Kate wrote:Fanny: I see you purchased a Richard Peck title. I loved A Long Way from Chicago and its sequel. Have you read the new one yet? I'd like to know how it is.
Alas, I have not yet read the Richard Peck book, but I will be sure to post when I do read it. Has he written other pieces of historical fiction?
AJoanna wrote:Our Mutual Friend by Dickens. I need to stop reading this book. I've read it way too many times. But I love it. It's my favorite Dickens book ever. I still laugh my head off reading the whole argument scene with Bradley Headstone and Eugene. Classic.
Our Mutual Friend is one of my favourite Dickens' novels, I hope to re-read it again at some point in the near-ish future. Eugene is a somewhat complex character, I found, but overall I like him, which is rather rare for me, as generally I dislike characters of his personality. >_> I do feel sorry for Bradley Headstone, though, all in all.
Lady Haleth wrote:However, I would recommend Anne Bronte's novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
I read The Tenant earlier this year, and I enjoy it quite a bit. I would probably only recommend it to slightly older audiences, or ones who can properly understand some of the issues that are dealt within the book. That and Shirley are my favourite of the Bronte sisters' work, or of the ones I've read so far.
DiGoRyKiRkE wrote:But as much as I love those books. . . Victorian England is going to seem like a bit of a "let-down" after visiting a world where fairies flutter through the same air which carries the songs of travelling minstrels.
Here is where I think I would have to disagree with you... I think Victorian England would always be nicer than a fantasy world, even if it is such a well written world as the Inkworld. But that's just me, I know.
Maddy wrote:
I've read A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, Hard Times, Bleak House, and Little Dorrit, some for school and some for pleasure, but I've liked all of them. I read your post right after going to the library and kicked myself for not getting Our Mutual Friend. Happily (or unhappily) it hadn't been there anyway. I'd checked out Nicholas Nickleby instead, and started it, but didn't think I'll be able to finish it before the school year started, so I haven't made much progress at all. Now I know I won't be able to finish it. I'll keep an eye out for OMF at my library! I trust your literary opinion, and reading the less well-known Dickens appeals to me for some odd reason. *still has not read A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, or David Copperfield*
Aw, thanks! I'm flattered that you trust my opinion. I understand a bit about how appealing it can be to read the lesser known Dickens, although I'm trying to read all of his works ultimately. How far did you get into Nicholas Nickleby? That was another good one, I hope you shall be able to finish it someday (soon). Will you let me know what you think when you've read Our Mutual Friend?
Maddy wrote:The titles are alarming. The covers are worse. Also, dukes are popular.
I had to laugh a little when I read this, and I must ask the question if there are really that many dukes in real life, in comparative relation to all those that are portrayed in such novels? (I also must add that when I was a volunteer at our library, the staff was getting rid of all those cheap dime-a-dozen romances.)
Mel wrote:A clarification for any who might have been confused--the cats are not murdered.
*is severally put out* Just kidding, of course. After all, what fun is it to read an entire mystery centered around dead cats?
As to what I've been reading, I've read:
The Hollow Tree by Janet Lunn. This was pretty good, a nice historical young adult novel set in the Revolutionary War with a girl carrying a coded message to the British general near the St. Lawrence. *cheers* I wish the girl and the over all book had of been more pro-Loyalist/British than sitting somewhere near the middle, but I can't complain, really.
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. This one was a lot lighter reading than I expected it to be, and therefore I finished it in about two hours. It was alright, nothing spectacular I found.
No Strings Attached by Carolyn Keene
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. I enjoyed this one very much, although I must disagree with the back cover (or introduction, or maybe it was Wikipedia) that said this was one of Dickens' darkest novels. It wasn't that dark, all in all. The plot was less complex compared to some of his other works, to be sure, less characters, I think. My favourite storyline I must admit was not the Nell and her Grandfather one but the
Queen Victoria by Cecil Woodham-Smith, a biography written in the '70s, I think, or some time ago. Good read, really detailed and engaging.
The National Dream by Pierre Berton, on the building of the Grand National Railroad that united Canada railway wise. Another detailed history book, the first part was definitely the best, though.
Other than that I've been reading some very engaging books for school. I also bought several new books today- the local new books bookstore had a sale on where you could buy 3 books for $10.00, so I picked up The Professor by Charlotte Bronte, Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte, and The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan. So I have some more reading for a while, I'd say.