Scarlette

Anne Rice's Lestat - Deliciously bad and so shockingly self-indulgent about it, you can't help but love him. Stefan (Anne Rice's Violin) - Tormenting the living? Check. Haunting them relentlessly? Check. Entrancing them with your otherwordly charm? Check. This guy is the perfect ghostly cocktail. Tony Doubt (Olivia Liberty's Falling) - Tony is your average obsessive boyfriend... but there's a glimmer of sadness and desperation about him. Wonder why... Henry Winter (Donna Tartt's Secret History) - I love academic types with a taste for murder... Clare (Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife) - I admire the way Clare deals with a husband that literally disappears at any given moment. She reminds me that sometimes it's worth hanging in there.

Almost all the books I read lately are from, unknown authors - well, previously unknown to me. There are a few authors I pick up automatically because I know I'd love what they write. But I also love trying out new authors, because you never know what wonderful books you might discover.

Hmm... Let's see.. 1. I'm terrified of driving a car myself. 2. In high school I sometimes borrowed the teacher's accounting answer book to *ahem* mark the previous day's work... 3. I'm very shy. 4. I've been in a long-distance relationship for almost five years - no, we haven't met, yet! 5. I'm scared of going to sleep at night, because I'm worried I might not wake up again.

My boyfriend doesn't mind me reading at all... He does mind the fact that classic literature doesn't really interest me, though. We have very different taste when it comes to books.

Lately I find myself being surprisingly strongwilled when I visit the bookstore for browsing purposes only. I just tell myself - firmly, but politely - that, no, you will not buy another book, not under any circumstances. Then I slowly, but determinedly enter the store, glance at the prettiful books... And not buy anything. It's very difficult, but sometimes one has to restrain yourself when it comes to such temptations.

I have one or two classics sitting on my shelf gathering dust. I'm just a little apprenhensive about them, since I haven't found a very intriguing classic, yet and I'm expecting to be somewhat disappointed again.

I've read some of the letters written by Emily Dickinson. They're quite interesting, especially the "controversial" ones - no one knows who they were intended for.

I've experienced this with many books. Unfortunately for me, I'm so impatient that I sometimes read books at the wrong time, don't enjoy them and then never give them a second chance. And this usually happens with books I have been looking forward to reading for ages.

I read very few English books as a child. Except for the Goosebumps series, all the books I read were in Afrikaans (my mother tongue). I loved reading detective stories, though. My favourites were similar to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series.

I'm having fun rereading a few books from R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series. They're so entertaining and I still remember how much they terrified me as a kid. Good times.

What was most interesting to me about Anne Frank's diary, was that even though she and her family were living in such dreadful circumstances, she still had every day teenage thoughts and interests. She worried about whether a boy was interested in her too, about growing up, her relationship with her parents, etc. At first this was a bit disappointing - I expected a lot more information about the war - but as I continued reading, it really became what intrigued me most. She was just a regular girl in an extraordinary situation.

I read Dracula earlier this year. It was my first venture into classic literature. It was an interesting read, although I had expected more of it. I felt that some of the characters were a little dull - Mina and Jonathan - but others, such as Renfield and Van Helsing were well written and I loved reading the parts told from their perspectives. I might give this one another try sometime in the future.

I'm a cover art snob - I won't even try to deny it! - and extra bits like author information, pretexts and such don't really enhance a story for me in any way. If I have a choice between two editions, I choose the more aesthetically pleasing. I suppose it's the collector in me. *shrugs*

An Agatha Christie fan? Very good. Welcome to the forum!

I finished One, Two, Buckle my Shoe by Agatha Christie this weekend. I liked it, but in some ways it was a bit too much like a soap opera...

My sentiments, exactly. It's a pity that good ghost stories seem to be so out of literary fashion these days...

Thank you, Bookjumper. I certainly don't mind having a look at all four - well, three, since I have read Carpe Jugulum and I'm almost sure the quote isn't from that one, although my memory could be failing me - of those. I'll have a few laughs along the way, trying to locate that specific phrase. Thank you!

May I possibly interrupt with a request as to a Terry Prachett book containing the quote I currently have in my signature? (I think creating a thread in the "Looking for a book" section is perhaps a bit unneccessary, although if the mods prefered, I would do so). I found this quote together with others regarding Alice in Wonderland's Cheshire Cat and I'm just dying to know which book it's from. Oh, said quote is: "Slowly, the grin disappeared, until nothing was left but the cat. This is nearly as scary as the other way around."

I read this a while ago and it has stayed with me. It's a very ominous tale and it really does give you that shiver down your spine effect. I read it in the livingroom, with the lights on and the television in the background, so in my opinion it's a very scary tale indeed.

it was known to enjoy...

Granted. But unfortunately people think you an insufferable know-it-all and refuse to speak to you. Sad really, but then you did ask for it, didn't you? I wish I had a time machine.

I very much love Hercule Poirot. Gentlemanly, witty, such a quick thinker, and to top it all off, he has an egg-shaped head! What more could a girl possibly ask for?