[Your Book Activity - August 2014]

If you do, I'd go to one of his other earlier ones, perhaps The Mauritius Command? M&C isn't perhaps the best to start with, even if it's the first in the series (a bit like I don't think Swallows and Amazons is necessarily the best starter for that series!): a tad too much introduction and not enough action. If you don't like TMC, which has a lot more action, then I'm fairly certain you're initial reactions are correct for you.

 

But it may be simply it's not your scene. I'll forgive you!    In which case, there's far too much other reading out there to waste your time on keeping trying.

 

 

Yeah, agreed.  Either TMC or HMS Surprise are better starting points - or, should I say, more the sort of story I was expecting.  I found the first half of M&C a real struggle but I'm glad I stuck with it.  Marvellous series.

 

Thank you both, I'll keep that in mind

 

Today I finished The Ringmaster's Daughter by Jostein Gaarden.

I enjoyed the first half, homewever the second was slightly worse for me. Also, I hated the protagonist, he was too much unrealistic and egocentric. 

All in all, I think it was a good idea, but it could have been done way better.

[Your Book Activity - August 2014]

Hope you do too - I love this series. Some of O'Brien's naval jargon can get a bit obscure, but I just let it wash over me and enjoyed the story. Much of what O'Brien wrote is based on real events, but won't spoil your enjoyment by discussing that yet. It's fascinating once you have in tracing those real bits through the history books (if you're a bit of a geek about things like that, like me!).

 

 

Shame you didn't enjoy The Stars My Destination - I loved it, it's one of my favourite books.  I hope you enjoy Master & Commander a bit more - I thought it was quite hard work at the start with all the nautical terminology but, once I got past that I thought it was a great book, and the subsequent books are marvellous - a fantastic series

 

 

I'm just making a start on The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor.

 

 

After more than a week of reading inactivity , I went back to Master & Commander and...

I just couldn't do it.

I wasn't interested in the story at all, and even if I quite liked Jack and Stephen, they weren't enough to keep me engaged. Too much naval language, too many (and too long) descriptions, and even the (few so far) action scenes managed to be boring to me.

Don't get me wrong, I love slow books; but this kind just isn't my cup of tea. Maybe because I'm not that interested in the navy?

In the end, I decided to quit it for the moment. Maybe I'll try to read it again sometimes

[Your Book Activity - August 2014]

I finished reading two days ago Stars My Destination.

It was pretty good, although I was expecting something more... but I think that it's more about my tastes than the actual quality of the book. In fact, it's difficult to say why I didn't like it as much as I was expecting to... It surely is full of original ideas! Everybody who loves sci-fi and/or adventure should give it a shot!

Now I'm into Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien... this is my first (at least that I remember of) navy/pirate novel that I ever read... I hope to enjoy it! 

 

[Has anyone read...?]

Has anyone read the Nicholas Flames series by Michael Scott?
Most of the books scored really well on Goodreads, but the comments are love or hate. I'm tempted to buy the first book since it's on a 25% sale in Italy, but I'm a bit afraid it might be too childish and with too much unerdeveloped charachters... suggesions, anyone?

[To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee]

I loved this book, I just finished reading it, it has such a beautiful message. I have a couple of things I was wondering though, for those who have read the book...

 

 

Did you think Scout fully understood the meaning of her comment 'well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?' (on the decision to say Mr Ewell fell on his knife). It's never suggested that Scout actually knows Boo killed Mr Ewell, since she doesn't see anything of the attack. So did her comment have more meaning than she meant, or had she worked it all out while listening on the porch?

 

 

and second...

 

 

Do you think Tom Robinson ran because he wanted to be shot? To save himself and Atticus being put through another trial, which he was sure he would lose. Or Do you think he really believed he could escape? Or maybe just ran in a moment of madness? It kind of seemed to me that he must have known he couldn't get over the fence fast enough, especially with only one arm. But I'm not sure.

 

 

I would be very interested to hear other people's thoughts

 

For the first question

 

I think she knows Bob killed Ewell: she's seen him rescuing her and Jem, and she's a pretty clever girl, I doubt she doesn't realize it.

 

 

As for the second

 

 

I thought he didn't run at all, it was pretty clear everybody in the town was against him, it would've been easy while in jail to fake a reason to shoot him...

 

[Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte]

Read it a year ago, and liked it very much! The setting was absolutely fascinating, I still have in mind the places as I imagined them while I was reading!

[The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger]

I read the book for school nearly four years ago, absolutely loved it! The deep insight in Holden's inner world was absolutely fantastic, Salinger was good in providing a psychological/phylosophical novel that goes deeper than the usual coming-of-age novel.

[Your Book Activity - August 2014]

I finished yesterday To kill a mockingbird: despite initial doubts, I enjoyed it very much! It re-created child life much, much better than Mark Twain did.
It gave me a good sense of nostalgia for the world of childhood, which I think it's one of his greatest achievements. It deals with other themes, such as racism or simply the matter of the "other": maybe it doesn't go deep about these, but considering it's a coming-of-age novel, that's enough.

 

Now I'm into Stars my destination by Alfred Bester. A friend of mine said it's very good, I hope he's right

[Behind you, a three-headed monkey!]

Tenth Doctor, do you have any favourite philosophers or favourite subjects within philosophy? I only know the more famous ones I think.. most of my knowledge comes from reading Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder (in Dutch: De Wereld van Sofie) which taught me a lot about philosophy.

 

My favourite philosophical current is existentialism, which explores the (abescence of) meaning of life; important authors in this current are Kierkegaard (I hate him, but i have to admit it's thanks to him this current started), Sartre, Camus, and many others. It became more and more prominent during the XX century.

 

Homewever, my favourite authors are not from this current: I love the works of Plato, Aristotle (they're the very basic of philosophy), Nietzsche, Freud, Hume, and many others.

 

Then, there's modern philosophy, many of my teachers are estabilished philosophers, and some of the most important among the ones living in Italy.

 

If you want to try reading philosophy by yourself, I suggest starting from two famous names: Plato and Freud.

Plato has a complex philosophical system, but it's accessible by everyone, as it's writing is plain and simple (although you will find it heavy if you're not familiar with philosophy). 

Freud invented pshychoanalisis, but his works cover many philosophical issues, and it's very interesting even for who doesn't know anything about philosophy or pshychology.

His most important work his "Interpretation of dreams": it's also one of the longest and most complex, but it's totally worth it. Give it a try if you want

 

Welcome Nicolo. I hope you have fun here.

 

Thank you

[Your Book Activity - August 2014]

That's an interesting comparison. I never really liked Mark Twain either, but I have gone/still go to school in Missouri so Mark Twain is a big deal. I liked To Kill A Mockingbird and the only similarities I can think of is that they both talk about southern life. Other than that, I think TKAM is far better.

 

You're absolutely right! I've nearly finished it, and the Mark Twain impression has faded away after the first chapters... I'm liking it more and more as I go on!

 

After reading all other Tolkien works...so far I can only compare reading his 'encyclopedian' work The Silmarillion with a winter's midnight trip to the bathroom. Reluctant, bemoaned, but necessary.

 

Well, if it makes you feel better, I can tell you there are far heavyer thinks among his works... "The history of Middle Earth" is basically the Silmarillion (even if they have many differences here and there), only much, much bigger.

[Authors who cover the widest ranges]

The first name I can think of is Richard Matheson

He wrote short stories for many genres, as western, sci-fi, paranormal, thriller, horror...

And I still have to read his later works!

 

[Behind you, a three-headed monkey!]

 

 

It the Angels you have to watch out for . . .

 

You've got a point here...

(Looking at your Capaldi image makes me more eager for the new season... even more than I usually am )

Hi, Welcome!  Sounds like you like a lot of classic- classics with Poe, Lovecraft, etc.  I like Dostoyevsky too, read Crime and Punishment and The Idiot last year.

I just finished The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand which was all philosophy, actually.  Fiction, with lots of philosophy lol  And a tad of a headache. 

I always get Looking for Alaska recommended to me, so I should put  it on my short list. 

Hope to see you around the Forum!  And your English is fine, don't worry    What are you reading now?

 

I'm currently reading To kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee! I should be able finish it today

[The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins]

I read the trilogy nearly a year ago...

I didn't know the series, nor movies or books. So I didn't have any expectations about them.
When I finished the first book, I was positively surprised: I liked the charachters, the setting, and the whole story.
I immediately bought the other two volumes, hoping in an epic climax.

But... the second book failed my expectations. It wasn't that bad, it simply wasn't an improvement over the previous chapter: it was a sort of more of the same, which didn't entertain me as much as the first time. 
There were good things in it, though (namely, Finnick).
 

Then, the disaster. I hated every single bit of the third book. It failed me on so many levels I wanted to forget all the series.
The charachters I liked, or even loved, became hateful to me, the plot became more and more predictable...

 

And then, there's the ending. One of the most awful endings I've ever read.

 

In the end, I have good memories of the first one, while I grow on hating both the second and third book.

Regarding the movies, I've only seen the first one so far, and I liked it, even if it felt a bit rushed compared to the book.

 

Obviously, that's just my opinion

[Bookmark or dog-eared page?]

I always use a bookmark! I grow attached to them... in fact, even though I've got plenty of them, I always use the same two... a green one for what I'm reading for myself, and an orange one for what I have to read for University 

[Your Book Activity - August 2014]

I haven't read anything by Mark Twain yet, but I liked To Kill a Mockingbird when I read it for English class at secondary school. I don't remember much of it nowadays though. I hope you enjoy it more later on. 

 

 

Here in Italy To kill a mockingbird is not regarded as a "classical" novel, so we don't read it in school. I only discovered his existance some days ago, thanks to Amazon warehouse deals!

I read some more chapters yesterday, and I'm starting to like it... hopefully the Mark Twain resemblance has gone away!

 

Everyone appears to have their bookworm badges firmly attached for the beginning of August. I see some great books mentioned above; The Stranger, American Gods, Anansi Boys, To Kill A Mocking Bird. Happy reading everyone.

 

During my time away I managed to finish An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor and Peter Robinson's Piece of My heart. I also managed to complete Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, and start J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion.

 

I absolutely want to know your opinion about The Silmarillion    

It's one of Tolkien's most complex works, but also the most important. Only it's a bit heavy to read, so many people don't appreciate it. 

[Behind you, a three-headed monkey!]

Hello Nicolò and welcome to the forum!  

 

Thank you!

 

Hi and welcome

 

Interesting title, it isn't a reference to 'The Secret of Monkey Island' is it?

 

Yes it is, good job in getting that 

 

Hello, Nicolò and welcome to the forum.

 

I'm also a newbie here. You'll find everyone lovely...certainly far friendlier than the Cybermen.

 

Or the Daleks, for that matter... at leat I hope 

 

Welcome here !

 

I quite liked The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and have The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Silmarillion on my TBR (to-be-read). I also own a lot of Terry Brooks books but I haven't read them yet. I read some of the Chronicles of Narnia books (in Dutch) when I was a child and loved them. I recently bought an English omnibus so I look forward to see what I think of them as an adult. I loved The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and have a couple of other books by him on my TBR (can you sense a theme here..). Which one is your favourite? I also have some of the classics authors on my TBR, that you mentioned, however I don't read classics all that often.

 

I read only Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars so far, but they were enough to lead John into my favourite authors list 

Between the two, TFIOS is absolutely better for every point of view. Looking for Alaska is good, but it still has some minor flaws here and there, which is obvious since it was his first novel!

[Fyodor Dostoevsky]

I absolutely love Dostoevskij!
I've read Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov, The Gambler, and some other novels which english title I don't know.

 

He's not an author for everyone, as he may be a little difficult to read, and may be boring to those who don't like really, really long passages dedicated to pshicology and philosophy.

So far, my favourite novel is Crime and Punishment, which I've read just two months ago.

[Your Book Activity - August 2014]

I just started "To kill a mockingbird" by Harper Lee... the first chapter didn't give me a good impression, reminded me Mark Twain too much (and I don't like Mark Twain at all). Hope it's just an impression 

[Behind you, a three-headed monkey!]

So, presentations... I always thought they're a very nice way to start in a forum, so here I am!

My name is Nicolò, I'm 21 years old, I'm a student in Philosophy and... and I love to read. That was unexpected, uh? 

I read almost everything, from classic literature books to fantasy or sci-fi. 
Some of my favourite authors are Vergil, Poe, Lovecraft, Dostoevskij, Doyle, Shelley (both Mr. and Mrs.), Keats, Byron, Shakespeare, C. S. Lewis, Lewis Carrol, Terry Brooks, Baudelaire, John Green, Italo Calvino, Matheson...

 

Homewever, if I had to pick just ONE author, it would be J. R. R. Tolkien.
I absolutely love every one of his works. I got all of them, and even some essays written about Tolkien and/or his works.
Not to mention, I'm a member of the Italian Tolkien Society

 

I've got many other interests, as videogames, comic books, manga and anime, music, movies, tv series (as you can guess by my nick   )
 

Okay, that lasted way too much. I hope I haven't bothered you!

One last thing: I'm from Italy, so I already beg pardon if I made some mistakes here and there 

 

See you around!