bethany725

I'm fortunate in a way that I don't have the ability to hang on to books since we move all the time.. It means that instead of lending books, I can just pass them along and not expect them in return so I don't give a shod what happens to them! My only stipulation is that when my friend finishes the books, she passes it along to someone else or donates it to a library or school instead of just throwing it out if she has no need to keep it. Past that... I don't have to worry about caring!

Hopefully you haven't gotten hit by any objects yet I can totally understand your stance on this series.. I liked the books but I also didn't expect the world from them. I haven't read a Young Adult book in so long that I don't even know if they're up to par with most YA books/series/etc .. basically I expected that it would be lighter, more basic reading than most of the books I read -- even the chick lit ones. AND I am NOT into vampire/fantasy series (don't even like Harry Potter much) so I totally expected to hate the subject matter. I didn't expect a lot (despite all the hype -- I think it's hard to have low expectations when something is so hyped up!) so didn't have anywhere to fall really. Twilight was one of my fav ones of the series (so you may really hate them all! ) but I also liked the 3rd and 4th (as unpopular as the 4th one is). I will say that when I finished the series, I wasn't sad to be done -- some books I hate that they're over. With this one, maybe because it was so long, I was glad to be able to be done and move on to something else. Good luck if you decide to read anymore! I do hope you start enjoying them a bit more.

Mmmm Yummy!! They are so addictive and I must not eat them!!

26 here

Hi and welcome!! I just finished the Twilight series myself, and have been waving my opinions around in the threads on here. There are at least 2 Twilight threads that are really interesting on here, but I'd recommend staying away until you've finished Breaking Dawn.. Things get revealed in there sometimes.

Hi Z! Hope you enjoy it here! My TBR list has tripled since joining BCF, so you should get lots and lots of great recommendations.

Hi and welcome, Kookie! Glad to see you following in your mom's footsteps on this one BTW, love your avatar -- super cute!

I always have to lay books with the front cover facing up... I can't stand to look at a book in my own or office and see the back of the book facing up. That's about my only quirk though, I think. Although I AM fond of how some certain books feel -- I don't love the super glossy finishes; I tend to go for the covers that have just a tiny bit of grain running through them. Feels so nice!!

Hi and welcome, Sarah!! You'll fit right in here with your addiction (YES! it IS an addiction.. j/k to books! Hope you have a great time exploring and learning about the site.

I agreed with this, actually, as unpopular as this opinion has become. I too was glad about the ending -- I think

Hi and welcome!!! I hope you love it here!

I read The Tenth Circle all the way through.. and it's still my least favorite so far. I got sooo tired of the comic book bits and all the Dante and Alaska bits! Sort of interesting though if you take a look at interviews with Picoult -- this is one of her favorites that she's written! For me, this was just not as good as her others.

This is great.. I love it! I've never posted a book either, nor am I clever enough to come up with this quip.

It sounds like a marvelous read, doesn't it?! I hope you try it and have better luck the first time than I did my first reading of it!

I've given this a lot of thought and held off on posting, because I didn't know if the books I listed would be "right," or even what factors I should consider when deciding if it's a book I think EVERYONE should read. Finally, I stopped overanalyzing it and decided that, for me, the best list I could put out there was a list of stories that I think have the potential to teach some valuable life lessons to, or have an impact on, as many people as possible. So for better or worse, this is my list of the 5 books (in no order) I think can make a big impact on people regardless of genre preference, race, religion, age, gender, etc. Fortune's Rocks -Anita Shreve Great Expectations -Charles Dickens A Thousand Splendid Suns -Khaled Hosseini The Scarlet Letter -Nathaniel Hawthorne Midwives -Chris Bohjalian

Curious if anyone else has read this book? It sounds SO great to me (see synopsis below), and I stuck it in my buggy as soon as I read the back of it in the bookstore. However, since then, I've tried to read it and just couldn't get into it. It went slowly for me and I kept getting distracted and had to re-read. Eventually I gave up. I want to give it another try one day because it just sounds so fabulous. Anyone else tried this one before?? Synopsis: From the outside, the Knowles family appeared to have it all

Reviews are sort of what I had in mind when I thought of taking notes.. Sometimes I just read inactively and I finish a book and I know if I liked it or not.. but it's hard for me to really pin down WHAT I liked about it, or why. It makes it really hard for me to sort of review a book in whole, since I only take away my final impressions and can't remember my first impressions and the development as much (especially with long books). I've been reading some today and trying this out, and I think the notes have been really helpful for me so far. Especially with things like perspective changes and shifts from one time period to another, it's been helping me sort those things out and keep them straight. I notice for sure that I tend to make more notes as the characters are being developed early on, and I jot down things as I draw conclusions about them. I've also kept a running list of some questions that I have along the way, and a couple of them I've already been able to answer just from reading further and stringing parts together. Overall, I'm hoping it actually enhances my reading experience, rather than detracts from it. I (and this is only me!) tend to just read mindlessly sometimes, and I feel like I might be able to take away more if I can look back at the end and see the true "big picture" and understand the developments that took the story from beginning to end. Hopefully it will help make my own little reviews, critiques, and ramblings about books stronger and more developed. We'll see.. could be something I try once, hate, and never do again. But I figure it's worth a shot!

Hi everyone I'm trying something new with the novel I just started reading.. I've started taking notes as I go along. Mainly first impressions and details of the characters, details about the setting and the time period, etc. I often find that as I read a book and my perspective changes or shifts based on the knowledge of the characters/plot/etc, I get to the end and forget how I felt in the beginning of the book. I sort of do a more 'inactive' reading thing and don't really take notice of some of the details about the characters and situations that could lend me insight as I travel further into the story. So this time, in an effort to be a more 'active' reader, I'm taking these notes so it hopefully builds my understanding better. I'll see if it works! Does anyone else do this or any form of note-taking while reading? Would love to hear what does and doesn't work for others.

Picked Drowning Ruth (Christina Schwarz) as my next fiction read, since it was on my shelf and sounds really good!: "....In the winter of 1919, a young mother named Mathilda Neumann drowns beneath the ice of a rural Wisconsin lake. The shock of her death dramatically changes the lives of her daughter, troubled sister, and husband....Told in the voices of several of the main characters and skipping back and forth in time, the narrative gradually and tantalizingly reveals the dark family secrets and the unsettling discoveries that lead to the truth of what actually happened the night of the drowning....Schwarz certainly succeeds at keeping the reade engrossed." -Francine Prose, US Weekly I'm on page 24 and it's really good so far -- the story starts quickly and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next! Lots of narrative shifts (1st person to 3rd person) and it moves back in forth in time a bit, but it's not hard to follow, so seems nicely done so far! It was published in 2000, is Schwarz's debut novel, and was selected as part of Oprah's Book Club.. just as a little bit of background on its acknowledgments. I'm also going to try to pick a classic to read along with it.. Will hopefully start the classic soon also! (Still going for either Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre!)

This sounds DELICIOUS, Talisman!! I love saucy things, so this is totally up my alley. Do you think I could substitute soy milk for the soya cream / rice milk ?

"Ruth remembered drowning." - Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

All this talk about parents buying their children books and taking them to the library, etc is fabulous! My parents and my husband's parents all did the same things for us when we were little, and I think that I'm going to make this a top priority when/if we have a child. It's so important!

It's Cigar Night tonight at the club (for my husband -- NOT for me! ) so we're heading down there after he gets off work. Not sure what they have to offer on the menu, but hopefully I'll find something yummy for dinner there!

Possibly.. It can't hurt once I get through some of the other things I have on my list!