What are you reading? July 2011

Kasthu · Post by **Kasthu** » Thu July 7th, 2011, 9:37 pm

[quote=""EC2""]An ARC of Lionheart by SKP - big smile![/quote]

Verrry jealous EC!

.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Fri July 8th, 2011, 1:28 pm

The next Brother Cadfael...The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters. I was in the public library, walked past the mystery section, and it called out my name!

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Fri July 8th, 2011, 3:27 pm

Started rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in anticipation of the movie Part II. This is a nostalgia tour for me. I read the first book to my six-year-old and we read every book together after that. When Deathly Hallows came out, she took her copy off to six weeks of summer camp. I couldn't wait for her to get home, so bought my own. Since I know how it ends, I'm taking my time, savoring the story and evaluating the writing. Quite fun!

Kasthu · Post by **Kasthu** » Fri July 8th, 2011, 11:15 pm

Now re-reading a childhood classic, Anne of Green Gables.

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Fri July 8th, 2011, 11:29 pm

Didn't want to take my Kindle to the pool with the kids this week, so I picked up and read two print books: "Requiem for a Wren" and "A Town Like Alice" by Nevil Shute. Enjoyed both, but for different reasons.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Sat July 9th, 2011, 12:21 am

I didn't read Requiem, but I loved Town Called Alice. On The Beach is still my favorite tho.

Going to the beach and taking with me Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay, and Crossed, by Nicole Galland. I picked the last one on a lark; the description sounded interesting, I am interested in the event, and I liked her author's note. If these two don't work out, well, I know of three excellent bookstores in San Diego that should keep me happy for a while.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat July 9th, 2011, 1:28 pm

I'm just about to start Tides of War by Stella Tillyard, a story set during the Peninsular War.

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Sat July 9th, 2011, 4:43 pm

[quote=""Ash""]I didn't read Requiem, but I loved Town Called Alice. On The Beach is still my favorite tho.
[/quote]

Haven't read On the Beach yet, but Shute has long been on my list of authors to try, and I plan on reading more by him. Alice was great... the first half during the war was riveting and the 2nd half made me smile many times. I did wonder whether younger readers would appreciate it. You can definitely tell it's a product of the 50s. My parents were in their 20-something years in the 50s, so that decade definitely shaped their values and ideals, which isn't foreign to me. I would imagine younger readers having a hard time relating to the attitudes about women, their roles & marriage, etc., though. Requiem was good, too, but a much sadder book overall.

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Sat July 9th, 2011, 5:08 pm

[quote=""MLE""]Faith, do you feel that JKR could really have used some serious cutting on the last several books? To me, they seemed quite slow in the middle and unnecessarily convoluted.[/quote]

Definitely! Starting with the Goblet of Fire, I got the feeling (as a reader and writer) she was "too big for an editor." In other words, no one would stand up to her. Although, I remember at the time she was rather angry that she was being pressured to get GoF out. Even she thought it needed a good comb through and vowed not to rush again.

My take on it, is that JKR locked herself into a "time" format starting each book with Harry's summer/birthday and ending with the end of term at Hogwarts. She uses a linear style and the months just drag by when there's nothing going on and she's trying to fill. GoF was almost a wall-banger for me--a wizarding contest that takes a whole school year for three challenges? Really? The last four books could each have been a couple of hundred pages shorter. With Deathly Hallows, even though the kids aren't in school, she slavishly stuck to the same time frame and had them spending months moving from one camp site to another, on a fruitless quest, with not enough action/character development to keep things going until the big climatic battle in the spring. That's where I am now and skimming ferociously. If she was ever to break out of her self-imposed prison, this was the one, however...she's the billionaire and I'm not even subsisting on my Kindle checks, so who am I to criticize!

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sat July 9th, 2011, 5:38 pm

[quote=""fljustice""]Definitely! Starting with the Goblet of Fire, I got the feeling (as a reader and writer) she was "too big for an editor." In other words, no one would stand up to her. Although, I remember at the time she was rather angry that she was being pressured to get GoF out. Even she thought it needed a good comb through and vowed not to rush again.

My take on it, is that JKR locked herself into a "time" format starting each book with Harry's summer/birthday and ending with the end of term at Hogwarts. She uses a linear style and the months just drag by when there's nothing going on and she's trying to fill. GoF was almost a wall-banger for me--a wizarding contest that takes a whole school year for three challenges? Really? The last four books could each have been a couple of hundred pages shorter. With Deathly Hallows, even though the kids aren't in school, she slavishly stuck to the same time frame and had them spending months moving from one camp site to another, on a fruitless quest, with not enough action/character development to keep things going until the big climatic battle in the spring. That's where I am now and skimming ferociously. If she was ever to break out of her self-imposed prison, this was the one, however...she's the billionaire and I'm not even subsisting on my Kindle checks, so who am I to criticize!

[/quote]

I had the same general perception. But since this is seriously off-topic, I'm going to start a debate thread on why HP and similar phenomenons are so huge. Maybe the mods could move relevant posts over?