Faye’s Comments (group member since Nov 05, 2013)

Faye’s comments from the The Reading Challenge Group group.

Who knows, Holly, maybe you'll inspire some of them to read some of these books on their own time rather than reading only the parts they need to read for the class!

Holly wrote: "Today, I shocked my poetry tutor and seminar group when I said that I'd read the whole of Paradise Lost. Apparently that isn't something first year undergraduates have done?"

This is a sad, sad world.

Only one book that I've read was nominated, and I didn't like that book, so... no. I had better luck with last year's - 2 books that I'd read and enjoyed were nominated, though I don't think either of them won. Maybe next year!

Nice work!

That's awesome, Roseanne! He's just such an excellent writer that everything he writes is captivating. :)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I had a great day and got spoiled rotten with tons of gifts, including two books - a beautiful one-volume hardcover edition of C.S. Lewis' space trilogy, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which is one of my favourite books but wasn't on my bookshelves yet. Yay!

Thanks, everyone! And sorry, Sandy. ;)

Thanks, Melissa!

Thank you! :D

It's mah berfday, and there is snoooooooooooow!!! *dances* So for those of you living in the part of North America that is unseasonably white - yes. That was me. I requested that. :D

Welcome, Ivi!

I've been in one for more than 2 months. :(

I think I'm slowly crawling out of it, though. I read that short C.S. Lewis autobiography, and that got me in the mood to read his other stuff, so I read one of his novels and now I'm reading a collection of snippets from his various works and letters and whatnot. I'm finally interested in something again!

I still don't feel like reading as often throughout the day as I used to, though. Maybe it's not what you're reading that is boring you but the act of reading itself? I've felt very restless lately in general, so to force myself to stop whatever I'm doing, both physically and mentally, in order to read is difficult.

Nice going, all you early birds! :D

I'm glad you're enjoying it, Roseanne. :)

Finished Out of the Silent Planet last night - I found it hard to put down, which is unusual for me lately! What an absolutely beautiful book. I have to admit, if I ever found myself on Malacandra, I don't think I'd be anxious to return to Earth.

Now to track down the other 2 books in this series!

When there's a lot of media and online hype surrounding a newly published book, does that make you want to read it all the more or avoid it like the plague?

Personally, I've always been an avoider. I sit back and watch for a while to see whether the excitement can stand the test of time before I jump on the bandwagon. By then, if the book was truly as good as they said, I tend to regret waiting so long, and yet if I believe the hype right away I'm usually disappointed.

Somebody said Dickens? :D

I gave you this advice over in the introduction thread, Katie, but I'll give it again here - forget everything you think you know about him! Dickens wrote for regular folk who just wanted to read a good yarn, so while there's lots of complexity and social commentary and whatnot in each of his books, above all Dickens novels are meant to be FUN. And ohhhh, nobody could mold the English language to fit their purposes the way Dickens could... *dreamy sigh*

*ahem* Sorry. Dostoevsky's good, too. :P

Welcome, Katie!

Before you dive into Dickens, forget everything you think you know about him. He creates a complex world laced with social commentary, yes, but he's also loads of FUN. I hope you enjoy him!

Holly wrote: "Search is temporarily unavailable.
Use this time to read a book! "

LOL I haven't seen that one before!

I finished Surprised By Joy last night! 4 stars from me. My review is here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now on to Out of the Silent Planet!