The series seems to get better and better as it progresses with interesting new characters introduced who are trying to fulfill the quest given them by Aslan. Reading these books on my own brings back such wonderful memories of snuggling up with my kids each night to read "just one more" chapter. Aw, now I miss that.
8
Last night I decided I'd better get myself organized and make a schedule of the books I'll need during the next three months to read for my various groups, projects and challenges, which necessitated going through all my bookshelves to determine what was already there and what I needed to get.
This was a terrific exercise - luckily I have most of the books on hand but still found that a trip to Chapters (oh the hardship) was required. There are still more that I'll have to order but I think I came home with some great books - even managed to sneak in some that are strictly for my own pleasure. What a wonderful feeling it is to have even a small portion of my reading mapped out with books on hand.
I am so enjoying revisiting the magical land of Narnia.
7
"Life must have been harder without the technological marvels we have today, but life must have been much healthier - without shrinks, chemicals, and mass fears."
3
The three Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny find themselves with yet another new guardian and being pursued by the wicked Count Olaf, who is determined to get his hands on the children's fortune. The guardian in this adventure is Aunt Josephine who is so afraid of everything, from the telephone to the stove (all meals are served cold and uncooked) that she is absolutely incapable of protecting them from Count Olaf's evil plan.
Neither Aunt Josephine nor their banker, Mr. Poe, believe the children when they say that Captain Sham is none other than their nemesis Count Olaf in disguise, which puts the kids in the position of having to protect themselves. Putting together their unique gifts, Violet is an inventor, Klaus is a reader, Sunny bites everything, they manage to foil Olaf's dastardly deed and escape his clutches.
Lemony Snicket has done it again.There is no happy ending in the stories of this series, just one unfortunate event after another. I really liked this book although I think I prefer the 2nd, The Reptile Room ,a tad bit more! What's not to like!!!
3
I'm sure nobody here on booklikes has any trouble finding new books, but are you looking for inspirations and are a science fiction and fantasy or even horror fan? Then I have a few quite interesting pages for you.
On the first day of every month you can find the new releases of the specific month for the science fiction, fantasy and horror genre on this website. Especially if good looking book covers are very important for you, this is the perfect page, because SF Signal not only posts an ordinary list of the new releases, but also includes their book covers - which makes browsing so much more fun :)
... provides a lot of different book lists - e.g. NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books or the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books chosen by The Guardian. They also have a complete list of the winners of different awards, like the Hugo Award, Nebula Award or the Locus Science Fiction & Fantasy Award. So if you want to read the Top 100 SciFi & Fantasy books or want to check out the last couple of Hugo Award winners, you may visit this page. They have one really great feature: if you register there, you can name all the books you have already read and get a helpful overview how much you have read of specific lists.
Each month critics will get the chance to write about their favourite new fantasy and science fiction books on The Washington Post's homepage. The first article written by Nancy Hightower - science fiction and fantasy columnist - is alread online and can be found here.
Science Fiction und Fantasy Rundschau
Unfortunately the last website is only for those of you who can speak/read German. Basically it's an almost monthly article (released on the homepage of a daily newspaper) about some science fiction and fantasy books read by the author from this article.
Auf der Homepage der Tageszeitung Der Standard, wird nicht ganz regelmäßig aber doch fast monatlich eine Rundschau veröffentlicht, in der der Verfasser dieses Artikels über die von ihm gelesenen Bücher aus den Bereichen Science Fiction und Fantasy schreibt. Hin und wieder findet man da auch ganz interessante Bücher!
I hope I introduced you to some new websites you didn't know already :) Have fun browsing!
6
Giving in to an impulse to purchase a book without knowing anything about it has the advantage of surprise; the book can be wonderful, a dog with a neat cover or anywhere in between.
This story takes place sometime after a great (unidentified) war and is set in a much changed Chicago. The survivors believe that the cause of war was the total integration of different people with diverse value systems all fighting each other for power. The solution they came up with was to divide the city into 5 different zones, each occupied with a particular faction with no intermingling between them:
~ Candor values honesty above all else-clothing black and white-makes up the judicial
~ Amity is kind, loving wears yellow and red-they are the peacekeepers
~ Eruidite with their god being knowledge, must wear at least one blue article of clothing-they are the educators and scientists
~ Abnegation whose value of selflessness and doing for others is of the highest value-clothing is grey and plain-they form the government for all factions
~ Dauntless who values bravery above all else-they wear black, tattoos and piecings-they are the protectors
As each child reaches their sixteen birthday they are given an aptitude test and, based upon the results, recommendations are given as to which faction they belong. The teen may remain with their family in the faction of their birth, elect to join the recommended faction or join another of their choosing, but once the choice is made there can be no going back.
The story line was inventive and for the first 3/4 of the book I was glued to the pages as I followed our narrator, Tris, through her initiation into the Dauntless faction and the tests of fighting prowess and bravery that all new initiates had to endure to become actual members. Then about the 3/4 mark, the story veered away and concentrated more on the new romance of Tris and her instructor. Not being a fan of romance novels, from this point I had to struggle to find the interest to finish the book. There is little doubt in my mind that if the reader likes YA Dystopia with romance thrown in for good measure they will love this book, it was creative enough to stand out with strong characters, a good plot line, and decent writing.
Overall, I enjoyed it but didn't love it, but really could have. If I happen to find the second book on sale somewhere I might buy it but will not actively search it out.
Loved the passion in this reviewer's voice as she discusses Song of Solomon, although I'm not as enamored with Toni Morrison's stories as she is. I hope it's as good as she said because its on my TBR shelf and one day I will get to it.
I had to run to Wal-Mart to get a prescription filled and while killing time waiting for it to be filled I started browsing through different aisles until what did I come across..you guessed it...a kiosk type thing loaded with all these books, each with its own beautiful cover, each crying out for me to take it home. Well, a cry like that would need a person made of sturdier stuff than I am to ignore. I ended up buying Divergent, something I know nothing about except that a lot of people liked it. I mean this isn't even a genre that I normally read! Why did I buy it? The only explanation I can come up with is that it has a cover that appealed to me, I'm trying to broaden my horizons, it was 40% off, and. truth be told, I was WEAK, WEAK, WEAK!!! And I thought I felt overwhelmed before.
Okay Margaret, time to knock off a few more pages!
8
I've got that feeling of being overwhelmed again, the internal pressure to finish The Blind Assassin in order that I can get on to other books that I'm also dying to read so that I can get into them and the same feeling of being overwhelmed again with still more books I'm dying to read. It's a vicious cycle yet one I wouldn't trade for any other.
"Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the bright shadow cast by its absence. Time and distance blur the edges; then suddenly the beloved has arrived, and it's noon with its merciless light, and every spot and pore and wrinkle and bristle stands clear."
"And so Laura and I were brought up by her. We grew up inside her house, that is to say, inside her conception of herself. And inside her conception of who we ought to be, but weren't. As she was dead by then, we couldn't argue."
3
