Just finished a wonderful book. It is called The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time. It is a novel by Mark Haddon. It is a remarkable account of how an autistic child sees and reacts to the world around him. I picked it up and never set it down again. I highly recommend it.

Edited by author 06-23-2008 03:20 PM
Haven't read this book yet, but something tells me I'll be reading it as soon as my Amazon order arrives this week.

http://www.amazon.com/Mexican-High-Novel-L...d=1214248751&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/03855...F8&showViewpoints=1

I just finished The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. I've been reading a lot of books to my daughter and we're down to the last few chapters of The Hobbit before we start The Golden Compass.

I'm planning to start the HP series again, especially book six so we can be done by November (HP6 should be out by then).

What's everyone reading lately? I'm listening to an unabridged recording of Thirteen Moons, written by Charles Frazier, who also wrote Cold Mountain. I love his writing. There's something so elegant and genteel about his phrasing, and he seems to capture the language for the time period. So far, it's a really engaging story too.

I'm also reading Inca Gold by Clive Cussler, a Dirk Pitt novel. It's pretty good, but I'll wait until I'm completely done for my final appraisal. The writer has this unusual habit that I'm finding distracting. He seems to find it important to include distances in both metric and imperial, which seems oddly formal, and I'm inclined to say pointless (for a novel, anyway!). He'll write something like "Dirk climbed the 40 meters (131 feet) to the opening of the cave" or something like that.

Hi everybody

I reread the Chronicles of Narnia a couple of years ago. They were very enjoyable cuz I read them to my kids, so I enjoyed the books through them. However being a committed Christian, I enjoyed them way more this time around, since I actually understood a lot of the theology CS Lewis was presenting in these books. Some parts are really profound.

You might consider buying Real Presence by Leanne Payne. She explains a lot of Lewis'theology in Narnia as well as in some of his other books.

Edited by author 01-09-2008 07:34 AM
Steph: you may want to pick up Microtrends for the airplane too. An observation of some of the small yet significant trends developing over the last few years. Among the most interesting is a small (but growing) trend in employment aspiration: sniper.

I don't get the censorship thing either. I mean, is your faith so weak or brittle that reading a book will destroy it? If so, then you have other things to worry about than what book you're reading.

It's been too long for me to remember the whole "dust" thing. Sorry, can't help you!

I read all the Narnia books when I was a kid... and I've been thinking of revisiting them. Although, I absolutely loved them back then and am a little afraid to re-read them in case they don't appeal to me in the same way... That having been said, I would hope they would not appeal to me the same way as they did when I was a kid! Back then, I'm sure I did not understand all the religious overtones that are apparently there. I did rent The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, but could not stay awake! I guess I need to try again.

Wow Carmen. You should ask her about HP! I just don't get the whole censorship thing with religious parents. As if the kids aren't going to read the forbidden fruit! The last book is not as good as the first two -or I just seem to be able to walk away from it way too often. Who knows?

Chronicles of Narnia could be a good comparison but are far nicer than what happens to these kids in the Dark Materials Trilogy as it's called. I'm still trying to figure out what Dust is. Sue any clue???

Going to get Madeline Albright's new book and read it while traveling this week to China. Long ass flights...

I haven't read any of the trilogy. I have read interviews with the author and the noise being made about his atheism. He doesn't seem especially obnoxious. But for entertainment, here's the weird world I teach in: I asked a 9th grade student who is always reading this sort of fiction if she had read The Golden Compass and she said she's not allowed because of the atheism. OK, so, the next day she shows up with...Clan of the Cave Bear and continues through the series. I don't get it. Talk about the great mother and spirits is OK, unbelievably graphic sex is OK, but not the other. I bet, but I haven't asked, that HP was off limits.

Anyway, religion aside, how would you compare to The Chronicles of Narnia? It seems the closest comparison from what I have seen/read.

Over the vacation, which is over now :(, I had time to read!! I read The Other Boleyn Girl. Really good although I sometimes got impatient with the narrator when she was especially thick. I suppose she was written that way so we would get the whole picture, but it really slowed things down!!! I think the author, I forget who right now, captured the intrigue and just soap opera life of the Tudor court. Well, let's face it, any court of the period! She nailed the gestalt. Damn! I wish I had a time machine!!! Not asking for much...just some sort of bubble from which to observe...like Endora on her broom in the living room in Bewitched. I don't want to mingle...too smelly, too many diseases, and one wouldn't want to get caught!

I read the first two of the trilogy but have not yet read the last one. I did like The Golden Compass, especially the concept of the "daemon." When I first started reading it, I thought, what the heck is this, but I looked up the word, and it means "attendant spirit," which was a pretty cool concept.

Started reading the Golden Compass series. Not as good as some - but definitely food for thought. I love it's take on religion too.

Reading (almost finished) an amusing book: Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. Not particularly well written (how the hell has this guy sold a gazillion books?) but amusing. It's about a washed up American quarterback who ends up playing in the Italian league (YES they play American football over here!)for the Parma team. An American friend of mine who teaches in Italy was actually an assistant coach for Udine (I think) and says about the book: "It's so true!" The book was published this year so it's pretty up to date on descriptions, attitudes, etc.

Oh, yeah. I did finish "Wine and War". Not especially well written but some really cool stories about the wine producers and the Nazis during their occupation of France during WW2. Very interesting to see what "collaboration" meant to some people. Some serious sacrifice too.

Edited by author 10-30-2007 12:22 PM
My students who are HP fans are of two minds: "Who cares?" and "What the hell did she do that for...one more reason not to let a kid read them!" Either way, doesn't affect their love, I mean LOVE, of the books. And let's not forget I'm teaching secondary students. Obviously no shame there, just like us old farts!

Yeah, she may have had tht in the back of her mind to justify probably why there was never any romantic female interest in Dumbledore's life but really doesn't add anything to the story. Just something to keep folks talking about it as there isn't much else in the story left to keep the speculations going. Besides, what else is MuggleNet going to report on?

Personally I think she never mentioned it before as she wanted the coverage to be about the book not gay vs straight. It's a kid's book afterall!!!