Break The Spine.

[BBP]

Nice, thank you! I thought that, since William Morris also wrote poetry, he might have penned that.
I need to update it - all the other pictures have been found now.

[BBP]

^Silly me. William Morris was from the other tapestry, from The Orchard. ("Hey! That kinda looks like me. Except for the dress part.")
He did write the verse on that one.

Aaanyway, I read three Murakami novels, called Dance dance dance, Sputnik Sweetheart, and Listen to the wind, in the past week. It must be summer.

[Tawmis]

Finally finished my re-read of Secret of the Dragon and now re-reading book 3 of the series, Rage of the Dragon. And then finally read the 4th (and final) book of the series (which I've not read, and why I re-read the entire series from the first book again, so everything's fresh in my head, since each book took 2 to 3 years to come out, it feels like!)

[BBP]

This week I worked at the book fair, which was fun yet exhausting. There was a game book there by Leila Johnston - it's called Enemy Of Chaos - I wanted to buy it, but when I could get it on Saturday, it was gone!
Anybody here familiar with the title?

This year they had more copies of the book, on Thursday I couldn't find it (it's a big fair) but yesterday I bought, and I just finished, this awesome book!

I wish game books were more popular here... I've only encountered 3 or 4 of those in my lifetime...

[Rath Darkblade]

I am currently reading Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day. Some delightful light reading about how to travel there, where to stay, what to wear and where to eat - and how to eat, what to do when invited to dinner parties - and how to get home afterwards, what to do if accused of a crime... etc., etc. Fascinating stuff.

[Tawmis]

Finally finished my re-read of Secret of the Dragon and now re-reading book 3 of the series, Rage of the Dragon. And then finally read the 4th (and final) book of the series (which I've not read, and why I re-read the entire series from the first book again, so everything's fresh in my head, since each book took 2 to 3 years to come out, it feels like!)

Necro-posting! So I had actually finished that book, then Rage of the Dragon (which is UH-mazing)... And then tried to get back into Harry Potter, and it's too much... so I took a step back and ventured into my childhood... anyone else ever read...

A Wrinkle In Time.

[notbobsmith]

Finally finished my re-read of Secret of the Dragon and now re-reading book 3 of the series, Rage of the Dragon. And then finally read the 4th (and final) book of the series (which I've not read, and why I re-read the entire series from the first book again, so everything's fresh in my head, since each book took 2 to 3 years to come out, it feels like!)

Necro-posting! So I had actually finished that book, then Rage of the Dragon (which is UH-mazing)... And then tried to get back into Harry Potter, and it's too much... so I took a step back and ventured into my childhood... anyone else ever read...

117980.jpg

Waaay, waaay back in junior high, yes. I think it had the same book cover. I'm pretty sure it was for myself and not an assignment. I remember enjoying it. There's a movie coming out soon. I also watched the TV mini-series that came out a few years ago.

[Tawmis]

Finally finished my re-read of Secret of the Dragon and now re-reading book 3 of the series, Rage of the Dragon. And then finally read the 4th (and final) book of the series (which I've not read, and why I re-read the entire series from the first book again, so everything's fresh in my head, since each book took 2 to 3 years to come out, it feels like!)

Necro-posting! So I had actually finished that book, then Rage of the Dragon (which is UH-mazing)... And then tried to get back into Harry Potter, and it's too much... so I took a step back and ventured into my childhood... anyone else ever read...

117980.jpg

Waaay, waaay back in junior high, yes. I think it had the same book cover. I'm pretty sure it was for myself and not an assignment. I remember enjoying it. There's a movie coming out soon. I also watched the TV mini-series that came out a few years ago.

Yeah that's the cover I remember reading back in the day too, which is why I specifically hunted it out.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm, I can't remember ever reading it, but I've seen Isaac Asimov (I think???) recommending it, so I'm curious. What is it about?

[Tawmis]

Hmm, I can't remember ever reading it, but I've seen Isaac Asimov (I think???) recommending it, so I'm curious. What is it about?

It's about a young girl named Meg, who... You know what. I am going to do this the easy way!

Thirteen-year-old Meg Murry's classmates and teachers see her as a troublesome and stubborn student. Her family knows that she is emotionally immature but also sees her capable of doing great things. The family includes her beautiful scientist mother, her missing scientist father, her athletic 10-year-old twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys; and her five-year-old brother Charles Wallace Murry, a child prodigy genius who can sometimes read Meg's mind.

The book begins with the line "It was a dark and stormy night," an allusion to the opening words in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford. Unable to sleep during a thunderstorm, Meg descends from her attic room to find Charles Wallace sitting at the table drinking milk and eating bread and jam. They are then joined by their mother, and are visited by their new eccentric neighbor, Mrs Whatsit. In the course of conversation, Mrs Whatsit casually mentions there is such a thing as a tesseract, which causes Dr. Murry to almost faint.

The next morning, Meg discovers the term refers to a scientific concept her father was working on before his mysterious disappearance. The following afternoon, Meg and Charles Wallace encounter Meg's schoolmate, Calvin O'Keefe, a high-school junior who, although he is a "big man on campus", considers himself a misfit as well. They then go to visit an old haunted house near town which Charles Wallace already knows is the home of Mrs Whatsit. There they encounter a companion of Mrs Whatsit, the equally strange Mrs Who. She promises that she and her friends will help Meg find and rescue her father. A budding love interest develops between Meg and Calvin. In the evening, Charles Wallace declares it is time for them to go on their mission to save their father. This is accompanied by the appearance of the third member of the "Mrs Ws", Mrs Which, who appears to materialize out of nothing.

Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which turn out to be supernatural beings who transport Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe through the universe by means of tesseract, a fifth-dimensional phenomenon explained as being similar to folding the fabric of space and time. Their first stop is the planet Uriel, a Utopian world filled with Centaur-like beings who live in a state of light and love. Mrs Whatsit herself shows that she, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which are all these centaur-like creatures in disguise as humans. There the "Mrs Ws" reveal to the children that the universe is under attack from an evil being who appears as a large dark cloud called The Black Thing, which is essentially the personification of evil. The children are then taken elsewhere to visit a woman who is a medium (the "Happy Medium") with a crystal ball. In it, they see that Earth is partially covered by the darkness, although great religious figures, philosophers, and artists have been fighting against it. Mrs Whatsit is revealed to be a former star who exploded in an act of self-sacrifice to fight the darkness.

The children then travel to the dark planet of Camazotz, which has "given in" to the Black Thing. Meg's father is trapped there. They find that all the inhabitants behave in a mechanistic way and seem to be under the control of a single mind. At the planet's central headquarters (described as CENTRAL Central Intelligence), they discover a red-eyed man with telepathic abilities who can cast a hypnotic spell over their minds. He claims to know the whereabouts of their father. Charles Wallace deliberately looks into the red eyes of the man, allowing himself to be taken over by the mind controlling planet in order to find their father. Under its influence, he takes Meg and Calvin to the place where Dr. Murry is being held prisoner because he would not succumb to the group mind.

The planet turns out to be controlled by an evil disembodied brain with powerful abilities, which the inhabitants of Camazotz call "IT." Charles Wallace takes them to the place where IT is held. In such proximity to IT, the children are threatened by a possible telepathic takeover of their minds. With special powers from Mrs Who's glasses, Dr. Murry is able to "tesser" Calvin, Meg and himself away from Camazotz, but Charles Wallace is left behind, still under the influence of IT. Dr. Murry does not know how to protect Meg from the Black Thing which surrounds the planet as they tesser through it, which nearly kills her. When they arrive on the neighboring planet of Ixchel, Meg is nearly frozen, and paralyzed. Calvin and the Murrys are discovered by the planet's inhabitants - large, sightless "beasts" with tentacles and four arms, who prove both wise and gentle. Meg's paralysis is cured under the care of one inhabitant, whom Meg nicknames "Aunt Beast." Meg overcomes her anger at her father for leaving Charles Wallace on Camazotz, realizing that parents can't fix everything, and sometimes children can solve problems themselves.

Then the trio of Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which arrive. They charge Meg with rescuing Charles Wallace from IT, because only Meg has a strong enough bond with him. Their father had last seen Charles Wallace when he was a baby and Calvin had only just met him. They each give her a gift. Mrs Whatsit gives Meg her love. Mrs Who quotes to Meg a passage from the Bible about God choosing the foolish of the world to confound the wise, and the weak to defeat the strong (1st Corinthians 1:27-29). Mrs Which tells Meg that she has one thing that IT does not have. Upon arriving at the building where IT is housed, Charles Wallace is still there under IT's influence. Meg realizes that the one thing she has that IT does not is love. She focuses all her love at Charles Wallace and is able to free him from IT's control. Mrs Who, Mrs Which and Mrs Whatsit tesser the Murrys and Calvin back to Earth. In the vegetable garden they are reunited with Mrs. Murry and the twins. Mrs Whatsit says that, although she and the others like the spectacle of the family reuniting, they have to go somewhere. Before Mrs Whatsit finishes her sentence, she and the others disappear.

[Rath Darkblade]

Well... that's certainly the easy way, but all I was asking for was a short summary...

[BBP]

I'm reading the latest Murakami novel, The Murder of Il Commendatore. As always Murakami manages to write about music in such a way that you immediately want to listen to it: so I dug up my Josef Krips-conducted version of Don Giovanni to play.

I love Murakami!

[BBP]

I was working on Stephen Fry's The Liar, and am now reading Fire and Fury.

[Rath Darkblade]

I just finished reading A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie. A fascinating read, though (at times) slightly too scientific for my understanding - however, the science is explained, so it's not too hard to understand.

Currently reading Colonial New England on 5 Shillings a Day, a travel guide into the past. New England in the 1760s. A fun book! It's part of the "Traveling on 5" series, including such destinations as ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, Shakespeare's London, the Wild West, the Sultan's Istanbul, Renaissance Florence - and yes, Colonial New England. If you've ever wondered how people in the past lived, worked, traveled and dressed, or what they ate and drank etc., then these books are witty and entertaining, yet historically accurate and informative - and lots of fun!

[Tawmis]

I am currently reading the Dragonrealms Trilogy by Richard A. Knaak, which of course, is so far awesome.

Dragonlance fans would know him as the writer of Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur.

I am very slowly reading this... even though I have like 9 more books of it to read... but between all the other things I am doing and reading and writing... my reading time isn't much of a window. But what I've read so far, as I said, has been - as expected - awesome.

Large scan of the cover:
http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/bo ... 967_hr.jpg