More on Book Challenges

Please forgive any and all errors in this post as I have one of the beasts sitting on one arm. I have finally decided on five books to read for the Herding Cats challenge. The books are: To Say Nothing of the Dog ; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel; The Clan of the Cave Bear; Chocolat; and The Lies of Locke Lamora. I had read Holy Fools by Joann Harris and loved it, I just never got around to reading anything else by her. I was going over the master list and other blogs for this challenge, and realized I should tell people about my book choices. So I am going to try to go back in and edit the prior post where I listed said books. I need to get better at writing about the books I read in case anyone actually checks out this blog and is curious. I am starting to get excited about classes resuming this week. Give me a few weeks and a bunch of papers due and my enthusiasm will dwindle pretty quickly. I also finished The Doomsday Book. It took me awhile as I got sidetracked by work and new knitting projects. I went to Borders the other day for a quick pick up and was there for over an hour. It is amazing how quickly time passes in there without you ever realizing it! And after that I went to Target and bought yet another book there as well. This has got to stop. My parents have forbidden me from bringing home any more books to store at their house. As it is every room at my parents house has book cases and books just piled and spilling out of the shelves. There are books in the bathroom, under the stairwell, in the kitchen, the attic, and the basement. I even went through and winnowed out books (that brought me to tears), and there are still so many. Of course it was that way at my grandparents house as well. So I grew up that way as did my parents. I am always shocked whenever I go to others homes and there are no books, or they are in an orderly, contained space. Now I need to focus on reviews. Not to be so abrupt at changing gears. I am definitely a James Joyce type, stream of consciousness.

Finished the mermaid book, it was good but not what I was expecting. Glad I borrowed it from the library and did not run out and buy it like I usually do. Speaking of the library I should go over there, as I live right next to it, tonight is one of the late nights they are open. I love that. It is so much fun wandering around discovering new books and being amidst all those books. And people watching, I mean you see a diverse bunch of people there, I even think I saw Charles Manson there once. Summer semester starts next week and all of my textbooks are arriving in the mail. I get so excited at the beginning of every semester, then by the end you are so ready for it to be done with. What am I going to read next? I am starting to suffer from Borders with drawl, it has been so long since I last went there. Must go to Borders, I can hear it calling me!

Trodding On

So vacation was wonderful, got a fair amount of reading done. I did not bring my mermaid book, instead I read Achilles. I always felt so terrible for Hector and Troy. Obviously Achilles is another twist on a retelling of The Iliad. Great book, very short so quick to read. The author is a Keats scholar I believe and she ties him in near the end. The lyrical aspect of the book is incredible as well. While on vacation I picked up a book at a thrift store, The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. The book fits in perfectly with the Once Upon a Time Challenge, and I never even realized it until today. That book is another good read but it reminds me somewhat of Timeline by Michael Chrichton (sp), even though her book was written first I believe. Trying to now finish the mermaid book, but got sick on vacation and need to sleep not staying up all hours reading.

Herding Cats Reading Challenge

I fell in love with the Herding Cats reading challenge. People have read some great books and I love to get recommendations for anything to read. My ten favorite books I chose to recommend are as follows:
Outta My Way by Elizabeth Peavey This is a collection of articles that were written for a local paper, that are kind of about her life and opinions. The woman is hilarious.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon This book is great. Do not be thrown off by how slow it is at first. Once Jamie comes into the picture (if you are a female) there is no putting the book down. It is a historical novel with romance, intrigue, and just plain wonderful reading.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King I think I will never be able to say enough for this book. It is epic and yet so short. Of course once you get hooked you will be reading thousands of pages that make The Stand look like a kids book. This is the first book in the series and yet it really is the middle of the story. It is like Tolkien in that you recognize the world however it is not our world, "the world has moved on."
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster This is the sequel to Daddy Long Legs. It is the story of the best friend as she goes off to make her way on the world. The book is written as letters to people.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith A coming of age story, and also about family. I would love to live the lives of these characters for a while. They live in a rundown castle, have no money, and yet have such a wonderful life. Cassandra, the heroine, is someone we all can connect with and recognize a bit of ourselves in her.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The best book of all time! The standard for comedy and sci-fi all in one. Well that is taking it a bit too far I will admit. Do not judge this book based on the recent movie. Go by the BBC version if you are familiar with that at all. I mean British humor, what more can I say?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte A love story. Plain Jane has an incredibly hard life that she manages to never succumb to. I would say that if you liked Wuthering Heights you would like this, but I do not like that book and I do love Jane Eyre, so go figure. But they are from the same time period, and they do have a similar style of Victorian Gothic.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Everyone knows this plot. The book really is great, Mr. Darcy's proposal in the book is much better than in the movies. The book is always better than the movie as they say. Who the hell are "they" anyhow?
The 13 1/2 Live of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers The best review I can give of this is what the book says, "part Douglas Adams, part J.K Rowling, and part Shel Silverstein." The book is funny, very long and I would recommend reading other books while taking a break from it as I did. But well worth reading. And there are other books he has written as well that tell the stories of other characters in this book in the land of Zamonia.
The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters This is another one of my favorite books that I have reread so many times. It is the first in another series, but you can read it and never have to go on if you like. I will warn you that the later books, like seven or eight further along, are not as good as she changed her style of writing and the point of view. This book is about a Victorian woman who travels to Egypt, gets involved in a mystery, meets a man, and gets to do archaeological stuff. The books are especially great for all the Egyptian stuff.
I am still looking at everyone else's lists to decide what to read for myself. This is going to be so much fun.

Done

"Go then. There are other worlds than these." Thus is stated near the end of the Gunslinger. I finished it, and am now moving onto the mermaid book. I am very excited to read that as I am obsessed with mermaids. Still have failed to study for my last final, my final final. Haha! Anyhow, hopefully this will free up time to read some more. I signed up for another challenge, and need to go to the library to find the next book. I already read the April book, but returned it and could not remember enough to discuss it. Oh well. Saw a bunch of my old friends this evening, it was so ice. Yet again though, no studying because I am out. I need to focus and re prioritize. One week, actually two days. Get a grip will I?! Again, I cannot say enough about The Gunslinger.Though this one I borrowed from the library had a different introduction (well actually a post script letter) from the author saying he wrote the book because he was inspired by the poem by Browning titled "Childe Roland to the Tower Went", or something like that. That is so different from the introduction in my book I have home in New Hampshire.That introduction states that he, Stephen King, was watching "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", and was inspired to write his version of Tolkien in a western form. Regardless of this the books are amazing, they draw you in, you can hardly stand to put the book down. Yes, it is that good.

Slow Going

So the reading is taking forever, what with finals and getting ready for vacation. I can hardly contain myself regarding my upcoming trip to Seaworld. All of my books will be vacationing with me, via my carry-on so they do not get lost. I am trying to finish knitting a sweater before vacation as well, so that is taking away somewhat from my reading. However the flight and layovers will allow me plenty of time to read all of my books. So it should be a nice long post about them all coming up soon. I should be half intelligent and take notes. Then again this is not a literature class, so I do not need to go into great details. The Gunslinger has made it through some tough times and gained a companion. I love this book so much (as I have stated many a time before). There is so much that is like our world, but "the world has moved on" so it is not quite our world as we know it. And of course The Beatles have a cameo through the book as well. What could be better I ask? Back to knitting and reading, and yes more studying.