Isn't it great? I could spend hours just looking through the Giveaways page to see what's coming out. You can tell which ones have the good hype because so many people request them.

Definitely check out that Orwell, KatMagenta. I tend to think of Brave New World (and Revisted, kind of) as part of a trilogy of books: Huxley, 1984 by Orwell and We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. If you liked one, you should definitely find the others.

I'm enjoying 1984 so far. Nevermind Big Brother, it's hard to shake the feeling the book itself is watching me...

That's...the creepiest 1984 cover I've ever seen. :gonk:

Finished Aesop's Fables today! And now I am back to working through Absalom, Absalom!, finally. :lol:
Once I get that done it's time to finish The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and then I'll let myself get through Game of Thrones

Oh books! I love reading. <3
I can give the list I've already read!

50 Book Challenge

A Murder of Promise – Robert Andrews
Acceleration - Graham McNamee
Endmyion Spring - Matthew Skelton
Killing Bliss – E.C. Sheedy
Spirits that walk in shadow – Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Monster – Frank Peretti
Perfect Dark (Initial Vector) – Greg Rucka
The Oath – Frank Peretti
The Vacant Throne - Ed Greenwood
The Visitation – Frank Peretti
The Wolf King – Alice Borchardt

Artemis Fowl series – Eoin Colfer
Book one: Artemis Fowl
Book two: The Arctic Incident
Book three: The Eternity Code
Book four: The Opal Deceptions
Book five: The Lost Colony
Book six: The Time Paradox
Book seven: The Atlantis Complex

The Bartimaeus Trilogy series – Jonathan Stroud
Book one: The Amulet of Samarkand
Book two: The Golem’s Eye
Book three: Ptolemy’s Gate
Book four: The Ring of Solomon

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series – Rick Riordan
Book one: Lightening Thief
Book two: The Sea of Monsters
Book three: The Titans Curse
Book four: The Battle of the Labyrinth
Book five: The Last Olympian
Book six: The Lost Hero

List = 29 Books read so far.

I have read over 100 books already since in HS we were required to read a certain a number of books each year or else we'd be subject to not graduate. Idk if they got rid of that since I've graduated, though. I hate that I can't remember most of them. There were some pretty good ones!

The series I'm trying to remember.... starts out with "The Boyfriend" then there's "The Girlfriend." The boyfriend has a rose on the front with a needle stabbing it with blood trickling down. The girlfriend has a pink full flower on the cover. I tried to google it but it comes out with the wrong book. xD;; Does anyone know it?

@ Itlu; Is the adventures of Tom Sawyer an update on his history or just what he did put together?

Miro- That's a cool requirement! I read enough on my own, but I still wish my school had done it.
And love The Lovely Bones and The Bartimaeus trilogy which is not not quite a trilogy anymore but still is in my heart!

It's just the book, all the adventures and shenanigans he got up to. :yes:

Oh wow, not too many people have been around here lately! What's everyone reading?

Knerd!! *Pokes* Hey! Did you get my message I sent about those changing pictures you had in your sig awhile back? I think it was you anyway that had it... :stare:

Also I just finished reading all 441 chapters of the manga History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. Now I can't wait for the next chapter >.<!

I probably did and I probably forgot about it 2 seconds later. Sorry! :oops:

I use .:: Gaia Tools ::. A collection of tools for GaiaOnline.
You can upload all the photos you want and the site automatically puts them in a rotating image. :yes:

Haha! lol! That's ok cause I do that a lot too... :oops:

AHH! Sweet! Thanks Knerd!!

I'll be sure to come back soon and update my challenge too, It's about to end this month :shock:

I've been reading Absalom, Absalom!, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Game of Thrones, but I need to sit down and actually finish something! I am so behind.

I could give this challenge a try! ;)

Isendor's list

Started: 9.8
Finished: -

Done:

• Alexander McCall Smith - Mma Ramotswe, Morality for Beautiful Girls (3rd book, a detective series. The title might distract a bit. :D )
• Ilkka Raitasuo & Terhi Siltala - Princess of Kellokoski (For anyone who's interested in psychology!)
• Kang Chol-hwan & Pierre Rigoulet - The Aquariums of Pyongyang
• Dostojevski - The Gambler
• Soili Poijula - Lapsi ja kriisi (Child and a crisis)

Reading:

• Markku Ojanen - Minä ja muut, itsetuntemuksen kirja (= I and everyone else, book of self-knowledge)
  

Books: 5/50
Pages: 1269/15 000

Planning

• Herman Lindqvist - Jean Bernadotte (I think that this is the English name of the book. It's about the very first royal Bernadotte, the one whose descendants are ruling the country now.)
• Ildefonso Falcones - The Hand of Fatima (1021 pages, this will take some time. O.O )

And to finish this with pinging; I choose you, Knerd: !

----------

Eh, did I do everything right here? :oops:

I've read Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey, and Graveminder by Melissa Marr today. Both are quite excellent fiction. :3
I'll post my list here once I've read my 50, since until then I'm keeping track of them somehwere on this website. I have to go find it now.... :gonk:

Ok, here it is so far:

Skrae's Reading List:
(10/200)

• The Unincorporated Man- Dani & Eytan Kollin
• Graveminder- Melissa Marr
• Unnatural Issue- Mercedes Lackey
• Late Eclipses- Seanan McGuire
• Night Veil- Yasmine Galenorn
• Kindling the Moon- Jenn Bennett
• Pale Demon- Kim Harrison
• Hit List- Laurell K. Hamilton
• Spirit Dances- C.E. Murphy
• Truthseeker- C.E. Murphy

Knerd:

Hey there Isendor! I've gone ahead and added you to the front page list. :yes:

Skrae, did you want this new post added to the list too, or is it just a quote of your post that's already listed?

Oh! Sorry... It's my original list, to be added, please. I just like how it formats when it's quoted. ^^;;

Sweet! I finished my first book for the challenge! :eager: 49 more to go!

Okey-doke Skrae! I'll add your list to the front page right now.

Meep! Haven't been around here in awhile. I am about to turn in my "Summer Reading List" to the library with a dismally small number of books on it (5)-- but here's what I've been reading:

1. Touchy Subjects by Emma Donoghue:
I loved this book of short stories. Room, I could not even complete. But some of these were gorgeous! I loved "The Cost of Things," "Team Men," and "Speaking In Tongues." Very good collection.

2. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, And Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein:
Book about using small "nudges" in social policy to improve individual decisions and quality of life-- with, occasionally, the odd example of how to improve decisions in your own life. Worth the read for the intellectual content, but slowgoing for me.

3. The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education by Craig Mullaney:
I loved this, but not necessarily because of the writing style. Non-fiction, an autobiography by an Afghanistan veteran who earned his B.A. at West Point and M.A. as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. His perspective as a scholar, a soldier, and a leader who went through active combat brought the U.S. conflict in the middle east home for me. Within the United States, those without active-military family have no real connection to or understanding of the war at a human level-- this book corrects that grave error. Mullaney himself is also an incredibly engaging man. Plus, he was an advisory member of the Obama transition team-- which I found oddly reassuring, since I sometimes worry that accounts of military action will come from a standpoint of some conservative bias. I am a squishy, squishy snuggly liberal softy, but I still felt completely connected to the people in this narrative.

4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer:
Please read this? It's gorgeously painted, a post 9/11 story from the perspective of a sideways-minded, brilliant little boy who lost his father when the buildings fell. The child's perspective on the world often comes from a place of hurt, but in a curiously beautiful way: his thoughts on the world have an almost wonderland-slant, he ponders things in the hypothetical, and his way of describing his emotions comes through in indirect paroxysms of keening imagination. Reeeeeead him. I love this little boy. The story is in no way realistic-- it's lack of believability, however, more eloquently expresses feeling from the perspective of someone hurting. And all of the characters are flawed! Lovelovelove.
I know this book won't be for everyone... but I adored it. :)

5. Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen:
The romantic heroine of the novel also happens to be the least engaging character of the novel. Why do so many authors think that making them 'pretty' alone will suffice? However, she only shows up enough to give the protagonist giant doses of conflict and longing-- leaving my interest in the rest of the plot intact. The side-characters usually prove the most entertaining than the main two, with the exception of the protagonist's 90-year old incarnation, who has so much heart that it makes you want to cry. I didn't entirely love this book-- 4/5-- but didn't ever really want to put it down. My two main complaints are the "shock value" aspects of sexuality thrown in (keeping it true to old-time circus? I don't know) and the relatively bland portrayal of a plot-driving character.

I loved the elphant.



Meanwhile, Max Barry made a book trailer! It makes me laugh. Max Barry | I Had to Make a Book Trailer

@Colorsbold -- your review of Water for Elephants really make me want to go pick it up, even though you're critical of it, you make it sound very interesting. I hate shock value plot elements too, as well as people being scandalized over nothing. That might drive me up a wall, but it sounds like you can ignore the main plot to be entertained by everything else?

I went to Borders' going out of business sale and only picked up one book. They were still all over-priced. :lol: I was very tempted to buy a couple fiction books but they were both hardcovers, which I normally don't buy fiction in, so I didn't. Borders' closing their brick and mortars stores is really is sad, but it does say a lot about their business model. It's still too bad because it was the only new book store close to me.

I bought a copy of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Inferno. It's a bit of a classic, and was very innovative at the time. They just came out with a sequel a couple of years ago, and I think that one (Escape from Hell) was very good. I read the sequel first and felt none of the original plot was particularly spoiled. After reading it set me off reading all the middle ages poems I hadn't read yet. (Mainly the different versions of Piers Ploughman, and then all the Jeffrey Burton Russell books on the idea of Satan, etc.)

@ Guivre: Maybe give it a shot? The first quarter of the book irritated me somewhat-- I was wary of the framing (how do you feel about reminiscing?) and Gruen's refusal to introduce the characters before jumping into the story. Gruen uses a few literary tropes that reminded me too much of Nicholas Sparks. But I read the whole thing; is this a recommendation?

If you have patience with it, the details about circus life can add spice and life to the story; the bare-bones of the "romantic" plot are overtold, but the circus setting adds an element of originality that compelled me to keep reading. I can't commit to liking the novel-- Marlena and Jacob-the-younger bother me intensely, because they seem almost "blank" as people. The rest of the novel was worth it to me. I fell in love with the old men, the animals, and the circus folk. :)

Overall: worth it, but patience necessary. Imagine the syllabus for your average High School Honors literature course-- it requires a kind of forgiving outlook, it won't change your life, but the book undeniably has worth.

Phew, finally updated my list! Still very behind, but seeing 23 instead of 18 does make one feel better.

Colors- I find it so interesting to hear what people have to say about Room! It seems like everyone else either loves it or couldn't get through it, I'm the only person I know who just thought it was a good book, but nothing spectacular. My mom had it recommended to her by a co-worker who LOVED it, my mom felt the same. When I was reading it, a friend of mine and my English teacher asked to borrow it, and the friend said she couldn't stand the writing style and my teacher said it was just too sad. Why made you not want to finish it, if I may ask?

I already wanted to read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but you've just made me desperate to get my paws on it. :lol:

I read Water for Elephants earlier this year, and I have to say, I felt very nearly the same way about it. Still thought it was a great read, though! The elephant was definitely my favorite character. (Or maybe Walter was. Tough choice!)

I keep meaning to buy Water for Elephants but still haven't managed to get my hands on a copy yet. I'll read it someday! It's just one of the many books that keeps getting pushed aside in favor of novels I'm more excited about. :lol:

Woo, just booked my train ticket to get to the Edinburgh Book Festival. :boogie:
I'm going to an event tomorrow but if it's nice I might go back just to visit.

...They have book festivals?!?
:gonk:
Oh man, I would love to go to one...

Thank you Knerd~
I'll update it here when I get to 50/200 books. I'm at 20 right now. :D

The book festival wasn't quite what I was expecting. There were a couple of book shops but they were mainly selling books by the authors appearing during the festival. I thought they'd be some independent book traders and second hand book stalls. There was a book fair going on in a nearby hotel but it was specialising in rare and antiquarian books.

For some reason I haven't mentioned this to many people (probably because I couldn't believe it myself) but I went to see Neil Gaiman's talk. He's as clever as you'd expect and his sense of humour is brilliant too. The amount of ideas he talked about that he hasn't written yet is incredible for someone who has produced so much amazing material.
He must have the patience of a saint too; I managed to get my books signed in about an hour so I could dash back for my train but he's just tweeted he was there for three and a half hours.

/fangirling