Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I just finished my first book of the year. (Meaning I read one book in the first week of the challenge... not a bad start. :) ) It was Supervillain of the Day by Katie Lynn Daniels, a friend of mine. It was a fun, light, quick read--did it in one sitting, which is particularly impressive for me, even with the short length! ;) It's the first of a series, and Katie will be releasing 5 more books this year, so all of those will definitely be going on my shelf.

What are y'all working on?

Ha! I'm actually beating some people now. *coughs*

I received several Hunger Games companion books for Christmas and am working on reading them all. (You know you're a movie geek when you read companion books before the actual novels the movie was inspired by...) Today I read The Hunger Games Tribute Guide, which was pretty but mostly a rehash of the first half of the movie.

I'm reading "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales" and "Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare."

I'm reading Plot Versus Character by Jeff Gerke and (slowly!) working on The Journals of Jim Elliot.

I'm (still) waiting for my first batch of books to come in at the library, so right now I'm just dabbling in Shakespeare's sonnets.

I'm just finishing up Star Wars: Knight Errant (eventually I will read all these silly Star Wars books. I think I prefer the books to the movies *hides*) After that I'm moving on to the Harry Potter series as I've somehow never read it. I'll probably never watch those movies either. I hate watching movies after I've read the books. My imagination is too powerful, and I end up getting mad that what's on the screen is so different than what's in my head. I'm trying to catch up on any fantasy type stuff that I missed out on as a kid (because somehow I skipped from The Babysitters Club to rather advanced Sci-Fi stuff.) And WOOHOO! More Drizzt for me this year! <3 R.A. Salvatore :)


edit: Yeah, I just realized when the Harry Potter books came out. Not really my childhood by any means. Sooo I'll add some Dragonlance stuff and some Lord of the Rings stuff and be satisfied that THOSE will take care of my 'I should have read those as a kid' books. Hahaha.

Some Star Wars fans among us, I see! :D I want to read the "Dark Lord Trilogy" at some point. Anakin's my favorite character.

My brother is a big fan of Salvatore and Drizzt! He'll probably try to get me to read those books one day. I think he wants to force Redwall and Eragon on me first, though... :)

How's that Jeff Gerke book, Leah?

I finished reading "Rocky Mountain Oasis" by Lynnette Bonner. Tomorrow I hope to start "Identity" by Ted Dekker.

Spot on with Eragon and Redwall.

Library books finally came in, so last night I read Walter Lord's Day of Infamy. I'd enjoyed his two books on the Titanic so much I expected his take on Pearl Harbor would be good, and I wasn't disappointed.

Aubrey wrote: "How's that Jeff Gerke book, Leah?
"
It's pretty good so far. And I appreciate the fact that his example excerpts are pretty clean, unlike most writing books. So, yeah, I'm about halfway through and so far I have no reservations about recommending it to fellow writers. ;)

I need to read some books that were due a few days ago. LOL. I've got a couple Superman books and a book on the Jewish resistance. Next after that I have some YA and some other comics.

I'm reading Crosswind. It's good so far! Seems to be aimed more at adults, but I'm liking it! Steampunk with spiritual forces, but not enough to shake the solidly steampunk foundation.

I am going to try Identity myself one day soon, Faith. It'll be my first shot at Dekker. Wish me luck! :P

*laughs* I am prepared for the fact that Eragon isn't that spectacular--even my brother will admit the first book is a little lame. But eventually I'll probably get around to it just for my brother's sake. I like him, you know. ;)

Are you going to review either of those books, Corey?

I hear you, Leah, about the examples in writing theory books! I'm intrigued by this one now. :)

Funny you should mention Crosswind, Shadow--I just saw a review for that and entered a giveaway for it! Anything steampunk is worth a shot. Well, almost anything. ;)

Aubrey wrote: "I hear you, Leah, about the examples in writing theory books! I'm intrigued by this one now. :)"
You probably already know this, but the author, Jeff Gerke, is a Christian, which makes the book even more appealing.

Have you ever read The Complete Guide To Writing & Selling The Christian Novel or Writing for the Soul: Instruction and Advice from an Extraordinary Writing Life? Both of those are great books for Christian writers.

I've not read either, but I might look into them. Thank you!

Your first shot at Dekker really should be the Circle trilogy... XD

Yeah, yeah, eventually... XD

I like free books! But I already own Crosswind, so... xD lol

And yes, what Jenni said. O:)

Aubrey wrote: "I am going to try Identity myself one day soon, Faith. It'll be my first shot at Dekker. Wish me luck! :P"

Really? I am hoping it is as good as some of this others. So far I have read the first couple of paragraphs. :P

I'm working on "The Count of Monte Cristo" right now. :)

Have you read a lot of Dekker, Faith?

See! Zoe is reading something besides a textbook! Yay! ^_^

Yes, I have. My favorite is "Blink" (although, I think he changed the name to "Blink of an Eye"). I don't know how many I have read, but it is a lot.

Zoe is trying, anyway. ;)

Good Zoe. ^_^

Which of his books besides "Blink" would you recommend, Faith?

Aubrey wrote: "Good Zoe. ^_^

Which of his books besides "Blink" would you recommend, Faith?"

Showdown
Skin
The Circle series
Thr3e
The Bride Collector

I have heard that "Immanuel's Veins" is supposed to be good, but I haven't read it yet.

I read "Kiss", but it was kind of weird and I'm not really sure what I thought of it.

Zoe wrote: "I'm working on "The Count of Monte Cristo" right now. :)"

I want to read that one. It's sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me. Do you like it?

Leah wrote: I want to read that one. It's sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me. Do you like it?"

I love it. :D It's a very complex book, and Dumas weaves it all together skillfully.

Immanuel's Veins is good but I don't think it's up Leah's alley. Vampires. And blood. And kissing. (And unused story potential.) I wrote a review for it on my shelf. Definitely want to read it again now that I've watched Buffy and Supernatural though...

Yeah, I'm not a vampire person. One of those trends I am very much not engaged by. ;)

Everybody's recommending Dekker's Circle Trilogy to me. I guess I should take the hint. *laughs* Thr3e interests me, so I will probably read it eventually.

Dystopian sci-fi! Now you're talking. :D Let me how it is, Corey!

I picked up The Fort (Revolutionary War research!) and the start of the Fullmetal Alchemist series (an adventure into manga) at the library today, but I need to finish reading Divergent first. Which is very interesting dystopian, but the totally unnecessary sexual content is driving me nuts.

I both love and hate manga. I love the artwork, I love the storyline (well sometimes), but I can go through a whole series in a few days. Then I'm left sad because there's no more left to read haha. My favorite manga by far is Chobits, Volume 1 (er, well, all of Chobits of course, I just wanted to link to it so anyone interested could see what it's about.) Again, I went through those so fast I wish there were more. (In fact I think I read them twice, then once I realized an anime of the series existed, I watched that a few hundred times haha)

I have to start reading some more. My sleep schedule is so messed up, I can't seem to stick to my normal 3 books a week thing.

Just finished Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart today. I had to limit myself to a few chapters per afternoon so I could stretch it over a few days instead of staying up late to swallow the book in one night, like I usually do. :) Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it—I feel like I wrote my review in a tearing hurry, since I was trying to get supper on the table at the same time, but you get the idea!

I love the manga art style. It's the primary, if not the only, reason I'm trying to find reasonably clean mangas to read. :P ;)

Well, c'mon, Ashley! Use this challenge as motivation to get back on your schedule. :D

That's on my to-read, list, so I'm eagerly devouring your review, Elisabeth. :D I read pretty much all of your reviews on your blog, Corey. B-)

I read another chunk of Divergent last night, and I'm reading through my screenwriting mentor's newest book as I format it. I might not be able to add it to Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ until it's published, but I am reading the whole thing (which is not something I usually do when I format). So I've officially read some nonfiction this year and broken that rut! :D

Gakuen Alice, Vol. 01 (and the multiple other volumes I've read; though not the whole thing) is pretty good. It's a little bit like X-Men, but younger kids and...different. Mainly the only similarity is that there's a mutant school.
Anyway, Gakuen Alice is pretty clean except that it's feminine (geared toward girls, so even the guy characters are somewhat effeminate O.o) and in one part there is some cross-dressing for a play. As the series progresses there is increasing fluff (which is mainly disturbing because the kids are like 11).
But it's a good manga with good characters and I like it. ^.^

+Anima 1 is pretty good too, from what I recall. You've still got some effeminate-ness, but not as much as Gakuen Alice. Fantasy world, general adventures..

Those are like the only two mangas I've read much of. xD

I'm interested in more of an explanation of Chobits. Ashley, have you written a review?

I've read +Anima and really do recommend it. It's adorable and clean (from what I recall - I think the worst of anything was one part where the merman boy was forced to dress up as a girl mermaid w/ a wig for a circus that'd captured him. Didn't bother me.)

And I'd like to hear about Chobits too... I've heard some mixed things on it.

Hmm, I guess I'd never thought of writing a review for anything before. I'd have to read the manga again, as the anime is the latest thing I have on my mind haha.

Chobits is essentially about a world where people have "persocoms", computers that look almost identical to humans. The main character (Hideki) comes into the big city for school and is jealous of everyone having one. Well he just happens to stumble upon one lying in the trash, drags it back to his apartment and that's where it all begins. She's missing her operating system, shouldn't be able to do anything, but somehow manages to learn. All she says in the beginning is "chi", so that's what her name becomes. The series basically goes on to explore the adventures of this persocom, finding out what kind of persocom she is, and a few bouts of her disappearing. Its a pretty clean manga. I don't remember any nudity, no sex, no swearing (that I remember). Just beautiful drawings and an interesting story line (well, if you're a techie. Maybe its not as interesting to someone who's not as tech savvy.)

Hmm... with all the time I just spent on that I could have gone and written a review hahaha. Oh well.

Haha thank you! That sounds good! :D

I finished the third and final Hunger Games companion ( The Hunger Games: Official Illustrated Movie Companion ) (There are plenty of unofficial ones, but I only own the three official ones from Scholastic.) It was by far the best of the three, as it was all behind-the-scenes/making-of. Definitely recommended for fans of the movie and/or filmmakers. Now hopefully I can finish Divergent and get started on Fullmetal Alchemist and some Revolutionary War novels and nonfic!

Ooh, +Anima definitely sounds like my kind of thing. I'll look into that after Fullmetal Alchemist.

The storyline from Chobits sounds absolutely darling, but I saw someone else's review here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ that mentioned some discussion of robots having (or not having, as the case may be) sex?

You're homeschooled, right, Corey? ;)

Animorphs (see: The Invasion) is a great series. It's relatively clean too. The worst is just disturbing and violence (it's not incredibly bloody, but there are animals and aliens and alien animals fighting, which involves teeth and claws and fire and whatnot). It's also just generally disturbing because of the Villains, alien slugs that crawl inside your head and take over your brain; you can think and watch and listen, but you can only look and move where the Yeerk moves your eyes and your legs (etc.). Having that, seeing family/friends with that, and just knowing it's happening is probably the worst part.

However, it was written for a preteen audience, I believe. That in itself probably makes it less disturbing. I read the series multiple years ago and was all right (at least no trauma). There are also moral dilemmas and a realism that keeps things nice. It may be too juvenile for your tastes...Idk. I'll have to read--or at least start--them again soon and see if I still love them. :)

The books aren't very long in of themselves though, and there are 54 of them (64 counting prequels and various extra books). So that's a way you can work on outreading Aubrey...

...unless she decides to read them too. ;)

I cheated and started reading Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1, lol. I wanted to read something new today, but I didn't think I should start 1776 or The Fort until I finished Divergent, since they are both long and involved books. So I took a quick jaunt with some manga, and it was fun! Clean and exciting. I'm definitely interested in the other volumes.

That sounds pretty interesting, Shadow! I might have to look into that, especially if I need to boost my numbers. ;)

Call it intuition, sir. The public school system would be hard-pressed to produce a chap like you. ;)

I'm trying to read the Myst trilogy but I keep getting distracted by other books.
Myst is good but they do move at a slow pace.

I've moved on to The Hunters and Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled. Still moving at a snails pace on The Journals of Jim Elliot too.

I... don't remember there being any robot sex in Chobits. I know they talked of people having 'relationships' with their persocoms (robots), or being 'perverts', but I don't remember it going into detail. I actually thought of it as kind of innocent because of the way the main character freaks out if his persocom isn't properly 'dressed' (she doesn't know anything at first). In fact the innocence was part of what was so cute about the series, for me. I know there are a lot of fan-based stories/art that are quite inappropriate (don't search for Chobits or Chi without safesearch on haha) but I really don't remember... man. I'm going to have to read it all again! Hahaha. I'll get back to you on Chobits in a few hours/a day or two haha. :P

And manga is awesome for a quick read to kind of clean your mental palate so you can go back to something else with a fresh mind. (Reading a few in the middle of a book I just can't seem to get through usually helps me speed up the progress in that book as well). I also like manga for waiting rooms and such, because I won't get as lost when I have to suddenly stop reading haha. :)

You mean the books inspired by the computer games, Joe? I have two of those hiding somewhere in my boxes of books obtained at library sales... What other books are you getting distracted by? :D

Ooh, that Brotherhood series looks pretty interesting, Leah.

Haha, okay, Ashley. I shall be eagerly looking forward to your further input, as the story sounds delightful. I love androids and the like. :D And my library system does have it (and +Anima, yay!).

Yes, I think I'm going to enjoy manga for the "quick and fun, supplement whatever else I'm reading" nature of the art. I was able to read Vol.1 of Fullmetal Alchemist yesterday in between chatting and chores and stuff.

And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who sometimes comes off of reading kind of dazed, lol!

Ok hehe oops. The manga isn't perfectly clean. (I most recently watched the anime. It's been a while since I read the manga.) There's quite a bit more cussing in the manga than the anime, I forgot about that. I also forgot how much detail they go into with finding her 'on' button (which is actually strategically placed. a big part of the series is all about her finding 'the one just for me', her one true love blah blah blah). But that reminded me also of part of the series where someone tries to take advantage of her (I don't remember how graphic the manga gets, the anime isn't as bad. Still not a fun subject though). Also, of course, the main character has pornography stashed everywhere. No actual nudity but you get the hint. Its an ongoing joke in the anime. So, I'd say maybe it wouldn't be for you, unless you were feeling daring.

I've read a bit of manga, I don't know why I can't remember any others that I liked. Also, I don't know how your library is set up, but the library here has 2 chunks of manga, the young adult and the regular stuff. I don't know that the YA stuff would necessarily be cleaner though, I've seen some weird stuff in supposedly 'YA' books. (I swear, half the stuff I read as a kid were just romance novels without the super graphic stuff. I think that's how I went from The Babysitters Club to H.G. Wells and George Orwell... Okay, the fact that my dad was into that stuff and the books were laying around the house may have had something to do with that too lol)

Ahh, okay. Thanks dozens for clearing that up! I appreciate the honest review a lot.

Also, I hear you about half of YA being "not graphic" romance novels! Don't get me started on that rant, haha. :P

yep, the myst books are based on the videogames.

Aubrey wrote: "Ooh, that Brotherband series looks pretty interesting."

If it's anything like Flanagan's first series, I'm sure the series is great. :D The Brotherband titles that are out are on my TBR-when-I-have-time list. :D

I've not read Ranger's Apprentice yet... I take it y'all would recommend it? :D