Last year I tried to read 100 books in a year and failed spectacularly at a mere 11 (I did read more than that but didn't record them and it was definitely no where near 100). This year, no challenge. Instead I'm merely attempting to read more widely, think a little and hopefully become more informed.
So the plan is to read from the categories of fiction, non-fiction, biography and graphic novels, where each time I finish a book, the next category will be randomly chosen and I will then pick a book from it. I think I'll also try and keep up the p.56 thing too. Anyway if you have any recommendations for books, feel free to comment.
To start it all off I just picked the categories myself and ended up borrowing three books from the library. They are: 1. The Prestige - Christopher Priest (fiction), 2. When God Goes to Starbucks - Paul Copan (non-fiction), 3. All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C.S. Lewis 1922-1927 - C.S. Lewis (biography).
Here goes.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Saturday, August 28, 2010
11/100
Book: The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
I focused very hard on the dead geranium in his line of vision. I thought if I could make it bloom he would have his answer. In my heaven it bloomed. In my heaven geranium petals swirled in eddies up to my waist. On Earth nothing happened.
But through the snow I noticed this: my father was looking toward the green house in a new way. He had begun to wonder.
Note: The book that spawned the movie. I watched the latter first, and although I really wanted to like it, I found it disappointing (oh Peter Jackson). Even without reading the novel I knew they were spending far too much time on Susie's heaven and her perspective, and not on the rest of the plot or characters, which didn't make much sense considering the time and place Susie lived in. Surely there was more to see, more people involved rather than just Susie and her parents. For example her sister, who has a very strong part to play in the story, but is almost barely featured in the movie except as an accessory to her father's grief.
I found the book more satisfying and ended up enjoying it quite a bit with it's variety of characters. I especially enjoyed seeing the ways different characters dealt with their grief and the horror of the crime. It was a more rounded story with Susie overseeing all, and in the book you got better insight into what the dead do when they're gone, who they visit, what they long for and subsequently receive in heaven. Or what they don't.
There were definitely some bits I didn't like, but overall I thought it was a very good read.
I focused very hard on the dead geranium in his line of vision. I thought if I could make it bloom he would have his answer. In my heaven it bloomed. In my heaven geranium petals swirled in eddies up to my waist. On Earth nothing happened.
But through the snow I noticed this: my father was looking toward the green house in a new way. He had begun to wonder.
Note: The book that spawned the movie. I watched the latter first, and although I really wanted to like it, I found it disappointing (oh Peter Jackson). Even without reading the novel I knew they were spending far too much time on Susie's heaven and her perspective, and not on the rest of the plot or characters, which didn't make much sense considering the time and place Susie lived in. Surely there was more to see, more people involved rather than just Susie and her parents. For example her sister, who has a very strong part to play in the story, but is almost barely featured in the movie except as an accessory to her father's grief.
I found the book more satisfying and ended up enjoying it quite a bit with it's variety of characters. I especially enjoyed seeing the ways different characters dealt with their grief and the horror of the crime. It was a more rounded story with Susie overseeing all, and in the book you got better insight into what the dead do when they're gone, who they visit, what they long for and subsequently receive in heaven. Or what they don't.
There were definitely some bits I didn't like, but overall I thought it was a very good read.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
10/100
Book: Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
The summer of James Foot had been the height of Margaret's potential. The following season she was treated as a fine gown that has dated in storage, the neckline now too high or low, the cloth a touch faded, the cut no longer so flattering. We were surprised that this could happen as easily in Lyme as London, yet there was little we could do to change it. Margaret kept her friends and made new ones from the seasonal visitors. But she no longer returned at night with a sparkle and a dance around the kitchen. In time the turbans she persisted in wearing seemed less daring and more a Philpot peculiarity. She did not manage to escape into marriage like Frances, but sank into spinsterhood beside Louise and me.
There are worse fates.
(taken from p.55 as nothing on p.56)
Note: Tracy Chevalier never fails to inspire and appeal. I've read three other of her books (The Lady and the Unicorn, The Virgin Blue, and Girl with the Pearl Earring) and have thoroughly enjoyed all of them. She is a straight-forward storyteller, but investing enough emotion and truth that you can't help but tie yourself to every life and every character. Remarkable Creatures is no different. Telling the story of two amazing women, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, Chevalier breathes air into their remarkable lives, both as women and as major contributors to the study of geology.
Now both this book and Persuasion make me desperately want to visit Lyme Regis!
The summer of James Foot had been the height of Margaret's potential. The following season she was treated as a fine gown that has dated in storage, the neckline now too high or low, the cloth a touch faded, the cut no longer so flattering. We were surprised that this could happen as easily in Lyme as London, yet there was little we could do to change it. Margaret kept her friends and made new ones from the seasonal visitors. But she no longer returned at night with a sparkle and a dance around the kitchen. In time the turbans she persisted in wearing seemed less daring and more a Philpot peculiarity. She did not manage to escape into marriage like Frances, but sank into spinsterhood beside Louise and me.
There are worse fates.
(taken from p.55 as nothing on p.56)
Note: Tracy Chevalier never fails to inspire and appeal. I've read three other of her books (The Lady and the Unicorn, The Virgin Blue, and Girl with the Pearl Earring) and have thoroughly enjoyed all of them. She is a straight-forward storyteller, but investing enough emotion and truth that you can't help but tie yourself to every life and every character. Remarkable Creatures is no different. Telling the story of two amazing women, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, Chevalier breathes air into their remarkable lives, both as women and as major contributors to the study of geology.
Now both this book and Persuasion make me desperately want to visit Lyme Regis!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
9/100
Book: A Thousand Splendid Suns
For most of the days, Mariam stayed in bed, feeling adrift and forlorn. Sometimes she went downstairs to the kitchen, ran her hands over the sticky, grease-stained counter, the vinyl, flowered curtains that smelled like burned meals. She looked through the ill-fitting drawers, at the mismatched spoons and knives, the colander and chipped, wooden spatulas, these would-be instruments of her new daily life, all of it reminding her of the havoc that had struck her life, making her feel uprooted, displaced, like an intruder on someone elses life.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
8/100
Book: Emma - Jane Austen
'While you were in the smallest degree wavering, I said nothing about it, because I would not influence; but it would have been the loss of a friend to me. I could not have visited Mrs Robert Martin, of Abbey-Mill Farm. Now I am secure of you forever.'
Harriet had not surmised her own danger, but the idea of it struck her forcibly.
'You could not have visited me!' she cried, looking aghast. 'No, to be sure you could not; but I never thought of that before. That would have been too dreadful! - What an escape! - Dear Miss Woodhouse, I would not give up the pleasure and honour of being intimate with you for any thing in the world.'
'Indeed, Harriet, it would have been a severe pang to lose you; but it must have been. You would have thrown yourself out of all good society. I must have given you up.'
'Dear me! - How should I ever have borne it! It would have killed me never to come to Hartfield any more!'
'Dear affectionate creature! - You banished to Abbey-Mill Farm! - You confined to the society of the illiterate and vulgar all your life! I wonder how the young man could have the assurance to ask it. He must have a pretty good opinion of himself.'
Note: I tried reading Emma a couple of years back when I first got my Austen collection but found that I just couldn't get past Emma's arrogance. However a few weeks ago I was determined to finish it (and my Austen collection in the process), and now am very glad I did. I ended up really enjoying it with its range of characters and the development of Emma's character by the end of the book (not to mention the happy ending and the proposal scene). I like that about Jane Austen romances though, that good characters have happy endings, while annoying or bad characters receive their just desserts. Emma is still quite annoying but it's impressive how far she's come by the proposal scene to be mature and listen to Mr Knightley, even though she fears the worse. There was a lot of dialogue in the book too, mostly idle chatter, but I guess in the case of some characters like Miss Bates it was necessary. However I can understand why my friend didn't enjoy studying it in college!
'While you were in the smallest degree wavering, I said nothing about it, because I would not influence; but it would have been the loss of a friend to me. I could not have visited Mrs Robert Martin, of Abbey-Mill Farm. Now I am secure of you forever.'
Harriet had not surmised her own danger, but the idea of it struck her forcibly.
'You could not have visited me!' she cried, looking aghast. 'No, to be sure you could not; but I never thought of that before. That would have been too dreadful! - What an escape! - Dear Miss Woodhouse, I would not give up the pleasure and honour of being intimate with you for any thing in the world.'
'Indeed, Harriet, it would have been a severe pang to lose you; but it must have been. You would have thrown yourself out of all good society. I must have given you up.'
'Dear me! - How should I ever have borne it! It would have killed me never to come to Hartfield any more!'
'Dear affectionate creature! - You banished to Abbey-Mill Farm! - You confined to the society of the illiterate and vulgar all your life! I wonder how the young man could have the assurance to ask it. He must have a pretty good opinion of himself.'
Note: I tried reading Emma a couple of years back when I first got my Austen collection but found that I just couldn't get past Emma's arrogance. However a few weeks ago I was determined to finish it (and my Austen collection in the process), and now am very glad I did. I ended up really enjoying it with its range of characters and the development of Emma's character by the end of the book (not to mention the happy ending and the proposal scene). I like that about Jane Austen romances though, that good characters have happy endings, while annoying or bad characters receive their just desserts. Emma is still quite annoying but it's impressive how far she's come by the proposal scene to be mature and listen to Mr Knightley, even though she fears the worse. There was a lot of dialogue in the book too, mostly idle chatter, but I guess in the case of some characters like Miss Bates it was necessary. However I can understand why my friend didn't enjoy studying it in college!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
7/100
Book: Little Bird - Camilla Way
Frank looked down at his pint, struggled for a few moments to keep his face straight and lasted exactly four seconds. Jimmy gazed back at his friend, taking in his shiny eyes, the wide grin, the way he suddenly seemed taller and surer and better looking. 'Oh dear,' said Jimmy, shaking his head sorrowfully. 'Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.'
Note: A fictional story about a young woman who was kidnapped at the age of two and raised by a mute in the forest. The author attempts to explore what it would be like to grow up without language, and then subsequently, to try and learn to speak and think in words in an unfamiliar world.
More intense than I anticipated, but a truly gripping read. The ideas surrounding language and development, as well as the psychology of identity and relationships, was absolutely fascinating in this book. One of those books you put down and still think about, and even discuss with others after the fact.
Frank looked down at his pint, struggled for a few moments to keep his face straight and lasted exactly four seconds. Jimmy gazed back at his friend, taking in his shiny eyes, the wide grin, the way he suddenly seemed taller and surer and better looking. 'Oh dear,' said Jimmy, shaking his head sorrowfully. 'Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.'
Note: A fictional story about a young woman who was kidnapped at the age of two and raised by a mute in the forest. The author attempts to explore what it would be like to grow up without language, and then subsequently, to try and learn to speak and think in words in an unfamiliar world.
More intense than I anticipated, but a truly gripping read. The ideas surrounding language and development, as well as the psychology of identity and relationships, was absolutely fascinating in this book. One of those books you put down and still think about, and even discuss with others after the fact.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
6/100
Book: Persuasion - Jane Austen
So passed the first three weeks. Michaelmas came; and now Anne's heart must be in Kellynch again. A beloved home made over to others; all the precious rooms and furniture, groves, and prospects, beginning to own other eyes and other limbs! She could not think of much else on the 29th September; and she had this sympathetic touch in the evening, from Mary, who, on having occasion to note down the day of the month, exclaimed, 'Dear me! is not this the day the Crofts were to come to Kellynch? I am glad I did not think of it before. How low it makes me!'
Note: My favourite Jane Austen, and one of my favourite books. The whole waiting for love and the maturity of Anne Elliot appeals to me. Although after reading it again, I've only just noticed the ending and it's a bit odd. Oh well, the rest is pure romantic bliss. I swear in every Austen novel at least 3 couples get married (I was just about to list them but for those who haven't read the books yet, that wouldn't be cool).
So passed the first three weeks. Michaelmas came; and now Anne's heart must be in Kellynch again. A beloved home made over to others; all the precious rooms and furniture, groves, and prospects, beginning to own other eyes and other limbs! She could not think of much else on the 29th September; and she had this sympathetic touch in the evening, from Mary, who, on having occasion to note down the day of the month, exclaimed, 'Dear me! is not this the day the Crofts were to come to Kellynch? I am glad I did not think of it before. How low it makes me!'
Note: My favourite Jane Austen, and one of my favourite books. The whole waiting for love and the maturity of Anne Elliot appeals to me. Although after reading it again, I've only just noticed the ending and it's a bit odd. Oh well, the rest is pure romantic bliss. I swear in every Austen novel at least 3 couples get married (I was just about to list them but for those who haven't read the books yet, that wouldn't be cool).
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