2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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Cara's 2018 Reading Challenge
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Great goals Cara! You know Marissa Meyer and Neil Gaiman? Good luck with your goals and happy reading!
Susy wrote: "Great goals Cara! You know Marissa Meyer and Neil Gaiman? Good luck with your goals and happy reading!"
Thank you, Susy! I don't know these authors actually. I've quickly looked on the net and they both seem to write fantasy books, which sadly isn't my cup of tea but I will keep an open mind if I'm ever in desperate need of inspiration.
What kind of genres are you interested in Cara?
Susy wrote: "What kind of genres are you interested in Cara?"Well usually I read books by dead authors (I don't like to read about times that I know). Authors from the Lost Generation are my favorite. If I've heard of the author in my literature course, it's even better. Other than that I don't really have preferences.
Cara wrote: "Susy wrote: "What kind of genres are you interested in Cara?"Well usually I read books by dead authors (I don't like to read about times that I know). Authors from the Lost Generation are my favo..."
Ah, that makes it more difficult. I checked your read and tbr list and most I know you've already listed, like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Anne Frank.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. perhaps.
Or Harper Lee.
Louisa May Alcott.
Emily Bronte.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
Susy wrote: "Cara wrote: "Susy wrote: "What kind of genres are you interested in Cara?"Well usually I read books by dead authors (I don't like to read about times that I know). Authors from the Lost Generatio..."
Thank you, Susy! I'll definitely check these out!
I have finished my first book of 2018! "Transparente Blanche" by Peter Sandström was a good book to start off the year as it is quite peaceful (so no need to 'recover' after reading it). I'm glad I didn't give up on it even though I had some difficulties in the beginning.
=> number of books read: 1/25
number of languages: 1/4
number of newly discovered authors: 1
Overall feeling: intrigued, motivated
I have started to read my second book of the year: "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence. I chose to read this book because I know it was highly criticised and even forbidden in a few countries when it first came out. Basically I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Now that I have read a third of the book, I don't get why people found the book obscene back in the day. So far, there are no explicit scenes. Once in a while, the characters discuss sex though but only one character thinks sex is only purely 'carnal'. This particular character is criticised by the main character, Connie. Therefore I do not believe the criticism against the book is justified.
According to me, this novel is a discussion about the condition humaine, and about the differences in intimacy and affection between different kinds of people.
Hi Cara, Is it possible you are reading the censored version of the book? There were censored versions published in the UK and the US for many years. It wasn't until the trial in 1960 that finally unabridged versions were published in those countries. The book was prosecuted for obscenity because it had many explicit sex scenes and used words like f--k and c--t that had not been allowed to be published before then. Those were things that were considered unacceptable for mainstream literature.
You might want to check your edition and then look for an edition by Penguin from 1959 or later.
And if you are still looking for new authors, have you looked at any of the writers of the Harlem Renaissance in the US? Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright are my favorites. I have also been finding classics from non-western countries, like Chinua Achebe from Nigeria and Naguib Mahfouz from Egypt.
Good luck with your reading!
katie wrote: "Hi Cara, Is it possible you are reading the censored version of the book? There were censored versions published in the UK and the US for many years. It wasn't until the trial in 1960 that finally..."
Hi Katie! I completely forgot to update this thread, sorry. I finished "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in the meantime and I do understand now why they censored the book at first. That doesn't mean I agree with it though. I even wrote a sort of book review about it for the magazine of my university (where I happen to be editor-in-chief this year).
And now a more general update of my reading this year: I have also finished "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. I loved the story! It is entertaining and makes you think about what the words "human" and "monster" truly mean. This story has also made me think about what it really means to be courageous. This book will stay with me for a long time, also because I have decided to write an essay about it for my English literature class.
This course is a great source of reading material, it has also introduced me to Samuel Taylor Coleridge with "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Poetry isn't really my thing so I'm afraid I can only say: never kill the albatross
As a break between reading, I have also read "The Little Book of Foreign Swearwords". It was meant to be part of my research for my Bachelor thesis but it ended up just being entertainment.
=> number of books read: 5/25
number of languages: 2/4
number of newly discovered authors: 5 (well this is unexpected, usually I'm reluctant to discovering new authors)
I have found an advantage to being sick: having time to read! Over the Easter weekend, I spent my time on the couch with a blanket and, of course, a book. This time I read "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. I wish I could say it was interesting because I know it's a classic and Conrad is a very respected author, but all this book did is leave me confused and make me feel even more sick. For most of the book, I didn't even know what was happening. I still don't even know who the narrator is. I understand some books are complex and require some internet research but this is a bit too extreme in my taste. I'm afraid it will take a long while before I return to Joseph Conrad.
=> number of books read: 6/25
number of languages: 2/4
number of newly discovered authors: 6
So here's what I read during the month of May: I attempted to read "Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf but I quit halfway through the book because I was bored. I know nothing is supposed to happen in the book but the lack of interest was too big to continue till the end. Maybe if Virginia had paid more attention to her writing style like her inspiration James Joyce did I would be more captivated.
I have successfully read "Endgame" by Samuel Beckett for the second time since high school. After the first time I read it, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what the play was about but now that I've read it again, I have questions. Are Nagg and Nell real or are they the product of Hamm's imagination? Is there life outside the bunker? Did Clov really see a little boy through the window?
I have also successfully finished "The Stone Gods" by Jeanette Winterson. I usually don't like science fiction but this story somehow kept me captivated. The story itself wasn't that original, the "robots will take over the world"-thing has been done before. Winterson kept me engaged with little details, such as the symmetry in the names of the characters in the different parts (proving that humans aren't that different even though they live in different eras). I also liked the humanisation of the robots. It made the whole world of the book seem closer, less science-fiction-y. Maybe I'll consider reading another book by Winterson some day.
Somewhere in between these books, I read "The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot. I have no idea what's going on in the poem. Ironically the creative process behing the poem is more interesting than the poem itself.
=> number of books read: 9/25
number of languages: 2/4
number of newly discovered authors: 8
- Read 25 books
- Read books in 4 different languages
- Discover one new author per season --> discover 4 new authors (including James Joyce and Virginia Woolf)
If you have any tips, let me know!