TheNinthWord

Thanks for the feedback! I'm definitely going to try to read more of her stuff now. She created an interesting world and I want to find out more about it. Started The Well of Ascension today, and I love it. I'm only three chapters in, but there's already political intrigue, mysterious figures, and an army to deal with. I'm trying to remember the details of the first book, but I'm being reminded in time.

Updated the list with a link to a review for Dragonflight from my blog. This review can also be found by clicking here.

I walk everywhere, or I use the train. I live literally 2 minutes from a station, so it's really useful. Occasionally I use buses. I do have a driver's license. I can't afford a car at the moment.

Just finished Dragonflight, and updated the list above accordingly. It took a while to edit it as I kept spotting mistakes. I'm sure I'll get used to it the more I update it though. I'll write and post a link to a review on my blog tomorrow. Starting on Brandon Sanderson's The Well of Ascension tomorrow as well. Edit: Oh, and @Kylie: No problem! I love how organised your reading list is.

Just finished Dragonflight at last. I was very impressed. I'm looking forward to reading more of the series, and I'll write a post for my blog in the morning. Not sure what to read next. I'm thinking The Well of Ascension, by Brandon Sanderson.

Bought a few books this afternoon: Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind Catch-22, Joseph Heller The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon I've decided to read a more eclectic mix of books, so I've got my fantasy, my literary, and my contemporary. Also nearly finished Dragonflight. I should definitely have it completed by the end of the day. Then I can blog about it! I've neglected my blog far too much recently.

Making good headway with Dragonflight. I only have 70 pages to go. It's quite exciting really. Good old-fashioned fantasy with dragons. It's getting a bit confusing with the time travel aspects though.

Ah great, I thought that was the case. I've done a bit of research as well, and apparently they're so thin because of the small font and they're pretty low-quality, but entirely recycled. I shall invest in some - can't go wrong at £2, really.

Lessa woke, cold. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey

Seeing as I went to my nan's today, which is a 40-minute bus journey, I had plenty of opportunity for reading today. I've read the entirety of Part 2 of Dragonflight (about 75 pages). I'm really enjoying it now. I'd like to have read it more quickly than I have been (my aim was to finish it by today), but I've been too busy these last few days. I also took a little look around Waterstone's since I had some time to kill waiting for my bus. They've got a 3 for 2 offer on all their fiction at the moment. I didn't have enough time to pick out three books and buy them, so I'm going to draw up a list and go in tomorrow. By the way, does anybody know if the Penguin Popular Classics (the ones with the bright green covers) are the full text, or just an abridged version? They didn't say they were abridged, but they seem too thin compared to more expensive editions of the same texts. They're really cheap at £2 each, so I'm tempted to buy a few, but only if they're unabridged.

I'm not sure of the exact number, but probably about 100-200 books, spread across two continents. I took loads over to the USA when my parents emigrated, and so loads have stayed there. The ones I keep here in the UK are my more recent books and some of my favourites. There are still a lot that I want to re-read across the pond, mainly books I read when I was younger. Maybe I'll get them back at some point to fill my shelves again.

I was thinking that too! The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite books. I can also recommend The Yellow Wallpaper and Frankenstein. Dracula has an amazing opening section, but I felt a bit disappointed by the novel as a whole. Same with The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I recently started reading Poe, and some Lovecraft (though the latter isn't strictly Gothic, it's still quite thrilling) and I love both of them.

The Witches was on Channel 5 this afternoon when I got back from work. I only saw the last half, but it brought back the memories. I used to love it when I was younger. Watching it a few years later and I'm amazed how they made eating soup such a dramatic thing. Anjelica Huston is amazing. Edit: Typos. I should sleep really.

District Nine. It was different to what I expected, but I really enjoyed it.

David Attenborough's First Life. It's reminding me how exciting our planet is and how extraordinarily complex and fascinating Life is.

Sultana bran! Nom nom

I've been doing a close reading of Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth for my Lyrical Ballads seminar tomorrow. It's a really nice poem. I'm not usually a fan of Wordsworth, but I love this. Favourite quote: "While with an eye made quiet by the power / Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, / We see into the life of things." Edit: Also hoping to get some more of Dragonflight read this evening.

Books on my bookshelf as of 13 November (27): -Mansfield Park, Jane Austen -Mister B. Gone, Clive Barker -The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson -Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson -Selected Poems of Lord Byron -Wild Swans, Jung Chang -The Divine Comedy, Dante -Inkheart, Cornelia Funke -American Gods, Neil Gaiman -Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman -Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind -The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid -Imperium, Robert Harris -Catch-22, Joseph Heller -Ted Hughes: Poems Selected by Simon Armitage -Geomancer, Ian Irvine -Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan -Wish I Was Here, Jackie Kay -Four Past Midnight, Stephen King -The Stand, Stephen King -H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus 3: The Haunter of the Dark -Elric, Michael Moorcock -What Was Lost, Catherine O'Flynn -52 Ways of Looking at a Poem, Ruth Padel -The Fall of the House of Usher, and Other Writings, Edgar Allen Poe -The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery -The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Continuing with Dragonflight and I'm starting to love it. It's making me feel like a child again. I want a dragon!

Starting this a little late in the year, but I was so impressed by Kylie's list that I feel inspired to make my own. I'm hoping it'll inspire me to read more. * indicates books that form part of my degree I have also included links to my blog reviews of each book. Books read in 2010 (27): January (1) *-Dracula, Bram Stoker : review February (1) *-She, H. Rider Haggard March (1) -Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke : review April (3) -Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë -Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman : review -Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier : review May (1) -Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan : review June (1) -Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice : review July (3) -The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson : review -The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, Ian Mortimer -The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins August (3) *-The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien -Soul Music, Terry Pratchett *-The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien September (3) *-The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien *-Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth & Coleridge, 1798 -Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers October (6) *-Scribes and Illuminators, Christopher de Hamel *-Richard II, William Shakespeare *-Historical Source Book for Scribes, Lovett & Brown *-King Lear, William Shakespeare *-The British Library Guide to Bookbinding, P.J.M. Marks *-A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare -The Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan - currently put aside November (3) -Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey : review *-Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare *-The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare December (1) *-Merlin's Wood, Robert Holdstock

Continued reading Dragonflight. Now about 100 pages in, and I'm starting to enjoy it. Still not a fan of McCaffrey's language, but the plot is interesting enough to override it and keep my interest.

Yep, that's the one. First time reading anything of McCaffrey's. Not sure if I like her yet.

Been reading a bit more of Dragonflight. I'm starting to get into the way it's written, even if I find the language a bit superfluous and distracting. It's being a bit predictable at the moment, but hopefully that'll change.

To say that I love books and that I'm doing an English Literature degree I don't read very quickly at all. It usually takes me at least a couple of weeks to read a book. It's not that I read slowly. It's that I don't allocate the time to reading. I keep meaning to make more time for reading. At the moment my spare time seems to be frittered away on the internet not doing anything in particular. But of course sometimes I have my good weeks where I'll read a couple of books in a week. But those are rarer than I'd like them to be.

Ahh I'm sorry but I have just given up with it today. I left it for too long without picking it up so I lost the flow. I've decided to read a couple of other books before I try again, but I will get there. It took me a couple of attempts to read the first book, so this isn't unusual for me. I recently bought the second in the Mistborn series. I haven't read it yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.