Last Book You Read

emily.:

Witch Child by Celia Rees which was quite dull and felt like another teenage historical fiction book where the author tries to shove as many facts down your throat as they can and end up writing a boring book (anyone who's interested would be so much better off with The Crucible)

Ooh, I loved that book when I read it (although I was 12). Actually, I just checked, it's a lot more recent than I thought it was (it's only ten years old, I thought it was early nineties). I think in general the 'English girl travels to America and evil Puritans think she's a witch' story can be so easily turned into a cliché anyway. Like, much as I love Elizabeth Gaskell, she wrote Lois the Witch in 1860-something and I still found myself thinking 'hmm, I've read this before'. Although Gaskell's version does have a more savage/realistic ending than Witch Child. I've probably read as much Salem trial fiction as I need to at this point in my life

I just finished Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. It was oddly inspiring, idk, seeing someone self-deprecatory and honestly funny. Someone who embraces their flaws and notices the hilarious ones in the world. Refreshing.

The Road -- Cormac McCarthy

I wish his female characters were stronger.

Flying Under Bridges - Sandi Toksvig. Made me laugh, and cry. Really good.

The Soloist by Steve Lopez.
I adored every word.

emily.:

Mmmm I've been reading some short stories lately too, particularly some of Fitzgerald's and I'm discovering how absolutely relaxing it is to read something that is shorter - not for length but they're just so much easier to approach and often so much more interesting. I get frustrated at stories that I feel... could actually be a novel (Benjamin Button was so disappointing because although I liked it and thought it was quite cute, it was a sketch where I wanted a story) but generally my opinion on short stories has gone from "what's the point?" to complete enjoyment.

Although I do like the novels of some writers so much more than their shorter stories (Murakami :| I almost didn't read his novels because the stories bored me but I took a chance and I love them.)

You make me happy.

I've continued my journey on the reals of short fiction with Turgenev's First Love. I started reading this novella months ago, but for reasons I no longer remember abandoned it halfway through. Which was a shame because the story was so beautiful, finishing it ached. It tells the story of a 16 year old boy who whist on holiday with his parents falls in love for the first time with the eccentric flirty yet eternally mysterious princess Zinaïda (who is also 5 years older than him). As a reader you watch helpless his clumsy attempts at understanding her and love itself over a few summer weeks (and about 50 pages) only to be disappointed in the end because Zinaida, like the feelings that our souls bear, is beyond understanding. Although I think that after you've had a bit of time to think over your reaction, you find the ending fitting maybe you're even glad that there remains mystery in love as it renders your love affairs mysterious and wondrous too. Nonetheless, a classic love story -in the best sense of the world- worth experiencing.

I haven't finished it yet (more's the pity) but I'm almost half way through The Pilgrim's Progress .
I techinically only had to read ten pages, but I think if I don't read it now then I never will. The style is surprisingly readable (I thought it'd take me twenty minutes a page or something) but in terms of plot, I have a hard time keeping track of what's actually going on apart from the over-arching narrative.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. It was amazing :)

Jane Eyre

I'm not liking it, but I don't like this kind of book
It's for Lit anyway

Alice in Wonderland by T. T. Sutherland.

It's fairly alright... but there's nothing like the original book.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins.

Amazing.

Ultimate Avengers

The first Avengers story I've really read; and I adored it. Nice twists, especially regarding Captain America and the art for Hawkeye was fantasticcc.

Naked by David Sedaris.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I love David Sedaris.

Little Women - Louise May Alcott
I wasn't much of fan, too cheesy for my liking and unproblematic. It was obviously more a guide for young girls to follow in the characters footsteps and become perfect little girls and to help out your mother and do your chores. Just irritatingly perfect. Life isn't like that, as Pride and Prejudice shows more clearly.

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

charlie chaplin.:

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Me too.

The Dweller - Keith Adam Luethke

My mom works with the mother of the guy who wrote it, and he signed the front cover and gave me a copy to read.
It's...not good.

I am currently reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix.

Dolores Jane Umbridge, and Cornelius Fudge for that matter, both deserves to have a curse aimed right at their ugly, ignorant faces -.-"