The Book Challenge discussion
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Marlien's 2009 challenge
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Welcome to the group and good luck on your challenge!
Thank you :)So here is my first update.
January 2: finished reading Twilight, continued (I had only read the first chapter though) reading Tirza.
Another update. If I continue with reading books this fast I could easily be reading 100 books a year.January 4: Finished reading Tirza and started reading The Elephant Keeper.
January 6: Finished reading The Elephant Keeper and started reading New Moon.
January 7: Finished reading New Moon and immediately started a second read.
Tirza was unexpectedly good, and you really have to pay attention to what is real and what isn't. It's Dutch literature, but not typically. I actually thought it was German until my mother told me it was Dutch.
The Elephant Keeper was interesting. I didn't like the fact how, especially at the beginning of the book, you have no clear insight in Toms (the main character and narrator) emotions and mind. Youknow he loves the Elephants, but what does he want out of life? Is he really happy with being the Elephant Keeper?
New Moon... I must confess that I've become slightly obsessed with these books. Stephenie Meyer manages to make her characters so real, it's almost unbelievable.
Right now I'm waiting for my ordered copies of Eclipse and Breaking Dawn to arrive... and growing impatient doing so...
January 9: Finished reading New Moon.January 10: Started reading Eclipse.
January 12: Finished reading Eclipse and started reading Harlekino.
January 19: Finished reading Harlekino and began reading Wuthering Heights.
Actually, I'm glad to have read New Moon a second time. On the first read, I didn't really give it the time it deserves, I was just eager to finish it. I find the realtionship between Bella and Jacob very interesting.
Because of that, Eclipse there were parts of eclipse I just loved. But I think that to me, the charm in the Twilight saga lies in the fact that Bella really is an ordinary girl. I could easily relate to her. In Eclipse, the Saga is losing its charm. Bella isn't an ordinary girl anymore, her life is filled with vampires and werewolves only. Of course this will only get worse in the next book.
Harlekino isn't on Goodreads yet, so I didn't link it. I thought it was okay. Didn't really like it, maybe because I'm not very interested in Marocco.
I'm really excited to finally read Wuthering heights! I've been wanting to read this book for some time now. I was a bit afraid it wouldn't be able to fulfil the expectations I held, but luckily, it met my expectations just fine. I haven't finished it yet so I don't have anything more to say.
My sister began reading twilight as well, and she's turned into a complete fangirl! Ugh!
January 23: Finished Wuthering heights, started Breaking Dawn.January 25: Finished Breaking Dawn, started The Host.
January 30: Finished The Host, started reading Lirael for the fourth time.
So I got sucked into fantasy land. I really have to get started on my pile of Dutch classics but now I went and got two Ursula LeGuin books from the local library. I guess I better read fast!
February 2: Finished Lirael, continued the series and read The Creature in the Case.February 3: Started reading the third Old Kingdom book, Abhorsen.
February 8: Finished Abhorsen, started re-reading The Secret History.
I have a test on The Secret History this friday, and as the last time I read the book was a few years ago I thought it best to read it a second time. And this is a nice transition from English fantasy to Dutch literature. The last book I read in Dutch was a good month ago.
February 10: Finished The Secret History.February 11: Read two poem collections, Soldatenliederen by Anna Enquist and Shakespeare's Sonnets.
The first time I read the Secret History, I was caught by the suspense of the book and didn't linger on details. Now, I notice a lot more and the character of Richard intrigues me. He is almost always talking about other people, what he sees them doing or hears them say or what he does when they aren't there. He's part of the audience, not one of the actors on the stage. Richard is unhappy and really thinks of his friends as better than him, while most of them are just as crazed as he is.
Today I read two poem collections. The themes of these two, surprisingly, resemble each other. Sonnet XVIII has always been, and still is my favourite.
February 16: Read 'Kruis of Munt', a collection of surreal stories.February 28: Finished 'Sara Burgerhart'. I really enjoyed this one. I like to think of it as a Dutch Pride and Prejudice.
March 8: Read last page of 'Villa des Roses'. It contains strong naturalism influences.
March 29: Finally finished 'Mei'. It seemed to take me forever to read this fantastic and funderfull epic poem.
April 2: Read 'De Gelukkige Klas'. It's the diary of a teacher at an elementy school. Interesting, and very realistic. It brings up memories from my own youth. Not a lot happens though, just like in real life.
April 8: Finally read a book again that wasn't for my literature class. 'Gifts' by Urusla le Guin is a nice piece of fantasy.
The Book Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Gifts (other topics)Soldatenliederen: Gedichten (other topics)
Mei: een gedicht (other topics)
Villa Des Roses (other topics)
Shakespeare's Sonnets (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Arthur van Schendel (other topics)Tessa de Loo (other topics)
since this is my first post in this group I might as well introduce myself.
My name is Marlien and I live in the Netherlands. I´m a 17-year-old girl and in the last year of high school. Besides reading, other interests of mine are horses, ballroom dancing and cooking.
So now for my book challenge. My guess is that I must have read at least 200 books in the last 5 years, which makes 40 books a year. My challenge will be to read 50 books in 2009. I actually wanted to challenge myself to read more books, but since 2009 will be the year in which I will graduate and move out to a place of my own I feel this will be a too much.
As regards to my challenge list, I will be adding books I want to read, an * behind the book will mean that I haven't actually read it yet. Books I want to read include books I've been wanting to read for some time, books I feel I will read anyway because of the hype (e.g. the Twilight books), and Dutch books required for my Dutch literature exams. I need to read a total of 14 books from different periods, I can choose the books myself.
I'm looking forward to your replies!
1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2. Tirza by Arnon Grunberg
3. The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson
4. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
5. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
6. Harlekino by Tessa de Loo
7. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
8. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
9. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
10. Lirael by Garth Nix
11. Abhorsen by Garth Nix
12. The Creature in the Case by Garth Nix
13. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
14. Soldatenliederen by Anna Enquist
15. Sonnets by William Shakespeare
16. Kruis of Munt by Belcampo
17. De historie van mejuffrouw Sara Burgerhart by Elizabeth Wolff and Agatha Deken
18. Villa Des Roses by Willem Elsschot
19. Mei by Herman Gorter
20. De Gelukkige Klas by theo Thijssen
21. Gifts by Ursula Le Guin
22. De Zonnewijzer* by Maarten 't Hart
23. Max Havelaar of de Koffieveilingen der Nederlandse Handelsmaatschappij* by Multatuli
24. Sense and Sensibility* by Jane Austen
25. Het Fregatschip Johanna Maria* by Arthur Van Schendel
26. De Stille Kracht* by Couperus
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