I am glad for this information. I was planning to use LL with my son when he turns 7 this year after we finish up Prima Latina and I wasn't sure it if it would be too advanced.
If you only want to see threads from a particular forum, click on that forum. All threads with new posts since your last visit should be a darker blue.
You can subscribe to threads on the right hand side after you've clicked on a thread where it says "thread tools". Later through user cp you can see if those threads have had any new posts since your last visit. It's a way to keep tabs on a discussion.
I am reading The First Circle. I recently finished The Haj. They are two books I probably wouldn't have chosen on my own at a trip to the library, but they were given to me in a stack of books by a friend moving. They are both very interesting.