Good day ladies and gentleman,
After trying and failing the 888 challenge I decided not to join the 999 one, but due to the beehive-like activity of the group (which means that there always one thread near the top of the talk page), not currently doing any other challenges and wanting to give my reading a little more focus I've decided to join the challenge.
These are my categories:
1| It wasn't me (Crime / Mystery) (1)
2| Once upon a time (Fantasy / Fairy tales) (1)
3| Zijn we d'er toch ingetuind! (Dutch / German) (1)
4| What have I gotten myself into (1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die)
5| The old world (English classics) (1)
6| The improbable made possible (Science Fiction / Alternate history) (2)
7| And the winner is... (Booker / Pulitzer) (2)
8| The new world (American classics) (1)
9| Comic books with better binding (Graphic Novels)
10| The young ones (books published within the last ten years)
I doubt I'll be able to read ten books in every category, but with a head-start of three months I'm hoping to read five books in each category with more in others so that by connecting the dots it will resemble a difficult mountain stage in the Tour de France.
The possibilities are my on my current TBR-shelf so I'll be reading those, but not all of them (Ulysses I'm looking at you).
Message edited by its author, Nov 17, 2009, 6:57pm.
3| Zijn we d'er toch ingetuind! (Dutch / German) (1)
Franz Kafka –
The castlePossibilities:
Message edited by its author, Nov 16, 2009, 10:05am.
Comic books with better binding (Graphic Novels)
Possibilities:
Alan Moore -
WatchmenMessage edited by its author, Oct 15, 2009, 4:47pm.
The young ones (books published within the last ten years)
Possibilities:
Richard Dawkins -
The God DelusionGreat categories!
I'll be reading both
Ulysses and
Stranger in a Strange Land for my 101010 challenge this year, so I'll be back to see if you decide to read them and, if so, what you think!
Thanks,
I share your opinion on
The Handmaid's Tale (good, but not great) so I'll be following your thread to see what you make of the books you mentioned.
Already finished my first book before starting this thread:
TH White -
The once and future kingThere are people on LT who are better at writing reviews so I'll contend myself with saying that I really enjoyed his writing (apart from a few poor jokes in the first book), the story he told and the comments he made.
9/10
Great categories, I'll be following your thread. Good luck with your challenge!
@paruline:
Thanks
@kristenn
I very much enjoyed
Kafka on the Shore for about 4/5 of the book; I'm hoping I'll enjoy
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles 5/5.
I've added a ticker for a 100 to make it a real challenge as I usually read about 50 books per year.
Also finished my second book:
A Demon in My View which I found a bit predicable and too neat if I'm honest. The book did improve my opinion of American Psycho, because it improved my limited knowledge on psychopathy. So I've read a “better“ book from the viewpoint of a Psychopath and also better romance stories; I think the book was too short to successfully combine the two.
6/10
Message edited by its author, Oct 16, 2009, 9:47pm.
Finished my third novel for this challenge and my first Wells:
The First Men on the Moon. Though I liked his ideas I found the execution a bit lacking; the characters were stereotypes and the prose was unimaginative.
7,5/10
>16, HG Wells is one of my favorite authors, but only because of his ideas. I too find his prose and characterization lacking, but his ideas are so great - especially when you consider how ahead of his time he was. He envisioned a massive aerial battle in
The Sleeper Awakes nearly 5 years before the Wright brothers are credited with accomplishing the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight and over ten years before aircraft were first used in military combat. Although most of his books are hardly what I would consider great literature, I am on a quest to read them all to further enjoy his imagination.
I tend to agree with about Wells. I find him a bit dry but I sometimes I reckon that it works in his favour.
War of the Worlds I felt was quite nicely understated :)
Charlotte Bronte -
Jane EyreI was spellbound for most of the book, but for a small section which I found a bit preachy and grandiose, by the beautiful prose, the interesting characters and the great story. If it wasn't for the aforementioned section and a too-neat coincidence I would have awarded the book a ten.
9,5/10
Cormac McCarthy –
The roadI fail to see why this book won so many accolades.
6/10
>20
It's bleak, that's for sure, but certainly evocative. I gave it 4/5 stars, but I can see why it won acclaim.
It's bleak, but I wasn't expecting a post-apocalyptic tale to be cheerful, pleasant.
The very disappointing ending, the two-dimensional characters and the very simple prose are enough for me to not rate it very highly.
I am becoming much more interested in trying
The Road it seems to draw out such differences of opinion!
Looking forward to read what you think when you decide to read it.
I loved
Stranger in a Strange Land when I read it a few decades ago. Last year, not so much. It's a great story that should have been told in about 1/3 of the length. The out-of-date sexist mores are pretty tough to take, but they'd be less annoying without the out-of-date endless philosophizing.
Did you read the uncut version last year?
They cut about a third in the original, but if they had cut the endless philosophizing out of the last half alone, which would have made it a better novel, there wouldn't be much left (of the last half). The last half was very thin on story.
>27
I thought it was the original published version, but I'm not sure now. At any rate, it didn't age well, and I was very disappointed, since I had fond memories.
I look forward to seeing what you think of your reading this year! I'll also be reading a Dickens (not sure which one to start with) and some fairy tales. Have you heard of R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated? I heard the author on Talk of the Nation last week and saw some of the pages online....very intriguing. Could be an option for your Graphic Novel category. I also see that you've listed
The God Delusion - awesome book!!
Will it be your first be Dickens? It will be for me; so I'll probably read only one (and maybe A Christmas Carol too around Christmas) for this challenge, because if I like his book I don't want to read too many at once and if I don't I won't be reading another one for a while.
I've bookmarked R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated, but I'm not sure I should take advice from someone who only rated
Nineteen Eighty-Four two stars ;)
Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 8:15am.
John Steinbeck –
Of Mice and MenI really liked it; though it did read more like a play then a novel. The only thing I disliked was that all the characters had an accent, which of course to be expected as most people have one, but it did make it a little hard to follow sometimes (a dictionary being no help). Definitely going to read more of his novels.
9/10
Did I really only rate 1984 two stars?? Hmmmm........
Good categories and book choices. Many have been on my 'I'll get to it eventually' list. I'll be looking forward to your comments on them.
Franz Kafka –
The castleNot very likable characters, uninteresting story, setting and everyone speaks exactly the same.
The only somewhat interesting bit for me was the Barnabas family, the rest mostly bored me.
5/10
Don't you hate it when a classic or award-winner disappoints?
I "hate" it when I dislike a book I bought because I thought I would enjoy it; doesn't really matter whether it is considered a classic, has won awards or not. Though the expectations for a classic or award-winning book are probably higher.
Ernest Hemmingway –
The Old Man and the SeaMaybe I'm too young to fully appreciate it; should probably reread in a decade (or two). Though I didn't greatly enjoy his prose.
7/10
Oddly enough, that's what I was thinking of in my previous post. I remember thinking "what's all the fuss?"
I'm guessing it's like modern art: "Other people see things in my paintings that I didn't even know I put there" roughly paraphrased from a short story by Camus. I hugely prefer it if the author doesn't leave it to me to see the meaning of his/her book.
For me
The Old man and the Sea is a (very) simple story about a poor fisherman who does the only thing he knows: fish. Not much more.
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