2007 Challenges

2007 Challenge Review

Blogging brought a whole new element to my reading--challenges. What I really like about challenges is the themes, which in a way reminds me of grad classes--like little mini classes that I don't have to write papers for. Also, challenges helped me with getting some of those OLD TBR books off the shelf as well as helping me determine what books to read next. On the other hand, though, I didn't leave myself enough room for whimsical choices, so I often felt burned out with books I had picked months in advance.

Non-Fiction Five Challenge (5 books)

Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich (Economics)

Thunderstruck - Erik Larson (History)

Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi (Memoir)

His Excellency: George Washington - Joseph J. Ellis (Biography)

The City of Falling Angels - John Berendt (Travelogue)

What I really liked about the Non-Fiction Five Challenge was that it nudged me into reading a genre I normally wouldn't touch unless assigned for school (and even then...?). The toughest book to slog through was definitely His Excellency; I honestly can't choose one that I liked the most--and not because I loved them all. Oh well!

By the Decades Challenge (13 books)

The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James (1880s)

The Awakening - Kate Chopin (1890s)

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (1900s)

Howards End - EM Forster (1910s)

Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton (1920s)

As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner (1930s)

Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes (1940s)

Night - Elie Wiesel (1950s)

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1960s)

The World According to Garp - John Irving (1970s)

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - Anne Tyler (1980s)

Fall On Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald (1990s)

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood (2000s)

What I really liked about this challenge is that I was able to read pieces of fiction from a timespan of about 115 years. The differences between the earlier pieces to the later pieces is remarkable, really highlighting how the novel has developed. My favorites would have to be Fall On Your Knees and The Blind Assassin; my least favorites were Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and Howards End.

RIP Challenge (12 short stories)

Tales of Edgar Allan Poe - Edgar Allan Poe

I've been wanting to read this collection for a while, but I ended up really struggling with getting it read! My favorite stories were "Pit and Pendulum" and "Tell-Tale Heart"; there were several other stories (e.g. The Gold-Bug) that didn't strike my particular fancy.

Something About Me Challenge (5 books)

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquirel

High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Sea Glass - Anita Shreve

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

This was a fun challenge because it was so different and the books I chose were from a pool of selections from other bloggers. The only book on this list I didn't really like was Like Water for Chocolate. All the rest were books that I enjoyed a lot--The Thirteenth Tale and High Fidelity being two of my favorite reads for the year.

Classics Challenge (3 books)

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Once I started paying more attention to my reading habits, I was surprised at how many classics I read throughout the year. This challenge was easy to fulfill and I liked Frankenstein and The Scarlet Pimpernel a lot; Little Women did not live up to my re-reading expectations.

Armchair Traveler Challenge (6 books)

Travels with Charley - John Steinbeck (America)

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien (Vietnam)

Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert (Italy, India, Indonesia)

The City of Falling Angels - John Berendt (Venice)

Snow - Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)

One of the goals I have is to really reach outside of my boundary comfort zone. Most of the authors that I read are North American or British and while the locales differ from story to story, I haven't exposed myself a lot to writers from different countries. While I didn't do this except for maybe Snow, this challenge certainly raised my awareness. A Thousand Splendid Suns was my favorite of the bunch; Snow was my least favorite.

2nds Read Challenge (3 books)

Thirteen Moons - Charles Frazier

Flesh and Blood - Michael Cunningham

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

Overall I enjoyed my second helping of these three authors, but none of them were as good as the first I read by the authors (Cold Mountain, The Hours, and Pride and Prejudice). But all three authors I would devour for a third helping!

Total Challenges: 7 (one challenge not listed: 07-08 Book Awards Reading Challenge)

Total Challenge Books: 35 (one cross-posted in two 2007 challenges)
New Authors: 22

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen: A Review

Title: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Date Finished: December 26, 2007
Pages: 312
Rating: 4.25/5

Everyone knows the story of Pride and Prejudice. If we haven't read it, then we've seen one of the many productions; if we haven't seen one of the many productions, then we have seen one of the many movies/read one of the many books "inspired" by this classic love story. I read this book many years ago (not even sure I finished it since it was for school), but I enjoyed my revisit--especially after just finishing Northanger Abbey. The characters were much more developed in this novel and the plot is complicated and well-thought through. Yippee!! Exactly what I love in a novel.

I love the dynamics between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy although I'm not sure that I ever truly warm up to him. I think his warmth is portrayed in the newest version of the movie when viewers can see a physical change, but this is more difficult to "read" in the novel. Perhaps it is because the novel is so rich and contains so many small nuances. While I feel that the end of the most recent movie is a little more romantic ("I love, I love, I love you") than the logical conclusions of Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, I love when Lizzy talks about how Jane smiles in her love for Bingley, but Lizzy laughs in her love. Isn't that the best kind of love? But at the end of the book do we really need an update of Lydia and Lady Catherine and Mrs. Gardiner? I would have rather the focus remain on Lizzy and Mr. Darcy.

This is one that I could re-read; it is a timeless story that never gets worn out. Yeah for love stories!

Sea Glass - Anita Shreve: A Review

Title: Sea Glass
Author: Anita Shreve
Date Finished: November 23, 2007
Pages: 376
Rating: 4.25/5

This is my fourth Shreve book and my favorite so far (coming in second is The Weight of Water). I picked this up at a booksale and read it for Something About Me. While I like Shreve's writing, for some reason I wouldn't buy her books at a regular book store. I always seem to pass her up for Piccoult.

Anyway, this book is about a number of characters who are drastically different from one another but manage to come together for a common cause. The book takes place during 1929-1930--the first difference from the other books I've read which are more contemporary--and follows each of the main characters instead of a select two or so--which is also different. Among the characters there is Honora, the naive young wife of Sexton who is not always entirely honest. McDermott, a lower class factory worker who takes in the young Alphonse under his wing. And Vivian, an upperclass socialite who gets mixed in with the others at first just for something to do.

The social setting is obviously the depression, but also the factory mills of the Northeast where many of the characters work. The conditions are abysmal and the workers want change and a better life when that doesn't seem to be a possibility for anyone. Other than required non-fiction reading in college, I haven't really read anything about this specific time period and while the book was more about the lives of the characters rather than the politics (although they were present), the topics made the book an interesting read. I read this while at the in-laws for Thanksgiving and sped right through it. I would recommend it as a quick, light read--especially if you enjoy Shreve's books.

High Fidelity - Nick Hornby: A Review

Title: High Fidelity
Author: Nick Hornby
Date Finished: Oct 12, 2007
Pages: 322
Rating: 4.5/5

High Fidelity is one of my favorite movies--John Cusack one of my favorite actors--so I was a little worried about what my reception was going to be of this book, especially since I really didn't like Big Fish (the book). Anyway, I really enjoyed the book and am glad that I just happened to pick up some of his other books at a booksale a few months ago. (Incidentally About A Boy is another movie I really enjoy--just realized they are the same author).

High Fidelity is the story of Rob and Laura, a couple who has recently broken up. What I love about this book is that the perspective is all Rob's, and Rob is a little bit neurotic and way too analytical. He reminds me of my hero Bridget Jones--except a male version and not quite so silly. I loved the male perspective, even though I'm not sure if I really believe it. For example there is one part of the book where Rob states, "Women get it wrong when they complain about media images of women. Men understand that not everyone has Bardot's breasts, or Jamie Lee Curtis's neck, or Cindy Crawford's bottom, and we don't mind at all....We worked out very quickly that Bond girls were out of our league, but the realization that women don't ever look at us the way Ursula Andress looked at Sean Connery, or even in the way that Doris Day looked at Rock Hudson, was much slower to arrive, for most of us. In my case, I'm not at all sure that it ever did." He then goes on to say, "But it's much harder to get used to the idea that my little-boy notion of romance, of negliges and candlelit dinners at home and long, smoldering glances, had no basis in reality at all. That's what women out to get all steamed up about; that's why we can't function properly in a relationship. It's not the cellulite or the crow's feet. It's the...the...the disrespect" (274). Seriously??? Seriously??? Its our fault there is no romance?? This idea is way too much for me to swallow. :)

But back to the plot...So after Laura leaves Rob, who is a recordshop owner and salesman, he begins to look back at his life at the top five relationships he has had that have had the biggest effect on him. Curiously, Laura does not even make the top five list. Throughout the course of the novel, Rob realizes that Laura is on the list, and she is number one...or is she?

The book is humorous but also endearing. My only major disappointment was that one of my favorite moments in the movie is not in the book (which is actually a really close adaptation--really close). I love the end of the movie when Jack Black sings "Let's Get It On," but I thought that the way Hornby ended his novel was almost just as good. Great book, glad I read it.

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield: A Review

Title: The Thirteenth Tale
Author: Diane Setterfield
Date Finished: September 8, 2007
Pages: 406
Rating: 4.5/5

This one is a popular choice for several challenges, and I picked it for the Something About Me Challenge. After hearing great things, I was excited to take this one as my vacation book to Alaska. While I didn't get much reading done on the trip, I was able to finish the rest of it during our 5 hour airport-wait and 5 hour plane ride home from Seattle yesterday.

I really enjoyed this book. The frame story is of Margaret Lea, an avid reader and amateur biographer, who is commissioned by the prolific novelist Vida Winter to write her biography. Margaret doesn't quit understand Winter's choice as she has never picked up one of her books (she prefers the Gothic classics), but she agrees to write Winter's biography under a number of conditions. The frame story was OK--Margaret bothered me in a number of ways and I wanted to scream at her several times "Get over yourself!!" But I didn't. :)

The story within the story, though, is what captured me. I really don't know what to say about this story without giving anything away, but it is a dark story, haunting, gothic, tragic, and gripping. As Winter tells her tale, Margaret also begins to piece bits of the story together through her own means, and she, as I did, becomes enraptured in the ghostly tale. I loved that I couldn't quite figure this one out until the moment of revelation. You know its there, something fishy, I turned every scenario over and over in my head, but... When the moment did come, I had to flip back and re-read entire passages just to see the puzzle pieces fit. Love it! And can I just say that I loved the references to Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Willkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, etc etc. I would definitely recommend this one!

Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquirel: A Review

Title: Like Water for Chocolate

Author: Laura Esquirel

Pages: 264

Date Finished: August 22, 2007

Rating: 3/5

This is my first selection for Something About Me Challenge. I have wanted to read it for a few years now and picked it up cheap a few months ago at the local bookfair. Perfect! I love when things work out that way.

But, this book didn't do it for me. It was good and I mostly enjoyed reading it, but the book was a little too superficial. What I mean by that is that the character development was very weak, and after reading the book I didn't have any strong passions about what happened to the characters. I liked the way the book ended, but there just wasn't enough narrative depth. Perhaps there is more symbolic and analytical depth to the book, but if I'm not in a grad course I don't necessarily dig or delve into books the way I probably should (i.e. background research, textual research, analytical research, blah blah blah).

The story is of Tita, the youngest daughter of Mama Elena who has to give up her lover, Pedro, due to a family tradition that the youngest daughter must stay home with the mother and take care of her until she dies. Once Mama Elena makes her proclamation that Pedro cannot marry Tita, he chooses to marry Rosaura, the oldest sister to still remain close to Tita.

What I liked most about this book is its focus on food (which I am addicted to) and the passions it creates within people. There was a little touch of magical realism, which I also really enjoyed. The food that Tita created often reflected her moods and emotions causing people to become violently ill when she was sad or euphoric when Tita was exhibiting the same emotions. For me this is where the depth of the novel comes from, but unfortunately the only place.

Something About Me Challenge

August - December 2007

This is it...I swear! I have vowed to myself that this will be my last challenge for the year until some of the others get under control. Well, since I'M the control, and I've determined this is all I can logically handle, this is it. :)

Lisa at Breaking the Fourth Wall is hosting the Something About Me Challenge. The basic premise is to list five books that represent something about me, but the catch is that I don't read this five books--others doing the challenge read them. So, after everyone posts their books, we pick five from the *large* list to read and at the same time learn something about the other participating bloggers. I love this idea and I'm glad that Lisa is hosting!

So, these are the five books that represent me:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - This book restored my love of literature as a high school senior. But also because it is the most romantic book--tragic, but who could forget those harrowing words, "I AM Heathcliff."

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - Picoult always shows all sides to every story, and this one I could especially relate to as my younger sister had a kidney transplant 5 years ago (when she was 18). Although I wasn't in exactly the same circumstances, I could relate to Kate's siblings.

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery - Because I grew up in Canada, and when I was little I wanted to be Anne so badly. I loved her--still do.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding - Because I, like Bridget, obsess about strange things, fantasize about what could be, and over complicate things in my head. I love Bridget--she is my hero.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - Her female characters are all so different, but I think that everyone could find a woman in this novel with whom they relate to. And besides, I think we've all had days like Mrs. Dalloway. (If you've read this and like it, you must read The Hours by Michael Cunningham).

And then these are the books that I have picked from others' lists to read:

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel
• High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
• Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Alternates:

• The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

Yeah! Let the challenge begin...