1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. It's a fun, fluffy and fabulous teen book that would make a fun, fluffy and fabulous teen movie.
2. The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta. I would love to see Marchetta's fantasy series as a TV show. I love the characters so much and it would be awesome to see them brought to life.
3. Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan. This atmospheric tale of selkies and magic would make a moving and whimsical movie or mini-series.
4. The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. Another fantasy series with great characters that would be fantastic on screen - especially the titular thief, Eugenides.
5. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. Amazing and Aussie movies don't always go hand in hand unfortunately, but I think this could be a great one - or even a good TV mini-series. We seem to be doing better in that medium lately.
6. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. Epic love story set across the back-drop of Russia during World War II. Swooooon.
7. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The visuals alone would make this a gorgeous movie, and I think condensing it could only improve the rather slow story.
8. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. Who doesn't love a roadtrip movie?
9. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. Some classics, mainly those by Austen, Dickens and the Brontes, have been adapted to near death. I'd love to see a different text brought to the screen - like this one!
10. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I adored this weird and wonderful book, right up until the cliffhanger ending. I think it would make an awesome, eerie movie, with hopefully more resolution at the end.
Carrie is an iconic horror story that just about everybody knows the ending to. I think even before I saw the movie as a teenager, I knew what happened - that image of a blood-drenched Sissy Spacek framed against a wall of fire is so pervasive in pop culture it's hard to escape that knowledge. So it's to Stephen King's credit that, even for a reader armed with an awareness of exactly what's going to go down, Carrie remains a compelling, engaging and suspenseful page-turner.
A large part of this, I think, is due to the figure of Carrie herself. Although she is responsible (spoiler warning if you've been living under a rock) for the death of hundreds of people, she is no monster. She's not even a Frankenstein's monster - sympathetic, but a monster nonetheless. She's actually incredibly human; a real (albeit strangely gifted) person who has been pushed and pulled and ground down and hurt for her entire life. Abused at home and abused at school, Carrie has no escape, until Sue and Tommy offer her a lifeline. It's no wonder then that when that lifeline appears to her to actually be a trap, she snaps. It's a very human reaction. We've all known someone like Carrie - or felt like her at some point. Without, you know, the whole telekinesis thing.
Indeed, for me, one of the most horrific parts of the book was at the very beginning, in the infamous shower scene. Carrie is the victim here, and the screaming, screeching girls around her are terrifying - but not because they are monsters. They are human too, having a very visceral reaction to Carrie's menarche. While sympathising with Carrie, the reader - like the teacher in the scene - is also disturbed by her. We recognise that the girls are being horrible, but again, like the teacher, we can understand their reaction. And that is what makes it so frightening - it reflects the monsters that are within us all, providing a critique of our discomfort with female sexuality as a society.
It's significant that it's Carrie's period that unlocks her telekinectic abilities. It gives her power and the ability to finally stand up for herself. King is careful to maintain sympathy with Carrie through to the very end. Even in the midst of her rampage, we have Sue, who has more right than anyone to be horrified by Carrie, reminding us that she was just a girl - an innocent girl, even, who was mistreated by the whole community in some way or another. There is a definite sense that prom night is a fateful evening - that the people of the town signed their own death warrants by their nasty actions. Even while you recoil in horror at the gruesome events on the page, there's an undercurrent of vindication. After a lifetime of being forgotten at best and attacked at worst, Carrie's name is literally on everyone's minds. She will no longer be ignored. It's the ultimate revenge against a society that seeks to control and repress female power.
Rating: 4/5
Spoilery Talking Points
There's one part of Carrie that still kinda has me puzzled. Sue, worried that she may be pregnant, connects with Carrie in her final moments. Immediately after, she starts bleeding. It was unclear to me whether she had a miscarriage or just finally got her period. Was Carrie enacting a final attempt at destruction, or salvation? Was she hurting Sue or helping her? I started thinking about the connection between Carrie's period at the beginning and Sue's bleeding at the end. I thought perhaps it was significant that Sue has finally experienced how Carrie felt the whole time - she sees into her mind, and then she bleeds. Sue is left, the sole survivor, to carry on. Was Carrie passing her the "torch"? I guess it's open to interpretation. I still haven't decided myself.
The one death I was really sad about was Tommy's. I thought he was a great character, and really likable. Interestingly, he died not at Carrie's hands but at Chris and Billy's. Poor Tommy. Poor Carrie!
I read Puberty Blues along with the Top Chicks Shirley, Jess, Lissa, Zoe and Mandee a couple of weeks ago, and because I'm a slack-arsed moll I'm only getting around to writing my review now.
My first encounter with Puberty Blues was when I was a young teenager; my mum would sing the theme song from the movie whenever I would get all angsty. It was as annoying as it sounds. When I was a little older I watched the movie, and was pretty horrified, cringing the whole way through. When I was a little older than that, I watched it again, and this time thought it was equal parts horrifying and hilarious. Having now read the book, I can say my feelings for the source material are pretty much the same - I found it both horrifying and hilarious, often at the same time.
If you live under a rock - or, y'know, not in Australia - Puberty Blues is the semi-autobiographical account of two teen girls trying to fit in with the popular surfie crowd in 1970s Sydney. It's sparse in both length and language, with a frankness that emphasises the rawness of story. The narrator, Deb, describes characters and relays events in a matter-of-fact manner that leaves you with eyes wide and pearls clutched. I'm talking 13-year-olds having sex, doing drugs, being gang raped... I want to give a copy of this to every person who claims "kids today" are more sexualised than ever and say, o rly?
Interestingly, the fact that internal narration or reflection is limited works to highlight how awful the whole situation is, especially because when Deb does comment, it's very tongue-in-cheek. As they look back on events a few years down the track, it's clear Deb and Sue are wiser and definitely not OK with how they were treated in the past. There's a kind of credulity in certain parts; it's as though they're saying, "Yep, we did that, can you believe it?" But, importantly, while they may shake their heads at their naivety and invite others to do so, it's not about passing judgement on the girls. If there is judgement, it's on the boys who treated them so abysmally and the culture that not only allowed but encouraged this kind of behaviour.
Shirley mentioned in her review that she considers Puberty Blues to be a feminist book, and I agree. While it recounts some very sexist words and actions from a group of misogynistic boys(and girls, actually), the perspective of hindsight discussed above means that this sexism, while not overtly criticised, is purposely shown in a negative light. The closing scene, in which the girls triumphantly decide to forget about what others think, get their own surfboard and teach themselves to surf (something that was previously taboo) reinforces the ultimately feminist message. I would have liked this scene and their victory to have been expanded upon, but really, its brevity is in keeping with the rest of the novel.
I did appreciate the book, and there were parts that were really funny, but more than anything I was disturbed. It's scary to think that that's the way things used to be for girls - and even scarier to contemplate whether much has changed. I certainly hope it has!
While I think the writing was really effective overall, the first person narration didn't quite work at times. Although Deb is the main narrator, she would talk about events and conversations that she wasn't present for. Of course, it could be explained in that Sue (or someone else) told her about them - but it's not. I just found it sloppy and distracting. It could be due to the writers' inexperience at the time, but I would think an editor at least would pick it up. It's not a major problem, and I can see why this book is such a cult classic, even if it's not entirely enjoyable. At just over a hundred pages, it's a quick read - but not an easy one.
Rating: 3/5
Related
So excited for the TV show that starts tomorrow night, although it looks like they've seriously toned it down.
Fine Print Genre: I guess this would be young adult, although it deals with pretty mature themes and has been around since before YA was officially a genre. Published: 1982 Get It:Readings
Yeah. I failed. But it's OK, coz 2012 is going to be epic, and I'm totally going to complete the bajillion challenges I've signed up for (I'm nothing if not optimistic).
In the meantime, here's how I did (or rather, didn't do) in the 2011 challenges I signed up for:
The bolded/linked books are the ones I actually got to, bringing me to a total of four out of 12. *hangs head*
-Aussie Author Challenge, hosted by Booklover Book Reviews. I aimed for "true blue" status, which meant 12 books from at least nine different Aussie authors. I readI Came to Say Goodbyeand Ghost Child by Caroline Overington, Cargoby Jessica Au, Not Meeting Mr Rightby Anita Heiss and The Nest by Paul Jennings, giving me a total of five books from four different authors. Despite my failure, I've signed up for the challenge once again, coz I really want to read more Aussie books.
-Classic Bribe, created by Quirky Girls Read. The aim was to read at least one classic by September, which I actually did (A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett), however I totally forgot to post about it when the challenge ended, so I kinda failed anyway. Whoops!
...OK, so I didn't do so great on the challenge front this year, but I had a lot of fun trying - and that's the important thing, right?!
I feel like I'm the last person in the world to have read this book.
I put it off for a long time because (I'm embarrassed to admit) of the size. I love big books, don't get me wrong, but I love new books more, and tend to prefer to speed through three shorter ones in the time it takes to get through one massive tome. You might say I'm a tad impatient. But the other week, when I was trying to decide what to read, my fiance - who reads about four books per year and has managed to read this one - insisted I pick up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, coz he liked it so much. So I relented. I was curious to know what all the fuss was about.
I'd heard from the fiance, and others, that the first quarter is pretty slow going. And it really was. There were a few times when my eyes glazed over from boredom. While it laid the groundwork for the whole book (and, I'm assuming, the whole series), not a lot happens in the way of plot. Sure, we meet the main characters, but it takes an incredibly long time for them to finally meet each other and get things going. Even seemingly minor characters are given a detailed history, which I could appreciate on one level but also found quite tiresome on another, as I waited for the main story to start rolling. When it finally does, it's definitely a page-turner. It's an awesome mystery, with a fantastic cast of suspects and a fascinating set of clues.
But what really kept me turning the page was the chemistry between the two protagonists, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. As I mentioned, it takes awhile for them to hook up, but it's worth the wait. They work amazingly together, and I have to admit, though it made me impatient, the slow build to their meeting lays a strong foundation for the characters, both individually and as a team. I really liked Blomkvist, but like so many others it was Lisbeth Salander who really stole the show for me. She's definitely a strange and unique character, but she's super strong, got a lot of 'tude and can do some pretty clever things with a tattoo needle (this is significant in a spoilery way).
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn't shy away from violence, and though I was prepared for some brutal scenes, they still managed to shock me. Certain parts are incredibly uncomfortable to read - as they should be - and while initially I thought it was unnecessarily graphic, these details did make events that unfolded later (and the reader's understanding of certain characters) all the more powerful. It is the kind of book that stays on your mind even when you're not reading it, with the kind of characters you champion forever.
Rating: 4/5
Spoilery Talking Points
I loved discovering what really happened to Harriet. I suspected just about every character of murdering her at some point, and it's to Larsson's credit that both twists - who was responsible for Harriet's disappearance, and what actually happened to her - came as surprises to me. While both things did cross my mind, there were so many other possibilities that I wasn't really expecting them. I love a good twist!
Maybe I'm dense, but I didn't really get what Salander was doing with the bank accounts at the end - or maybe I should say, I didn't get why she was doing it. I felt that wasn't really explained properly. Perhaps it's covered in the next book?
Eye Candy
I'd seen the trailer for the upcoming English language adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a few times before reading it, so I pretty much had the entire cast stuck in my head while reading the book.
I posted a little while ago about how I was cautiously excited about Diablo Cody's upcoming flick Young Adult, because it sounded like an interesting comedy about a YA author, plus it had an awesome poster. Well, the trailer has been released, and I have to say I'm no longer excited at all. I think I'll give this one a miss. It doesn't even look craptastic - it just looks crap.
In other (kinda old, but new to me) movie news, I was surprised to find out that John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost is being adapted for the big screen. As an action movie. In 3D. Starring The Hangover's Bradley Cooper as Lucifer, unknown Benjamin Walker as Michael, Ben's little brother, Casey Affleck, as Gabriel, I Am Number Four'sCallan McAuliffe as Uriel, Pretty Little Liars' Diego Boneta as Adam and... wait for it... the girl Joe Jonas dumped Taylor Swift for, Camilla Belle, as Eve. I don't know how I feel about this. I'm curious, that's for sure. I guess angels really are the new vampires, huh?
As I said in my review of the book, I loved The Last Unicorn movie as a kid. I watched it repeatedly, and I remember thinking it was sooo pretty and had a wonderful story, though it was sad and kinda strange in places. Upon rewatching it as an adult, I discovered that not much has changed - it's still pretty, still wonderful, still sad and, yes, still a little strange.
Having read the book this time around, I was surprised by how faithful the movie adaptation was - though I guess I shouldn't have been, considering that author Peter S. Beagle also wrote the screenplay. Some things - such as Schmendrick's immortality, and the town of Hagsgate - were cut out, simplifying the plot slightly, but ultimately not damaging it. The only thing I did kinda miss was the Hagsgate prophecy and Lir's connection to the town, because I liked how it added another layer to his character. However, I can see that it might not have fit within time constraints, and it's not a major issue - the removal of this subplot still leaves a strong and lovely story.
As for the movie itself, while the animation doesn't flow the greatest in places (it's not exactly high-tech), the imagery is beautiful and a pleasure to watch. But it was the voices that really spoke to me (no pun intended) - Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Lee... they brought the characters to life and greeted my ears like old friends. The only thing that made me cringe a little - and I remember that I didn't like it much as a kid, either - was the music. To me, it made the film seem more dated than it would otherwise. But with that being said, it's still a classic.
This book was so beautiful I wanted to hug it (in fact, I may have).
I looooved The Last Unicorn movie as a kid and watched it repeatedly, but I’m ashamed to say until recently I didn’t even realise it was a book. I ordered it as soon as I discovered it was, and finally got around to reading it this week. From the opening lines (“The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone... she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night.”) I knew I was in for an amazing read. Of course, I already knew the story, but I didn’t know just how clever and wonderful the telling of it would be.
If you’re unfamiliar with the tale, The Last Unicorn is, as the title suggests, about a unicorn who discovers she’s the last of her kind and leaves the safety of her lilac woods in search of the truth about what happened to her people. Along the way, she picks up some allies in the adorably incompetent magician, Schmendrick, the strong, rough but caring Molly Grue and the handsome, heroic Prince Lir. She also learns a couple of important truths about herself and the nature of humanity.
This is a fairy tale full of whimsy, warmth, comedy, action and sadness. Beagle’s use of language is exquisite, his pacing is pretty much perfect and his characters are quirky but real, each one of them flawed and dealing with their own search for meaning and purpose. So while on the surface this is an entertaining read, it’s strengthened by a deeper level. What struck me most was the poignant exploration of love, life and mortality. Unicorns are immortal but cannot feel love, while humans love deeply but must die. Then there’s Schmendrick, stuck in between – a human blessed (or cursed) with immortality until he can find his true self and access his full power. I suppose your own interpretation would determine which state was better, but to me the ultimate message of The Last Unicorn seemed to be that love is the most powerful magic of all; able to conquer mortality (or the fear of it, at least) and give meaning to life. Now that’s a message I can embrace (literally... excuse me while I go back to hugging my book).
I love this movie. It's really entertaining and fun... but it's not A Little Princess. Literally - notice the The? It's a Shirley Temple film first, and A Little Princess adaptation second. Or maybe even third or fourth. It doesn't have a helluva lot in common with the original text - sure, character names are the same, and the bare bones of the plot are there, but all the muscle has a decidedly different shape. If there wasn't another great adaptation, that might annoy me more, but as it is I was pretty happy to go along for the Templetastic ride.
She is her adorable self in this film - complete with all the singing, dancing, pouting, dimply smiles and a good dose of by-golly-goshness. But she's not Sara Crewe. Oh, that's her character's name, and there's talk about how she'd rather read books and imagine things than do anything else, but her actions speak loudly in contradiction to this. I guess I can't complain too much, because I still found her more likable than Sara in the book. It was the movie characters that didn't exist in the book at all that tended to bug me; I felt they detracted from the story more than they added to it, in particular replacing some of the whimsical and magical aspects that are so great in the book. So, while as a Shirley Temple film this is awesome, as an adaptation it's not so much.
Shirley gives Sara much more sparkle and spunk than she has in the book - one of my favourite moments is when she dumps a bucket of coal dust onto Lavinia's head. I also enjoyed her song and dance numbers, even if the second one is oddly timed (in the middle of her search for her father), and the dream sequence is totally random and trippy.
Becky was also given better treatment in this version, even receiving gifts at the same time as Sara. I really enjoyed her character, even though she didn't get a lot of screen time.
Changes That Didn't
The addition of more adults for Sara to befriend at Miss Minchin's essentially replaced her friendships with the girls (except for Becky) which was a shame.
The war storyline overshadowed Sara's experiences at the school.
I also found Rose's romance totally unnecessary - sure, it was a sweet story, and would have been nice in another movie, but it had no place in this one.
I don't understand why Queen Victoria had to be there - or why the movie ended with Sara and Captain Crewe meeting her, with no real resolution, especially for important characters like Becky and Miss Minchin. WTF?!
The 1995 version of A Little Princess was one of my favourite movies growing up, and I'm happy to say it's stood the test of time and is still lovely to watch now. I got an instant hit of nostalgia as soon as the opening chords of the theme played, and was drawn once again into Sara's story. Yep, I actually liked Sara in the movie (unlike in the book) - she's got a bit of spunk to her in this incarnation, and benefits from the removal of the endless praise she receives in the book.
One of my favourite parts of the movie is the score - I haven't heard it in so long but, as I already mentioned, it's instantly recognisable, effectively creating a magical, whimsical mood. The gorgeous cinematography is another highlight; there are some things that don't make a lot of sense in the story (like Sara happily dancing in the snow wearing nothing but a nightgown), but they sure are pretty. The acting is pretty good all round, and the script itself is remarkably faithful to the book, despite one or two rather drastic changes (spoilers ahead)...
Changes That Worked
By placing the story at the outbreak of WWI, it gives Sara's father a stronger reason for sending her to school. The separation that hurts them both so much is not by choice.
As I already said, Sara is a much more likable character. She's definitely not too perfect - she's downright "wicked" at times ("cursing" Lavinia and pranking Miss Minchin) - but these are some of her most triumphant moments, where her strong spirit shone through.
The other girls at the school were also more likable. I love the way they put themselves at risk to get Sara's locket back for her - their friendship was touching.
Sara treats Becky as an equal, they BOTH receive gifts from Ram Dass and in the end it even seems as though Sara's father adopts Becky.
Which brings me to the biggest change - and the one that made me happiest: Sara's dad lives! I love happy endings.
Changes That Didn't
I don't get why the action was moved from England to America. It's not a big deal overall, I just thought it was pointless - and it weakened the story somewhat with regards to the neighbour/benefactor. The transformation of Captain Crewe's friend into an old man who loses his son at war wouldn't bother me in itself, except that as an American, it makes no sense for the boy to have gone to war at that stage. The US didn't enter WWI until 1917.
I could have done without Miss Amelia's romance - I just thought it was a bit silly.
Miss Minchin is almost too much of a biatch to start with - she doesn't quite suck up to Sara as much as she does in the books. Plus her reasons for hating her are much less apparent, making her character more two-dimensional.
I missed the shopping scene with Captain Crewe and Sara, when they find Emily. I didn't like how it was the Captain who bought Emily himself, and named her, and even told Sara about how dolls come alive when we're not looking. In the book, she picks Emily, names her, and imagines that she's real - and it was one of the few things I liked about the little brat.
I hate to say it, but I was disappointed with this book.
I should note before I go any further that my opinion was probably doomed from the outset by high expectations, and it was pretty much impossible for me to be fair. Because, you see, while I never read this book as a child, I watched the 1995 movie adaptation obsessively and also enjoyed the 1939 version, PLUS have a special place in my heart for Burnett's The Secret Garden - both the book and movie versions. So, like I said, my expectations were pretty damn high - and it was hard for me not to compare this book to all those other things.
While it told the story I was expecting - of a kind little girl named Sara being sent to a boarding school by her loving father, who then finds herself suddenly friendless and penniless, having to use her inner strength and imagination to overcome her lot - I was surprised at how different it was from the movies. There was one glaring plot point that I'd assumed was an intrinsic part of the story, because it appears in both film versions (despite them being very different in other ways), and I was shocked and disappointed that it was actually absent from the book. But I tried to be fair and get over that (after all, it's not the book's fault the movie versions changed its story) and instead focus on the magical and whimsical aspects of the plot that I love. Occasionally I succeeded, but unfortunately more often than not my attention was dragged back to things that really annoyed me.
For instance, the way the book dealt with race and servants. I know I shouldn't judge it by modern standards, but it was hard not to get irritated at the way poor Becky was treated - even by those who were supposedly kind to her. Similarly, it was difficult not to be disgusted by the descriptions of India and its inhabitants, and Sara's reflection that they were once her slaves - this, coming from a supposedly noble girl!
Which brings me to Sara herself. The little princess drove me nuts. Which in itself annoyed me - I wanted to like her SO badly (She reads! She loves stories and imagining things! She's smart! She's brave!) - but the more time I spent with her, the more I disliked her. She was just so perfect that she didn't seem real; on the rare occasions she showed "wickedness" (the few times I started to like her again), she quickly reined herself in. I know she's supposed to be an admirable character, with traits to aspire to, and I did like the message that positive thinking and kindness can be their own rewards, but it was just rammed down my throat so hard that I almost sympathised with the awful Miss Minchin. Who could blame her for wanting to bring Little Miss Perfect down a peg or two?!
I feel terrible saying all this because, like I said, I loved the story growing up and I'm surprised at how little I loved it after finally reading it. Of course, it wasn't awful - there's still the magic and whimsy there, and the story itself is enchanting. But with such an archetypal heroine, what should have been just my cup of tea was way too sweet for my tastes.
Rating: 3/5
Spoilery Talking Points
I've already touched on this, but I felt so bad for Becky. I hated the way that, even when she was receiving kindness, it was only as a result of being in Sara's orbit, and then all she got was basically Sara's crappy castoffs. Literally - Sara gets a fluffy new mattress because her old, hard one is looked at as too cruel for her - and yet this is the mattress that Becky gets as a gift?! Likewise, when Sara gets new clothes from her mysterious benefactor, and the package is specifically addressed to "The little girl in the attic on the right", I couldn't help thinking, "what about the little girl in the attic on the left?!"
I was gutted by what happened to Captain Crewe. I'd much rather focus on the happily-ever-after presented by the movies.
I thought it was interesting to note the differences between Sara and Mary from The Secret Garden. They both have similar backgrounds - raised in India, spoiled rotten and waited on hand and foot before being thrust into cold, harsh England - and yet were such different characters. I wondered if this was down to the one significant difference in their upbringings - Sara was extremely loved, while Mary was basically ignored. It's interesting that Sara is thus a kind, imaginative, too-perfect girl from the beginning, while Mary is pretty darn horrid to start with, and it's only once she starts to feel love (both given and received) that her kindness, gentleness and imagination come to life.
Eye Candy/Who I "Cast"
With the movie cast scorched into my mind from repeated viewings growing up, I basically couldn't picture anyone else. I did, however, manage to slip James McAvoy in as Captain Crewe and Michael Fassbender in as the Indian gentleman. (Can you tell I watched X-Men: First Class recently? I loved their bromantic chemistry).
Because I totally don't have enough to do (*cough*), I've decided to take on a couple more book challenges! Since I started this blog I've only signed up for the Aussie Author Challenge, which is hosted by Booklover Book Reviews, and I've read three out of 12 Aussie books so far.
There are so many fun challenges listed over at A Novel Challenge, but I was particularly drawn to two - I think because they're both things I'd do on my own, anyway.
The first is the Books to Movie Challange, created by Two Bibliomaniacs. As you can probably tell if you've read this blog before, I'm kinda obsessed with adaptations, and pretty much always watch the movie versions of books and vice versa, so this is the perfect challenge for me. Here are the deets (BTW, I'm aiming for Oscar Buzz):
"The rules are SIMPLE. Read a book. Watch the movie. Both milestones must be completed in order to receive full marks. There are 4 levels of participation to choose from. Straight to Video – Read 2 books and view the film adaptations. Limited Release – Read 4 books and view the film adaptations. Blockbuster – Read 6 books and view the film adaptations. Oscar Buzz – Read 8 books and view the film adaptations. The challenge begins June 1st and will finish December 31st."
The other challenge I've decided to sign up for is Books I Should Have Read By Now, hosted by Gabriel Reads. Considering my TBR pile of books that I own (not including books I want to read, but don't own) was 112 at last count, and has grown considerably since then, I think I seriously need to get cracking on this challenge. Here are the deets:
"My goal is to read two classic books each month from June 1st to December 31st, 2011. That adds up to twelve classics between now and the end of the year... Now for the fun part: I'm inviting any interested book bloggers to join in on this challenge. The books you choose don't have to be classics, but they do have to be books that you own that you should have read by now. Any of those tomes that are collecting dust on your shelf are free game.There are three levels that you can take on for this challenge: Casual Reader: At least 1 book a month Avid Reader: At least 2 books a month Voracious Reader: At least 3 books a month"
I'm going to try for two books a month for this challenge, sticking to either classics or books that everyone raves about. Here's what I'm thinking:
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford.
The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
If I Stay by Gayle Forman.
Dracula by Bram Stoker.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Delirium by Lauren Oliver.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.
Phew, I better get reading!
Updated to add: As Molly from Quirky Girls Read pointed out, quite a few of Books I Should Have Read By Now are classics that can double up towards their Classic Bribe challenge. So I'll be participating in this one, too! It involves reading at least one classic by September 5 - I think I can do that!
