All About Books discussion

1. Have you always loved books? Who, if anyone, in your life has most inspired you to read?

Once I learned how to read , my love for books grew and grew. I started off on simple books with pictures, and then to books with some chapters in them. When I was in fourth grade, I read my first more-than-200-pages book, which was Cryptid Hunters by Roland Smith. Then I was hooked on the reading bug. Now I'm reading books like Lord of the Rings, which is over 1,000 pages. My family always supported my love for reading and my great-grandmother wrote poetry, so I loved reading her stuff.

2. What was your favourite childhood book?

Like I said, I loved Cryptid Hunters and owe it for jump-starting my love for reading. I also loved the Geronimo Stilton books, too. It's about the adventures of this mouse named Geronimo Stilton. Then Cryptid Hunters was about these two twins who move in with their cryptozoologist uncle after their parents disappear. Then they go looking for this creature in the Congo.

3. Which books do you remember studying at school? Did you enjoy them?

Out of the many that I read in my classes, these are the ones I remember: Where The Red Fern Grows, Cry The Beloved Country, The Crucible, Shakespeare plays, The Odyssey, To Kill A Mockingbird, Night, Lord of the Flies, The Outsiders, Oedipus Rex, Edgar Allan Poe stories, Frankenstein, And Then There Were None, Tuck Everlasting, and there were several short stories and poems too. Out of all these books, I loved them all save one. Lord of the Flies. I always said I would not hate a book, but I did not like this one at all. Now, I know there are people who do like the book, so I respect those people. Just I do not like it. But all of the other books I loved to read and study them in a critical way.

4. Where do you most enjoy reading? Do you need silence to read, or can you read almost anywhere?

I can read almost anywhere, though I prefer somewhere quiet. My favorite places to read are either in my room, our living room, or outside underneath one of the trees in our backyard.

5.Choose five of your favourite books and tell us why you loved them so much!

1. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit is my favorite book and Tolkien is my favorite author. I first read this book in middle school, and since then have read it over and over again. I love Bilbo and all the amazing characters, even the dragon Smaug. I also love the descriptions of the locations and the amazing quotes that come from this book. Also, the final battle scene is great and sad at the same time. It's. Just. Amazing. All of it.
2. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
My favorite mystery novel and female author. 10 strangers are invited to an island for mysterious reasons, and then the clever and astounding Agatha starts to have fun with the characters (Well, not fun for them...). How she hides the truth and then at the end tells it all; I was left there dumb-founded and thought 'what a chilling genius she is!"
3. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Ah, The Hunger Games. I'm sure a plenty of you have read this future dystopian trilogy about a girl named Katniss Everdeen who lives in District 12, which is apart of a country called Panem. I was apart of the whole 'Twilight teen frenzy' that happened, and because Stephanie Meyer read The Hunger Games, well I wanted to read it too. So I did and loved it. This is another book that feels like it could be real. The country of Panem is what is supposedly left of North America in the future, so it's not so hard to picture it. Also, I feel like everyone in their lives knows a Haymitch, a Effie, a Peeta, a Prim, and all the other characters in the books. They are all so real and the trilogy is inspiring, sweet, and sad at the same time.
4. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
The Eragon books (or Inheritance Cycle) are some of the books that inspire me to write my futuristic dragon trilogy that I'm working on (the other being Tolkien's works of course). I love these books because I really do love dragons. Also, because it is a fantasy novel and shares similarities to Lord of the Rings. The dragon Sapphira in these books is beautiful, wise , caring, and brave. She is my favorite character. Eragon is also brave and watching how he changes through the books is an amazing journey to go through. I unfortunately have not read the last book of the series, Inheritance, so please no one spoil it for me!
5. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
This is a special book to me. My senior year of high school (2012-2013, feels like it was just yesterday) I got this book from one of my favorite teachers, American History teacher Mr. Kelly. Basically, the book talks about Sophie and how she learns the history of philosophy from a mysterious teacher. She then takes what she learns and applies it to her real world, discovering a truth in her life at the end of the novel. I really loved it, and suggest it to anyone. But I would recommend it more to those who have a love for history or philosophy, seeing as there are large passages about the histories of philosophy's most important and influential people.

6. Do you prefer reading fiction or non fiction?

I prefer fiction, mostly because I love a good ol' story and love to see what the human mind can make up. I love imagination and creativity. However, I do read non fiction, especially if it's a subject I'm very interested in. For example, I just bought a book on my vacation that tells about a lighthouse light that was lost during the Civil War. I love history for my non fiction books. Old England, Early America, Revolutionary War, Civil War, WW 1 & 2, or North Carolina history are some of my favorite things to read about.

7. Are you fond of a particular author and what attracts you to their books? (You can pick a few if you can’t choose!)

WARNING: MAJOR FAN OF A PARTICULAR AUTHOR IS ABOUT TO RANT ON HOW AWESOME SAID AUTHOR IS.
I LOVE J. R. R. Tolkien! He is my favorite author of all time. In my mind, and I'm sure in others as well, he is the master and father of modern fantasy. His characters are my favorites and Middle-Earth is the place I wish I could be. I guess what really attracts me to his books is that he makes the characters seem so real (I mean, he created all these different languages for each race!). Also, he describes the landscape beautifully and puts his characters in the most interesting situations. Tolkien himself is an interesting subject for me. Christian man, WW1 veteran, linguistic master, an 'Inkling' member, friend of C. S. Lewis, and professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. I just find him and his work fascinating.
I must also add my love for my favorite female author, Agatha Christie. 'And Then There Were None' is a fantastic and thrilling mystery. She's so clever in her writing in hiding the truth of the real culprit. I can't wait to read more of her, since I recently bought two more of her books.

8. Is there an author you haven't yet tried but you'd really like to?

Yes. I have not tried C. S. Lewis or J. K. Rowling. I always wanted to read the Chronicles of Narnia, but I haven't yet. Also, all of my friends love Harry Potter and have read the books. I have only seen the first six movies and haven't read the books. So, better late than never and give them a try since I really do like the movies.

9. Do you rely on goodreads to keep track of your reading or do you have your own method?

Goodreads has become a huge help for me since joining. I use to just make a list and cross off the books I've read. Goodreads makes me feel more organized, plus I have people to talk about my favorite books with and read their reviews on the books.

10. What's the best book you've read so far this year? What are you reading at the moment? What will you be reading next?

The best book I read this year....this is a hard question. But I shall put down my favorite book: The Hobbit. I reread it in January for like the tenth time. When I reread a book, then that's a sign that I really like it. Right now, I'm reading Lord of the Rings. I'm in the middle of The Two Towers. My next book will be either Searching For Darkness by Leah Ward, or The Children if Húrin by Tolkien.

Yes!!! Although I'm not a fantasy reader usually, I adore The Hobbit my pretty, my precious and The Lord of the Rings.

Always interesting to read a younger person's reading journey; thanks, Bailey.

Bailey, thanks for sharing your journey. I loved The Lord of the Rings trilogy, both the books and the movies. The movie adaptations were some of the greatest ever! I like history (in particular Chinese and European history) too, both non-fiction and fiction!

Bette BookAddict wrote: "Yes!!! Although I'm not a fantasy reader usually, I adore The Hobbit my pretty, my precious and The Lord of the Rings.

Always interesting to read a younger person's reading ..."

My pretty, my precious lol I love that! Yes, every time I reread The Hobbit it's amazing. It's a book I just can't stop loving. What books do you normally read?

Alice wrote: "Bailey, thanks for sharing your journey. I loved The Lord of the Rings trilogy, both the books and the movies. The movie adaptations were some of the greatest ever! I like history (in par..."

Yes the movies are some of my favorite! My only complaint is that I wish they would have added Tom Bombadil into the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. I also European history in general, I just put England because that's the one I know most about. I haven't really dug much into Chinese history though.

Do you know Geronimo Stilton's books in USA?
He's written by a team of italian writers!!!
Both my Children oved him and it was a way o getting into liking books.
They've aso liked both the Hunger Games trilogy and Eragon - and I with them!
Rather than The Hobbit, I prefere the whole The Lord of the Ring series

I haven't read the Eragon books but I agree with you, The Hobbit is one of my favourites.

Baily,
I love that you are passionate about Tolkein, I read him years ago and loved the stories , especially The Hobbit .
A big surprise to me was how much I enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy . My nieces insisted that I read them and I read all three one after another and fell in love with the characters .

Thanks for sharing your journey .

LauraT wrote: "Do you know Geronimo Stilton's books in USA?
He's written by a team of italian writers!!!
Both my Children oved him and it was a way o getting into liking books.
They've aso liked both the Hunger..."

I didn't know Geronimo Stilton was written by Italians. That's some interesting info, especially since I have Italian in my family. And just cause I'm curious, why do you prefer Lord of the Rings? :)

Heather wrote: "I haven't read the Eragon books but I agree with you, The Hobbit is one of my favourites."

I highly suggest Eragon then! Eragon is the first book, followed by Eldest, then Brisingr, and finally Inheritance. I love them. If you liked the Hobbit, then I think you will like this series :)

Angela wrote: "Baily,
I love that you are passionate about Tolkein, I read him years ago and loved the stories , especially The Hobbit .
A big surprise to me was how much I enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy . My n..."

Love meeting other Tolkien fans :) The Hobbit is amazing, and everything else he wrote. I just bought an interesting book by him though, that I had no idea he had written. The Fall of Arthur is it's title. I can't wait to read it. I really want to read his translation if Beowulf that got published a few months ago.
I was also surprised at how much I loved The Hunger Games. I had never read any kind if dystopian novel before, and when I read the description that was on the back of the book, I didn't know how I felt about it. Glad I chose to go with my gut and read it, because now I love it!

Bailey wrote: "Bette BookAddict wrote: "Yes!!! Although I'm not a fantasy reader usually, I adore The Hobbit my pretty, my precious and The Lord of the Rings.

Always interesting to read a ...

My pretty, my precious lol I love that! Yes, every time I reread The Hobbit it's amazing. It's a book I just can't stop loving. What books do you normally read? "

Literary fiction, historical fiction based on real-life people and facts, contemporary fiction, literature.

Bette BookAddict wrote: "Bailey wrote: "Bette BookAddict wrote: "Yes!!! Although I'm not a fantasy reader usually, I adore The Hobbit my pretty, my precious and The Lord of the Rings.

Always interes..."

Ok. I like historical fiction too. What are some of your favorite books?

I loved The Sunne in Splendour and Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman and I don't mind the books on the English queens circa 1450-1550 by Philippa Gregory.

I got totally sucked in by the Outlander series. (first book based around the Battle of Culloden in Scotland in 1700s ).

My favorite historical biography is The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser.

Bette BookAddict wrote: "I loved The Sunne in Splendour and Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman and I don't mind the books on the English queens circa 1450-1550 by [author:Philippa G..."

I want to read The Wives if Henry VIII! Some of my friends have and they liked it. Plus I find him and the whole Tudor family history quite interesting.

Bailey wrote: 2I didn't know Geronimo Stilton was written by Italians. That's some interesting info, especially since I have Italian in my family. And just cause I'm curious, why do you prefer Lord of the Rings? :) "

Yes. He is one of the most succesfull editing enterprze f the last 20 years in Italy. The realized that almost the only boks which were sold were those for kids, and they exploited this section of the market. It's not "high literature" - not even children high literature - but it has the greatest virtue of enchanting ids showing them that books are great fun and not boring things. I appreciated the for this reason ...

For The Lord of the Rings compared to The Hobbit, I find the latter more ... simple. I feel it was originally meant for his kids before going to bed. The trilogy is much more complex, full of cross references. I got lost in that; not in Bilbo's voyage ...

Bailey wrote: "Bette BookAddict wrote: "I loved The Sunne in Splendour and Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman and I don't mind the books on the English queens circa 1450-1..."

The Wives of Henry VIII is historical biography which concentrates on each of the wives of Henry; their lives, their ancestry and who they were. Not really about Henry per se.

Me too, I'm a Tudor history fan. The Sunne in Splendour is an excellent fairly factual portrayal of Richard III.

Lionheart follows the amazing crusade of Richard (son of Henry and Eleanor of Acquitane) in 1100AD.

LauraT wrote: "Bailey wrote: 2I didn't know Geronimo Stilton was written by Italians. That's some interesting info, especially since I have Italian in my family. And just cause I'm curious, why do you prefer Lord..."

I think that's the reason why I loved Geronimo, too :) And I get your opinion. The detail and complexity of the trilogy is higher than what is in The Hobbit, and that's one of my favorite things about the trilogy. To be truthful, I love The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings equally. Just I think the adventurous story of trying to take back Erebor from the dragon Smaug makes it more of my favorite.

Bette BookAddict wrote: "Bailey wrote: "Bette BookAddict wrote: "I loved The Sunne in Splendour and Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman and I don't mind the books on the English quee..."

Oh those all sound really interesting. Thanks for telling me about them! I'll check them out :)

I really enjoyed reading this Bailey, and most of all I love your enthusiasm for reading :)

Of course I agree about Tolkien J.R.R., the founder and master of modern Fantasy...

But yes, do try C S Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. I think you will love them. The first one chronologically is The Magician's Nephew, but the characters in there do not reappear, so it's kind of separate - it just gives the back-story of how Narnia was created. It's a great story on is own though. I think most people tend to start with the second one, the very famous The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Tribute Edition

I would just say though, that they are very old-fashioned (and very English!) with sentences like "Of course people had lots of servants in those days"... Hmmm.

I think you read some great books in school, and are developing your own tastes from that nicely. And I can see how you hate Lord of the Flies. It's not at all what it seems - more like a vicious study into power and group psychology. I'm not sure anyone actually likes it, but they may admire it greatly.

And I agree about Sophie's World - a tough read, but very unusual. A t the moment I'm reading The Solitaire Mystery by him, which has a similar feel but is much simpler. You might give that a try - it seems quite good!

@Jean
Yes haha I am very enthusiastic about reading! My parents support it, just that I read so much that they ask if I want to go do something else instead. Especially during summer, I spend a lot of time reading. And I plan on reading The Chronicles of Narnia as soon as I can. And I never knew The Magician's Nephew was the first one! So I'll start with that one when I get to them :) And it's fine, I do like old-fashioned writing.
I agree on Lord of The Flies that it wasn't at all like I was expecting.
And I'm so happy to meet someone who has read Sophie's World! No one else I know has read it, but I love it and I'm on my own. I'll check out The Solitaire Mystery sometime! :)

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! And I think we all know that feeling, eyes glued to a book but should really go and do something else... LOL!

Bailey, thanks so much for sharing your reading journey! I'm just getting around to reading it now, and I love your warning in question 7! I love Tolkien too - when I read The Lord of the Rings (I was about 15) it just seemed to take over my life! That's about all I did - I just read and read.

I have also read and enjoyed (much more than I thought I ever would) The Hunger Games - I'm so glad I read them, and I only read them because someone in my book club chose it as our next read - so I read the first book and then had to go on and read the other two.

I've never read Eragon - but I probably should as I do like reading fantasy...I will also check out Sophie's World.

The Narnia books are great - they are old-fashioned but I don't think that detracts from the stories - I loved them all as a child.

It's been interesting to read this, Bailey - thanks again!

Jean wrote: "I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! And I think we all know that feeling, eyes glued to a book but should really go and do something else... LOL!"

I hope so too! And yes, eyes glued to a book not wanting to put it down!

Shirley wrote: "Bailey, thanks so much for sharing your reading journey! I'm just getting around to reading it now, and I love your warning in question 7! I love Tolkien too - when I read The Lord of the Rings (I ..."

Thank you- and everyone else- for reading my journey! I love to share in order to connect with others. I'm glad I've read Tolkien and The Hunger Games too. They're amazing and the stories just wrap you in!
Highly suggest Eragon and Sophie's World! Do you have any questions you'd like to ask about them? Lol just ask :)
I hope that when I read the Narnia series I love it (almost) as much as Tolkien! :)

Bailey, I agree with Jean - you read some good books in school, some great titles there! Despite some didactic digressions, the story at the heart of Cry the Beloved Country (what passes between the two sets of parents after the fate of their children) is beautiful beyond speech. It really touched me! The Crucible, Odyssey, and Oedipus Rex are all great, along with several others you mentioned.

I too enjoyed both the books and movie versions of Lord of the Rings! As far as Tolkien's translation of Beowulf, I did like it, but you should also definitely check out the incomparable translation by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney! For me, Heaney's translation is close to a masterpiece.

I also read all three books in the Hunger Games series, originally because my nephew was reading them, but I found that I quite liked them. I found myself staying up late at night reading to find out what was going to happen! And I've read quite a large number of Agatha Christie books as well. Something comforting about her books, like a comfort food.

Thanks for sharing Bailey!

Greg wrote: "Bailey, I agree with Jean - you read some good books in school, some great titles there! Despite some didactic digressions, the story at the heart of Cry the Beloved Country (what passes between th..."

Thanks! I enjoyed the books I read and I'll probably read some more classics since I'm about to start American Literature 1. I wanted British Literature, but they took that away.

Yay Lord of the Rings fan!!!! :) I really hope to get a hold of Tolkien's Beowulf translation, but I will also look into Heaney's version as well.

I also would stay up late in the night reading the series, especially when I got to Mockingjay. I would stay up with my book light and my mom would come by and tell me the book can wait until tomorrow so get some sleep! Then I would look at her like no mother it can't :D I've never heard anyone compare Christie's books to comfort food, since they are mystery/murder/crime books. But I can see what you mean though. They are amazing.

Thanks Bailey!

I really have to read Tolkien. He's just someone I've never tried. Love the movies (first three)..."And Then There Were None" was absolutely great from my memory. You simply have to try J.K. Rowling. I don't know how she's alluded you for so long. The hype maybe?

All the best!

Roderick wrote: "Thanks Bailey!

I really have to read Tolkien. He's just someone I've never tried. Love the movies (first three)..."And Then There Were None" was absolutely great from my memory. You simply have..."

As always, I do suggest reading Tolkien! His books are just amazing and there is just so much to his stories!

I really do mean to read Harry Potter, but I don't think it was the hype. Just when the books were coming out, I just didn't feel it was my kind of book to read. Now that I'm older, I've experimented with many books that I thought wouldn't be enjoyable and yet I end up loving them! (And Then Were None and Frankenstein being two examples!) But I will get to them as soon as I can :D

That's the issue isn't it? My to-read list keeps growing but the hours in the day stay constant :-) I tell you, I need more time in the day because I plan on getting to all those books.

Thanks for your journey again Bailey.

Yes! I'm the same way. I keep making my to-read list longer! XD