Books: Chapter One!

[Lady_Liln]

Kate, a busy summer is a sad thing when my list of what I intended to read over the summer had next to no check offs.

This was your first read of LotR? I'm surprised! I would have thought you would have already read it. Why do you wish you'd read it earlier?

Um, yeah. Let's just say a stubborn 12-year-old's decision not to read Lord of the Rings kept me from getting to the book near as soon as I should have. I really regret that, and wish I had been able to delve into the book with no preconceived images from the movies (I hadn't seen them, but I had seen pictures and some video clips); plus the spoilers I happened across in life. I do rate the book highly. The masterful writing and story weaving left me in wonder at how stupid I was not to have read it earlier. Does that answer your question?

Dppselej, glad that KoA earned a higher place in your rankings. How did you feel about Attolia? Gen? Costis? Did you get frustrated with Gen at all? Why didn't you like TT and QoA? Is it the characters? The writing? The plot? I need a little more of your thoughts before the conversion can fully occur.

Due to my weekend trip, I had great time for reading in the car. I'm now roughly 800 pages into Les Miserables and I love every bit of it.

Woah, did you read 800 pages over the weekend? Or had you started it before?

I have yet to read DD or Middlemarch, although I'd love to when I get the chance.

Middlemarch is a large book, but other then a slow-ish beginning, it's not too boggy. It's a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.

GtG, I'm enjoying S&S. It's not the best Austen, but it's still Austen. I look forward to your thoughts when you're through with it. Oh, and The Hobbit before LotR.

narnian1, although I was somewhat in agreement with the scene you mentioned in your spoiler being cut from the movies; I disagree that it was wrong in the books. The point it serves is to show just how dire the situation was. The Shire was never given cause to worry about anything much more then who would get the last mushroom. Yet, they soon had evil within their borders and were not the simple hobbits without a care in the world as they once were. Also, it gave Pippin and Merry a chance to show off their new found amazingness.

But I guess high school sort of ruined some things for me and Silas Marner might have fallen into that category where it sits glumly next to The Scarlet Letter and Billy Budd. Nuff' said.

I've not read Billy Budd, but I do somewhat agree with your statement of high school assigned readings being analyzed to the point of mutilation; missing the point of the novel. I was home schooled and I still had these problems! I personally was excited about The Scarlet Letter (plus Mom loosened her strictness on the curriculum's set up) and greatly enjoyed it. A year and a half before I had been indifferent to Silas Marner and hated strongly disliked it by the time I was through with it. The biggest difference was that I was given lenience on all the minor things needed to be known vs. having had to know everyone who hung out at the pub in SM and their occupations. Not something that made me develop an undying love for the book. [/rambling and ranting]

Lady Courage, welcome to NWeb! The Count of Monte Cristo is a hefty book, but it's written in a pretty serialistic (today, that's a word) manner, and is only slow for the first quarter, if even that long. It's a great read. Make sure you do have an unabridged version though. There's some imposters out there that hide the fact they are abridged.

[lysander]

Thanks for the details about the other Psmith books, as well as the Blandings recommendation, Aly. I had in mind to put the latter at a higher priority than the former, although I'm also interested in getting in to some Jeeves and Wooster of course.

I'm going to be reading Beowulf for class in about a week, Amira Tair, so I'll have to keep Tolkien's thoughts in mind! LotR definitely has much of both the heroic and the elegiac about it. His writing is just so grand and beautiful. Certainly part of the mystique of the Sil-inspired passages in LotR is the very mystery of them, but I think part of it is also the poetry vs. prose factor. I love what we get of the Lay of Luthien in Fellowship, so I'd love to read the fuller version in The Lays of Beleriand.

We've already been over this before, Fanny, but I find Silas infinitely more human and engaging than Deronda. But you and I obviously relate to very different characters in literature, as we've seen before. I am concerned that your appreciation for "simpler" books has gone down so much since reading the more convoluted classics, though ... we may have to put you on a reading diet of some sort!

I read Silas Marner a few years ago for school as well. Very different, innit?

What do you mean by "different"? I'm just curious; this word can have a panoply of meanings, after all.

*laughs at Mr Anderson's Google search image*

I also found some really good and witty phrases in that book.

Oh, certainly! I posted a whole host of quotations in the Common Knowledge section of LibraryThing after I finished reading the play (and, unfortunately, lost some of them). I felt rather hypocritical doing that after posting such a "so-so" review. I also feel bad that my review got more thumbs than C. S. Lewis!

Oh, goodness, have I read anything lately that would have anything to do with this conversation...

It doesn't have to relate to the conversation in particular, you know. Go ahead and talk about whatever you're reading, want to read, truly love, truly hate, etc.

Great review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Ryan! It really made me want to read the book. As for your predicament, why, obviously you should read them both. But I might start with The Sherwood Ring first, as it is bound to be a quicker read.

I have the same problem with literary criticism. They have some crazy theories sometimes!

Ummm, yes. We were talking about Freudian Psychoanalysis as applied to literature in my Literary Theory class the other day, and this perfectly innocent story became in our reading something nearing a lengthy sex scene! I was pretty much squirming in pain the whole time. It did give rise to a good quote, though. My prof stopped reading for a moment, looked up, and asked, "Everyone realizes what's happening here, right?" Then, catching my eyes, he added, "Nathan knows what's going on."

By the way, I highly recommend you select Middlemarch as your next Eliot. The first 200 pages are a little slow (though not as bad as some people make them out to be, in my opinion), but after that everything works absolutely perfectly, and there are sections near the end that just had me gasping at their beauty. Daniel Deronda has more "flab" to it and isn't as finely balanced. Have you read any other Eliots besides Marner? Aside from the three already mentioned, I've only read The Mill on the Floss, and while I loved the first 2/3 of it, the ending left me emotionally empty. And I absolutely hate Stephen Guest!

Regarding Silas Marner, I don't mean to offend fans of the book (of which there are apparently many here)

See, and here I'm always complaining about how everyone dislikes Silas Marner around here! All a matter of prospective, I suppose.

*realizes that about 50% of his post is devoted to SM*

I really should reread. But not quite yet. Although I think my next read will also be an Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life. I read the non-spoilerish parts of my Penguin Classics introduction the other day and I really can't wait for it! But first I must finish The Lord of the Rings. I read the "White Rider" chapter yesterday, and one thing I noticed was the incredibly sparse but eloquent dialogue Tolkien writes. "My very bones are chilled," etc.

[Follower of Aslan]

Yes, Digs - I agree with you completely about the characters. Thanks for responding to me!

Did anyone say they'd heard of The Other Boelyn Girl, or did I just miss a response to that?? .........

[Gandalfs Beard]

Well, you can always count on me to be in the Silas Marner fan club Lys.

I have missed a lot of the book thread recently , having been so busy (and this thread is very fast moving, if I get a chance I'll read back and catch up). So forgive me if I've missed something Lys, but is this the first time you will have read Beowulf?

If you like Tolkien (and I know you do), you'll love Beowulf; which, as Amira has apparently pointed out, greatly influenced his work. It's been a few years since I last read Beowulf, but I was browsing in a book-store recently and drooling over a new-ish beautifully bound Translation.

GB

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

In the mail today I received Green by Ted Dekker and The Knight by Steven James. Oh yeah!

I'm currently reading the first book in the Monster Blood Tattoo series. It's very odd but I'm enjoying it so far. The author's both a Christian and a South Australian, like me. Very cool.

[Shadowlander]

*echoes GB*

The portions of Beowulf we read in high school I absolutely loved. We only read some of the selections pertaining to Beowulf and Grendel (I'm told that there's some dragon-fighting going on in earlier portions of the epic, among other things) and what I read of it I do have some very fond memories of. Apparently Michael Crichton had good thoughts about it since he wrote an entire book based largely upon Beowulf called Eaters of the Dead (an excellent book in its own right). I remember getting it from the store before a deployment overseas and thinking that it seemed very much like Beowulf, even the names.

And any work where the heroes name their swords nets an additional 200 cool points in my book. "Hrunting"...just the name makes me wanna go wallop on hairy man-beast things in dark, deep caves.

[Alyosha]

Wow, I'm going to have to read Silas Marner just so I can declare my love or hatred of it. It's I Capture the Castle all over again!

I have finally got to read Shadow of the Bear (and The Midnight Dancers--spent most of it being frustrated with the characters). Most enjoyable. Black as Night is on the way from the library, and I'm excited. Unfortunately, they don't have Waking Rose. Such meanness.

Hooray! (says the girl who actually did not like SOTB all that much) Too bad about WR, but BaN is almost as good. Both are more complex and...serious, maybe...than the first book is. Can I lay a bet that your favourite character was Blanche?

The characters in MD didn't annoy me exactly, but I didn't really sympathise with them. It made more sense after reading what RD had to say about it: you aren't supposed to like Rachel, exactly, as much as find her interesting to watch--and also, Paul's relationship with Rachel

SHOW SPOILER Because these spoilers are cool and I've been looking for an excuse to use one

mirrors how God relates to us. We rebel, run away, hurt Him again and again--yet He doesn't give up and will always take us back. There are some more parallels you see if you know she meant to do that--like how Paul was tied to the tree as he was tortured, etc.

She says it much more gracefully (it's on her forum) but you get the idea. Anyhow. I didn't really like the characters in that book either--and I was sorry that some of the other sisters were nothing more than names and shadowy figures, though I suppose you can only have so many developed characters--but I love the themes.

I agree with Lady Liln on the subject of Attolia. (And on The Scouring of the Shire, but I digress.) Glad to see you back, Dppselej!

However, I feel cheated. My version (Which is the 'greasy spoon' one that Valia read. That really does get annoying. I just want them to call it a tavern/inn/other synonym and be done with it!) is missing pages. I just can't get a copy of Les Miserables with the entire storyline complete.

Ugh. All my condolences! You could always read the missing parts online if you want.

And the Wilbour translation is definitely better.

Ha!! That is hilarious about your professor, lys.

Re. Dear Canada: Haha, I loved those books a few years ago. I meant to keep up with the new ones but somehow the last few have come home from the library only to sit around unread for three weeks until I take them back (the Evil Canadians, Long Live Louis Riel! book in particular). Favourite ones were Orphan at My Door and No Safe Harbour, and the one about the railway in BC was good too, but I am biased because I've been to a lot of the places she talks about there.

My absolute favourites from the Dear Canada series are Whispers of War (because we always need more Canadian War of 1812 fiction! ) and With Nothing But Our Courage, which was the Loyalist one.

Seriously? War of 1812 and the Loyalists?! Shocking!! Which is the one you're reading next?

[wisewoman]

*laughs at Mr Anderson's Google pic*

Welcome to the Books thread, malkah! We're happy to have you. Enjoy The Queen of Attolia; it's my favorite of the series (though The King of Attolia definitely gives it a run for its money!).

Alyosha and all the rest of you Attolia people out there, I finished The King of Attolia. And I liked it better than the previous two (of which I had a heretical low opinion), which need to be reread and reexamined. Now please try to show me the error of my ways and convert me to liking these books...

Well, I'm not sure what you didn't like about the first two. As others have said, maybe if we knew what you disliked, we could answer you better?

It was a lovely concept, but I just wasn't captivated. Is there any use in checking out the books that follow it?

I think so, but then, I've only read the first and second books. Funke is very verbose and needs a merciless editor to pare down all the unnecessary padding she adds to her stories, but I do think the concept is strong enough to atone for issues with style.

I'm glad you are loving Les Mis so much, Shantih! I do love the Wilbour translation.

Great thoughts on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Ryan! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've also read Smith's Joy in the Morning, which was good but not as good as Tree. I believe she has some other books as well, but I haven't read any of them.

Northanger Abbey or The Sherwood Ring is a tough choice! But if you're antsy to read The Sherwood Ring, read that one first. It wouldn't be fair to NA to be reading it whilst thinking of another book.

Poor Maddy! You are just not fated to read Les Mis in its beautiful entirety, are you? I hope you and a complete, unabridged copy meet up someday!

So how are you liking Sense & Sensibility, GtG? It was my first Austen book, and will always be special to me because of that! When you're done with the book, I recommend the film adaptation starring Emma Thompson. It's fantastic.

*giggles at Nathan's classroom story* I had a few moments like that too. Ah, the joys of being an English major...

I started The Wyvern Mystery last night. Le Fanu's chapters are so short, just three or four pages each! I was interrupted and then had to go to bed so I just got through the first short chapter. But I DID start it. Finally!

And The Mystery of the Yellow Room continues most mysteriously. I hope Leroux is able to deliver on all this hype he's building.

Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: Someone posted Tahn on BM the other day and I requested it

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

I was browsing in a book-store recently and drooling over a new-ish beautifully bound Translation.

I'm going to assume that that's the new(ish) translation by Seamus Haney. His translataion was so popular in England that, for a while, it outsold Harry Potter

I personally love Beowulf. It has such a beautiful theme, such outlandish monsters, and it's written in such a beautiful tongue. I had to read it in High School in senior year for an Brittish Lit class, and then I had to reread it again in college, but I've never been bored with it. It's truly a classic/epic work.

[Mar In Narnia]

Mar:

SHOW SPOILER

I am between Bryan Eastley and Cedric Crackenthorpe. From what I remember, she defended Bryan a lot, as you say, and she was the kind of strong woman who would be happy with a somewhat weaker husband. However, I also saw something going on between her and Cedric and I can't really make up my mind, they would be such different relationships... I think I would prefer Cedric but I think Bryan is more probable. I never interpreted Miss Marple's wink as a sign that Craddock was the chosen one, I always thought it was a a wink to the readers who were also making the same question . Besides, I'm not sure but I believe Craddock appears in more stories. It's open to interpretation

You're right about the wink, it was a wik to the readers. I just became an Emma and got carried away in my match maker mode! Yes, Craddock appears also in A Murder is Announced and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.

Oh, certainly! I posted a whole host of quotations in the Common Knowledge section of LibraryThing after I finished reading the play (and, unfortunately, lost some of them). I felt rather hypocritical doing that after posting such a "so-so" review.

I don't think is hypocrite for you to have done that. I think that someone can dislike or not quite like the final product, but still find some good things in it.

Lady Courage: Welcome to NarniaWeb! I hope you have fun here I haven't read The Count of Montecristo yet, but it's in my to read list. I look forward to reading your opinion on the book.

After a long time of postponing it, I'm finally picking Anna Karenina to read!

[Lady Courage]

@ Lady Courage: Welcome to NarniaWeb, & the books thread!

Gee, thanks!

Lady Courage, welcome to NWeb! The Count of Monte Cristo is a hefty book, but it's written in a pretty serialistic (today, that's a word) manner, and is only slow for the first quarter, if even that long. It's a great read. Make sure you do have an unabridged version though. There's some imposters out there that hide the fact they are abridged.

Thanks! It is unabridged, I made double sure of that because I can't stand abridgments! Supposedly it's a really good translation.

Lady Courage: Welcome to NarniaWeb! I haven't read The Count of Montecristo yet, but it's in my to read list. I look forward to reading your opinion on the book.

Thank you Mar in Narnia! Whenever I manage to finish it!


I liked Beowulf too, and it was really cool to see the similarities between it and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Hey, has anyone read The Binding of the Blade series, by L.B. Graham? They're quite seriously some of the best modern writing I have yet to come across! I've only read the first two, sadly, because I have to order them from the internet. No-one else that I know has read them, which is a shame. Any of those who loved LOTR will love this series!! I was in tears over them, and that's saying a lot for me!

[Meltintalle]

All in all, it was an alright read

That's about how I felt about it too. It might improve a bit in the next books--or they were just better than the current Redwall book. I'm not sure which. I think you can compare Redwall and Castaways. Jacques didn't deviate from his formula that much. He just has actual people (and a dog) instead of different animals.

I see there are fans of Isaac Bevis Singer. I was going to start with one of his books that received a Newbery Honor, actually. Or at least try to. It'll depend on what the library has.

220, I don't think I've read any Chaim Potok, though the name is familiar. I have read a few collections of Jewish folk tales by authors I don't remember and Julius Lester's book about Moses's sister: Paraoh's Daughter in which he takes the idea that the sister of bulrushes fame is not Miriam. But that's about all.

I'm working on Trade Wind. I'm liking it so far. It's kind of fun trying to decide who the 'right' (or winning) side in the political intrigue is supposed to be, since Kaye is doing a good job of keeping it ambiguous--rather like watching real life unfold. I'm rooting for the 'bad guys' at the moment.

[malkah]

Thanks for the welcomes!

Glenstorm the Great: I read The Hobbit after LOTR, and I wish I'd done it the other way around. If for nothing else, read The Hobbit first for the depth and richness it adds to hobbits and their culture in LOTR.

*is thrilled about people reading Les Mis and Jane Austen*

Make sure you do have an unabridged version though. There's some imposters out there that hide the fact they are abridged.

Ahem, like the Barnes and Noble edition. Don't pick up that one, unless you want to read the whole book and then discover there's parts missing.
Edit: It sounds like you found a good version; enjoy the book!

Enjoy The Queen of Attolia; it's my favorite of the series (though The King of Attolia definitely gives it a run for its money!).

You mean they get even better? *chafes at the unreachableness of the library*

After a long time of postponing it, I'm finally picking Anna Karenina to read!

What translation are you reading? I'm planning to read Anna Karenina very soon, but I have no idea what the quality translations are. Please, do let me know what you think of the book!

[Phosphorus]

I just now realized what a superb asset my college library is. There is someone who works there who can procure pretty much any book in print for the interested student. Taking advantage of this, I instantly requested a history of Armenia and The Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire. He'll tell me when the orders come in; I'm quite excited. It must be great to have that kind of power: a hand over the library's book budget.

I've read a number of ancient Chinese poems. Some of them are quite good, but some of them are rather like sugar water. I'm also picking up The Fellowship of the Ring for another reread.

Oh, and I will add my praise of Beowulf. I actually preferred the second half, where Beowulf battles the dragon. But perhaps it's just because it's more Tolkienesque. But if you like Beowulf, there is a huge amount of stuff to explore in a similar style and era. Anglo-Saxon poetry, the Norse sagas and eddas, Y Gododdin, Early/Middle Welsh poetry and prose, and Nibelungenlied.

[Arwenel]

And it appears that the book thread will be as hard to keep up with on the new forum as it was on the old.

Well, i visited the library today, and picked up a number of books -

The Hunger Games: The premise unsettles me a bit, but i really enjoyed her Underland Chronicles, so i'm going to give it a go.

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code: I read the first three (Eternity Code is number four, right?) and wasn't blown away or fascinated, but i found them to be decent reads. I'm always on the look-out for at least decent books i haven't read, so i figured i'd pick it up and see how it was.

The Merlin Conspiracy: I've liked everything by Wynne Jones i've already read, and it sounded interesting than the first Chrestomanci book -- any comments on that one?

Harriet the Spy: I read this one a long time ago -- i think i liked it. I'll find out soon enough, i guess.

Bleak House: My favorite Dickens. I read it a while ago, then saw the recent mini-series and want to compare; but i want to read it again for its own sake, too.

Thud!: Another re-read.

A number of weeks ago i inter-library-loaned a copy of I Capture the Castle after seeing its name pop up a number of times. The title put me in mind of something else entirely, but i enjoyed it for what it was. Then i saw the movie, and -- well, i'm re-reading it to see just how bad the movie was.

I'm trying to get in some Shakespeare - primarily Othello, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear. I've already succeeded in reading The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice -- both were excellent, but i definitely preferred Merchant. I'm having difficulty getting into Othello, though; i blame the copy i have. The text is small, hard to read, and the play itself is only about 30% of it. If I wanted commentaries/notes on the text/etc., i would get a book on that!

Has anyone else read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series? I've gotten through book 4 and am enjoying it. It reminds me of Gregor in a number of ways.

[Faun_Song612]

Aslanisthebest and others - I didn't particularly like Eight Cousins or Rose in Bloom. Finding a Louisa May Alcott that I am truly fond of is more of an exception than a rule - for example, An Old Fashioned Girl. I do really like that book.

Dppselej - Haha, the characters in The Midnight Dancers can be very frustrating, can't they? I kept wanting to yell at Rachel. But yes, what Aly said in her spoiler. I can find the bit Regina Doman wrote about it and PM it to you, if you like. I love all the philosophy in that book. It's so very... Chestertonian.

I just read Northanger Abbey aloud to my sister (not the one who is reading P&P) is under 24 hours. Quite an experience, that. For one thing, my voice was almost gone by the time we had finished. My sister likes for me to read to her while she knits.... she made an entire scarf during the first 10 chapters. We enjoyed it very much. It's not always easy to make my sister laugh during books, so I had to work rather hard at that. She laughed a great deal at Mr. Tilney and rolled her eyes and sort of snorted at Isabella. I had way too much fun reading Isabella.

I also read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd over the weekend. I still enjoy Agatha Christie's books, but she's becoming a wee bit too predictable. I guessed the murderer... and it ought to have been a terrible surprise! It seems that all you have to do is pick the very most unlikely person, and it's a sure thing that they're the killer.

Now I have started Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. My reasons for enjoying it thus far: 1) There's a character named Sebastian 2) He has a teddy bear named Aloysius.

Arwenel - Oooh, Shakespeare! I haven't read Othello yet, but I have read the others. King Lear is my favorite. Romeo & Juliet is high up there on the favorites, because of the Montague-Capulet fighting scenes. Swords. Yay. I read The Merchant of Venice for school and enjoyed it - mainly because of Portia - but, even though I wrote a paper on Shylock, did not quite understand it. It's an odd play, but very fascinating. The Tempest used to be my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, and I still love it for the fantasy elements.