100 Modern Classic Books Challenge – 2011 Wrap Up

I came across this challenge about halfway through this year. I’m going to give it a go again this year, but if i dont get on very well i might just give this one up.

Books Read in 2011

1)The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold This was a bit of a harrowing read, a very difficult subject matter.
2)A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers I enjoyed this book ,but would have been better if it was a couple of hundred pages shorter
3)A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving I really didnt get into this book

Not a brilliant challenge year, but hopefully next year will be better.

Random Stats

Percentage Complete – 6%

Books on TBR at the end of 2011 – 1

Books on Wishlist – 4

Target for 2012 – 4

A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving

Challenges – Wordshakers online book club
BBC Top 200 Books
1001 Books You Must Read
Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge
The New Classics Challenge

Synopsis – ‘If you care about something you have to protect it. If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.’

Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend’s mother. Owen doesn’t believe in accidents; he believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is both extraordinary and terrifying.

My Thoughts – i was originaly really looking forward to reading the book as it sounded so good and was on so many booklists! Well it must be good then! But unfortunatly, it just wasnt a book for me. I didnt like how it jumped backwards and forwards in the narrators life, i was interested in the childhood side, but towards the end i was actually skipping his adult life parts, i also found it confusing with the timeline. Also, my main bugbear with the book i had was everytime Owen Meany spoke, it was in capitals. I really struggle to read in capitals I’m not sure if it is just me or weather it bothers other people but this really really really put me off!

The book was interesting at the begining, I was overwelmed that a friendship could survive an event, even make it stronger. The book deals with all sorts, love, hate, death, life, war, politics, real life events and lots of others.

This book does make you think, and maybe i would have enjoyed it more at a different time, but if you can handle a heavy book, then this is for you.

Rating – 2/5

 

Challenges Update!

Ok, so I’m a reading challenge-aholic! Their is just something about seeing a list of recommended reading books, and with me, it seems to be the longer the list the better!

I did want to update my challenges back in June, do a kind of six months update, but i forgot!  This year i wanted to read 10 books per challenge, books could overlap challenges, just to make a dent in some of these challenges!

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge This is a reading challenge to read every book that is mentioned in the TV show, Gilmore Girls. This was the opening to my reading challenge addiction. I like this challenge because their are lots of different books with many different genres on this challenge.

 

 

This year I have read 8 Rory books, so i might be able to achieve my target for this challenge. The Books i have read are as follows

1 – Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
2 – Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
3 – The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
4 – Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
5 – The Group – Mary McCarthy
6 – The Fellowship Of The Ring: Lord Of The Ring – Book 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien
7 – The Return of the King: Lord Of The Rings – Book 3 by J.R.R.Tolkien
8 – Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi

I also have another 11 on my TBR pile!

BBC Top 200 Books – this challenge is to read the top 200 books as voted by veiwers and listeners of the BBC. On this challenge their are many well known books so i had already read a few before undertaking this challenge!

I have only managed 4 books on this challenge this year, but have another 10 on my TBR pile!

1- Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
2- The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
3- The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkein
4- The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham

1001 books to read

I have cut the end of the wording off this challenge as i think its slightly morbid! This is more of a background challenge for me as i think its very difficult to activly read 1001 books! i have managed five books this year, with another 13 on my tbr pile!

1- Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
2- Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
3- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
4- The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
5- The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham

1001 Childrens Books You Must Read – this is the sister challenge to the other 1001 challenge that i am taking part in. This is a good challenge, however their are a fair few picture books on this challenge to read!

I have read 4 books this year with another 7 on my TBR Pile.

1- The boy in the striped pyjamas – John Boyne
2- The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
3- The hobbit—J.R. Tolkein
4- The Fellowship of the ring-J.R.R. Tolkein

The Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge. This is a challenge based on good books for teens, and i have to say this is my favourite challenge! Also, this challenge has alot of series books to read too, so its going to keep me busy for a long time!

I have only read 6 books, but have another 20 books on my TBR Pile!

 

1 – The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
2 – The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
3 – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ~ John Boyne
4 – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
5 – The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy- J.R.R Tolkien
6 – Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham

501 Must Read Books

This is another challenge that has an accompaning book! This is a bit different to the other challenges as its parts are spilt down into genres like travel writing and memoirs.

I have read 4 this year with another 8 on my TBR pile

1)The Group – Mary McCarthy
2)The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien
3)Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
4)Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi

The New Classics Challenge This was a challenge that i found only a couple of months ago so im quite behind on this. these are books that have been published in the last 30 years and could be considered new classics. I have only read one book with one on my TBR Pile

1)The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Challenge
Ultimate Teen Guide Book Challenge
New Classic Challenge

Synopsis – My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer. This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven, Susie sees her happy, suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet …

My thoughts – This was quite a harrowing book to read. I found the subject matter very hard at times. I had started to read this book a few years ago, but it went back before i had a chance to read it properly. This is a book that was an alrite read, just the subject matter was hard to get through.

Rating – 3/5