Kylie's Reading List

[Kell]

The Twits remains my favourite Roald Dahl book ever - I used to read it and read it over and over as a kid. I really must get a copy to read again - I think I'll check the library...!

[Kylie]

Went to a huge book fair today and came away with 38 books! Oh well, most people there were buying about the same amount as me, if not more. I got some really good bargains; most books were priced between 20c and $2, and if I had bought 2 of those books in shops, it would have cost me more than it did for all 38 books! And they're in pretty good condition. Let's see now...

 

Jean M Auel: The Clan of the Cave Bear

Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights

Dan Brown: Angels and Demons (read before, but wanted my own copy)

Dan Brown: Digital Fortress

John Buchan: The Thirty-Nine Steps

Isobelle Carmody: Obernewtyn

Agatha Christie: The Secret Adversary

Arthur C Clarke: Against the Fall of Night

Arthur C Clarke: Expedition to Earth

Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Roald Dahl: Fantastic Mr Fox

Iris Rainer Dart: Beaches

Ian Fleming: Casino Royale

Ian Fleming: Goldfinger

Ian Fleming: Moonraker

Ian Fleming: You Only Live Twice

Anne Frank: The Diary of Anne Frank

Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows

Thomas Hardy: The Woodlanders

Frank Herbert: Children of Dune

Carolyn Keene: Nancy Drew and the Clue of the Dancing Puppet

Robin Klein: Hating Alison Ashley

John Marsden: So Much to Tell You

Yann Martel: Life of Pi

Ann M Martin: 3 BSC Books (including the last one of the series; I haven't read any of these in ages, but I always wanted to read the last book)

Robert O'Brien: Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Ruth Park: Playing Beatie Bow

Terry Pratchett: The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1)

Terry Pratchett: Equal Rites (Discworld #3)

Terry Pratchett: The Light Fantastic (Discworld #2)

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: Good Omens

JRR Tolkien: The Silmarillion

Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn

Lew Wallace: Ben-Hur

[Louiseog]

Wow!

[Kylie]

I know! Do you think I have a problem? I try to convince myself that I'm just building up my future library now, and that these books will stay with me forever. So in theory, after I finish building up my collection, I won't need to buy so many books, and so often. In theory.

[angerball]

Wow! That's gotta be a record!

 

When you posted about this book fair yesterday, I had to resist the urge to ask where it was, because otherwise the same thing would have happened to me. Damn books, they'll get you every time!

[Kell]

Terry Pratchett: The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1)

Terry Pratchett: Equal Rites (Discworld #2)

Terry Pratchett: The Light Fantastic (Discworld #3)

You've got 2 & 3 the wrong way round. Although, No.3 is the best of those ones.

[Angel]

Wow! What a bargain for all those! Where to start??

[Kylie]

You've got 2 & 3 the wrong way round. Although, No.3 is the best of those ones.

 

Oops, thanks Kell Actually I did a couple of things wrong in that post, including leaving out the name of the Robert O'Brien book! I must have been too excited to think straight

 

Angerball, the book fair is on at Sydney Uni. It finishes on Wednesday so you've still got a few days if you want to go!

[angerball]

Angerball, the book fair is on at Sydney Uni. It finishes on Wednesday so you've still got a few days if you want to go!

 

Oh no, you shouldn't have told me! I don't think I'll go, now that I seen all my books in storage that I have yet to read. Thanks for letting me know, though.

[Maureen]

Wow! Kylie, that is some pile!

[Kylie]

Matilda

Roald Dahl

 

Rating: 8/10

 

Published: 1988

Number of pages: 233

ISBN: 0141311363

 

Summary (taken from blurb):

Matilda's parents have called her some terrible things. The truth is, she's a genius and they're the stupid ones. Find out how she gets the better of them and her spiteful headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, as well as discovering that she has a very special power.

 

Comments:

Matilda is another delightful read from Roald Dahl. A clever girl who loves reading uses her intelligence and powers to seek justice in her life and the life of her schoolteacher, Miss Honey.

 

Matilda is a favourite Roald Dahl book of mine. In fact, I'd forgotten how good it was. Sweet and funny, with lashings of books and chocolate cake throughout (what more could you want in a book?!) Highly recommended!

 

 

Started: 13 September 2007

Finished: 14 September 2007

 

Matilda (at librarything.com)

[Kylie]

The Small Assassin

Ray Bradbury

 

Rating: 8/10

 

Published: 1976

Number of pages: 174

ISBN: 0586042288

 

Summary (taken from blurb):

Here is a fantastic journey into a world of terror with thirteen of Bradbury's very best. A baby born with the urge to kill...the couple who leave for a honeymoon - in a cemetery...a husband and wife who have an unpleasant experience with some mummified Mexican corpses...the tombstone in the bedroom...a little boy who examines the macabre entrails of the man upstairs...

 

A chilling collection that will linger in the dark vaults of your mind long after you have finished reading it.

 

Comments:

The Small Assassin is an excellent collection of 13 horror stories. I didn't find them too gory at all, but I was very disturbed by some of them. Ray Bradbury is an excellent writer and really has the ability to put you in the situation, almost as though you're watching a movie. His descriptive writing is really something to behold.

 

There are a complete variety of stories here, and they generally keep you guessing right till the end. One story was written in the 2nd-person, which isn't something I've really come across before, but I thought Bradbury did it really well.

 

There are some things I will never look at the same way again...Highly recommended!

 

 

Started: 17 September 2007

Finished: 20 September 2007

 

The Small Assassin (at librarything.com)

[Michelle]

I'm a fan of short horror stories, so I've just ordered this from Amazon.

[Kylie]

Wow, I don't think anyone has ever bought a book on my recommendation before! I'm suddenly feeling very nervous. I really hope you like it Michelle!

[Kylie]

Picked up 5 more books at a book barn on my way home from Canberra today.

 

Anne Bronte: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

George Eliot: Middlemarch

Gogol: Dead Souls

WC Sellar and RJ Yeatman: 1066 and All That

Jules Verne: Journey to the Centre of the Earth

[Echo]

I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall about 2 years ago. Although it started off kind of slow, I ended up really liking it. Let me know what you think about it!

[Liz]

My mother is reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall at the moment and she's really enjoying. It's one of her favourites so far this year.

[JudyB]

I enjoyed it as well.

[Kylie]

Wow, seems like a popular book! I might have to bump it up the list a bit (which means I might get around to it in a few years ). I've had Jane Eyre on my TBR pile since the beginning of the year, so I'll make that my first Bronte, then move on to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

 

I'm still reading Great Expectations at the moment. I've been reading it for about 10 days and I'm only up to p 146. It's very frustrating because I'm really enjoying the book but I don't seem to be finding much time to read at the moment. I think I'm going through a bit of a reading lull at the moment. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove very soon!

[Kell]

I'll be reading Wildfell Hall later this month too - looking forward to it more than ever now!

[JudyB]

I'm still reading Great Expectations at the moment. I've been reading it for about 10 days and I'm only up to p 146. It's very frustrating because I'm really enjoying the book but I don't seem to be finding much time to read at the moment. I think I'm going through a bit of a reading lull at the moment. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove very soon!

 

 

Hope you get more time to read it - I found it wonderfully atmospheric - it one of my favourite Dicken's novels.

[Kylie]

I've really enjoyed what I've read of it so far, Judy. I was a bit wary at first because I had a bit of difficulty adjusting to Dickens' style when I read A Tale of Two Cities, but I have to say that I'm finding this a much easier read. I absolutely love his descriptive language. I re-read one part a couple of times last night because I was so tickled by it; I ended up making a note of it in a notebook:

 

...Joe, still looking at the fire, and holding his knees tight, as if he had private information that they intended to make off somewhere.

 

And later:

 

...and Joe, still detaining his knees...

[JudyB]

Not sure if you've reached it yet but I loved the description of his cap taking on a life of it's own. I loved the character of Joe especially his 'what larks Pip'.

 

My favourite descriptions are the beginning with the prison ship and the fog and also the scene in which Pip leaves and crosses the field in the fog and that's without all the Haversham gothic.

 

Happy reading.

 

Another Dickens you might enjoy is Dombey and Son (another favourite of mine).

[Kylie]

Ooh yeah, the marshes and the fog etc. Thanks for the recommendation; I'll keep an eye out for it!

[Kylie]

Went into a secondhand bookshop today and came out with the following:

 

Judy Bernard-Waite: The Riddle of the Trumpalar

Ray Bradbury: I Sing the Body Electric!

Ray Bradbury: Long After Midnight

Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

 

I read The Riddle of the Trumpalar for school many years ago, and just recently I started thinking about it, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called! I even googled it but couldn't find it (I was searching for 'templars' for starters), so I was quite excited to see it in a bookshop today! Looking forward to reading it again.

 

The two Bradbury novels are collections of short stories.