Posted on July 27, 2007 in Books
Oh, hello there. My name is Athena, and I’m addicted to reading challenges.
Yes, here is yet another reading challenge. The Second Chances Challenge takes place October, November and December of 2007. The goal: “Read 3 books by authors that you have only read one other.”
Mah choices, let me show you them:
1. Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham
Read The Hours which I love.
2. Pale Fire by Vladmir Nabokov – Completed
Read Lolita which I really like.
3. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Read The Great Gatsy which was fine enough for me to read more Fitzgerald. Also reading this for the “Something About Me Challenge”.
Posted on July 13, 2007 in Books
This is my tentative reading list for the Something About Me Reading Challenge. I’m unsure if I can read all these, but a lot of the books I’ve wanted to read for awhile. I’ve also read a lot of the books mentioned so far, so I’ll definitely be interested in discussions about them.
Ellen’s List
The Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Chris’s List
The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
raidergirl3’s list
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Tiny Little Library’s List
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
The bookworm’s List
The Poinsonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Also, I recently finished Diary of Anne Frank which this read along encouraged as it was on the original list above.
Posted on June 23, 2007 in Books
On my weekly trip to the library yesterday, I saw and bought this bag which goes to the public library foundation. It’s one of those Bring Your Own Bag iniatives that encourage the use of recyclable and reusable bags in place of plastic bags. I’m really glad to have bought it since the money goes directly to the library and up to this point, I’ve been using one of my purses or a plastic bags (namely the ones I have from the LCBO; the government-controlled alcohol chain in Ontario) to carry my books to and fro every week. I often carry a lot of items from the library and normal plastic bags are ineffective any way.
I love my public library; I spent summers there as a child, and I have been going every week for years. I often take out way more than I can handle which is sad and rather addictive. Right now, I’m on a particularly lending streak as I have 36 items separated into four piles in my house. The pile above on the right is all twelve of the books for the Book Awards Challenge, some of them are the library’s, a couple are mine and a couple are a friend’s.
My reading was severely neglected last week because I was reading fanfiction. Sometimes, it comes over me especially now that I’m rereading Harry Potter. Speaking of which, the pile on the left has Books 3 and 4. I’m listening to the audiobook for 3 now, but I’ll mostly read it after I do some knitting and patterns browsing.
Lots of books must be read this week especially since I start summer school next week.
Link: Hot Library Smut – Completely and utterly work safe.
Posted on June 12, 2007 in Books
I was never interested in reading this book until I was older, few people I know actually read this when they were younger. I read this all yesterday and stayed up a bit to finish it before midnight. It is a very well written book, and I think I’m going to miss out a lot of why it’s so good in this review. First, my view on rabbits is neutral, but even as an animal lover, I am not a fan of the domesticated rabbit. I’ve met a couple of temperamental ones. Reading the book, I was always afraid that that the rabbits were going to die or get fatally wounded. I liked every single one of the rabbits, and I found the antagonistic ones fascinating. The characterization set them apart from one another. I loved the folklore and mythology set into the book because Adams has sampled so many old world stories and the oral narrative in this story. The novel is also a story of environmental degradation, human, political and social commentary. There are cautionary tales in it, and it showcases the divide between humans and nature. The rabbits are not simply just anthropomorphic, but essentially retain their rabbit like features in their values for wit, cunning, trickery, survival and relationship with nature. The novel itself is similar to old folklore and fables of animal characters. It’s an adventure story about leadership and team work to survive and build a home. Definitely another good summer read.
Posted on June 8, 2007 in Books, Musings
Nothing like coming home to your books. I got home from work two hours ago. It was a very hot and humid day, but it rained a great storm when I was at work (which was thankfully not too busy). The evening was cool from the rain and the air was beautifully fresh. I came home, and I saw the above pile of books on my printer as if to say “Welcome, home.” instead of “You’re disorganized for putting a big pile of books on a printer.” I made this pile today after getting a lot of these books from the library.
As you can see, most of these books are for the Book Awards Challenge. I’ve decided to read Street of Riches instead of The Tin Flute because I am going to read the books in French and try to make room for some French Milan Kundera as well. I may still read TTF in the near future though. The pile on the left has the first three Harry Potter books stacked on top of my copy of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
As a testament to my messy but manageable style, there are another two small pile of books on this desk as well, not to mention the twenty library books perpetually on the floor beside it. I need to clean my desk, but the books always remain where they are on my desk, in my life.
Posted on June 6, 2007 in Books
Here is my list for twelve award winning books to be read between July 1 2007 to July 1 2008 for the Book Awards Challenge. I’m confident I’ll complete this challenge because I have a couple of the books in my house and couple of which are also Newbery. I have provided a long list of prospective books for additional reading in the challenge.
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize)
- Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (Giller, Governor General’s)
- Street of Riches by Gabrielle Roy (Governor’s General’s)
- Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Newbery)
- A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nany Willard (Newbery)
- Complete Poems and Plays by T. S. Eliot (Nobel 1948)
- Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer, Nobel)
- Beowulf: New Verse Translation (Costa/Whitbread)
- Neuromancer by William Gibson (Hugo, Nebula)
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Newbery)
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer, NBCC)
- Little, Big by John Crowley (World Fantasy)
Bonus Books:
Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett (PEN/Faulkner, Orange)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Pulitzer)
Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (Miles Franklin, Commonwealth Writers’) – I remember trying to read this years ago when it was first published; I managed one chapter, so we’ll see how far I get this time.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Hugo, Nebula)
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda (Nobel)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Nobel)l
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (Commonwealth Writers’) – I own this, and it is big.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (PEN/Faulkner)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Pulitzer)
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck (Pulitzer, Nobel)
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (Pulitzer, NBCC, Governor General’s)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Giller)
The Pearl and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (Nobel 1962)
All the Names by Jose Saramago (Nobel 1998)
Posted on June 4, 2007 in Books
Fourth Day of the month, and I’ve already read two books, both that I named for my summer reading challenge. Need to catch up and prep for some more summer reading. I am currently reading E. M. Forster’s Where Angels Fear to Tread and will finish soon.
Through surfing, I found Arukiyomi’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Spreadsheet from Paul Boxall’s list. I doubt I’ll read all of those books, and I don’t think I would want to either, but the spreadsheet is handy as it calculates how much you have read. I’ve read about 63 which is 6.29% of the list. I’m sure I missed a couple because I did scroll through 1001 titles. Most of the list is comprised of books from the 1900s, and there are about 12 for “Pre-1700” which is sort of sad. I know the novel was invented in the the 18th century, but I would at least think there would be more influences for it than that.
One of the books on the list was The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndam. I tried to remember if I had read it, and I’m 75% sure I did because I also remember vaguely seeing the campy 1960s movie in school. I am 100% sure I read Wyndam’s The Chrysalids which I remember enjoying immensely in middle school. I remember having one of the best English teachers that year too. I recommend the latter for anyone wanting to read a dystopian novel.
Last week while knitting my monkey socks (slowest project ever), I listened to Stephen Fry’s audiobook of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’ll always prefer a real book, but I’m starting to come around to audiobooks though because I find them really nice to go along with knitting. For most projects, I can’t watch a movie or a TV. I like listening to audiobooks of books I have already read and love, especially if they are well narrated as the UK HP book versions are. Mr Fry is funny, articulate, and executes some good accents. I started out with Book 1 and 6, but today, I got 2-5, and I’m sure to get the seventh when it is released. I most likely will not preorder Book 7 because as with the last few books, I just go early in the morning to Chapters and buy it there. Not once has it looked like the book has sold out the night before. I would preorder it if I knew at exactly what time it would be delivered. For all I know, it’ll come at in the late afternoon. Unlikely since I do live in a city centre. Hmm, maybe I should preorder?
Starting Saturday, I will be rereading all my Harry Potter books each week until Book 7 for the Harry Potter Read Along, and I will be making reviews of the experience with each book. It seems now that I’m going to read and listen to them too.
Posted on June 2, 2007 in Books
Yes, I joined yet another reading challenge. It’s become one of my new blogging habits. I really would like to meet more bloggers, and all of us seem to get to know each other better through books since the circle of book bloggers is not too large. So I need to make a list of 12 award winning books to read between July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008. Before that, I made a list of award winning books I had already read over the years. I’ve been partial to the Pulitzer over they years for some reason. I’ve tagged the awards in the challenge on Lists of Bests under BARC.
Most of these books I’ve liked. Feel free to ask about any of them.
Booker Prize:
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (also a Governor General’s Award winner)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
British Book Award:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by by Lynne Truss
Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Commonwealth Writers Prize:
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Costa (Whitbread) Book Awards:
The Amber Spyglass (HDM Book 3) by Philip Pullman
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Giller Prize:
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Governor General’s Award:
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Hugo Award:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (also a Nebula)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Dune by Frank Herbert (also a Nebula)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
National Book Award:
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (also Pulitzer)
Newbery Medal Award:
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The High King by Lloyd Alexander
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Holes by Louis Sachar
Nobel:
Herman Hesse – Siddhartha
Albert Camus – The Stranger
John Steinbeck – East of Eden, Grapes of Wrapth, Of Mice and Men
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, and couple of others.
William Golding – Lord of the Flies
Jose Saramgo – Blindness, The Cave
PEN/Faulkner:
The Hours by Michael Cunningham (also a Pulitzer)
Pulitzer Prize:
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Posted on May 28, 2007 in Books
Here is my reading list for the Summer Reading Challenge (June 1- August 1). Almost all of it is young adult or children’s lit which is funny and also will give me a slightly high chance of actually finishing the challenge.
- The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman
- The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Rereading: Harry Potter Books 1-6 by J. K. Rowling for the HP Read Along
- Rereading: Twelth Night by William Shakespeare
In other book news, I have read little because I have been distracted by dreaming about future knitting patterns. I will read today. Yes, I shall.
Posted on May 9, 2007 in Books
Something About Me Reading Challenge involves picking five books that relate or represent yourself. On August 1, you pick other books from the list of other participants and hence, a discussion begins of books chosen. This is my first reading challenge, and I think it’s a pretty interesting one to begin with. I joined the Harry Potter Read Along a few weeks ago too and that starts next month in preparation for HP7.
This is my list for “Something About Me”. This was difficult to say the least. These are books that I’ve read, but I wish I had more choices that were more overt about who I am. I just want to read more after making this list. I also avoided repeats from other participants’ lists.
Continue reading →