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Reads & Challenges Archive
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Kiwi’s 2015 Reading Challenges
Kiwi, since you liked p&p, I highly recommend the Bbc adaptation of Emma with romola garai and Johnny Lee miller. No one is swimming in muddy ponds, but the acting is great ( Mr woodhouse is amazing)!
The first time I read the novel I moderately liked it, but since watching the series I went back to the book and it is now one of my favorite works by austen.
Leslie, you are absolutely right about the role that romance plays in austen ' s novels!
Have you seen the list of "romantic books" that goodreads made for valentine's day? I was a little sad to see austen and Bronte in the same category of 50 shades wannabes.
The first time I read the novel I moderately liked it, but since watching the series I went back to the book and it is now one of my favorite works by austen.
Leslie, you are absolutely right about the role that romance plays in austen ' s novels!
Have you seen the list of "romantic books" that goodreads made for valentine's day? I was a little sad to see austen and Bronte in the same category of 50 shades wannabes.
Kiwi wrote: "I sure will, I have Emma and Persuasion on my TBR. Do you have a favourite novel Leslie?"
I find it changes with time and mood. Of those 2, I prefer Persuasion but they are both very very good!
I love Pride and Prejudice. Haven't read Sense and Sensibility or Persuasion yet...should really get on to that haha. I will look forward to hearing what you think of Persuasion Kiwi.
That's great, thanks for the recs! I love the BBC miniseries of the classics. I have seen Sense and sensibility, I liked it but I don't remember the story very well. I loved also Dickens's Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and then Cranford, North and South ...
Kiwi wrote: "That's great, thanks for the recs! I love the BBC miniseries of the classics. I have seen Sense and sensibility, I liked it but I don't remember the story very well. I loved also Dickens's Bleak..."
Yes, yes, yes!! I see that we have very similar tastes in our classics :)
Just finished Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, that covers my TBR favourite genre (sci-fi) challenge as well as another square in the bingo (a book with a number in the title), my short reviewI would recommend having patience with this book, it is well written but slow paced. The emphasis of the first 2/3 of the book is on the many characters pre-collapse stories and frankly, I was a bit bored. Don’t get me wrong: Mandel writes beautifully but still … the events are quite mundane and although many chapters contains clues that will be recognisable later on, I thought that the prose, although beautiful, dragged a bit.
In the last part of the book, the references dropped here and there, some objects, flashbacks of people conversations, interactions and other links to of the main character (Arthur Leander) come together and attach to each other like magnets to form a cohesive whole.
Although I enjoyed more the narration of post-collapse events and how humanity adapts to the post pandemic world (by the way this is sensibly done and the violence that is so common in post-apocalyptic novels is kept to a minimum), I appreciate that this story is also about the memories of the survivors. Well worth the read.
For a change of scene, I'm picking a book for my history challenge. I'm going to read Tides of War by Steven Pressfield. He is the author of Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae one of my favourites for 2014.
Tides of War is set in the Peloponnesian War and retells the story of Alcibiades of Athens.
After reaching 37%, I decided to abandon Tides of War, I think I gave the book a fair chance but it is a total disappointment after Gates of fire. I have started Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, the book has a cartoon format and deals with the topic of ageing parents in a humorous way. I had quite a few chuckles when I recognised some idiosyncrasies of my own parents. At other times it is so emotional that brings me to the point of tears. Although I recognise it is an unavoidable phase of life, I'm dreading the time when I will need to deal with it.
I've also started The City & the City by China Miéville for a group read.
Kiwi wrote: "After reaching 37%, I decided to abandon Tides of War, I think I gave the book a fair chance but it is a total disappointment after Gates of fire. I have started Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?..."
Thanks for this Kiwi; I plan on reading this and forwarding to my siblings. My parents want to discuss, but my sibs refuse, they say it's morbid. I keep telling them it's something we need to talk about now to avoid possible fighting later.
I agree, Julia, I don't think it is morbid, it is better to clear things out early if possible. I'm liking the book, has got some humour but the author is very honest about her feelings (often are not that flattering) and that, for me, it is the appeal of the book
I think it's important we talk about certain things now w/ my parents; especially since we don't all agree about how certain things should be handled.
Julia wrote: "Kiwi wrote: "I have started Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant, the book has a cartoon format and deals with the topic of ageing parents in a humorous way. I had quite a few chuckles when I recognised some idiosyncrasies of..."Thanks for this Kiwi; I plan on reading this and forwarding to my siblings. My parents want to discuss, but my sibs refuse, they say it's morbid. I keep telling them it's something we need to talk about now to avoid possible fighting later."
I listened to an interview with the author of this. I have also had a friend here recommend it. I must admit that I hate the very idea of these necessary conversations, and would prefer to pretend my aging parents will live forever!
Finished
by China Miéville. 4 stars, review:I had no previous knowledge of China Miéville, I read this book as a group read pick, so I was in for a surprise!
I enjoyed reading this brain-bender novel that manages to avoid categorisation, is it a sci-fi with its dystopian aspects or a classic noir detective story? A little bit of both. At the beginning it’s confusing, neologistic clues (un-seeing, alter, total, crosshatching, cleavage) are dropped without explanations. I found myself doing double takes: re-reading pages in order to confirm my theories only to be left more confused. It’s like a mystery within the mystery. Your questions are not to be answered, at least not all of them, it is up to you to infer and figure them out, as you progress through the story. Then again, even at the end, it’s not all clear. You could discuss City and the City with your fellow reader arguing about your different views and both be right. The story could be easily read as political allegory.
The story begins with a girl murdered and dumped in one part of a divided city and a detective charged with the investigation. I won’t explain too much of the story because I believe the reader should be left to their own devices and saying too much would spoil the experience of the book.
I enjoyed the idea of a city where cultures and customs are so divided that people literally cannot acknowledge one another yet coexist in the same geographical location and of a third entity (Breach) overseeing its compliance. People are forced to "un-see", “un-hear” and even “un-smell” things in order to protect themselves.
I think that it’s genius how Miéville show us our hypocrisy: intellectually we are ready to point out and reject as absurd the situation in Beszel /Ul Qoma without realizing how besz and ul quoman ourselves are, unseeing/unhearing things during our lives.
I would just add that personally I felt let down by Miéville on the finale that I think was both underwhelming and unconvincing. Having said that I believe the book deserves an extra star for originality. Well worth a read.
Finished Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? …only 2 stars.I had planned to read this book for the bingo “funny” square as it is marked by some as “humour”, possibly because of being in cartoon format. It turns out that bar some funny episodes at the beginning it is all but humorous. By the end, the book gets very depressing and I found some things (view spoiler) morbid and macabre. Would not recommend.
Finally The Girl on the Train has arrived from the library, that's what I'm reading next!
Just finished The Girl on the Train, 4 stars, brief review:Ever wondered what goes on in the houses you come across on your daily commute? Do you invent stories for the people who live in them? Reality is often far different from the one created by our imagination. Paula Hawkins has written a page turner, despite the ending that, for me, was a bit overdone and predictable, I enjoyed very much reading this book. A great début novel, will be looking forward to her next book.
Not long to go till March and I've spent some time planning my reading for next month to continue with my challenges. I will be picking books from my TBR where possible and mixing them with other “spontaneous” reads, here are the planned ones:March Reading Plan
• The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo (Chunkster + reading for pleasure group read)
• 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster (Recommended by)
• Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie (SF&F group read, last of the trilogy)
•
•The Whale Road by Robert Low (history challenge + already owned) + another book for the same challenge about classical antiquity
• Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder or Parnassus on Wheels (Favourite genre: classic + decade)
• Monthly genre - Contemporary and Literary Merit : The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (+ decade)
• Monthly NF - Autobiography/Memoir: Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally (+ hoarder’s: Booker Prize) or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
• A couple of Sci-fi books
• Books to finish the bingo challenge
I keep seeing The Girl on the Train mentioned everywhere, I'm not sure if it's my sort of book, but I reserved it at the library to try. I'm currently number 308 on the list so this definitely has lots of hype!I'm also planning on reading The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks next month, didn't get around to it in Feb.
Good luck with all your March goals :)
I too was a bit doubtful about The girl on the train with all the hype it is currently generating, it is on almost any book-club list that I know of, I thought it might be marketing dud. I was surprised of how quickly it grabbed me, I read it almost all in a day which for me says a lot!It's not the best book ever by any means but an enjoyable read for me. I was able to get my mitts on one of the library copies because I put my request through in early Jan, now the queue is very long here too. Good luck in receiving your copysoon-ish and good luck with your challenges too!
PS: are you keeping track on how many challenges you can fit for a single book? I stole your idea and my top score is 6 ;-)
Good to hear that it's lived up to the hype, that's normally a concern when books are talked about so much. I'm not sure when it will ever come in at my library, but if the price gets reduced on Amazon I might purchase it later. I haven't actually kept track of how many challenges I can fit for a single book, not between all my groups anyway, but a few books have been crossed off several lists at once. It's actually a disappointment when I can only cross a book off one challenge list!
Haha, I feel the same when I can fit a book only to one challenge
Finished a couple of books from the above list: 84, Charing Cross Road and The Whale Road, both 2 stars.
Kiwi wrote: "Finished a couple of books from the above list: 84, Charing Cross Road and The Whale Road, both 2 stars."What didn't you like of 84 Charing Cross Road? I've heard only good things about this book so I'm curious to know why you gave it only 2 stars. It helps to decide if I could like it or not.
Dely, I read and also listened to the audio version of the book and that could have influenced my rating (as sometimes narrators' voices can). This book was much loved and recommended to me by many people and often compared to a favourite of mine The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. In the end I was expecting more, hence my "OK" rating. my review
I don't like diverting people away from reading a book: often liking or not liking a book comes down to personal taste and rating is affected by many factors including time (sometimes after a reread I change my mind!).
Being a very short book, I encourage you to try it, I hope you like more than me :-)
Currently reading another book recommended by friends: 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster.
Finished 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster, Loved it, 5 stars!review:
The protagonist is a 39 year old Asperger’s and OCD sufferer who dislikes assumptions or conjectures and prefers facts. Every night Edward writes a letter of complaints but instead of sending these letters, on advice from his therapist (who is a very logical woman), he just files them in green folders for safekeeping.
The story is bittersweet, initially I was annoyed at Edward idiosyncrasies, but his behaviour is exactly what the character requires. As the story progresses, I became engaged with Edward, perhaps because I share with him the love for words (flummox, voluminous, bucolic, chagrin, discombobulated) and R.E.M songs (Losing my religion, It's The End Of The World, Everybody hurts!!!) but I don’t go as far as being a Cowboys football fan nor watch Dragnet episodes.
Some episodes are funny like his attempts at on-line dating (and their related perils), some are sad (preference for self-checkouts) illustrating Edward self-imposed social isolation. Even his relationships with his parents are troublesome, especially with his challenging father with whom he connects only when watching the Cowboys’ matches together.
Strangely for me, I liked even the happy ending (view spoiler). I loved this book, so thanks to my friends who recommended it to me :-)
Favourite quotes:
Doing what you want and what feels right strikes me as being more important than doing something just to prove a point.
It’s OK to get the things you like. It doesn’t mean that you’re slavish to convention.
In the meantime, I bid you good day, until I can bid you good riddance.
I would like to be your friend and your child. I could manage only one of those things with my father.
Kiwi wrote: "Dely, I read and also listened to the audio version of the book and that could have influenced my rating (as sometimes narrators' voices can). This book was much loved and recommended to me by many..."Thanks. Opinions of everyone are helpful to know if we could like a book.
Finished My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse, my short review:I listened to the Librivox audio version of this book, which gave me a few small chuckles. It was amusing to see what humour was like in the 20s (who would have known that the society of the period was overrun by hideous rich aunties and peculiar uncles?).
The title is a misnomer as not all the short stories in the book include Jeeves and that was a bit disappointing. It was also interesting to learn some jargon from the period.
Having now being introduced to the man, I might continue the series in order to see what solutions Jeeves will come up with to solve dear old chappie (Bertie) crisis. One thing for sure, I would not dream to let Jeeves comment on my wardrobe, by Jove that would be infernal!
Currently reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Just finished A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, 4 stars, review.With this book I have completed my first challenge of the year: ABB bingo. Yay!
ETA: Currently reading one my "guilty pleasure" books: Chocolat. I need this after the emotional wringer of "A constellation... "
Kiwi , I loved them both . Enjoy Chocolat!
Wow, so many great challenges! I love the idea of themed challenges but my main priority this year was to get through my pile of purchased books sitting on my shelf :)What did you think of Of Lions and Unicorns? I've never heard of the author before now but I'm curious.
Hi Shannon, I have a hoarder's challenge for which I read books that I already own and are waiting on my shelves, sounds familiar? having a challenge makes reading the books a little fun.Of lions and Unicorn was a bit patchy, some stories were good, others were like teasers for Morpurgo's longer novels.
If you haven't tried him, I encourage you to read some proper novels rather than this collection. He writes YA but his writing is very good, not the cheap grade level. He has written many books about human-animal relationship and also moving war stories. War Horse was a popular one, there was even a good movie which was based on the book, Private Peaceful is another famous one. Good luck with your choice and happy reading!
Finished Chocolat by Joanne Harris, 5 starsmy review
I actually visited the village where the Chocolat movie was shot (Flavigny-sur-Ozerain in Burgundy) twice! I still have some of the anise flavoured lollies that you can buy at the local factory (used to be an old abbey).
For this month non-fiction genre: Autobiography/Memoir, I have just finished Night by Elie Wiesel. I liked "Se questo e' un uomo" by Primo Levi more, probably because I could read the latter in its original form. I suspect that Night might have suffered from the translation. It is still a very powerful read. 4 stars.Continuing with the same genre, but a 180 degree turn, I have started The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid a humorous memoir by Bill Bryson.
That is a bit of a change, but probably needed! I have Night on my tbr as well....one day.
It definitely is Pink. I liked Night and I'm glad to have read it, however I found it depressing and heartbreaking how the author lost everything including his faith and attachment to his father.On a different note, I'm enjoying reading The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, I never read anything by Bill Bryson, but I love his humour!
I realised I've been neglecting YA books, so I read The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, 3 stars and now reading Looking for Alaska by John Green.With whale rider I completed another of my challenges: Big and Small challenge, although I will continue to tally my chunkster reads for the whole year.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts on Looking for Alaska :) I haven't read much, if any, YA fiction this year and have few more John Green novels on my tbr list.
Finished Looking for Alaska. @Erica below is my brief review.
I rated the fault in our stars higher than this novel but I have become more strict in my book rating lately.
Still, I believe Green is currently one of the few YA authors that can write well, sometimes is a bit too sentimental for me or maybe I'm just getting old ;-)
John Green can write quality YA. I liked this novel despite it contains topics like drinking, smoking and dangerous pranks which I don't endorse. The meaning of life and reflections on mortality have long been subjects of teen fascination and angst, so nothing new here, but Green brings these old themes to modern perspective and he describes them well. I most probably would have loved this book in my teens years, now I rate it a solid 3 stars.
Finished The Sum of You: The Six Forces that Shape Your Personality by Alan Graham, an enjoyable serendipity non-fiction read. 4 starsmy review
Currently reading Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie, the last book in his First Law trilogy.
Added yet another challenge: The Sci Fi Challenge from the group The Reading For Pleasure Book Club. I had forgotten about this one!
That's another great challenge!
I have just found this thread!! How come it's not sent through to my notifications ... ah well I guess it will be now :) It is beautiful to look at - and beautifully organised. Some really great reads here, Kiwi. I shall pick your brains for the ones I don't know. We seemed to read The Machine Stops at the same time! And earlier this month I had a spurt of sorting out my E.M. Forster book reviews as some of his short stories were in more than one collection.
Hope you enjoy the Sci Fi challenge! I must get back to that one too ;)
Thanks Jean, I'm sure I will. I've struggled to find other ladies interested in sci-fi genre I hope we can exchange notes.@Georgia, perhaps you may be tempted to join me and Jean in this challenge ;-)
Well, yes! I love sci-fi. I wanted to read Solaris by Stanislaw Lem for my personal challenge and next month I was thinking of reading station eleven since I've heard great things about it... and by the way I'm also planning to read blood song, which I think is in your challenge too.
Giorgia, I read Station Eleven last month and gave it a 4 stars my review. Hope you'll like itLet me know when you want to read Blood Song we can do a read-along :-)
Definitely Kiwi! One of my bookshelves is called "sf-speculative" and if you have a nosey there you'll probably find lots of classic sci-fi, which is the sort I am most drawn to :)Solaris is a brilliant book, but it's years since I read it ... I used to be in a Science Fiction book club, and had a book a month sent to me. That was one. Haven't got them any more though, sadly.
Jean, you've got lots of goodies there! I loved Wool!
Hey Kiwi, I just read a pretty good YA Science fiction dystopian called Little Brother so def check it out. It was a pretty crazy read.
All About Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Grownup (other topics)The Gospel of Loki (other topics)
The Middle Ages: An Illustrated History (other topics)
The Gospel of Loki (other topics)
The Gospel of Loki (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Leslie Marmon Silko (other topics)James Wright (other topics)
Roald Dahl (other topics)
E.M. Forster (other topics)
John Green (other topics)
Do you have a favourite novel Leslie?