Stephen's comments (member since Dec 28, 2008)

Stephen's comments from the Fantasy Book Club group.

I find this an interesting problem. Like Jim mentioned, chat rooms can be much more offensive than reading a book. I teach middle school kids and I can say that Twilight has just about every girl reading. There are other series very popular at the moment which may have what some would call questionable content, I am not sure as I have not read many of the series. I did read Twilight, but lost interest and did not pursue the series. I think that as a parent, I would not put restrictions on my childs reading, but i will monitor what they read and have conversations with them about the content.

Josh wrote: "I might be the odd one out here, but I read Wizards First Rule a while ago and didn't like it at all. The dialogue was bad, the story was pretty cliche with a lot of borrowed ideas (like in the ca..."

that just don't happen in real life? It's fantasy :D

Woops, and #2 as well, sooo, I guess I'll try again. This one is a favorite, although it has not yet been completed.

1.Lord of the Rings
2.The Dark Tower
3.Harry Potter
4.The Malazan Book of the Fallen
5.The Wheel of Time
6.Narnia
7.The Magic of Recluce
8.The Mage Wars
9.The Bartimaeus Trilogy
10. The Prince of Nothing
11. Darkover (by Marion Zimmer Bradley, not the ones written by others).
12. Fionavar Tapestry
13. The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman
14, Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey
15. A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R Martin
16. Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny
17. The Belgariad, David Eddings
18. The Book of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hodgell (starts with God Stalk)
19. The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
20. The Sevenwaters Triology by Juliet Marillier
21. Abarat series by Clive Barker

Robin wrote: "I really enjoyed Book Thief - I've only barely cracked Cloak of Magic."

Oh, I loved The Book Thief, was a break from fantasy but a great book. I thought Death as the narrator was awesome. Speaking of Death makes me think of Mort, totally in the other direction of Book Thief, just popped into my head.

I'm still working my way through the Dark Tower series. Currently reading Song of Susannah. For the rest of March it looks like the following:

The Dark Tower and
Wizard's First Rule
That should get me through March. I guess I will have to put Mistborn The Final Empire on my TBR pile as I have heard so much about it.

I enjoyed this book but have yet to read any of the others. Not sure why, but just keep shuffling them to the bottom of the pile. I will have to pick this series up again, soon.

1. The Princess Bride
2. American Gods
3. Fevre Dream
4. The Eyes of the Dragon
5. Gloriana
6. Threshold
7. Lord of Light
8. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
9. Tigana
10. Song for Arbonne
11. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
12. The Book of Joby
13. Stardust

The Name of the Wind
2. The Eye of the World
3. Gardens of the Moon
4. The Stand
5. Lord of Light
6. Magician
7. Mistborn
8. The Winter King
9. Reaper Man
10. The Lord of the Rings

1.Lord of the Rings
2.The Dark Tower
3.Harry Potter
4.The Malazan Book of the Fallen
5.The Wheel of Time
6.Narnia
7.The Magic of Recluce
8.The Mage Wars
9.The Bartimaeus Trilogy
10. The Prince of Nothing
11. Darkover (by Marion Zimmer Bradley, not the ones written by others).
12. Fionavar Tapestry
13. The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman
14, Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey
15. A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R Martin
16. Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny
17. The Belgariad, David Eddings
18. The Book of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hodgell (starts with God Stalk)
19. The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
20.The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

Tracy wrote: "Maurice - I do a lot of RPG games. Right now I'm replaying Oblivion and have Fallout 3 for my PC. I'm still playing Okami on the Wii and I have Final Fantasy and the Lego games (haven't played Ba..."

I usually take way to long to read books because I play videogames as well. As of lately it has been World of Warcraft which is very fantasy related with it's own story line and lore. The world is massive and the game play is quite addicting.

I finished Wizard and Glass a few days ago. I must say that this booked dragged for me in the middle, but the ending was worth the wait. I am now ripping through Wolves of the Calla, so far a much more intrigueing story. I hope to finish the series by the end of Febuary and then on to other things. I have had to ground myself from book stores, mt TBR pile is a monster.

I am sooo looking forward to Abarat Absolute Midnight. I finished the first two books in no time at all and have been waiting now for two years, uhggg. Last time this happened was with the Dark Tower series. I read the first three books and loved them, but the third ended in such a cliff-hanger and the fourth book was years to come that I lost interest. I just recently decided to go back to that series and I am struggling through the fourth book, took about 500 pages to get good. Anyways, yes, Abarat 3, that is what I can't wait to get my hands on.

Gaiman is one of my favorites too. Ihave read Coraline, Stardust, and Anansi Boys all fo which I really enjoyed. I currently have Good Omens and can't wait to start that one. As for Prachett, love his stuff too. I think that of the Gaiman books I have liked Stardust the most, exceptional story line and a fantastic set of characters. I look forward to more of his stuff. Oh, and I too read Sandman when I was younger and still have several of those stashed away somewhere.

Hi all! My name is Stephen and I am a science teacher living in Oklahoma. Married, kids, a dog, all that good stuff. I have been reading fantasy since I first discovered The Hobbit: Or There and Back Againwhen I was 11 or 12. Fantasy seems to be the only thing I can read, I try to branch out every now and then find that I get bored and pick up a fantasy book. Being a middle school teacher, I like to read a lot of YA fantasy to keep up with my students. Some of my favorites include
The Amulet of Samarkandand the rest of that trilogy,
Abarat, Book 1: Abarat,
Abarat, Book 2: Days of Magic, Nights of War
The Wee Free Men: A Discworld Novel
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
Stardust
Eragonand the rest

just to name a few. I love these reading groups because they give me so many ideas about what to read next, however, my TBR pile is a mile high.

Talk to you later.

Becky wrote: "I have the First Law trilogy my TBR list... I liked the covers so much that I added them before I even knew what they were about. They look great though!"

They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, but I have found many books that way. My favorite are the Abarat books. Abarat, Book 1: Abarat
and Abarat, Book 2: Days of Magic, Nights of Warare both amazing books that I had never heard of, but the covers just jumped out at me, can't wait for the third to come out.

Becky wrote: "I've read all of those books Stephen, and they are all very good!
Have you read the 1st three books of the Dark Tower series?"

Yes, years ago I read the first three and then waited and waited and waited for the forth book to come out, when it did I read the first chapter to fulfill the major cliff hanger King gave us and then never picked it back up, now that the series is done I have decided to finish it off.

I loved the Amulet of Samarkand and the other books in the Bartimeaus Trilogy, very fun reads. On my TBR pile for January, and I hope to get at least 3 or 4 of them in

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
The Hunger Games
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower

Wow, it always amazes me at how many books people can read in such a short time. I have always taken my time with books and really get into the characters and even create voices and images in my head. I'm sure others do too, but it takes me a while to get through a book, of course work, kids, school, it adds up. here is my list for December,

Finished
The Book Thief(historical fiction)
Currently Reading
Brisingr(we all know)
Up Next
Wizard and Glass

Always love these posts as they give such great ideas and books I've never heard of.

Happy New Years all!