What are you currently reading?

[Stephanie]

All right I just finished The Forgotten Locket by Lisa Mangum (review to come at the end of the week) and I'm about to start Eon: Dragoneye Reborn.

[Krys]

I read Eon some time ago <3 I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Gwendolyn]

Kyle wrote: "I really want her [Maria Snyder] to write in Sitia/Ixia again. That world fascinates me. "

The Glass series followed the Study series.

I'm almost certain she'll return to that world in the future, but after nine stories in the same world, you can't blame an author for wanting to leave that world for awhile.

I'm currently finishing the fifth book in on of the series that I'm writing. I know I'll return to it in the future, but I can honestly say I'm looking forward to working on a different project for awhile.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

And I just finished the first book in what I plan to be a 5 book series. I keep thinking that I have to spend the next four years on the same world. All my other ideas have to wait until those books are done.

But I'll probably write some novelettes and other smaller works while I'm waiting.

[Stephanie]

I'm less than 100 pages into Eon, Kriss. But I'm really enjoying it.

[S.S.]

Just starting WARPED by Maurissa Guibord. My teenage daughter liked it a lot.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

Warped? I hadn't heard of that book. Let me know what you think of it. I am on the prowl for something good to read.

[S.S.]

Nothing great, but interesting. Unicorns, tapestry, threads of life. No profanity, no big surprises so far. Like the MC.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I've added it to my to-read list. I'll probably pick it up as soon as I finish the books my husband just ordered for me (Dragon Bone series by Patricia Briggs).

And I'm re-reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Bought the book for my husband and then I stole it for myself. Mwahahahaha! Now we know why I bought it for him for Father's Day. :D Okay, no, I really did buy it for him, but since he finished reading it, I picked it up.

I find that I'm really enjoying reading books with my kids more than I enjoy reading for myself right now. It's the strangest experience for me because I can't seem to get into ANY books.

[Andrea]

I'm reading...Gregor the Overlander (awesome book, I daresay) and Artemis Fowl. Artemis Fowl, though everyone raves about it, isn't really grabbing my interest...

[Rita, Busy Bee]

Andrea, do you ever do audiobooks? Whoever did the reading in the audiobook really brought life to the characters with the various voices he used. If it wasn't for that, I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it.

I like to do audiobooks with my husband and children when we are long car rides, and it makes for excellent family discussion material. Audiobooks don't take the place of real books, but it is a nice supplement.

[Andrea]

Well, I really enjoyed audiobooks when I was younger on car trips, too! However, I really prefer an actual book...just something in my blood, I suppose :)

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I prefer actual books too--usually. There have been a few times when I've enjoyed the audiobook so much, that I can't imagine reading it. Other times, I really disliked the reader.

I usually am reading two books at a time, one a paper book and the other an audiobook for my drive to work. This way I get twice as much reading in.

[Krys]

Hmm. I'm about to start reading the Harry Potter series.

[Andrea]

Rita wrote: "I prefer actual books too--usually. There have been a few times when I've enjoyed the audiobook so much, that I can't imagine reading it. Other times, I really disliked the reader.

I usually am ..."

I completely agree with the 'two books at once' stuff- only I usually have about three physical books that I go through...usually I only finish one in a decent time period!

[Andrea]

Kriss wrote: "Hmm. I'm about to start reading the Harry Potter series."

You will love them! (if you don't I will throw you in a garbage can.) (just kidding) (mostly)

:D

[Rita, Busy Bee]

Andrea wrote: "I completely agree with the 'two books at once' stuff- only I usually have about three physical books that I go through...usually I only finish one in a decent time period!"

When you add in the books I read as research and the chapter books I read to the kids and the other books I'm reading too, I probably am doing more than 2 or 3 books at a time too.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

This weekend, I just finished Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs, and now I'm reading its sequel Dragon Blood. I highly recommend both books.



When I grow up, I want to write like Patricia Briggs.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I'm currently reading Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. Wow, this book is totally not what I expected. Starts off funny & witty, a good parody to make fun of beauty pageants like the movie Miss Congeniality.

But as these girls are stranded on this island, having crashed during their flight to where the pageants will be hosted, they come face to face with themselves. I like the way author Libba Bray peels away their layers.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I'm reading Abandon by Meg Cabot because it was the July book-of-the-month for another YA book club here on good reads, but I'm really disappointed so far.

Has anybody else read any Meg Cabot books?

[Andrea]

Rita, I started Ms. Cabot's Princess Diaries series and hated it, so I just didn't finish the book...!! I don't know, I'm just not a fan of her writing.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I was just so frustrated with the keeping information secret but hinting at it. The character explains how some time in the distant or not-so-distant past, she had died and if people knew what really happened...

What really happened? She never says.

Then she's at a party and her cousin asks her if she saw a light when she died before they brought her back, and she expertly dodges the question by quoting what scientists and experts say about visions at death, all the while thinking how she can't tell them what she really saw because they'd be in danger. Still leaving us in the dark. At this point, I'm not sure I really want to know anymore.

Then she remembers this strange man she had seen when she was 7 years old. And doesn't tell me why I should even care about this memory.

Then she hints that she was kicked out of school for some shady behavior but doesn't tell me what it is.

Then she's back to her death again and why she has to keep what really happened a secret, and I'm rolling my eyes.

Then she leaves the party because she's getting claustrophobic and she can't tell anyone what is really bothering them because then they'll be in danger. Eye roll again.

She's on her bike and she finds herself heading to the cemetary where she saw that man when she was seven. So mysterious and it was a big secret she should never tell. Eye roll.

All these secrets sound like they would be so interesting, but I no longer care.

Then she finally tells me about the memory about the mysterious man in the cemetary and the day she dies, describing in boring detail how and why she fell into the water and ends with the cryptic, "But she can't tell anyone what really happened and the psychologists told her it was all an hallucination caused by firing synapses just before death, blah, blah, blah, but she has proof (not that she tells us what the proof is) and she can't tell them about it or they'll be dead. Bad things seem to happen to people around her (not that she tells us what that is) just like at the school that kicked her out (not that she tells us why they kicked her out)."

Then she's at the cemetary, and HE is there. Not that she tells us who HE is, but their conversation refers to many things in their shared past that she doesn't tell us anything about.

And I keep thinking, this story could be so cool if she'd stop telling us what happened in the past and just let us live it with her.

So rather than paying attention to the story, I'm rewriting it in my head:

Prologue: the man in the cemetary. no secrets, everything's revealed.

Chapter One: she's trying to save a bird, slips into the pool, and drowns.

Chapter Two: the world she sees on the other side.

Wow, I've been ranting. Sorry.

[Kyle, The Damned Yankee]

I'll check Meg Cabot off my list...

[Stephanie]

I just finished Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 last night. I must say, it was really good- definately worth your time.

[Krys]

I just started Dante's Inferno, and I'm half-way through Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong

[Rita, Busy Bee]

How did you enjoy Dante's Inferno??? I've read some books recently that referenced it, and it sounds like a beautiful read. But it also seems so daunting.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I am currently reading Going Bovine. I have read all of Libba Bray's other books, but this one is boring me.

(1) I don't identify with the character Cameron.
(2) A related issue: Cameron is not likable--he's self-centered, apathetic, and cruel.
(3) I am uncomfortable with watching characters do drugs. Even if the character overcomes their addictionin the end (i.e. Valiant by Holly Black), the getting to the character growth part is painful for me.
(4) It took a long time to get to the point of the story where anything interesting happens. Watching Cameron wander around apathetically, spouting nasty comments to everyone he meets, while he goes to English class, thumbs through records at the music store, and watches Wile E. Coyote while high on marijuana, was not very interesting.

I'm sticking with it for now, but I'm really hoping the book improves now that the mad cow diagnosis has taken place. The hallucinations he's started having have been interesting. And I liked the little old woman who snuck into his hospital room.

[Krys]

Rita wrote: "How did you enjoy Dante's Inferno??? I've read some books recently that referenced it, and it sounds like a beautiful read. But it also seems so daunting."

I haven't completed reading it yet, unfortunately. I got it Wednesday from my English teacher and I haven't found a quiet place to read much more then the first "chapter" yet; but it already seems pretty interesting, and its beautiful written. But really pretty daunting as well, haha. It's just been one of the things I've wanted to read for a while: along with Paradise Lost.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I'm still impressed, even if you are reading it for a class. I think I'll get a copy and read along with you. We can even start a thread to discuss it.

[Krys]

Oh, its not a class read, ha ha. Like I said, it's been one I've been interested in for a while, and I just saw my teacher had it, so I asked if I could read it. And that'd be great!

[Rita, Busy Bee]

You are just like me!!! I read books for fun that would put hair on your chest.

Here's our new thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/6...

[Krys]

Indeed!

And alright, awesome ;) I probably won't have much for it until after this weekend, though. It's my birthday, so we're going out of town, and I'm sure I'll be able to find plenty of quiet time to read... just no time on the computer, so.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

Happy Birthday!

[Krys]

Thank you! I'm turning fourteen ;D and I'm finally a freshman in highschool, so that's awesome!

[Stephanie]

Happy birthday!

[Krys]

I just finished reading Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong - I loved it, even if I found it heartbreaking. It was a terrible glimpse into what kind of Earth we truly do live in.

[Aparna]

Mockinjay! Loving it!

But, I wanted to tell you guys about this new book I read, Six Weeks To Yehidah by Melissa Studdard. It's a children's fantasy and sure to be a classic soon. It was like going on this amazing journey from the clouds to underwater and meeting all sorts of delightful and annoying people on the way! It's a really lovely book! I might re-read it again this upcoming weekend.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

That sounds fascinating. I'll try to pick it up when we finish the Fablehaven series.

[Stephanie]

I am reading Harry Potter five at the moment. I've never read it before so this is my first time. I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Michael]

Just finished 'The Devil's Footprints' by John Burnside. An excellent book. Now halfway through GRR Martin's latest opus

[Stephanie]

Just finished Harry Potter 5. I absolutely loved it! I'm now rereading Harry Potter 3. Incase you were all wondering, yes, I am in a Harry Potter mood. But I will be starting a book on writing soon so that's good...

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I just finished Going Bovine by Libba Bray (loved it). And I'm about to start Red Glove by Holly Black.

[Krys]

Oh, I really liked Red Glove. You've read White Cat, yes?

[Stephanie]

I just finished Harry Potter 3 and now I'm moving on to number 6!

[Rita, Busy Bee]

Yes, I read White Cat. I even made my husband read it. He and I swap books all the time, but he doesn't always read the YA books I like. This one though was a must read. I knew he'd love it.

Have you ever heard of the fairty tale White Cat? Not a very well known fairy tale, but it was my childhood favorite. Only heard it once though. Maybe it is on the internet somewhere.

Anyway, there are echoes of the fairy Tale in Holly Black's version of White Cat.

[Krys]

Oh, nice! Me and my best friend do that quite a bit (: but we generally like the same sorts of books.

I haven't! But I'll definitely look it up. I'm sure it'll be pretty interesting ;D

[Rita, Busy Bee]

I found a copy of the fairy tale White Cat. Check it out.

It's these lines here that made me realize that Holly Black's version must be an adapted retelling:

Days go by so quickly when one is very happy that it is certain the Prince would never have thought of its being time to go back, when one evening as they sat together the White Cat said to him that if he wanted to take a lovely princess home with him the next day he must be prepared to do what she told him.

"Take this sword," she said, "and cut off my head!"

"I!" cried the Prince, "I cut off your head! Blanchette darling, how could I do it?"

"I entreat you to do as I tell you, King's son," she replied.

I am certain that the version I read as a kid included the lines "If you love me, you will cut off my head." Which is exactly what was said in HB's White Cat.

[Krys]

Oh, I read it, and I can definitely see the similarities! Kind of cool. Never seen/heard of that fairy tale before.

[Stephanie]

Okay, I just finished The Hunger Games this past Monday. Wow.

[Rita, Busy Bee]

That's a good book, isn't it? Who is your favorite character (other than Katniss)? What is your favorite scene?

I like Peeta best. And as far as favorite scene, I liked when she made friends with the younger girl whose name I can't remember.