What are you reading?

[Blacklight]

Trust me, reading Frankenstein isn't a mistake. It is nothing like the monster movies that you've probably got running around in your head. It is a little slow in some parts, but overall is a great story. Just... don't expect it to read like Dracula.

In which case, should I pick up Dracula while I'm at it?

[Atria35]

In which case, should I pick up Dracula while I'm at it?

Um, YES! Dracula, I read in a lit room in the middle of the day in a house with people in it... and I was still freaked out. It was GREAT!

[the_wolfs_howl]

Dracula, I read in a lit room in the middle of the day in a house with people in it... and I was still freaked out. It was GREAT!

Dude, I totally second that! I couldn't even glance at the cover for at least a month after completing it, because it had Dracula's face on it and man is he freaky! Frankenstein...not so much.

I realized that Crime and Punishment is about 600 pages long, and I kind of need to have it fresh in my mind before I do this big final project thing for my AP class, so I picked it up and started reading it for the second time. I can grasp it so much better, after five years! My experience with literature in general and my dabbling into Russian novels have made me able to appreciate this book much more consciously and intellectually than before. When I was fourteen, I fell in love with it for the mood that Dostoyevsky seemed to effortlessly, magically create. Now I can actually understand some of the things he's saying. But did you know that back when it was first published, the "weak of constitution" would become ill when they read it? That's pretty sweet, from a writer's standpoint

[FllMtl Novelist]

Yesterday I finished Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman. I enjoyed it, despite my brother making a 3-2-1 Penguins reference: "It was a swan! It was -sniff- beautiful!"

Anyway, it was a nice story, and a pleasant read.

[Makachop^^128]

I just finished The year living like Jesus, One of the best books I've read. I recommend it to everyone.

Next I think I'm going to read Wuthering heights or The Dwarves not sure yet.

[Atria35]

I just finished The year living like Jesus, One of the best books I've read. I recommend it to everyone.

I've read that! It's really a great book. I agree- it's something everyone should read.

[Makachop^^128]

I've read that! It's really a great book. I agree- it's something everyone should read.

It was a pretty awesome book. One of the best christian books I've read. He was very honest lol and had some good thoughts on Christianity.

[Hohenheim]

I'm still technically working on Faith of a Physicist but, seeing as I want to get acquainted with my university's library, I took a break from it for the time being.

From there I checked out and subsequently read Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, by Old Testament scholar Peter Enns. In it, Enns lays out and attempts to answer various questions having to do with the Old Testament that seemingly threaten traditional views of Scripture. These questions range from the Near Eastern works that are similar to the Bible, to the Old Testament's theological diversity, to how the authors of the New Testament interpreted the Old Testament. Enns confronts these questions in an effort to reconcile an evangelical view of the Bible with what is being found in modern biblical studies.

I really enjoyed this book. All in all I felt that Enns did a masterful job of handling these questions in a way that was both accessible and informative. The answers he puts forward in this book are not the final ones, and Enns fully acknowledges so, but he does very well by pointing out a direction that we can take in future conversations on this matter.

[Atria35]

In order to get some more reading gone before my trip, I put down Kushiel's Dart (while it is interesting- court politics of an alternate timeline as told through the eyes of a courtesan. Unfortunately, it's far too complex to put down for a week and pick it up later. Decided to go for something simpler), and pick up Taliesin, book 1 of the Pendragon series.

You know, I was going along with all of it until they decided to put it after Jesus' birth. You see, I'm a history buff. I am very familiar with these myths and legends. And it ticks me off when they don't even bother to try and preserve a semblance of RL- or mythological- timelines. Timelines that diverge? Fine. I'm all for it. But just screwing with it really gets my goat. Especially since this really didn't have a good reason to do it. I'm going to keep reading it, but I've been disenchanted (so to speak! XD ).

[crusader88]

The second volume of George Sansom's A History of Japan, Fitzgerald's translation of The Aeneid, and Harvey C. Mansfield's Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction.

[rocklobster]

I'm reading A Clash of Kings, the second book in A Song Of Ice and Fire. This would be awesome with a Led Zeppelin or John Williams soundtrack!

[Htom Sirveaux]

Dracula out of 100 Classic Books for the Nintendo DS. This is just plain cool.

[ich1990]

Decided to go for something simpler), and pick up Taliesin, book 1 of the Pendragon series.

You know, I was going along with all of it until they decided to put it after Jesus' birth. You see, I'm a history buff. I am very familiar with these myths and legends. And it ticks me off when they don't even bother to try and preserve a semblance of RL- or mythological- timelines. Timelines that diverge? Fine. I'm all for it. But just screwing with it really gets my goat. Especially since this really didn't have a good reason to do it. I'm going to keep reading it, but I've been disenchanted (so to speak! XD ).

Could you elaborate on this? I was under the impression (and wikipedia, at least, agrees) that Taliesin lived around 550 A.D.

[Atria35]

^ The character Taliesin does. However, what they do is put Atlantis as being around during this time. And there's some sort of love thing going on between him and a princess from Atlantis.

Weird thing to get annoyed over, but I'm okay with treating Atlantis as existing thousands of years ago, not with it existing so close to modern day.

[ich1990]

^ The character Taliesin does. However, what they do is put Atlantis as being around during this time. And there's some sort of love thing going on between him and a princess from Atlantis.

Weird thing to get annoyed over, but I'm okay with treating Atlantis as existing thousands of years ago, not with it existing so close to modern day.

Ah, I see. You might be interested in his justifications then, which are given on this page:

http://www.stephenlawhead.com/readers/qa/archive10.shtml

How do you explain having Atlantis sink around AD500 when it was mentioned by Plato?

Many learned readers have pointed out that Atlantis is generally accepted to have sunk two thousand years or so before Taliesin was born. In my story, do you remember that Atlantis, once a great continent, is described as having been ravaged by earthquakes for more than two thousand years? The cataclysm in the book is the last in a long line of catastrophes to engulph the remnants of the once-mighty Atlanteans, and send them fleeing to other shores—one of which is Britain, where they live in obscurity for untold generations until the time of Taliesin.

The theory of Atlantis is a very different approach from other Arthurian novels I have read. How did you receive the idea to link the two worlds together?

As I was just getting ready to explain above, in the late 1800's the intrepid Prof. Rhys traveled around Britain and her islands for many years gathering legends and tales from the last of the Celtic speakers who were dying out. He collected, organized, and analyzed these stories and the results were presented in Celtic Folklore, a two-volume edition published by Oxford University Press 1901. Prof. Rhys was the first person I ever encountered who suggested that Llyonesse (an old name for the extreme southwest portion of Britain) and Atlantis shared a connection, and that many of the legends involving Fair Folk derived from this connection. Enchanted with this notion, I wove it into the Pendragon Cycle in order to explain some of the puzzles and questions surrounding the myths of Taliesin, Merlin, and Arthur. Thus, although it is not widely known, the Atlantis/Britain connection is well documented, at least in terms of folklore.

I hope that helps put your mind at ease. In the same linked page there are other answers to common questions, such as how Charis and Taliesin can have a relationship with such massive age discrepancies. It is worth checking out if you are interested in the historical side of things. I am quite fond of the books (although it has been a great while since I last read them). I hope you able to enjoy them as well.

[Atria35]

^ Most of these I'm already familiar with- again, history buff. I study it in my spare time. It's just that I'm so familiar with the traditional Atlantis stories (and theories and etc.- I've also read a few archeological tracts on possibilities of where/when it actually was), that I don't care for where he particularly places it. Or when. It just doesn't jive for me, since British history is my forte.

It's an interesting take, but one that I'm just not fond of.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan.

My biggest problem with Jordan's writing is that sometimes the plot moves at such a snail's pace I question why the book had to be so large where portions of it have nothing accomplished. That's why it took me 3+ months to get through The Dragon Reborn, it spent way too much time focusing on my (then) least favorite character in the series, who accomplished very little besides telling us what the Soulless are. This book is always moving forward and might be my favorite in the series. It's always moving forward, something is always happening, the characters it adds are likeable and has minimal focus on the unlikeable(coughEgwenecough). The Aiel and their backstory is both awesome and fascinating. Faile gets some character devlopment and switches from annoying to pretty cool(though I hear this won't last). Mat gets cool new stuff and Rand actually gets to be in the book. All around, a fantastic read.

I also hope Gawyn gets tortured brutally and ends up getting stabbed by everyone he cares about. That character went from mildly likable to evil Karma Houdini. Ughhh.

[rocklobster]

Naked Empire, another Sword of Truth book. This is your last chance, Goodkind. If this book is as soapbox driven as The Pillars of Creation and Faith of the Fallen, I'm quitting! I mean it! If I want political philosophy, I'll read political philosophy.

[Cadence]

I read a lot of children's literature, and just finished a beautiful little novel that made me remember how good children's books can be and fall in love with them all over again. It was recently published and is called The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little. It is a well-written and touching story about forgiveness, faith, love, and healing. It has been a while since a children's book has brought me to tears, but I cried several times while reading this one. Recommended to everyone out there!

[rocklobster]

Started Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.

[Radical Dreamer]

Finished Shutter Island and picked up The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath!

[Wyntre Rose]

Reading the Haruhi Suzumiya light novels.

[rocklobster]

Reading book 3 of Warriors: The New Prophecy

[bigsleepj]

Finished Shutter Island and picked up The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath!

Woaw. Talk about going from one piece of despair to another. ]The Serpent and the Rainbow[/i], which is a study of voodoo culture within Haiti (pre-earthquake) and the role zombi-lore play in their culture. I wonder if anyone managed to read that description with a straight face.

[Radical Dreamer]

[quote="bigsleepj (post: 1413193)"]Woaw. Talk about going from one piece of despair to another. ]

I know, right? XD I started it thinking "hey, I bet it would be really interesting to compare and contrast how these different authors portray insanity!" and then I was like "it might be a good idea to read this intermittently with the rest of The Princess Bride sprinkled in for good measure." XDD

[ich1990]

“How to Stay Christian in College” by J. Budziszewski

I have slightly non-traditional views about the church and how it is supposed to function. This, of course, seems to worry everyone around me. The direct result of all of this good-natured yet ill-founded worry is that I get sent a lot of these kinds of books. I don't particularly mind receiving these things –if nothing else they prove that someone cares about me-- but I do have to say that the majority of them are quite insipid, shallow, and unhelpful. Surprisingly, this one bucked the trend.

As is standard in this genre, the author (who hasn't been a student for many years) tries to imagine what it might be like to be a college student in this day and age, and then goes about attempting to help them work through these difficulties and moral crises in a fashion that would be considered acceptable given the current standards of Christian culture. Where this book sets itself apart, however, is by actually talking with students of the day, actually discussing relevant issues, and actually acknowledging that Christian culture is a complex thing with many varying levels of belief. In other words, it is a much more applicable and credible guide to college life than any others of its type that I have read.

The content itself isn't bad either. It goes over all of the big issues; how the world began, how to deal with drugs, romantic relationships, philosophical pitfalls, etc., and offers fairly typical and solid answers to each --even quoting a few of my favorite authors in the process. Where “How to Stay Christian in College” eventually runs into issues is with its shallowness. Since it attempts to cover so many topics, it can only barely discusses each issue. It offers many pat answers, but rarely any responses to the obvious rebuttals to those pat answers. In short, a not unhelpful guide that hopefully makes the reader curious enough to start deeper studies. 7/10.

^ Most of these I'm already familiar with- again, history buff. I study it in my spare time. It's just that I'm so familiar with the traditional Atlantis stories (and theories and etc.- I've also read a few archeological tracts on possibilities of where/when it actually was), that I don't care for where he particularly places it. Or when. It just doesn't jive for me, since British history is my forte.

It's an interesting take, but one that I'm just not fond of.

Fair enough. Personally I prefer the unique take on the story, as opposed to it being just another Malory derivation, but to each his (or her) own, I suppose.

[the_wolfs_howl]

The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath!

Oh, I checked out the audiobook of that a couple years ago! (Only got the audiobook because all the print versions were checked out of the library at the time.) Maggie Gyllenhaal read it, and brought out the feel of the book very well, I thought. Some parts of the book I found rather disturbing, a lot of it I didn't really understand beyond an abstract instinctive kind of understanding, but I rather liked it. She has a smooth writing style.

[quote="ich1990 (post: 1413223)"]“How to Stay Christian in Collegeâ€

[Atria35]

I'm now reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Haven't been able to get past the long-winded introduction yet, though @_@ "Disinclined to talk overmuch of myself," my foot. And my history buff dad immediately started rattling off the historical context of the book as soon as he saw the cover in my hands, so now I'm really interested in what the story will be like.

One sentence at a time. Seriously. If you read each sentence, try to understand what's being said, and then connect it to the previous, you'll be through it in a breeze- that's how I had to do it! And then you can move into the rest of the story.

[Kaori]

The theme for this post is “things I haven’t read completely.â€

[rocklobster]

Wolf's Howl, you can completely skip the intro to The Scarlett Letter and you won't miss a thing. Really. I never understood why Hawthorne included it. It has nothing to do with the story itself.
Anyway, started The Eternity Code.