I finished The Tower at Stony Wood a few nights ago. Excellent, as usual for a McKillip book. Lots of twists and turns in the plot and lovely descriptions.

But then, when I read the book, I found some passages when Anne came across as a bit proud, too conscious of the selfish nature of her family and how selfless and better she was.

Now that it's been brought up, I seem to remember reading a bit in the introduction to Persuasion that's in my copy which touches on that subject.... but now I can't find that section in the introduction, so I must have read it somewhere else. It was a most interesting point, and I think it makes sense that that is supposed to be one of Anne's flaws- that Austen did that on purpose. I think it's a realistic flaw to people of that personality type, actually.

Well, it's exactly the opposite for me , especially when I have to take an additional suitcase for them - I usually carry tons of books for holidays- and have to take a plane with all this. I have not enough hands . Anyway.

I think I can understand that.

Glenstorm: How is P&P going? I had a chance to read some more today, which was quite lovely. Of course.

Hi everyone on the reading thread! I hope you all don't mind me jumping in here! I can't even begin to comment on all that went before! But I hope to keep up in future.

I'm on a never-ending quest for great historical fiction novels, and I was referred to Jeff Shaara's works by Djaq and Flambeau.

My question to any of Mr. Shaara's fans who may read this is: Which series or specific novel of his should I read first? Is there a certain work which is a really good starting point, a place from which to really get the feel of his novels?

Any advice would be lovely.

I just finished Miracles. It was excellent, if a bit hard to understand in some places. I'm still rereading Fairest, but that's about it.

^^ is Fairest good? I haven't read it yet. I'm not much for romance, but those books are ok.

Yes, all Levine's books that I have read are good. Fairest is sort of a Snow White retelling, just like Ella Enchanted was a Cinderella retelling. There's a lot of singing, because its set in Ayortha. There's lots of other things happening besides romance. But The Two Princesses of Bamarre is the best. There's a romance there, but the main focus of the story is on the relationship between the main character and her older sister.
I'm currently rereading Phantastes, by George MacDonald. It is rather strange, but I like it. Has anyone else read it?

I liked The Two Princesses Of Bamarre the best as well! I read Ella Enchanted, but I wasn't too impressed with it.....and the only part that I didn't like in Two Princesses was when

^Yes, I always found that part kind of random. The whole of Two Princesses is quite "unrealistic" - or, just quite different from the more-typical fairytale books that are Ella Enchanted and Fairest.

I think I like the characters in Fairest the best, though I think EE has the best story. I would like to read more Levine but there aren't any out over here (apart from EE and TP) and I haven't got round to importing them yet. What others has she written and how good are they?

Lady Haleth, I've read several George MacDonald books, but not that one. What's it about?

Gail Levine has also written Ever (her most recent work, unless there's another I don't know about), which is set in a kind of Arabian Nights land. I haven't read it though, because it sounds pretty weird.

I've read EE and Fairest and while I liked the atmosphere and overall feel of Fairest best, it was such an unusual story -

Is anyone else looking forward to reading Princess of Glass, by Jessica Day George? It just came out. I liked Princess of the Midnight Ball, and I hope this one is as good. I already like that

oh! I was mixing up the titles! I have read Fairest! it's Ever I haven't read yet. Fairest was boring (in my personal opinion).....but maybe that's because I don't care for romance too much. I still don't remember why I even read it

I just finished A Conspiracy of Kings. Read it in two days! It was pretty awesome. The "oooh" moments were pretty good, but I sorta expected the unexpected if that makes sense. The 1st to 3rd person shifts were not as annoying as I first expected them to, and it really does sorta make sense because of the amount of time Sophos is alone (ie away from Attolia, Attolis, and Eddis). All in all, I liked the addition to the Attolian series. KoA is still my favorite, though.

Hope this didn't have any spoilers...

I'm still rereading Phantastes. Its about this man called Anodos who walks into Fairy Land after he turns twenty-one and has a series of strange adventures. They involve many different things such as: Two evil trees, a good tree, fairies, a beautiful white lady who came from marble, a knight called Sir Percival, a dragon, giants, princes, an Ogre, and an evil shadow that follows the hero everywhere. This is the book that Lewis said started him on the journey to Christianity, and MacDonald had a great influence on his writing.
The other books I have read by MacDonald are At the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and the Goblin. At the Back of the North Wind was kind of strange and sad, but The Princess and the Goblin is excellent.

Ever was just idiotic. I was going along, expecting everything to be interesting and for the story to have a complex plot (or at least likeable character), so I just kept getting more and more confused.

I'm half way through reading Wizard's First Rule, and so far I think it's an awesome book. I'm a fan of the Legend of the Seeker TV series, but this is way better. I can't wait to read the whole series! It'll take the whole summer and then some, lol.

Ever was just idiotic.

thanks for the warning! now I know I won't read it.....