Monthly Archives: August 2006

Carl V. has an interesting challenge/contest up on his site for September.

It is almost September and as summer turns to autumn I get in the mood to read old favorites like Dracula and other gothic tales. I have a number of these stories that I have not read in addition to others that I would like to reread….Starting this weekend through Oct 31st I am going to begin a quest to get through a number of gothic, scary, moody, atmospheric stories. Post an entry on your blog indicating that you are taking on the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) Autumn Challenge (or post here if you are blogless) and pick out any 5 books that you want to read that you think meet the very open, broad criteria of being scary, eerie, moody, dripping with atmosphere, gothic, unsettling, etc. and vow to read them.

The prize? That most excellent edition of Dracula I mentioned yesterday! And, since I love a challenge, I’ve been looking for reads like this lately, AND I love prizes(!), I’m going to try for it! So along with my person goal to read more classics, I’ll be reading more spine-tinglers as well. My goal is 5 books like Carl. I’m tempted to count Rebecca since I read it this month, but I’m going to try to play fair.

My list of possibilities:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins since I was planning on reading it anyway.  I even glanced at it this morning!  I have The Haunted Looking Glass by Edward Gorey on hold at the library, so I’ll count it as well.  I love Poe, so I’d like to reread The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe to get a good case of the shivers.  I have never read any Stevenson, so The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyd by Robert Louis Stevenson should be a good place to start.  A Study in Scarlett by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle because I have only ever read The Hound of the Baskervilles and I want to start at the beginning with the good detective.  The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux is one of my favorite Broadway plays, yet I have never read the book!  So I’ll add it.  I loved Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley when I read it in college and it definitely fits the bill.  I’ll also add Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. I’m assuming, since Rebecca was so gothic-ish that Jamaica Inn will be as well.  And lastly, The Mummy: or Ramses the Damned by Anne Rice. For some reason I loved this book when I read it as a teenager, I want to see if it holds up.  I’ll also include An Unpardonable Crime by Andrew Taylor, one of my currect reads, since I won’t finish it this month and, it’s main character being one Edgar Allan Poe should make it eligible for inclusion. 

Incidentally, have you seen The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels? I want it and the Annotated short stories as well.  A quick search of Amazon brought up several new annotated books coming out soon.  One I covet greatly is the Annotated Pride and Prejudice.  SO want that.  

Good thing I have a doctor’s appointment today because I am really itching to go book shopping now!  It’s my first OB appointment and I am so nervous.  Good thoughts people, need those good thoughts!!

Forgive me, but I was bored to tears with my old layout.  I’m not exactly thrilled with this one, but it’ll do for now.  Look for that pen to disappear soon, as soon as I figure out what to put there.

I was thisclose to going to B&N today.  I want to take advantage of their classics sale!!  Reason prevailed however, and I went and walked on the treadmill instead.  But wait until pay day!!  There are several books I want to get and this would be the perfect time to get them! 

You see, I picked up that mammoth 1001 Books to Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall  from the library to peruse.  It is a fantastic book, very well put together with great pictures and, even better, great books.  I’m rather tempted to get it for myself.  It has brought to my attention many, many books I had never heard of and added quite a few books to my want list.  And I’m only halfway through it!!

The most interesting section to me, so far, is the 1700-1800s.  There were several authors there I had never heard of or barely heard of that promptly went on my list.  One such author, Fanny Burney, sounds really good.  I particurally want to read her Evenlina and Camilla.  And even though I have heard of George Eliot and own a couple of her books, I had no idea Adam Bede sounded so good.  It’s on my must read to read soon list. 

Continuing in my adventure reading, I want to pick up another Dumas soon.  I read The Count of Monte Cristo around the same time I read The Three Musketeers for the first time and I think I’d really like to read it again. But, I also have never read Daniel Defoe and would like to try Robinson Crusoe.  Carl V. posted a fantastic looking edition of The Essential Dracula on his blog and I’m determined to get my hands on it as well.  It’s another I haven’t read.  To make matters worse, my non-reader husband has.  So of course I HAVE to read it as well! 

So I’m trying my best to stay away from B&N, B&N.com, and Bookcloseouts, which has a bunch of the Modern Library books for cheap(!) until payday.  It’s so hard.

I’m a meme girl today

Booking Through Thursday

1. Have you ever wanted to travel to a place described in a book? Always.  Every book I read.  But in a way, I do, because I become so lost in books that you could call my name 20 times and I’d never hear you.  I always feel like I’m really there, especially when the descriptions are so tangible that you can see where you are, smell the smells, hear the sounds, etc, etc.  But yes, there have been times when I literally wanted to GO where the book was set; especially Ireland by Frank Delaney. 
2. Have you ever ACTUALLY travelled to a place because of the way it was described in a book? No, but if I ever get to Ireland, it will be because of Frank Delaney.  And, incidentally, Barcelona, thanks to The Shadow of the Wind.
3. And if so, did it live up to the expectations, feelings, emotions you expected from the book? Did you feel like Anne was going to come romping around the corner of Green Gables? Was it as if Jo was upstairs at Orchard House, scribbling on a story? Or was it just a museum, or just a city street? Like Abbey Road without the Beatles? Can’t answer this, obviously, but I’m sure they would measure up. 

Stolen from the ever entertaining Amanda! 

1. First book to leave a lasting impression? Wow, this is hard. There are so many books that have left an impression on me and it’s difficult to remember which one was first. I’m going to go waaaay back though and say Curious George. I say that because I made my grandmother read it to me so many times that I eventually memorized it and could “read” it to myself when I was only 3. It was also the book that I “read” that the words first POPPED out at me and made me go, hey, I know that work! So really, it was the first book I ever read.

2. Which author would you most like to be? This is equally hard. There are so many I would like to be, but I think I’ll pick JK Rowling because I want to know how it all ends already!!!!!

3. Name the book that has most made you want to visit a place? There are so many! Gabaldon’s Outlander made me want to go to Scotland. The Historian made me want to visit all those European countries they traversed through. The Shadow of the Wind made me want to visit Barcelona. And Frank Delaney’s Ireland made me want to go there as well. 4. Which contemporary author will still be read in 100 years? I have a hunch JK Rowling may be. Also the greats; Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, John Irving. And I’d say Stephen King as well.5. Which book would you recommend to a teenager reluctant to try ‘literature’? As a teenager I read a wide variety of books. I went through a classics phase. I read all that stuff required in school. But I also adored Christopher Pike and the (shhhhh!) Sweet Valley High books. To someone reluctant to try actual LITERATURE, I would recommend Dumas for adventure, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for suspence and Jane Austen for romantic comedy.