[mandolyn]

my sis raves about the twilight books. after last year's cumbersome outlander series (which i adored but have yet to finish) looks like i too am going to get pulled into the vortex. one of us, one of us .... hee.

i know alot of you have read the little friend by donna tarte. after a fast & furious start, i'm bogged down midway. is it worth finishing?

also recently read steven king's duma key. it didn't suck as much as cell and lisey's story. but um yeah, meh.

[bunnyb]

I am in such a book slump just now that I'm reading The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series . I know, I know. It's not that I don't have any great books to read because I have them in abundance but after the Twilight series I haven't been inspired and don't have the motivation to read anything taxing so escaping in very easy reads. I think I'm going to start that long overdue book blog and compel myself to read some great literature. I have some Haruki Murakami books I've been wanting to read for ages and Jonathan Coe's What a Carve Up! so I may start with those.

[anna k]

I just read The Bigger the Better The Tighter the Sweater, an anthology of women writing about this issues with body image and beauty, including acne, breast size, cancer, aging, pregnancy, being the ugly duckling then considered pretty, and just having complicated relationships with their body. One woman profusely sweats, another never liked being tall and skinny, a trio of sisters identify themselves as being ugly, etc. Some stories got redundant, but it was interesting and new to read.

[damona]

i only just heard of the twilight books... my sis probably has them, i'll have to go bug her.

i am currently re-reading my anne of green gables books. and a nora roberts romance.

my 9yo (whom you all gave me such wonderful ideas for... thank you again!) is on the 4th book in the dark is rising sequence. he recently found lies my teacher told me on my book shelf, and asked if he could read it. he was utterly fascinated... but i fear i may have made his new 4th grade teacher not too happy!

the mr is on the last of the anita blake books, and is already (before even finishing it!) complaining that he doesn't know what else to read i find it highly amusing since this is the guy who i never saw pick up a book for the first 9 years we were together.

i read so dang much that i keep running out of new books and re-reading stuff, just to have something to read!

[mornington]

I've got a horrible, horrible feeling that the movies are only being made to cash in on the popularity of the books - I can see them being a massive flop (golden compass, anyone?) and absolutely awful. I think I love the books too much.

and I totally agree with Bunny's spoiler. Fantastic nonetheless.

[bunnyb]

lananans, the fourth is also fab and addictive! I devoured it over two days at the end of last week. Possible spoiler: a little too neatly tied up but fantastic just the same.. You can tell a book's addictive properties by the withdrawal symptoms you suffer post-reading... I was the same with Harry Potter. I am at a lost as to what i can lose myself in next and halfheartedly reading an easy read to keep me occupied. I think I'll read Stephenie Meyer's other book, The Host next.

[lananans]

bunnybemine, are the twilight books REALLY that good? i recently came across an advertisement for the movie; the actor who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is playing the male lead.....

The Twilight books really ARE that good. I never thought I would get addicted to books about vampires, but I have. I just finished the third, and I can't wait to start the fourth.

I'm not sure about the movies, they could be okay. I'm always nervous about seeing movies of books I like in case they ruin them for me.

[vixen_within]

Hah! I'm of the 'want-to-like-her' mind as well. She's brilliant in interview too.

[bunnyb]

I don't have any of her stuff to hand but offhand I really liked the title story in that collection. I've also read some of her uncollected stories on the Guardian website and some I've liked, some I've not. I think that the reason I want to like her is that she was taught by Angela Carter, whose work I love.

[vixen_within]

vixen, I found the subject matter of an Irish family with problems to be bleak but maybe that's because I have an Irish family with problems. I was disappointed by the novel, thinking back, and don't think it lived up to its hype. I like Enright's style though and some of her short stories are perfection personified.

I read The Behaviour of Moths (The Sister in the U.S.) by Poppy Adams and it was a suspenseful, Gothic mystery but it had a disappointing and unresolved ending, in my opinion. I found parts of it to be quite disconcerting, particularly the passive-aggressive ranging to cruel things that families do to one another.

I am now reading Amulya Malladi's The Mango Season.

Bunny, which stories would you recommend? I bought The Portable Virgin a while back, but was a bit disappointed with the (very) few I read (um, two).

[bunnyb]

vixen, I found the subject matter of an Irish family with problems to be bleak but maybe that's because I have an Irish family with problems. I was disappointed by the novel, thinking back, and don't think it lived up to its hype. I like Enright's style though and some of her short stories are perfection personified.

I read The Behaviour of Moths (The Sister in the U.S.) by Poppy Adams and it was a suspenseful, Gothic mystery but it had a disappointing and unresolved ending, in my opinion. I found parts of it to be quite disconcerting, particularly the passive-aggressive ranging to cruel things that families do to one another.

I am now reading Amulya Malladi's The Mango Season.

[vixen_within]

grazie

[mornington]

Vixen, it's "Twighlight" and by Stephanie Meyer

[vixen_within]

No Bunnyb, I am still reading it. I'm not sure I would describe it as bleak. The narrator is caustic about her life and times, and the topic is grim. But there's a levity about her resignation...umm, sardonic detachment and lashing out that I associate with "the dark side" of the experience of grieving, makes me feel less alone & it tempers what could've been unyielding bleakdom. The Road on the other hand, yeah it is pretty relentless.

Hey guys, what is the first book in that Twilight series and who is the writer?

[mornington]

*sticks head in*
Tes: YES. I'm re-reading them for the third time as I've just bought the final book in the series. I'm not sold on the movie, I think they're much better as books, but I always think that.

Thirtiesgirl, I loved Nightwatch once I gave it time.

Coutiegirl - yes, but not for ages. It's really good, though, but I found it got a bit long in the middle (patience!)

I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns, really easy to read without being too fluffy. The Glass Books of The Dream Eaters by G. Dalquist is *amazing* and great fun to read. I keep meaning to read The Wasp Factory, and now I've actually bought a copy...

[bunnyb]

tes, they aren't high literarture, that's for sure, but they are fantastic guilty pleasures. It isn't very often that a series/trilogy/quartet comes along that allows you to lose yourself completely.

[tesao]

bunnybemine, are the twilight books REALLY that good? i recently came across an advertisement for the movie; the actor who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is playing the male lead.....

[courtiegirl]

Anyone ever read "Sophie's World?" I'm still working on it, but it's very informative. It's a novel about the history of philosophy with a little twist in the life of a fifteen yr. old girl. Really, very good.

[persimmon_grrrl]

anybody got any good astrology books to recommend? right now, i am reading several books and one of them is "Goddesses in Everywoman". I think I liked "Women...Wolves" by Dr. Pinkola-Estes better, but I like learning about mythology all the same.

[amazonprincess]

I didn't much care for The Friday Night Knitting Club. I thought the writing was intermittently poor, but the story was just interesting enough for me to see where it went. It did leave me a bit teary at the end which wasn't what I was looking for.