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Old 03-11-2011, 01:22 PM   #1996
Trilby
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I just read a SS by David Foster Wallace and now I want to kill myself.



What?
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In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic.

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Old 03-11-2011, 01:33 PM   #1997
Shawnee123
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I've gotten through all the Lionel Shriver books I've found. Some I really like, some are just OK. The last one was interesting, about population control in Africa, Game Control.

There are still some I haven't read but I didn't see them at my library.
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Old 03-30-2011, 10:54 AM   #1998
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I'm reading House Rules, by Jodi Picoult, on the strong recommendation of several friends. The main character is high-functioning autistic.

She did a fantastic job of capturing his voice (a lot of it is first person from his perspective) and portrays the conflicting emotions of his mother and brother excellently as well. The underlying plot is pretty good so far too. It's a little pedantic at first, assuming the reader has absolutely no experience with the disease, but it gets past that quickly. This book is my new recommendation for friends and relatives who want to get it, but don't yet.
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Old 03-30-2011, 11:02 AM   #1999
infinite monkey
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Oh wow. I JUST finished that book, Clod. (I've been on a reading marathon, about 2-3 books a week lately.)

I was going to ask you what you thought of it or if you'd read it, but it slipped my mind. I liked it, but of course your perspective is something else entirely. I thought about you a lot as I read it.
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Old 03-30-2011, 11:16 AM   #2000
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I'm about halfway through Room, a book written from the point of view of a kid born to a woman kept captive in a sound proof shed. The kid is 5 years old and has never known anything outside of Room. He only knows Ma, and the captor. There's a TV, but he doesn't understand that the TV is showing the real world. It's really well written from the kid's perspective and is quite a page turner. Easy read and riveting.
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Old 03-30-2011, 12:54 PM   #2001
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I'm going to look for that at the 'brary. I think I'd like it. Thanks.

I have, somewhere, a VHS tape of a Nova show called "Secrets of the Wild Child" a true story about a kid who was chained up for years (by her elderly parents) before she was discovered. It went into the whole nature/nurture argument. It was fascinating, though no real conclusions were drawn. The story, and the girl, mesmerized me. So sad.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcr...112gchild.html
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Old 03-30-2011, 01:49 PM   #2002
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Glatt - that book was the talk of the staffroom yesterday. In fact I came here directly from Amazon, looking to see if I could snag a second hand copy (the teachers reading it already have their books promised elsewhere).

They say it's really sad.
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Old 03-30-2011, 02:23 PM   #2003
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I haven't finished it yet, so I don't know if it's a happy ending or a sad ending, but the overall book has some serious ups and downs. Certainly some very sad parts. But also some amazing parts.
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Old 03-30-2011, 02:25 PM   #2004
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I'm going to stop reading this thread, I'm skeered of spoilers.
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Old 03-30-2011, 03:12 PM   #2005
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I won't spoil anything.
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Old 03-30-2011, 05:27 PM   #2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by infinite monkey
Oh wow. I JUST finished that book, Clod. (I've been on a reading marathon, about 2-3 books a week lately.)

I was going to ask you what you thought of it or if you'd read it, but it slipped my mind. I liked it, but of course your perspective is something else entirely. I thought about you a lot as I read it.
I'm only halfway through so far, but the part early on [whited out for small spoilers] where the kid is in jail... that shit had me crying. I had to go pick up Minifobette from therapy right in the middle of those scenes, and I was just sick to my stomach the whole way, until I was able to get back to the house and tear through the pages until I got to the part where he finally got out again.
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Old 03-30-2011, 05:52 PM   #2007
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Currently I am reading:

Una McCormack, Doctor Who: The King's Dragon. Not bad, not great.

Edward Coss, All for the King's Shilling: The British Soldier Under Wellington, 1808-1814. Brilliant. Just brilliant. One of the most important new works in my field.

John S. Cooper, Fusilier Cooper: Experiences in the 7th(Royal) Fusiliers during the Penninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars and the American Campaign to New Orleans. Fascinating, and very readable.
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Old 03-31-2011, 08:32 AM   #2008
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Just finished "Land of the painted caves" by Jean M. Auel
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Old 03-31-2011, 08:37 AM   #2009
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When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton
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Old 03-31-2011, 12:34 PM   #2010
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Annotated Grimm's Fairy Tales. I'm not impressed with the annotations; I'm probably spoiled by The Annotated Alice.
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