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[Reggia]

Callista wrote:

Funny, but if I'm reading a series in which the male writer does an excellent job of portraying a female character, I get impressed over and over again.

I'll try to clarify that a little better: after being pleasantly surprised that the writing and portrayal is that good, I become so involved in the story that I then forget about the author and his gender.

[[deleted user]]

Yes, Charly, but you can't write about that!

[Werner]

Well, actually, Syra, some romance-genre writers DO write about that. :-) Mind you, I don't read (usually) those books --but I've read reviews!

[Werner]

Charly, you'll have to read some romance novels to find out. :-)

[[deleted user]]

Ok, I give. I've read that stuff too but Charly didn't seem the type to get graphic. :~}

[Nicole]

Werner--I thought someone might refer to Edward's age! ;) It wouldn't have bothered me if he'd known what types of flowers used to represent (like Leopold, of 1876, knows in Kate & Leopold). Nevertheless, *I* didn't even know what Freesia was until recently! Then again, I've always had allergies and am not particularly fond of any floral scent but roses. But, back to Twilight, it makes no sense to me that a vampire would find a floral smell delicious.

[Nicole]

Charly--I'm told it's not so much what you guys are thinking but the manner in which you think it that we women can't begin to imagine.
...But given some of the romance novels women write, maybe women are beginning to close the gap.

[Werner]

Seriously, Charly, I agree with you! And we knew what you meant in message 340 about portraying the opposite sex's behavior as a writer wishes it would be --Syra was just pulling your leg, and I couldn't resist taking the ball and running with it. :-)

[[deleted user]]

Wow now I understand why you never talk religion, politics....and sex. hohohohoho (tis the season)

[Nicole]

I really started something, didn't I?
Points taken, Charly! ;-)

[[deleted user]]

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Hope you are enjoying Dickens, Charly. We do Christmas puzzles every year (by now we have about 22 - pretty soon we'll have to start on 4th of July to get them all done by 25th!) Also watch all the holiday movies on dvd (White Christmas, Muppet Christmas, Holiday Inn, etc.)

[Nicole]

Christmas puzzles--that's a tradition I've never heard of before.
I have been listening to some Christmas music. (Mostly Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong CD, with some of Annie Lennox's Christmas Cornucopia mixed in. I'll probably move on to the Ottmar Liebert soon.) But not reading anything Christmas-themed. If anything, it's more Hallowe'en themed; but that's where my reading brain is right now.

[[deleted user]]

And I forgot the Christmas music: Mannheim Steamroller, Ray Coniff (from my childhood - my mother's favorite), Kenny Rogers, Kenny somebody with the flute (great memory), Barbra Streisand. Perry Como (love his Ave Maria of all others).

[Werner]

Charly, that's a beautiful wish! As my oldest daughter would say, "Right back at ya!"

[[deleted user]]

Thanks Charly. I wish the same for all of you.

[Nicole]

I'm not sure if/how much I'll be online over the holiday weekend, so I'll say it now, too--
Merry Christmas to all of you! I've enjoyed your 'company' in this group. :-)

[Reggia]

Thank you, Charly, it is indeed a beautiful wish! May you, all of you, experience the same. Much peace and joy...

[Werner]

Last night, I started reading The Bandit of Hell's Bend (1924), a Western written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which comes recommended by my wife. (She's an avid Western fan, and I originally bought the book for her back in 2009.) I may (or may not) have some other reading commitments coming up soon, so I wanted a book that would be a relatively quick read; I'm thinking that this one will fit that description.

[[deleted user]]

One of my younger sisters had all of his Tarzan books when she was young and read them over and over.

I'm on the last book of the Tattoo Girl books trilogy. Very different but enjoyable. My physical therapist was reading them last summer while I was seeing him. Also got the updated movie of "Dorian Gray" to compare it to the book.

[Nicole]

It just had a "duh" moment. I was so focused on the content of the books that it took me two days to realise I'm reading two books with the word "bone" in the title. Weird coincidence. I'm reading City of Bones with a critical eye, comparing it to almost every other YA fantasy novel I've read. I was left in quite a state by the cliffhanger ending of the previous Black London book, so I'm reading Bone Gods (Black London #3) to see what happens next.

[Reggia]

LOL, I noted a weird coincidence like that a year or so ago, I think it was the word "wind" that kept coming up in my titles. :)

Just started Song of the Lark by Willa Cather, and enjoying it so far.

[Nicole]

Also strange: both books have main male characters whose initials are J.W. And there can be NO way one book influenced the other; they're totally different. I'm feeling quite addlepated from the developments in both books; I want to do nothing but curl up and read...but alas I have to earn a paycheck.

[Werner]

The Stephen Lawhead group I belong to here on Goodreads is planning a common read for February; so for now, I'm trying to pick books I know I'll be able to finish by then. Having whipped through The Bandit of Hell's Bend in practically record time (four stars!), I've started on a 1905 science fiction pulp adventure, Gulliver of Mars, by largely-forgotten British author Edwin L. Arnold. This is a genre I can like, if it's well-done; but alas, so far I'm distinctly underwhelmed by Arnold's writing here. (There's a reason why he's largely forgotten --and it isn't amnesia! :-) )

[Nicole]

Gulliver of Mars?! Wow, where did you find that bit of pulp?

[Werner]

Callista, I picked it up for a pittance a few years ago at our local flea market. :-)

When I finished it this morning, I wanted another short book to read, so I started on one of my wife's many Louis L'Amour books, Rivers West. He's an author I've always meant to read sometime (actually, I have read and liked one of his short stories); so I thought this was a good time to get acquainted! :-)

[[deleted user]]

Isn't Riders of the Purple Sage and Hondo his most famous? Or am I mixing things up? I ran the Western Writers of Ameria conference in 1996 and met a lot of them. Very different , fun loving and not full of themselves writers.

[Werner]

Syra, Hondo is by L'Amour, and is one of his better known works. Riders of the Purple Sage is actually by Zane Grey, and is a classic of the Western genre. (I haven't read it, but it's on my to-read list.)

[Nicole]

I've never read any Westerns.
I'm currently reading Barrie's novel version of Peter Pan. It's rather strange.

[[deleted user]]

I'm crazy about Tony Hillerman (even bought books on cds to listen to at night) but then I knew him.
Elmer Kelton is good western writer and Richard S. Wheeler. Met both of them.

[[deleted user]]

And he was one of the nicest ppl you would ever want to meet. Though almost died from wounds in WWII, he tried to take it all in stryd (I can't remember how to spell that!) oH stride. Geez getting old aint for sissies. When we did the Taos School of Writing every summer for a week up in Taos Ski Valley, NM, he came every year, never took any money, talked the whole week he was there, invited ppl to pull up a chair and join in. Ok I'll stop now.

[Nicole]

I think of Tony Hillerman when I'm writing sometimes. He inspired me by admitting that he left blank places when he was writing and got stuck on something, then he would come back to whatever it was later.

[Nicole]

Survived Peter Pan and back to the urban fantasy with the 3rd "Kitty Norville" book. (A werewolf named Kitty. Ha-ha.)

[[deleted user]]

I can't believe how fast you read. (Seen Spencer Reed on Criminal Minds?)
I've decided I need to get the Dresden books. You have read them all and seem to enjoy them.
Finishing up Storm Prey.

[Nicole]

I don't think I read *that* fast, especially compared to Yvonne.
I've watched Criminal Minds maybe 3 times; it creeps me out too much. I'm guessing Spencer is the tall, thin, sandy-haired genius boy? I suppose he speed reads?
Syra, I think you will enjoy the Dresden books. I didn't like the 2nd and 3rd books as much as the first, but the others after got really good IMO. I've become nearly obsessed with Dresden! :)

[[deleted user]]

Yeah, he runs his finger down the page and turns them every 20 sec or maybe faster. I tried that class years ago and it annoyed me because I wanted to enjoy the words the author put down for me.

[Erin E]

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay (Which is a January Read for another group) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon which was referred to me and I have to say I am really REALLY enjoying this one!

Both books are outside my comfort zone, which is good because I need to get out of my Paranormal Romance Rut! I am too old to spend all this time reading Beach Reads as my contemporary lit instructor used to acidly call these books.

[Werner]

Erin, just one impudent question that I couldn't resist asking (though I suppose I should have :-) ): did your contemporary literature instructor ever actually read any of the "beach reads" he/she was disparaging?

[Erin E]

My English 12 instructor was a voracious reader but I think the contemporary lit instructor was/is unable to look past Margaret Atwood...

[[deleted user]]

Welcome Erin. I need a beach book every so often or my brain starts to hurt. And some of them of darn good!

[Erin E]

Syra wrote: "Welcome Erin. I need a beach book every so often or my brain starts to hurt. And some of them of darn good!"

No kidding, but I have read the entire Women of the Otherworld series over and over, again and again, so much so that I have forgotten there are other books out there! lol I have even forgotten there are authors other than Kelley Armstrong out there! lol

[[deleted user]]

I seem to be the mystery fanatic in the group, but I can't concentrate and remember characters as well as I used to. My mother-in-law used to say when she did not remember a book she read that it gave her that many more to choose from. By I agree: Too many books and too little time.

[Nicole]

Oh, Erin, read whatever makes you happy! :-)

I like some mysteries, but not anything too gory. I'm also losing patience with the amateur sleuth idea, especially when a character just seems to have the misfortune of living in an area rife with murderers!

I, too, wonder how much of the nuance speed-readers really get out of books. I know I miss details the faster I read. Sometimes, I will go back and re-read for detail after racing to the end to see what was going to happen.

[Werner]

I've just started reading Taliesin, by Stephen Lawhead; it's the common read for February in the Lawhead fan group here on Goodreads.

Back in junior college, I took a course in speed reading (they didn't offer very many electives :-) ) and got an A in it, but I don't use any speed reading techniques when I read. I see reading as something to do for pleasure and interest, not for speed records!

[Nicole]

Right on--read for pleasure, not as a race.

I've just started the last book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Took forever for it to come out in paperback. It's good so far...

[Erin E]

hahaha, Callista you are right - though I do get some sort of self-righteous-snobby-delight with sitting in a coffee shop reading something that "makes me look well read" from time to time. Who knows maybe one day Henry Rollins will walk in and decide that I am enough of a "reader" to say "hello" too... :o!

[Nicole]

I know what you mean; I have those moments, too. Not about Henry Rollins, but it would be great to get attention from someone interesting because of the book I'm reading.
I have a lurking feeling of guilt or obligation or something that I should be reading more "smart" books, but there are days I just want to be entertained. I've never recovered from Grad school, I guess. (Darn you, Samuel Richardson!)

[Erin E]

Oh my goodness, I remember hating to read when I was in school. With the classes I have now I just hate to read because I already know it - pretty frustrating to go to school to learn how to be an Early Childhood Education and Care Practitioner when you have been doing it for 10 years!! *shrug* at least when I am finished it will be a peice of paper to needlessly flaunt at family gatherings.

[Erin E]

I finished the other two books and I have started Oryx and Crake and House Rules (to read with a friend) and I promised the kids at work that I would start reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. (I need to know what all the excitement is about)

[Erin E]

Well spoken Charly.

Makes me consider a lot of things.

[Nicole]

Good sentiments, Charly.

I've just started Nightlife, the first book of a series that mixes a Shakespearean idea--Caliban--with urban fantasy. Cal Leandros is the 19-year-old, human-appearing offspring of a human witch and a demon.