Jenna's 12+2 Challenge

[Jenna]

Here are my selections, I used a lot from my Bingo choices, so hopefully I can get them all read!

Old School:
Pride and Prejudice
The Count of Monte Cristo read 1/1-5/5
Jane Eyre

New School:
The Great Gatsby read 1/12-1/17
Love in the Time of Cholera
Things Fall Apart

Wildcard:
Gone Girl
Gone with the Wind
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales read 5/5-5/9
Beloved
The Sun Also Rises
Wuthering Heights

Alternates:
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Animal Farm

[Sarah]

You are going to have so much fun! There are some good ones on there. Jane Eyre is one of my all time favorite books.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

I'm inspired to add Jane Eyre to my bingo lineup.

[Jenna]

Jane Eyre is definitely one of the ones I'm most excited about. Is it January yet? Lol

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

January is rapidly approaching.

[Sarah]

I know! Once I set mine up I was ready to get started. Two weeks? It's torture.

I've read Jane Eyre many times and its such a remarkable novel. A couple of years ago I also read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and it added to Jane Eyre a bit.

Oh, and Gone Girl is quite the experience.

[Jenna]

Gone Girl, I feel obligated to read the book since I saw the movie. Usually I'll never see a movie without reading the book first, but I'm doing it backwards on this one, we'll see how that works out.

[Sarah]

I want to see the movie, too, actually. I'm glad I went book first. It's so twisted that I think spending more time with it was good. Someone I know went to see Gone Girl on a date :)

[Jenna]

Haha that would make for an awkward date, especially if it was a first one! I saw it with my mom, it was kinda shocking for us lol

[Sarah]

I got a good laugh out of it when he said that. It would be seriously awkward. I'm really curious about the movie. Rosamund Pike was a good pick for Amy's character.

I can't wait to read The Great Gastby next month! And Love in the Time of Cholera. You'll get two in in one month.

[Tytti]

I once went to see the movie based on The Reader with a male "friend". It wasn't really a date, but he was younger than me...

[Sarah]

Oops! That's hilarious. It probably wasn't at the time, though.

[Tytti]

Well it was a good movie and we both thought it was the best of the ones running, so... I don't think either of us minded, it was just a funny coincidence, I thought.

[Aleta]

We saw/read the Reader for German class in high school. I wasn't really that moved by the story, but perhaps that's because almost all history and german classes talked about WWII - all. the. time. Got so sick of it I don't feel like reading or watching another WWII book or movie ever again.

Ooh, Animal Farm and Jane Eyre! Two of my favorites, you're in for a treat :) I only got around to reading Animal Farm this year and was so amazed at how universally true it was, not just a satire of communism/dictators, but a satire of a lot of different types of people in general.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Great list. I have read several and there are no negative to bring up. I think you will enjoy your challenge. Pride and Prejudice is on my list and I am curious about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, looking forward to anything you might have to say about it, good luck, seriously nice challenge.

[Tytti]

Aleta wrote: "almost all history and german classes talked about WWII - all. the. time."

I could never understand that. We of course spent some time to it, too, but it was only a few hours during the 5 years we studied history in the comprehensive school, maybe a couple of weeks at the most, and none in the German classes. Then again, our perspective is a bit different: not many countries owe their survival in part to one detachment of Luftwaffe... There is even a memorial for them.

[Haley]

I have read a few of these. I loved Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Animal Farm was really interesting too.

I also used the same books for this challenge as for the BINGO challenge. I can't wait to actually start reading them. For some reason January seems so far away still haha.

[Aleta]

Tytti wrote: "Aleta wrote: "almost all history and german classes talked about WWII - all. the. time."

I could never understand that. We of course spent some time to it, too, but it was only a few hours during ..."

Danish education is severely lacking in the historic and literary aspects. It's quite frustrating to have to seek out all this knowledge myself now, although I do love to do just that, it's no fun to read a book and not get the historical references.

You're from Finland, right? I had no idea about that, yet another testament to the poor education lol!

[Tytti]

Aleta wrote: "You're from Finland, right? I had no idea about that, yet another testament to the poor education lol!"

Of course it's "only" military history but one of those battles was the largest ever fought in the Nordic countries, 50,000 Finns vs. 150,000 Soviets. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_o...) I am also pretty sure Sweden wouldn't have liked to have the Soviet Union as a next door neighbour, either, so I guess it had some wider significance, even for Denmark (and maybe for the world, too).

But yeah, it's always good to remember that not all Germans were Nazis, either, and the world isn't black and white. Reportedly some German soldiers even visited the field synagogue of the Finnish Jewish soldiers that was at the front near their troops and showed a certain respect to the service. And again I am hijacking a thread, sorry...