What Are You Reading?

[Active Engaged]

You should definitely read the HP books. All of them are fantastic. I am going to re-read the last one -after I finish Runemarks- so I can remember what happens before the film comes out.

[Nerf]

I have taken a break from some other books and have been reading some Charmed books instead. Just have been in that kind of mood. I own most, and have read most, of the Charmed collection and I find a lot of them to be quite good. Only a few stinkers in the mix. Anyway, I re-read "Something Wiccan This Way Comes." This is not to be confused with the book adaptation of the series premiere, which is called "The Power of Three." This book deals with Wiccan witches being kidnapped and the sisters going to a wiccan gathering to find out who the kidnapper is. This book has a very good twist near the end that I didn't see coming when I first read it.

I'm now working on "A Tale of Two Pipers" that is about Piper accidentally creating a double of herself. Another good book. Both of these were written by Emma Harrison, who is obviously a fan of the show. She has the sisters and their personalities down to a tee and also throws in several references to past events that happened on the show. When I was done with the first one, I just went through the rest of my collection of the books and grabbed the two Pipers one, not even realizing it was written by the same person. She's a good writer, and has also written another two Charmed books; "Garden of Evil" (one of my favorites of the book series) and "The Queen's Curse", which isn't the best one, but still good. I haven't read it in awhile, so maybe I'll try it again once I'm done with the other one. See if I like it more the second time reading it.

Anyone else here read the Charmed books? Some people have said they are childish, but I find most of them to be very good. I frequently observe how the writers use description, how the story is crafted, the pace of it, and how they write the characters to help me with my own writing.

[Dark Witch.]

I have a few. i got into them a while back but havent bought any int he longest time. i too have recently read "A Tale of Two Pipers" and I agree it is a good one which has a good twist in the end.

I have "Brewing Storm" which is about the Elementals coming together and Piper has to unbind Tyler's powers. (The boy in "Lost and Bound")

I also have Voodoo Moon, a great one if you are a Prue lover . Mirror Image, one about an ancestor of the Warren line prophesizing another sister coming into the Charmed Ones lives, but decieves them and is really a demon.

"Whispers From the Past" a book where Phoebe goes back to Salem and meets Melinda's daughter Prudence, and she is meant to protect her.

I have a few more, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

At the moment, I was reading the Percy Jackson series, but I am sort of out of it at the moment. Don't really want to read it, and for school I need to read a few books, so I might reread "Night" by Elie Wiesel. Not a cheerful book for those who know of it, but an educational book non the less.

[Quiet Desperation]

I've read "The Light of the World", in which Piper and Phoebe are invited to their childhood friend's wedding and are asked to be her bridesmids. Paige is also invited to the wedding. It takes place in Serenity Cove, where there are rumors of a spirit haunting the place. Of course, the Charmed ones investigate. It's a fantastic Charmed book. I really enjoyed reading it. I have two others, "Between Worlds", which I stopped reading after a while, and 'Trickery Treats", which i began reeading but never continued. I will read them eventually. I think of Charmed books as "missing episodes" of the show. Haha.

I started reading "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", and I will try and finish it. I've read half of the first HP, but stopped later on. I hope I finish this one.

[David]

I did used to own a few of the Charmed books and I read The Power of Three and Charmed Again a long while ago. Just recently I read most of Mystic Knoll but I gave up towards the end because it was so bad! I never give up a book, but it was just getting incredibly ridiculous even for a Charmed story.

I still have The Warren Witches, which surprisingly I haven't ever got around to reading yet, but I'm sure I will eventually.

[Astral Martin]

I've read 2 Charmed Books. One was Date with Death, which was about Paige going out with some form of demon through an online dating service. The other, I can't remember it's name, but it was about the sisters meeting three people. Something how Piper had massive mood swings and Paige became really tired all the time? It was pretty good.

Anyways, for my summer program, I'm reading My Sister's Keeper. It is such an awesome book, so much dilemmas and drama in the novel. It's really smart and I highly recommend it. I heard that the movie has a different ending but I'm not sure.

[David]

I've finally started a new book after reading nothing for months! I'm about half way through Club Dead by Charlaine Harris which is Book 3 of the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse books. So far its good, pretty different to the previous two but still good

Up next? Not sure yet, but I want to read at least one other book while I'm off for Easter.

[Ren]

Hey I read the first two books in that series on the train home for Easter break!! The third one is checked out of the library though, and I can't afford to buy anymore books right now (or food, for that matter, lol) so I'm going to have to wait. Is it different good, or different bad from the other two?

They're a pretty fun read... when I watched the first season of True Blood, I really liked it, but there were things about Sookie that got under my skin. After reading the books, however, I get that the things that bothered me the most were supposed to be funny. She's a little ridiculous, but reading it I saw the humour a lot clearer than I did while watching it. I'm going to have to go back and watch it again.

[mliisza]

I'm reading Little Women, I've always loved the movie and when I saw the book in our school library I decided to read it. I don't think we have that book in Holland, which is why I haven't read it before.

[David]

Is it different good, or different bad from the other two?

Different in a way that made it sort of the same I think what made it stand out as a little different was the fact that a new main character was introduced, as were werewolves which I think was the main difference.

I finished Club Dead a few days ago, and then I moved onto a mystery book called Murder is Binding which was a really nice and cozy read, if a bit long for what it was. But I've just finished it, and I successfully guessed the murder and the twist so I'm pleased with myself

Now onto Dead to the World the 4th Sookie Stackhouse mystery.

[Astral Martin]

Sookie is certainly getting known in the novel world.

I'm currently reading City of Ashes, Book 2 in the Mortal Instruments Trilogy. So far it's pretty intriguing. I've only read Book 1 last year, so everything's a bit fuzzy. But it all comes back once I go deeper into the book.

I'm actually going to see if I can get back into reviewing. I can't tell you how long it's been since I reviewed. Wish me luck!

[The Matriarch]

SPOILER: Click to show

After getting into The Vampire Diaries on TV, I decided to purchase the first two installments of the series to get the back story but to my disappointment I actually prefer the show to the books.

The whole dimension of the characters in the books are kind of off putting. Elena (as a blonde I might add which I hate) thinks of herself as the end & be all of the girls at school. She doesn't seem kind & down to earth like her character on the show. She has this thing that Stefan HAS to be interested in her and when he doesn't give her an ounce of attention, she becomes upset. She's very self-involved & expects all the guys to fall at her feet. Totally off putting for the lead female character of a series of books. Please someone tell me this changes as the books go on as I'm seriously reconsidering even reading them any further. She is also kind of cold-hearted to her ex-boyfriend, Matt. She kind of gives him false hope that there might be a chance for them but then she flirts like crazy with Stefan. Can anyone say "tease"?

As for the other characters, Caroline is pretty much like she is in the show, peppy & bubbly & somewhat annoying but she's the one character I can handle in the book so far; her & the future witch Bonnie (I also prefer her character in the show). Stefan is mysterious so that's pretty much the same... so if anyone can prove to me that these books are worth the read I don't think I'll be finishing it, unless I seriously don't have anything to read anymore. :/

[David]

I'm currently reading Shakespeare's Landlord by Charliane Harris. I've become a huge Charlaine Harris fan lately because of the Sookie Stackhouse books, but this series is very different to those. It's a mystery series about a woman named Lily Bard who is a house cleaner and she's also currently trying to piece together the mystery surrounding a man's murder. It's a lot more serious than the Sookie books, and the main character has a pretty dark back story but it's still got that light mystery vibe to it which I love

As for what I'll read next I'm not sure, I've got the rest of the Sookie books to read (I finished Book 5 yesterday and Books 3 and 4 the other week) but I think I want something different...

[Terry]

Coincidentally, I have just finished The Shakespeare Secret (a.k.a Interred with Their Bones), by Jennifer Lee Carrell. Hard enough to read the Old English bits and pieces, but an interesting book, one that I had trouble putting down at times.

Now I have no idea what I'll be reading since my stock's all done with... I've been meaning to delve back into Harry Potter for some time now but I want to wait until I have enough money to buy the American version so... *sigh*

Any suggestion to kill time while we wait for the Charmed comics?

[Ren]

Terry, if you're looking for some fun, easy to read books, I'd suggest the Percy Jackson & the Olympians novels . I got a huge kick out of them, and they're written for such a young audience they only take a couple hours to read. All five are witty and well written and just an all around good time; the recent movie they made on The Lightning Thief did not even come close to doing the first novel justice. For something with a little more weight to it, Jose Saramago is always good . The Cave and Blindness are awesome. The man totally has no faith in our society, haha. The english translations are so beautiful, I can't even imagine how gorgeous the writing must be in his native Portuguese.

Mliisza, I hope you enjoy Little Women . That book has a really special place in my heart. I own four different editions. It was one of the books my mom read to me over and over again when I was really small, and there are just so many things I fell in love with for the first time because of that novel. I wanted to be Jo when I was a kid, haha. She was my hero.

David I don't blame you for wanting to spend a little time reading something different after going through a handful of the Sookie Stackhouse novels in a row.... I finished the series a couple weeks ago and as soon as I was done I felt the same way. They're quirky and entertaining and all, but there really is a limit as to how many of them you should read within a really short time span, haha.

[Terry]

I've meant to read those for a while, actually. It's just a shame there's no American/British bookstore in my town. Gotta go all the way up to the capital city. Or order on the Internet, but my country is off the free-shipping territory of Amazon France. *pout* Unless they can be bought as eBooks on iTunes? I kinda get lost around there so if anyone knows... Eh.

[David]

Now reading (yet) another Charlaine Harris book, this time Grave Secret which is actually really, really good so far. It's about this girl named Harper Connelly who can locate dead bodies after being struck by lightning when she was a teenager. It's fairly similar to Harris' other stuff, but the mystery element is a lot stronger and I'm really liking Harper as the heroine.

[oved011again]

This coming week i finally get a huge break from school, so that means i can start reading what i want to read. I'm going to read Witchlighter and Nine Series within 2 weeks...can it happen? I think it will Btw are theses downloadable for my nook?

[Terry]

I've started reading the "Everworld" series by K.A. Applegate. It's a series I always wanted to read when I was a teenager but by then I just couldn't afford books and could only read the ones I was offered. Now, with the iPhone e-readers, books are much less expensive, even if I still prefer real cover-and-pages books, I'll settle for ebooks for the ones I'm not dying to have. Life's a compromise

Before that I read "The Spook's Nightmare" by Joseph Delaney, and before that "The Age of the Five" trilogy by Trudi Canavan. I also tried "The Vampire Diaries" by What's-her-name Smith, but I really couldn't get through the second book, and I don't intend to.

I still don't know what I'll read next, though. I've gotten so many ebooks and 3D books that I don't know where to begin.

Oh, and for those who enjoyed the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series, which I did finally read, Ren, Rick Riordan, their other, has now released two spin-off series: "The Kane Chronicles", which delves into Egyptian mythology and whose second book is coming in two months. And "The Heroes of Olympus", a somewhat direct continuation to "Percy" but focusing on other demigods. Both are must-reads.

[Harrison]

Terry, I'm the same way when it comes to reading books electronically. I feel as if sometimes it diminishes the quality even though it obviously can't because its the same story. I have a long list of series that I'm trying to tackle but please let me know if "Everworld" turns out to be good and maybe I'll add it in and make it a priority.

As for "Percy Jackson & The Olympians" series, I'm a big fan. I've always been extremely intrigued by Greek mythology so these books turned out to be perfect. As it being stated the author that he intended the books for middle school viewership, do you personally find the books childish at all? Also, I just finished "The Lost Hero" and found the characters at the very least to be more interesting than those in the "Percy Jackson" books. i just feel like Rick Riordan developed the three main characters really well throughout and I enjoyed how he switched perspectives.

And so far, I'm not a huuuuge fan of the other spin-off "The Kane Chronicles" but then again I'm only about a hundred or so pages in? Hopefully it'll turn out to take my interest. I guess I'm just more accustomed to the Greek gods and such. I did find it really clever that there was the small innuendo that the Greek and Egyptian gods co-exist in the same world but that they don't interfere with one another.