This challenge has to be done. Not only because of the fabulous name and picture, but also because sharing the books you love is what these blogs are all about! So, as designed by Renay, the challenge is this. Make a list of ten books that you love and post them on your blog, and email them to Renay. Then pick three books from the masterlist and read these between May 1st and November 30th. Of course you can all read more than three, and I’m sure most of us will!
Finding a list of ten books that I love was hard, because I had far too many. So I’ve chosen a list that says a lot about me as a person and a reader, and that has a least some variety, with a couple of non-fiction and a classic kids book thrown in! And if you haven’t read Peter Pan…why not!!?
- I Dreamed of Africa – Kuki Gallmann (building a life on a ranch in kenya, with poetry and humour, tragedy and hope...my favourite book ever)
- The Secret History – Donna Tartt (five eccentric students delve far too deep into ancient greek rites, resulting in blackmail and murder)
- The Goose Girl – Shannon Hale (a beautiful retelling of a classic fairytale)
- The Last Samurai – Helen Dewitt (the child prodigy, raised with the seven samurai as his role models, searches for his father out of seven acquaintences of his mother)
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke (the tale of two rival magicians in 19th century England, and their struggle for the future of English magic)
- Astonishing Splashes of Colour – Clare Morrall (the heartbreaking tale of one member of a dysfunctional family trying to make sense of her own unconventional life)
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte (the classic story of a poor but independant governess and her relationship with her gruff employer at the mysterious Thornfield Hall)
- The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment – Isabel Losada (one woman's hilarious journey to find true happiness...new age style!)
- Peter Pan – JM Barrie (enough said)
- Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer (following the footsteps of Chris McCandless who left everything behind to journey into the Alaskan wilderness with tragic consequences)
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
- Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
- The Complete Maus - Art Spielgman
Though I'd also like to read Lolita and this Charles de Lint fella everyone keeps talking about!! Happy Reading!
7 comments:
Yes, yes...read the deLint fella! You'll love him! I read Rebecca last year and it wound up in my top 10 of the year. It was an incredible book. I'd really like to read some more DuMaurier...maybe this year for the RIP Challenge. I've been wanting to read The Complete Maus too, that one sounds great. I'm reading Everything is Illuminated by Foer for this challenge. The movie was great, have you seen it?
I keep trying to read Peter Pan and not making it through; I'm not sure why. I think I didn't expect the writing style to be so particular. I'm going to keep trying, though! There's so many Peter Pan spinoffs out there that sound fantastic, and I want to read them!
I am also, seriously going to read Clarke's book, it's been recced to me 10,000 times in the last year.
Thanks for joining the challenge!
Carl - ok you've persuaded me! But where should I start? He's written so many! Glad to hear Rebecca has the thumbs up, I've wanted to read it for a long while. I've not seen Everything is Illuminated yet, but it is on my TBW list! I think I'll start with Extremely Loud as I borrowed it from a friend and really should give it back!
Bottle-of-Shine - I have several friends who have struggled with the writing style of Peter Pan. I think the story just resonated with me, or maybe I read it at just the right time? Plus the copy I had as a child had such wonderful illustrations! You must must read Jonathan Strange though!
The fact that everyone is joining this challenge and picking fantastic books that I really want to read is making resisting really really hard.
I love Jonathan Safran Foer - I hope you like him too! And I read Maus this year, and it's one of my favourites of the year so far. It's a really powerful book.
I am sure I have The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment somewhere... Cool list. Definitely try Lolita, it's written so beautifully. As for Charles de Lint, don't buy any yet as I might have one for your at home already ;) I would recommend Waifs and Strays as a starting point though. It's a collection of his short stories with teenagers as the main characters spanning his entire back catalogue of worlds and characters so it gives you a really good introduction. I just read The Onion Girl which I loved as well and hope to read the follow up Widdershins.
He has a lot of books based in his invented town Newford. Once you have read one you can read any of the others as there are lots of familiar names cropping up. The short stories should introduce you to them nicely though. I have a review on my blog and so does Nymeth who I recommended it to as well if you are interested.
I just finished The Blue Girl which takes place in his fictional town of Newford and I fell in love with it...wonderful book. My first book of his was Greenmantle and that was amazing and the other I've read of his was Moonheart which was also great. I'd say The Blue Girl or Moonheart...Moonheart has more of a woodsy, tribal, urban fantasy feel...The Blue Girl is more of a modern Urban Fantasy Faerie story. You pick!
Thanks guys! I first heard of de Lint from rhinoa a while ago, but had no idea he had written so many books, nor that he was so popular! I look forward to my first de Lint experience!
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