1984 has to be one of the most disturbing books I’ve read, between the creepy parallels with our current political situation, and the torture and brainwashing. Animal Farm has always been one of my favorite books, for its basic but powerful allegory about political corruption. 1984 takes this idea to a very different level. Written in … Continue reading
In 2016, the Classics Club is hosting the Women’s Classic Literature Event. This year long event will have quarterly check-ins where we can share thoughts and posts. The Classics Club describes it in this way: This event is way more a celebration than a “reading challenge.” It’s about hunting out those forgotten titles which didn’t … Continue reading
Every year, the RIP challenge encourages bloggers to review Halloween-themed reads (paranormal, mystery, horror). This is my first review for RIP X. I appreciated Portrait of a Lady, even though I didn’t enjoy it, nor did I sympathize much with its heroine. With this book, however, I may have decided that I dislike James’ writing … Continue reading
Last November, the Classics Club posted a survey with 50 questions. I didn’t want to post 50 questions all at once, so I thought I might take them ten at a time. I’ve been slacking on the classics lately but meaning to dive back in. 1) Share a link to your club list: https://thebookstop.wordpress.com/2015-reading-challenges/ 2) When … Continue reading
Happy New Year! Last night the husband and I stayed in, cooked a nice dinner, drank a “special occasion” bottle of wine. A pretty good New Year’s Eve as far as I’m concerned! Today I worked on getting the blog ready for the new year – updating links, cleaning up my TBR list, etc. I … Continue reading
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I’ve always loved fantasy, and while I don’t always say I’m a horror fan, fantasy and horror are pretty similar genres. I practically grew up on Stephen King novels — the old ones like Firestarter and The Dead Zone. I think … Continue reading
The Haunting of Hill House was written by Shirley Jackson in 1959. A finalist for the National Book Award, it’s considered by many to be one of the best horror stories out there, at least in the ghost story/haunted house category. It’s been remade into several movies, in 1963 and 1999, and spawned countless imitations. … Continue reading
The good news is, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is everything I hoped (and expected) it would be. The bad news is, I’m not feeling terribly academic these days, so I haven’t been able to motivate myself to be really thoughtful about this book. But it’s my blog, and I get to set my own … Continue reading
Okay, not surprisingly, I didn’t hear a ton of interest in reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But even if I’m talking mostly to myself, here’s my schedule in case you’re thinking about it. November 9: discuss Chapters 1-16, post questions on chapters 17-30 November 16: Chapters 17-30, November 16 November 23: Chapters 31-43 and … Continue reading
This article in last Sunday’s New York Times caught my eye with its cheerful cover of a board book called Moby Dick. Moby Dick? Yes, for overachieving parents there’s a new line of board books based on literary novels such as Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina. I laughed at first. BabyLit – really? Board … Continue reading
Happy Friday! I’m getting ready to post my review of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I was thinking that August seems like a good month for reading a classic and wondering what I should pick up next. Things seem to slow down in August and it’s a good time to stay indoors. Although as I … Continue reading
Jillian over at A Room of One’s Own has created the Classics Club, where you sign up to read 50 classics over five years. Since I love a good book list, I thought it was worth trying to create a list of 50 classics I want to read. I came up with this list by … Continue reading
