can I join, I just finished reading the EarthSea series(in 4 days!) and I love to read, right now i'm reading Tom Clancy's SplinterCell, To kill a Mockingbird, The newest Harry Potter, and The Dark Hills Divide. : ) yep, all of them

At 9/13/05 06:15 PM, do_or_die1 wrote: can I join, I just finished reading the EarthSea series(in 4 days!) and I love to read, right now i'm reading Tom Clancy's SplinterCell, To kill a Mockingbird, The newest Harry Potter, and The Dark Hills Divide. : ) yep, all of them

Sure you can join. Hmmm, lets see. Harry Potter is good, but Rowling didnt go into as much detail as she did in the other books. I read "To Kill a mocking bird", I thought it was pretty good. Besides, it's a classic so I cant really say anything bad about it if I wanted to. the Only Tom Clancey book I read read was Raibow 6, and I really didnt read that much of it. I havent read read "The Dark Hills Divide" yet so could you tell us about that one.

At 9/13/05 06:06 AM, Coop83 wrote: Yeah, I usually type out the blurb (back of the book in paperback, or inside front cover on hardback.) because this is a better summary than anything I could write.

Okay then,

"Published anonymously in 1776, six months before the Declaration of Independence, Paine's Common Sense was a radical and impassioned call for America to free itself from British rule and setup an independent republican government. "

Up next for me...Moneyball by Michael Lewis.

The Dark Hills Divide I have to say isn't the highest of reading levels, but it is a good book. It's about a twelve year old girl who lives in a city that is completely surrounded by a stone wall, and of course she's eager to find out what's on the other side of the wall. Well it's turn out to be some dark, creepy evil things(I forget what exactly). But it's a Sci-Fi type book. I also forgot to mention that I read 1984 by George Orwell recently.

At 9/13/05 06:40 PM, do_or_die1 wrote: The Dark Hills Divide I have to say isn't the highest of reading levels,

Niether is To kill a mocking bird, I read that in 5th grade. I dont realy care if a book is at my reading level, as long as it's still a good read.

yep, don't judge a book by it's cover. It is a good book though.

At 9/13/05 06:50 PM, MasterStalker wrote: Niether is To kill a mocking bird, I read that in 5th grade. I dont realy care if a book is at my reading level, as long as it's still a good read.

Did you read it as part of a class, or solo? If you read a book which is a little ahead of you, then in a class, it is always easier, since you talk about it a lot.

hooray reading!

At 9/14/05 03:26 PM, do_or_die1 wrote: hooray reading!

PLEASE! Don't post SPAM, as it annoys people. If you ahve something worthwhile to bring into the conversation, (like most of your previous posts) then please do. Otherwise, wait until you do then post it.

ok, I just finished reading Triplet, it's a Sci-Fi book by someone(forgot who) and it's about a world that exists in three different dimensions, each dimension being different. :). When I remember the author I will tell.

At 9/14/05 03:36 PM, do_or_die1 wrote: ok, I just finished reading Triplet, it's a Sci-Fi book by someone(forgot who) and it's about a world that exists in three different dimensions, each dimension being different. :). When I remember the author I will tell.

okay, Triplet is by Timothy Zahn

Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E Feist.

If Tolkien is the king of the fantasy Genre then Feist is the Crown prince and heir to the throne. Daughter of the empire is a fantasy genre book, with a twist. Instead of focusing on the slaying of Dragons or a greta quest it focuses on the struggles of a small house in the world of Kelewan(whihc is dominated in a codr of honour etc think Feudal japan with Samurai and clans) that has to struggle to survive from attacks form tis enemy the house of Minawabi.

The mani par tof the book tells the tale of the Lady of the Hosue Acoma(Mara) trying to rebuild her families position of power in the great game ( Politics but a lot more bloodthirsty and violent) and the tirals that she faces in doing so.

The book is rather hard to read at times but Feist makes up for this by weaving an interetsing plot that twists and turns in all directions but has you gripped at all times.

A throughly good read.

8/10

At 9/14/05 03:42 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote: If Tolkien is the king of the fantasy Genre then Feist is the Crown prince and heir to the throne.

Ssssssh! Don't let SCD hear you say that! He'll go mental.

The book is rather hard to read at times but Feist makes up for this by weaving an interetsing plot that twists and turns in all directions but has you gripped at all times.

Cool, it's sounds like a good book. :) I'll make sure to read it if I ever see it.

At 9/14/05 03:45 PM, Coop83 wrote: Ssssssh! Don't let SCD hear you say that! He'll go mental.

I think there is a good hundred or so miles between me and him so I'm sure I'll be able to make some defences by the time he gets here.

At 9/14/05 03:47 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote: I think there is a good hundred or so miles between me and him so I'm sure I'll be able to make some defences by the time he gets here.

Yeah, but he's Scottish. By the time he reaches you, he'll be really drunk (which means invincible)

At 9/14/05 03:22 PM, Coop83 wrote:

At 9/13/05 06:50 PM, MasterStalker wrote: Niether is To kill a mocking bird, I read that in 5th grade. I dont realy care if a book is at my reading level, as long as it's still a good read.

Did you read it as part of a class, or solo? If you read a book which is a little ahead of you, then in a class, it is always easier, since you talk about it a lot.

I read it FOR clas, but I didnt read WITH the class. I work alone. some of my methods fr academics confuse the hell out of people. Math for example. I failed because the teacher didnt understand how I got to the answer yet it was correct.

At 9/14/05 03:53 PM, Coop83 wrote: Yeah, but he's Scottish. By the time he reaches you, he'll be really drunk (which means invincible)

DAMn it...I'm in trouble then. If he asks about this tell him it was my evil twin that has access to my account and lives in France.

At 9/14/05 04:07 PM, MasterStalker wrote: I read it FOR clas, but I didnt read WITH the class. I work alone. some of my methods fr academics confuse the hell out of people. Math for example. I failed because the teacher didnt understand how I got to the answer yet it was correct.

What, so you didn't discuss it with the class at all? I find your methods strange, but if they get the job done, I'm not going to try and change them.

At 9/14/05 04:09 PM, Coop83 wrote:

At 9/14/05 04:07 PM, MasterStalker wrote: I read it FOR clas, but I didnt read WITH the class. I work alone. some of my methods fr academics confuse the hell out of people. Math for example. I failed because the teacher didnt understand how I got to the answer yet it was correct.

What, so you didn't discuss it with the class at all? I find your methods strange, but if they get the job done, I'm not going to try and change them.

yes, my methods are pretty strange. Plus, I dont really like to work with others. I only work with people I respect, or need the help.

On a side note, I didnt get far into the Bourne identity yet. I only had time to get to page 70 so far. I can say this though, it is promising.

At 9/19/05 09:03 AM, MasterStalker wrote: On a side note, I didnt get far into the Bourne identity yet. I only had time to get to page 70 so far. I can say this though, it is promising.

Take your time if it helps you enjoy the book more. I'm nearly finished with Interesting Times, but there's still about another 14 Discworld books to read, plus Shogun by James Clavell... I don't think I'll get bored in the meantime.

At 9/19/05 05:33 PM, Coop83 wrote:

At 9/19/05 09:03 AM, MasterStalker wrote: On a side note, I didnt get far into the Bourne identity yet. I only had time to get to page 70 so far. I can say this though, it is promising.

Take your time if it helps you enjoy the book more.

I'm not rushing, but I'd have finished a Harry Potter book by now(I always compare my speed to those books), and I was only at 70 pages in after having it for like a week. I read a little more lastnight and am now at page 200. I dont think I took much of it in though, since I was reading a book I need for school, watching X Files, and Reading Bourne Identity.

I'm nearly finished with Interesting Times, but there's still about another 14 Discworld books to read, plus Shogun by James Clavell... I don't think I'll get bored in the meantime.

Have you ever heard of "Prince of Thieves" byChuck Hogan? I was skimming the shelves at my local library when I came across it. I'm going to rent it regaurdless, but an opnion on it would be nice.

I'll post my review for "The Attic" by T. S. Rue within the week.

At 9/21/05 03:49 PM, MasterStalker wrote: Have you ever heard of "Prince of Thieves" byChuck Hogan? I was skimming the shelves at my local library when I came across it. I'm going to rent it regaurdless, but an opnion on it would be nice.

I've never heard of that one. You'll have to tell me how it turns out.

Title : Interesting Times
Author : Terry Pratchett
Date of Publication : 1994
ISBN : 0-552-14235-2

MIGHTY BATTLES! REVOLUTION! DEATH! WAR! (AND HIS SONS TERROR AND PANIC, AND DAUGHTER CLANCY)

The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought about by the revolutionary treatise What I did on My Holidays. Workers are uniting, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes. War (and Clancy) are spreading throughout the ancient cities.

And all that stands in the way of terrible doom for everyone is:

Rincewind the Wizard, who can't even spell the word 'wizard'...

Cohen the barbarian hero, five foot tall in his surgical sandals, who's had a lifetime's experience of not dying...

...and a very special butterfly.

Writing style.

Pratchett has been one of my favourite authors for at least a decade now. I just find that I can't put any of his works down until I've finished them. They flow so nicely and take very little time to get going (the Ferrari of books)

Would I reccomend it?

It's Discworld. It is the closest thing you can get to (somewhere between 15th century and today) Earth without actually standing on it and looking at a newspaper. Rincewind was the original character which spawned thew discworld, so his stories always mean something special to the author. He made this one extra special.

Favourite Quote:

'Why don't we just invite them to dinner and massacre them all when they're drunk?'
'You heard the man. There's seven hundred thousand of them.'
'Ah? So it'd have to be something simple with pasta, then.'

My Rating : 10/10

When I first read it, I presumed it brought a triumphant end to the career of Ghenghiz Cohen, the barbarian. It wasn't because Terry Pratchett had to go and write another tale. We get the faculty, since they are just so funny, plus a lot of pseudo-xenophobic rantings which you can only get away with when you write them as being said by someone else. It's pure magic, that embodies the whole spirit of Discworld.

Truly marvellous.

I've already started Masquerade, the next in the LONG line of discworld novels.

Not really a book, more of a short story. I read it in English class today, and it was AWESOME. It's called THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME by something Conners, Collins, I forget his name. Well written, I'm sure most of you have read it in high school.

1,000/1,000

I'm a little pissed off right now. My english teacher didnt axcept t following review towards a 25 book graduation requirement.

General Information
Title: The Attic
Author: T. S. Rue
Pages: 169 (story ends at 152)
Genre: Horror
ISBN: 0-06-106157-3

Blurb
An overnight trip...
Tessa Gilbert and her three best friends are planning a weekend of total fun. They even get a special deal at the New Arcadia Inn. Taking it was there first mistake.

Screams in the night...
As soon as the girls arrive at the inn, they hear screams--bloodcurdling screams, Screams coming from the attic. They have to check it out. Mistake number two.

Scared to death...
Now Tessa's friends are being murdered one by one. When Tessa tries to escape, she discovers there's no way out. Even if Tessa survives the night in the attic, will she ever get out of the Nightmare Inn?

Nightmare Inn--if you check in, you may never check out

Summary
Tessa and her three friends, Sierra, Brittany, and Allie, are on there way to the New Arcadia Inn. It's the first time there parents let them go out on there own so they're pretty exited about the upcoming weekend. The bus driver dropped Tessa and her friends in the middle of the woods. The group had specifically asked to be let off at the hotel, so they started to get a little concerned. After about 5 minutes, a man emerged from the woods and identified himself as Sebastian, and employee of the Arcadia Inn. Sebastian led the way through the wood to the front of the inn and left Tessa and friends in the hands of a bellhop named Nick. Brittany asked Nick to visit her after he gets off work. Nick agreed and continued working. Once in their room, Tension starts to build between Sierra and Brittany. The story is, that Sierra was trying to steal Brittany's boyfriend and Brittany caught wind of it. While Tessa unpacked her things, Brittany and Sierra continued to snipe at each other. Eventually Tessa defused the situation, but a new one arose when she went into the bathroom. Tessa, along with Brittany and Sierra, are mortally afraid of spiders. While Brittany and Sierra fought over the value of a spider’s life, Allie took it outside. Afterwards, The Girls thought it was about time for dinner. Once they reached the elevator, they started to hear something large running around in the floor above them, the attic. They simply dismissed it as a raccoon for the time being, but noticed the elevator wasn’t coming when they push the call button. After waiting a good 5 minutes, they decided to take the stairs down. As Tessa and company stepped into the stairwell, they found themselves shrouded in blanket darkness. There were no lights, or light switches for that matter, and what’s worse, the Door locked behind them. The four girls slowly made their way down to the next floor only to find that, that door was locked as well. Again, the group descended the stairs to the next floor to find the door locked. While Brittany and Sierra pounded on the door for help, Tessa and Allie tried to find an exit through the basement. Tessa found the railing but when she tried to go down, she discovered there where no stairs. As Tessa dangled from the metal railing, Allie ran back for help. Soon, Allie returned with Brittany and Sierra at her side. Allie grabbed Tessa while Brittany and Sierra held Allie on solid ground. After pulling Tessa back onto the ledge some one from the hall heard the commotion and opened the door. It was Nick, Their bellhop from earlier. They told him about what happened but he didn't believe them. Brittany led the way as the girls headed to dinner. Once there, they saw Sebastian coming towards them. Allie asked him about the stairwell, which Sebastian seemed to be able to explain well enough, but when Allie asked about the noises in the attic, Sebastian changed. His demeanor changed from its usual smiling gaze, to an angry, frightened look. His response was "Never go in the attic". After dinner the girls made their way back upstairs via the elevator. As they exited the elevator they heard a loud shrieking sound. Upon closer inspection, they found it was only Nick and a co-worker, Martin, dragging a wooded bed frame across an unoccupied room. Brittany asked Nick if he was still going to stop by later. Nick responded with a "maybe", and the girls were on their way back to their room. Once there, Tessa bathed while Sierra watched TV and Brittany listened to her CD player.

When Tessa came back into the bedroom, she noticed Allie wasn't there. Tessa looked in the hall and found Allie looking up at the ceiling. When asked, she said she heard the scampering sound again. After a little debating, Allie and Tessa decided to go explore the attic. The attic was packed with old box springs, cabinets and even old antique mirrors. Allie went to the edge of the room and moved a mattress away from the window to let some light in when Tessa noticed a huge spider web. Upon seeing this she rushed Allie out of the room. Back in the room Tessa decided to go to sleep. She had a dream that she was in an endless stairwell being chased by fist-sized tarantulas. It was Allie who woke her up because she was thrashing around in her bed. Since everyone was now wide awake, the girls decided to start a game of truth-or-dare. Brittany saw this as a perfect chance to find out if Sierra is really seeing her boyfriend behind her back. When it was Sierra's turn she chose dare over truth. Brittany dared her to go into the attic. While Tessa tried to talk Brittany into changing her mind, there was a knock at the door. It was Nick and Martin. The girls didn’t care much for Martin, so they made him leave. To Brittany's disappointment, Martin took Nick with him. After they left, Brittany told Sierra she still had to do her dare. To prove that she went into the attic, Sierra had to bring something back with her. Five minutes passed before Sierra returned, and when she did, she appeared shaken. She said she went into the attic but something touched her leg. Brittany argued that it was just a ploy to get out of her dare. When Allie questioned Sierra about how what ever it was that touched she felt like, Sierra said it was soft and hard. Having heard this, Brittany concluded that Sierra was lying and sent her back into the attic. Fifteen more minutes passed before the girls went into the attic to look for their friend. At the stairs leading up to the attic, the girls heard the scampering noise again. When in the attic, Allie immediately went across the room to where the antique candle sticks were. Allie then said that Sierra couldn't be in the attic because she would have taken a candle stick back as proof of being there, yet none were missing. Brittany went turned to go out the door, but found it to be closed. She swore she left it opened. When Brittany tried to open the door, she found that it wouldn’t budge. Allie and Tessa agreed that they should explore the attic for another way out. Brittany just sort of tagged along. Around the side of the stack of box springs in the middle of the room, they found one of Sierra's shoes covered in a sticky film. The girls moved further into the attic where they found a huge spider web spanning across the entire room. Tessa sort of freaked out at the sight so Allie had to take a curtain rod and tear a hole in it. The girls stepped through the hole to find the skeleton of a dog. Everyone agreed that it would be safer at this point to go back to the door, light more candles, and wait until morning. After a while the candle started to go out, and the girls got tired. Tessa dosed of for a moment, and in that moment, Brittany disappeared. Tessa tried to ask Allie if she knew where Brittany disappeared to, but Allie was so out of her mind with fear of what she seen that Tessa couldn’t get anything out of her. Tessa re-lit the candles she could, took one, then pushed the remaining candles closer to Allie since it has become obvious that what ever was in the attic didn’t like the light. Tessa went off to look for something she could ram the door open with. She immediately remembered the 4-foot long spider wed she saw with Allie earlier. The webs were between a poster boards to a bed. If she could get past her fear of spiders she could take the head board and use it as a ram. She was just feet away from the poster board, Tessa notice something just to her left. It was Sierra's other shoe, and like the other one, it was in the same sticky film. Next to the shoe, about three feet away was a body. It was Sierra's. Tessa dropped her candle when she saw the image of her friend lying dead on the floor. Tessa ran back to check on Allie. Allie was still in her delirious trance when Tessa returned. Tessa found one last extra candle stick, lit it to replace the one she dropped, and then told Allie she was going to explore the other side of the attic. Tessa made her way to the other side of the huge room to find a metal cabinet. Figuring she could use it as a ram, she went to the cabinet to stumble upon a great surprise. In front of the cabinet is a trap door in the floor leading back down to safety. Quickly Tessa ran back to the door to get Allie, only to find that she to was dead, and in the process of being cocooned by an enormous spider. Tessa dropped her candle and made a sprint for the trap door. When she approached it, she noticed a head sticking up through it. It was Martin. Martin, still angry from before, slammed the door and locked it despite Tessa's pleads for help. Tessa sat by the trap door and waiting, hoping for Martin to come back. Tessa suddenly became aware of the spider standing a few yards away. Tessa made a quick dash to the window, to cover her in the most light she can. The spider stared at her for a few minutes, sizing her up, then it moved. As the spider made its way towards her, Tessa remembered she had Allie's matches in her pocket. Still, the spider drew closer as Tessa took the curtain rod from the window and wrapped the curtains to form a crude torch. When the spider came into range, Tessa lit the torch and began her assault. Her first two attacks failed, but the third thrust caught the spider in the face. The spider streaked across the attic in a frenzied rampage. It wasn’t long before the spider returned. Tessa backed way as the spider drew closer. Eventually Tessa was up against the window. The spider drew closer still; until Tessa pressed against the window so hard it gave way, allowing her to plummet to her death.

Rating
I felt it was a little below my reading level, but it was alright. I noticed a few occurances where the author used the wrong character's name. All in all, I found it to be pretty average. I give it a 3/5

At 9/26/05 05:37 PM, MasterStalker wrote: Summary

Was the length of the summary the reason your teacher rejected it? Otherwise I can't find fault with it.

At 9/26/05 05:57 PM, Coop83 wrote:

At 9/26/05 05:37 PM, MasterStalker wrote: Summary

Was the length of the summary the reason your teacher rejected it? Otherwise I can't find fault with it.

I have the bitchiest english teacher at the school. She looked at it, and said "I'm not axcepting that", just flat out. If I wasnt going to post it here aswell, that would have been a cullosal waste of time, effort, and energy.... I also didnt realize it was that big until I printed out a copy.... or posted it here. I was amazed when it almost went double the character limit for a post.

At 9/26/05 06:02 PM, MasterStalker wrote: I have the bitchiest english teacher at the school. She looked at it, and said "I'm not axcepting that", just flat out. If I wasnt going to post it here aswell, that would have been a cullosal waste of time, effort, and energy.... I also didnt realize it was that big until I printed out a copy.... or posted it here. I was amazed when it almost went double the character limit for a post.

What a bitch. She really doesn't seem to care about you at all.

Havce you tried taking it to other members of the English department? Maybe they can look at it and either give you a few pointers, or convince your teacher to take it in.

At 9/26/05 06:13 PM, Coop83 wrote:

At 9/26/05 06:02 PM, MasterStalker wrote: I have the bitchiest english teacher at the school. She looked at it, and said "I'm not axcepting that", just flat out. If I wasnt going to post it here aswell, that would have been a cullosal waste of time, effort, and energy.... I also didnt realize it was that big until I printed out a copy.... or posted it here. I was amazed when it almost went double the character limit for a post.

What a bitch. She really doesn't seem to care about you at all.

Havce you tried taking it to other members of the English department? Maybe they can look at it and either give you a few pointers, or convince your teacher to take it in.

I have other plans for it. I failed english 1 (9th grade) on attendance, and am making the course up online. after all the online testing I have to submit an offline book report. I make it a habit to befriend all teachers councilors and all around authority fiures to gain a little leaniance. I'll just talk with a past teacher and submit it to make up that credit.