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 Welcome to the group! You have made a great start on your reading year. I see you have been reading Diana Gabaldon's books. How do you like them? I confess to being a rabid Outlander fan anxiously awaiting the publication of An Echo in the Bone in September. Welcome! Nice list. Welcome! What did you think of The Monk? I read it last year for a university class and thought it was hilarious! I like her Outlander series *a lot*. It's like a double bonus for me: I get my history and biology lessons mixed in with some trashy romance! Sometimes I get annoyed with Fergus for not helping out with the housework. Good golly! Marsalie's not superwoman, you idiot! Use your hook hand to be the spit for the rabbit, man! Ugh! Otherwise, I really like him.
I didn't know that her next book is due out this September! I've just finished "The Fiery Cross" a couple days of ago. Tell you the truth, I somewhat dread reading her novels because I spend a week on them to finish and I'm always thinking that I could have read two or three books by the time I finished her books. But they're always a good read. Oh, "The Monk". I read that during my gothic phase in February/March. I loved it and got completely caught up in the novel. It's unbelievably sexist, and when I got the uncensored version that was printed in 1790, I was shocked that it got printed at all in the first run without being censored. But it's a good cheap thrill that I enjoyed and read because I heard "The Mysteries of Udolpho", which I also read, was an influence on it. How did you find it hilarious? Message edited by its author, Nov 15, 2009, 10:54pm. I thought The Monk was hilarious too... it was just so over the top, ludicrous... the exceptionally sexist way things were portrayed was just so extreme that I couldn't help but find it funny. Some of the random plot points were pretty funny too... but maybe it's just me. #6, #8 - I enjoyed reading The Monk, and gothic lit in general, but it is definitely over the top. It had one of those plots where everything fits together, where a random detail mentioned once ends up being the catalyst to the climactic moment. The supernatural aspect was what got me the most - I couldn't help but find the ending laughable. I'm sure that wasn't the author's intention, and I am sure his audience didn't find it funny - it is just our modern persepective on it. That said, it really was a fun book to read. When I read the ending to The Monk I had this nagging feeling that I had read it before because the sentence where the Devil has Ambrosio hanging over the precipice sounded really familiar. Maybe I'm imagining it and that there's a lot of books have that ending. Do you all read a lot of gothic novels? 58. Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz Message edited by its author, Jun 26, 2009, 2:27pm. #10 - Not a lot, but I do really enjoy the Romantic period in general, which has a lot of gothic qualities, and I like Edgar Allen Poe very much. I haven't read The Mysteries of Udolpho yet, but I definitely want to! Have you read Northanger Abbey? Austen is really poking fun at gothic novels through it. Message edited by its author, Jun 11, 2009, 7:15pm. #12 Yes! I have read Northanger Abbey. I love it. Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice are my favorite works by Jane Austen. Eh, I read The Mysteries of Udolpho and wasn't too thrilled about it. At the very beginning the author goes on and on about the landscape for a couple of hundred pages. Once the plot moves on to Emily's aunt's place it picks up. There are also some scary scenes later on that make up for the slow beginning. Message edited by its author, Nov 15, 2009, 10:55pm. 59. How to Mess Up Your Child's Life: Proven Strategies & Practical Tips by Olivia Bruner 60. Envy by Anna Godbersen Message edited by its author, Jun 26, 2009, 2:27pm. I really liked The Dark Queen. It was very well written and the characters were fleshed out and believable. I'm definitely reading the sequels to this book. I don't want to spoil the story for you, but this a must read. OK, I will see if I can find it. Thanks! Great list of books there. Happy reading. This message has been deleted by its author. 74. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Message edited by its author, Jul 27, 2009, 10:40am. It such an awesome series! I'm afraid it'll have to go on the back burner for a while because I'll be doing research for my Master's paper come September and won't have time to get through it. You could knock somebody out with just one her books! 77. The Girl from Junchow by Kate Furnivall 78. To Hold the Crown by Jean Plaidy Message edited by its author, Aug 5, 2009, 9:20pm. #35: The Girl from Junchow looks very good. Thanks for the recommendation. I agree with you about Gabaldon's books - you could give someone a serious concussion with one of them! Good luck with the Master's paper. #37: OK, I will put The Russian Concubine on Planet TBR as well. Thanks for letting me know to read it first. > 37 I read The Russian Concubine and liked it very well. I started reading The Red Scarf about 2 weeks ago, but couldn't get into the flow. I was unaware of the sequel to Concubine. I'll have to check it out, thanks! #44 Glad I could introduce you to the sequel of Russian Concubine! To me, The Red Scarf wrapped up too neatly at the end. It wasn't that great. 85. Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty Message edited by its author, Aug 30, 2009, 1:52pm. 97. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville 98. Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and other classic fairy tales of Charles Perrault by Angela Carter #56: Adding that one to Planet TBR. It looks interesting. #57 Flanders's book is very interesting. It combines a bit of class analysis, gender roles, and the mind thought of Victorians, which I can still see even now from time to time. Thanks for the additional info. My local college library has a copy of the book, so I will see about checking it out after I return from being out of town this next week. Congratulations on making it to 100 books for the year! Thank you! I can't believe that I did it! Next year I'm going to try for 150. 103. Overqualified by Joey Comeau Congratulations on 100 books! #64 I liked it. It took a while to get into it because in the beginning it's kind of stream of consciousness, which I had a horrible experience with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but I overcame my hesitation and continued to read. I wasn't disappointed. It dealt with the issue of identity well, it was philosophical but constructed in a way that engaged the reader. While I believe that it was written for adolescents around 16 years-old, I think adults would like it as well. I was bewildered by the character of Dane as he didn't seem to add much to the story, very two-dimensional, but the author may have intended that way. I wish that the book had gone more in-depth about the regulation of science, bioethics, and identity (the latter interesting me the most), but it was still good. I'd recommend it. #65 Thank you! #71 My preconceived notion going into the series (because there's a pink, yellow, grey, etc. fairy book) was that the themes of the stories were going to be passionate, bloody, you know, the concepts usually associated with the color red. Well, I didn't notice anything overly passionate about the stories in the book, but I have yet to read the The Blue Fairy Book. ;) There was a lot of romance in them. I noticed some variations, like on the "Twelve Dancing Princesses", which was cool. I think quite a few of the stories are of French origin, and I think you can slightly see it. And there are some good stories in there. I particularly liked the one where the wife had to wear out three shoes shod of iron before she saw her husband again. I'm curious to see how the other books in the series play out, so I'm going to keep reading them. The only thing I really wish these stories had was more dialogue. They tend to be descriptive and somewhat sparse on the talking. However, I like them and they end too quickly for me! #72: I noticed that The Blue Fairy Book is the first in the series, so I am going to start with that one and continue on from there. They look like fun! #75 Have you read The Angel's Game yet? Is it good? I keep meaning to read it but then other books get in the way! :) I got about 50 pages in and then as you said, other books kept getting in the way. I am going to re-start it next year (I promised my hubby to start weeding out my library, so all the books I have started and stopped this year are definitely getting read next!) (back to top)
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Touchstone worksTouchstone authorsJane Austen Holly Black Libba Bray Rita Mae Brown Susan Carroll Angela Carter Helen Castor Loretta Chase clarketheodoreg Eoin Colfer Suzanne Collins George Colman Joey Comeau Jennifer Crusie Ellen Datlow Ellen; Windling, Terri (editors) (Charles de Lint; Randy Davila Christie Dickason Ann Fessler Marina Fiorato Judith Flanders Kate Furnivall Diana Gabaldon Neil Gaiman Kathryn Harrison Tanuja Desai Hidier Shirley Jackson James Joyce Patrice Kindl Karleen Koen Jean Hanff Korelitz Elizabeth Kostova The Harvard Lampoon Andrew Lang M. G. Lewis John Ajvide Lindqvist Lauren Lipton Lesley Livingston Carolyn MacCullough Melissa Marr C. M. Mayo Megan McCafferty Lisa McMann China Mieville Rosalind Miles Sena Jeter Naslund Christopher Paolini Michel Pastoureau Mary E. Pearson Terry Pratchett Philip Pullman Ann Radcliffe A. N. Roquelaure Lemony Snicket John Speed Art Spiegelman Amy Stewart Mariko Tamaki Jessica Valenti Daniel Wallace Horace Walpole Sarah Wendell Lauren Willig Patricia C. Wrede Mingmei Yip Carlos Ruiz Zafón Markus Zusak |
