What ‘cha reading?

[Sarita]

I am finishing “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Phillipa Gregory and then next I’m reading “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” by Alison Weir. 

I’m kind of on a Tudor/Elizabethian kick right now.  Just finished watching “Elizabeth R” on Netflix with Glenda Jackson…she was fabulous in this – I highly recommend it!  Before that was “The Tudors” where they made Henry VIII sexy and I know he didn’t look that good.

[Elrohwen]

I love the Tudors! I’ve never read any of the books about that era, but I think it might be something I would like. I did try to watch the movie version of the “Other Boleyn Girl”, but I couldn’t get past Eric Bana’s bad acting. lol

I’m currently reading the fourth book in George RR Martin’s series – I call it the Game of Thrones series because that’s the first book, but I guess it’s Song of Ice and Fire or something. It’s ok. Each book is about 1000 pages, so after reading three and a half I’m kind of getting sick of the story line and want to move on to something else for a while. I have a couple new Dickens’ books on my shelf, so I think I’ll read “Dombey and Son” next.

[Monkeybun]

The 4th book does slow down a bit, but the 5th s better I just finished that series again recently

[Elrohwen]

Good to know! I read a couple reviews on Amazon (trying not to read any spoilers) and they were all pretty poor reviews. But I’m more willing to go on the advice of someone I know! The only thing I wonder – I got the first four in a set, so they are all the same small paperback and I hope the new one comes out in the same size so it matches. lol I know they have the bigger paperback versions too, but I like them to match.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I’m reading I am # 4. I intend to restart the game of thrones this week though, I tried before but it got kinda slow or something, I didn’t finish the first book.

[RabbitPam]

I’m still heavily into my mystery binge. Though my latest one, “Halloween Murder” is not a favorite since I’m still in it and it’s December.

Good books on the horizon: my friend, the editor, emailed me to say that P.D. James is coming out with a new book based on Pride & Prejudice.
Called “Death Comes to Pemberley”.

And “Believing the Lie” by Elizabeth George, author of the Inspector Lindley series, will be out in January.

I love, love, love the Philip Rickman supernatural murder mystery series with Reverend Merrily Watkins (Deliverance, ie. Exorcist priest) that has the newest installment out any minute. Start that from the beginning for a great 6 book collection. (they stand alone if you skip around, too.)

[Sarita]

I LOVE PD James! That one sounds like a winner. And I LOVE Elizabeth George too – just haven’t finished the last in the series yet but I will get her new one.

I’m going to look at the Philip Rickman ones, those sound right up my alley. I see them on Amazon but only a few Amazon and Barnes & Nobles…seems like he might be hard to get.

[Stickerbunny]

I am reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula atm – I just finished “Bio of Space Tyrant” by Piers Anthony. I think next I am going to read The Divine Comedy, or maybe Faust.

[bunnyfriend]

For school: Orwell’s Essays bleh. Has anyone read Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (that’s what we were analyzing before, and then having to try to write essays in her style and diction…not fun)?

For fun: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

[RabbitPam]

Sarita, the Rickmans are hard to get, but usually about half of the series are in a local library, so you can reserve them on line while they get them sent to your local one.

If you buy any (I ended up buying the first one since no library or bookstore had it) you can get them much cheaper on Kindle. My mother bought it for about $6 and lent me her Kindle to read it. They put out a new paperback version with good cover designs, so they may be back in the stores again. He’s from Wales and has a website. He’s a radio talk show host too.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula….don’t get me started…it’s a big yawn. It’ll go faster if you watch the movie version first. “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” is a good adaptation without all the boring pages in between.

[Sarita]

Ive read “A Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion but not the Slouching towards Bethlehem”. That does not sound like fun at all analysing it.

How are you liking “Into the Wild”? I have that in my stack to read.

I have a Nook and I don’t see but one of his books on there :~( (Phil Rickman)

[kralspace]

going through my Dean Koonz books again, finished Watchers and just started my favorite Cold Fire

[LoveChaCha]

“Back to work” By Bill Clinton.

[Elrohwen]

Sarita, I really like “Into the Wild”! I actually wasn’t a fan of the movie, so I’m glad I read the book first (made me like the movie a little better, I think). I didn’t like it as much as Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air”, but it was still good.

[Sarita]

Thanks Elrohwen, I’ll look into the thin air book, that sounds interesting too.

[Elrohwen]

It’s about his trek up Everest on a year that had a lot of casualties – I think it’s a great book

[Stickerbunny]

Sarita, you don’t just have to buy from barnes and noble for your nook. Any EPUB format will do. There are even conversion websites to convert ebooks to Epub format, if you have it in say PDF or any other format.

[bunnyfriend]

Haha it was awful.
I like it! I’ve seen the movie and it’s different.

[Sarita]

Thanks Stickerbunny, I’ll look into that…as long as it’s not too technical :~)

[Stickerbunny]

It’s not. Here is the one I used a few weeks ago to convert books for my mother, it’s just selecting what you want via drop down boxes. 100% free and only takes a few minutes.

http://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-epub

I hardly ever get my books from barnes and noble for my nook, they don’t have a lot of the ones I want (like the Mode series, which wasn’t popular so isn’t very easy to get a hold of). You can even convert MOBI, which is Kindle format, though I have a serious aversion to buying from Amazon so I haven’t ever done that. If you want to test the quality of the conversion, you can go onto project gutenberg and download a file in another format then convert it to EPUB.

[Sarita]

Oh very cool, thanks Sticker. I bookmarked both of those sites and I’m going to play with it this weekend.

I just ordered the new Nook Tablet too – Jane Lynch made me do it LOL.

[RabbitPam]

Sarita, if it’s The Wine of Angels, get it. That’s the first one.

My brother’s eyeballing the Kindle Fire this year. Waiting for a sale.

[bunnyfriend]

Elrohwen, Into Thin Air was great!

[angie-la]

has anyone read The Hunger Games? I kept hearing about it, but had no idea what it was about.. then I saw a preview for the film and I was like “MUST… READ… NAOOOO….”

[Sarita]

Angie, I looked at those books after seeing the trailer for the movie as well…it sounds very intense.

[bunnyfriend]

angie-la: I read all of the Hunger Games books a couple years ago, I really liked them! Very interesting.The first one was the best.

[Tipsy Bunny]

well, right now, I am reading the biology and propagation of prion formation in bovine spongiform encephalopathy for my research project… yeah… no bueno. I would so rather be outside in the rain or just plain anything but this… mad cow disease.

[RabbitPam]

Tipsy, when it hits the best seller list you can say you were one of the first to read it.
Moooooooo

[bwild]

@Tipsy Bunny – wow..I could barely get through the title without wanting to stop! lol

and I just finished Notes Left Behind. I cried through the whole book! So now it’s on to something a little more cheerful! Although I haven’t decided what.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Whoever hasn’t read the Hunger Games MUST.READ.THEM. PM me if you want to borrow

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I am trying to hunt down the books I loved as a kid and just started where the red fern grows -I’m also reading super freakanomics, a textbook on horse keeping, Skeleton crew, interview with a vampire, waste land and other poems…I know, ADD but I absolutely must have several books on the ‘go’…

Speaking of books from when I was a kid…google has no idea what I mean-I keep trying to search but I do not remember much about these books…but want to track down two novels.

One is where three teenages leave society and survive in the woods. One eventually dies and the other two return.
Another is sort of a award winning type book-you know the type, written in a fictional place where no one can see color, but one day by accepting something…they see color-a red sled I think…
I know vague-anyone have a clue what I’m talking about?

[TBpony414]

“Into the Wild” and “Into Thin Air” are great! I loved them both. Easy to read and very interesting. I didn’t like the Into the Wild movie though, the end especially was kind of weird. Books are always way better than movies anyway

 

ETA: KK, the book about colour – could it be ”The Giver”? I may be way off base but it sounds familiar and the title popped into my head.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

OMG Dances around!!! TBpony414 that is EXACTLY what I was looking for!!! We read it in school and I wanted to re-read!!
I think that’s 1000+ points for being better than google Many many thanks!!

[Sarita]

I’ve never heard of “The Giver”, but I just looked it up on Amazon and it’s part of a trilogy that sounds very intriguing.

[bwild]

I read “The Giver” in school. LOVED IT! Definitely recommend to anyone who hasn’t read it. It’s fairly short, but it’s good!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I am finishing “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Phillipa Gregory and then next I’m reading “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” by Alison Weir.

I’m kind of on a Tudor/Elizabethian kick right now. Just finished watching “Elizabeth R” on Netflix with Glenda Jackson…she was fabulous in this – I highly recommend it!

I’m a HUGE Tudors fan!!! “The Other Boleyn Girl” is one of my fave books of all time. I’m currently reading Phillipa Gregory’s “The Red Queen”. Another 5 Star, all her books are. Alison Weir is wonderful too, I’ve read “The Six Wives” and a bunch of others. My fave by her is “Innocent Traitor” about 16 year old Lady Jane Grey. I have an obsession and I buy almost every Tudor-related book  (and other historical royalty) I see, fiction and non-fiction but am running out of room. My bookcase is almost full and I have to find other places to store them. I buy them much faster than I can read them. I’m fascinated by historical monarchs but today’s royal families don’t interest me one bit.

We have on Netflix Canada “Anne of the Thousand Days” a classic Anne Boleyn Movie. If you can find, you should watch it.

Before that was “The Tudors” where they made Henry VIII sexy and I know he didn’t look that good.

Henry VIII is always portrayed as an ugly, bulbous tyrant but as a young prince he was actually very handsome by Medieval standards. He just really let himself go and became sickly. I thought the aging of the characters in the “The Tudors” was really well done. Also, I sort of liked that almost every character was really good looking.

[RabbitPam]

LPT, did you read SARUM, by Edward Rutherfurd? I never read it but it was a big seller in the 80s, and he’s a Great Britain (and Ireland) historical novelist. Don’t know if he covers Tudors.

[bunnyfriend]

Kokaneeandkahlua: I feel like I’ve read the one about the teenager going off into the woods to live…now it’s bugging me that I can’t remember the name!!!

[Tipsy Bunny]

I dont know if anyone has heard of Alex the African Grey parrot, but there is a book about him written by the woman who owned him and studied him. Its called Alex… I seriously cired and laughed and enjoyed every minuted of that book! I suggest it to anyone!!!

 

I dont know if I want to be proud to know that I know more about mad cow disease than I ever knew hahaha

[TBpony414]

YAY! So glad I was able to solve the mystery for you, KK!!
–Liz

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I didn’t know it was a trilogy-I’ll have to read the others!! I got it as soon as you figured it out, and I’m done so off to buy the other two! Hugely helpful TBpony414!!! I have been wanting to figure out what book that is for years!

Kokaneeandkahlua: I feel like I’ve read the one about the teenager going off into the woods to live…now it’s bugging me that I can’t remember the name!!!

Cool!!! Maybe if we put our heads together…I read it in grade ten…and I remember they were not well nutritionally so the girl stopped menstuating…that’s the only other detail I can get from my fuzzy old brain.

[Sarita]

LPT, “Innocent Traitor” sounds really wonderful. I just finished “The Other Boleyn Girl” and started on the Allison Weir book.

I have that movie in my queue as well.

LOL, I know he was handsome by their standards, but I don’t think he was nearly as fit or fine looking as the actor who portrayed him in the series. They were all gorgeous people in that series weren’t they! If you can get “Elizabeth R” on Netflix Canada, watch that. They even have Glenda Jackson’s teeth blackened in the show like Elizabeth’s were. Glenda Jackson is really wonderful in this series too – it was a Masterpiece Theater series.

Alison Weir has a new novel as well about Mary Boleyn that I purchased called “Mary Boleyn, The Mistress of Kings”.

[Elrohwen]

I’ll have to Netflix “Elizabeth R” – I love pretty much anything Masterpiece.

The Hunger Games was really good! I just read it a couple months ago. I definitely agree that the first was the best, but as they’re pretty short and easy to read it was definitely worth reading all three. I hadn’t heard of it before the movie buzz either, but I’m glad I read it in time to see the movie when it comes out.

[EmilyRabbit]

The Hunger Games books are super awesome, anyone who hasn’t read them definitely should. They’re really intense. I just finished reading Inheritance by Christopher Paolini- BEST BOOK SERIES EVER!! I seriously am in in love with them, but Inheritance is the last one in the series… I am going to read I am number 4 next, anyone read it? It sounds pretty good, but I don’t know!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Alison Weir has a new novel as well about Mary Boleyn that I purchased called “Mary Boleyn, The Mistress of Kings”.

I’m gonna add that to my Wish List! I wasn’t aware of that one!

[RabbitPam]

Tipsy, I have heard of Alex the A. G. parrot. Didn’t remember there was a book about him. Will have to check that out.

[kinggoblin]

I’m reading Dracula and A History of France…… I might download the Hunger Games or the last book in the Eragon series for my Christmas trip

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Just reading messenger from the giver trilogy-think I figured out the meaning-very cool book

Hunger games up next I guess!! I saw the preview for the movie and was like ‘ooops I NEED to read that!’ lol

[LBJ10]

Do journal articles for class count? Hehe.
I do have Man Swarm sitting on the table. I ordered it, but never read it.

[LittlePuffyTail]

RabbitPam- I never heard of that author. Will have to look him up.

[Elrohwen]

K&K, I’d always heard of the Giver, but when I was in school my class never read it (I know other classes did though, because I would see artwork in the halls that they did or something). I never knew what it was about, but now that you described it I want to read it! Sounds interesting.

[Elrohwen]

Question for Hunger Games fans:
A friend and I were discussing (she just finished the books) and we were both surprised that the books were written for a 5th grade reading level (I think that’s what it was). I don’t have kids, so I’m not sure what age would be appropriate, but I thought it was pretty heavy subject matter for an 11 year old. What do you guys think? I’m especially interested in hearing what parents think. Maybe 11 year olds are more mature than I’m thinking?

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Posted By Elrohwen on 12/08/2011 07:34 AM
Question for Hunger Games fans:
A friend and I were discussing (she just finished the books) and we were both surprised that the books were written for a 5th grade reading level (I think that’s what it was). I don’t have kids, so I’m not sure what age would be appropriate, but I thought it was pretty heavy subject matter for an 11 year old. What do you guys think? I’m especially interested in hearing what parents think. Maybe 11 year olds are more mature than I’m thinking?

As a parent, I’ll never discourage reading, no matter the book. Although I’d have more of a problem with my kids reading Twilight, honestly. And I love the twilight books too, its just Bella is a disgustingly wishy-washy heroine in her teens and I plan on doing my best to relate to my girls that the world *doesn’t* revolve around boys haha.

[Elrohwen]

That’s a good answer, S&LHuman!

I can’t really remember what I read at that specific age, but my parents read me more adult books when I was younger (I remember a lot of White Fang and things like that – my dad would read them and I would ask a lot of questions about what things meant, so must have been fairly young).

If I were a parent, I think I’d be more against the Hunger Games movies than the books – it’s one thing to read about violence and another to see it in a movie, though I’m imaging the movies won’t be super violent so their target audience can view it.

[Huckleberry]

Elrohwen, have you seen the Masterpiece version of Casanova with Peter O’toole and David Tennant? It’s my favorite! Ok, naturally with the subject, its not pg by any means, but I really love it! Its fun to watch. Both Peter and David do a beautiful job in it. Its bizarre and almost gothic in a way but very entertaining. I cant stress enough though that it is not a family film!

I read the Giver and 1984 in middle school and fell in love with both of those.

Currently, I am reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It has taken me a very long time to get through it though, and I am still only half way. School really puts a hold on my ability to read for pleasure. Its very detailed. Its about Dracula, but it is as if it were a true history on the subject. My bf read another book by her called Swan Thieves which is about a psychiatrist trying to sort out why a patient would want to attack a famous painting in a museum. I haven’t read it but he said it was wonderful.

[Elrohwen]

Huckles, I’m adding it to Netflix right now! No worries about the family viewing – the bunnies are under age but they don’t pay attention anyway 😛

I just thought of another author I’m liking right now – Erik Larsson. He writes historical books, but the one I read was so interesting and more like an novel. I read “Devil in the White City” which is about the guy who was the lead architect for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, set against the story of a man who was a serial killer during the same time period. I’m hoping to get his newer book for Christmas which is about Hitler’s rise to power, also told from the point of view of an American diplomat there at the time.

[Elrohwen]

Boo, it’s not available on Netflix!

[Author]

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