What are your favorite books?

[Emily :)]

ok i will. :)

[Anna]

Thanks...I didn't mean to be harsh...I am just terrible at explaining people to other people.

[Emily :)]

don't worry i completely get it.

[Mara]

*laughs* Steven Moffat is one of the writers of the BBC series "Sherlock" that I was telling you about, Emily.

@ Cece: what do you mean, so he couldn't trace anything? Do you mean how she locked her phone? By the way, Emily, so we don't end up taking this thread over with Sherlock Holmes discussions, maybe we could start a new thread for Sherlockian topics? This is supposed to be for favorite books, and I get the feeling that Cece/Anna and I are going to start into a long dialogue about the "Sherlock" TV series. :)

[Emily :)]

we should start the new thread only i think that you should because you know more then i do.

[Mara]

I'll do so. Okay, any further "Sherlock Holmes" related discussions - be it about the books or movies/TV shows, post on the new thread!

[Rachel]

hey Rachel here. i dont have favorite books i have favorie series. "City of Bones" "Marked" "The Lost Hero" "Percy Jackson" "I Would tell you i Love You but then i would have to Kill You"

[Mara]

"Percy Jackson" is an awesome series. How do you like Rick Riordan other series - "Heroes of Olympus" and "The Kane Chronicles"? Isn't "City of Bones" part of the "Mortal Instruments" series?

[Emily :)]

ok i know i am not Rachel but i can answer those questions for her. i know her pretty well.
she loves the "Heroes of Olympus" and "The Kane Chronicles" she told me herself. she loves the Author and she can't get enough of the books.

As for the "City of Bones" i am almost positive that it is part of that series but i can't be for sure. there are 2 series that that Author has written and i don't know which is which. i am pretty sure that you are right though.

[J. JaeBloggs]

I have a lot of favorites, in no particular order, here they are.
Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Matched by Ally Condie
The Gallagher Series by Ally Carter
There are a lot more I cannot think of at the moment

[Mara]

Is "Palace of Mirrors" a new one? :o I feel awful not being up-to-date on her books - she's a good author. "Just Ella" is awesome, I'll definitely agree with you on that.

[Emily :)]

i love and have read most of those books. except "Hunger Games" which i am not afraid to voice my opinion about. i have heard only good things about "The Gallagher Girls" and hope to read them soon. i love the Author though. :)

[Mara]

I can't remember, Emily - did you read all three "Hunger Games" books? Just curious; I'm not setting you up to accuse you of anything. :)

Okay, I have to say that "Kat, Incorrigible" and "Renegade Magic" by Stephanie Burgis are two favorites.

[J. JaeBloggs]

Mara wrote: "Is "Palace of Mirrors" a new one? :o I feel awful not being up-to-date on her books - she's a good author. "Just Ella" is awesome, I'll definitely agree with you on that."

I first read Palace of Mirrors two years ago, it features Ella and Jed from Just Ella, Jed isn't much of a character in ti, but they still mention him. I read Palace of Mirrors before Just Ella, even though I had the book, then when I read Just Ella, I was like:
"Oh! I get it now!"

[Emily :)]

Mara: i have read all three and i think that they go downhill from the first. i really don't know what it was that made me dislike them, i used to think it was just because they seemed slow and boring to me but now i think it was because i hated the idea of kids killing kids for enjoyment, idk.

[Mara]

@ JJae Bloggs: Is "Palace of Mirrors" a prequel to "Just Ella" then, or a sequel? I always thought "Just Ella" needed a sequel. That's sad, though, that Jed isn't much of a character. I always liked him.

@ Emily: I was just wondering; I couldn't remember if you had read them all. I have a couple of friends who never read past the first book. And your reasons make sense. It's not a series that is everyone's cup of tea, as it were.

[Emily :)]

I know what you mean and i have friends that haven't read all of them either but you know me, i cant not finish a series and if i ever quit one then it must have been super bad. :)

[Mara]

Oh, I know how that goes with not being able to leave a series unfinished. It's what got me through Christopher Paolini's books (plus a friend bet me $50 that I couldn't get through the last book). But I also finished that particular series to prove that I could do a book critic's job. But anyway. . .

Have any of you read "A Tale of Two Castles" by Gail Carson Levine? That's my second-favorite book of hers, right after "Ella Enchanted."

[J. JaeBloggs]

Mara wrote: "@ JJae Bloggs: Is "Palace of Mirrors" a prequel to "Just Ella" then, or a sequel? I always thought "Just Ella" needed a sequel. That's sad, though, that Jed isn't much of a character. I always like..."
It's kind of a sequel, but focusing on new main characters and Ella is more like a secondary character, but still involved.

[Emily :)]

I should read those Ella books they sound really good.

[Mara]

They are - at least, I know for certain that "Just Ella" is. If "Palace of Mirrors" is anything like "Just Ella," then it's good, too.

[Emily :)]

I will look into them. :)

[Mara]

I don't remember if I said "Entwined" by Heather Dixon is one of my favorites, but anyway it is. One of the best - if not THE best - retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" I have ever read.

[Emily :)]

what are "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" can you give me a brief summary or something

[Anna]

Twelve princesses slept in twelve beds in the same room; every night their doors were securely locked, but in the morning their shoes were found to be worn through as if they had been dancing all night.

The king, perplexed, promised his kingdom and a daughter to any man who could discover the princesses' secret within three days and three nights, but those who failed within the set time limit would be put to death.

An old soldier returned from war came to the king's call after several princes had failed in the endeavour to discover the princesses' secret. Whilst traveling through a wood he came upon an old woman, who gave him an invisibility cloak and told him not to eat or drink anything given to him by one of the princesses who would come to him in the evening, and to pretend to be fast asleep after the princess left.

The soldier was well received at the palace just as the others had been and indeed, in the evening, the eldest princess came to his chamber and offered him a cup of wine. The soldier, remembering the old woman's advice, threw it away secretly and began to snore very loudly as if asleep.

The princesses, sure that the soldier was asleep, dressed themselves in fine clothes and escaped from their room by a trap door in the floor. The soldier, seeing this, donned his invisibility cloak and followed them down. He trod on the gown of the youngest princess, whose cry to her sisters that all was not right was rebuffed by the eldest. The passageway led them to three groves of trees; the first having leaves of silver, the second of gold, and the third of diamonds. The soldier, wishing for a token, broke off a twig as evidence. They walked on until they came upon a great lake. Twelve boats with twelve princes in them were waiting. Each princess went into one, and the soldier stepped into the same boat as the youngest. The young prince in the boat rowed slowly, unaware that the soldier was causing the boat to be heavy. The youngest princess complained that the prince was not rowing fast enough, not knowing the soldier was in the boat. On the other side of the lake was a castle, into which all the princesses went and danced the night away.

The princesses danced until their shoes were worn through and they were obliged to leave. This strange adventure went on the second and third nights, and everything happened just as before, except that on the third night the soldier carried away a golden cup as a token of where he had been. When it came time for him to declare the princesses' secret, he went before the king with the three branches and the golden cup, and told the king all he had seen. The princesses saw there was no use to deny the truth, and confessed. The soldier chose the eldest princess as his bride for he was not a very young man, and was made the king's heir.

[Emily :)]

Thank you that clears it up real nicely. i think that i have heard the beginning of the story but not the whole thing. thanks again.

[Mara]

It's a good fairy tale, but the retellings are even better. ;)

[Emily :)]

i will have to look into them. thanks to all.:)

[Mara]

New favorite, everyone! (well, newish) I don't normally go for books like this, but there was something about this one that was just . . . wow.

[Hazel]

Every day you ask me this question, you'll probably get a different answer, but here are some favorites what will always be my favorites:

Sherlock Holmes (and I see there are lots of Holmsians here)
Three Musketeers (I love Alexander Dumas)
Anything by Louis L'Amour particularly his Sackett Series
Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan
Airborn trilogy by Kenneth Oppel
Anything by Rosemary Sutcliff
Temerarire Series by Naomi Novik
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
Kidnapped by R.L. Stevenson

and I'll probably think of more later ;)

[Mara]

Picking favorites is so hard . . . Especially when an Author (i.e. Rosemary Sutcliff) has written sooooo many good ones. is probably my favorite out of hers, but there's also "The Eagle of the Ninth" and "Sun Horse, Moon Horse". . . .

[Hazel]

I still have to read "Outcast" I have so many of hers I want ;)

[Mara]

Ditto. My To-Read list is alphabetical by author last name; you should see the number of books under hers! The woman wrote a LOT! And I'm not complaining; an author that good should write lots of books.

[Hazel]

And I haven't found one that doesn't really live up either, which usually happens when author's write so many. That's one of the reasons I respect her so highly.

[Mara]

Ditto. I even love her retellings of the Arthur legends and the Tristan and Isuold story, and her retelling of Robin Hood is amazing.

[Hazel]

I bought her retelling of Cuchullain but haven't gotten to it yet. She writes almost in the style of the old epics that she does really well with the retellings.

[Mara]

Oh, it's good. Very good, in fact. I've read a lot of Cuchullain retellings, and hers is the best I've come across.

[Emily :)]

I feel so left out here because i dont believe i have read any of her books. but then again i might have and just not realized it. :)

[Hazel]

They're so good, Emily, you should try them sometime. And they're all great so I don't really have one to suggest first ;)

[Mara]

"The Eagle of the Ninth" is a good one to start with. It has one of her best characters - Esca - and adventure and awesome - as well as terrifying and viscious - Celtic tribes. And it's probably Rosemary's easiest book to get ahold of right now because of the movie (thank you, director-whose-name-I've-forgotten!).

[Hazel]

That is one of my favorites =) And so good. Marcus and Esca make a great brothers in arms team.

[Mara]

Ditto.

Another favorite book:

[Gabrielle]

Ive heard of him he's writes screenplays for a bunch of different shows didnt he

[Mara]

Who? Christine Morton-Shaw? I don't know if she has; I'm just familiar with her books (which are tremendously wonderful).

[Emily :)]

Thanks for the suggestion i will definitely look into the book.

[Mara]

is also a really good one. This was my absolute favorite book when I was about twelve; still love it.

[Hazel]

I have never read that book, Mara, though I know my mom tried to get me to read it when I was about that age. It just wasn't something I was interested in back then :P I might give it a go now though. it's a pretty short book anyway.

[Emily :)]

I have never even heard of it. but if it is good then i bet it will reach my ears again. the good ones always do :)

[Emily :)]

I have never even heard of it. but if it is good then i bet it will reach my ears again. the good ones always do :)

[Hazel]

It's a pretty popular book (which is another reason I haven't read it yet. I don't want to sound judgmental, but a lot of times the books that have gotten Caldacot Awards just really aren't all that good. Some are, but most are just kind of bland.)