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

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Dr Frankenollie
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Dr Frankenollie »

The Invisible Man by HG Wells (not the Ralph Ellison book). Griffin is a charmingly wicked character.
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Scarred4life
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Scarred4life »

Howl's Moving Castle

I was actually surprised how close it was to the movie, people had made it out to be completely different. I really liked the author's writing style, and of course, I LOVE the world of Howl. I started the first sequel today, Castle on a Cloud.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by JohnnyWeir »

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
I had pretty high expectations for this one but there was just something missing for me. The beginning and middle were awesome, but the ending was just....sort of dumb. I have the sequel but I'm in no hurry to read it.
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Dr Frankenollie
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Dr Frankenollie »

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The length was daunting, but I enjoyed virtually every page of it. It's not my favourite non-fiction book ever - yet it is extremely entertaining and hilarious, often recounting the idiosyncratic behaviour of eccentric geniuses - but I think I regard it as an essential read for everyone. Bryson explains all the sciences, as well as the history of scientific thought, theory and discovery, in simple, witty language and is still able to include large amounts of detail and background information. The intriguingly-titled final chapter, "Goodbye", feels like an anti-climax following all the wonder, delight and surprise I felt at earlier points (Humans can only inhabit 4% of the Earth's surface! At any one moment, 1,800 thunderstorms are in progress around the world!); the ending is an effective encouragement for us to take responsibility and care for all life forms, but it ends without the comic sparkle that permeates the rest of the text. Perhaps that was part of the design: it's uniqueness compared to the rest of the book is supposed to make it more striking and powerful, and although I can recollect it better, it was still a disappointment. Other than that, Bryson's easily accessible achievement is something truly enchanting, and it was with great frequency that I kept wishing I was a scientist.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

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

Post by JohnnyWeir »

I finally gave in and decided to read The Fault in our Stars by John Green. I'm about halfway through and I'm enjoying it so far. When I'm finished with that I'm gonna read A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness-another book about cancer. I don't know why I put myself through these emotions- lol.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by disneyboy20022 »

I finished Star Wars Vision of the Future and started to read Kingdom Keepers 6 and I read that within a week.

Now I'm Reading Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I've been a bit lazy; haven't read too much. It comes in spells. Anyway, I've just been simulatenously reading the manga and re-watching the anime for YuYu Hakusho lately. I'm on volume 14, so not too much farther to go.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Scarred4life »

His Dark Materials Series- Philip Pullman

While I originally started this series to see what all of the controversy was about, that was quickly forgotten, this was one of the best series' I have ever read. The plot was interesting, exciting, and very original (I absolutely adore the concept of daemons and traveling through worlds.) Characters were likeable and believable, and the ending was perfect.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by ajmrowland »

Scarred4life wrote:Howl's Moving Castle

I was actually surprised how close it was to the movie, people had made it out to be completely different. I really liked the author's writing style, and of course, I LOVE the world of Howl. I started the first sequel today, Castle on a Cloud.
I didn't even know there was a sequel to the book!
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by TheSequelOfDisney »

I finished Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby over the weekend; I didn't like it in high school and decided to give it another try. I still don't see what is so great about it. I found it to be pretty mediocre, but to each his own.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Scarred4life »

ajmrowland wrote:
Scarred4life wrote:Howl's Moving Castle

I was actually surprised how close it was to the movie, people had made it out to be completely different. I really liked the author's writing style, and of course, I LOVE the world of Howl. I started the first sequel today, Castle on a Cloud.
I didn't even know there was a sequel to the book!
There's actually two, Castle on a Cloud and House of Many Ways :)
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I knew about the sequels, but I still haven't read them for some reason. I liked the movie in its own way, but as an adaptation I didn't care for it.
TheSequelOfDisney wrote:I finished Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby over the weekend; I didn't like it in high school and decided to give it another try. I still don't see what is so great about it. I found it to be pretty mediocre, but to each his own.
I've never thought it was a great book either, although I understand why it's taught in schools, etc. I hated all the characters, tbh.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

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TheSequelOfDisney wrote:I finished Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby over the weekend; I didn't like it in high school and decided to give it another try. I still don't see what is so great about it. I found it to be pretty mediocre, but to each his own.
I also just read it for the first time since high school and thought it was great. But that's just me. I found a lot to appreciate about Fitzgerald's writing style.

Re-reading Anne of Green Gables for ... well ... I've read it a lot. It's divine.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by pap64 »

So recently I've been back into reading after many years of being lazy, and wanted to put my mind to work. So in the last few months I've read/been reading...

The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom: Aaron Wallace's excellent book about the Magic Kingdom :)

3500: An Autistic Boy's 10-Year Romance with Snow White: The book tells the story of Ron and Ben Miles, a father and son and their ups and down as they cope with Ben's autism, and how Disney helped him progress through the worst of it. This is the book that tells the story of Snow White's Scary Adventure's closing night, and how Ben got to ride with Snow White. It is a great story and very inspirational.

The Guardians of Childhood: North's Story: I saw Dreamworks' Rise of the Guardians around Easter and fell in love with the characters and the world they inhabit. North was my favorite character in the movie so I decided to make his story the first I read in the series. I seriously loved it. While I was surprised at how surprisingly complex it was for a children's novel, I love the whimsical world and how William Joyce illustrated it. Seriously, the illustrations in the book are what makes the book for me. So beautifully detailed, and it makes it look like the words are painting the pictures as you are reading. The mythology in this world is fantastic, and I can't wait to continue with the rest of the series.

The Princess Diaries: This was on the BBC's list of must read books, and considering how much I love the movies based on the books, I figured I would give it a chance. I too loved this book, but I was taken aback by how edgy is truly is. Yeah I know Disney adaptations take liberties on everything from the story's tones to the character development, but reading the book I was shocked at how different it and the movie are. But the one similarity I really enjoyed is the genuine sweetness of it all. Yeah, Mia may have been self righteous, Lilly a kill joy, and grandmere a bitch, but I loved how it all works out in the end, delivering an ending so sweet, I actually went "aaaaaawww" as I closed the book.

The Time Traveler's Wife: This one... I am having issues with. This was a recommendation from a friend, and I've been having difficulties trying to finish it. The book is vero 500 pages long, and so far it has been nothing but dull moments. Oh sure, there are some moments I really love, and I like how genuine these characters feel in both their flaws and strong qualities, but it just drags on and on! The fact that I still have around 450 pages to go just makes me dread finishing it. I WILL try and finish it once I finish school and my mind is free of stress and anxiety, but so far I just find it to be good, but definitely not a must read, so far.

Today I got the first book in the How to Train Your Dragon series, and I have four more books coming in the mail soon, so I'll let you know what I think of those later.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by ajmrowland »

The Art and Making of Paranorman. Animation is always a fascinating subject.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by PixarFan2006 »

I started reading Who's Afraid of the Song of the South on my Kindle. It deals with the making and the controversy of the said film. There are also chapters on other things that Disney tried to cover up. I am not that far in at the moment, but I am curious to see how those segments will turn out.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Disney's Divinity »

Okay, just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy. It's not very good, I'll be honest, but it's one of those things that once you start you have to know everything that happens. I have to say I hated the ending for the most part, although I enjoyed parts about it. It was just too vague about some things, possibly because the author had no way how to wrap them up satisfactorily? :lol: Who knows. Most of the things that happened, I ended up predicting before they did (That Katniss would shoot Coin and not Snow; that she would choose Peeta and not Gale, considering Gale is too bloodthirsty for retribution). I believe the only surprises I had was that they killed off Cinna for good, and that Finnick/Prim both died. Tbh, those three and Mags were the deaths I would have liked not to have happened, but oh well. I know I was so scared we would find out Effie had been killed, but thankfully she survived. I know I feel really stupid for this, but it wasn't until the last chapter that I saw the Snow v. Prim symbolism going on with the roses. :lol: Overall, I feel like there should be another book just because the last one just didn't end properly.

It's not even a sad ending that bothers me so much as not knowing what happened after every thing went down--because if that's not important, why did the author bother with all the other details about overthrowing, etc.? I know they were going for the concept that "it doesn't matter, the cycle just repeats in a different form," but I still think there should've been more detail about what happened to people (like if that proposed Hunger Games actually happened; how everyone--including the victors, rebels, people in the Districts--reacted to Katniss' murder of Coin and if people understood/were on her side; did the Capitol citizens unfairly end up suffering heavily like the Districts after the Dark Days; how the country changed--were there still districts or did they just become one whole nation?; did everyone in Katniss's life really stop giving a sh*t about her and she never got a visit from any of them ever again, seriously wtf?; etc.). Much much worse than the Harry Potter ending, for example, and I know a lot of people complained about that at the time.

Yeah, I'll probably never read it again (I bought it for my mother for Christmas, actually, so I just borrowed it this time), since its only real value is in the twists/shocks, tbh. Just would've liked a better resolution.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by TheSequelOfDisney »

For my drama as literature class, I've read two plays so far: The Importance of Being Earnest and Miss Julie. I love the former but I'm not that big of a fan of the latter.
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Re: What are you reading/have you just read? Vol. 2

Post by Chernabog_Rocks »

Just finished reading Old Yeller and The Outsiders. It has been years since I've read either book, and I actually enjoyed them. I would have to say that I love The Outsiders a fair bit more though. I'm going to be on the lookout for Hinton's other books.
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