But the official name is Terra. And -us is the male suffix, while -a is the female one. Hence I found it subtly sexist that he picked the name with the male suffix, instead of the female one.

Honestly, does it really matter? This is like when some people complain about books/tv series/movies where there are 3 female protagonists but 4 male protagonists. Never mind that's probably the story being told. I seriously doubt it has to do with sexism.

But the official name is Terra. And -us is the male suffix, while -a is the female one. Hence I found it subtly sexist that he picked the name with the male suffix, instead of the female one.

While -us in Latin is most commonly the masculine second declension, it can also be the usually feminine fourth declension. I would normally have assumed that it was masculine too, but I just looked it up to double check, and tellus is a feminine fourth declension noun. So in this case, I think Bookwyrm is right that both Terra and Tellus refer to the same female goddess.

Where do you keep getting this official name business from? The planet's name is Earth, you might see Terra used in sci-fi or something, but I've never come across any official declaration that THIS IS TERRAAA!!!!!!!! The fact remains that Tellus is the exact same Roman goddess as Terra; look it up on Wikipedia if you don't believe me. You can say it's subtle sexism until the cows come home, but it remains your opinion with no facts to back it up. Why are you trying so hard to find sexism in Lewis' work anyway?

I finished reading The Chestnut King today. I didn't realize it was the final book in the series, so I was kind of disappointed that it's the end. Still, it's a very nice end to a very good trilogy. Now I'm crossing my fingers that the inevitable movie series won't butcher it too badly.

Where do you keep getting this official name business from? The planet's name is Earth, you might see Terra used in sci-fi or something, but I've never come across any official declaration that THIS IS TERRAAA!!!!!!!! The fact remains that Tellus is the exact same Roman goddess as Terra; look it up on Wikipedia if you don't believe me. You can say it's subtle sexism until the cows come home, but it remains your opinion with no facts to back it up. Why are you trying so hard to find sexism in Lewis' work anyway?

Terra is the commonly used name. It's used in phrases such as terra firma, but most people haven't heard of tellus. I consider myself moderately well-educated in Greek and Roman mythology, and I didn't know who Tellus was until I looked her up the other day. And Aravis Narnia is correct the the -us ending in Latin usually (i.e. three-quarters of the time) means that it is masculine, so it isn't a very difficult mistake to make.

Studymate: I read Utopia for class last quarter. I thought it was very interesting. Not particularly enjoyable, perhaps, but it was very cool to read the original utopian book. It's a fundamental human question to ask how we can form a perfect society and it's very interesting to read More's ideas about it.

Liberty: I've read a lot of Horowitz work. I think the Diamond Brothers are probably his best and most clever. I was used to him writing fast paced spy novels (Alex Rider) and was pleased to find out he has a clever streak too.

I just finished Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair. It wasn't as good as I expected, but I liked it nonetheless. I enjoyed all the inside jokes like the name of the villain Hades (Acheron) and his brother's (Styx). I thought the ending a bit contrived, but overall I'm not disappointed that I read it. At this point, I'm kind of on the fence as to whether I want to read the next one or not. I know Booky has read them, does anyone have an opinion on the subsequent books?

I saw a new printing of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell when I was at the bookstore last night. The new cover looks cool.

It's the start of a new quarter and I'm going to be reading Moll Flanders among a lot of anthology stuff for two classes; I wish there were more novels and less essays. Oh well. I'm taking a history class that turned out to be on historical fiction, which I wasn't expecting, but I'll be reading quite a lot for that one: Beloved by Toni Morrison, Ragtime by Doctorow, A Prayer for the Dying by O'nan, Maus Vols. I and II by Art Spieglman (A graphic novel about the holocaust! Oh my, I'm not really sure what to expect from this one), The Known World by Edward P Jones, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Tracks by Louise Erdrich, and maybe (if we have time) Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated. Has anyone read any of these titles?

I am reading one of the dimond brother ones, it is pretty good so fair, the switch was a better book though for me anyway. I still think he has a very plain taste in names.

Kate: I love the Diamond Brothers books! they are so much fun!
I have read at least five of them.....
I have not read Alex Rider yet *makes mental note to read them*

On the subject of Terra vs. Tellus, Lewis probably went with Tellus because it's less well known.

Personally I don't recall the name Tellus in any of the books, but then I haven't read them in a while.

Oh wow, I've read so many books these past couple months I can't name them all here. Suffice it to say I've read over 50 books in the past two months.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

I don't have time to read that much, with homework and studying and my internet use. I try to read when i can.

^ditto. I feel kinda bad with how little I've been reading lately .

Valia, sounds like a plan!

Well, I come to shamefully admit that I haven't read Huckleberry Finn because the book I read before it was such a different genre; it was really hard to get into the book. Maybe when I read a more related book, I could get into it.

I think I've said this somewhere, but I can't find it anywhere, so I'll say I finished The Goose Girl some time ago. It wasn't terrible and wasn't too amazing, to me. The main thing that put me off in the book was

Sadly I haven't gotten to reading any lately with no excuse to justify myself. I don't think I can comprehend any book right now without getting antsy while I'm waiting for CoK to arrive.

I just read this awesome book called "Sand Dollar Summer" by Kimberly K. Jones and it's really awesome! I love how it's mixed with mystery, suspense, and adventure! it's really a good read!
and I am reading a book called "Faith, Hope, and Ivy June" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and it's really good! very well written and well worth reading!

Well, I come to shamefully admit that I haven't read Huckleberry Finn because the book I read before it was such a different genre; it was really hard to get into the book. Maybe when I read a more related book, I could get into it.

It is hard to get in to. I only read it b/c it was for a class and I wanted to get a good grade

As all of you can tell, I love Inkheart and I have read the whole trilogy! I have read the entire book of Inkheart out loud!