Books

[Kathy Li]

Hey, has anybody read the Emerald Magic

[Ankaa]

Has anyone read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingfisher? (I think that's her name; I don't remember exactly). If you haven't, READ IT! It's really good--about a family whose father is a missionary who goes to the Congo (iirc, this takes place in the '50s and '60s), and meanwhile the Congo undergoes a revolution. Very inetersting.

[alla]

Originally posted by kli6:
Caitlin, have you tried Robin McKinley's Damar books: _The Blue Sword_ and _The Hero and the Crown_.

I love those books.

Has anyone read any Isobel Carmody books? The Obernewtyn Chronicles and the Legend Song? They're good .

I haven't been reading that much lately . I don't know why... oh well... *picks random book from shelves* hey cool

it was... Dealing with dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. Wow, its been ages since I read that one. Hmmm... maybe I should read it again.

[Kathy Li]

I'm trying to read Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. It's working on a few levels, but also not-working on a few others. My fault, not the book's. Also getting some really weird historical cross-talk in the back of my brain from having just finished the Musketeers Cycle, and simultaneously reading a Christopher Wren biography, Ackroyd's London: The Biography, and a book about Turner and the Royal Society.

Not sure I like that I spotted Ben Franklin within three lines of his being introduced, though, as I was obviously not supposed to figure it out until told.

BTW, am also reading the NESFA press Terry Pratchett collection (a bunch of weird bits'n'bobs), Once More with Footnotes, and one of the first stories in there ("Hollywood Chickens"), PTerry forwords that he got the idea from a story about wild chickens by the Hollywood freeway (marooned by a truck crash) that DD swore was true.

[Lisa]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned these, but have any of you read the Wind on Fire trilogy? I just finished the last one in the middle of the schol day and I was almost crying. they are sooooooooooo good.

[Lisa]

[alla]

What sort of perverted person would read into children's books and find homosexual tendancies in characters who are clearly just friends to us young people out there - and ruin childhood for those who are just moving through that stage in their life? First it was Some idiot claiming that Noddy was gay - that was disturbing enough. I read this morning in the paper that someone thinks that the Famous Five were having intimate relationships while they were away on their weekend and holiday jaunts (why would you think that? They were brothers and sister and cousins for Powers' sake!!! Oh, and don't forget Timmy who was a dog. Included in that article was an accusation that Spongebob Squarepants had homosexual tendancies!

Why can't adults leave children alone to ENJOY their childhood? Do they have to be so concerned that their kids might be disturbed by something that a child would never read into the story? GAH!!!

Anyway.. end of rant. I got Reaper Man this morning at the market And now I'm going to return to read it.

[talkingbeast]

Well, you may be interested in this article from the HornBook Magazine. It's about finding gay characters in kids' books, but from a perspective of a gay kid (now grown up).

In other news, there's apparently something called the Gryphon Award for Children's Literature. Unfortunately, it's aimed at the wrong age range for the YW books or I would start a campaign...

[alla]

Thanks, interesting article. Fair enough to have someone who is actually gay make these claims. But then I scrolled further down the page and encountered this:
Gah! can't adults just leave good books alone?

[Aurora]

I got duped (or rather, marketed) into buying a really crappy book yesterday. It was called "Touch Not" by George V. Henderson. The author was there, and he did some really good marketing, and essentially trapped me into buying a copy. . .

Then I went home and read it. . . and it was very obvious to me that it was a private publisher. . . and it was a really crappy book. Maybe the plotline would have been okay, but this guy needs to learn how to SPELL, PUNCTUATION, and GRAMMAR, for gods' sakes. . . This guy managed to mix up "They're" and "their" on two different occasions. Ugh.

Don't read him.

[Kathy Li]

Thanks for the warning, Aurie. Usually, before buying a book, I tend to flip it open and read the first two or three pages. You can usually weed out the REAL stinkers that way. That said, it is awfully hard to resist purchasing when the author's looking right at you. Sadly, that guy probably got taken for a ride by his vanity publisher.

Alla, think of it this way: these people are writing articles the way one writes homework. They have to come up SOMETHING to say, and of course, any message that kids books are MORE than just simple harmless entertainment makes good copy (sigh). And there's always someone who wants to ruin your day, explaining all the biblical references in Narnia. Just try and rise above them.

[Lisa]

alla: I think the author was trying to say that Harry will connect to those kids that are outcast because they are different. At least, that's how I read it. and that's actually one of the reasons I read that book. I was going through a tough time at a new school where I wasn't the most popular kid. Harry is in a sort of reverse situation, where he didn't fit in and now he's the most well-known kid in the wizarding world.

[Kathy Li]

For any Pullman fans out there, I've just discovered a BBC radio program: With Great Pleasure, which is apparently like Desert Island Discs, only with books & poems instead of songs. This week, Philip Pullman lists his faves.

[Lisa]

I just finished reading an extremely good book by T.A. Barron called The Great Tree of Avalon: Child of the Dark Prophecy. It's about the search for the true heir of Merlin, trying to find the heir before the Child of the Dark Prophecy comes of age and becomes powerful. Good book, and even better if you've read The Loast Years of Merlin, by the same author.

[alla]

Oh no... I know I'm getting desparate for something to do, when I actually start reading dad's library from the 'A's ... eep. Or sorta anyway. I don't like reading short story anthologies that much, so I skipped a few of them. At the moment, I am reading a book called 'Unicorn and Dragon', by Lynn Abbey. Its kinda weird to see your own name pop up in a book - one of the main characters is called Alison.

I'm going to try and have all the A's read by... April. I think this is going to take me longer than I originally thought. I'll keep you guys updated!

Alla