The Book Review Thread!

[Tomo Squad]

I finished reading The Lovely Bones.

I agree with Menchi.

It was sweet, but like, in the end, all she does is wish us a good life.

</3

And that Harvey dude gave me 3 nightmares D:

[Michy]

Book nerds who like fantasy novels and series I suggest you read:

- The Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher; Rob described it as "if Harry Potter was a detective in Chicago")
- The Avalon books (by Marion Zimmer Bradley; It's not only the take of King Arthur with a female spin, but a lot of historical fiction spanning from the fall of Atlantis (which is the most fictional! lol) through the Roman Empire and into Medieval times. It is such a popular series that after MZB passed away, Diana S. Paxon took up the pen to continue writing stories in the series)
- anything by Charles deLint (so says many book nerd friends of mine. I can't get into his stuff because it is waaaaay out there)
- anything by Peter S. Beagle (he wrote "The Last Unicorn" and he's an all-around swell guy)
- anything by Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Coraline, etc. and ESPECIALLY his Sandman comics)

Why isn't there a Book Nerd thread somewhere?

Neil Gaiman. Agreed so hard. D: Neverwhere was AMAZING. I'm halfway through American Gods.

My suggestions?

- Temeraire (& the rest in the series) by Naomi Novik. It's a pretty good fantasy book about dragons in combat - with some philosophy included so subtly you won't even know it hit you

- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Seriously. PICK THIS OVER TWILIGHT IF YOU WANT VAMPIRE FICS. This one combines vampire lore with the history of Vlad Tepes. Very, very engaging. I finished it in two days.

Everything else has been academic journals so far so uh. Nothing very interesting in that. :'D Just wanted to share the stuff on my latest readings.

[Serenyty]

Book nerds who like fantasy novels and series I suggest you read:

- The Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher; Rob described it as "if Harry Potter was a detective in Chicago")
- The Avalon books (by Marion Zimmer Bradley; It's not only the take of King Arthur with a female spin, but a lot of historical fiction spanning from the fall of Atlantis (which is the most fictional! lol) through the Roman Empire and into Medieval times. It is such a popular series that after MZB passed away, Diana S. Paxon took up the pen to continue writing stories in the series)
- anything by Charles deLint (so says many book nerd friends of mine. I can't get into his stuff because it is waaaaay out there)
- anything by Peter S. Beagle (he wrote "The Last Unicorn" and he's an all-around swell guy)
- anything by Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Coraline, etc. and ESPECIALLY his Sandman comics)

Why isn't there a Book Nerd thread somewhere?

Neil Gaiman. Agreed so hard. D: Neverwhere was AMAZING. I'm halfway through American Gods.

YESSSSSS.

American Gods is, IMO, better than Neverwhere. Neverwhere is damn fantastic, though.

[Michy]

Book nerds who like fantasy novels and series I suggest you read:

- The Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher; Rob described it as "if Harry Potter was a detective in Chicago")
- The Avalon books (by Marion Zimmer Bradley; It's not only the take of King Arthur with a female spin, but a lot of historical fiction spanning from the fall of Atlantis (which is the most fictional! lol) through the Roman Empire and into Medieval times. It is such a popular series that after MZB passed away, Diana S. Paxon took up the pen to continue writing stories in the series)
- anything by Charles deLint (so says many book nerd friends of mine. I can't get into his stuff because it is waaaaay out there)
- anything by Peter S. Beagle (he wrote "The Last Unicorn" and he's an all-around swell guy)
- anything by Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Coraline, etc. and ESPECIALLY his Sandman comics)

Why isn't there a Book Nerd thread somewhere?

Neil Gaiman. Agreed so hard. D: Neverwhere was AMAZING. I'm halfway through American Gods.

YESSSSSS.

American Gods is, IMO, better than Neverwhere. Neverwhere is damn fantastic, though.

Main reason why I'm obsessed with Neverwhere is because it described London so perfectly before I came here ;A; I'm still looking out for an Earl at Earl's Court.. D:

American Gods is pretty fantastic as well. I can't believe how he gets his ideas!

[Serenyty]

Neil Gaiman is like... I don't know WHAT he does. I saw him at a book event for his latest, The Graveyard Book, and he was just amazing and fun to listen to. He is one cool man.

Also, in American Gods, I don't know where you are in it, but some of the landmarks he mentions, like The House on the Rock are real. When I get myself to London someday, I might just have to look for everything in Neverwhere.

Then again, visiting England would be so amazing considering my love of British Literature. That'd be so cool...

[Michy]

Such brainpower ;A;

Neverwhere's accurate to a T! (well, except Knightsbridge is not really a bridge) The tube stations do exist, and Harrods is really laid out as it is.

I think I've passed the halfway point for American Gods...but it's been set aside temporarily for my exams :/

If you come to London let me know! We can do a Gaiman hunt
What other British lit are you a fan of?

[Serenyty]

I'm really big on 19th century brit lit; like Austen, Brontes, Dickens; currently working through Middlemarch. So touring England is kind of a dream of mine that I hope to do someday!

Not next semester but the semester after it I think I'm taking British Literature I at my college which will be really fun!

[Michy]

Oh, you'll love the quaint villages then! Eliot's Middlemarch? I did Mill on the Floss - wasn't my favourite, but it was pretty descriptive about countryside Britain ^^

Sounds like an interesting course, British Lit! I wish I took English instead. :/

[Tomie]

I've been on a HUGE Stephen King kick lately.  So far, I've read "Desperation", "Nightmares and Dreamscapes", "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon", "Salem's Lot", "Cell", "Duma Key", "From A Buick 8", "L.T's Theory of Pets", "On Writing", "Everything's Eventual", and right now I'm working on "The Shining"   

I'm going to do a short review of them all.  Scale is 1-5 *

Desperation: The first King book I ever read and the first book that got me hooked.  I'm not going to go into a full summary of the book.  What I liked about it was the way it made me feel for the characters who were fighting against the "evil" in the book.  I felt like I was there and even found myself talking to the characters in the book the way I'll sometimes talk to the characters in a movie.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: I felt that this book could've almost done without the supernatural element. It involves a little girl who gets lost in the woods and has to survive. I love survival stories and thought it would've worked wonderfully as just a survival story.  Not that the supernaturalness of the story took away from it, exactly.  It's just that I think nothing would've been lost without it.

Salem's Lot: Read the book. Forget the movie...unless you want to see a bad movie.

EDIT: Something odd is going on with my computer. It happens all the time on these forums where the screen keeps scrolling up when I try to type XP I'll finish this review later.  I also have some other books by other authors I want to recommend/review.

I've loved them all, but if I had to pick a favorite I'd be  "Nightmares and Dreamscapes".  It's a collection of short stories, all done in various styles.  It really showcases King's genius as a writer. 

[Windy]

skdfjewrwew TOMIE I'm reading Duma Key right now, and that's why I clicked on the thread and then OH LOOK TOMIE'S READING KING TOO.

No spoilers though, please.

[Molly☆ ★]

I read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon when I was like 11 and it has seriously like scarred me for life.

[Dcgoddess3]

I'm not done yet (Only like 20 pages in) but "The Rescue" by Nicholas Sparks is so good!! <33

Finished!  It was such a great book and I would recommend it to anyone <33  I really liked it.  I'm not much for reading romance books, and Nicholas Sparks books are all romance, but it was good!

[Buggy]

Anyone here a Jim Butcher fan?  I'm currently at a Jim Butcher signing, and so if anyone wants a report of what I hear here, let me know!

[Michi]

I recently read The Lovely Bones and I adored it. I did see the film first, but I felt like it helped set the tone, characters, and feel for me to expand upon in the novel. I'm so sad to see people not liking it in this thread. I thought exploring the characters after what happened was really interesting. The last few chapters were really good and I was so happy with how it ended, especially compared to the way the film handled it.

Now I'm back to reading the translated Slayers novels like the ex-anime nerd I am. I'm reading the fourth one now, Battle of Saillune. I only read one or two of these a year even though they're so short. They're really good though, and the adaptation does a fantastic job of capturing Lina's character in the narration. I have #5 and maybe #6? But I'd rather move on to something more heavy afterward.

[Gypmama]

Anyone here a Jim Butcher fan?  I'm currently at a Jim Butcher signing, and so if anyone wants a report of what I hear here, let me know!

My husband is a fan. XD

I am currently reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
It is by the same author who wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which I have not read but heard that there will be a movie made from it).
It is great for anyone who loves historical fiction. It is written partially like a journal and takes events from Abe Lincoln's life and twists it slightly to make historical events seem like the fabrication that covers up the truth. There is even pictures in the book of paintings that have been altered so, like, instead of Honest Abe chopping wood with his foot up on a log, it's him with his foot on a dead vampire.