Anne's comments (member since Nov 29, 2008)

Anne's comments from the You'll love this one...!! A book club & more group.

Emma- Jeremy Irons would probably make a neat Snape; plus, he and Hermione share a birthday, Sept. 19, which is also U.S. National Talk Like a Pirate Day not that Hogwarts would care I suppose.

I think the main reason why I love Col. Brandon is because of Alan Rickman...he's just such a gentleman. And a soldier. In the Napoleonic wars. All good things.

But no, he doesn't look 63! Maybe it's Maybelline.

I understand Byronic Hero (Rochester!) but I'm not a big fan of Heathcliff, personally...I keep trying to imagine him as a cross between Hugh Jackman and Johnny Depp, but he still does nothing for me; then I'll watch bits of the 1998 movie, and got distracted by Hareton/Matthew Macfadyen. Oops.

Emma, I am a big fan of Alan Rickman, so if it's a Rickman-style Snape I totally agree. :D

Have you ever found yourself sighing over a fictional character? Who? Why? Where can I find of copy of that book?

For me it's mainly Ron Weasley (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, etc.) and Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby). Ron is absolutely adorkable, and such an idiot, it's amazing. Jay is a little bit creepy, but he's a sweetheart, staying true to that witch for so long...Richard Sharpe (Sharpe's Eagle) is also pretty dreamy, the officer from the ranks that he is.

And, if you think that my taste in men is strange, you are probably right.

Molly wrote: "...Being the women's advocate that she was, Alcott was irritated that everyone wanted these girls married off perfectly. So she quite spitefully wrote Part 2 to do the exact opposite of what everyone wanted..."

I found that funny, that Alcott did exactly the opposite of what her fans wanted. If I ever became an author I think I'd rather placate my minions readers and have them like me, than to do as I wish and risk to wrath of rabid fangirls. Even though I felt that Alcott's take on some of her characters was a little superficial, I respect her for having the strength to fight against the easy, expected thing...I also love dramatic twists, so this was nice!

(& to Emma, m. 30; I did end up enjoying Jane Eyre, thankfully enough!)

Well, I have to start Jane Eyre for school, so hopefully it'll be more enjoyable than this Wuthering Heights seems to be.

I read Little Women not too long ago, and I understand where CFSR and Emma are coming from. It seemed pretty flat, and Jo annoyed the bejeezes out of me. However, before I read LW I had dragged myself through a lot of heavy reading (at least for me), namely The Hunt for Red October and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. LW was a fantastic break, because it was so light and frilly and shallow. I fully believe that in small, wisely portioned amounts, brain fluff is okay. I for one try to avoid Meg Cabot and Stephenie Meyer, but Alcott's alright.

Tonight I put up this review for it which separates a more spoilery passage from my general opinion.

...Emma, the thought of the whole Twilight saga blowing over comforts me. For a while I was worried that a generation or so from now there would still be people going on about bedazzled vampires.

Shannon wrote: "I think it is perfectly fine to have a big spread in ratings and when I see a dichotomy like that then it peaks my interest."

Thinking about it, perhaps a great reason why I enjoyed these books is because they can be read on so many levels. (And, of course, I'd rather read a book with extreme differences in ratings than one that many find simply average or unremarkable.)

Kathy, I've seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo around quite a lot, I may have to check it out.

Recently I gave The Kite Runner five stars, though from its reviews I notice that there are also a lot of one star ratings. I'm not really sure what to make of that, though it's a bit of the same case for The Book Thief. Have any of your five-star books been controversial or extreme in ratings?

Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series is excellent. The books are more episodic, so you can read Sharpe's Eagle (the first one published) and then read Sharpe's Triumph (published much later, and chronologically before Eagle) and there's not really a problem. I haven't read anything else by Cornwell yet but both of the aforementioned Sharpe books were excellent so I'd recommend them. Cornwell also writes in the King Arthur time period.

If I'd read more historical fiction in the past years I'd help you out more, but I figured I'd mention Cornwell, in case some of his books interest you. :)

Tennis elbow is more like inflammation of the tendon (i.e. tenonitis) or inflammation of the tissue surrounding the elbow. If your elbow is sore it's probably just from the weight and pressure you put on it if you read constantly.

On the other hand, I am definitely not a Biology major, so what do I know? ;)

Wow, these are all great recommendations! I'd better get reading. :)

Thanks, and let me know if there's more. :)

One of my pastor's children's lessons was illustrated by the use of a nicely kept Bible and a well-worn Bible, the message being that God's word is meant to be loved a bit. I think my favorite books are getting a bit tattered, too, Emily, especially my copy of Dune (but it was my Dad's first so the age itself it a large factor).

I'm really loving the Indiana Jones reference, Heather. ;)

I have a ton of bookmarks (mostly Lord of the Rings double-sided ones I got for free at the school library while the movies were coming out) but I always end up using bookmarks that the bookstore gives out, like the kind Beth mentioned, or I use a post it or tissue or scrap of paper. Most of the time I use index cards, and sometimes put my starting date and ending date on the card for reference (a semi-strange quirk of mine, I'll admit).

If I remember to put a nice bookmark it, it's a Narnia one, of the Prince Caspian movie. My other nice bookmark is a Legolas Lord of the Rings one, in which the ring on the thread keeps falling off because I took it off to wear it at some point (*nerdy*) so I usually leave it stuck between the Two Towers and Return of the Jedi King.

Brenda, I'll definitely put that on my to-read list; I've never heard of it before! It looks like it's gotten a lot of good reviews, so thank you! :)

Jaime, I've added you (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorite books, as well!) and will be combing through your books. I haven't read anything by Erdrich, and will look into all of those books. They all look great!

Have you read any good books about, by, or on (i.e. non-fiction) Native Americans? I've gotten more and more interested in that particular area over the years, but don't know where to start literature-wise. I'm not really looking for anything specific, though, as far as region or tribe (though I may lean towards North-West America, like the Nez Pierce or Cheyenne, or Central, e.g. the Sioux).

I own Sacajawea and plan to read it, but as it's over 1000 pages long it's not going to happen for a while yet! I recently finished One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (not too centralized on Native Americans, though) and am fond of the Dear America series, so if I get over my self-consciousness at going into the children's section at the library I may re-read some of those books relating to Native Americans. :)

For book series, how do you generally read them? Chronologically, by published date?

For example, The Chronicles of Narnia was published with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first, followed by Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I think (which is the order the movies are being made) but the first book chronologically is The Magician's Nephew. I'm planning on reading them by publishing order, but I haven't gotten too far into it yet.

As for the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell I may read them by publishing order as well though I'm already out of order, not that it matters for that particular series.

Series like Harry Potter, where they're published chronologically, I've read in order but I'll admit that I read The Lord of the Rings pretty much backwards (heh).

In episodic series, where books don't usually rely too much on the one before it and are semi-independant, do you have any particular order you like to read them in? Be that publishing or chronological order? Or do you just pick up whichever one seems most appealing at the time?

I'm pretty stingy as well. Most of my books get a three or a four--I've only given one book a one...I, too, gave The Book Thief five stars, but recently--

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Sharpe's Triumph
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Uncle Tom's Cabin

...I love to put the book face down. An elementary school teacher yelled at us for it, but its handy. I don't do it for long, though; only if I have dropped something, or need to do something quickly, and don't want to deal with digging out the bookmark only to pick it up again in ten seconds or less.

I hate it when the spine in paperbacks crease. It looks so ugly! But I know that this happens if I want to be able to read the book (and not just open it a tiny crack to read, as my friend does) so I try to crack it myself when I first buy a paperback. That's what I did to my new copy of Huck Finn...I breaks my heart a little bit, but I feel better know that I don't have to fret over it so much then.

This is one of the main reasons why I don't go to the theater, and if anything, I avoid opening weekend--so I completely understand. Probably the only thing you can do is have patience; take a deep breath and try not to pay attention to them. If it's really bad, talking to an usher might help, though I'm not sure how much they can do. I would avoid talking directly to the person in question...That would cause more trouble than they're really worth.

Sorry I can't really help more. :/

Thanks, Hannah. :) I know I'm going to have a problem with avoiding the bookstores...So I've told my friends not to let me buy anything!

If I'm reading a series and have to buy it when it's first published, it's in hardback. Then I need to buy the rest of the series in hardback or it'll annoy me for the rest of my life (unfortunate, I know).

I try to buy hardbacks if it's a book I plan on keeping. They seem to last longer and are more durable, and look quite nice on my bookselves.

If I'm not sure, I buy paperback (though I generally try not to buy a book I haven't read yet). I've been buying Bantam Classics, which is a VERY compact edition, with small margins and small print, and the chapters continue in a roll, instead of each one starting on the same page. This is helpful for massively huge books, because it just compacts everything, and if I have to carry it around it's not such a pain. The first Bantam I read was Great Expectations, which I read for school and had to check out from the library, and at first I hated the small print. Since then I've bought Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Uncle Tom's Cabin and Huck Finn in the same style. I think I like it better, compared to the hardback Barnes & Noble classics edition of Pride and Prejudice, which has a lot of wasted space by large margins and wide spacing between lines, and is a pain to carry.

My only disappointment is when a series doesn't have hardbacks, such as Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. Or at least I can't find the hardbacks for them, except the book I have from one of the first printing that my mother lent to me (and that I haven't given back). The unfortunate thing about having books in hardbacks, paperbacks and mass market is that new books are generally in hardback and you have to wait a few months for the paperback, or as I mentioned, you can't find the hardback.

Sorry for the ramble.