If you need some extra motivation to finish all your challenges this year then join the I Suck at Challenges Challenge . You'll find support and understanding about your challenge obsession (except first we will most likely laugh at you for taking on so many reading challenges - I mean just add up all the books dude!).
This year I think you all know I've taken on way too many challenges. There's:
Victorian Reading
World Citizen Reading
YA Reading
Reading Dangerously
Science Reading
Art History Reading
Reading Dewey's Books
What's in a Name?
9 for 09
Planet Earth Reading
Astronomy Reading (yeah I snuck that in under the radar)
Chunky Reading (which I am massively looking forward to starting in February0
and finally that massive Olympics 2012 challenge.
Yes I'm pretty sure that's it. Ummm...yes.
In order for me to finish all my challenges this year I will need to read over 60 books (more than I read last year). Strangely even if I read all the books involved in these challenges there will still be about twice that many left unread in our house.
I'm getting help people, it's truely an addiction.
It's the last day of January tomorrow so I'm aiming to finish my seventh book of the year so I can count it towards my January total for The Year of Readers . I have taxis to order, a hair appointment and a birthday party to attend but I also only have about sixty pages to go! Wish me luck.
Friday, 30 January 2009
The Great Stink - Clare Clark
After reading the back of Clare Clark’s ‘The Great Stink’ I was expecting to read an entertaining but reasonably cozy historical murder mystery. Take a gander and see if you think that idea was justified:
“Through the city sewers walks surveyor and ex-soldier William May, just back from the horrifying brutality of the Crimean front and hiding from his own demons in the darkness beneath the capital’s street. But when May stumbles across a body in the tunnels, his discovery draws him into a maelstrom of underworld corruption that drags both himself and those closest to him further into depths from which there may be no possibility of light – or return…”
From this description William sounds like your typical damaged yet resilient murder mystery hero. He may be disturbed by war but essentially he’s a solid, together man, perfectly suited to be a citizen investigator who won’t throw up when discovering a body. The plot might veer into darkness and there might be a little violence but all that will be presented in a civilized way, following a familiar pattern of discovery, clues, solution. It was actually this blurb that kept me from picking up the book for almost a year, because I was never in the mood for this kind of formula.
The description of this book, while accurate in places, gives an entirely misleading impression of the ‘The Great Stink’. The ‘demon’ William faces is actually a strong desire to self harm, which he experiences regularly, eventually hiding in the tunnels to hack into his arms and release the black cravings that overcome him. He is constantly teetering on the edge of a breakdown, on several occasions descending into fevered ravings. This hero’s troubles are in a completely different league to the quite genteel addictions of other investigative heroes and detectives in historical fiction. The first three quarters of the book have little to do with a body in the tunnels. Instead Clare Clark examines her hero’s psychological make up, driving him to destroy his life through a combination of uncompromising morals and an fractured state of mind. The author’s choice to use her book to explore self harm in Victorian England makes for a compelling historical, full of sedition and shame that pelts along. I was easily hooked on William May’s struggle to actually desire life, instead of blankness.
If that all sounds a bit bleak to you, there’s also a subplot involving the best dog in the world. Long Arm Tom is a tosher, a man who searches the sewers for rats to sell for dog baiting. He lives alone, believing that he doesn’t need anyone until one day he finds an ugly dog abandoned in the streets. He and the dog, Lady, bond instantly, he trains her to be a champion ratter but as the sewers become harder to access he decides to sell her for a large sum to support himself in his old age. Tom is cheated out of this sum and misses his dog so he becomes obsessed with regaining her from the swindling gentleman, the Captain. It might sound a bit sentimental, sort of like Lassie come home set in Victorian London , but Tom is a sharply written character, created out of a bare bones personality. The love he feels for Lady beats down his usual life saving practicality. Perhaps you’ll find this condescendingly unrealistic but I think it humanizes poverty by showing an incredibly poor character who feels the importance of love in the face of large sums of money.
‘The Great Stink’ is not just a murder mystery, in fact the mystery part is quite weak and is more of a plot device for furthering William’s descent. It’s a thorough look at the effects of war on the main character, with a massive amount of anti-saccharine redemption running through both plot lines.
Random Areas of Exploration
The one big problem with this book is it’s female character, Polly, William’s wife. She is the typical soldiers wife, unable to comprehend the horrors of war and quite happy to let a silence rest over her husband’s experiences in the trenches. Is this an entirely realistic image of women dealing with men returning from war, or is it largely a stereotype?
“Through the city sewers walks surveyor and ex-soldier William May, just back from the horrifying brutality of the Crimean front and hiding from his own demons in the darkness beneath the capital’s street. But when May stumbles across a body in the tunnels, his discovery draws him into a maelstrom of underworld corruption that drags both himself and those closest to him further into depths from which there may be no possibility of light – or return…”
From this description William sounds like your typical damaged yet resilient murder mystery hero. He may be disturbed by war but essentially he’s a solid, together man, perfectly suited to be a citizen investigator who won’t throw up when discovering a body. The plot might veer into darkness and there might be a little violence but all that will be presented in a civilized way, following a familiar pattern of discovery, clues, solution. It was actually this blurb that kept me from picking up the book for almost a year, because I was never in the mood for this kind of formula.
The description of this book, while accurate in places, gives an entirely misleading impression of the ‘The Great Stink’. The ‘demon’ William faces is actually a strong desire to self harm, which he experiences regularly, eventually hiding in the tunnels to hack into his arms and release the black cravings that overcome him. He is constantly teetering on the edge of a breakdown, on several occasions descending into fevered ravings. This hero’s troubles are in a completely different league to the quite genteel addictions of other investigative heroes and detectives in historical fiction. The first three quarters of the book have little to do with a body in the tunnels. Instead Clare Clark examines her hero’s psychological make up, driving him to destroy his life through a combination of uncompromising morals and an fractured state of mind. The author’s choice to use her book to explore self harm in Victorian England makes for a compelling historical, full of sedition and shame that pelts along. I was easily hooked on William May’s struggle to actually desire life, instead of blankness.
If that all sounds a bit bleak to you, there’s also a subplot involving the best dog in the world. Long Arm Tom is a tosher, a man who searches the sewers for rats to sell for dog baiting. He lives alone, believing that he doesn’t need anyone until one day he finds an ugly dog abandoned in the streets. He and the dog, Lady, bond instantly, he trains her to be a champion ratter but as the sewers become harder to access he decides to sell her for a large sum to support himself in his old age. Tom is cheated out of this sum and misses his dog so he becomes obsessed with regaining her from the swindling gentleman, the Captain. It might sound a bit sentimental, sort of like Lassie come home set in Victorian London , but Tom is a sharply written character, created out of a bare bones personality. The love he feels for Lady beats down his usual life saving practicality. Perhaps you’ll find this condescendingly unrealistic but I think it humanizes poverty by showing an incredibly poor character who feels the importance of love in the face of large sums of money.
‘The Great Stink’ is not just a murder mystery, in fact the mystery part is quite weak and is more of a plot device for furthering William’s descent. It’s a thorough look at the effects of war on the main character, with a massive amount of anti-saccharine redemption running through both plot lines.
Random Areas of Exploration
The one big problem with this book is it’s female character, Polly, William’s wife. She is the typical soldiers wife, unable to comprehend the horrors of war and quite happy to let a silence rest over her husband’s experiences in the trenches. Is this an entirely realistic image of women dealing with men returning from war, or is it largely a stereotype?
Jazz - Toni Morrison
Two weeks ago I was on my first date in two years. Despite being a short lunch date it flagged badly, mostly because I didn’t want to be there. We’d passed through every area of first date conversation at speed, the guy couldn’t even keep where I lived in his head and I was happily settling down to watch the people outside the restaurant whilst eating some fantastic gnocchi. Desperate to engage me my date brought out the big conversational guns.
“Read any good books lately?” he asked.
I told him I was reading ‘Jazz’ by Toni Morrisson. I thought it sounded pretentious, even though it was true, but it turned out he had no idea who Toni Morrisson was.
“What’s that about then?”
I thought about it. How do you describe Morrison’s novel which is full of loss, longing, belonging and the different gradients of race wrapped up in the heat of the jazz age, quickly to a disinterested listener? I decided to give him the book jacket blurb, “It’s about a man who shoots his sweetheart. Then when his wife finds out she tries to disfigure the corpse with a knife.”
Fear flashed across his face and we left soon after.
This short synopsis certainly makes the book sound ‘dangerous’ and it is. Morrison intends her books to be dangerous so that readers are pushed headfirst into the violent, bitter consequences that inhabit lifetimes informed by slavery. In ‘Beloved’ a young slave kills a child with a handsaw only to find it grown, alive in appearance but with the cruel need of the dead. ‘The Bluest Eye’ is based around a vicious incestuous rape. Morrison wants readers to be shaken from the complacency induced by day time films where slaves released from bondage easily go on to have well adjusted lives, unaffected by years of whips and put downs.
Once again in ‘Jazz’ she shows the aftermath of slavery and how it continues to shape the path of the character’s freedom. Joseph’s life is shaped by the memory of his mother ‘Wild’, driven mad by slavery. His wife, Violet has hopes bound up with stories her mother told her of a ‘golden’ child, born to a wealthy white woman and so saved from slavery. Joseph's lover, Dorcas grows up in an age when free black culture is developing in jazz music but she is held back from participating fully by her aunt. She craves acceptance but only finds satisfaction when being corrected, conscious that her clothes, her hair, her skin do not fit some kind of unknown requirement. Characters from all generations are marked by the after effects of slavery.
In the forward Morrison explains the frustration that decided the kind of narrative ‘Jazz’ would have. Unable to start writing the book in a way that pleased her but immersed in the feel of her characters and their age Morrison just started writing that. Instead of using a linear narrative she forms her story out of the details of the age, like the smell of perfume and the way women wore their hats. This detail accumulates to create not just a picture of characters but a moving narrative and the atmosphere they lived in. Morrison knew she didn’t want to just place characters in a story and have the reader pick up carefully placed clues, alluding to the historical setting. She strives to write in the language of the period, not just using the slang but writing in the rhythm of the music and pace of live at the time. Probably my favourite thing about ‘Jazz’ was the pulse of the periods emotions expressed by the rhythms of the language.
This book is strong, bitchy, violent and vivid. It’s full of the heated atmosphere of the jazz age, undercut by the uncertainty of people trying to build a way of living free. An unashamedly dangerous book to start ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge’.
Random Questions of Exploration:
Why are Joseph and Violet childless? She steals the baby – why do they not have children of their own?
What causes the fire at Dorcas’ parent’s house?
“Read any good books lately?” he asked.
I told him I was reading ‘Jazz’ by Toni Morrisson. I thought it sounded pretentious, even though it was true, but it turned out he had no idea who Toni Morrisson was.
“What’s that about then?”
I thought about it. How do you describe Morrison’s novel which is full of loss, longing, belonging and the different gradients of race wrapped up in the heat of the jazz age, quickly to a disinterested listener? I decided to give him the book jacket blurb, “It’s about a man who shoots his sweetheart. Then when his wife finds out she tries to disfigure the corpse with a knife.”
Fear flashed across his face and we left soon after.
This short synopsis certainly makes the book sound ‘dangerous’ and it is. Morrison intends her books to be dangerous so that readers are pushed headfirst into the violent, bitter consequences that inhabit lifetimes informed by slavery. In ‘Beloved’ a young slave kills a child with a handsaw only to find it grown, alive in appearance but with the cruel need of the dead. ‘The Bluest Eye’ is based around a vicious incestuous rape. Morrison wants readers to be shaken from the complacency induced by day time films where slaves released from bondage easily go on to have well adjusted lives, unaffected by years of whips and put downs.
Once again in ‘Jazz’ she shows the aftermath of slavery and how it continues to shape the path of the character’s freedom. Joseph’s life is shaped by the memory of his mother ‘Wild’, driven mad by slavery. His wife, Violet has hopes bound up with stories her mother told her of a ‘golden’ child, born to a wealthy white woman and so saved from slavery. Joseph's lover, Dorcas grows up in an age when free black culture is developing in jazz music but she is held back from participating fully by her aunt. She craves acceptance but only finds satisfaction when being corrected, conscious that her clothes, her hair, her skin do not fit some kind of unknown requirement. Characters from all generations are marked by the after effects of slavery.
In the forward Morrison explains the frustration that decided the kind of narrative ‘Jazz’ would have. Unable to start writing the book in a way that pleased her but immersed in the feel of her characters and their age Morrison just started writing that. Instead of using a linear narrative she forms her story out of the details of the age, like the smell of perfume and the way women wore their hats. This detail accumulates to create not just a picture of characters but a moving narrative and the atmosphere they lived in. Morrison knew she didn’t want to just place characters in a story and have the reader pick up carefully placed clues, alluding to the historical setting. She strives to write in the language of the period, not just using the slang but writing in the rhythm of the music and pace of live at the time. Probably my favourite thing about ‘Jazz’ was the pulse of the periods emotions expressed by the rhythms of the language.
This book is strong, bitchy, violent and vivid. It’s full of the heated atmosphere of the jazz age, undercut by the uncertainty of people trying to build a way of living free. An unashamedly dangerous book to start ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge’.
Random Questions of Exploration:
Why are Joseph and Violet childless? She steals the baby – why do they not have children of their own?
What causes the fire at Dorcas’ parent’s house?
Friday, 16 January 2009
Reading Dewey's Books
I'm just announcing what I'll be reading in memory of Dewey. I'll be reading one book from each year of Dewey's posts at 'The Hidden Side of The Leaf':
Nation - Terry Pratchett (2008) - yay a new non Discworld book
The Plot Against America - Philip Roth (2007)
Candide - Voltaire (2006) - this one is a bit of a cheat as Dewey never reviewed it but menioned she was re-reading it, sounds fantastic and I couldn't resist it
The Birth of Venus - Sarh Dunant (2005) - looking forward to this after reading The Company of the Courtesan last year
The Inner Circle - TC Boyle (2004)
The Virgin Blue - Tracey Chevalier (2003)
I won't be joining the Knit-a-long with the 'someday' scarf in sea themed multi-coloured wool. It measures about an inch now and although the tension is so, so wrong and it took forty stitches to make it a decent scarf size I am still determined to finish this first knitting project...someday. Good luck to all you committed knitters.
This weekend I'll be drinking with friends and probably waking up with a large hangover. Wuhoah in the moment, oh no the mornign after :)
Nation - Terry Pratchett (2008) - yay a new non Discworld book
The Plot Against America - Philip Roth (2007)
Candide - Voltaire (2006) - this one is a bit of a cheat as Dewey never reviewed it but menioned she was re-reading it, sounds fantastic and I couldn't resist it
The Birth of Venus - Sarh Dunant (2005) - looking forward to this after reading The Company of the Courtesan last year
The Inner Circle - TC Boyle (2004)
The Virgin Blue - Tracey Chevalier (2003)
I won't be joining the Knit-a-long with the 'someday' scarf in sea themed multi-coloured wool. It measures about an inch now and although the tension is so, so wrong and it took forty stitches to make it a decent scarf size I am still determined to finish this first knitting project...someday. Good luck to all you committed knitters.
This weekend I'll be drinking with friends and probably waking up with a large hangover. Wuhoah in the moment, oh no the mornign after :)
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
24 Today
Happy birthday to me. I decided that turning 24 means taking the day off work. I've been on holiday since Friday (a birthday trip to London to see David Tennant in Hamlet and the Zorro musical) but this is my last day off so I'm savouring it. Showering later, comfort food for lunch and lots of reading and DVD episodes.
I joined my final challenge for the year last week(well until Carl's RIP challenge runs in autumn). I couldn't resist The Art History Challenge. I'm always fascinated by the old Hollywood blockbuster films of the lives of artists and really enjoyed the art analysis module of my disretation. Oh and I have an incredibly low level of will power when it comes to challenges.I only have one book picked out so far (The Birth of Venus) but I'm sure that won't toruble me for long.
If you're wondering how I'm doing I've finished my first YA Challenge book (Dooley Takes the Fall) and am speeding through my first Year of Reading Dangerously choice (Jazz). I'll be reading Jazz all day today.
I joined my final challenge for the year last week(well until Carl's RIP challenge runs in autumn). I couldn't resist The Art History Challenge. I'm always fascinated by the old Hollywood blockbuster films of the lives of artists and really enjoyed the art analysis module of my disretation. Oh and I have an incredibly low level of will power when it comes to challenges.I only have one book picked out so far (The Birth of Venus) but I'm sure that won't toruble me for long.
If you're wondering how I'm doing I've finished my first YA Challenge book (Dooley Takes the Fall) and am speeding through my first Year of Reading Dangerously choice (Jazz). I'll be reading Jazz all day today.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Personal Challenges and a last Sneak Attack
I just couldn't resist signing up for this one last challenge.
The 9 for 09 Challenge
This challenge has funky categories, which is one of my favourite things in a challenge. Check out the descriptions of what you're required to read. You can use three books from other challenges. My list is as follows:
A long book: The Confusion - Neal Stephenson
A dusty book: Brick Lane - Monica Ali
A free book: The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
A strange book: The Anatomy of Melancholy - Robert Burton
A book with a pretty cover: The Various Flavours of Coffee - Anthony Capella
A book 1000 km from your location: Unsure what to read for this yet
A book that was previously owned: Dedication - Nicola Klaus and Emma McLaughlin
A book by a prize winning/shortlisted author: The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney
A book with any letter of your name in the title: The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addisson Allen
Today I came across the 2012 Olympic Reading Challenge which is a challenge to read a book from each country that will be taking part in the 2012 Olympics by 2012. Now I don't know if you heard but the next Olympics will be taking place in a little place called Great Britain baby. I'm so excited that the Olympics will take place in my country in my lifetime and that 2012 looks set to be a medalful Olympics (based on GBs performance in 2008). Last year was so amazing for our Olympic and Paralympic team, they gave the Isles so much to be proud of and I'm sure they'll do their best in 2012.
I've decided to really invest in the Olympics by setting up my own personal 3 year Olympic reading plan. Not only do I hope to read books from the 202 countries who will be taking part in the summer Olympics in 2012 I want to explore other areas of interest. Up until 2012 I'll be looking for books like the following:
Books from or about the participating countries
Books about the metals the medals are made from
Books from or about the countries that have hosted both summer and winter Olympics
Books about the 26 sport categories that will be included in 2012
Books about prominent Olympic athletes (I need to overcome my reading snobbery about books on or by sports personalities)
Books about the winter Olympics
Books about Olympic history (ancient and modern)
Books about Olympic or general sporting spirit (not sure if there will be much material here - perhaps books on amazing stories like SeaBiscuit, Chariots of Fire, Oxford Blues)
This year I'm working on expanding my knowledge of the 17th century, which is one of my favourite periods of history. I have lots of non-fiction lined up and a fair few works of fiction written in the 17th century. I couldn't think of much contemporrary fiction set in this time period but luckily I had a great book blogger to turn to. Danielle at A Work in Progess made me this interesting list of novels:
Heretics Daughter, Kathleen Kent
Rosetti Letters, Christi Phillips
Potrait of an Unknown Woman, Vanora Bennett
Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
Captain Alatriste, Arturo Perez-Reverte
Mary Queen of Scotland, Margaret Geoge
City of Dreams, Beverly Swerling
Book of Splendor, Frances Sherwood
Poison, Kathryn Harrison
Havoc, In its Third Tear, Ronan Bennett
Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks
Blood of Flowers, Anita Amirrezvani
Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Now that's a lot of books!
The 9 for 09 Challenge
This challenge has funky categories, which is one of my favourite things in a challenge. Check out the descriptions of what you're required to read. You can use three books from other challenges. My list is as follows:
A long book: The Confusion - Neal Stephenson
A dusty book: Brick Lane - Monica Ali
A free book: The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
A strange book: The Anatomy of Melancholy - Robert Burton
A book with a pretty cover: The Various Flavours of Coffee - Anthony Capella
A book 1000 km from your location: Unsure what to read for this yet
A book that was previously owned: Dedication - Nicola Klaus and Emma McLaughlin
A book by a prize winning/shortlisted author: The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney
A book with any letter of your name in the title: The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addisson Allen
Today I came across the 2012 Olympic Reading Challenge which is a challenge to read a book from each country that will be taking part in the 2012 Olympics by 2012. Now I don't know if you heard but the next Olympics will be taking place in a little place called Great Britain baby. I'm so excited that the Olympics will take place in my country in my lifetime and that 2012 looks set to be a medalful Olympics (based on GBs performance in 2008). Last year was so amazing for our Olympic and Paralympic team, they gave the Isles so much to be proud of and I'm sure they'll do their best in 2012.
I've decided to really invest in the Olympics by setting up my own personal 3 year Olympic reading plan. Not only do I hope to read books from the 202 countries who will be taking part in the summer Olympics in 2012 I want to explore other areas of interest. Up until 2012 I'll be looking for books like the following:
Books from or about the participating countries
Books about the metals the medals are made from
Books from or about the countries that have hosted both summer and winter Olympics
Books about the 26 sport categories that will be included in 2012
Books about prominent Olympic athletes (I need to overcome my reading snobbery about books on or by sports personalities)
Books about the winter Olympics
Books about Olympic history (ancient and modern)
Books about Olympic or general sporting spirit (not sure if there will be much material here - perhaps books on amazing stories like SeaBiscuit, Chariots of Fire, Oxford Blues)
This year I'm working on expanding my knowledge of the 17th century, which is one of my favourite periods of history. I have lots of non-fiction lined up and a fair few works of fiction written in the 17th century. I couldn't think of much contemporrary fiction set in this time period but luckily I had a great book blogger to turn to. Danielle at A Work in Progess made me this interesting list of novels:
Heretics Daughter, Kathleen Kent
Rosetti Letters, Christi Phillips
Potrait of an Unknown Woman, Vanora Bennett
Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
Captain Alatriste, Arturo Perez-Reverte
Mary Queen of Scotland, Margaret Geoge
City of Dreams, Beverly Swerling
Book of Splendor, Frances Sherwood
Poison, Kathryn Harrison
Havoc, In its Third Tear, Ronan Bennett
Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks
Blood of Flowers, Anita Amirrezvani
Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Now that's a lot of books!
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Probably Just One More...
The Chunkster Challenge (with the best category names in creation)
Do these books make my bum look big? I thought about not reading any heifers this year what with needing speed in The Year of Readers but I just can't overcome my love of the big book. So I signed up to read:
The Anatomy of Melancholy - Robert Burton (cross over)
The Confusion - Neal Stephenson (I finished Quicksilver last year and am all scrabbly about reading this very soon)
A Sea of Poppies - Amitov Ghosh
and possibly
The Gone Away World - Nick Harkaway
and if I'm feeling very ambitious
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
I know I'm crazy right.
Do these books make my bum look big? I thought about not reading any heifers this year what with needing speed in The Year of Readers but I just can't overcome my love of the big book. So I signed up to read:
The Anatomy of Melancholy - Robert Burton (cross over)
The Confusion - Neal Stephenson (I finished Quicksilver last year and am all scrabbly about reading this very soon)
A Sea of Poppies - Amitov Ghosh
and possibly
The Gone Away World - Nick Harkaway
and if I'm feeling very ambitious
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
I know I'm crazy right.
Friday, 2 January 2009
Challenges - More, Really?
I just couldn't resist joining a couple of more challenges. The fantastic World Citizen Challenge is a bit complicated to explain but it's the detail that goes into it that makes it sound so interesting. It's dedicated to non-fiction and there are categories to read from like Politics, Autobiography etc. You can pick your own reading level which defines how many books you'll read and how many categories you need to read from.
I am ashamed of the small amount of non-fiction I read last year (just two books). I'm a history graduate and I have tons of non-fiction around the house so this year I want to make a big effort to read more non-fiction and to read about diverse subjects. I'll be reading at the Major level whcih means I've committed to reading five books from at least three categories. I've picked:
The Ascent of Money (Economics)
A History of Modern China (History)
Love and Louis XIV (History)
Planet Earth (World Affairs)
Romans Journey (Autobiography)
I'm also reading Dewey's Books in memory of a grand book blogger who died at the end of last year. Dewey was the creator of so many great reading events like the 24 hour read-a-thon, Weekly Geekly and the Bookworm Carnivale. I'll be reading a book from each year of her archives. I've decided that I'll read Nation by Terry Pratchett which she read in 2008 but I haven't made any more choices yet.
I'm sort of thinking of doing the Planet Earth challenge as well, which Sylvia is holding over to this year. It means buying books....do I need more books....of course I do!
I am ashamed of the small amount of non-fiction I read last year (just two books). I'm a history graduate and I have tons of non-fiction around the house so this year I want to make a big effort to read more non-fiction and to read about diverse subjects. I'll be reading at the Major level whcih means I've committed to reading five books from at least three categories. I've picked:
The Ascent of Money (Economics)
A History of Modern China (History)
Love and Louis XIV (History)
Planet Earth (World Affairs)
Romans Journey (Autobiography)
I'm also reading Dewey's Books in memory of a grand book blogger who died at the end of last year. Dewey was the creator of so many great reading events like the 24 hour read-a-thon, Weekly Geekly and the Bookworm Carnivale. I'll be reading a book from each year of her archives. I've decided that I'll read Nation by Terry Pratchett which she read in 2008 but I haven't made any more choices yet.
I'm sort of thinking of doing the Planet Earth challenge as well, which Sylvia is holding over to this year. It means buying books....do I need more books....of course I do!
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