Lisa’s Comments (group member since Aug 16, 2014)

Lisa’s comments from the Once Upon a Time... group.

What kind of questions?

My goodness, you certainly have a lot of stressful things going on in your life! The book was unavailable from my library system until today, so I hadn't even noticed that the discussion wasn't open yet. Oops. I'm so sorry!

Gem, you are dealing with a lot, so it is to be expected. Hope you enjoy both of the books, though.

Exactly! I know royalty used to call themselves we, but this definitely didn't seem like that. He was referring to himself as different people entirely.
I just finished today and loved the book. I will refrain from further comment right now since it is still early in the month.

I'm enjoying it so far. I hadn't read the synopsis, so was surprised when I got my copy to find that it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I expected it to be Snow White for some reason. But I was thrilled, as Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite fairy tale. I am intrigued by how Beast calls himself "we".

I've been reading very slowly this month for some reason, but I did finish it a few days ago. I really enjoyed reading it again! The illustrations didn't add or take away from the story for me, but I did find that the Marquis illustration made him look much "softer" than what I had envisioned myself. The illustration of his brother in the additional material at the end of the book was more what I had envisioned.

Oh! I didn't even realize that there was an illustrated vs. non illustrated before today. Just checked and the version I got from the library is the illustrated one. I know that the version I read before was not illustrated, so this might be interesting. I know it will be interesting comparing my own perceptions of the characters and setting to the illustrations. Thank you!

I'm sorry, Mary, but what do you mean? I only know of one book and only one video version, which was done as a mini series by BBC in 1996. Please enlighten us.

Honestly, River and I both enjoyed The Life and and Adventures of Santa Claus mainly for the detail of the "lore" and traditions rather than the story itself.
I had gotten her A Boy Called Christmas for part of her advent books and we both actually enjoyed that one more for the story line and adventure.

My copy is ready for pick up at the library since I was too lazy to look through my unorganized shelves in my personal library here at home for my own copy. It's been years since I have read Neverwhere and I'm looking forward to reading this again. This is the one book of Gaiman's that almost everyone I've talked to that is aware of it would love him to write a sequel.

I finished and really did enjoy the book, although I kind of hate the ending. One thing I did wonder about while reading, and I know it's a silly minor detail, is how did their clothing, including a magical hat, totally transform too when the rooks changed into Ravens.

I am between 1/4 - 1/3 of the way through it, and am enjoying it so far. I'm liking the whimsy of the background characters.

Oops - even in rereading, I still missed where they explained the whole thing of Athena having kids. Oh, well. It didn't really bother me that much.
Keep reading, Adriel. They do eventually give Hades some credit, although none of "the big three" are great guys in any way really.
I think it being from the kid's viewpoint is probably what I enjoy the most about the series, especially this first book. The whole point is that these kids didn't ask for any of this and are just trying to survive, while because of their genetics and the whim of the gods and other mythical beings, they are put into very odd and dangerous situations.

I'm picking up my copy tomorrow too. Probably won't start reading it until next week, though.

It's a matter of personal taste, I guess. I personally enjoyed the story line as well as the growth of the characters as the series progressed. I have read all of the Animorphs as well, and I prefer the Percy Jackson series.

True, the main conflict in both is kids fighting others with incredible powers, and most that like one of the series will enjoy the other. I just wanted our group members to know they are different genres.

Cheryl, I can see where you would get the comparison with that particular quote, but I want to clarify for any that haven't read both series that the Animorphs is not anything like the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. They are completely different genres - the Animorphs is science fiction, not mythology.

I finally got my paperback copy and have started. As stated before, this is a re-read for me, but I certainly don't think it is hard to get past the first part. For myself it seems interesting from the beginning with things happening immediately that are out of the ordinary for most people.

This will be a re-read for me, but I love the series (I actually love all of his series that I have read so far) and intend to read them all again.

Yeah, Cheryl, it is! My library gave me that one too. My daughter picked it up for me and it's too big for me to handle, so I'm going into the library tomorrow to try to get another copy.