Jamie 's comments
(member since Oct 02, 2008)
Jamie 's comments from the Pick-a-Shelf group.
(showing 1-20 of 59)
I don't know if I would call HP a classic just yet, but I definitely think it will be considered one in the future.
Lynne - In the U.S. version, the vocabulary has been Americanized a bit. It's not much of a change, but I really did enjoy reading the book as it was meant to be. (A few examples: Parking lot = car park, sweater = jumper, studying = revision, etc.)
I finished a re-read of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone last night - 5 stars.
This was my first re-read of any of the HP books and I enjoyed it nearly as much as the first time. It was fun to revisit the beginning of the saga, and I am glad I got the chance to read it as it was meant to be - the U.K. version. This version felt a lot more authentic to me.
I finished Anne of the Island last night - 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, as I have the previous two Anne books. This one reminded me a bit of Jane Austen's work, mostly due to the focus on romance. I would've given it 5 stars, but it dragged a little in spots so it took me a bit longer to read it than I'd anticipated. It wasn't really a book that made NEED to keep going - well, until the last 1/3 of the book, that is.
I was surprised to find A Northern Light on the Classics shelf, which I just finished yesterday. This was definitely a 5-star book. The writing is lovely, the story is so interesting and hard to put down, and the characters endearing. There was so much more to this book than I expected - there's a lot to wrap your head around. Even though I hadn't expected to find this book on the Classics shelf, I think it deserves its spot there.
I've just finished Anne of Avonlea. 4 1/2 starsI must say, I'm really loving this series! I wish I'd read these books as a child, as I'm sure I would've loved them then, too. Anne is such a lovable character and I really enjoy reading about all of her adventures. Montgomery's writing is so lovely that I have a hard time putting these books down. In the beginning, I was wondering how much Anne would change as she grew older, since she was so much fun as a child in Anne of Green Gables, but I'm finding that her story is still very interesting - I can't wait to start the next book in the series!
That makes sense, Luann. Thanks!
I actually thought we were drawing from all of the previous month's reviews. Am I incorrect? I figured you would be drawing from April's books to find the person who would choose June's shelf. That way everyone has the entire month to finish up. Is this how we did it last month?
Lyn wrote: "Jen - I agree that New Moon was sort of slow in places and Bella was not at her best. In my opinion it is the weakest of the four books. My faves were the first and third, then the 4th, then the 2nd."That's funny, I rank them in the same order, as well. I would've thought we would all have different opinions about this.
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan - 4 1/2 starsI really enjoyed this series, and this book was a great final installment. I agree entirely with Kristen's review, and I believe that these books are a wonderful introduction to mythology for kids. I'm kind of sad the series is over, but perhaps this won't be the last of Camp Half-Blood.
Like Sam, I read Notes from a Small Island for this month. I started out listening to the audio version, but I never seemed to make the time to listen to it. I switched to the print version the other day to make sure I'd finish it before May. I did enjoy it - Bryson is always humorous - and it made me want to travel to Britain even more than I had before. The only problem I had with this book was that it took me too long to finish. I think this has more to do with my desire to read page-turners right now than there being a problem with the book itself.
Jennifer - I'm glad to hear that you're planning on reading HP. The earlier movies are much more true to the books, but you still miss out on a lot.
Jennifer - I'm sure most would agree that the HP movies aren't a good substitute for the books. It's difficult to do justice to 700+ page books in just 2 hours, you know? Even for the shorter books, the movies aren't nearly as good as the books.
Terri - Just go to the book's page and look at the shelves that it is listed on. You can find this on the right side of the screen under "Popular Shelves." You will most likely need to click on "more shelves."
Lynne - I've enjoyed the Thursday Next series so far. I read the first two quite a while ago, but didn't really feel like I needed to start the next one right away. I love the idea of jumping into books and interacting with characters, but much of the material seems quite contrived to me (mainly in the little details). Of course, that comes with the territory with fantasy books, but I just wish the books were a bit more realistic in certain aspects.
I will be reading The Well of Lost Plots for May. It was a bit difficult to find something from this shelf, but a great idea!
Another thing, though! Some people have read more than one book from the shelf, so their names will have to be added for each book they've read.
I agree, Mitzie, all who wrote a review here in March would be the ones placed in the drawing, I believe.
For March, I read The Bell Jar. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. It was a quick read and it kept me interested throughout. Overall, I found it to be an intriguing glimpse into the life of one suffering from depression. I give it 4 stars.
I'm planning on reading Assassination Vacation.Bill Bryson is a great choice for this category, too. I enjoyed A Walk in the Woods, so I may pick up another one of his books if I've got time.
Another good pick is The Geography of Bliss One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World, but I just read it a couple of months ago, so I won't be reading it next month.
Also, I find it interesting that Eclipse has been categorized as a travel book. Strange.
