The Book Corner

  The purpose of this site is to share my love of books with everybody.  Here you'll find links to other book sites, my own opinion on certain books, and possibly a tribute to some of my favourite authors.  In regards to my opinions expressed here, bear in mind I am not a qualified critic, I am just expressing my opinion, and my ideas are in know way meant to act as promotions for books or change your mind about reading some books.

Some of my favourite books when I was younger were the Enchanted Forest Chronicles written by Patricia C. Wrede.  They were about a strong-minded princess named Cimorene who lived in a prosperous kingdom with her parents.  I really loved the characterization of Cimorene because I could always relate to her.  The descriptions are great too, and really set the scene for the fantasy story of dragons and princesses, wizards and witches.  I would recommend these books to any fantasy readers, but the reading level is best suited for children in the 10-12 range.

A book I've read quite recently was Symposium and the Death of Socrates.  This is a collection of dialogues that took place between the great philosopher and his students, all written down by Plato.  I have always been interested in the days of Antiquity, and if anyone shares my love of philosophy and Ancient Greece I recommend this book.  I must warn you that some of the language is very hard to muddle through (I spent 30min reading the prologue) but as you get used to it you learn to love it.  I definitely wouldn't recommend this book for younger readers though.....

I've also started reading some books by Jane Austen.  So far I've read Sense and Sensibility, and I'm almost through Emma.  I enjoy books by Jane Austen because the language is more challenging and her characters are generally well done.  As for plot, it must be said that these are not by any means action novels.  A whole lot of words are used to say little or nothing at all.  I enjoy the stories anyway, and I prefer Emma to Sense and Sensibility.  This is probably because more seems to happen in Emma, and I can relate to all her match-making schemes.

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