Tag: Reading

Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – August 2012 Meme

Geoff W

I don’t usually participate in memes, other than the random ones I do in my head, but I think I’ll participate in The Classics Club meme as it’s only once a month and it’s such a great community. If you haven’t checked it out, click the image to the right! Or click here. (I feel like most of you regular commenters are already a part of it!)

My instinct was to say one of the Jane Austen novels. I’ve read each of them at least once and most of them at least twice and I did read my favorite already for this challenge, Mansfield Park – but I decided not to go with Jane Austen.  My next thought was to go with one of the ‘young adult’ novels that I love like something by Madeline L’Engle, J.K. Rowling or Louisa May Alcott, but I vetoed that too.

And then I realized rather than choosing my favorite classic of all time, I’m going to choose my favorite classic I’ve read for the challenge so far. I don’t read a lot of classics in general, as you can see by my very short re-read list for this challenge, so I’m using this challenge to broaden my classic (primarily Western) literature reading.

Click here to continue reading and to see my choice!

Updates

July 2012 Recap

Geoff W

This will be a very short post as I did NOTHING for my challenges last month and it was GREAT!  I did however read two ARCs (The Absolutist and The Secret Lives of Codebreakers), three library books (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy and The Man Who Knew Too Much) and re-read the first four Harry Potter novels.  Nine books isn’t bad for a month, especially as I relaxed and enjoyed them and didn’t have to worry about posting (even though I did) or about meeting numbers for a challenge.  July was also the two-year anniversary of The Oddness of Moving Things and I did a general recap of the past year.

Challenge Progress
Just to keep this post somewhat standard, I’ve kept this section in.  Nothing has changed from last month so I remain at 20/31 (65%).  I plan on reading Great Expectations as my next book once I finish the Harry Potter series.

  • Mount TBR Reading Challenge
    • May Progress: 0 books
    • Overall Progress – 18/25 (72%)
  • Back to the Classics Challenge
    • May Progress: 0 books
    • Overall Progress – 5/9 (56%)
  • Tea and Books Reading Challenge
    • May Progress: 0 books
    • Overall Progress – 7/8 (89%)
  • The Classics Club
    • May Progress: 0 books
    • Overall Progress – 9/100 (9%)
Updates

Lunchbreak Interlude VIII

Geoff W

It’s July.  It’s hot and humid and I don’t want to be in an office right now.  I don’t really want to be outside in the heat either, so the real question is how do I escape?  And we ALL know the answer to that…READING! 😀  (And as no post is complete without at least one picture – look at the great quote.  I’m not sure where I found it, but it’s one of the two backgrounds on my phone at the moment.)

I’ve decided to take the month of July off on my reading challenges.  It’s a bit late in the month to inform everyone, but as I’ve not read any and don’t plan on reading any I thought I should make it official.  I’ve enjoyed reading the random books I have read and just picking up whatever I want.  I’m comfortable doing this as I’m over 50% on all of my challenges and still have 6 months to go.

Click here to continue reading, and to find out the origin of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.’

Updates

June 2012 Recap

Geoff W

I don’t have any pictures to start this recap, but there are plenty below (at the end).  June was a slow month on the reading front, but it was incredibly rewarding.  I started (and finished) Anna Karenina and thoroughly enjoyed it (even if it took 21 days to finish).  In addition I completed my re-read of Mansfield Park and read The Bird of Night, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Phantom of Pemberley.

Challenge Progress
I made major headway on my challenges as multiple books counted for multiple challenges.  Overall for the year I am 20/31 (65%) on challenges and this past month put me over the 50% level on EVERY 2012 challenge!

  • Mount TBR Reading Challenge
    • May Progress: 2 books
    • Overall Progress – 18/25 (72%)
  • Back to the Classics Challenge
    • May Progress: 2 book
    • Overall Progress – 5/9 (56%)
  • Tea and Books Reading Challenge
    • May Progress: 1 books
    • Overall Progress – 7/8 (89%)
  • The Classics Club
    • May Progress: 3 books
    • Overall Progress – 9/100 (9%)

Random Awesomeness
It was  an interesting month for finding random stuff about books online. I’ve pulled out the three I found to be most exciting/interesting and they are below.

Click here to continue reading.

Updates

Lunch Break Interlude VI

Geoff W

So apparently this is turning into a regularly occurring post – which is great, but who knows if it’ll last 😀   I’m making my way through Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I didn’t know if I would like it this much, but geez it is a LONG book.  I’m just over half way through (pg. 604) and will have to take a break when I get to Part 5 (in about 40 pages) to read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for my Books into Film book group next Monday.

So you know how I’ve been on a book ban for June – well it’s going decently well.  I ‘accidentally’ (not really, but I’m sticking to that story) bought A Weekend with Mr. Darcy by    Victoria Connelly for $2.99 for a fun light summer read later this summer (it reminded me a lot of What Would Jane Austen Do?). But the best part is, coming home from the gym Saturday morning (GO ME!) there were two boxes of free books at the end of the street and I of course went through them 😀 I picked up a copy of A.S. Byatt’s Still Life and Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire (this makes me nervous) for me and there was a copy of Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha I picked up for Tom (and I’ll probably re-read).

Click here to continue reading.