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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in The World of Literature's InsaneJournal:

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    Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
    11:48 pm
    [moonlove]
    Classics and Memory
    I never reread the classics as much as I feel that I should. I read on other blogs about readers who feel compelled to read a book every year and I can say that about no book. I feel such guilt indulging that way with all these books unread sitting in my bookcases so I never reread books as often as I would like. Some books it's been a very long time since I last picked them up for reading and not just reorganizing the shelves.

    Over the past few years I've managed to reread books with varying degrees of result. Some books I have grown to love much more with another perusal and others I am left feeling a little deflated. They don't have to be necessarily bad, but just not as spectacular as I remember.

    So it leaves me worried about some books where it's been some time since I last picked them up for some quality time. Will I still like them as much if not more? Or what if I feel (Valar forbid) less than enchanted by it? My tastes in a book have changed in as little as two years so I cannot imagine what could happen if I choose to read something like Gone with the Wind which I haven't read in two decades!

    Current Mood: worried
    Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
    10:37 pm
    [moonlove]
    Templar Knight Mysteries
    I've recently become obsessed reading a series of mysteries that follow a Templar Knight. These books are by Maureen Ash. Has anyone else been reading them?

    I have a thing for mysteries in an historical setting. I think another aspect that attracts me is that there's not a romantic interest in sight. (Of course the last few books with Templars I've read have been from the romance genre so those poor knights had no hope of keeping to their vows.) I keep wondering how this series flew under my radar for so long. There are real historical figures that feature in the books too.

    The list of books out so far in case anyone is interested:
    The Alehouse Murders
    Death of a Squire
    A Plague of Poison
    Murder for Christ's Mass
    Shroud of Dishonor

    I've just started reading Murder for Christ's Mass and have to say that, in my honest opinion, the books have been getting better with each installment.
    Sunday, March 27th, 2011
    6:49 pm
    [moonlove]
    Evercrossed
    Had anyone else heard of the new Kissed By An Angel novel? I was surprised, but I had to have it. Even though I have a mountain of unread books strewn around my room. I loved reading the trilogy in my youth so I was anxious to read a new story about Ivy and her friends. I am only about sixty pages into it so far, but I think it's interesting to see how Ivy is handling the death of her first love after a year has passed.

    Anyone read it? What did you think?

    Current Mood: geeky
    Monday, September 6th, 2010
    8:43 pm
    [moonlove]
    They never drink... wine.
    I've really been in the mood for reading vampire books as of late. I had a lot of fun reading Bloodsuckers: The Vampire Archives Vol. 1 and found some new stories to obsess over. Yes, I did read Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter earlier this year. It was a very pleasant surprise that I enjoyed it so well. I would like to own it at some point.

    My current read is The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Really been enthralled by this one. Anyone else read it?

    Some books that I have on my library queue are Blood Oath and Vampyres of Hollywood. I look forward to getting my hands on those titles.

    Anyone have any good vampire books they can recommend?

    Current Mood: crazy
    Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
    10:47 pm
    [moonlove]
    100 Heartbeats
    I have recently finished reading this book by Jeff Corwin. I became interested in it after seeing him appear on The Tonight Show back on Earth Day with some endangered animals. Oh, I loved seeing the Florida panther! They're so cute! ♥ Anyway I really enjoyed reading this book. I'd like to buy it for my own collection now. I liked how in addition to the heartbreaking tales of extinction and dwindling species, we get stories of hope about species that have come back from the brink and are thriving or on their way.

    Anyone else read this? What did you think?

    Current Mood: cheerful
    Saturday, January 16th, 2010
    1:39 am
    [moonlove]
    The Lovely Bones
    With the wide release of Peter Jackson's film adaptation, I felt like reading Alice Sebold's novel again. I've only really read it all the way through once when I first got it because I kept getting distracted by other books on rereads. I really enjoyed it. Although lately I keep reading such negative views about the book, such as when I was a temporary member of that community on Livejournal called Book Fails. I was never bothered by some of the so-called creepy aspects of the novel.

    Despite the abysmal reviews of Jackson's film, I would still like to see it.

    Current Mood: sleepy
    Sunday, December 6th, 2009
    4:54 pm
    [eternal_tigress]
    Bledding Sorrow...my two cents
    I'm not sure if you've heard of this book, but "Bledding Sorrow" is the most recent book I finished. Without giving too much away, let me just say that unless you really, really like being angry and depressed, I don't recommend reading this book. I don't say this about too many books, but I will never re-read this one.

    Current Mood: chipper
    Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
    6:07 pm
    [moonlove]
    Scary Books
    Reading anything festive or appropriate for the month of October?

    I've got The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty in hand at the moment. It's part of a book discussion group and I have read it before, but I don't mind rereading books. It's interesting to go back and read it with fresh eyes that have an older (and hopefully more mature) perspective. This book definitely had one of the better film adaptations.

    Might start rereading Rosemary's Baby and Son of Rosemary soon. I like Ira Levin's books.

    Current Mood: bored
    Monday, September 8th, 2008
    12:41 pm
    [surrealhope]
    Hey.
    I just recently joined this community.

    I just finished Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. This was my second attempt at it because the first time I just wasn't finding it very interesting. But going into it this time, knowing the characters and where it was headed, I found myself much more intrigued and interested in it.

    I really like Fanny Price despite the fact that she definitely needs to grow a backbone. I think had the story continued, she was growing more confident and would've been more.....solid I guess.

    It was definitely a story I liked, except one thing. I didn't like at the end how she bunched everything together. After the scandal hit, I expected there to be a bit more explaining of how everyone was, but she lumped everything into a summary of events. I would've liked to have read when Edmund realized his love for Fanny, and how it went down.

    I'm now looking for a movie version of it. I know there's a few.
    Saturday, July 19th, 2008
    8:27 am
    [moonlove]
    Selkies?
    Lately for some reason I've become fixated on reading stories involving selkies. I blame the movie The Secret of Roan Inish. Right now I have a romance by Melanie Jackson called The Selkie and am liking it so far.

    Does anyone have good suggestions on what else I could peruse?

    Current Mood: curious
    Friday, February 8th, 2008
    10:35 pm
    [moonlove]
    Love Walked In
    I just finished this novel by Marisa de los Santos. It was an easy and engaging read. I'm glad that I gave in and bought it because it's a keeper. Cornelia kind of reminds me of myself, measuring her life by her favorite movie moments.

    Has anyone else read and liked it?

    The only downside to finishing books is trying to decide what to read next when your TBR pile mountain is so huge. It's quite an overwhelming task.
    Friday, February 1st, 2008
    9:18 am
    [mainichi]
    Read in January
    1) The Cambridge Companion to Ballet, ed. Marion Kant
    2) After Dark, Haruki Murakami
    3) Little Boys Come From the Stars, Emmanuel Dongala
    4) Georges, Alexandre Dumas
    5) Pass the Poetry, Please, Lee Bennet Hopkins
    6) Master and Commander, Patrick O’Brian
    7) Lilies of the Field, William E. Barrett
    8) Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution, Derrick Jensen.

    8/100 read for the year. Crossposted to [info]worldofbooks, [info]50bookchallenge and my IJ.
    Monday, January 28th, 2008
    11:12 pm
    [meganekko]
    Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
    Okay, hey everyone ^^ First timer here, just yell at me if I do anything wrong.

    discussion of Orlando )

    Current Mood: touched
    Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
    6:00 pm
    [moonlove]
    What are you reading?
    Yes, I am curious to know what everyone is indulging in. ^^

    I'm working on The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel by Michael Scott. I'm only on chapter five but I like it so far. It seems to be a light read and that's what I need at the moment.

    Current Mood: curious
    Saturday, January 26th, 2008
    4:06 pm
    [cherubino]
    Booklist.
    I've been wanting to catalog my books for the longest time now, as a way of keeping track of them. I put it up on googlepages as a random and pointless act. Hooray.

    http://blue.black.eagil.googlepages.com/
    Thursday, January 17th, 2008
    10:38 pm
    [moonlove]
    Alexandre Dumas
    The Three Musketeers was something I enjoyed in high school. After finding the sequels at a new and used bookstore I've been reading them a lot lately. I'm in the middle of The Man in the Iron Mask right now. I'm missing a few of the volumes before this point, but I do enjoy the story regardless (and there was a brief overview of what happened earlier so I'm not entirely lost). It is quite different from the movie, which I've loved and watched many times. Since finishing Twenty Years After I have finally decided on a favorite character and dearly adore Raoul.

    My earlier purchases also inspired me to read The Count of Monte Cristo last year. That was a wonderful read. After finishing the book it's one of those titles that simmered in the back of my mind long after closing the book and the more time which passed, the more I realized how much I loved it. My growing obsession eventually compelled me to purchase The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte that turned out to be one of my favorite books as well. In order to keep my TBR pile from growing any larger it took a great amount of will to keep from buying a few more Dumas volumes to add to my collection when I last visited Borders. I'm confident that my resolve will break if I get within reach of them again.

    Does anyone else like Dumas? What is your favorite book by him?
    Monday, December 10th, 2007
    1:34 pm
    [vimsig]
    Hunger


    There is a fundamental root here that keeps me coming back to scenes within The Red Room(1879) by August Strindberg; no, I'm not saying it is plagiarism as such because Hunger(1890) goes the way of bleak insanity whilst The Red Room is more about social comment. To my mind there is no doubt that Hamsun's choice of The Red Room as the name for a small area at the back of the Oplandske Café(page 116) is to him, a joke that he maybe thought would not be discerned.

    Anyone else feel slightly uncomfortable with this?

    December's wintry reads so far )


    13 - Death on Christmas Eve - Ellin, Stanley
    14 - Matryona's House - Solzhenitsyn, Alexander
    15 - A Christmas Tragedy - Baroness Orczy
    16 - Into the Wild - Krakauer, Jon - suggested by [info]cornishwaif and [info]megamihiyake - ♠
    17 - Northern Lights - Pullman, Philip - audio - ♥
    18 - Hunger - Hamsun, Knut

    and the complimentary seasonal viewing )

    Northern Exposure series one - 1990
    Polar Express - 2004
    Onegin - 1999
    Fred Claus - 2007
    This Christmas - 2007
    Queen Christina - 1933
    Dead of Night - Wells, H.G - 945
    The Golden Compass - Pullman, Philip - 2007 - ♥
    Beowulf - 2007
    Sunday, December 9th, 2007
    2:20 pm
    [cherubino]
    Reading Lolita in Tehran - Amir Nafisi
    I recently finished Reading Lolita in Tehran by Amir Nafisi. It's not particularly focused on Lolita in particular; the sections also consist of James, Austen, and Fitzgerald. There is good insight to the situation of Iran in recent history, which I found quite interesting. 5/5 and highly recommended.

    From 'Middle East Quarterly.'
    Thursday, December 6th, 2007
    8:31 pm
    [moonlove]
    A few things that I've read.
    Gracie: A Love Story by George Burns
    This was a wonderfully funny autobiography. I recommend it to fans, and even if you're not a fan of their show you should still find it pretty good to read.

    Sips of Blood by Mary Ann Mitchell
    This book had it's weaknesses. I didn't want to hear of the stunts of Donatien's mother-in-law and her bondage slave, or of the pet's health problems. The prose style could have used just a bit more work in the way of details. It was a somewhat quick read, I finished it in two days so it's easy to get through. I wish a mention of how the Marquis de Sade became a vampire was included, but that won't stop me from reading the rest of the series. It should be interesting how things progress.

    Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen
    Rumplestilskin was always one of my favorite fairy tales so it's nice to see a revision of the classic tale. It's most interesting to have the twist of the miller's daughter being the old man's biological daughter and his condition stems from the lengths that he would go for love. I've been reading a lot of Donna Jo Napoli's books lately.
    Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
    6:34 pm
    [vimsig]
    wintery reads and warm knits


    Okay, a parcel has been sent to [info]whisperfae today and another has just been bundled up to send to [info]susannag tomorrow. I will not be knitting again for a couple of days as my fingers are fit to bleed.

    ***
    Read so far this December :

    1 - Out Stealing Horses - Petterson, Per - ♥
    2 - Heidi - Spyri, Johanna - audio
    3 - Mr Big - Allen, Woody
    4 - The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle - Doyle, Arthur Conan
    5 - The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding - Christie, Agatha
    6 - A Child's Christmas in Wales - Thomas, Dylan - suggested by [info]anethema_device
    7 - Winter Poems - Rogasky, Barbara (selected by) - suggested by [info]cornishwaif
    8 - The Incident at Krechetovka Station - Solzhenitsyn, Alexander
    9 - Back for Christmas - Collier, John
    10 - The Shadow in the North - Pullman, Philip - audio
    11 - Dancing Dan's Christmas - Runyon, Damon
    12 - Cambric Tea - Bowen, Marjorie

    and complementary wintery watching :

    The December Boys - 2007
    Fargo - 1996 - suggested by [info]cindeefirst
    Moby Dick - Melville, Herman - 1956
    Doctor Zhivago - Pasternak, Boris - 1965
    Smilla's Sense of Snow - Höeg,Peter - 1997 - suggested by [info]microsteph
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