While She Knits - phenoms

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

What have you been reading while she knits?  Have you read anything phenomenal?

Comments

[9mil.livejournal.com]

anything by Ayn Rand. And re-reading A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Also Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

I'm sadly failing in the YA fiction/fantasy department.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I just read Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson and it completely wrecked me. I know most people think Speak is her greatest novel and I agree it's excellent, but somehow this one resonated with me a lot more.

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Gah. I meant to continue posting on the line of the "gifts" from MWT. I'm sorry! I even thought of it a few days ago, but things have been out of order in the house...

I'm reading Superior Saturday, the latest in the Garth Nix "Keys to the Kingdom" series! I'm kinda excited about Arthur [SPOILER] getting more immortal...[ / SPOILER ]

I just finished The Tempest, for the first time, too. I wouldn't let myself read anything else this year before I did, because I read *no* classics for the first time last year. Pitiful.

[avalonestel.livejournal.com]

A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith, and the graphic novel series Full Metal Alchemist and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Do you read Tsubasa online? Because NEW CHAPTER THIS WEEK it was awesome. :DDDDD

[opheliastorn.livejournal.com]

Mostly books for my courses next semester - Mrs Dalloway, The Mysteries of Udolpho... Oh, and Northanger Abbey, because I can finally understand the satirical bits!

[cleo]

*squees* Doesn't reading Udolpho make NA just that much more HILARIOUS?! &hearts

What I'm Reading!!!

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

I'm in the middle of Gracling, and I'm loving it. It's about a girl who has a killing grace (which is like a superpower but cooler), and is forced to be her uncle's henchman/torturer. It's really good! However, I have it as an e-book, so I can't take it anywhere near water - so when I'm in the bath I'm reading The Naming (first in the Pellinor series). One of my friends assures me it's excellent, but so far I'm not impressed. It's exactly like Eragon... just with a girl instead of a boy. We've got a Brom character, we've got a Sloan character... and god's love, we've even got an evil power who turned from his human nature and is consumed by greed and evil and DARKNESS.
Oooooooh! Darkneeeeeess!
Why is it always Darkness? 'Cause I think we all know that darkness is not the personifcation of evil. Pointy red beards are.

Re: What I'm Reading!!!

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

I wasn't impressed by The Naming either.

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

Just finished Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. It was pretty good.

Also read The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart and liked it quite a bit because the heroine is really smart.

My YA author discovery of 2008 was Catherine Gilbert Murdock who wrote Dairy Queen and The Off Season. I have *no* interest in football or farms, but these books were fabulous. (I hear her latest, Princess Ben, isn't as good but I've got it on hold at the library.)

The Cabinet of Wonders Marie Rutkoski - quite good

The Magic Thief Sarah Prineas - quite good

Flora's dare : how a girl of spirit gambles all to expand her vocabulary, confront a bouncing boy terror, and try to save Califa from a shaky doom (despite being confined to her room)by Ysabeau Wilce - lots of fun.

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

I, too, adored the Dairy Queen books and eagerly await the third installment this fall. It's so odd how a character completely unlike me has captured my attention so completely. I swear I've read these books five times each by now. Princess Ben, on the other hand, was quite a disappointment. Perhaps I was longing for someone more like DJ, but I found the protagonist to be completely unlikeable until nearly the end, which I think was the intent of the author, for reason of character arc. Strange! And I had waited for it since September to come off hold at the library. Boohoo for bitter disappointment!

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

I have been very bad, and have read almost exclusively comics since the summer. Watchmen, Sandman, and New Avengers are the mainstream ones, but mainly imported French comics. Whyyyy can French people draw so well? And so charmingly! I adore the culture of Europe with its greater respect for artists in general, and I really wish we had more of a thing for independantly-published comics in North America.

Oh welp. At least I speak French! (Thank you Canadian government and your enforced bilingualness.)

Book wise, I've read far too much Neil Gaiman, and I'm ploughing steadily through book 2 of Octavian Nothing. I keep having to write down words to look up in the dictionary as I go through Octavian Nothing, something I haven't had to do for years, hahah. I enjoy the nostalgia of it. <3

But for the most part, I've been watching lots of movies. Alack, the result of being in an animation course - frequent references are made both by teachers and classmates, and I then go on to watch them so I can see what they were all going on about. :(

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Comics are so popular in France! And, like, not relegated to the status of "not real literature" like they are here (which is changing, granted, but it's still REALLY hard to find things like "Sandman" still in print, whereas there are tons and tons of comic-type things in French bookstores). :-)

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

I just read The Eyes of a King by Catherine Branner (young author, getting a lot of press due to youth). It was quite good: young man in authoritarian, post-coup dictatorship trying to cope, not yell at grandmother, protect/save saintly and ill younger brother. And meanwhile, there is a counterrevolution being plotted, and details of his past surfacing, and a possible restoration of the king and revival of magical learning and all that, but it can't penetrate the daily life and daily struggle and tragedy.

Short summary: awful dialogue, but pretty good book.

[ladymoon-kora.livejournal.com]

I didn't like The Eyes of a King. It disappointed me, I guess because the blurb made me think it was a totally different story. I don't know, I just wasn't impressed. Some parts were really good, but most of it wasn't to my taste.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

I just read The Color Purple, which is not my kind of book at all, but by the end I kind of loved it. Also doing a lot of reading of and about Frances Burney, and working slowly through Hand of the King's Evil by Chaz Brenchley. I should be reading moooooore. D:

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Most of my recent reading has been pretty good, but not phenomenal. The exception being Toni Morrison's A Mercy, which is a little bleak but oh so rich.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. The blurb on the cover calls it "dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom" and it is.

And Nation by Terry Pratchett. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one when award day comes in a couple of weeks. It's fabulous.

[(Anonymous)]

Pagan's Vows by Catherine Jinks (and all the rest of the series)...hilarious. Pagan reminds me a lot of Eugenides, in certain ways. (Small, witty, a bit funny-looking, too clever for his own good...)

Also April Lady by Georgette Heyer is *adorable*. The hero and heroine have been married for just about a year when the story starts...

~Feir Dearig

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I'm currently reading The Mysterious Benedict Society, which is supposed to be very good but so far its just Meh. (First, let me introduce cardboard cutout character #1, who is good at solving clever puzzles. And #2 is the nerdy know-it-all. Etc.)

I'm also currently reading KoA aloud to my roommate, and loving it. Reading it aloud to someone who doesn't know whats going to happen next makes it an entirely different experience from just reading again to myself. When we finish KoA we'll move on to Howl's Moving Castle. (Speaking of, I have the Ponyo theme song stuck in my head... it is much too catchy.)

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading QoA and KoA out loud to my husband. Though I've read the series three times before, I noticed a lot more reading it out loud. Plus, like you said, it's a completely different experience reading it to someone who doesn't know what's going to happen. One night I read for four hours because he just HAD to know what was going to happen next. Heh heh heh. So much fun.

I've had The Mysterious Benedict Society on hold at the library for a week. Now I know not to wait too breathlessly for it.

[elsa12790.livejournal.com]

I just read Robin McKinley's latest, Chalice, and quite liked it, despite what I considered lukewarm reviews. I've reread a few Heyer favorites lately: Grand Sophy, Corinthian, Frederica; these are among my favorites, along with Venetia and the Masqueraders. Someone above mentioned the Black Moth: I don't like that one much. I think I remember that she rewrote it as These Old Shades, which I do love. I'm about to start Lynn Flewelling's fourth in her Nightrunners series, Shadows Return. A few weeks ago I read Ysabeau Wilce's second Flora, Flora's Dare, as someone mentioned above. Sublime! Even better than the first. Flora Segunda is by far the most interesting YA title I read in the past year.

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

THESE OLD SHADES was a *sequel* to THE BLACK MOTH, with the character names changed. And DEVIL'S CUB was the sequel to TOS, and AN INFAMOUS ARMY a sequel to DEVIL'S CUB and REGENCY BUCK...

(Oh, while I'm tossing about Heyer esoterica, BEAUVALLET was sorta kinda the sequel to SIMON THE COLDHEART)

Do report on how you liked SHADOWS RETURN. I almost bought it, but the reviews were pretty squiffy.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Um, I just finished reading Tom Robbins's Villa Incognito. Which was good, in an obscure sort of way. I definitely enjoyed it. It is definitely Not Young Adult.

Wondering if anyone else has read...

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Psion, Catspaw, Dreamfall? By Joan D. Vinge. I love these books. Not YA but really interesting.

Re: Wondering if anyone else has read...

[etv13.livejournal.com]

Several years ago, I went on a continuous Catspaw loop and read it about seventeen times in a row.

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

I read Aurora Leigh, which is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's blank verse poem about the life and artistic development of the title character. I thought it was brilliant until the end, and the end was still very, very good. The way the words were put together was wonderful, and there was so much that was true that I wanted to quote, and there was delicate 19th century feminist snark, and social commentary, and faith, and it was just really good!

I've also been reading the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, which are also very good, and Christina Rossetti, which are good but sad, and George Herbert, which I don't like as much.

Also Bimboes of the Death Sun, Devil's Cub, These Old Shades, Pride and Prejudice, Peeled (a Joan Bauer book-- it was all right, though I don't think it was as good as some of her earlier stuff, possibly because they're all similar), the Cat Who Came in From the Cold (not, despite the title, by Lillian Jackson Braun, but by a British author, and it is gut-achingly hilarious), and An Acceptable Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, which was very good.

[charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

I'm currently reading Crown Duel, by Sherwood Smith. I really enjoyed the two books of hers I read last fall--Posse of Princesses and Stranger to Command.

[ladymoon-kora.livejournal.com]

I loved Crown Duel--I haven't read any of her others yet, but I plan to.

[orenzmarmalade.livejournal.com]

The Time Traveler's Wife was absolutely wonderful. It was really refreshing and unique.
I also read a collection of stories by Miranda July, and I didn't entirely get it. Some of it was great though.

I heard they're making Time Traveler's Wife into a movie next year, and I truly hope they don't butcher it as they seem to butcher most book-movies...

[kulai-raito.livejournal.com]

been trying to read hunger games, however i got so much readings to do for school that I feel guilty to open up the book

[ilysia-039.livejournal.com]

I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but since New Year's I've been reading Sherlock Holmes for the first time in my life. Brilliant detective who's on the coke because life is pointless? Check. Generally underpraised doctor who has to inform said detective that the earth revolves around the sun? Check.

Sherlock Holmes has it all.

[traboule.livejournal.com]

Best review of Sherlock Holmes EVER.

I had an unfortunate incident with The Speckled Band in my childhood (i.e. it gave me a week's worth of nightmares and a much longer-lasting fear of heating vents...all I say in my defense was that I, too, had a canopy bed) so I too only recently read Holmes. Parts of him; I'm still working through the later bits.

Know who goes well with Doyle? Borges. It's kind of like cheese and wine: shouldn't work, but is delicious. If you haven't read "Death and the Compass," go do that. It's like A Study in Scarlet but not.

[coyul.livejournal.com]

I've been working on The Wheel of Time series. Since August. XD I took a break to re-read The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia (my friend was borrowing my copy of The Thief.)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I personally got bored with the Wheel of Time books about five books in, but I know alot of people really liked them. Where are you in the series and what do you think?

[traboule.livejournal.com]

To my deep and abiding embarrassment, I am reading New Moon. It is anything but phenomenal, trust me.

On a brighter note, Nation made me sob into my sleeves at the end and Katherine Neville finally wrote a sequel to The Eight. It's very sloppy, but boy was it fun to read about Solarin's daughter all grown up and saving China the world. In a float-plane. Up near Siberia.

I'm also - finally - reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which is actually pretty close to phenomenal. There's no way you can describe Joyce's writing. Good is too vague, but - wow, it is that. I also finally read A Turn of the Screw, which disappointed me, and started hacking my way through the forest of mediocre prose that is George R Martin. It's fun, anyway, although people tell me my favourite character is going to get mean and just a little pervy (although when you only have 4 girls and they're already broadly stereotyped as The Beautiful and Evil Queen, The Girly Girl, The Tomboy, and The Hot Chick with a Destiny, the sheer overpowering amount of testosterone makes everything pervy). Oh well.

I realized again when I was explaining to people why my favourite Martin characters were the morally ambiguous ones that I love QoA precisely because Attolia herself is so morally fuzzy. And then I realized that I can't think of any other female characters who are on that line. You can usually find men who are legitimately scary good guys, but woman are almost always The Evil Queen or a Girly Girl/Tomboy. Anybody got any scary ladies? I'd be up for reading more.

[avalonestel.livejournal.com]

Anybody got any scary ladies? I'd be up for reading more.

Well, it's a movie, not a book, but I would totally recommend Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke if you're looking for female characters like that. :)

[merliquin.livejournal.com]

I'm still reading Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke. It is very interesting but one of those books you have to take a set chunk of time out of your day to read it.
I just finished reading Good Omens by Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman which was (as expected) quite hilarious

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell! Granted, I've only read it the one time, but seeing it sitting brick-like up on the shelf among many slimmer novels makes the idea of re-reading while trying to keep track of school a daunting task. But all the clever, dry British wit and general awesomness.

And I will admit to being an ultimate failure as a reader, and as a person in general. I have not yead any Neil Gaiman OR Terry Prachett. Yet. I do intend to! I cross my heart and hope to die! *hides behind convenient boulder*

[etv13.livejournal.com]

I just raced through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, and am now cherry-picking my favorites at a more reasonable pace. How I missed them all this time (I have a complete collection of Georgette Heyer, and a pretty complete collection of the Sharpe books) I have no idea, but I fell in love with Jack Aubrey by the end of the first scene, and I still adored him at the end of Blue at the Mizzen, florid complexion, paunch and all.