So apparently I really bite at posting in a timely fashion. I’ve done a bit of cooking, but mostly just re-dos of what I’ve already told you about. Well, because I haven’t done any interesting cooking lately, on to book-talk!
Right now I am going through a Terry Pratchett phase. I can’t help it, his books just make me happy! I picked up The Color of Magic after a few recommendations from a friend. “You’ll really like the Discworld series.” “It’s really good.” “Seriously, I’m not kidding.” I every time I mentioned a new book that I had picked up my friend would say “Have you checked out the Discworld series yet?” and I would always reluctantly reply “No, not yet… it’s on the list!” Then finally I said “what the hell,” looked up the publication order, and grabbed the first book. The books aren’t numbered so you can pretty much read them in any order you want.
The Color of Magic is about Rincewind; the failed and slightly cowardly wizard, and his misfortunes as he gets wrapped up in travel with an unassuming tourist who owns a pretty awesome piece of anthropomorphic luggage. I love Rincewind, and feel a little bad for him because really he just wants to live out his existence in relative peace and quiet. However, my true favorite character of this book is the luggage.
The luggage is incredibly loyal and protective of its owner and follows him no matter what. The personality that Pratchett gives the luggage is really amusing. It’s pretty fantastic. I want a piece of luggage that will follow me around like that! I would never have to worry about a lost bag at the airport, because it would always find it’s way back to me, lol.
When I read, if it’s a good story I end up emotionally involved and engrossed in them. So, if whatever I’m reading is intense or sad it can really screw with my mood. The humor in Pratchett’s books have allowed me to escape into them and not end up an emotional wreck while reading. If you’re looking for a fun, whimsical book I definitely recommend you pick this one (or any of his books) up. They are great entertaining books that also uplift your mood!
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Published Order or Chronological Order?
I personally prefer to read books in the order that they were published, not the order that the publisher decides to tack onto the book series after it has been out for 30+ years. I am speaking of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I first read them when I was about 10 years old. My father had the books in a box set (1970-something printing of them, I forgot the exact date) and they are numbered in the order of publication. If you go out now to buy a box set, or better yet, one of those nifty huge compilation books with all 7 novels contained in one big brick of a book, you will see that the order of the books has mysteriously changed. "Why?" you ask. Because the books were not written in chronological order. So, anyone who decides to read these books now, and who wouldn't necessarily know any better, will unknowingly read the books in whatever order that is put in front of them. Which makes perfect sense.
The order I read them: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magicians Nephew, The Last Battle.
The order you will now find them in: The Magicians Nephew, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle.
In all honesty, I truly enjoyed reading the books in the original published order better, I think, than I would have if I had read them in chronological order. Each book was incredibly entertaining alone, but reading them and realizing as I read where each book fit into the timeline of Narnia made them even more exciting! It was like finding a lost treasure! You start out with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and get sucked in by the story and then 6 books later you read about how it all came to exist. The main characters that you knew and loved from the first book are slowly removed from your focus so you are able to see the "big picture." It is very exciting!
I want anyone who decides to pick up The Chronicles of Narnia to be able to enjoy them the way I did. Reading them in the order that I did allowed me to explore and discover the world and the characters because I had to think about what I was reading and relate it all together, rather than just eating up what the author was writing. Does that make sense?
This makes me think of Anne McCaffrey. She is another author whose books intertwine characters and timeslines. She writes wonderful books if you're into fantasy/dragons/scifi stuff. (The scifi aspect of her books doesn't come around until some of the later ones, but it's there none the less.) I had to read one of her books as part of a summer reading list in high school. At first I wasn't really impressed. I found it difficult to get into the story, but to be honest with you, it having been a summer reading book, may have had a bit to do with it. I have always loved reading, but sometimes those summer reading books were just awful.
Anyway, once I was hooked I couldn't get enough. I just kept reading her books. (No, I have not read them publication order. I started reading these before I really had an opinion about it.) I loved the characters (Masterharper Robinton is one of my favorites) and I wanted to keep reading more about this civilization on the planet Pern. From what I can tell, anything that she wrote in the Pern series is all somehow related, but not in the chronological way you usually see in book series. She writes small series within the Pern universe and they take place all over the timeline. I really enjoy how she writes the same scene from different perspectives and uses that scene to link multiple series together. It's very cool, and is fun to figure out while you're reading.
Sooo, while I generally prefer to read things in the order they were originally published, I guess that it doesn't really matter what order you read things in, as long as you enjoy what you're reading! What do you think? Would you rather read something in the published order or the chronological order?
~Mich
The order I read them: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magicians Nephew, The Last Battle.
The order you will now find them in: The Magicians Nephew, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle.
In all honesty, I truly enjoyed reading the books in the original published order better, I think, than I would have if I had read them in chronological order. Each book was incredibly entertaining alone, but reading them and realizing as I read where each book fit into the timeline of Narnia made them even more exciting! It was like finding a lost treasure! You start out with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and get sucked in by the story and then 6 books later you read about how it all came to exist. The main characters that you knew and loved from the first book are slowly removed from your focus so you are able to see the "big picture." It is very exciting!
I want anyone who decides to pick up The Chronicles of Narnia to be able to enjoy them the way I did. Reading them in the order that I did allowed me to explore and discover the world and the characters because I had to think about what I was reading and relate it all together, rather than just eating up what the author was writing. Does that make sense?
This makes me think of Anne McCaffrey. She is another author whose books intertwine characters and timeslines. She writes wonderful books if you're into fantasy/dragons/scifi stuff. (The scifi aspect of her books doesn't come around until some of the later ones, but it's there none the less.) I had to read one of her books as part of a summer reading list in high school. At first I wasn't really impressed. I found it difficult to get into the story, but to be honest with you, it having been a summer reading book, may have had a bit to do with it. I have always loved reading, but sometimes those summer reading books were just awful.
Anyway, once I was hooked I couldn't get enough. I just kept reading her books. (No, I have not read them publication order. I started reading these before I really had an opinion about it.) I loved the characters (Masterharper Robinton is one of my favorites) and I wanted to keep reading more about this civilization on the planet Pern. From what I can tell, anything that she wrote in the Pern series is all somehow related, but not in the chronological way you usually see in book series. She writes small series within the Pern universe and they take place all over the timeline. I really enjoy how she writes the same scene from different perspectives and uses that scene to link multiple series together. It's very cool, and is fun to figure out while you're reading.
Sooo, while I generally prefer to read things in the order they were originally published, I guess that it doesn't really matter what order you read things in, as long as you enjoy what you're reading! What do you think? Would you rather read something in the published order or the chronological order?
~Mich
Friday, November 9, 2007
Holy crap! A second post!!
Yeah.. I really don't update this thing enough. Though, that could be because I haven't really had a chance to do anything other than homework lately. *shrug*
Well, regarding the reading list, I've finished the His Dark Materials series. It was really fantastic and I definitely recommend it to people who like fantasy books. Also, The Golden Compass movie is coming out on (I believe) December 7th, so if you read the book then you can be prepared for the movie!
~Mich
Well, regarding the reading list, I've finished the His Dark Materials series. It was really fantastic and I definitely recommend it to people who like fantasy books. Also, The Golden Compass movie is coming out on (I believe) December 7th, so if you read the book then you can be prepared for the movie!
- His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -- FINISHED!!!!
- The Golden Compass
- The Subtle Knife
- The Amber Spyglass
- Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis (he's one of my favorite authors.. so great)
- Out Of The Silent Planet <~~ started (again)
- Perelandra
- That Hideous Strength
~Mich
Friday, July 27, 2007
Holy crap! A first post!!
Aloha! So, I finally decided to write that "first post" that I've been meaning to write. I'm just neglecting cleaning my room to write this.. there's always something I suppose..
Alrighty, to the nitty-gritty...
So far this summer I have read.. 2 books. So totally not the number I was hoping to post here at the moment. I'm working on reading more. I'll post the books that I want to read at the end of this post. (I'll post a hopefully more complete one later.)
The first book that I managed to finish was Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. (Thank you Keane for that one!) I won't go too into detail for fear of ruining the book to anyone interested in reading it. I quite enjoyed it. It was very different from the types of books that I normally read (fantasy/science fiction) which was a nice change, and it wasn't a terribly long book. He managed to keep you guessing through the whole book, specifically questioning just who exactly is the narrator. It's not a particularly happy book, but there were definitely some "chuckle out loud" moments. I definitely recommend it to anyone willing to read a slightly trippy, not really happy, book. It really was a good read.
The second book I read was none other than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I loved this book. Of course, I loved all of the other HP books, so I think I'm a bit biased towards this one. I'm not going to really talk about it other than to say that I read it in, I think, about 10 hours over the course of the weekend it came out, it was truly another fantastic read and I'm sad that it's over. There, I've said all I can really say about it, so yeah.
Alright, now for a list...
Currently I'm reading the His Dark Materials Series. Book 1 is The Golden Compass. Yes, it's that movie that will be out in theaters in I think December. No, that is not why I am reading the book. The series was recommended by a co-worker. So far (I'm roughly halfway through) it is very good.
The list:
~Mich
Alrighty, to the nitty-gritty...
So far this summer I have read.. 2 books. So totally not the number I was hoping to post here at the moment. I'm working on reading more. I'll post the books that I want to read at the end of this post. (I'll post a hopefully more complete one later.)
The first book that I managed to finish was Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. (Thank you Keane for that one!) I won't go too into detail for fear of ruining the book to anyone interested in reading it. I quite enjoyed it. It was very different from the types of books that I normally read (fantasy/science fiction) which was a nice change, and it wasn't a terribly long book. He managed to keep you guessing through the whole book, specifically questioning just who exactly is the narrator. It's not a particularly happy book, but there were definitely some "chuckle out loud" moments. I definitely recommend it to anyone willing to read a slightly trippy, not really happy, book. It really was a good read.
The second book I read was none other than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I loved this book. Of course, I loved all of the other HP books, so I think I'm a bit biased towards this one. I'm not going to really talk about it other than to say that I read it in, I think, about 10 hours over the course of the weekend it came out, it was truly another fantastic read and I'm sad that it's over. There, I've said all I can really say about it, so yeah.
Alright, now for a list...
Currently I'm reading the His Dark Materials Series. Book 1 is The Golden Compass. Yes, it's that movie that will be out in theaters in I think December. No, that is not why I am reading the book. The series was recommended by a co-worker. So far (I'm roughly halfway through) it is very good.
The list:
- His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
- The Golden Compass
- The Subtle Knife
- The Amber Spyglass
- Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis (he's one of my favorite authors.. so great)
- Out Of The Silent Planet
- Perelandra
- That Hideous Strength
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Carroll
- The Odyssey - Homer
- Myth Adventures (Volume 1) - Robert Asprin
- Wicked - Gergory Maguire
- The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
- Dracula - Bram Stoker (If I haven't read it already... I can't remember.)
- The Illuminatus! (Trilogy) - Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
- The Comedy of Errors - William Shakespeare
- Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
- A few others from Shakespeare (probably re-read Hamlet, I looove Hamlet!)
- Quarterlife Crisis - Alexandra Robbins & Abby Wilner (My Mom got it for me, eventually I'll read it...)
- Are Men Necessary? - Maureen Dowd
- Babbitt - Sinclair Lewis
- All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque (If I haven't read it already)
- The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
- Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
- Wake Of The Red Witch - Garland Roark <~~ I found this book in my basement, I think it came from my Grandparent's basement it's kinda old.. printed in the 1946. Seems nifty enough. :-)
~Mich
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