Because I don't have enough things on my amazon.com wish list already...reading anything interesting? Tell us about it.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Answers

I did know that the Earthsea trilogy had another book--Tehanu, right?- -but I wanted to reread them all before reading that one and well, I have 21 unread books on my nightstand...oh the pressure...

Re: Charles de Lint--I finished Dreams Underfoot in near-record time, even for me. Favorites were The Conjure Man and Timeskip (I think?) and the one about the little mermaid, and those are only the ones I remembered off the top of my head. I liked every single one of them. I'm about 130 or so pages into Moonheart; the last thing I remember reading is Sara leaving Taliesin and returning to where Kieran is...I just wish I had more time to read it, because I'm really anxious to know how it ends. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy is now a quadrology. (Is that a word? It is now...) There's now a fourth book in that series, so it's time to dig them out from the bookshelf and re-read them from the start.

I've always enjoyed The Bandy Papers series of books, by Donald Jack. They're mostly out of print now, but if you enjoy historical fiction (World War I and beyond) with a sense of humour, these come highly recommended.

I'm not sure how one does an url link in this forum, so here's the direct url for amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Author=Jack%2C%20Donald/104-3775032- 2599651

What do you think of Charles DeLint so far? Have you started Moonheart yet? He's my obligatory author choice, but you already knew that. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

I'm re-reading Shadow Song by Terry Kay. It's the story of an artist in his 50s who returns to the resort in the Catskills where he worked the summer he was 17. He flashes back to that summer, when he was a boy from small town Georgia and discovered a new world -- there he befriended an elderly gentleman named Avrum who spent his entire life pining for an opera singer he had never even met. Avrum taught this boy about that one defining moment in your life after which you are never, ever the same. For the boy, that moment was when he went to the Catskills and met Amy Lourie. It's romantic and nostalgic as hell. I highly recommend it if you are in a sentimental mood, because it makes you look back at your life and think about all the moments that you wish you could change -- and about all of the moments that have changed you. Damn, I wish I were not at work so I could be reading it right now!

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

If you like fantasy, I always loved Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. It's beautiful. Haven't read anything good recently, though, been too busy. I'll think about it and get back here.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Anything, anything, anything by Dorothy Parker. Her poetry is brilliant and her short stories are just heartbreakingly beautiful.

Of course, you may want to keep this one in reserve for when you're feeling cynical. I suspect that Mrs. Parker doesn't work as well when you are in full-blown romance mode.

Of course, then my hope for you, Mel, is to never understand the brilliance of Dorothy, even though I love her, because I'd rather see you this happy and dreamy all the time!

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Been meaning to post this for a while. In case you haven't read it, Melissa, I think you & others who like the types of books discussed here & in your journal would LOVE Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. It's `technically` a kid's book, or `young adult`, like Madeliene L'Engle's stuff is. A wonderful fantasy book that I read for the first time at age 34 & loved -- it blew me away! I'd be very interested in others' thoughts if you've read it.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000

I love Tuck Everlasting, Sharon. I actually read it years and years ago...probably when I was 12 or so. It was also filmed--and quite well, from what I remember--for WonderWorks or some series like that. I think TE is understated and lovely and not as well known as it should be.

Hey, everyone--I've been thinking about starting to actually write comments in the book journal. Is that something people would like to read--my actual thoughts on the book?

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2000

When i first clicked on Book Journal, that's actually what i expected it to be - thoughts on the books you read. I think it would be wonderful, since i don't have a lot of time to read, i'd like to know which books are truly worthwhile.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2000

Well, in a search for a domain name I picked up "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King. I should have known better. I read it a while ago and forgot most of it. I knocked off 120 pages last night.

Also "The Eyes of the Dragon" also a King book. You should check it out Mags it's nothing like what he writes, I think you'd like it.

And continuing in the Dragon genre, I'm reading "The Bear and the Dragon" by Tom Clancy. Boring, but I just started and he's slow to start most of the time.

Phil

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

I have actually read "The Eyes of the Dragon", and "The Gunslinger" is on my "waiting to be read" pile. Tom Clancy? Ugh. :-)

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Speaking of good books, is anyone as upset as I am that they are redoing the Narnia Chronicles? I was highly displeased when I saw they were rewriting them to give them an "updated" feel. They are also having other authors create new books for the series.

I realize they have an underlying "Christian theme", but aren't some books just sacred and shouldn't be touched?

Good grief. Andrea

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Anyone ever read Joan D Vinge- the Snow Queen and Summer Queen books? I loved these books. And haven't ever found anyone else who has read them.

For a nice slow book, not a lot of mind work, just a really pleasant read- I really liked The Ladies of Covington send their love by Joan Meldicott. And Miss Julia Speaks her mind by Ann Ross was good for that to. As was Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

They're REWRITING the Narnia Chronicles? Is this some kind of sick joke? Man. I don't believe it. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I doubt it. Are there really documented plans to do this? Further adventures I can imagine, though of course it would be sacrilegious and vile on general principles.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Apparently the rumors of rewrites for the Narnia Chronicles are greatly exaggerated. HarperCollins has no plans to do that. HOWEVER, they are planning to publish new stories set in Narnia, and these new stories won't have any religious stuff in them.

Whatever. I'm still completely pissed off that they changed the order of the books.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

I feel reluctant to recommend much because I'm the one who went around telling everyone to read "Animal Husbandry" and then found out it's very much a book that people either adore or can't stand. (I've also noticed that the people who don't like it are all in marvelously happy relationships, but perhaps that's a coincidence.)

Melissa, you might like "Dating Big Bird" better as the main character is not bitter at all and it's a much milder type of humor. Everyone seems to have liked that one, esp. women over 30.

The last six new-to-me books I've read:

"Home Buying for Dummies" "The Virgin Homeowner" (anyone see a pattern here?) "Macho Sluts" by Pat Califia (which has nothing to do with home buying/owning) "Speaking with the Angel" -- a collection of short stories edited by Nick Hornby "White Boots" by Noel Streatfeild (UK version of "Skating Shoes") "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor" by Bruce Campbell

I recommend all those books, each in its own special way, but not unreservedly to everyone.

Next on the list is probably "Aqua Erotica" and maybe the fourth Harry Potter book if I feel wealthy enough to buy the paperback from Amazon UK. I've just put a moratorium on new bookbuying so I'm not sure what I'll end up reading.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

I'm nearly finished with Robin McKinley's Spindle's End, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It's very good.

Most recently finished, new-to-me books: The Magician's Assistant, Ann Patchett; A House Like a Lotus, Madeleine L'Engle; Holes, Louis Sachar; I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith; and Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean.

I'm impatiently awaiting the arrival of two Janet Lambert books that someone pointed me to. In the meantime, I'm re-reading some old-time favorites. The Headless Cupid is on my nightstand; I'll be reading that tonight.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Oh, Jette, did you love White Boots? I love that one. I am going to try Dating Big Bird, because I did hear it was less bitter.

So sorry, Laura, for the Janet Lambert thing. :-) Do you like Spindle's End? It's not my favorite of hers, but I did enjoy it very much. Did you love I Capture the Castle? Has anyone else read it?

The book I forgot to say I had read is The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton. It was a 1996 Oprah book, though I didn't know that at the time. It was so. depressing. None of the characters were nice to each other. It's one of those books where the life of the main character is terrible and you're supposed to see them as rising over their circumstances, but I just saw her life as terrible.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

I did love White Boots. I would say something about it being one of my favorite Streatfeild books but I've loved all the ones I read so far -- probably Party Frock least of all, I'm not sure why.

And another reason why I haven't ordered that fourth Harry Potter book from Amazon UK is that I know I'll use that as an excuse to get another one of the Streatfeild books because, y'know, the shipping is less per book if you order more than one book in an order and blah blah. I basically got White Boots because I was ordering Terry Pratchett's The Thief of Time.

I'm moving soon and I'll be closer to an actual library and perhaps I'll USE IT instead of buying too many books. I don't know why I never seem to use the library, except that I abuse my books terribly and I can't do that to library books, so it's harder for me to read them.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

I like Spindle's End, but it's not my favorite of hers. I think that is probably Beauty. Robin came and spoke at my school, which also happened to be her school, when Beauty first came out, and I have a signed first edition of it somewhere. (Paperback, but still.)

I loved I Capture the Castle. It's going in the "books I'll read again" bookshelf as soon as I get around to organizing again.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Jette - which one is Party Frock?

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Party Frock is sometimes called Party Shoes, but it's not actually considered part of the "Shoes" series. Right after the war ends, a girl who is staying with her relatives receives a beautiful party dress from her godmother in the States, and realizes that she has nowhere to wear it. She and her cousins decide to have a big outdoor dance/drama performance so that at some point, she can wear the dress, and by the time they're done it's become this huge charity extravaganza. It's not a bad book but I prefer the "Shoes" books I've read.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

*I*'ve read the Snow Queen and Summer Queen books, RHWP. And loved them. It's been about 7 years, so I don't remember anything much more than that I loved them, but I did. Melissa, you should (if you haven't) read _War for the Oaks_ by Emma Bull - very much the same sorts of interests as Charles de Lint (whom I love), but .... crankier. In a delicious way. And the book also contains one of the best definitions of an impossible-to-define thing I've read. Oh, though it's been oop for years, they just reissued it, so it should be easy to get.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001