New Year Resolutions

HAHAHA, its the time to make a load of promises to ourselves that we know the chances of us keeping them are slim, its a wonder why we bother year after year.... but i guess you never give up hope and a new year is the best time to think of new starts and if you have several resolutions and keep to just one of them then thats good i guess :)

Resolutions for 2010:

• Learn to do the splits
• Read another 100 books
  
• Revise FULLY for exams and hopefully get into a good uni :)
• Learn to write more concisely in essays etc

I guess its at least worth a try :)
I would put in the typical ones: excercise more, eat less and healthier, monitor my bad language and help out more, but i guess that goes without being said. Been my resolutions so many times, but never quite managed to suceed for longer than a few weeks...

Methinks perhaps it would be better to lay out a couple of resolutions for each month and take things in bitesiezed chunks, therefore:

January Resolutions: (0/4)

• No more reading (unless exam related or book club) before re-sits
• REVISE, REVISE, REVISE.
• Not hang around in the hall talking with friends but burrow self away in library and... revise.
• Find a mousse recipe that works :) (for me at least)
  

2009 100+ Challenge Wrap-up

The aim of this challenge was to read 100+ books in 2009, and i almost thought i wouldn't make it! (Finished the last one this morning!), I'm going to publish the finished list below, which is copied from the original post i've been updating. I will confess the fact that i've been cheating slightly - there are several books that i've read twice this year and i've counted those aswell, not sure whether it technically counts or not, but everytime i've finished a book i've written it down - for the most part i've made a note of when i was reading one again, anyhee, here goes:

100 Books Read in 2009:

1. Blue Moon Rising - Simon Greene
2. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
3. Tithe - Holly Black
4. Crown Duel - Sherwood Smith
   
5. The Princess Academy - Shanon Hale
6. Club Dead - Charlaine Harris
7. Touch the Dark - Karen Chance
8. Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance
9. Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
10. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance
11. Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella
12. Eclypse - Stephene Meyer
13. Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance
14. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
15. The Rangers Apprentice, the Ruins of Gorlan - (need to find out author)
16. An offer from a Gentleman - Julia Quinn
17. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
18. Bella - Jilly Cooper
19. Persuasion - Jane Austen
20. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin
21. Kitty and the Midnight Hour - Carrie Vaughn
22. Beauty - Robin McKinley
23. Star-Crossed - Rachael Wing
24. Emily - Jilly Cooper
    
25. Minx - Julia Quinn
26. Harriet - Jilly Cooper
27. The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
28. Brighter than the Sun - Julia Quinn
29. Splendid - Julia Quinn
30. Dancing at Midnight - Julia Quinn
31. To Catch an Heiress - Julia Quinn
32. Teen Idol - Meg Cabot
    
33. How to Marry a Marquis - Julia Quinn
34. AQA Britain (1483-1529)
35. The Lost Duke of Wyndham - Julia Quinn
36. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
37. Everything and the Sun - Julia Quinn
38. Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance (re-read)
39. A Midsummer Nights Dream - William Shakespeare
40. Resenting the Hero - Moira J Moore
41. Addition - Toni Jordan
42. Mr.Cavendish, I Presume - Julia Quinn
43. And then there were none - Agatha Christie
44. Love you to Death - Meg Cabot
45. High Stakes - meg Cabot
46. Mean Spirits - Meg Cabot
47. Young Blood - Meg Cabot
48. Grave Doubts - Meg Cabot
49. Fantastic Mr Fox - Roal Dahl
50. Heaven Sent - Meg Cabot
51. The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod
52. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
53. Magic Study - Maria V. Snyder
54. Touch the Dark - Karen Chance (again)
55. Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance (again)
56. Embrace the Night - Karen Chance (again)
57. Graceling - Kristin Cashore
58. The Secret Countess - Eva Ibbotson
59. The Singing - Alison Croggon
60. Warprize - Elizabeth Vaughan
61. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
62. Bella - Jilly Cooper (again)
63. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood
64. Animal Farm - George Orwell
65. When he was Wicked - Julia Quinn
66. Bridget Jone's Diary - Helen Fielding
67. Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging - Louise Rennison
68. Its OK, I'm wearing REALLY BIG Knickers! - Louise Rennison
69. Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas - Louise Rennison
70. Dancing in my Nuddy-Pants - Louise Rennison
71. '...and thats when it fell off in my hand' - Louise Rennison
72. '...then he ate my boy entrancers.' - Louise Rennison
73. '...startled by his furry shorts!' - Louise Rennison
74. 'Luuurve is a many trousered thing...' - Louise Rennison
75. 'Stop in the name of pants! - Louise Rennison
76. 'Are these my basoomas i see before me?' - Louise Rennison
77. Cinderella - Never-Never Land Stories
78. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Never-Never Land Stories
79. Little Red Riding Hood - Never-Never Land Stories
80. The Musicians of Breman - Fantasy Land Fairy Tales
81. Polo - Jilly Cooper
82. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
83. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn (again!)
84. The Changeover - Margaret Mahy
85. The Magic Finder - Roald Dahl
86. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
87. Minx - Julia Quinn (again)
88. Beastly - Alex Flinn
89. Everything and the Moon - Julia Quinn (again)
90. Slam - Nick Hornby
91. Brighter than the Sun - Julia Quinn (again)
92. Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
93. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
94. How to Marry a Marquis - Julia Quinn
95. Love Struck - Rachael Wing
96. Tales from Russia - James Mayhew
97. Emily - Jilly Cooper (again)
98. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance (again)
99. Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
100. Old Magic - Marianne Curley

Its a bit of a mix, there are some i'm proud of, others less so, but for me personally i feel i have achieved something because previously i don't think i'd read any classics or books like that, i read purely for pleasure (which i don't see much of a problem with, but sometimes i feel i should read more 'intellectual' books aswell), but i'll put a breakdown below.

Books i'm particularly proud of having read: (If 'proud' is the right word...?)

• Gone with the wind - (WOOP! first classic! - i really chose a short one didn't i? :P)
  
• Persuasion -(my first jane austen!)
  
• AQA Britain 1483-1529(I read a textbook woop! :P)
• A midsummer night's dream - (my first shakespeare!)
• And Then there were none - (My first agatha Christie! - and no, i didn't get the murderer right ):
• Pride and Predudice
  
• A Handmaid's Tale
• Animal Farm
• Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (totally out of my usual comfort zone)
• To Kill a Mockingbird - (AND it was relevant to my history course!)

Books I Particularly Enjoyed:

• Touch the Dark/Claimed by Shadow/Embrace the Night/Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance - (urban fantasy series which IMO = Awesum :P)
• Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance (spin off series)
• Gone with the Wind - (Because Rhett Butler = amazing; but the end is so sad!! NOOOOOO!)
• Minx - Julia Quinn (Because it made me smile on a dark day :)
• A midsummer night's dream - (because the language is amazing)

Anyway, thats a rough summary :P Of all the challenges i attempted this year this is probably the one i enjoyed the most (an excellent excuse for excessive reading ;P) so thankyou very much for hosting it :) :) I shall hopefully try again next year, but i have a couple of pesky exams to get out of the way first :P

Thanks, and Happy New Year! :D:D xxxx

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

My mind brings up a line from the poem i read last night 'the rain set in early tonight..' thats how the weather feels now, only its not night yet, at half three the grass is too bright against the dull grey sky, with a line of brown for a hedge, somewhere past the crest of the hill. It reminds me of some painting where the colours havent been blended properly, or muted down enough to seem real. I can hear the rain pooring on to the paving flags surrounding the house, can imagine it splashing off leaves in big, fat, continuous drops. From where im sitting i cant see the golden leaves of the autumn oak, which always looks too warm and comforting at this time of year, when the rest of the world has turned dull and drear, and the long wait for spring's flowers -heralded by the delicate snowdrop- begins.

Strange things to be thinking after finishing this book, but what first sprang to mind after the end of a story thats been described as 'hauntingly prophetic' is that i can't imagine it coming true. Dimly i am aware of rumours of people who spend their hours in front of the t.v. screen, unaware of the world around them, but maybe because my world is so apart from that, i'm in denial of it ever being true and can't really believe that the warning this book gives is likely to have any real effect.

But then it is only a book, and dystopias are strange in their fortelling-of-horror ways.

Fahrenheit 451 has been lurking on the edges of my life for some time, waiting to be picked up and read, i think i've only managed it now because before i was unable to see past the strangeness in the way it is written, particularly at the start. But it is definitely past working through this strangeness, as the story beneath is quite fascinating. A world where people have t.v. 'parlours' with giant screens for each wall. A place where they are able to shout nothingness to their 'family' and live without taking any time to stop and think for themselves, just absorb what is fed them in multi-dimentional, 3D, Hight Definition, Surround Sound. A world, set some un-specified time in the future where wars can take place but people take no notice of them. Where millions of books are banned and the posession of them brings firefighters to your door, to burn your house down with gushing streams of kerosene.

The sky outside has now turned a murky blue, cerulean mixed with a touch of lamp black, the grass slope leading up to it is bright sap green, with dashes of veridian slased across it. The hedge at the top is a dark burnt umber, the trees behind seem to be uniform splodges of burnt sienna. Two poplars reach up into the blue, high above the squater oaks. Every now and then i see the flash of headlamps through the hedge, the only sign of the road hidden behind it.

In this world people turn away from books and education, not by force but of their own violation, and i guess that is the shocking thing. It is only later when governments see the use in having people who don't question them, and decide to force out those who still cling to the old traditions. People seen walking slowly are thought to be crazy, and driving below 55mph is illegal. Billboards are stretched out, because people go so fast they're unable to see the old ones. Even the bible is baned and 'christ' has been made up on the screens to sell cleaning products to the eager viewers at home.

I don't know where this review is going :P

Guy Montag is a fireman, and this story follows his transformation from unquestioning follower, to someone who wakes up to the madness around him. The whole book seems to flow in a daze, like someone who is too tired to fix on things, but lets them flow around him without clear focus. Yet this doesnt mean that its filled with waffle, the books is short and the dull sense of it is clean and powerful to read. I found the speeches other characters gave to Guy particularly interesting, two of them i'll type below.


"Do you know why books such as these are important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details per square inch, you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. Thats my definition anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often, the mediocre ones run a hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies' Pt. 2, p.83. Faber talknig to Montag about the bible.

Granger -> Montag, p.15o, part III
"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away."

This strange little book will make you think, and doesnt seem to have as much fame as one would think. I guess whether your into this type of thing or not its worth reading it, and while it makes you think it isn't challenging or too high and mighty for mere mortals to read. Even though i've probably missed a few of the higher themes. Although not likely to ever really happen, it is quite disturbing ;P

- poetry in first paragraph from porphyria's lover, by Browning.

100 + challenge,,, desperate cheating time :P

The idea of this challenge was to read 100 books in 2009, at the moment i have 24 left to read and only 51 days, which is like 3 1/4 books per week. With my studies (and 2 re-takes to study for over the xmas holidays) i have come to the decision that my only hope of succeeding with this challenge is through cheating :P

How am i going to do this? Read children's books.

My mum asked me earlier to sort though a load of old kiddie books to work out which ones i was happy to get rid of, which at first i decided to check for the A-Z Challenge, before realising i had challenge gold dust before me (unfortunately none of them really had the letters i was looking for - I've got to the tricky point where its mostly X's and Y's left) I've also found charlie and the chocolate factory, which is on my reading project, so BONUS!

I know this isnt really completing the challenge properly but a books is a book is a book, and it'll be fun if nothing else, besides, i have some lovely ones like dodger and fungus the bogey man, so i dont think i'm missing out really.

Despite this i am still going to try my hardest to get through the 100, this is hopefully just edging me a bit closer, then maybe next year i'll be able to do it properly :P

Hope nobody minds too much - would you think its amoral or not?

i'm getting kindof guilty now :P

The Classics Challenge - Wrap up

I joined this challenge because some time ago, after having kept lists of read books for a while, i noticed that allthough i read quite a lot, none of it seemed like the type of thing i'd reccomend to a friend, or be proud of having read (though all enjoyable). It started with me finally getting back to reading gone with the wind (which id read the first 200-300pages of when i was in year eight - about 12-13yrs old- but stopped part way through) i picked it up again during the easter hols and was suprised by how much i enjoyed it, and it was this that led me to search the net for more classic ideas, and i think thats how i came upon the whole blogging thing.

Persuasion followed, a bit of a drag, but still fun. After this (and as part of the once upon a time challenge)i read a midsummer night's dream - my first shakespeare! and it was fantastic! The language had the lovely poetry-ish feel that made it perfect for unwinding before bed.
After this i lost momentum for a while, and went on binges of my usual easy reading, before finishing pride and predudice, a handmaid's tale and animal farm in quick sucession. Pride and predudice and a handmaid's tale were both read during my frees at college, and as some friends were reading the latter for their english lit course we were able to have discussions about it. Animal farm was read whilst waiting for my mum in the library one afternoon when i'd walked into town.

My last book, To kill a mockingbird, has probably been one of my favourites, also read in college, (with a louise rennison series at home, and nightly doses of emma before bed) i had loads of people telling me how amazing it is. After taking a while to get into it - it tends to be distracting reading in college - i really started to enjoy the story, although unfortunately i've not finished it yet (Busy half term spent gutting my room, followed by a weekend at st.deniol's library) i hope to soon.

So despite not finishing the challenge, i feel i have done enough to have achieved something personally. Six classics to some people may not mean much at all, but to me, who has never been able to stick at anything respectable, its meant a lot. I feel better about myself, and have the added bonus of being able to talk about books that other people might actually have read ;P But not only this, I now have the confidence to try more books of a similar genre, and not pass them by with the assumption that i'd never read it, never get into it, or just abandon it after the first chapter.

If i'm still on the blog, i will definitely have another go at this challenge next year :D
Thankyou very much for hosting such a worthwhile and entertaining challenge :)

To Read this Year

Its mid-october, i think i have about 75 days left to finish this (my first) years challenges (with the exception of the classics challenge and R.I.P. which both finish october 31st).

My main aim is to get the last 29 books of 100+ challenge, although its unlikely i'll manage (college takes time away from reading :'( ) I'm also doubtful that i'll manage either of the A-Z, as i'm struggling with those last few X, Y, U letters, but we shall see.

Heres a list of some books i still hope to read this year:

• '...then he ate my boy entrancers.' - Louise Rennison
  
• '...startled by his furry shorts!' - Louise Rennison
• 'Luuurve is a many trousered thing...' - Louise Rennison
• To kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol
• Sunshine - Robin McKinley
• Dead as a Doornail - Charlain Harris
• The Two Towers - Tolkein
• Breaking Dawn - Stephene Meyer
• Dead until Dark - Charlain Harris
• Emma - Jane Austen
• 'Stop in the name of pants!' - Louise Rennison
• The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams
• Are these my basoomas i see before me? - Louise Rennison
• Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
• The Hero Strikes Back - Moira J. Moore
• Love Struck - Rachael Wing
  

Bold = Read since started list

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel set in a totalitarian society, where infertility is becoming a serious problem due to radiation and other problems so people are taking drastic measures to get children. It is set in Gilead -which 'was' the united states, with the government overthrown- and the narrator reveals a world where everyone is placed in positions/roles and any slight deviation from their set character can result in punishments or hanging.

The narrator is a woman, one of these 'handmaids' which are some of the few fertile woman, who are expected to give their bodies up to act as surrogate mothers to the wealthier 'commanders' etc who can't conceive themselves. The narrator lets us into her world, showing snippets of her characters past woven in with its present (as she narrates it), and the world she portrays is kind of frightening; women have lost virtually all rights, the right to vote, own property, own money... they are dressed in colours matched to their position and are supposed to act as vessels, wives or maids depending on their position in this society. The book is described as feminist, but this didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of it, instead made the story more interesting, and the world it created worrying.

I found the handmaid's tale enjoyable and accessible, easy and clear to read, yet gripping and intelligent at the same time (although i didn't like the end!!) and it didnt put me off in the same way most modern classics do (theres something so depressing and cold about them), so if anyone else is taking their first dip into this kind of genre, The Handmaid's Tale is a good place to start. Other people i've spoken to who've read it have split opinions, all admit its written strangely (i think in a good way) but either think like it or hate it. But i'd definitely say its worth the read!!

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

If i'm honest there's not really much to write about this, its a classic. I was working it out earlier that Miss. Austen started writing this around 216yrs ago (unless my maths is faulty) and yet people today can still relate to it, and the characters within. As many people have said its sort of the original chic-lit romance, with so many other stories based upon it.

I started this some time ago, yet never managed to get round to finishing it until today where i sat down and gobbled up the last 100 pages.

Character wise I liked Lizzy, although she was almost too outspoken at times, but one of the brilliant things is the way the characters faults are shown up, making them seem much more human and real to the reader. Darcy was ofc amazing, yet there was fun to be had with mr.collins, lydia bennet, and mrs.bennet also. The annoying characters are so fantastic i cant help feeling affection towardst them. Overall a good read (ofc), personally i'd reccommend getting a copy with well spaced non-bold lettering if possible, particularly if you're a bit slow on the classics like me, as when i changed copies i found this so much easier, it really saves peering and getting lost between lines. (my second one was the everyman's 'the millennium library' one, although this may be out of print.)

Touch the Dark - Karen Chance

I've recently re-read this series and am still loving it :) Thought i'd tinker my amazon review for here, as it seems wrong not to post one for a book i like so much :)

Cassie has just spent the last several years on the run from her former master, vampire crime boss Tony. At the start of the book her motivations revolve around trying to either avoid being found by him, or getting revenge. However, as the story progresses she becomes ensnared in a mess thats much more dangerous.
Touch the dark focuses a lot on the vampires, and i really like the way Karen Chance brings back people from history and hangs them into this story like choice ornaments on the christmas tree. For the most part we are not told exactly who they are, but you get hints. For example, we meet cleopatra; "it wasn't an asp that bit her, mia stella", dracula's brothers, and one who i think is marie antoinnette. There are others also. (Raphael, Rasputin...)

Characterisation is something that Chance does well, my favourite is of course pritkin, who really comes into his own in the later books :D he is described as a sort of rambo meets mad scientist and jumps out of the page at you.

Some reviewers have said they've found the plot a little confusing, but i enjoyed the twists, however, as this was my third reading i may have got used to it :P if you do find it a bit of a boggle keep going because its worth it and you will be left craving more and counting the months till the next release. Chance deals not just with one problem or storyline but holds several at once, which may confuse some people, but overall i think it makes things more interesting. Its not just problem.resove.problem.resolve. like many others. This may be an advantage or disadvantage according to tastes but i believe it to be a strong point, as while waiting for book 5 to come along i can't wait to find out which problems she tackles and how, and see how the relationships between different characters and factions develop. I am well and truly hooked. so far nothing else i've read of this genre has compared.

I've read a few people saying that they've picked this up because amazon recomended it as something to read after twilight. If it helps they are completely different, as another reviewer pointed out the only thing really in common is the vampires. Twilight is all gushing romance and sweetness, everlasting love etc. This series is more action filled and isn't meant as a teen book (although i read when was 16, so its fine if thats what you're into). If you've read twilight and are looking for more of the same id recomend checking out listmania rather than amazon's own recomendations, as its written by people with the same dilema. But that doesnt mean you won't enjoy these, they're just different and its probably good to realise that before you buy expecting more of the same. I've read both and enjoy these a lot more.

And for those who arent a fan of Mircea, the main love interest in this book, due to the slighly creepy childhood crush cassie had on him where he took on a fathery/uncle type role, he meets some competition in the later books, so don't dispair as its not all over yet :P

Hope this might be some help. I'd say its definitely worth reading and that the later books are even better. :)

R.I.P. IV Challenge

Hosted by Carl, this challenge is about all things that go bump in the night. There are seven subgenres:

• Mystery
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Dark Fantasy
• Gothic
• Horror
• Supernatural

The aim of the game it to read either 4, 2 or 1 books from any of these subgenres by October the 31st and have fun doing it :P Because i'm predicting an intense year at college i am only going to put my name down for Peril the Second, which is to read two books, but i hope to do better than that.

Its recommended to create a pool of books you'd like to read from, so im going to write down some that i have waiting on my shelves, but will look into aquiring others to read instead/aswell.

1. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
2. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
3. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen (its supposed to be a piss take of gothic horror novels)
4. The Host - Stephenie Meyer (not sure if this one counts)
5. The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
6. Dracula - Bram Stoker
7. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
   
8. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (i've tried reading this twice, but its freaked me out to much, so am going to include it, definitely spooky for me :P)
9. Agatha Christie - (have a few to choose from, ABC mysteries, Towards Zero, Onboard the Orient Express etc)
   

I also have two stories in a selection of Victorian mysteries called Nottinghill mystery and Carmilla by J. Sheridan le fanu which i dont know anything about, but may look into

Library books: Wicked - Maguire (not sure if counts as spooky :P), Kitty Goes to Washington -Carrie Vaughn, Grave Peril - Jim Butcher, Dead as a Doornail - Charlaine Harris and Sunshine by McKinley.

Ones i've had my eye on getting for a while (and this would be a good excuse :P): Inkdeath - Funke, Inkexchange - Melissa Marr, The Graveyard book - Gaiman and Breaking Dawn - Meyer (have been delaying the inevitable with that last one, too many of my friends are obsessive about it and it puts me off) some of these are probably a pretty loose interpretation of spooky, but shall see how it goes.

Personally, i think this is going to be fun :)

The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod

I'm still not quite sure what i think about this book, so it might be a little tricky to review.

The Sweet Scent of Blood is an urban fantasy novel, which was definitely enjoyable, but i also found it a little confusing in places. Here's the basic overview.

The main Character Gen is Sidhe fey, the only one in London. This makes her incredibly appealing for vampires and the like because her blood tastes particularly good to them. Gens been trying to avoid the vamps for years and is working at spellcrackers.com where she gets protection from the witches council and is relatively safe, however, when the girlfriend of a celeb vampire gets murdered, his father comes asking for her help

(which she, due to a debt being called in, unwillingly gives) this puts both her witch protection and her job in jeopardy and she becomes caught up in a power struggle between some centuries old vamps.

-Thats how things stand at the start of the book, but the plot moves on quite quickly, so lots more interesting stuff happens.

The way this is set is sort of modern day london, but rather than with some urban fantasy books, where the vamps/weres/whatever are trying to hide from the norms, this one has everything out in the open and vampires have some celebrity status so getting the 'gift' becomes incredibly fashionable. There are also quite a few different types of fey involved. The characters are quite interesting, my favourites were Hugh, (who's a troll (in the police force) coming from a tribe in the cairngorms, Scotland), Malik (a vamp) and Finn (a satyr fey, who is rather lovely :) ). The main character is also interesting- without a lot of the whining that tends to come hand-in-hand with many of the leads in this genre - so although Gen had her problems, she got on with it and didnt moan too much :) bonus :)

There were lots of twists and turns and lots of excitement, along with some interesting concepts - such as being able to turn herself into an alter-vamp ego, although sometimes a turn would leave me going 'huh?' until i read on a bit, but it all made sense in the end and was lots of fun to read, so yeah, id recomend it if you're interested in the genre but want something more than the basic whiny girl + gorgeous guy + watery plot + urban fantasy concepts dealy (or even worse, gorgeous girl + gorgeous girl + even thiner plot). Its interesting and different to most of the ones i've read and although there are possible romantic attatchments [^^] and lots of sexy characters, it doesnt take over the plot.

* * * * *

I'm reading this as part of my whats in a name challenge for the body part (its a bit weak, but blood is kindof bodypart like, and will have to do till i get something better :P) it is of course also being used in my 100+ challenge and is book number 51. :)

Whats in a Name Challenge

I was trying to stop joining challenges half way through the year, but this was too tempting to miss...

*The Challenge: Choose one book from each of the following categories.

1. A book with a "profession" in its title. Examples might include:
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (Read)
The Ranger's Apprentice - John Flannigan (Read)


2. A book with a "time of day" in its title. Examples might include:
Embrace the Night - Karen Chance (Read)
Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance (Read)
Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance (Read)


3. A book with a "relative" in its title. Examples might include:
The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards
A Friend of the Family - Lisa Jewell*

4. A book with a "body part" in its title.
The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod* (review)
'...and thats when it fell off in my hand' - Louise Rennison (Read)

5. A book with a "building" in its title.
Animal Farm - George Orwell (Read)

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title.
Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin (Read)

Okay, im not sure about some of these, if i read better ones then i shall change it. Some need their reviews linking/writing and hopefully i'll get around to that soon. Not sure if a farm counts as a builing or not though...

Reading Project

According to the BBC (BBC Big Read top 100 - this list has been passed around a bit, and can apparently be found on facebook...) the average person has only read 6 of these books, today i printed it off and counted and i am that person (i have also started 13 and had another 5 read to me) but still, bad form. Compared with the mother and she has read about 26. we have each selected five we want to read by christmas.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series
5 To Kill a Mockingbird
6 The Bible -
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (seen the bbc addaption - looks far too depressing)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - (MsNDream, parts of macbeth + romeo&juliet, sonnets)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (mum read to me)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (lion witch & wardrobe and magician's nephew)
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker (03/03/10)
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - HATEDHATEDHATEEDHATED So very much!
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - X (I think so)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Blue = own
Green = mums read to me
italics = started (generally mean to continue, just got distracted...) includes series read part of
bold = finished/read all of
Purple bold = read and own

Mum and I have each selected five we wish to read by christmas

Mum:
Far from the Madding Crowd
Tale of Two Cities
The Da Vinci Code (not sure if she'll like this, being religeous)
Catch 22
The Three Muscateeres

Me:
Pride and Predudice (Finished 18th September 2009)
Animal Farm (Finished 24th September 2009)
The Handmaid's Tale (Finished 23rd September 2009)
Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding (Finished 4th October 2009)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (Finished 23rd November 2009)

Of course i would like to read more than that, but hopefully there will be other years and i can chip away gradually, reading the woman in white and grapes of wrath and all the others that look tempting (but which im probably not going to stick to if i try now).

5 To read by end of easter hols...
Emma - Jane Austin
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
The Hitch-hiker's guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

Summer Holiday Reviews

Reviews to books i read over the summer hols that are not directly linked to the main challenges im doing can be found on my other blog, however, links to these reviews can be found on the 'Read this year:' section on the left, or within my 100+ challenge. I am trying to write reviews for most of the books i'm reading this summer (who knows, it might make me a little better at it :S) but i shall probably still skip out on books i read that i dont think other people would want to know about (i read a lot of fiction that is rather light-hearted and is unlikely to interest a great many people). Just so you know where they are, in the off chance anyone actually cares :P :) have a nice summer :) :)

TBR Challenge 2009

TBR Challenge... what i've been waiting for. yet again its late entry (but 5 months seems a long time to wait for next year, and i'll have probably forgotten/be too busy with january exams and re-takes by then) so here goes.

What stands out for me about this challenge is that your list has to be set in stone, wheras most challenges allow you to alter it, i think this is a good thing, should help to shift the stubbon tbrs of the shelf :P

I'm hoping that its alright if you use books that you've already started (most were admittedly started this year) as i find they're the worst sorts of tbrs for me (and i can count over 69 from where im sitting, not even thinking about the three underbed boxes full...) the only one thats really pushing it is the two towers, which i started years ago, but i really need something like this to help push those last few pages (also i was struggling to find 12 that were desperate tbrs, most are just hanging around waiting for my attention to fall on them. The idea is to read 12, 1 for each month (or for me, starting late, 2.4 per month or as many as i can this holiday!)

well, heres my list: (and im sure i'll regret some of the choices later, especially once i've discovered forgotten books, or remembered why i didnt get into them in the first place...)

1. Pride and Predudice - Jane Austen
2. The Singing - Alison Croggon
   
3. The Handmaid's Tale - Margarett Atwood
4. Animal Farm - George Orwell
5. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
6. Preistess of the White - Trudi Canavan
7. Bisringr - Christopher Paolini
8. Fortress of Grey Ice - J.V.Jones
9. The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
10. The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkein
11. Chocolat - Joanne Harris
    
12. Something Blue - Emily Griffin

well, there we go... set in stone. almost included l'étranger, but the blog advises that you use books that have been hanging around for over 6months, and my copy only arrived in the post today :P shall have to find some other challenge... hopefully my late joining won't be a problem :S

Bold = Completed

Raved about reads challenge

I've just found out about this on someone else's blog and have had a look at the hosting page but it appears to have been a challenge for 2008, i dont know whether it has been repeated for 2009 or not, but it says it is an ongoing one and theres no end-time, so i figured..may as well.

Raved about reads requires you to create a list containing at least 3 books that you have heard other people going on about, and then try and read them, hosted by MizB.

Okay, so heres my list, i'll probably add to it as i go along, but am going to put the names of people who have recomended them to me next to it. here goes...

• Breaking Dawn - Stephene Meyer (Too many people have raved for me to count, unfortunately they keep on giving parts of the ending away, so ahve to read soon!)
  
• The Host - Stephene Meyer (Abi, Emma etc)
  
• Darren Shann (demon series) (Abi,Ema etc)
  
• The Colour of Magic (1st discworld) - Terry Pratchett (Abi + others)
  
• The Other Bolyn Girl - Phillipa Greggory (Abi)
  
• Scarlett - Alexander Ripley (Abi again, sequel to gone with the wind, which i enjoyed, however, am unsure if its right to read the sequel when written by someone else, have also read bad reviews, shall see how things go)
• War & Peace - Tolstoy (mum, apparently i'll 'love it'...)
• North & South - Elizabeth Gaskell (mum + i love the bbc adaption)
• Bisringr - Christopher Paolini (pippa (i've read most but the writing style is so up itself i keep stopping))
• A clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgees (James - probably recomended knowing id never manage it)
• One flew over the cuckoo's nest - ? (James)
• Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (James)
  
• Animal Farm - George Orwell (James)
• 1984 - George Orwell (James)
• The Island - Victoria Hislop (Freya)
• And then there were none - Agatha Chrsitie (Freya)
• Atonement - Ian McEwan (Lydia)
• To Kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee (Just about everyone i talk to!)
  

16 to go... i hope to get at least 5 done this holiday
Links to reviews of ones i've read (am editing as i finish them)
Purple = Rread

Romance Reading Challenge 2009

Im at a bit of a loss over what to do for this challenge, the aim is to read at least 5 romance books during the year, but i've just checked through what i've read already, and every single one has romance in it (im a bit of a sucker for it, and tend to only read books if they contain some sort of romantic relationship) which would make starting the challenge now pretty pointless, however, i figure if, rather than doing it for any romance books, did it for the classic ones - the type that everyone knows about (Pride and Predudice etc) then it could work and get me to read more of them. I have already read Gone with the Wind and Persuasion, which i think i'll count, but that leaves another three...

Hosted by Naida.

Read so far:

• Pride and Predudice - Jane Austen
• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
• Persuasion - Jane Austen
• Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (Read - no review yet)

A midsummer night's dream is pretty weak in the 'cassic romance' department, so depending on how much time i have left, if i read another i may change it to something more suitable.

100+ Challenge 2009

1. Blue Moon Rising - Simon Greene
2. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
3. Tithe - Holly Black
4. Crown Duel
5. The Princess Academy - Shanon Hale
6. Club Dead - Charlaine Harris
7. Touch the Dark - Karen Chance
8. Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance
9. Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
10. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance
11. Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella
12. Eclypse - Stephene Meyer
13. Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance
14. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
15. The Rangers Apprentice, the Ruins of Gorlan - (need to find out author)
16. An offer from a Gentleman - Julia Quinn
17. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
18. Bella - Jilly Cooper
19. Persuasion - Jane Austen
20. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin
21. Kitty and the Midnight Hour - Carrie Vaughn
22. Beauty - Robin McKinley
23. Star-Crossed - Rachael Wing
24. Emily - Jilly Cooper
    
25. Minx - Julia Quinn
26. Harriet - Jilly Cooper
27. The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
28. Brighter than the Sun - Julia Quinn
29. Splendid - Julia Quinn
30. Dancing at Midnight - Julia Quinn
31. To Catch an Heiress - Julia Quinn
32. Teen Idol - Meg Cabot
    
33. How to Marry a Marquis - Julia Quinn
34. AQA Britain (1483-1529)
35. The Lost Duke of Wyndham - Julia Quinn
36. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn
37. Everything and the Sun - Julia Quinn
38. Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance (re-read)
39. A Midsummer Nights Dream - William Shakespeare
40. Resenting the Hero - Moira J Moore
41. Addition - Toni Jordan
42. Mr.Cavendish, I Presume - Julia Quinn
43. And then there were none - Agatha Christie
44. Love you to Death - Meg Cabot
45. High Stakes - meg Cabot
46. Mean Spirits - Meg Cabot
47. Young Blood - Meg Cabot
48. Grave Doubts - Meg Cabot
49. Fantastic Mr Fox - Roal Dahl
50. Heaven Sent - Meg Cabot
51. The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod
52. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
53. Magic Study - Maria V. Snyder
54. Touch the Dark - Karen Chance (again)
55. Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance (again)
56. Embrace the Night - Karen Chance (again)
57. Graceling - Kristin Cashore
58. The Secret Countess - Eva Ibbotson
59. The Singing - Alison Croggon
60. Warprize - Elizabeth Vaughan
61. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
62. Bella - Jilly Cooper (again)
63. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood
64. Animal Farm - George Orwell
65. When he was Wicked - Julia Quinn
66. Bridget Jone's Diary - Helen Fielding
67. Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging - Louise Rennison
68. Its OK, I'm wearing REALLY BIG Knickers! - Louise Rennison
69. Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas - Louise Rennison
70. Dancing in my Nuddy-Pants - Louise Rennison
71. '...and thats when it fell off in my hand' - Louise Rennison
72. '...then he ate my boy entrancers.' - Louise Rennison
73. '...startled by his furry shorts!' - Louise Rennison
74. 'Luuurve is a many trousered thing...' - Louise Rennison
75. 'Stop in the name of pants! - Louise Rennison
76. 'Are these my basoomas i see before me?' - Louise Rennison
77. Cinderella - Never-Never Land Stories
78. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Never-Never Land Stories
79. Little Red Riding Hood - Never-Never Land Stories
80. The Musicians of Breman - Fantasy Land Fairy Tales
81. Polo - Jilly Cooper
82. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
83. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn (again!)
84. The Changeover - Margaret Mahy
85. The Magic Finder - Roald Dahl
86. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
87. Minx - Julia Quinn (again)
88. Beastly - Alex Flinn
89. Everything and the Moon - Julia Quinn (again)
90. Slam - Nick Hornby
91. Brighter than the Sun - Julia Quinn (again)
92. Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
93. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
94. How to Marry a Marquis - Julia Quinn
95. Love Struck - Rachael Wing
96. Tales from Russia - James Mayhew
97. Emily - Jilly Cooper (again)
98. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance (again)
99. Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
100. Old Magic - Marianne Curley
     

100+ Challenge: To read 100+ books in 2009. these are the ones i have done so far (list can also be found on the left, where it will probably be more up to date with links to reviews etc) at the moment i think im roughly on target, hopefully the holidays will give me a good chance to eat away at the numbers some more, as i've hardly managed to read anything during term time due to hectic college schedule. Hosted by J.Kaye

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream, my first thoughts?

"Ah."

So maybe im a bit of a shakespeare newbie. Of course, i've gone through the highschool requrements, but writing an essay on Romeo & Juliet requred reading only one act and watching the movie. To be honest, the idea of a reading an entire play inspired just a teensy bit of trepidation, but if you want to know the truth... I loved it!

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy written by Shakespeare supposedly for a wedding Elizabeth I attended as a guest of honour, therefore it is romantic, lighthearted and contains the odd nod of the head to the virgin queen.

Within the play there are several storiers going on at once, which made me glad i read the introduction first! The play is starts just before the wedding of two nobles (Hippolyta and Thesus) and covers the stories of several groups of characters involved. There are the lovers, four young nobles who are connected in various ways (Hermia loves Lysander yet her father wants her to marry Demetrius, who supposedly loves her too, while Helena loves him), then there is a group of workmen who are staging a play for the happy couple, (which supposedly happened a lot in those days), these are quite entertaining to read about, then there are also The Fairies, where the fairy lord (Oberon) is trying to take a young pageboy off his queen (Titania), who refuses. Oberon then makes a bit of a mess of things by putting some sort of spell over Titania, and ordering one of his fairies to do the same to some of the lovers.

I thought before reading this that i would understand none of the language, but was pleasantly suprised, as it pretty much makes sense as you go along. I read the Oxford School version, which had lots of introduction parts (which i read the start of) and then it has some words picked out and explained, which helps in some places because there are a lot of refrences to mythology and stuff (I think the play is set in Athens), but is annoying sometimes because it explains some pretty obvious ones, yet sometimes there were combinations of words that i would have liked to check i understood properly, but there wasn't really anthing about them. If you're pretty new to Shakespeare and this slightly more archaeic style of writing then i'd recoment something like this, if only for the explanation at the begining, i found it helped having the annotations there, but was able to ignore them for most of it.

The language the play is written in is fantastic, i've always done a bit of a mental eye roll upon hearing other people say that, but its true, i think that without even understanding it you'd still be able to find enjoyment in the way the words roll and sound, which is quite beautiful. It is also very relaxing (which helps, as i read it before bed) not having read much other shakespeare theres not really much i can say to compare them, but i think this is probably a nice one to start on, its not too serious or depressing like some of the tragedies and is quite short (only 5 acts long, 9 scenes in total), so it doesnt feel like you have to wade through lots of heavy bits. The writing slips between poetry and prose, which is also quite nice.

To conclude a rather round-about review, i thought this was very good, it read nicely and i found myself wanting to go on (you always know you're onto something good when you get that book itch), it was also accessible language-wise, which helps (a lot) and left me interested in reading more of his stuff, (also good. im thinking of perhaps a bit of the old 'hubble bubble' next?).

im afraid i may have to re-write this later, but for now im just going to say that im very glad i joined this once upon a time challenge, if only because it got me to read this and openes up a whole new genre (if you'd call it that) to me...plays? who'd have thought? so thankyou very much :) i have only two days of the challenge, and three of the other books i said i'd read to go, so probably won't finish on time, but i've definitely got something out of this, which hopefully is enough, and theres always next year. good fun :)

* * * * *
I am also counting this book towards my classics challenge, although i was hoping to read all 6 Jane Austens that may no longer be achievable, therefore, for the time being i am including this and gone with the wind (both read during the challenge's open-time) as part of my six unless i read enough other books to count instead.

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Beauty is a retelling of the Fairy Tale Beauty and the Beast, which I've read for my once upon a time challenge, and also because i wanted to :P

In this version there are some differences to the famous fairy tale; Beauty is one of three sisters, and was initially named 'honour' by her mother, but nicknamed Beauty when she was young, after claiming that honour was a boring name. Her sisters Hope and Grace are both gorgeous, but beauty is comparatively plain. She likes to read books and ride her gigantic horse known as Greatheart. When her father's shipping business goes under they are all forced to move inland to the countryside and set themselves up in a blacksmith's cottage by the woodlands, but there are eery tales wispered about the woods being haunted and of there being a terrible monster residing inside. Beauty's father at one point finds himself in this dark forrest, where he is caught picking a rose for Beauty in the garden. The beast lets him go only on the condition that he will bring back one of his daughters to stay with him forever. Thinking that she would be the least missed, Beauty offers to go and here our story starts...

This is a lovely re-telling of whats probably my favourite fairy tale and its interesting reading about Beauty and Beast growing closer together, and was an soothing way to spend an afternoon. Although the story is shelved under young adult, it is accessible to all ages, probably because its just so damned nice! Thankfully it isn't condescending in the way some YA storys are, and you find yourself growing to love the beast. The characters are generally well developed and i could go on but its just genuinely nice, with some new ideas thrown into the old, well-worn fairy tale we all know and love. As always at the end of this fairytale i was left feeling happy that it was all 'dreams come true' and yet sad that the beast was gone, as its always hard to come to terms with the beast being human when you kind of grow attatched to him in his hairy form, i dont know about other people but i always feel a little put-down by the overly-perfect happy endings, in the same way i get turned off by books about love at first sight.

Anyway, enough ramblings! This is a good book and one that i recomend anyone that anyone vaguely interested in this kind of thing reads. It is my first of Mckinley's but i hear that her other works are highly praised as well and Outlaws of Sherwood should be on the way from amazon as we speak...

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel and was published after her death in 1818. Persuasion follows the story of Anne Elliot, who was persuaded out of an engagement to a poor but ambitious naval officer by her family and close friend who feared the inferiour connections. However, a recent war has enabled him [captain wentworth] to amass a considerable fortune and he has become incredibly successful. This story is about his return into her life, where he seems not to have forgiven her, yet she is still in love with him.

This is the first Jane Austen novel that i have finished (i have been halfway through pride and predudice for sometime), I really enjoyed it, although found it a little slow going with the ye olde language bits and to begin with had to keep going back and reading over bits, but thats probably because im young and unused to it. I thought that the characters were all nice to read about - JA has a way of getting you to enjoy reading about the rediculous and status-obsessed characters in her books (such as anne's sister mary), rather than getting annoyed with them. I also found it interesting reading and learning about the way these people lived in their times and the way they treated each other. It can be a bit of an eye-opener for someone brought up in modern society with virtually equal womens rights and not much of this 'decurum'.

The family relations in the novel are also quite interesting - Anne is i think the second of three daughters, with her 'foolish, spendthrift, baronet' father overlooking her and focusing his attentions upon his eldest daughter Elizabeth because she looked more like him and was still beautiful, unlike anne who had passed her 'bloom' and closer resembled her mother. He saw Anne as a nobody and his other daughter Mary didnt hold much value to him, having been married off to charles musgrove, who was their version of 'alright'. The family finds themself in financial straits and so lease out the house to admiral croft, who also happens to be the husband of the sister of captain wentworth (the guy anne had had an 'understanding' with). This throws their lives together once more.

All in all an enjoyable read, which i cant really find any faults with. I think quite a lot of people enjoy reading persuasion, despite it not being as popular as pride and predudice and sense and sensibility. For anyone who likes Jane Austen but who hasnt read it yet then i'd say give it a go, and for anyone who has seen the film but not read the book; although quite similar its not entirely faithful to the text. Persuasion didnt particularly grab me, as was able to read other books at the same time, but I wouldnt be suprised to see myself re-reading this in a few years, once i've got a few others under my belt.

A-Z Challenge

Every day i keep finding more of these and can't resist. But this is the last. :|:|

Hosted by Becky ( think i might finally have figured that linking thing out) and requires you to read one book for every letter of the alphabet, with several different options for going about it. I am going to be my usual overly ambitious self and try Option C - one list for titles, one list for authors, but im going to cheat and backlog to when the challenge started (Jan 1st) not entirely sure when it ends though....
Ah well, wish me luck :)

Once Upon a Time III

Okay, so i couldn't resist joining another challenge, it appears that once upon a time is a major favourite came to my attention. It is hosted by Carl and offers a range of different quests. I have chosen 'Quest the Second' teemed (hopefully) with 'Quest the Third'. Quest the second requires four books to be read, one from each of the following categories:

*Mythology
*Folk lore
*Fantasy
*Fairy Tale

I think it might be harder choosing books for each categories than actually reading them, but they are genres i enjoy, so it should be fun :) Quest the third ties in with in with Quest the Second but involves either reading or going to see a performance of A midsummer nights dream. That part is also likely to be a challenge, as i havent read any Shakespeare beyond what was required of us at high school and a few sonnets, but hopefully it will be fun :> wa-hey to new experiences!

My pool of ideas is posted on the left under the appropriate logo, but still not sure about a few of them. Hopefully once i start reading i will find it easier to define the categories to put things in, but i guess quite a few books cover moore than one. Folklore and mythology have been particularly tricky for me to think of, as i havent read much of either, but am going to have a look at the library tomorrow and see what i see. For folk lore i keep going back to robin hood and ghost stories, so probably need to think more outside the box. I've been looking at other people's ideas and charles de lint seems quite poplular, so may sample some of his work too. Its all rather exciting, and am looking forward to trying new things.

P.S. Apologies for any excessive italic-ing and use of bold, i am like a child with a new toy now i've discovered it. Having to keep going back and fixing my blog-ignorant mistakes.

The Classics Challenge:

Hosted by Trish.

I have chosen to attempt the 'Classics Feast' and try to read 6 classics and one bonus book (one that should/will become a classic) between 1st April and 31st October 2009. Apparently its classics by our own definition, so modern classics included. I'm not entirely certain of my choices yet, and am changing them as i go along (and updating this post), I have got as far as:

1. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (Finished april-may)
   
2. Pride & Predudice - Jane Austen (Fin 18th Sept)
   
3. Persuasion - Jane Austen (fin April 20th)
   
4. Animal Farm - George Orwell (Finished September sometime)
   
5. To Kill a mockingbird - Harper lee (didn't finish in time)
   
6. A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare (Fin 18th June)
   
7. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (Finished september sometime)
   

As you can see this is all a little undecided, i'm also considering options such as Dr.Jekyl and Mr Hyde by R.L.Stevenson, Emma by Jane Austen, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and a number of others. The list above, and the one to the side of my blog will probably change frequently, so apoligies for that. (02/07/09)

If anybody has any suggestions or ideas they would be very helpful and most welcome as i am new to this whole thing and a little uncertain. Are there any classic books that are particularly good for getting started on and not too intimidating? Despite my mother's encouragement i still think Dickins is beyond me...