of the Silent Planet on inter-library loan. I read the entire thing yesterday. I liked it okay but it was kind of weird. It's the kind of book I'll read once and I don't really care if I ever read it again. I borrowed Boxen from the library again a week ago and started to read it and I told myself, "No matter what, I WILL read the entire thing this time; I will, I will," and guess what? I didn't. I couldn't make myself read past the first four pages. I didn't like it at all.

^^ yeah, I have heard that "Boxen" was boring, I tried to read it and I too could not stand it!

Oops, typo. I should say Titan's Curse is my third favorite as it introduces my favorite character: Nico di Angelo. Battle of the Labyrinth is my second favorite, with The Last Olympian as my first favorite.

When I have the time, I'll try to get a review up of The Hunger Games and Shannon Hale's books. No promises though. Still, I'll do my best.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

I've always had problems with writing up review for books that I've read. Not to say that I don't like reviews- I just can't figure out how to organize my thoughts and review a book! I always end up summarizing...

Has anyone read the Quadrail books by Timothy Zahn? They're from the point of Frank Compton, an ex intelligence man from the Western Alliance. (Which is supposed to be a confederation of Europe and a bunch of other powers, as the story is set in the future) That's an awful lead in to the books, as they're barely about the Westali, but they're very good science fiction.

Though they are a series, each book starts so that even a reader picking up the second book can follow the storyline, and they wrap themselves up so that you can tell that more story could be told, but it doesn't need to be.

now I'm going to have to find myself a good movie version. Any suggestions? Faithfulness is good, but what I really want is one that really captures Lizzy's character as far as pure deadpan-snarkiness goes.

And I also need a new Jane Austen novel.

In terms of faithfulness, the two BBC miniseries ('80 and '95) trump the movie versions ('40 and '05) by far. Not sure what to tell you in terms of the Lizzies, though—what you're looking for will be more a matter of personal taste. Perhaps you could try various scenes on YouTube and compare the performances.

As for another book, I absolutely adore Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion, but it strikes me that on a snark level Northanger Abbey might rate significantly higher in your books. In this one it's not the heroine who is deadpan, it's the narrator. I thought it Austen's funniest when I read it two years ago, although I'm afraid that it didn't appeal quite as much to me when I reread it this past week for my Austen class. Looking back at it, it is easier to tell that it is not one of her mature works; indeed, even Lady Susan feels "older" than it.

RE: Planet Narnia, it sounds like his argument was rather unfinished at that time.

Hmmm, I'm not sure. It's possible that he's revised his work since then, but he was most certainly finished with the book when he spoke at the conference, and was looking for a publisher at the time. I probably have been too hard on Ward in the past—I don't doubt that their are some vestiges of the medieval cosmology in the Chronicles, as it was definitely an interest of Lewis', but that it represents some sort of "secret code" and that each of the books parallel a specific planet is taking it a bit far, IMHO.

Wow, so much Shannon Hale fandom going on in here. I apparently need to read some more of her work; I've only read The Goose Girl (twice) and Enna Burning. I liked the first one, although not as much the second time around, but Enna struck me as quite odd.

I need to read some Jessica Day George too. I've been a mood for fairytale retellings recently.

An update on Heyer's The Grand Sophy - I'm enjoying it, and recommend it to any Austen fans here on the forum.

Yes, I've heard that's one of her better books. Not so with Lady of Quality, which I recently read and reviewed here. Heyer is apparently quite mercurial; Cotillion, for instance, was brilliant, but this was purely by-the-numbers.

*is reading Book 1 of the Faeries Queen for Renaissance Lit right now and pretty much echoes Kate's opinion*

I am hopelessly in love with the Once Upon a Time series- yup, retellings of classic fairy tales. I loved this genre already- but these particular versions are just plain awesome.

Really? I've read only five of those, but they were enough to help me decide my opinion of them. They are fun, and I might even pick some up again when I want a light, easy read, but they are quite mediocre when compared to such retellings as McKinley's Beauty, Levine's Ella Enchanted, Pope's The Perilous Gard, McKillip's Winter Rose, Pattou's East, or Hale's The Goose Girl.

When I have the time, I'll try to get a review up of The Hunger Games and Shannon Hale's books.

This is where I am now: wanting to write, but not having time! (Of course, I've spent way too much homework time writing this post instead, but that's another matter.) On my finished-and-awaiting-a-review-list are The Phantom of the Opera, The Lord of the Rings, and Northanger Abbey. However, I was able to pump out a few reviews this past week: one each for Austen's Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon and Lewis' The Magician's Nephew, as well as the Heyer I linked to earlier.

Currently I'm reading Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground and Austen's Emma for school, as well as Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life for pleasure. Far too many classics for my own good, I know! Notes from Underground is a hard read, but not for the language; in fact, the new translation that we're reading is quite simplistic and a little bit vulgar, which is in keeping with the narrator's personality. No, it's the concepts that are different, as well as the style—the whole first part is nothing but a long, ranting monologue! I'm liking it better now we're into the narrative sections, but I wish I had read Crime and Punishment first. Emma and Scenes of Clerical Life I've only just started, but I'm already in love with both of them. I think I am going to like Emma much better than I did the first time, and that it is going to move up on my list of Austen favorites, which is exactly the opposite thing as what happened with Northanger Abbey. And what can I say about Scenes? It's Eliot—in other words, just plain brilliant.

I finally finished reading The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien. I got very busy so it took me forever to finish. I liked it, it is actual my first story in Norse Myth I've ever read. It was interesting to see how C.S. Lewis redid the story of Cupid and Psyche in “Till we have faces” and how Tolkien redid this Myth.
And I found that Tolkien modeled some of Middle-Earth from Norse Myth, were C.S. Lewis used Greek Myth in Narnia. It was very interesting.

I read Alice in Wonderland for the first time! I thought I would do the same thing I did for A Christmas Carol, and read the book before I see the movie. It was nice to finally get to read it.
I always thought that the two twins and the talking flowers were in the book, but they are really from the second book "Through the Looking Glass" which I am currently reading.
After I finish that I'm plan on starting The Iliad and the Odyssey

I went to get the first Percy Jackson book out of my library and all 12 copies are out and there are 10 holds besides mine