Tag: Reading

Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – January 2013 Meme

Geoff W

For January the hosts of The Classics Club have asked a relatively simple question, What is the best book you’ve read so far for The Classics Club—and why?, which I’ve already answered here (Go, Anne Brontë! Go!). So I will be doing part two, Or, if you prefer, what is your least favorite read so far for the club, and why?

My first thoughts were that I really wished there were a simple answer, like that I had a burning passionate hate against one book, but I don’t really. As with most books, I have found something to enjoy and something that’s not quite how I would like it. However, the more I thought about it, one did come to mind. You might think it’s Dickens, who I feel needed a good editor – TOO much in the middles, or you might think it was one of the Russians, but no not them either. It was the lovely local Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables.

I mean, I said it in the first sentence of my response to the book: “Very long review short: I didn’t like this book.” You can go there to read my response if you’re actually interested in it. Just suffice to say I had issues with just about everything in the book and I definitely don’t remember The Scarlett Letter being that difficult and I read that in high school – when I HATED reading anything I didn’t want to read.

Hopefully there aren’t many more than can knock this out of the bottom slot, because if there are it is going to be a long four-and-a-half more years to go in my conquest of (some of) the Classics.

2013 Challenges, Books, Quotes

Book 168: 1Q84 – Haruki Murakami

Geoff W

It may have taken two weeks to read this book, but it was completely worth it. I don’t know the last time I’ve spent this much time basking in the beauty and wonderment of a novel. 1Q84 counts for my 2013 Mount TBR and Tea & Books challenges. Now on to my response, which is jumpy and hardly all-inclusive, but hopefully it portrays some of the wondrousness this novel is. Let’s just say I can’t wait to read more Murakami, regardless of if it’s a mind fck like Kafka on the Shore or this, which is also technically a mind fck.

How does one even begin to classify Murakami. From the two books I’ve read the only things I can definitely say are that he defies genres and bucks trends, is incredibly well versed in classic literature and music and popular culture (films and music) and his descriptions are so vivid you don’t have to strive to imagine things because you see them completely formed in front of you. What I can appreciate is Murakami usually drops a line into his books which perfectly explain the books (so far, again I’ve only read two) and this books is (NOT A REAL SPOILER, but maybe skip the quote if you don’t want to know anything – the rest is okay though.), Click here to continue reading

Updates

December (and 2012) Recap

Geoff W

What a year. Good things happened. Bad things happened. And I read a lot of books. That pretty much sums it up for me. Not going to delve into personal life and 2013 resolutions because, well, I don’t want to.

I don’t say it enough, but thank you to everyone who reads my little spot on the internet. I truly appreciate the amazing people I’ve met over the past 2.5 years and am looking forward to meeting more and interacting with new people in 2013!

2012 = Too Many BooksI finished all three of my challenges with 30 books and read a grand total of 81 books in 2012. According to Goodreads I read 32,866 pages. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but who cares, I read a lot! My original goal was 60 books, five books a month, and that will stand for 2013. I’m sure I will surpass it again this year, but I will not increase that goal because reading should be about fun and not about numbers. There are definitely other cool facts I could share, but go and explore and find out!

And the photo above, is why I am doing my best to go on a book buying ban for the first six months of 2013.My bookshelf is so far beyond overflowing I HAVE to start clearing it off. This will be difficult as I have over $100 in gift cards to various bookstores, but I can do it! There are only two exceptions to this rule: I can purchase a book (with a gift card) for book group and if the fifth book of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel is released in Paperback I can purchase it.  My to-be-read list (physical and Kindle) has surpassed 175 and I need to trim it down. If I read only 50 books a year I’m already looking at 4 years almost on my shelf alone! Not to mention the 275 other books on my dream list to read at some point.

Click here to continue reading.

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.