Collecting Dust August 2014 Challenge

[MK]

This is a monthly challenge for those readers who have had books forever on their TBR list.

This challenge will help you get those books finally read.

If you wish to participate then from your TBR bookshelf list 5 books that you would like to read for the month of August. The next member who comments will pick two choices from your list. You are only obligated to read 1 of those books, but you may choose to read both. Once you read it, let us know and you may add your review or link to your review!


RULES:
1) If you would like to participate, please sign up by July 31st, 2014.

2) Choose 2 books from the person's list that commented before you. First in, is last to pick - First person to sign up, please pick books for the last person to sign up :).

3) Each participant will have the entire month to read their book(s), post their rating and review. And tell us what you think of your book in this thread.

Let's have fun reducing our TBR piles*.

(link to July 2014)

*Books can be any of your TBR books, not restricted to classics.

[MK]

August Dusty Challenge is open! :)

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

MK is this game the copywritten intellectual property of they who have created it? I want to try it with another genre GR group if possible.

[MK]

Andrea (Catsos Person) wrote: "MK is this game the copywritten intellectual property of they who have created it? I want to try it with another genre GR group if possible."

It's Kathy's. You can ask her, but I don't think she'd mind at all, Andrea :)'

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

I 'll ask Kathy . It looks like fun !

[MK]

Andrea (Catsos Person) wrote: "I 'll ask Kathy . It looks like fun !"

It is! :)

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Andrea (Catsos Person) wrote: "MK is this game the copywritten intellectual property of they who have created it? I want to try it with another genre GR group if possible."

Definitely not copyrighted. Stole the basic idea and revamped it for this group. Feel free to use the idea as you like.

[Katy, Old School Classics]

And I don't want to be first this month, because of course I will be out of town on August 1st, so won't be able to choose for the last person. Hopefully someone will be first on the list. I have been able to read a book each month on my dustiest shelves!

[[deleted user]]

I'll go first. My 5 books for August are:

The Woman in White
A Study in Scarlet
The Catcher in the Rye
Tender Is the Night
Sense and Sensibility

[Alissa]

Matt, I choose for you The Kite Runner, because it's one of my favorite books ever! I also choose Everything Is Illuminated, simply bc it's on my TBR list and I'd like to hear what you thought of it!

I'm straying away from classics on this one, and pick the 5 that have been on my shelf the longest:

Help for the Haunted
The 5th Wave
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
We Are Water
The Deep End of the Ocean

[Rachel]

Alissa, my picks for you are The Deep End of the Ocean and The 5th Wave.

Happy Reading!

Here are my 5 picks:

1.A Million Little Piecesby James Frey
2.Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger
3.Valley of the Dolls b7 Jacqueline Susann
4.The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis
5.Push by Sapphire

[Julie]

Rachel for you I pick Valley of the Dolls and Push - happy reading

My list goes:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rumour Has It by Jill Mansell
Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Hi Julie
I'll choose Under the Lilacs and The Shadow of the Wind for you.

My five for August:
1) Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials
2) Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia
3) The Kingdom of Rarities
4) Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes
5) Cobweb Bride

[Lindy-Lane]

Silk

for kathy i pick Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes and Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials.

my five:

Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen
Rituals of the Season by Margaret Maron
My Antonia by Willa Cather
*Silk by Linda Lee Chaikin
*Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh

i read both books that nathan picked for me. enjoyed both but I gave Died In The Wool 4 stars and Silk just 3 stars.

Died In The Wool captivated me: the vocabulary [one of my favorites was the word taradiddle], the history of World War II and the fact that when the book was first published (1945)the issues and perspectives on the war were current events. and then there's the whole "british/new zealand english" bent to the atmosphere of the plot. i believe Ngaio Marsh writing style has stolen my heart away from agatha. roderick alleyn is certainly a book character that i will be revisiting.

Silk had merits of it's own. i like the genre of historical christian fiction & its' time period of the late 18th century. india is a setting that i enjoy reading about. there were just times when i felt the storyline wasn't moving quickly enough. that being said i do plan to continue in this trilogy of Linda Lee Chaikin to find out how cora's story resolves itself.

[Nathan]

For Lindy-Lane I pick Died in the Wool and Silk


My five:
The Sirens of Titan
The Bone People
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Adventures of Augie March
Cat's Eye

[Amberthereader]

Hi Nathan, for you I pick The Bone People (cause that is one that's been on my shelf for a while and I'd love to hear your thoughts!) and Cat's Eye. Enjoy!
My books are:
David Copperfield
The Thief at the End of the World
Pegasus
Little Women
Book of Ages

[Elsa]

Hi Amber - my picks for you are David Copperfield and Little Women. I hope you're a fast reader (faster than I am!)

My books are:
The Woman in White
Empire Falls
Possession
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Middlemarch

[Grafakos]

Hi Elsa, for you I choose Empire Falls and The Woman in White. I have not read the latter, but I read The Moonstone last year and will get to The Woman in White one of these days. I did read Empire Falls about 10 years ago and I recall it was pretty good and a quick read.

My books are:
Bleak House
The Brothers Karamazov
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family
Shadow Country
Never Let Me Go

[D]

Grafakos,

I choose The Karamazov brothers, as a lot of my friends seemed to enjoy it. Also, Never let me go, because I read it and would like to hear what you think about it!

My books this month:

Winter in Madrid
The Luminaries
The perfume collector
The wise man's fear
She: A history of adventure

[Chandan]

Danielle,

I choose Winter in Madrid and The wise man's fear for you. Good luck and Happy Reading!!

My books this month are:
The Catcher in the Rye
Tale of two cities
Water for Elephants
The Prince
The Metamorphosis

[Maarit]

Mango Bookworm, I choose Madame Bovary and David Copperfield for you to read. Enjoy!

My picks for this month are:
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Numbers in the Dark and Other Stories bu Italo Calvino
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin

[Linnea]

Maarit, for you I choose Oryx and Krake, which a friend recommended to me not long ago, as well as Never let me go. Happy reading!

My books are:
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

[Tats]

Hi everyone,

Maarit, I had a look at your list: 'The Devotion of Suspect X' (sounds great and went straight on my TBR list) and/or 'Never Let Me Go'. Have fun!

Here my list for August:
Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Aleph by Paulo Coelho

Hope all enjoy August. Looking forward to your reviews :)

[Tats]

Hahahaha, now Maarit has 3 books to choose from.

Linnea, I only saw your post after posting mine. So here the books I chose for you (awesome collection by the way!): Americanah and/or Wolf Hall.

But go ahead and read all - and please review them! I already put them on my TBR list :)))

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Last day of the month! Caroline was the first to list her books this month, that also makes her the one to select two books for the last entrant.

Caroline please pick two book for (as of now) Tats.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for the reminder Bob!

OK Tats, I pick The Fault in Our Stars (because everybody seems to be reading it at the moment) and Aleph (just because it sounds interesting). Hope you enjoy them :)

[Tytti]

I thought of participating in this but it seems two of my books will be chosen for the September reads... That means I really should finish Anna Karenina by then and preferably should start another one of them earlier if I want even a chance to read them both. I get sidetracked so easily, like now with one movie and its themes, I probably have to read the novel it's based on. :D

(And great, it seems it hasn't been translated, at least it's only in English in our library. And I would have to read the other novels in the book, too, in order for it to count in my challenge. Double sarcastic great...)

[Tats]

Caroline wrote: "Thanks for the reminder Bob!

OK Tats, I pick The Fault in Our Stars (because everybody seems to be reading it at the moment) and Aleph (just because it sounds interesting). Hope you enjoy them :)"

Thanks Caroline :)

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Matt I enjoyed your review. Reading it made me pause and on reflection I had some of the same, not thoughts so much as feelings. I just did not stop to pursue them. I don't think it would have changed my mind I thought the book was great and gave it 5 stars.

It's interesting that you seem to read on a deeper level. I envy that. Me I just read. I either like it or not. It's rare that I probe deep, the last book that haunted and to some degree still does was The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

@Bob

When I read by myself, my reading isn't very deep. I often have to re-read bec I gloss over impt details. But since I have bec active in several GR groups and their group reads, I am reading with a deeper understanding than I usually do. However, I still miss some things though.

[Tats]

Completely unexpected I finished my 'Collecting Dust' challenge for August in just 24 hrs. I started The Fault in Our Stars last night and just finished it.
I do understand that the book, and moreover its author have a huge fan base. However, to be truthful, while I thought it was a nice story I fail to see what makes the book so special... Maybe I didn't read 'deep' enough reminding me of Bob's comment above. But then I generally prefer more 'happy' literature that doesn't remind me with every page of our perishability - however true.

[Grafakos]

Finally finished Underworld this morning. It took a full month to get through! Not his best book (that would be Libra) but very good. It could have used an editor, though. Now starting the shorter of my options for the August challenge: Never Let Me Go.

[Alissa]

I finished the first of my CD August books- The 5th Wave. I was pleasantly surprised by the plot. I thought it was yet another YA dystopian novel but it's about an alien invasion. Interesting! I felt it was an interesting read and I read it quickly. I hope to get to my second read, The Deep End of the Ocean, later on in the month

[Grafakos]

Just finished Never Let Me Go this morning. This is the first Ishiguro I've read since The Unconsoled, which I found disappointing after the lovely The Remains of the Day. It has been 25 years since I read the latter, and it's one of just a handful of books in my "to read again someday" list.

Never Let Me Go was very good, probably the best novel I've read since The Corrections a couple of years ago. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

My second selection for the August challenge is The Brothers Karamazov, which I'm putting on hold until later in the month while I brace myself for another 800 page behemoth. In the mean time, I've started the presumably more lightweight Still Life.

[Maarit]

Finished Oryx ja Crake just a moment ago. I liked it and thought that it was a very interesting read, though a bit depressing. 4 stars.

I'm also very well in reading my second book selection of the month, Ole luonani aina (Never Let Me Go). Well see where it goes, but so far it has been interesting enough to read.

[[deleted user]]

Finished both my August choices (still haven't read my July books though.)
The Catcher in the Rye. I didn't really like it. I was expecting something shocking but it was all a bit flat. (Just my opinion, I know plenty of people love it).
My second pick was The Woman in White. This was more my sort of thing. For some reason I had it in mind that this book was a ghost story, which might be why I'd put off reading it for so long (I'm a coward!). Thought it was a really well plotted story if a little bit long.

[Nathan]

My August choices were Cat's Eye and The Bone People.

I'm about 50 pages into The Bone People. I'm not surprised it won the Booker prize, that it's a first novel, that it's the author's only novel, or that she had a hard time getting it published. It is beautiful and different than anything else I've read. I'm looking forward to finishing it, but I won't be done by the end of the month.

I did finish Cat's Eye. It was excellent. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Maarit]

I finished Ole luonani aina (Never Let Me Go) and thought that it wasn't as interesting of a book than my other August read, Oryx and Crake, was.

[D]

Unfortunately, due to my impending movement of country, I've been trying to read as many of my smaller hardback books before I leave and haven't managed to read my monthly challenges. Hopefully, when I'm settled again, I will be able to add them back on my to-read list!

[Lindy-Lane]

posted my review @ the end of my original post #14 of this thread.

[Rachel]

Push is one that was picked for me. Just finished it. Here is my review: 3 out of 5 stars.
The subject matter of this book is very difficult to read at times. The voice of Precious really brought the story to life. I thought the way it was written the way Precious would speak was genius. What was wonderful to see throughout the story was how Precious's language would change. You could see the character's development of language was ever changing to reflect how well she was doing in school. Hard to read at times, but an interesting story.

[D]

Have these monthly challenges finshed?

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Danielle wrote: "Have these monthly challenges finshed?"

This is a challenge from last year and we have not continued for this year. All the past thread are still open and if you have any unfinished books you can still post them as completed or leave a comment.