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

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

Almost a week to go til the readathon! Is everyone prepped and ready?

I haven't even started thinking about what I'm going to read!

Okay, I'm debating whether or not this is my favourite book all year. Seriously, I absolutely adore it.

For such a short book, it definitely packs a punch! I immediately fell in love with the people, and how the letters changed over the years. (Did anyone else notice her calling him 'Frankie'?). I wish there was more letters, I could easily have read several hundred pages more of them. Such a sweet collection! And how she didn't get to meet Frank completely broke my heart!

And how I wish letters were more of a 'thing' nowadays and people could write like that. Email is quick yes, but I think it's vastly overrated. Hand written letters seem like such a wonderful way of communicating!

I noticed my copy has a second work, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. After doing some research, it appears to be a 'sequel', adapted from her diary entries of her eventual visit to London (in the early 1970s) and meeting some of the people from 84 Charing Cross Road. For it being a short read, I think I'll attempt it probably next week. Has anyone else read it?

I will also attempt to find the movie. I have my ways of finding things online!

Oh god, this is such a good question!

Immediately, my mind went to Margaret Atwood. She's one of my favourite authors and I'd love to sit down and just quiz her about The Handmaid's Tale. Plus she seems like such a lovely person!

As I've just read 84, Charing Cross Road, definitely Helene Hanff so she can recount other memories of that time period. I'd love to know if there were more letters from that period, and what came of their correspondence past the novels time frame.

And finally, probably John Milton. I was divided between him and Dostoevsky, but I'd love to know more about his writing of Paradise Lost (well, his narration, his daughter wrote it for him), and his influences and how he really saw the Creation story. I find him such a fascinating man. Paradise Lost (and subsequently Paradise Regained) are epic feats to write, even more so when you're blind and narrate a 10,000 line long poem to your daughter.

Ooh, I'm going to have to stretch to 4 and say William Blake. He just popped into my head as someone who I'd love to talk to, actually about modern day happenings. Because he was so forward in his moral views, I'd love to find out his reaction to modern changes such as increased gay rights and the freedoms that he never saw. When studying Songs of Innocence and of Experience, I realised how modern he was in his views, and it's something I'd love to explore!

10 pages in and I'm already grinning adoringly. My mum is currently looking at me funny, I'm grinning so much!

What a wonderful book!

Just started 84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff. Unbelievably excited!

Gah, I've been meaning to read Fingersmith for ages, Renee. Well, that or any Sarah Waters!

Hi Kate,

We'll set up a thread probably later in the month, so you can just put paste your copy of the challenge into that thread and get started. You don't have to register anywhere, just post on the thread when we put it up.

As you can tell, we're pretty laid back when it comes to challenges and everything :)

Current Mini Challenges

SUMMER BINGO
Deadline: 31st August

B1: Exploration
B2: Congratulations!
B3: Participation
B4: Information - When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales of Neurosurgery by Frank T. Vertosick Jr.
B5: Collaboration - Wool by Hugh Howey

I1: Listed it
I2: Bought it
I3: Eyed it
I4: Downloaded it
I5: Scored it!

N1: Oldie but goodie
N2: New kid on the block
N3: FREE
N4: Yesterday's news
N5: Everybody's talking

G1: Nice to meet you
G2: You seem familiar
G3: One of the girls
G4: One of the guys
G5: Old friends

O1: Take a stand
O2: Take a friend
O3: Take a trip
O4: Take a look
O5: Take a break

I will definitely try! I have a few that I really want to read, and I've hardly made any headway with The Iliad, which I'd love to finish before New Years!

So maybe :P

I'd definitely love to do something like this for next year. Like a 'Books I Never Got Round To In 2014' Challenge!

Okay, charity bookshops will be the death of me. 70p for fiction, £1.70 for non-fiction...

So my haul today:
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope
Alexander Pope: Selected Poetry and Prose, by Alexander Pope
The Thirty-Nine Steps, by John Buchan
The Collector, by John Fowles
The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield

and for £1.70: The Cambridge Guide to English Literature, which I'm super chuffed about!

I'm definitely going to attempt to read this! Just focusing on short reads to get to my goal, and I see its only roughly 200 pages :)

Just got this from the library (finally!). Can't wait to start it!

I definitely need to use this over the next 2 weeks. Crap, I've just realised I have 2 weeks...

Will definitely be utilising the shorter works of fiction. Still 11 books to read!

Sorry I haven't been posting much recently, everyone! It's been super manic being back home (so many things to do)

Shocked everyone with my haircut. It's now short and dark red! My mum says I'm rebellious...

What a wonderful, simple challenge! Definitely doing this!

Aw, it's super fluffy so just get ready because its SO CUTE. Yeah, I'm a romantic at heart!

Thanks, I'll definitely need it!

I really should get off Goodreads and start planning my American Lit essay.

3000 words... Yay...

It is a wonderful story!

And high-five for The Scarlet Letter. Absolutely adore that book!

Aha, its a slippery slope getting me talking about fanfiction. I'll never stop!

It's one called Of Finding Innocence. I've read it before, but never actually finished it, and it's just so perfect. Its basically where Kate meets Castle years before, at the book signing, and they get to know eachother and everything, back when she's a beat cop. It's just really well written, and 7-year-old Alexis is literally the best thing ever. It's the one Castle fanfiction I always come back to (I don't usually read a lot of Castle fanfiction!).

But it is stupidly long. When I joked about the amount of books I could read if I didn't spend my time reading fanfiction, I was serious!

Told you slippery slope!