Fiona's comments (member since Apr 28, 2009)

Fiona's comments from the Wild Things: YA Grown-Up group.

How about Christmas Classics? Maybe not just Christmas related classics though - just classics because for some reason classics feel wintery to me.

But A Christmas Carol is I think perfectly suitable.

That's a book though, not a theme. :)

I've left it a bit late I know...

Seeing as December is Christmas month though - would anyone like to suggest a few special Christmas/Winter themes to put through that randomizer?

I think we already decided a while ago that I'd rather do this more democratically then just me or a few dictating to a whole what themes to have.

So Decembery themes...

Nativity
Hanukkah
Christmas
Winter theme

Would people like to choose the themes for the months of December - Feburary now? I will put this list through the randomiser 3 times and come out with 3 sets of 4 themes. Meanwhile, is there anything you'd like added to this list? I've sheared off some.


classic
mystery
author beginning with D
author born in December
Regency Period Theme
Short story collection
Book in poetic form
Multicultural Fiction
New Releases
Strong Female Lead
Banned Books
Lesbian/Gay Fiction
Winter

Also, Margaret herself wasn't very old... I can't remember now, early twenties or late teens? But just because there isn't a child or teenager in a book doesn't make it less appealing to a young audience.

N&S is a very good bridging-book from YA books into other classics.

What I loved about N&S was that people didn't start of at all as perfect characters or even good people - they grew and learnt much more from their mistakes and assumptions.

Margaret was arrogant and snobbish, and as the heroine this might seem a little odd to make her not very likeable but that's the kind of character I like and what I think makes a good character. She isn't unlikable, she's just rough around the edges.

I'd say 16-18. There's an Elizabeth Gaskell group on GR which consists of people under 16 so it must appeal to even younger.

Advanced I mean confident readers who want something a bit more challenging. There's nothing stopping a 16 year old reading things beyond their ability. I read Tom Jones by Henry Fielding at the age of 14 and that's a whopper of a classic... I'd say it was a little beyond me but I understood the story well enough. Definitely want to read that again and probably understand the more subtle things that went over my head.

North and South is a brilliant way to learn more about industrialisation and the socio-economic/political conditions at England at the time and it covered nothing that we hadn't already covered in history lessons in school. So from that perspective it might be better for young people to read N&S and get a feel of what it was actually like, rather then bore their brains out reading those rather uninformative school text books.

Besides that, the internet is a wealth of information and anything that makes people think "hmm what's that" and look it up is only a good thing.

It might not be a book for everyone that age and would probably be better taught in schools during the... I think your Highschool years but would be our college/6th form years because there'd be a lot to talk about.

Well I completely disagree with that! I think N&S would be perfectly suitable for an older, more advanced teenager, not for kids.

The North and South mini-series IS amazing although much is changed from the book - although both are extremely good and the changes haven't ruined the book or the characters.

I would recommend North and South that's one of my favourite books and Mr Thornton is way sexier then Mr Darcy.

Welcome Kellee, you aren't alone here. I think we have a few teachers amongst us and many librarians.

We're happy to have you here!

by the way, 1300 in your classroom library? WOW! I think that's more books then my secondary school had all together.

I have vanquished that stupid fairy... BEGONE EVIL ONE!

*leaves*

What ARE you going on about Becky dear? *whistles*

(((thank you))

What... noooooo I didn't!!!!!! *looks around*

Discuss this book here! Remember to be careful about making spoilers. Enjoy!

Discuss this book here. Remember to be careful about making spoilers.

Well Graceling by Kristin Cashore has finally won after being nominated I'm sure for many many months... as our book for category one.

and

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness for category two.

yeah yeah!

I should have put it in the questions topic, but I did mention it in the first post in this topic. There's bound to be over-enthusiasm though so no worries.

And that was the last one.

Thank you so much Maggie for taking part in this, I hope you have had a good time and I hope everyone had a chance of having their questions answered.

Big thank you to Maggie everyone! :D

Kathy wrote: "OK, I give. Fiona has been preaching Diana Wynne Jones forever, so since one of my favorite goodreads friends and one of my favorite authors conspire, I must make a goal to read more..."

Definitely. All over the ceiling.