Tag: classics
2019 Reading Challenges
This year I’m going to avoid signing up for any new challenges, but will continue with the ones I enjoyed most last year. The TBR Pile Challenge, hosted by Roof Beam Reader, asks you to take 12 books, plus two alternates, that have been…
Read Harder 2018: Revisit a Classic You Hated
With three months left to finish the Read Harder 2018 challenge, I’ve been putting off the toughest category on the list: an assigned book you hated or never finished. For obvious reasons — who wants to reread a book they hated? My mind immediately…
1984 by George Orwell
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. …
The Women’s Classic Literature Event
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…
Spooky Halloween reads: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
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…
The Classics Club 50 Question Survey
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…
Ready for 2015: Reading Challenges
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…
Top Ten Books to Get You in the Halloween Spirit
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 Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
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…
Reading Huck Finn, Chapters 1-16
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. …
Reading Huck Finn, Part I
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…
Chew on This: Literary Board Books
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…
