Kate, on Catching Fire: What didn't you like about Peeta? I'd have to reread the book but I remember liking him fine.

e I Kissed Dating Goodbye I think the idea behind Josh Harris's book is great; I just find his writing sentimental and dull (to paraphrase the Prince from Ever After) and slightly arrogant -he was writing about the idea as if it was a novel one and not around for centuries in many other cultures and civilisations (to this day). It's also written in a slightly cautious and not all-out enough manner for such a rebellious notion, if that makes any sense. Maybe if I'd read it coming from a different background...or about five years earlier...[EDIT] I thought I should mention that I appreciate the book as an honest sort of testimony, that part of any writing is always powerful.

I completely agree with your thoughts on that book...the first time I read it I was 15? and fairly impressionable and thought it was pretty much amazing...then I got a bit older and realized I didn't really like that he was telling me what to do. You're right in that he writes a bit arrogantly, I wasn't a big fan of that. His second book is much easier to read, I find, even if I don't want to use the courting method for me, I could see it being helpful for those who like that method. It was more down-to-earth and practical, I thought.

From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Very interesting in their point of view changing from 3rd person to 1rst person.

That it my official favorite book, period. I too find the pov changing quite interesting...and the way it's done it's not as jarring as you'd expect. The character development is quite amazing considering what a short book it is. I recently went thru and, using the Myers Briggs personality types, "typed" the three main characters. Even though Mrs. B has hardly any "page-time", I was still able to find the type that suited her absolutly perfectly, and to find out a lot about her. That's good writing, imho.
Curious though, what was the

Both books have things that modern grown-ups could find scandalous, but which are truly harmless and simply warrant a quick explanation at most. Curiously, back when the books were written, those things would have seemed innocuous, but now the words have different meanings and one illustration could be misinterpreted by people who do not realize how innocent it is.

? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head in the Mixed up Files book is when the children go bathing in the fountain...

I just read this book called "Green" by Laura Peyton Roberts! it's awesome! I highly recommend it to everyone!

I have been reading a books called jasper jones by craig silvey. He is a very popular author in western australia and is quite popular in australia. He only has 3 books( 2 adults and one childerns). He is also my best friends cousin. Here is a interview with him

So, I'm currently reading Der Weiße Wolf (The White Wolf) by Käthe Recheis. It's a German book. And actually, the more I read, the better I get in German. I've been following German at school for almost 4 years now and I live a ten minutes drive from the German border, so my German is getting better
I'm planning to read: The Little White Horse. Has anyone read this one?

I'm FINALLY done with The Fellowship of the Ring!!!! Now give me another six months or so to finish the rest of the series .

I've recently finished The Annotated Alice. The book was not an amazing read, nor a dull one. It had exhaustive notes that helped in understand the context of the era in which Lewis Carroll lived and the culture of that time. I believe it often went into too much detail about some things but some people would say the same for LOST theorists.

This is the first time I've read the original Alice books. I found the book to be well-written but some of the archaic writing style (or references to things from ages past) threw me for a loop. Also, I found the wordplay and nonsense to be equally enjoyable and frustrating. Some of the poems were great and others seemed to be a waste of space. I'm not sure I like Alice. She was too precious and passive but maybe that's how little girls were back in the day (although, I did like the fact that she wasn't stupid but instead well-educated). Carroll created some amazing and very creative creatures and environments but I didn't care much for the story. There was lots of stalling with poems and seemingly irrelevant or dull moments. I don't know which of the two Alice books I prefer, I hated and enjoyed aspects of each, probably equally. They were cleverly-written but definitely overrated. The strongest elements they have, for me, are the surreal qualities and the creativity of the dreamlike world Carroll creates.

I'm FINALLY done with The Fellowship of the Ring!!!! Now give me another six months or so to finish the rest of the series .

yay!!!!! no, further up and further in, on to The Two Towers! it's awesome!

I don't like to rush through a book because at the end you wish it wasn't finished, i like to read little bits at a time or big parts of the story every couple of days, so i can take in and fully understand what the stories about and I will also have time to reflect on whats happened so far. I seem to remember the story better this way to.

Interesting thoughts on Alice, Warrior. I'd like to get my hands on an Annotated Alice one day. The whole Lewis-Carroll-Social-Commentator thing went right over my head when I read them as a young teen (thankfully?) so I really have no clue what the deeper meanings are.

I recently bought two books by author Andrew Wommack. Yes, I braved the confusion of the Christian book shop -it's massive and makes me feel a little depressed. I've heard a few incredible testimonies that relate to Wommack and his ministry and the way he preaches (or the what, I should say) absolutely fascinates me. Instead of ignoring massive gaping holes that exist in the Christian faith today as compared to the early ministries of Jesus, Peter, Paul and Co. he addresses them with scripture (yes, actual scripture in a Christian book!) and shows where we've gotten all messed up. Plus he seems to have results to back him up (it's not everyday you see someone raised from the dead) so I am so interested in reading his books for what God will show me. Yewwwwwwww! <--excited!

I'm planning to read: The Little White Horse. Has anyone read this one?

I have. It's a fun book. It's a lot like reading a colored cheesecake with chocolate sauce on top. Are you going to read it in English?

I read The Lightning Thief today. Apparently I missed the SF by four days. I was hoping I'd get it before it closed. Oh, well. My favourite part was

Next up is deciding whether or not I should reread Wrinkle in Time before or after I read When You Reach Me which has a large tribute to it. Before seems like a better idea, except then I think that I shouldn't because then I can see how good my memory is.

Mel: so I take it you liked the book? I predicted that part too, but I'm really good at predicting stories and my sisters didn't ahve a clue that

Yep, I enjoyed it. I was going to say it was a fun read, but then I realised I'd already said it about Little White Horse and that might make it sound like that was the only thing I could say about books. So I didn't. I'm pretty sure I'll go on to read the second book in the Percy Jackson series. There's an idea floating around that I'll be reading book one to my brothers and a few of my sisters, so I'll do that before getting the next book.

^ok, as long as you try the rest of the books! They get better as they go along

I read the first book in the 39 clues series and I have started THe Two Towers!

I found Rick Riordan's new book, The Red Pyramid at Wal-Mart yesterday. I'm liking it so far. It's told from the alternating first-person viewpoints of a brother-sister duo, Carter and Sadie. They've lived separately for years, but on Christmas Eve when their father brings Carter to London to see Sadie, they get dumped into an adventure involving magic and the Egyptian gods. I'm not certain this series takes place in the same universe as the Percy Jackson books, but there was this one quote that made me wonder.

"So you can't live in Manhattan?" she asked. Amos's brow furrowed as he looked across at the Empire State Building. "Manhattan has other problems. Other gods. It's best we stay separate."

Speaking of LotR, this is my story with that series.

I found a very tattered and worn Fellowship of the Ring on our bookshelf and couldn't believe I had never found it and devoured it before as I love fantasy. Well, I took it down and started reading a tiny bit at a time because I was determined to save it for the 6 hour plane ride from our home to Hawaii that we were taking in two weeks. Well, my dad told me that I couldn't read one without reading the others but we didn't have the others. So when we were in Hawaii, we happened to go to a Borders Books and my dad bought me a four book boxed set: the trilogy and the Hobbbit. I fell in love!!! (with the books and with my dad for buying them for me )

I've read all of the books several times. I've found that it's impossible to read LotR once and get everything out of it. I've read the entire trilogy probably three times, maybe four, and each time I realize something new, "Oh, so that's why this did that," "Oh that's why that happened." It's impossible (in my opinion) to understand it completely the first time through. With Narnia, you can get everything out of it, or at least understand it fully the first time through but it's completely opposite with LotR.

Believe it or not, I read the entire trilogy in two days! My family was driving on our fishing boat (it's a large boat, 58 feet) to another town to fish and it takes 48 hours to get there by boat. On the boat when you're traveling, there's nothing to do except sleep, read, play cards, and that's about it. So I brought along all four of the books which I had only read like once before. I was bored to death after only an hour or so and you can only sleep so much so I read for two days straight and finished the Trilogy! I couldn't believe I'd read all three in two days!

This summer, we're going there again and after all this talk about LotR in this thread and the past movies thread, I'm super anxious to read them again but I will try to hold myself away from the bookshelf and save them for on the boat when I will once again be bored for two days. But this time, I have my laptop so I will quite likely watch MacGyver and Dukes of Hazzard for two days straight instead! In which case, I can start reading LotR right now.

And that's my journey with LotR.

By the way, I mentioned a few pages back that I really like John Grisham. I didn't really get much of a response. So I'll ask again, does anyone like his books?