Author: Geoff W

Reading my way through life.
Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – December 2012 Meme

Geoff W

This might be my shortest post ever!

For the month of December the hosts of The Classics Club have asked us to share your favorite memory of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. have you ever read it? If not, will you? Why should others read it rather than relying on the film adaptations?

Well, as I said short and simple. I haven’t read it and I don’t know if I ever will. Dickens’ and I have a rocky relationship after A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. I’m not necessarily opposed to reading it, but I don’t know if I’ll go out of my way to read it.

I will say that I LOVED The Muppet Christmas Carol from the early 1990s. I was the right age for it and I thought it was amazingly wonderful. Maybe I’ll watch that this year and it’ll inspire me to go and read the original.

2013 Challenges

2013 Challenge Announcement!

Geoff W

2013 Back to the Classics ChallengeI have finally got my act together and sorted out my 2013 Challenges! I managed to keep the same three challenges (Mount TBR Reading Challenge, Tea & Books Reading Challenge and Back to the Classics Challenge) while only officially signing up for 14 books! And as an added bonus 12 of the 14 books will qualify for The Classics Club!

2013 Tea & Books Reading ChallengeFirst, I hope the challenge hosts don’t think I’m coping out! I really wanted to participate in all of the challenges again for the lovely people I’ve met, but didn’t want to over extend myself this year and thus this magnificent feat. I will definitely be upgrading for the Mount TBR challenge as I’m planning on spending the majority of this year reading books I already own, but I’m only committing to the lowest level for now. I plan

2013 Mount TBR Reading ChallengeSecond, I hope all you readers appreciate just how much this took! I seriously negotiated with myself, most often out loud, for over a week about what books I should and shouldn’t include! It’s quite funny when you think about it. I would add a book to the list and then immediately remove it because I knew I could find a book to meet another challenge requirement!

A few unique things about the lists:

  • I am participating at the following levels:
    • Back to the Classics: 11 books Full – All 6 required and 5 optional.
    • Mount TBR: 12 books – Pike’s Peak (will probably end up near Mt. Ararat)*
    • Tea & Books: 4 books – Berry Tea Devotee
  • Every book qualifies for more than one challenge.
  • Two books are re-reads: To Kill A Mockingbird and Wuthering Heights
  • One book qualifies for all three challenges: Les Misérables
  • There are seven each of physical and Kindle books (Check out that symmetry!)

And without further ado, click here to visit my 2013 Challenge Lists!

*I most certainly will be upgrading on the Mount TBR challenge. MY MAJOR GOAL FOR THE YEAR IS TO READ PRIMARILY BOOKS I ALREADY HAVE. On December 31st I plan on taking a snap shot of my ‘bookshelf’ list on here and using that as my official 2013 Library.

Books

Book 161: The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien

Geoff W

[Check out my 2014 updated review when I re-read it as part of my 30×30 project.]

What is there to say about this wonderful book that hasn’t already been said in some way or some form? Not much honestly, so this isn’t much of a review. It’s more a response/regurgitation of my immediate thoughts having finished reading it Wednesday evening.

I’m glad I squeezed in a re-read of The Hobbit this year for a couple of reasons: it’s the 75th anniversary of its original publication; I haven’t re-read it since high school; the first of the films comes out this year; and there was an awesome panel at the 2012 Boston Book Festival about the book, the movie, the previous adaptations and the associated artwork.

Click here to continue reading.

Book Group, Books, Quotes

Book 160: Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin

Geoff W

Levin, Ira - Rosemary's BabyWhat a messed up novel. And I mean that in a really good way. Like I’m shaking my head saying to myself, ‘What in the world?’ I mean seriously, where do authors come up with ideas like this? I’m sure Levin at some point discussed it in an interview, but I don’t really want to know it’s that strange.

(Also, in honor of the occult in this novel, I’m posting this on 12/12/12 at 12:12. Haahaa! – It just happened to be ready to be posted on 12/12/12 and I was like might as well post it at 12:12)

I read Rosemary’s Baby for our Books into Movies book group at the local library, and for lack of a better word, it was an interesting read. Perhaps strange is a better word, or odd, but not like oh this is strange, but like what a strange ass story. Regardless, this book once again reaffirms why I am glad that I participate in a book group with such a wide range of individuals. It takes me out of my reading comfort-zone and introduces me to some pretty interesting and weird novels. I’m strangely looking forward to the film if only because it is such an iconic thriller, and from the introduction I know that it stays close to the book.

Click here to continue reading.

Books, Quotes

Book 159: By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept (And On the Seventh Day #1) – Paulo Coelho

Geoff W

Coelho, Paulo - By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and WeptThis is Coelho’s second book I’ve read and although it wasn’t as good as The Alchemist, it was still incredibly well written and moving. I do have a couple more of his books on my shelf and plan on saving them for when I need a break from other books. However, I might need to read the other two books in the ‘trilogy’ (according to Wikipedia) Veronika Decides to Die and The Devil and Miss Prim sooner rather than later.

Deepika, over at Purplebooky reviewed this book and there’s really not much more to add. It’s a deceptively simple love story with religion interwoven and provides a lot of lessons on love, life and faith. Compared to The Alchemist, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept lacked some impact (the love was definitely there, it just wasn’t as powerful) and the story is a bit less monumental. This is definitely not a bad thing because the simpleness of this story is part of what makes it so beautiful.

Click here to continue reading.