Holly’s Comments (group member since Nov 05, 2013)

Holly’s comments from the The Reading Challenge Group group.

That's insane progress, Alessandra! And only in two months.

I'm very jealous! :P

Finished this yesterday and really enjoyed it! I often don't like romance novels, but this one was really sweet, and Don really made the book!

Will definitely attempt to read the sequel before the end of the month!

Going to go for Level 1 of this!

Just stumbled upon your challenges! Such wonderful ideas!

I am unbelievably excited about this. It also makes me very grateful for this site and this group, giving me the ability to rave about it and get excited. None of my friends were remotely interested. And some of them are literature students!

8. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

While I don't think it's amazing, I really really enjoyed this wonderful novel. I try to restrain myself from giving a lot of 5 stars, hence my 4 star rating. But for a romance novel (which I usually avoid), it was a really wonderful read and I enjoyed it immensely. I really empathised with Don's character, his social awkwardness (which people said I have, and I agree), and I really loved his thought processes. It really 'made' the book stand out for me, and I think other people would agree. I will definitely pick up the sequel at some point!

7. Stoner by John Williams

I try to avoid giving 5 stars to the books I read, to make the ones that I do give them to very special. I mostly give them for either making me think, or if they are beautifully written. And Stoner really fulfils both of these. The prose is simply brilliant. I had a very similar feeling about The Scarlett Letter, where I felt it was clear that every single word was used because it was meant to be there. Like Hawthorne's novel, I felt like the writing was perfect. Each word and sentence had meaning and led to a really beautifully written story.

See my full review here

6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

After reading The Fault in Our Stars, I'd been meaning to read another John Green book for a long time. Although it's not 'wow' material, it was an enjoyable read that really got into the characters and the relationships they had. Also, a big +1 for the LGBT themes, which were treated really well. Although some may be stereotypical, I think they used them as a strength rather than being detrimental. I'll definitely find time to read more John Green novels, perhaps when I need a break from hard-hitting classics.

Iasa, that's just what I've been doing!

Going through my to-read list and seeing if they're in the library. Think I'm gonna have a good list!

You know when there's so many books and you can't decide what to read because you want to read them all?

I'm having that moment.

Dammit, I meant The Rosie Project in that post. Sorry :)

Polyne, you can find The Rosie Effect thread in the Group Reads folder. I believe that's what you're looking for. :)

Me too, Chase! Really looking forward to it!

Really excited about this!

I will also be reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson this month hopefully, so it will be a month full of John Green!

I had the pleasure of reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, which really inspired me to look into other psychological books about habits and how we make/break them. Charles Duhigg really made the book interesting, when it had the potential to be really dry. Unfortunately, he hasn't got any other works, but I'll definitely be reading round the subject.

Also new to me are:
Emily Bronte with Wuthering Heights: While I disliked it, it's a shame she never got to write more. I really liked her writing style, and I wish she was able to write more novels etc.
Alexander Pope with The Rape of the Lock: I read Rape of the Lock in his Selected Poems, so really want to look at what else is in there!

Trying to think of a good classic childrens book...

5. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

I re-read this for University, and found I enjoyed it far more than I did last year. I think mostly because I took my time a bit more. I'm really looking forward to studying this now!

Keep going Kassandra, I'm already 4 books behind, and I thought January would be a big reading month for me!

Chin up. :D

Inadvertently completed this with Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte's first and only novel.

Love it when this happens!

We're hosting our quarterly readathon at the end of February I believe, so hopefully you can take part in that, Gareth.

Keep us updated on yours. :)