Tag: Reading

Random

Shakespeare On The Coffee Table (via 101books.net)

Geoff W

I’ve read Robert’s blog, 101 Books, for quite some time now and not only is it informative and witty, it’s incredibly entertaining.  One of the best observations in this piece:

“We read crap we don’t want to read just to say we’ve read it. Or maybe we don’t read crap we don’t want to read, but we still say we’ve read it.”

I really enjoyed this particular piece and wanted to share it with everyone (hopefully he’s cool with that).  Sorry if you all follow him and have already seen it, if you don’t follow him, you should!

CHECK IT OUT: Shakespeare On The Coffee Table.

Updates

May 2012 Recap

Geoff W

Sometimes you just have to hate WordPress. I had an entire post written and apparently the autosave didn’t work so when Firefox crashed I lost it. UGH. This will be a ‘snippy’ post because I’m now grumpy that WordPress didn’t save my stuff and Firefox crashed.

Memorial Day weekend Tom and I drove up to Maine.  We stayed with his parents and just relaxed.  I didn’t read as much as I wanted to, but I did start (and have since finished) Mansfield Park.  the photo to the right is from our last night out by the lake (yes we were making smores), which was spent having a cookout and playing horseshoes (which I’m not great at but did score a few points). It was a lovely weekend and was a much-needed breather from the city.

Book Buying Ban
So I’m going on a book buying ban. I did really well the first part of the year, but in March and April I went a little crazy and ended up with 10-15 (maybe more) new books added to my TBR shelf.  So Friday night I decided to go through my shelf to find out how many books are on there and there are 75 book waiting to be read, and this doesn’t even include all of those on my Kindle!  Now that’s not a lot of books compared to some people’s lists I’ve seen, but that’s too many for me!  I don’t really have the space to have those books just lying around and I don’t think they should just sit there.  So no new books for me for a while at least (I’m taking it a month at a time).  Hopefully I can make a dent on the shelf – but not all this year.

Challenge Progress

  • Mount TBR Reading Challenge
    • May Progress: 2 books
    • Overall Progress – 16/25 (64%)
  • Back to the Classics Challenge
    • May Progress: 1 book
    • Overall Progress – 3/9 (33%)
  • Tea and Books Reading Challenge
    • May Progress: 0 books
    • Overall Progress – 6/8 (75%)
  • The Classics Club
    • May Progress: 3 books
    • Overall Progress – 6/85 (7%) 6/100 (6%)

That’s about it for the month of May.  I started to read The Bird of Night by Susan Hill this weekend after finishing Mansfield Park (which is technically June but eh).  I also used random.org (only the 2nd time I’ve used it) to pick my next challenge read and it selected Anna Karenina which is part of all three of my 2012 Challenges and The Classics Club.

Books

Book 111: Howards End is on the Landing – Susan Hill

Geoff W

Every book blogger should read this memoir at some point. I don’t remember when I first came across the title but it’s been in the back of my mind to read for quite some time, but funnily enough never made it to my to-be-read list. (Book bloggers, this may be contentious, but if you don’t want to read the post at least check out a quote on book bloggers and modern reading in the middle of the post and the following paragraph.)

This is one of my ‘take a break from challenges and read whatever I want novels’ and so counts for nothing other than a great book and a good source for future books to read. (If you read Howards End is on the Landing, be prepared for your to-be-read and to-be-re-read lists to grow dramatically.) Prior to reading this novel I knew nothing about Susan Hill, but having finished the novel I feel like I know her a little better, or could at least hold a conversation with her. There is something very intimate about publicly sharing your list of 40 books you would keep if you could only keep 40 for the rest of your life.

Click here to continue reading.

Updates

May 2012 Update

Geoff W

All sorts of exciting stuff happened this past month and so far this month.  Not really, but it’s a great way to start a blog post right?!  However, that’s an awesome photo to the left isn’t it? Last week, Tom and I took a day off in the middle of the week to see Anderson Cooper speak at Tom’s alma mater, Salem State University, but AC cancelled at the last-minute. And all I have to say to that is, DAMN YOU WORLD EVENTS!

However, when trying to decide what to do with our time I asked the best question any good bibliophile can ask, ‘Are there any good used book stores around?’ Well, after a quick search I found Derby Square Books and that’s where these AWESOME photos took place. Photo 1 (above is the view when you walk in the door) and Photo 2 is me so overwhelmed I didn’t even know where to start!

Once I had a few moments to take it all in Tom took the photo to the left.  I’m pointing at the Science Fiction/Fantasy sign even though I was looking mostly at classics.  IF you look closely you can already see I have one book in hand.  As an aside, Tom didn’t spend a lot of time reading before he met me, however, slowly but surely I’m turning him into a reader!  He is currently reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and just finished Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho and has quite a few others lined up for this summer.

Click here to continue reading.

2012 Challenges, Books, The Classics Club

Book 108: Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë

Geoff W

A love story to make you smile. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Agnes Grey and although it was somewhat predictable, I felt it was well written and worthy of its place in the Brontë compendium. (Not the right word, someone help me!)

Reading Agnes Grey has even inspired me to follow it up with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne’s second novel. Agnes Grey counts for both my Mount TBR Challenge (13 of 25 – 52%) and The Classics Club (3 of 85 – 4%).

Let’s start with the end. I rarely leave the last line of a novel uncovered because it might hint at something, but this one doesn’t reveal anything and it was so finite that it just made me laugh and truly appreciate the way in which Anne Brontë wrote the novel.

“And now I think I have said sufficient.”

The finiteness of this line is perfect. It doesn’t allow for conversation or for interpretation – it says what it means and closes the novel succinctly. I feel as if I should close all of my email sand blog posts with said line, as it’s so cheeky and yet, somewhat humorously, sufficient.

Click here to continue reading.