Task #1: A book published posthumously

[Emily]

I just checked out The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying from my library, and I'm ready for the tears. Let's get this year's challenge started!

[[deleted user]]

I'll be taking on Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton. I knew I was saving it for something!

[Marie]

Any book of poetry by Emily Dickinson will work. I'm getting one from the library that's just called Poems.

[Margie]

I am loving “Bog Child” by Siobhan Dowd, which is a beautiful story set in Northern Ireland during the infamous Troubles period. It takes a chapter or two to get used to the Irish spellings and phrases, but then the characters really come to life and it is just a lovely read.

[Lisa]

The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks

[Megan]

I'm going to read A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin Henry Miller, 1932-1953

It was published after both Anais Nin and Henry Miller died, so it counts...right?

[Jim]

Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon

Just started Northanger Abbey for task one. Already a hearty recommendation for this one.

"Alas! if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard?"

[Hafsa | حفصہ]

Classic Suggestions:
1.
2.
3. Anything by Emily Dickinson.

[Christina]

I'm not sure what I'll read for this yet, but I thought I'd share the books I'm considering.

1. Testament to Courage: The Concentration Camp Diary 1940-1945 of a Courageous German Woman Who Risked Her Life to Save Others
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

2. To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: An Informal Autobiography
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

3. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

I would highly recommend:

Mortality
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Chantel]

Excited to get started! I originally rented Persuasion from my local library because suprisingly Ive never had the chance to read it.
But I recently bought Go Set a Watchman after Christmas, so trying to decide if I have time for both (reading The Power currently

[Erika]

Chantel wrote: "Excited to get started! I originally rented Persuasion from my local library because suprisingly Ive never had the chance to read it.
But I recently bought [book:Go Set a Watchman|2481..."

Go Set a Watchman doesn't count though, sadly, it was published seven months before Harper Lee passed. (Published July 2015, she passed February 2016.)

(I was hoping it was too, because I loved TKAM and have been meaning to read GSAW)

[Deb]

I went with Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey . Unfortunately, I think it's one of the worst books I've ever read. Mostly, I wanted to slap pretty much all the characters except Catherine's parents.

Not an auspicious introduction to Austen, but enough of my friends adore her stuff that I will probably give something else of hers a try at some point.

[[deleted user]]

Persuasion by Jane Austen

[Bonnie G.]

Deb wrote: "I went with Jane Austen's
Northanger Abbey
. Unfortunately, I think it's one of the worst books I've ever read. Mostly, I wanted to slap pretty much all the characters except Catherine's parents..."

I am a HUGE Jane Austen fan, I have read P&P a dozen times, and Emma nearly as many, and I disliked Northanger Abbey. Not as much as you did, but enough. And I tried it twice. I think most Austen in timeless, but sometimes parody is too much of its time. I am sure I would have laughed my head off in 1817, but that was not my reaction in the 20th and 21st centuries.

[Emily]

Should I try Persuasion by Jane Austen, or When Breath Becomes Air?

[John]

“Persuasion” is terrific!

[Henriette]

I'm gonna go with either Ariel by Sylvia Plat (a new Danish translation has just been published and I'm dying to read it!) or a collection of poetry by one of the great, Danish, female poets Som var mit sind lidt græs der blev fortalt

[Talia]

I'm going for The Iliad, since it's one of the books from my TBR that I'm more embarrassed I haven't read yet. (And because gods are fun.)

[Chantel]

Erika wrote: "Chantel wrote: "Excited to get started! I originally rented Persuasion from my local library because suprisingly Ive never had the chance to read it.
But I recently bought [book:Go Set..."

Ah man :(
Thanks for letting me know, I wasn't clearly reading the task all that well haha. I guess I'll go with my Jane Austen book after all :)
Happy reading!

[EllenZReads]

Joe wrote: "Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" has been sitting on my shelf for years."

That's what I'll be reading for this one--haven't read any Hemingway for years.

[Shelley]

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

[Suz]

Emily wrote: "I just checked out The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying from my library, and I'm ready for the tears. Let's get this year's challenge started!"

I just finished this! I found it because I saw this post and checked-out the Kindle version. I really enjoyed it - and yes, I cried.

[Lucie]

I need some levity in my life right now, so I've requested "The salmon of doubt : hitchhiking the galaxy one last time" from my local library. I'll pick it up tomorrow. It is excerpts from interviews with Doug Adams and an unfinished novel.

[Bonnie G.]

LitProfSue wrote: "Emily wrote: "I just checked out The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying from my library, and I'm ready for the tears. Let's get this year's challenge started!"

I just finish..."

The husband is now in a relationship with the wife of the man who wrote When Breath Becomes Air. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

[novelteathoughts]

Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories is a good option for this. Or classic The Aenied.

[Sterling]

I just finished reading Persuasion , it was my first Jane Austen book and while the subject matter wasn't my cup of tea and took some getting used to, I would have never read it if not for this challenge!

[Sterling]

Adam wrote: "I have decided to read Persuasion by Jane Austen for this one. Definitely out of my comfort zone."

Same, just finished reading Persuasion. Not sure if this will it be helpful for you, but what helped me was reading it through the framing of an excessive reality show.

[Karla]

I'm starting with a classic I've never read in its entirety: Canterbury Tales.

[Nancy]

Several have mentioned When Breath Becomes Air and The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying. I hadn't decided which one to read for this challenge, but I saw this over the weekend, and it appears they would be good to read together: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

[Shelley]

I read The Master and Margarita. I enjoyed it, but could definitely see where he never finished editing it. The second half was pretty rough.

[Mary]

"Go Ser a Watchman" by Harper Lee.

[Rainey]

Mary wrote: ""Go Ser a Watchman" by Harper Lee."

Ugh that book was terrible and needed a good editing.

[Erika]

Mary wrote: ""Go Ser a Watchman" by Harper Lee."

It wasn't published posthumously, as I'd previously found out.

[Eric]

I’m going with Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton. Enjoying it so far. Though I am attempting to do the 24 tasks without double-dipping, this could also qualify as a western apparently.

[Eujean2]

What do people think about a book that is "a gathering of essays, articles, polemics, reviews, and interviews that have never before appeared in book form"? The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings was published over 20 years after James Baldwin's death, but it sounds like the essays, etc. might have been published in other (non-book) formats.

[Melanie]

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky- really into WWII books and this one was published decades after the writer died in the Holocaust

[Jennifer]

I’m going with I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara. The author passed away suddenly and unexpectedly before the book was published. I’m also using the same book for my true crime prompt!

[Shanika]

Im definitely waiting for Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon for this task!

[Lori]

Lady Susan by Jane Austen.

[Liesl]

Just finished “When Breath Becomes Air” about a Neurosurgeon / Neuroscientist dying of cancer - published posthumously.

Gorgeous. Tragic.

And for some reason, I started reading The Fault in our Stars our loud with my family at the same time - like we all needed some time to think about mortality and beauty together.

[Sheryl_at_Ubookquitous]

I'm going with The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

[Amanda]

I'm gonna go with The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
The Mysterious Stranger

[Monica]

I'm going with Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? for this task.

[Sheneve]

I'll be reading A Moveable Feast

[Mandie]

This will probably be a task for J.R.R. Tolkien with either The Silmarillion or The Children of Húrin.

[Risa]

Currently reading Jane Austen's Persuasion for this task. I recently finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which fits this task and I highly recommend it for those looking for something heartwarming and cozy to read!

[Jenn]

I'm planning on the just-out-today Denis Johnson collection, The Largesse of the Sea Maiden.

[Bonnie G.]

Jenn wrote: "I'm planning on the just-out-today Denis Johnson collection, The Largesse of the Sea Maiden."

I love Denis Johnson and had not heard this came out. Thank you!

[Katie]

I've got a few options:
A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott
The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett
Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

[Beth]

Katie wrote: "I've got a few options:
A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott
The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shepherd's Crown