Showing posts with label Classic Reads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Classic Reads. Show all posts

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

A to Z ~ Neverending Story, the

***Once again, I owe a lot of people comments - but I just spent 20 minutes trying to leave ANY comment, ANYWHERE, and I think I managed to leave one ... Kyra, that's yours. :P So I will have to return comments when my internet next feels like cooperating. Sorry. :( ***



This year my A to Z theme harks back to 2012's theme, in which I listed an A-to-Z of books from my GoodReads "TBR" shelf. This year I want to revisit that list and report on which ones I've read, and what rating I gave them. Where the book hasn't been read, I'll mention other books starting with that letter I have read since 2012. ;)

"N" ... THE NEVERENDING STORY
Status: Not Read



Some other "N" books still on my TBR:

Near Witch, the - Victoria Schwab.
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro.
Night Sky - Jolene Perry.
Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult.
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell.
Not Your Average Fairy Tale - Chantele Sedgwick.
Not Your Fault - Cheyanne Young.
Notebook, the - Nicholas Sparks.
Nothing Special - Geoff Herbach.

Friday, 11 April 2014

A to Z ~ Jacob's Room



This year my A to Z theme harks back to 2012's theme, in which I listed an A-to-Z of books from my GoodReads "TBR" shelf. This year I want to revisit that list and report on which ones I've read, and what rating I gave them. Where the book hasn't been read, I'll mention other books starting with that letter I have read since 2012. ;)

"J" ... JACOB'S ROOM
Status: Not Read

Some other "J" books still on my TBR:

Jane - April Lindner.
Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1) - Michael Crichton.
Just the Sexiest Man Alive - Julie James.
Jessica Rules the Dark Side (Jessica, #2) - Beth Fantaskey.
Juliet - Anne Fortier.
Jenny Pox (Paranormals, #1) - J.L. Bryan.
Jaws - Peter Benchley.
Just Deserts - Eric Walters.

Friday, 4 April 2014

A to Z ~ Death On the Nile



This year my A to Z theme harks back to 2012's theme, in which I listed an A-to-Z of books from my GoodReads "TBR" shelf. This year I want to revisit that list and report on which ones I've read, and what rating I gave them. Where the book hasn't been read, I'll mention other books starting with that letter I have read since 2012. ;)

"D" ... DEATH ON THE NILE
Status: Not Read

"D" books I have read:

Dark of Heart (The Youngbloods, #0.5) - Lynn Viehl. 5 stars.
Dead Sexy Dragon (Dragon Heat, #1) - Lolita Lopez. 3 stars.
Demonglass (Hex Hall, #2) - Rachel Hawkins. 4 stars.
Divergent (Divergent, #1) - Veronica Roth. 5 stars.
Dizzy - Nyrae Dawn & Jolene Perry. 4 stars.

Thursday, 3 April 2014

A to Z ~ Carrie

***Public Service Announcement: my internet sucks tonight!!! I was trying to visit a large number of blogs and just had to give up. I'll get to those visits tomorrow. Thanks. :)***



This year my A to Z theme harks back to 2012's theme, in which I listed an A-to-Z of books from my GoodReads "TBR" shelf. This year I want to revisit that list and report on which ones I've read, and what rating I gave them. Where the book hasn't been read, I'll mention other books starting with that letter I have read since 2012. ;)

"C" ... CARRIE
Status: Read

Brief Review: Beware spoilers. Loved it, though of course it was depressing. In a way I could see it in a similar light to the last book I had read (Irvine Welsh's BEDROOM SECRETS...) because of how it ends in basic total destruction of everything, and also how even while I was reading scenes that made me gasp in despair "Noooo, don't dooo iiiit!" I could still see the chaotic horrific humour/beauty in the whole thing. Carrie's mum was a psycho, and I was happy with her fate. What a waste of a life hers was! And of course Carrie's life was a waste too, but we can blame her crazy mother for that. >> Full review



Some of my fave "C" books read:

Candidate, the: A Luxembourg Thriller - Daniel Pembrey. 4 stars.
Catcher in the Rye, the - J.D. Salinger. 4 stars.
Catrina in Space - Michael S. Atkinson. 5 stars.
Crash into You (Pushing the Limits, #3) - Katie McGarry. 4 stars.
Crimson Portrait, the - Jody Shields. 4 stars.

Monday, 15 July 2013

Recently read books [medium-size reviews]

 Dizzy - Nyrae Dawn & Jolene Perry

I think there should be a GoodReads star for "I loved it" that falls in between "really liked it" and "it was amazing". If there was I would give this book that star! I really did love it, and I will enjoy re-reading it someday as well. I think Dylan was definitely a hot character, and I really loved Ziah's personality. It was sweet to see the romance unfolding between them, and I tell ya what, there were some hot kissing scenes! The scene in the tunnel is particularly a favourite of mine. ;) So if you're a fan of contemp YA romance, I'd highly recommend this one. Thanks ladies :)


Riversong - Tess Thompson (free from Amazon)

Well, this technically is a romance I guess, 'cause it has a happy ending. But not just between the romantic pair - it's also between our main character and the entire town she returns to. I really loved this book. I enjoyed the often poetic writing style. The read was sadly marred by some formatting issues, mostly typos but also entire words missed out here and there. Thankfully they weren't all through the book, and Thompson knows how to use apostrophes. All the book really needs is a good proof read to be made almost perfect, I think. As for plot, I think the resolution of the Zac / Von issue was rushed a little bit, and I think Zac could have been portrayed as more angry/dangerous. Re: the religious aspect, I didn't realise this was meant to be a Christian book in part. Thankfully it wasn't preachy, and the one character who is overtly religious sort of makes sense, considering his background and so on. Also, the way he talked about God was nice because he found God inside himself.

Wicked Games - Jessica Clare (free from Amazon)

Before I started this one, I'd tried starting a few other freebies that just didn't grip me. But I started this and pretty quickly found myself bursting into snorting laughter and basically hooked on the story. It's definitely fluff in the sense that it doesn't try to tackle serious issues or bring about world peace. And yet I really had a good time reading it. I will say that the "happily ever after" was delivered extremely quickly - like, within 3 sentences at the end! But other than that, the storyline was amusing, and I loved main character Abby's sense of humour - and her sarcasm and bitterness too. In the end that bitterness wasn't portrayed as a flattering thing, but it sure made for great ratings (the book is set on a Survivor-esque reality TV show). The sexy scenes definitely grabbed my attention, and were well written and enjoyable. The early fights between Abby and Dean were classic. And I liked the take on this type of reality show. It was amusing to experience the POV of an extremely unwilling participant in such a show. So, to summarise = it's fluff but it's FUNNN-AY, and sexy/romantic too. :)

War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells

Yeah, I fiiiinally finished this, but don't let the extremely slow pace of reading fool ya. I loved this book. I did see the Tom Cruise movie of this story when it came out, and I am pretty sure I enjoyed it (though can't really remember much of it now), but somebody mentioned that they'd like to see a movie version that is set in the era the book was written in. i.e. NOT a modern-day take. And this was actually what I thought myself on occasion while reading the book for the first time. This book is set in an era where there are hardly any cars, and most people ride bicycles. There aren't mass-murdering weapons of war that humans can bring to bear on the invading aliens, and so there are slaughters of humans who are as puny ants in the path of the fearsome Martians. I definitely agree that a movie set in the era the book describes would have potential to be awesome. This is the first of H.G. Wells's works that I've read, and having read it I can say I would love to read more of his work.

Friday, 14 June 2013

Latest reads [more mini reviews]



Since last time, I've read the following:


  • A Shade of Vampire (A Shade of Vampire, #1) - Bella Forrest
    • Although it might be said that I'm a bit over vampires nowadays (that "I'm a dead, cold corpse" thing really doesn't turn me on), I did enjoy this read, and would even go so far as to buy subsequent books in the series to find out what happens next.
  • Broken Promises (Broken, #1) - Dawn Pendleton
    • This was sort of okay - I did want to read on and find out what happened, but I really couldn't stand the main character at times. Even if I could understand why she was the way she was. She was just a bit of a drama queen who made everyone else run around after her.
  • muted: a short story in verse - Jessica Bell
    • This story blew my mind - a mixture of pure ugliness and pure beauty, sort of like that Japanese novel I read a few years back, GROTESQUE (also one of my fave reads ever). Jessica is very talented!
  • Open Minds (Mindjack, #1) - Susan Kaye Quinn
    • Love this woman's writing, though this is the only book of hers I've read so far! I hear great things about her other series as well, and have some of that ready to read on my ... wait for it ... Kindle! Yes, I bought a Kindle Paperwhite recently.


And I'm currently reading:


  • The Complete Fairy Tales - The Brothers Grimm
  • Become (Desolation, #1) - Ali Cross
  • The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells


Now, what I want to know is, is anyone surprised that I'm still reading Grimm over two years later?
. . . Or that this is my first time reading War of the Worlds?
. . . . . . Or that it took me this long to get around to reading Ali's book?

Friday, 22 March 2013

Review: Jane Austen's MANSFIELD PARK

For March's book review I thought I'd mention that I recently read Mansfield Park, I'm pretty sure for the first time. I say "pretty sure" because I have seen the BBC miniseries (I think it was a miniseries...) and my memory was possibly getting confused between that and the read. Anyway... I only gave it 3 out of 5 stars, and here's why:

Firstly, it lost a point because it's less awesome than P&P, Persuasion and others. And a second point was lost because Fanny and Edmund, the romantic couple of the story, are first cousins. Ew. ;) Still, I did enjoy the read even if the book I was carting around was really heavy and I couldn't wait to be done with the read due to said heaviness.

Perhaps my lack of adoration for this story isn't helped by the fact that the BBC thing I saw was quite dated, and could hardly compare with the Firth/Ehle combo in P&P (LOVE!). Edmund is a really lovely love interest, though of course the fact that he wants to be a priest doesn't endear him to me all that much. I do think Edmund and Fanny are perfect for each other, but then maybe it's only reasonable since they share FAMILY TRAITS due to being CLOSELY RELATED. Again, ew.

But moving on. ;)

In between watching the TV version and reading the book, I had forgotten some things about the storyline, things I don't even remember seeing in the TV version. Namely I forgot all about the attentions Mr Crawford paid to Fanny, and also about all the trouble Fanny's cousins Maria & Julia got into. Particularly Maria. The main things I remember of the TV version are the part where they are rehearsing for the play, and the part where Fanny Price is really timid and uninteresting as a character. I liked the book version of her better than the TV version (especially at moments when she was getting a bit annoyed - hey, animation!), but she's still not nearly as interesting as other Austen heroines.

So there you go. 3 stars.

Monday, 23 July 2012

A little review - OSCAR & LUCINDA


Oscar and Lucinda the movie. On my "to watch" list.
Back in April of this year, I shared an A-Z list of books from my TBR shelf. One of the books mentioned was OSCAR AND LUCINDA by Australian author Peter Carey, a Booker prize-winning work of historical fiction. It's set in England but mostly in Austraila in the mid-nineteenth century. I know it's also been made into a movie, but having not seen that I had no idea what to expect from the novel.

It took me a while to finish the novel. It's the kind of work you have to pay close attention to when you're distracted by the fact that you're on holiday in a tropical paradise. Despite that, I totally loved this book. It got off to a bit of a slow start, but soon enough I was well and truly hooked - intrigued by the quirky characters, sympathetic to their experiences and frustrated/exhilarated for them. The book had me laughing out loud even at not so happy moments, just because of the language, the silly little similes, metaphors and alliterations (which were still clever of course), and all that.

I found it interesting how one single character was viewed by others around him/her in different ways. Opinions tended to vary greatly. Then there was the way in which each character saw him or herself - different again. The story was told like a family memoir but can also be seen as an historical account. And I can't believe how it ended! I wasn't expecting that, nor hoping for it. That ending just goes to show, though, that in the blink of an eye (well, okay, a bit more slowly than that) a person can make one tiny little decision that changes everything, forever.

Thursday, 26 April 2012

A-Z ... THE WAR OF THE WORLDS






This year for the A-Z challenge, I've been featuring an A-Z list of books taken from my GoodReads to-read shelf. Getting to "W", I'm finding it more and more difficult to choose between various amazing-sounding stories, but in the end I felt compelled to choose:






W


The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells

“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own.” Thus begins one of the most terrifying and morally prescient science fiction novels ever penned. Beginning with a series of strange flashes in the distant night sky, the Martian attack initially causes little concern on Earth. Then the destruction erupts—ten massive aliens roam England and destroy with heat rays everything in their path. Very soon humankind finds itself on the brink of extinction. H. G. Wells raises questions of mortality, man’s place in nature, and the evil lurking in the technological future—questions that remain urgently relevant in the twenty-first century.


Why do I want to read it? Saw the more recent movie, and as an impressionable 17-year-old I first heard the awe-inspiring soundtrack. Now I feel I must read the book that started it all!

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

A-Z ... THE ULTIMATE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY






This year for the A-Z challenge, I've been posting an A-Z list of books taken from my GoodReads to-read shelf. For today's title starting with "U", I've cheated a little but not really, by choosing a collection of novels that are presented in a single volume...






U


The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide #1-5) - Douglas Adams

At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five classic novels from Douglas Adams’s beloved Hitchiker series.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space. (read more here)


Why do I want to read it? Yet another classic I have yet to read. Gosh, I'm a bit slow on the uptake, aren't I? I guess the main reason I want to read this is so I can finally understand all those jokes about 42 people have been making! ;)

Monday, 23 April 2012

A-Z ... THE TEMPEST






This year for the A-Z challenge, I've been posting an A-Z list of books taken from my to-read shelf at GoodReads. For today's title starting with "T", I've chosen a work by an author I haven't read any of except in small portions (like when I had to read bits in school):






T


The Tempest - William Shakespeare

In The Tempest, long considered one of Shakespeare's most lyrical plays, Prospero - a magician on an enchanted island - punishes his enemies, brings happiness to his daughter, and comes to terms with human use of supernatural power. The Tempest embodies both seemingly timeless romance and the historically specific moment in which Europe begins to explore and conquer the New World.
Its complexity of thought, its range of characters - from the spirit Ariel and the monster Caliban to the beautiful Miranda and her prince Ferdinand -its poetic beauty, and its exploration of difficult questions that still haunt us today make this play wonderfully compelling.


Why do I want to read it? If there is any classic author I should read before I die, it's Shakespeare, right? And seriously, I have yet to read any complete work of this guy's, despite studying him a bit in school and university.

Saturday, 21 April 2012

A-Z ... THE SILMARILLION





For this year's A-Z challenge, I'm posting an A-Z of books taken from my to-read shelf at GoodReads. For today's book starting with "S", I've chosen a work by a legend whose most famous other books I haven't yet read either...






S


The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien

The tales of The Silmarillion were the underlying inspiration and source of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing; he worked on the book throughout his life but never brought it to a final form. Long preceding in its origins The Lord of the Rings, it is the story of the First Age of Tolkien's world, the ancient drama to which characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in which some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. (read more here)


Why do I want to read it? Well, gawwsh...why not? ;) I've read THE HOBBIT, and that's it. This is on my list, as well as The Lord of the Rings (nope, haven't read those either!).

Monday, 16 April 2012

A-Z ... THE NEVERENDING STORY




It's A-Z time, and for this year's theme I've been posting an A-Z list of books I want to read, inspired by my seemingly neverending GoodReads "to read" list. We're up to "N", and for today's book I've chosen a book whose movie adaptation is one of my all-time favourites, but that I'm rather shamed never to have read in book form!






N


The Neverending Story - Michael Ende

When it was published more than three decades ago, this special story within a story captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of readers worldwide. A lonely boy named Bastian is drawn into a beautiful but doomed world. Only Bastian can save this enchanted place of dragons, giants, monsters, and mysteries . . . but will he have to stay there forever? This beautifully repackaged hardcover classic will lure even more readers into its wondrous world.


Why do I want to read it? Like I said up there, I loved the movie, and when that's the case I tend to want to read the book the movie was based on, too. And I have been trying to read more classics, whatever their age, in recent years!

Sunday, 26 February 2012

A review of DORIAN GRAY, plus Sunday Sessions #8

For my book review this month, I've opted to talk about a classic I've only read for the first time this year - THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde.



Last year, I wrote a short story for Chrysalis about a really creepy painting. I didn't realise at the time that DORIAN GRAY was also about a creepy painting. Somebody commented that part of my story reminded them of this classic novel. Having now read Wilde's classic work for myself, I can definitely see the parallels. And I can attest to the sheer creepiness of the original!

While this book no doubt has some deep meaning about gluttony and greed and how we should age gracefully, all I can really focus on is that totally messed up painting. I wasn't sure what to expect as the end of the story drew nearer. Would the painted image step off the canvas and start killing everybody? Would fleshly Dorian run off and kill his dear friend Harry? He seemed to be pretty into that sort of thing by then. So as not to spoil the ending, I will simply say that the ending wasn't a letdown!

To summarise, I'd call this a dark and seedy story of one man's slow but steady demise - his twisting from something almost angelic into something truly monstrous. I haven't quite decided whose fault his downfall was - his friend Harry for being such a bad influence, or himself for being so dangerously vain at his core? Thinking about it now, the story reminds me a little of Kirino's GROTESQUE, which I read last year. Only GROTESQUE was utterly littered with characters who went from good to oh so bad.

Sunday Session #8

It's Sunday, and time for me to share with you the music I've listened to most in the last week. It's been a continuation of the 'classic rock' slant this time around, with another tune from the Cult, but also a tune from Neil Young. I've been fortunate enough to see both these acts live in concert, all within the last few years. Long live rock!





Tuesday, 17 May 2011

My TBR list

I thought I'd list a few of the books on my to-be-read list, just out of interest's sake. GoodReads will tell you I have 129 books on that list, but those are only the ones I've bothered to add yet. I went through and added all the books on my "to be read before any other books" shelf - yep, I have an entire shelf devoted to this. But there is almost a full bookcase of "books to be read after the first books I am going to read". ;)

So the ones I added to the list last night (as well as some that have been on the list since 2009...) are:

  1. Mercy - Picoult, Jodi
  2. The Complete Fairy Tales - Grimm, Brothers
  3. The Earthsea Quartet (The Earthsea Cycle, Books 1-4) - Guin, Ursula K. Le
  4. Farmers and Mercenaries - Drake, Maxwell Alexander *
  5. Phantom Waltz (Kendrick/Coulter, #2) - Anderson, Catherine
  6. Trace (Kay Scarpetta, #13) - Cornwell, Patricia
  7. Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck, John
  8. Shakespeare's Sonnets - Shakespeare, William
  9. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Wilde, Oscar
  10. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories - Stevenson, Robert Louis
  11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Twain, Mark
  12. The Anatomy of Wings - Foxlee, Karen
  13. Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You - Gosling, Sam *
  14. The Importance of Being Earnest - Wilde, Oscar
  15. Bleeding Violet - Reeves, Dia *
  16. Colour, the - Tremain, Rose
  17. The Pilot's Wife - Shreve, Anita
  18. The Crimson Portrait - Shields, Jody
  19. Love and the Platypus - Drayson, Nicholas
  20. Bear is Now Asleep - Verity, William
  21. Spiral (Book 2) - Suzuki, Koji
  22. Ring (Book 1) - Suzuki, Koji
  23. Hollywood Wives - Collins, Jackie
  24. Audrey, Wait! - Benway, Robin
  25. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - Carroll, Lewis
  26. On Writing - King, Stephen
  27. War and Peace - Tolstoy, Leo
  28. The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure - Goldman, William
  29. Fortune's Rocks - Shreve, Anita
  30. Mutiny on the Bounty - Nordhoff, Charles Bernard
  31. Break No Bones (Temperance Brennan, #9) - Reichs, Kathy
  32. Second Glance - Picoult, Jodi
  33. The Pact - Picoult, Jodi
  34. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Doyle, Roddy
  35. The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary - Winchester, Simon
  36. Blinking with Fists - Corgan, Billy
  37. Cat Dreamer - Carmody, Isobelle
  38. Lord Minimus: The Extraordinary Life of Britain's Smallest Man - Page, Nick
  39. The Distant Land of My Father - Caldwell, Bo
I'm pretty sure all or most of these are on my "TBR immediately" shelf. ;) Of course, the Alice in Wonderland book may well be bumped to the top, if I reach June by the time I get to my next book. That's what we're reading for the A'vron Classic Book Club June session.

I also want to mention that I am finally the proud owner of some of Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn books - I found #4 and #5 in K-mart (I think it was K-mart...) for the major bonus price of $3 each!! So now I just have to order the other 3 books (I'm planning on Book Depository, which will be even cheaper what with their current 15% off by the end of May deal), and I'll have the whole set to date. I'm thinking I may have to wait till 2013 to see the third book of the Legendsong come out. Hey, what's another couple of years - already been waiting since 2002!!

So, basically I've got no shortage of books to read - and this isn't counting all the books I have yet to acquire, like the second Hex Hall book, the second Mortal Instruments book (which is actually in the mail headed my way right now), and other books.

And for a Goals update:

2011 Reading Challenge

2011 Reading Challenge
Trisha has read 18 books toward her goal of 25 books.

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Classics

A comment I got from Bronwyn on my last blog entry made me reflect, once again, on how few of the "classics" (i.e. novels everyone thinks you should have read long ago, and gasps in horror when you tell them you haven't even read them recently) I have actually read.

I looked up a list of "classic" novels, and found this page: 1000 novels everyone must read: the definitive list.

I went through the entire list, and these are the ones I have indeed read:

  1. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
  2. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend
  3. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
  4. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
  5. Emma - Jane Austen
  6. Persuasion - Jane Austen
  7. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
  8. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
  9. Neuromancer - William Gibson
  10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling
  11. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
  12. The Sword in the Stone - T.H. White
  13. Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer

And now the list of those books I know I've read at least some of, but can't remember actually finishing:

  1. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
  2. White Noise - Don DeLillo
  3. Animal Farm - George Orwell

And those books I never got to the end of, in spite of writing English essays on them and getting excellent marks:

  1. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
In other words, of 1000 supposedly classic novels that everyone should have read, I've read 13 for sure, and bits and pieces of another 4 (some of those I may have read completely, but I can't be sure). Wow. I've got some work to do if I want to be a well-adjusted human being. Hehe.

Incidentally, this list would have been a lot shorter if I hadn't made it a mission in 2009 to finally read some Jane Austen (and the Brontës).

I did find some other items in the list that I vaguely recall having read or maybe started reading, but my uncertainty made me leave them off the lists.