Category: Other

I read 11 books in January, which is probably a record for me. A combination of factors came together to give me much more time for reading this month, hopefully I’ll be able to continue this for the rest of the year, as I have really enjoyed it.

I read three books for Orange January

a. We Need To Talk About Kevin– Lionel Shriver completed 14th January 2009

b. Fugitive Pieces– Anne Michaels completed 10th January 2009

c. Digging to America – Anne Tyler completed 5th January 2009

My favourite was We Need to Talk About Kevin; there was just so much to think about in it, that I am still trying to persuade all my ‘real world!’ friends to read it!

The rest of the books I read in January:

The Bride from Odessa– Edgardo Cozarinsky completed 27th January

Mudbound – Hilary Jordan completed January 8th 2009

December – Elizabeth Winthrop completed 22nd January 2009

The Brutal Art– Jesse Kellerman completed 27th January

What Was Lost– Catherine O’Flynn completed 2nd January 2009

When Will There be Good News – Kate Atkinson completed 24th January 2009

The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson completed 20th January 2009

Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte completed 21st January 2009

 

 
My other recommendations are The Gargoyle and Mudbound, both of which are well worth reading if you haven’t already.

 
 

 

 

 

Although I didn’t enjoy reading Wuthering Heights, I am really glad that I did. I’m going to make an effort to read many more Classics this year. I’ve ordered copies of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, so hopefully I’ll read them very soon.

I hope your reading in January was as enjoyable as mine!

I’ve been Happy Tagged by Sandy at You’ve Gotta Read This! Thank you!!! This is an easy one! So what makes you happy?

Here are the things that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside:

1. Spending time with my family – really obvious, sorry! – but it gives me an excuse to show you a picture of them!

2. A good gossip with my friends!

3. Reading a good book.

4. Searching for treasure (rare books/bargains!) at car-boot sales, charity shops or any where else I can find it!

5. Cooking, then eating great food. I bought my husband a sausage making machine for Christmas, so these are our latest obsession! Here’s my husband showing off our first batch:

6. Planning, then going on an exciting holiday, here we are in Korea a couple of years ago:

 I hope you’re doing lots of things to make yourself happy today!

Weekly Geek Task Three:

In the third Weekly Geeks of 2009, let’s have fun with the classics. For our purposes, I’m defining a classic as anything written over 100 years ago and still in print. (If your memory needs jogging, see: Classic Literature Library for examples.)

For your assignment this week, choose two or more of the following questions:

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don’t get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

Apart from a few I read at school I have read very few classics. In fact, I have read three: Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights (which I finished reading yesterday). I always feel that I should read more of them, and I’m going to try to in the future. Older books are a lot of effort for the reward given – I much prefer more modern books. Perhaps I’m just not reading the right ones?

I’m afraid I haven’t read any classic that I could recommend to someone else, as I haven’t liked any of them enough. I look forward to seeing which books other people recommend though, as I’ve committed to reading 9 classics this year (thanks to the 999 challenge)

2) A challenge, should you choose to accept it: Read at least one chapter of a classic novel, preferably by an author you’re not familiar with. Did you know you can find lots of classics in the public domain on the web? Check out The Popular Classic Book Corner, for example. Write a mini-review based on this chapter: what are your first impressions? Would you read further? (For a larger selection of authors, try The Complete Classic Literature Library).

I’ll do this later in the week, and do a separate review post for it.

3) Let’s say you’re vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don’t find her a book, she’ll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

I guess it would have to be a modern day classic like The Color Purple or To Kill a Mocking Bird. I don’t really know what classic appeal is though, as for me classics don’t appeal at all!! I only want to read them so I can do well in general knowledge quizzes!

4) As you explore the other Weekly Geeks posts: Did any inspire you to want to read a book you’ve never read before—or reread one to give it another chance? Tell us all about it, including a link to the post or posts that sparked your interest. If you end up reading the book, be sure to include a link to your post about it in a future Weekly Geeks post!

I’ll come back and do this once more people have recommended a book. Hopefully someone will inspire me to read a classic or two!