2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion
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ARCHIVE 2014
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May 2014 Group Read Nominations
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I nominate Mother Night because of the title - none of us would have had any birthdays if it wasn't for our mothers.
I'm going to nominate Pygmalion which is a retelling of the Greek myth about a man who falls in love with a statue and begs the gods to bring her to life. It's her birthday, in a way.This is the play the musical and movie My Fair Lady is based off of.
I'm going to nominate The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - I figure at 100 years old, he'd know a bit about birthdays!
I am going to nominate
Half Bad by Sally Green. Basically because from the description the main characters imminent birthday appears to be a major plot point. Also it is newly published this year, so for everyone taking part in the Goodreads choice awards 2014 challenge this book could count as one of your reads :)
I second Pygmalion. (I've never read it or watched My fair lady, but I'm pretty sure I've been exposed to approximately fiftyseven high school movies based on it.)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Popular quote about a special "birth" day.
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974"
I'm going to go with Pygmalion as well. My Fair Lady (Audrey Hepburn) is one of the best cinematic films I've ever seen! I had no idea it was based on this book! Must read it now. :)
For those of you who love My Fair Lady I should probably warn you that it's not a true adaptation from Pygmalion--Pygmalion isn't quite as...happy. (Think Wicked the book versus Wicked the musical.)
Kara wrote: "For those of you who love My Fair Lady I should probably warn you that it's not a true adaptation from Pygmalion--Pygmalion isn't quite as...happy. (Think Wicked the book versus Wicked the musical.)"I loved Wicked the book and Wicked the musical, so hopefully this will be the same! :) I'm still willing to give it a go.
Kathryn wrote: "I'm going to nominate The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - I figure at 100 years old, he'd know a bit about bi..."Not just that - but it's while waiting for his birthday party he climbs out the window! Very fitting. I second.
AJ wrote: "Kathryn wrote: "I'm going to nominate The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - I figure at 100 years old, he'd kno..."How funny! That makes me want to read it even more, and I will be reading it anyway - it's in the Recommended by Reading Challengers list.
Kara wrote: "For those of you who love My Fair Lady I should probably warn you that it's not a true adaptation from Pygmalion--Pygmalion isn't quite as...happy. (Think Wicked the book versus Wicked the musical.)"I read Wicked the book in high school before I even knew the musical existed (this was in 2004), then my friends told me there was a musical! So I got to see it that summer with the original cast (Idina Menzel!!! <3 and Kristin Chenoweth!!! <3) and loved that the book was fresh in my mind and absolutely loved both (even though they have like very little in common) but there were some things in the musical I might have missed out on had I not read the book.
Anyway, my nomination goes to Pygmalion because I love Greek mythology and adaptations and the movie My Fair Lady. Never seen a stage production of it, but the movie is fantastic and I fully understand they'll be different and it's exciting ;)
Moon Tiger. I haven't read it. I have heard nothing about it but thought I would put it out there for another option. Here is the summary below.
The elderly Claudia Hampton, a best-selling author of popular history; lies alone in a London hospital bed. Memories of her life still glow in her fading consciousness, but she imagines writing a history of the world. Instead, Moon Tiger is her own history, the life of a strong, independent woman, with its often contentious relations with family and friends. At its center — forever frozen in time, the still point of her turning world — is the cruelly truncated affair with Tom, a British tank commander whom Claudia knew as a reporter in Egypt during World War II.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Tragically Flawed (other topics)From Rags (other topics)
Marriage by Mistake (other topics)
Following Trouble (other topics)
This Much is True (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Lionel Shriver (other topics)Jonas Jonasson (other topics)
Jonas Jonasson (other topics)
Jeffrey Eugenides (other topics)
Sally Green (other topics)
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The main character is born and dies repeatedly throughout the book. Since she has so many birthdays, it seems fitting of our theme for May.