What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

[DaveWadding]

lets see:

I bought and finished Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball last week and got it autographed today!

The book I'm reading right now is The Pixar Touch by David A. Price (which I technically haven't started yet...)

After that, I have Three Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger & Tony La Russa.

and for my Children's Lit class I have:

C.S. Lewis: The Man Behind Narnia by Beatrice Gromley & A Picture Book of Eleanor Roosevelt by David A. Adler for the Biographies unit and Richard Peck's The River Between Us for the Fiction unit.

Whew.

[blackcauldron85]

I don't remember what I read right before these, but:

"Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks- I love all of his books, and this was no exception.

"Twilight", "New Moon", "Eclipse", and "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (sp?)- Amazing. I knew they would be. Took a week or 2 to get through them all, but so worth it!!!

[Margos]

I'm currently working on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Very well written, but very depressing, and kind of disgusting from time to time, too. I will never look at sausage the same way again.

[IagoZazu]

I'm reading The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is epic.

[UmbrellaFish]

To Kill a Mockingbird

After that, maybe Tarzan, Lord of the Apes?

[ajmrowland]

I finished The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife and am on to The Amber Spyglass.

[SmartAleck25]

Great series, ajmrowland. I think the first book is the best. I've been working on the Pendragon series, I just finished the Pilgrims of Rayne, and am working on Raven Rise.

[Margos]

Ajmrowland... I'm not going to spoil anything for you, but when I finished the last book, I couldn't sleep all night. Be sure to have tissues on hand!

Right now, I'm reading Les Miserables. It's interesting, sort of. I don't know, I'm not very far into it, so I really can't say yet if I like it or not. I have no idea where the plot is going, yet, I just finished the first chapter.

[IagoZazu]

Finished The Fellowship of the Ring, now I'm reading The Two Towers.

[Chernabog_Rocks]

I finished The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.

Such an awesome book. One chapter alone was a roller coaster of emotions, never mind the rest of the book. The closer I got to the end, the longer I stayed up to read. Tons of Omg moments amongst other reactions. I had earned a lot of strange looks while reading it.

[Margos]

I finished The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.

Such an awesome book. One chapter alone was a roller coaster of emotions, never mind the rest of the book. The closer I got to the end, the longer I stayed up to read. Tons of Omg moments amongst other reactions. I had earned a lot of strange looks while reading it.

Someone else who's actually heard of the Wheel of Time!? OMGWTFBBQ!!!

I, unfortuantely, had to stop about six books in, I think, just because I didn't have the free time. I'll have to start it up again at some point, it was fantastic!
But what is this one that you've read? Is that the finale that Robert Jordan had left unfinished?

[Kossage]

The Long Good-bye by Raymond Chandler. I heard this was a good hard-boiled detective book but I never expected it to turn out this great.

The characters are wonderfully complex and develop as the story goes on, the plot begins in relatively simple terms but becomes more and more complex as more surprising facts are revealed, and the vivid descriptions really help to set the mood for this almost dream-like writing style. The narrative keeps one in its grip throughout the whole novel, and the whole melancholic storytelling actually enhances the whole plot to a new level of bittersweet epic that I've rarely seen in this kind of fiction.

I also like the way how Chandler uses his protagonist Philip Marlowe's narration as social criticism of the US, and there are very interesting jabs at Chandler himself thanks to the inclusion of the writer Roger Wade.

Overall the novel was a pleasant surprise and it's definitely worth a read.

[Disneykid]

Well, let's see, at the beginning of the year I read The Warrior Heir by Cinda Chima which was absolutely amazing. It's shot up to all-time favorites list. This NEEDS to be made into a film. Pronto.

Then I read Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters (which I enjoyed, moreso than The Lightning Thief, which I finished around Christmas) and I just started the third one in that series, The Titan's Curse. I'm trying to finish the series before the film comes out, but I have a feeling I'll only make it halfway through the fourth by then. Still, I'll continue through the series.

Once I'm done with that, then I'm going through my Alice in Wonderland collection to prepare for Burton's film (The Annotated Alice, The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy, Hatter M comics, Disney's Wonderland comic, various storybook versions).

As soon as I finish all that and the Alice mania dies down, I'm going to read the rest of Cinda Chima's Heir Trilogy: The Wizard Heir and The Dragon Heir.

At the end of the year I'm re-reading The Annotated Brothers Grimm, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the entire Chronicles of Narnia to prepare for those films (if you're wondering about the Grimm connection, it's for Rapunzel's release). What I read throughout the summer in between The Heir Trilogy and Brothers Grimm is up in the air. I might finally start Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which I keep hearing so much about.

[disneyboy20022]

I have read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books 1-4 for the month of January...and I only have 3 chapters left of the 5th one: The Last Olympian so by the end of the month I'll have probably read the whole series including the one I am going to start on after the 5th book called: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The DemiGod Files which should take about a day for me to finish due to it's short..


then after that I might read Harry Potter and the Dealthly Hallows just to refresh my memory on the book...which if I work hard enough it should take me 5 days or 7 at teh most to read..

Fun Facts about myself:

Yes I'm a very very very fast reader and a fast typer........I also was in a spelling bee that I only 100 kids had gotten to in the whole district after winning the local school one... but I missed on a word that everyone said I should have been able to spell because im like it......argumentative.....kinda like when Charlie Brown spelled Beagle the wrong way

[SmartAleck25]

Ok, I am lagging behind in Pendragon. I'm halfway through Soldiers of Halla. Disneykid, have you by any chance read the Demon King? It's a rather interesting read by Ms. Cinda.

[jpanimation]

Just finished:

Animation (Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Archive Series)

Wow, what a great book. Its a visual book, so no real reading, but just a bunch of animator's drawings. It starts off with animation from Oswald and ends with The Princess and the Frog. I actually enjoyed Story more then Animation, but this is still highly recommended. One thing that disappointed me is they had NOTHING from Hunchback (Hellfire sequence) or Tarzan (some amazing vine swinging/tree surfing stuff) or Brother Bear (some of the most solid stuff ever) but they still manage to throw in some Treasure Planet, ugh. Also, lack of Stitch (among MANY others) annoyed me but there is still plenty of stuff crammed in this book.

Now reading:

Your Career in Animation: How to Survive and Thrive

Just started reading but from what I've read so far, this is the first thing anyone interested in animation should get (yes, even before The Illusion of Life or The Animator's Survival Kit). Before anything else, this will let you know if this is the right field for you and how to make the best of it.

[IagoZazu]

I've been reading The Brothers Grimm Fairytales and made it past Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel. It didn't surprise me too much that the orginal fairytale is a lot different than the coming Disney adaption. A lot of the fairytales are pretty humorous, crafty, whimiscal, or even disturbing. Of course, most of them end with the handsome hero or beautiful heroine living happily ever after while the villain (usually a wicked witch) dies a horrible death.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

I just finished In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway, which I found to be quite boring. I have a paper due tomorrow; I'm writing about the damaging effects that the women in Nick's life have on him and how Hemingway's style contributes to that.

Next up is Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I got to page five, and I must say, it doesn't seem like it's going to be fun. It takes me back to last years assignment of The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. This probably won't end well, either. Alas, there is now a Sparknotes for it, so I'll be checking that out soon (like tomorrow, cause the first part is due on Wednesday). Wish me luck!

[Margos]

IIt takes me back to last years assignment of The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner.

You poor thing! I had to read that, too... As a prank, my friends got me two more of his books for my birthday...
It was the only book in the history of ever that left me so confused that I had no choice but read the SparkNotes!

[IagoZazu]

Faulkner is known for writing very complex stories. I had to read a short story of his one time named A Rose for Emily and I had to think hard about what the messenge of the plot was.