Almost Favorite Books

I've finally finished making the reading page (link is below the header - reading) to look as I wanted. For no reason, other than to fulfill my blog's first part of the tagline (reading & scribbling) I thought I share a list of my favorite books and some favorite quotes. It's not a definite list as I might find more favorites later on. Making this list has made me realized my reading taste has changed but I'm not sure if it's for the better. Anyway, I thought I share a list of the books that didn't make it on the list. You can say these are almost favorites books or maybe past favorites.

01 - The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - I enjoyed the series but not all the books or how the series ended. My favorite or at least, the book I like the best in this series, is The Horse and His Boy.

02 - The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw - I guess I kind of ignored the sometimes complicated writing which sort of make the story less enjoyable. I didn't completely mind the ending was depressing as I really liked the story.

03 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - This used to be a favorite but now I find it a bit depressing with an undertone of something unsettling that I cannot place.

04 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman - Honestly, I like the movie better but mostly because the grandson is less intruding and the ending ended at the point where all is happy rather than the depressing one in the book. When I re-read the book, I stop where the movie stops.

05 - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - I remember I really liked this when I read it but now I find it too depressing to even re-read.

06 - The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - As much as I like Sherlock Holmes, I didn't really like the stories all that much. Too much focus on the victims and the culprits' lives, not enough of Sherlock and Watson. And I guess I got spoiled by all the tv/movie adaptations.

07 - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - Maybe I outgrew this but it's definitely the only book from an animal's point of view that I liked.

08 - Any Agatha Christie books - I read tons of Agatha Christie last year (or it could have been the year before) but I don't have a favorite among them even though I did enjoy Miss Marple and Poirot's company. But mostly because I find murder mysteries are rather harder to be a favorite. Certainly, it's not so great for re-reads.

How about you? Do you have almost favorite books?

Fiction: Flying toasts, irritable cats, three-legged witches, a duck and a funeral wake

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by David M. Gascoigne and is hosted at Elephant's Child's blog over here. This week's prompts are: solar, polls, true, people, indication and/or celestial, temperature, concern, obvious, surreal. I used the second half of the prompts.

Fiction: Flying toasts, irritable cats, three-legged witches, a duck and a funeral wake

The funeral wake, for it was a funeral wake, was held in Aunt Tella's 100-year-old, three-story Victorian house. Mrs. Sigh, Aunt Tella's housekeeper, explained it must be a funeral wake as Tella liked to combine things to save time though she was not religious but she sometimes attended church when she was in a bad mood. As Mrs. Sigh put on a record of celestial music, she said the cool temperature and the half dark sky was just right for a burial.   
    It was a small gathering consisted of the priest, Father Thyme, four men from the funeral service, Mrs. Sigh, Dimple Caroline Small, niece and only relative of Aunt Tella and if you counted the corpse, Aunt Tella.
    Standing beside the opened casket, Father Thyme was making his speech about life and death. On his left, Dimple stood. She eyed the piles of toast across the room on the large table full of breakfast food. The toast was another thing Mrs. Sigh said was what her aunt would want. Mrs. Sigh also insisted there would be no bright red orange things as Aunt Tella disliked the color. Dimple wondered if that was all Mrs. Sigh's concern - what Aunt Tella would want - she spoke of nothing else. It was obvious Mrs. Sigh had a fondness for Tella though she was old enough to be Tella's mother but still called her Aunt Tella.
    A group of strangers entered Dimple's peripheral view. She turned her head to get a better look. There was the three pairs of old women who were bond to each other by their legs and walked as if they were three-legged. The seven old men looked like models for mens clothing all dressed in well-pressed suits with well-groomed beards and mustaches. The six white cats with one having a black spot on its back loitered with eyes full of intentions. The little girls and boys all appeared as if they had been rolling in mud while wearing their finest. They left muddy prints on the wooden floor. All appeared comfortable as if they were at home.
    Father Thyme was still talking. His drone voice seemed to have no pause even as the strangers came closer. It took a while to get any kind of answers from Father Thyme. When you asked him a question, he would think it over for about a minute or more and sometimes fell asleep with eyes opened but he did say Aunt Tella was a recluse so who were these strangers? Dimple wondered.

Is it still a blog if commenting is turned off?

I'm so used to blogs that allow readers to leave comments that when there is no such option, it's odd to me. The commenting is the interaction between blogger and readers (and sometimes reader to reader) and that's what makes a blog a blog, at least, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
    As a blog reader, I don't want to be sending emails or filling out a message box to make a comment on a post. It creates a detachment from the post. Also, without comments, you don't get to see what others said nor interact with them. It feels like there are no readers or that everyone's invisible except the blogger and that's weird. But maybe it's a matter of preference?

What do you think? Is it still a blog if commenting is turned off?