Week 9: 2/24 - 3/2

[Nadine in NY]

AF wrote: "... And may I just share how excited I am for the April group read selection! Finally, the one I voted for gets chosen! ..."

LOL that hasn't happened for me yet! I look forward to it ... someday. :-)

[Christine]

Well I'm posting late because I took my daughter on a road trip to an anime convention this week. We had fun, and I finished Guards! Guards! - finally, I get to report a finish again!

I really enjoyed it. I think I'm finally understanding Pratchett - for me, he's not about laugh-out-loud moments, but has a cynical wit superimposed over a clear love of humanity that is very endearing. In fact, when I finished, I immediately bought Reaper Man because I had been so tickled to see Death make a brief appearance during my reading of Guards! Guards!

On the way home, I made a bargain with myself: I would listen to Alexander Hamilton for the ride back, and if I still wasn't into it, I would give up. I'm giving up. Oh well.

This does have a bright side, which is that Pulp Sonnets! will become my book from a genre I don't usually read. (Sure, it's not a bestseller but this is still in the spirit of the prompt at least.) I'm looking forward to mixing things up with something less dense and lengthy, but still challenging since I don't read poetry as a rule.

[Johanna]

Challenge: 15/52
Children's Lit: 10/52

A book set in a hotel: The Dollhouse kept me engaged the whole time. Set in the 60's in the Barbazon Hotel in New York City. Note: This would also be a great book for the prompt of taking place during two different time periods.

A book from a genre/subgenre you've never heard of: I never heard of microblogging and finished the book Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books Retold Through Twitter of which I rolled on the floor laughing through a couple, cringed through most, and couldn't even bring myself to finish a couple of the stories. Call me a prude, but I thought the language of this book detracted from what the authors were trying to accomplish.

As usual, I'm reading with my son and doing the challenge with children's literature. Not all of it is good literature though. For example My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish is not what I would call great literature by any means. I don't think it was even that entertaining, but he read it and that is kind of the point. I wasn't sure what prompt to use it for but decided that a zombie goldfish would definitely be a mythical creature, so we put it under that prompt.

We also read his final book for the Virginia's Children's Choice awards list (or something like that anyway) and he chose The Lion Who Stole My Arm. Now this was a good read and we both enjoyed it. This was filed under a book set in the wilderness since it takes place in a tiny village in Africa.

QOTW: This is a hard one.

[Christine]

Johanna wrote: "Challenge: 15/52
Children's Lit: 10/52

A book set in a hotel: The Dollhouse kept me engaged the whole time. Set in the 60's in the Barbazon Hotel in New York City. Note: This would..."

Johanna, you might enjoy this little article McSweeney's did, reimagining "The Most Dangerous Game" in tweet form. Some language, but it definitely made me laugh as someone who read the story in school!

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/t...

[Angie]

16/40

Another slow week for me, but I did managed to finish Bad Feminist (book by a person of color). I also started Trevor Noah's Born a Crime (book by an author from a country you've never visited) and made some progress on Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories (book that's been on your TBR list for way too long).

I'm having so much trouble with O'Connor's short stories, so I've come up with a new strategy where I have to read a story before starting a new book. I think I have 18 more stories to read, so this one may take me until near the end of the challenge to complete. I'm also trying to read it while I wait for books to arrive from the library that might be available at any moment.

QofW: I'd remove Holden Caulfield. Sure, we wouldn't have The Catcher in the Rye, but I don't think that's any great loss.

[Kaitlyn]

For once I am late checking in! I have had a super busy week We are getting into the swing of spring cleaning, mostly motivated by the need to prepare my daughter's "big girl" room to free up the nursery before the next baby arrives in June. Somehow I have managed to get some reading done, but usually, by the time we get our daughter to bed, I just want to go to sleep!

My favorite Dr. Seuss book is The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss's Wacky Book of Opposites. It's the first book that I read by myself so it holds a special place in my heart.

I did manage to finish one book this week: Calvin and Hobbes, a book with pictures. This was definitely a fun read, although the version I read was in Spanish so that gets me some points, right?

I am about halfway through Raised from the Ground. This book is not terrible but it's only gripping at a couple points so it makes for a slow read. It is interesting to read about certain aspects of culture in Portugal throughout history, though.

This puts me at 9/52.

QOTW: Nothing pops into my brain when thinking about a character to remove. However, there have been side characters that I've thought were pointless, I'm sure.

[Shelly]

This week I read three 5 Star books! While I loved all three books, they could not be more different from one another.

I read News of the World by Paulette Jiles, A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny, and The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan.

News of the World is historical fiction set just after the end of the Civil War. The two main characters are Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an elderly widower who travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences, and Johanna, a ten-year-old who has been "rescued" from the Kiowas after four years in captivity. The story is about their journey through Texas to return Johanna to her family. Paulette Jiles, a poet at heart, has written a beautiful book full of humanity. I loved it.

A Great Reckoning is the 12th book in Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. I have read all twelve books and count Penny as one of my favorite authors. This mystery, full of characters who have become dear friends, has all of the atmosphere and profound insights I have come to love from this series.

Finally, The Spinning Heart is set in a small Irish town during the collapse of Ireland's economy in the late 2000s. The story is told from the perspective of numerous town residents and captures the language of rural Ireland and the mood of people on the brink of ruin. This novel could be the anchor text for a writing course on voice and tone. So good!

Question of the week: If you could remove a character from a book, who would you remove and why? I would never remove a character from a book, especially a book that I liked. As far as books that I don't like . . .hmmm, I would say removing a character would not solve the issues that made the book less successful for me. This is a tough question.

[Stina]

This check-in is downright early for me! And I even finished a book during the week. The Wonder was a page-turner but also a bit too repetitive for me to enjoy it as much as I had hoped. It could work for several challenge prompts:
20. A book with career advice (nursing, science in general) (no, not my careers, but I don't think that's a requirement for the prompt)
26. A book by an author from a country you've never visited (Ireland)
A2. A bestseller from 2016 (a Canadian bestseller, according to more than one source)
A7. A book with an eccentric character

QotW: I can't really think of any characters I would remove from their respective books. Even when one is poorly written, it usually has a role to play. I'm sure I have encountered some truly superfluous characters over the years, but the nice thing about them is that I tend to ignore them and go along my merry way.

[Stina]

Nadine wrote: "Good morning!! Super early check-in, I like it! Here in central NY state, it is COLD and snowing and blowing around, and the temperature is dropping: when I let the dogs out first thing this mornin..."

I've never been a Seuss fan, and I finally got around to reading The Cat in the Hat last year. Hated it. :-)

[Stina]

Chinook wrote: "Hello from Denver - a mostly cold week followed up by a very nice day today. Though I'd rather a good snowstorm or two before the winter ends - it feels like there hasn't been enough snow this year..."

I just spent the weekend in Denver, and the weather held beautifully. I hope it's still nice for AnomalyCon in a few weeks, and then you are welcome to your snowstorms! :-)

I've earmarked Farthing for sometime this year, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

[Stina]

Angie wrote: "16/40

Another slow week for me, but I did managed to finish Bad Feminist (book by a person of color). I also started Trevor Noah's Born a Crime (book by an author ..."

Yes, removing Holden Caulfield! Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!!!!

[Jackie]

Stina wrote: "Angie wrote: "16/40

Another slow week for me, but I did managed to finish Bad Feminist (book by a person of color). I also started Trevor Noah's Born a Crime (book..."

But I loved The Catcher in the Rye! You can't get rid of Holden!

haha it just goes back to what I said earlier. Somebody hates my favorites, and I hate somebody else's.

[Shelly]

FICTIONAL LIVES MATTER !

[Chinook]

Stina wrote: "Chinook wrote: "Hello from Denver - a mostly cold week followed up by a very nice day today. Though I'd rather a good snowstorm or two before the winter ends - it feels like there hasn't been enoug..."


It snowed today and was so windy part of our fence blew down.

The weather is never boring here.

[Claire]

Angie wrote:
QofW: I'd remove Holden Caulfield. Sure, we wouldn't have The Catcher in the Rye, but I don't think that's any great loss.


This really made me laugh - and I couldn't agree more! Not sure it will be a popular opinion but I'm with you 100%.

[Sheri]

I always am confused with the strong feelings either way about Catcher in the Rye. I read it in high school. And I did all my high school reading, so it wasn't like I did the cliff notes or something. I absolutely can't remember anything from it, it made virtually no impression on me. I don't think I could even give a vague plot summary or anything beyond that I know Holden was the main character.

Even Great Expectations I remember more about, and that one I DID mostly read the cliff notes with teacher permission. (The schedule got so messed up we didn't get to the book until the last 2 weeks of school and it's 1000 pages long or something like that. teacher knew the average kid, even honors level, can't bust out 1000 pages in a week and still be studying for finals. )

[Nadine in NY]

I read Catcher in the Rye as a kid, too, and I can't remember it either, except that I liked it a lot and read everything Salinger wrote after that. So much heat for it now, I've added it to my short list of books I should reread, just to see what all the fuss is about.

[Tanelle]

I've never read Catcher in the Rye. I picked up a copy a while back at a used book sale, maybe I should read it

[Chinook]

I recall liking it well enough as a teen and mostly identifying with Holden. Then I taught it to 11th graders and I hated Holden so, so much.

[Deb]

Being height-challenged myself, I like "After all a person's a person. No matter how small." My family enjoys Dr. Seuss. In fact, I use a PowerPoint based on Green Eggs and Ham to teach college freshmen about plagiarism.

This week, I finished The Underground Railroad, The Guilty, and The Collectors.

QoTW: Seems you've stumped us on this one! My son votes for the removal of Draco from Harry Potter, the lawyer from Jurassic Park.

[Chandie]

Chinook wrote: "I recall liking it well enough as a teen and mostly identifying with Holden. Then I taught it to 11th graders and I hated Holden so, so much."

I hate the character so much that I just won't teach it. And there are other characters I hate (Romeo, Tom Buchanan, Aunt Alexandra) but I can still teach them.

My niece read it as a junior and DNF because she hated him so much and I had one sophomore read it this year and she couldn't understand why everyone loved him.

To each his own.

[Angie]

I seemed to start a spirited discussion. That's fantastic.

Holden embodies privileged white male entitlement, and I just don't find that an interesting perspective, particularly since it's so pervasive in the stories we're given (books, movies, TV). And it's probably not him but the cult of Holden that bothers me more, I guess.

I recognize the book has merit. I actually chose to teach it in my American literature course when I was in the Peace Corps, which had more to do with availability than anything else, but it definitely opened up some interesting discussions.

Although it's not my cup of tea, I respect any opinions that differ drastically from mine. Catcher in the Rye just didn't do it for me, but if it inspires anyone to read, I think that's great.

[Tara]

Great expectations is definitely not 1000 pages, I read it last month. It's not even 400 I don't think. Nonetheless an avid teen reader could easily do it in a week or two but I can't imagine expecting a whole class of high school students to finish it on a short schedule. In university we had 3 days to finish Middlemarch by George Eliot. As much as I loved her Adam Bede it was definitely a DNF for the same reason!

[Christy]

Tara wrote: "Great expectations is definitely not 1000 pages, I read it last month. It's not even 400 I don't think. Nonetheless an avid teen reader could easily do it in a week or two but I can't imagine expec..."

Ugh, the only good thing about Adam Bede was his dog who was trained to carry his lunch basket to and from work, and the description of how seriously the dog took his job. I would've read a whole novel about that dog.

[Sara]

Chinook wrote: "I recall liking it well enough as a teen and mostly identifying with Holden. Then I taught it to 11th graders and I hated Holden so, so much."

I've heard something similar myself. It seems the majority of people who love it read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time when they were teens themselves. The success rate for first time adult readers is much lower. I never read it in school and don't plan to (at least in the foreseeable future).

[Theresa]

Angie wrote: "I seemed to start a spirited discussion. That's fantastic.

Holden embodies privileged white male entitlement, and I just don't find that an interesting perspective, particularly since it's so perv..."
I just had to chime in on this discussion! I read The Catcher in the Rye for the 2016 challenge - book that is a 20th Century Classic. Did not really care for it and ultimately decided it was far too dated to appeal to teenagers and young adults today, let alone adults. And I really thought Salinger copped out with that ending - Holden ending up in a TB sanitorium? Really? Holden was not a typical teenager, but a troubled teen from a privileged background who was still mourning the death of a sibling.

I was curious about the book after reading it and being so disappointed by it. (For the record I had tried reading it as a young teen when I stole my older brother's copy and could not finish it then). So I did a little research. Turns out Salinger wrote it for an adult audience, not as a teen angst anthem. I still don't think it works, especially when read from an adult point of view. Salinger also tightly controlled licensing - which is why there has never been a movie or stage version.

Ultimately I decided it was a book that was a window on a world existing at a certain time, and it is of little relevance or appeal today and should be considered a dated classic. Personally, I think Eleanor & Park or even The Night Circus are far better choices today.

[Stina]

I read Catcher when I was about 15. Mainly because it was considered controversial. I will admit, I didn't hate the book, but I was distinctly underwhelmed and didn't get what all the fuss was about. It was more boring than anything else, probably because it was dated to the point I as a girl in the '80s didn't find any characters I could relate to.

[Sheri]

Stina wrote: "I read Catcher when I was about 15. Mainly because it was considered controversial. I will admit, I didn't hate the book, but I was distinctly underwhelmed and didn't get what all the fuss was abou..."

I think that's probably what happened with me. I remember reading it in school, but I don't remember ANYTHING about it. So I'm guessing there was just so little I related to my brain just forgot it in favor of anything else.

[Kirsten]

Week #9 -- No progress

Question of the week: If you could remove a character from a book, who would you remove and why? Keep in mind getting rid of a character could change the story completely.

The only one that comes to mind (because I've read the first two in the series) is Lena Adams in Blindsighted and Kisscut by Karin Slaughter. Removing her might change the story but a different character with less character flaws could fill the same spot and annoy me much, much, much less.

[Sam]

Slow progress on reading this week. I finished the All Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. I liked it.

I finished Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie audiobook whilst travelling to see friends in Canterbury. Then listened to The Lord Of The Rings on the return journey. So my audio book prompt is done, twice.

I don't really have a favourite Dr Seuss. I'm in the UK and I don't know if Dr Seuss really hit the UK market when I was a child. Being called Sam, I did get Green Eggs and Ham quoted at me a few times though. We do have Green Eggs and Ham. My girls like it and my 5 year old now tries to read it herself.

QOTW Don't know on this one. I've read books and had to stop reading as I didn't like any of the characters at all, but can't think of specifics.