AbielleRose Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 (edited) Books are as much a part of me as water and carbon. I tend to read very quickly and after a while forget the books I have read, even the ones that I loved. So, here I am, on this wonderful forum website writing a blog so that if I ever get that deja vu feeling of 'I know I've read that before...haven't I?' I can just come back here and find out for sure! Someday, when the time is right, I hope to be a writer myself. Unfortunately school is just not an option for me at the moment so I am relying on the greats such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Tennyson, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Patterson, J. K. Rowling, etc... to inspire me to pick up a pen and work on my own dream works. One book that I have recently finished is a beautifully written Sci-Fi YA Fantasy by Cassandra Clare called The Mortal Instruments Series. If you are looking for a book full of passion, demons, epic fight scenes, and a creative 'good vs. evil' plot line than this would be a great choice. It is one of the most compelling works I have read recently and the characters are very easy to identify with. The main character, Clary Fray, is one of my favorite characters ever written. Trust me people, she is sitting up there with Elizabeth Bennett, Frodo, and Harry Potter (yeah... weird combo... I know...). I just picked up 6 books yesterday and am looking forward to starting Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker (thanks to whoever on this site recommended it!) If anyone happens upon this little thread please feel free to leave me some recomendations. I love having a long reading list; it makes me feel good. You can make my day by leaving me a book or two to tack onto it! Edited August 23, 2009 by CaliLily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 How about The Hundredth Man by Jack Kerley, or The Straw Men by Michael Marshall? These are terribly good books. If you like, pop onto my McRecommends thread, because I'm always topping that one up. Hoping this finds you well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 (edited) Updated Reading List for 2010 (updated 10/20/2010) Abby’s Books (Auto-) Biography The Beatles- Lewisohn Reading Lolita in Tehran- Nafisi John Lennon- The Life- Norman A Child Called ‘It’- Pelzer Prime Green- Remembering the 60’s - Stone Classics Essential Shakespeare Irish Fairy Tales The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Women and Literature (textbook containing multiple authors) Jane Eyre- Bronte The House of the Seven Gables- Hawthorne To Kill a Mockingbird- Lee Dramatic Life- Ludlow The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath Catcher in the Rye- Salinger Romeo and Juliet- Shakespeare Frankenstein- Shelley The Picture of Dorian Gray- Wilde’ Cookbooks The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook- Bucholz Poetry Japanese Death Poems Selected Poems of William Blake The Collective Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning The Collective Poems of Emily Dickinson Essays and Poems of Ralph Waldo Emmerson Refrence American Heritage Dictionary Druid Magic The History of Witchcraft and Demonology The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Royal Britain Revision and Self Editing- Bell Romance/ Mystery/ Historical Fiction/ Other Thanks for the Memories- Ahern Warlord-Bell The Heir- Burrows Secrets of Mary Magdalene- Burstein Hero- Brooks The Reckless Surrender- Campbell Stories I Wouldn’t Tell Nobody But God- Clark A Secret Kept- de Rosnay Learning to Die in Miami- Eine A Lady’s Guide to Improper Behavior- Enoch Sun Stroked- Fox Water for Elephants- Gruen A Thousand Splendid Suns- Hosseini The Devotion of Suspect X- Higashino Seabiscuit- Hildenbrand A Kiss at Midnight- James Echoes- Jones-Gunn Filthy Shakespeare- Kiernan Traveling With Pomegranates- Kidd/Taylor The Breach- Lee God’s Guest List- Macomber The Secrets of Seduction- Mallory More Tales of the City- Maupin O. Juliet- Maxwell The Road- McCarthy A Man No More- McPhee The Heretic Queen- Michelle Moran Adam and Eve- Naslund Voice of America- Osondu Sunday at Tiffany’s- Patterson The Monster of Florence- Preston Irish Born Trilogy- Roberts Push- Sapphire The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud- Sherwood The Man Who Ate the 747- Sherwood The Lovely Bones- Sebold Dear John- Sparks Wolf Fever- Spear The Lady Elizabeth- Wein Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal Halloween Horrors (Multiple Authors) Bitten- Armstrong Doctor Who- Autonomy- Blythe The Alchemist- Coelho Wicked Appetite- Evanovich Pride and Prejudice and Zombies- Grahame- Smith House of Horror- Holzer First Grave on the Right- Jones Shadow Bound- Kellison Shadow Fall- Kellison Through the Faerie Glass- Klein The Historian- Kostova Ghost Country- Lee The Next Queen of Heaven- Maguire Doctor Who- The Glamour Chase- Russell Born to Bite- Sands Lord of the Rings- The Two Towers- Tolkien YA Fiction Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1- 3 stories (Multiple Authors) Brightly Woven- Bracken Glass Houses- Caine Clockwork Angel- Clare Hunger Games- Collins Revolution- Donnely Inkheart- Funke Nightlight- The Harvard Lampoon Heavenly- Laurens A Wrinkle in Time- L’Engle The Mermaid’s Mirror- Madigan Once a Witch- McCullough Evermore- Alyson Noel If I Should Die Before I Wake- Nolan Before I Fall- Oliver Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- Rowling Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince- Rowling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Rowling The Forest of Hands and Teeth- Ryan The Book Thief- Zusak Edited October 20, 2010 by CaliLily updating list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 How about The Hundredth Man by Jack Kerley, or The Straw Men by Michael Marshall? These are terribly good books. If you like, pop onto my McRecommends thread, because I'm always topping that one up. Hoping this finds you well. Thanks Mac! I will definately look into those and check out your thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 Great news! I just checked out Cassandra Clare's blog and the ink is officially dry! The Mortal Instruments Series is currently in the process of being adapted to the big screen! It is still in the beginning stages but a screen writer has been hired and Ms Clare has high hopes for a great end result! Here is the link to her blog/website if anyone is curious about checking it out. http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/33056.html In other reading 'news' I have been lazy today and have not managed to read a page yet... then again, it is only about 10 in the morning so there will be plenty of time for that later We have a beautiful waterfall park in town that has lots of grassy hills overlooking the falls. It is one of my favorite places to relax and read so I am planning on going out there for a few hours today to soak up some sun and stories. There couldn't be a better day for it either! Not a cloud in the sky, no humidity and just a light breeze. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday before returning to the world of work tomorrow. I know I will! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 Mister B. Gone is going rather slowly. Since I can only read before bed and I tend to dream about the books I read (weird... yes, I know) reading a thriller isn't exactly the best thing. Hopefully I will spend some more time on it this weekend since it is a holiday. I did, however, finish the 3rd book in Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series (Revelations). I am addicted and cannot wait until October when the 4th book (The Van Alen Legacy... yes, I have pre-ordered it already) comes out. It is one of the most creative vampire series out there and de la Cruz blends traditional vampire myth into upscale New York society better than anyone else could ever hope to! I have pulled up Google several times just to check out some of the refrences to history/geography she has made... aka, I am learning as well as being entertained What more could you want from a book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 I see that you're also reading the Stephanie Plum series. How are you finding it? I have the first one in front of me right now and am trying to resist the temptation to start reading it until I finish my current read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 I see that you're also reading the Stephanie Plum series. How are you finding it? I have the first one in front of me right now and am trying to resist the temptation to start reading it until I finish my current read. Don't resist, dig in! I just started number 12 today and they are so great! The first book is still my favorite out of the series but each one is different with good pace and more laughs than I have ever gotten out of a book series! You will love them (Grandma Mazur is my favorite character. She is hillarious!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 Thanks I will get onto it as soon as possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 I finished another Stephanie Plum novel today (Twelve Sharp). It is definately my favorite (so far) in the series. A while ago I purchaced Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov but just kept putting off reading. For one of my Lit classes in college we had to read a book called Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. Ever since reading that very moving memoir I have been wanting to read Nabokov. Reading Lolita in Tehran dosn't have much to do with Nabokov's book aside from the namesake but it is a very powerful and disturbingly real account of women in one of the most oppressed countries in the world. If you haven't read it please put it on your list. It is one of the books that changed my life and made me appreciate my freedoms as an American woman in today's world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I have Reading Lolita in Tehran on my read around the world challenge list and I'm really looking forward to reading it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 I have Reading Lolita in Tehran on my read around the world challenge list and I'm really looking forward to reading it You'll have to let me know how you like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I also have that on my TBR and I actually managed to get a copy of it from the library. I can't wait to read it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 You'll have to let me know how you like it. Thank you, I will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 We are only 2 and a half weeks away from the beginning of a new year so I have been making my list (and checking it twice... hehe) of literary goals I want to accomplish in 2010. Goal #1: Read all of the books I have purchaced but haven't read yet. Goal #2: Read more of the classics. Goal #3: Reread my favorites. Goal #4: Start sampling genres I haven't read or have only read a little of previously. All in all, fairly simple goals. I am going to try and read 1 book a week minimum (5ish books/month). January Goals: The complete works of Jane Austen in the order of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan. As much as I love Jane Austen I have never been able to read all of her stories back to back. Hopefully this will be a good (and do-able) challenge to kick off the start of the new year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Hiya CaliLily, I see you have many great goals for next year, me likey! Goal #1: Read all of the books I have purchaced but haven't read yet. I was wondering how many books that might be? This was the goal I liked the best, always a good decision to read the books we buy, don't you agree Goal #4: Start sampling genres I haven't read or have only read a little of previously. I liked this one very much too, I think it's good to broaden one's horizons and I always applaud the people who are so openminded that they don't mind trying just about anything. I hope you make some great finds Happy reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 Some of the best books I've read have been ones that I bought and let sit on the shelf for a few months (aka, years). Usually if there is a lot of talk about one I will buy it even if I'm not motivated to actually read it. I just finished going through both of my bookshelves and the list of unread is: 1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux 2. The Glass Lake- Maeve Binchy 3. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott 4. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox- Maggie O' Farrell 5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova 6. Essays and Poems- Ralph Waldo Emerson 7. The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri 8. The House of the Seven Gables- Nathaniel Hawthorne As soon as I finish with my January goal of reading all of Jane Austen's I will work my way down the list. I seem to stick around the classics and fantasy with a little bit of chick lit here and there. I would really like to start reading some historical fiction and mysteries. One particular author I would like to get into is James Patterson. It seems like every time I am in Barnes and Noble I pick up and carry around one of his books and then decide not to get it just before I check out. I am going to make a point to actually buy and read at least one of his sometime soon. If you or anyone else has a reccomendation for me I would appreciate it! The best way to discover a new world is to keep your eyes and your mind open to the one in front of you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 (edited) 1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova I also have these two on my TBR list. 3. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott I dislike Winona Ryder which is why I always refused to read Little Women but this year I finally gave in and I really enjoyed it. Since you like Jane Austen, I think you might enjoy this one too, although it's more for a younger audience, and about younger people. But a very enjoyable read! 4. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox- Maggie O' Farrell I've heard about this one, if I'm not totally mistaken it's been a reading circle book on here some time ago? It sounds like a really intriguing read. 7. The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri I took a couple of literature courses some time ago and this novel was talked about at lengths and the teacher made it sound like it was a really difficult read with a lot of metaphors and symbolism. So my hats off to you for this one! I'd say that if you've been eyeing them Patterson novels so many times you have to actually buy one sometime and get on with it! Then you'll know what to think of it I think there's a thread here on historical fiction and you'd probably get a lot of great tips from there. Historical fiction is something I'd be interested to try more myself so I'll be watching your reading blog closely next year As for the recommendations, I'll put my thinking cap on someday and see what I'll come up with. Edited December 17, 2009 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux 5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova Phantom is a brilliant book. One of my favourites and highly underrated. I love the musical also, which I saw prior to the book and it's very different but enjoyable all the same. The Historian is also awesome if not a little tedious. You'd want to be REALLY into your history to not get bored, but personally it was just my cup of tea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Phantom is a brilliant book. One of my favourites and highly underrated. I love the musical also, which I saw prior to the book and it's very different but enjoyable all the same. I guess you're right about that, I didn't even know it was a book until I joined BCF. Before that I only knew about the opera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 I guess you're right about that, I didn't even know it was a book until I joined BCF. Before that I only knew about the opera. I didn't know it was a book either until I saw it in the bookstore a few months back. The musical is brilliant! I mainly want to read Paradise Lost so that I can use it as a refrence for a few scenes in my own little writing project. Hopefully it is what I am hoping it will be, but I guess we'll see. I'm currently reading Paradise Lost by John Milton and it is one of the most difficult works I have read. I can't imagine Dante being worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 I just finished going through both of my bookshelves and the list of unread is: 1. Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux 2. The Glass Lake- Maeve Binchy 3. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott 4. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox- Maggie O' Farrell 5. The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova 6. Essays and Poems- Ralph Waldo Emerson 7. The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri 8. The House of the Seven Gables- Nathaniel Hawthorne Just found one I had previously missed in my initial search 9. Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawr Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Books are as much a part of me as water and carbon. I like how you put this, i agree, and i'm sure many others here do too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 I'm currently reading Paradise Lost by John Milton and it is one of the most difficult works I have read. I can't imagine Dante being worse.I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but... if by 'worse' you mean 'more difficult', then yes it is . As you won't be reading Dante in the original, a lot will depend on the translation (my dad recommends the one done by Dorothy Leigh Sayers as the most faithful, though I myself have never read him in English), however in Italian at least the language, style and metre are fairly archaic - it's a 14th century text, and Italian is a far more rapidly changing language than English is so it reads even older. Paradise Lost, for instance, reads to me pretty much like modern English, give or take the occasional word that's fallen out of use; ok the language is heightened and there's rethorical figures galore but the syntax is pretty much what it is now - so if you found Paradise Lost difficult, you will indeed find The Divine Comedy even worse, as the syntax of the text can appear quite dense. As well as that, the historical, literary, etc. references are numerous and you will need footnotes to understand how these fit into the text as a whole. This is not to discourage you; Inferno (Purgatory and Paradise are the tedious ones in pretty much everyone's opinion, 'cos all the interesting people are damned ) is a masterpiece of poetry, a fascinating work of theology and the amazing testimony of the conflict between the poet's Catholic faith and his empathy for his fellow human being - there's figures he couldn't help but condemn, yet you feel in his voice pity and admiration. Definitely recommended, then; just, make sure your edition is furnishing you with the best tools to appreciate it . @ Frankie: 'The Divine Comedy' a novel ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 @ Frankie: 'The Divine Comedy' a novel ? I knew that the word would come and haunt me when I decided to call The Divine Comedy as such!! You have to excuse me, it was 1 AM when I wrote that and I didn't remember what the blooming Comedy was to be exact so I just went with 'a novel' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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