While She Knits

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Today's the day!

What have you been reading? Do you recommend it?

If you have a lot to say, especially with comparisons to the Thief books, you can post yourself. If not, we'll be at play in the comments here!

And I'll be going first...

Comments

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Last Friday I finished the Deathly Hallows.

This week I've read hardly anything, but I am going to read this awesome book that's mixed pictures and young-adult level prose called the Invention of Hugo Cabret.
It's a historical novel that looks wicked awesome.

I also liked Enchanted, Inc, an urban fantasy chick-lit that's nicely safe for me.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

What's cool and different about Hugo Cabret is that, unlike an illustrated novel, this book tells part of the story only in text, and part only in illustrations. The drawings are an integral part of the story. And the drawings are beautifully done.

Funny thing, too, they just did it on audiobook and the narrator describes the illustrations. Somehow I think it's just not the same.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Um...well, I missed last week's discussion, but I had just finished Twilight and ranted extensively about it in my journal. And of course DH, which I also ranted about (not as extensively) in my journal.

Other than that...oh, I just started Shade's Children by Garth Nix. It's pretty good, but I'd rather reread Spindle's End, but I promised my sister I would read the former, so there you go.

Wow...lack of books...

Spindle's End!

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

See what a good idea this was? (Loffs Meeting Minds over Bookish Goodness)
One of my favorites ever...and I reread it frequently. [spoiler whited]

Tell me a little about Shade's Children. I read through Sir Thursday in his Keys to the Kingdom series (Love Concept--Feel Sorry for the Pat-Down Dialogue), and am feeling lost. Library doesn't have the next, and then, the others aren't even written...

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

Dude, I loved Shade's Children for the most part -- it was so tense and action packed! Have you read his Abhorsen trilogy?

[estarria.livejournal.com]

Shade's Children = the only Garth Nix book I ever disliked. The setting of the story is definitely interesting, but...other parts of it ticked me off.

At first I liked Twilight, but now I'm really not fond of it at all. It didn't help that I went online looking for information on the series, and the more I read, the more Sue-ish the book seemed. I found this quote from Stephenie Meyer once -- I wish I remembered where it was! -- where someone had asked her if Edward was based on her husband. Her response was something like, "no, if my husband was like Edward, I wouldn't have had to create Edward."

I haven't read much this week, been too busy...but next week I'll be traveling a lot, so I got some books from the library today. :) Hopefully I'll be able to finish some.

Dark is Rising

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I'm finishing the Dark Is Rising series and have liked the books very much. The family scenes are done well and are very believeable. They contrast nicely with the mystical fantasy parts. The evil is menacing and the setting very vivid. I want to go to Corwall, and Wales! And learn to speak Welsh! Cooper weaves the Arthurian legend in slowly and subtly. It's a great fantasy series for younger readers but it's so well written that it can be enjoyed by anyone.

My biggest complaint is the lack of Gurl Power. Not all girl characters have to be an Attolia, but Jane is girly and scared half the time and plays a pretty small part. She's the only girl main character against five males. Since the books were written in the 70s I'll forgive the author.

And the upcoming movie is changing Will's nationality and family! Will's British heritage is part of the reason for the whole struggle. Gah.

Re: Dark is Rising

[jazzfish]

I want to go to Corwall, and Wales! And learn to speak Welsh!

I had /exactly/ that reaction when I first read them, many moons ago. :)

Re: Dark is Rising

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

I just read someone say they were cleansing their palate from the trailer by re-reading the Dark is Rising. ^_^ I loved that phrasing.

I really liked that series, too. I have a different viewpoint on Jane, since I read The Grey King first (I think...the one with Bran, who is so awesome).

Then again, I'm of a recent enough generation to be tired of the GURL POWER characters, because I was never put under the suppressive literary trend to the opposite. No implications of age or otherwise against anyone; but I thought I'd make it clear why I might not have the same viewpoint. Xp

Re: Dark is Rising

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

PCPCPCPCPCPC

What about the evil immortal lady?

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

I'm re-reading Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels...they're really just a gratutious and celebratory use of words woven together in a glacial and epic story...it's really slow (and appropriately, given the plot set in a kingdom where nothing has changed for centuries), but it's more about how its being said than what's getting accomplished.

However, re-reading it I'm coming to realize that I really don't like any of the characters after all...Peake seems bent upon making them all into near-caricatures.

*shrug* I dunno. Its traditional summer reading for me =) I'm finding it harder and harder to find new books that I like.

[estarria.livejournal.com]

So far my impression of the Gormenghast books has been similar. I got Titus Groan at the used bookstore a while back, and read part of it. I always intend to come back and finish it, but I haven't yet, and it's been over a year. I keep hoping I'll find a character I like, but it takes so long for the story to get anywhere that I get impatient and switch books.

[jazzfish]

they're really just a gratutious and celebratory use of words woven together in a glacial and epic story

Sounds like you should maybe try _Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell_. It's less epic than Gormenghast but the way the words are woven is very yum.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

In the first book the only characters I liked were Steerpike and Fuchsia, because they were young and dynamic whereas everybody else seemed completely trapped in their traditional roles. I kept on reading hoping (while at the same time knowing it was completely fruitless) for S. to reform.

I still think the books are fantastic in their own completely bent way, but Peake seems to have had this strange idea that Titus was the hero in spite of Titus being an almost completely dull and unlikeable character.

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

Ive only read Gormenghast and I agree with most of your assessments, except that I found the novel to be hilariously funny. It has a very subtle sense of humor that is quite entertaining I find.

[jazzfish]

This week I plowed through HP 5-7 (boo, yay, boo, in that order). Um. The Thief books are much better plotted and have more believable characters. They take more work to get into than HP but are ultimately a /lot/ more rewarding.

I'm just about to start either _Territory_ by Emma Bull (_Tombstone_ with magic in) or _Carnival_ by Elizabeth Bear.

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Come now. The point of HP is not the characterizations. Or working for a reward. (~_~) It's all the surface of world-building and fun.
I do need to look over The Half-Blood Prince again. It's the only one I didn't reread after the first time, since it was in the reread queue before the last at that point.
I like both your choices equally, or I'd suggest one or the other based on the other books I read by the author. I'll be glad to hear your thoughts on either come next week, or at my journal, I guess.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

His Majesty's Dragon is excellent, IMHO. Throne of Jade and Black Powder War are, too. But you probably know that already. Empire of Ivory is coming soon... I can't wait!

The Abhornsen Trilogy is really good.... speaking of things I need to re-read. I actually didn't like the first book (Sabriel) very much--it was very highly recommended, so a couple summers ago I checked it out of the library... I liked it enough to finish, but not to re-read. (If you know how obsessively I re-read, that tells you about how much I liked it.) Sometime this spring, I was in the teen section of the library, looking for a couple books highly recommended to me... maybe you've heard of one of them, it's called The Thief, it's quite excellent ;)... and I saw the next in the series, Lirael. I thought, Hey, what the heck? I'll give it a try. LOVED IT. And Abhornsen? AMAZING.

I just finished Cordelia's Honor an hour or two ago. Tonight, I'll dive back into Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem. Reading the series slightly out of order has actually worked really well for me.

I'm rather starved here at home for people to discuss books with, its very nice to be able to come here and read about what people are reading, and write about what I've been reading.... :D :D :D

[kilerkki.livejournal.com]

I loved Sabriel, didn't care much for Lirael, and didn't read past the first chapter of Abhorsen. Of course, I was in high school then. Perhaps I should give them another try. :D

I'm also super excited for Empire of Ivory. And for the movie! I hope Peter Jackson actually goes through with it...

And on the topic of dragons, this week I reread Guards, Guards. I love Terry Pratchett. The Watch has some of my favorite characters ever!

[tiloo.livejournal.com]

haha, everyone should read Death Note! Graphic novels by Tsugumi Ohba!
Very good and it is very much worth the read. In a way, the main carachtor (Light) reminds me a bit of Gen, but just a little bit.

[kilerkki.livejournal.com]

...I hope Light reminds you of Gen in the brilliant-schemer sort of way, and not in any of the other multitude of ways. *shudders*

I read Death Note for L. Light just scares me.

[avian-xj.livejournal.com]

Earlier this week, I read Sunshine by Robin Mckinley (recommended by Jade in her Twilight post). I LOVED it. It was a lot different from Stephanie Meyer's vampire books, but I still think it was much better. It could have had more detail, but the lack wasn't a big deal, just me not wanting the story to finish :P

Also, I just started Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith. I would probably be finished right now if I hadn't gotten a headache reading in the car today

sunshine

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I got Sunshine from the library once, shortly after I'd read Deerskin, which I liked, though it took a lot out of me. Then I was worried that Sunshine might have too much violence in it for me. How was it from that aspect?

[avian-xj.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it had too much violence - or at least it wasn't extremely descriptive. It was marked horror in the adult section of my library, and when I first finished I disagreed. Now I'm starting to think it is properly labeled, if only because it didn't seem like a YA book, not because it was particularly scary.

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

It's not supposed to be YA.
It's just that her other stuff is, I bet.

[kilerkki.livejournal.com]

Naruto fanfic for the win! >.> I haven't been reading (or writing) so much lately, but if you're ever looking for recommendations I've got busloads.

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

I'm at the tail end of Justina Robson's Keeping it Real. It was raved about by someone, so I got it from the library immediately. Thank goodness. I found it somewhat confusing and merely "eh". If I'd acutally bought it, I'm sure I would have disliked it. I notice that the more I pay for a book, the more intense my reactions, especially if a book has been highly recommended.

I can definitely recommend Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the WInd. It starts a bit slow, but picks up speed and quickly becomes completely involving. Amazing that it's a first book.

A while back I listened to and loved Hilary McKay's Saffy's Angel, which won a Whitbread prize. It had lots of quirky characters and some really funny bits. I really liked it. I recenlty discovered it had sequels and I just finished those, Indigo's Star and Permanent Rose. They were good, but not as good as Saffy's Angel. Indigo's Star deals with bullying and I found it unsatisfying. I don't think the emotional scars bullying leaves weren't dealth with satisfyingly. And Permanent Rose was unsatisfying (though still entertaining) because I don't think it dealt with infidelity very well. But both were worth reading.

[netslefj.livejournal.com]

But don't you love Rose?

[hemisofia.livejournal.com]

Busy week at work this week, so all I've been (re)reading was Patrick O'Brian's Mauritius Command ... I don't suppose there's any POB reader here?

[kilerkki.livejournal.com]

I've never read Patrick O'Brian, but I loved the Horatio Hornblower books. Would you recommend POB for a Hornblower fan?

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

I just finished the 6th book in the Master & Commander series and started reading World War Z yesterday.

[hemisofia.livejournal.com]

There is one! *love* POB is my favorite author ever, together with MWT.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Wow, Anachred, 100 comments. What a great idea you had. A couple of things. Can we agree to limit it to one post on Fridays, to stick to the purpose of the site? And, is it ok if I add you as a friend?

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Please do add me! ~Thank you~ I'll add you, too. I've wanted to.

As long as someone else will be the gremlin, I was a little unsure about it going on and on...

Though I think things will settle down now. ^_^ We've almost exhausted the genre. Maybe talking Austen and the classics could get crazy too, but know we've all had our say primarily I think one day will be enough time. I can even close it officially on Saturday, if there's a need.

But guess who's doing a QofA reread? I ought to be posting on topic soon.

*swears solemnly*