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. :)