The Tudor Book Challenge

This challenge is being hosted by Michelle from Benedictionary. From January 1-December 31, 2010, participants are asked to read books about or inspired by the Tudor era of the English Monarchy.

I liked that the rules were flexible in that I can select my reading format which is most likely going to be mainly from my Sony e-reader. The selections can also overlap with other challenges that I have joined and can be fiction or non fiction texts.

I have finally collected all of Philippa Gregory's texts and have blogged in the past about how the movie The Other Boleyn Girl actually led me to the author. I wanted to read her novels in their historical order, and now I'm finally ready. The Literate Housewife has posted some great suggestions of books that can be read alongside Gregory's books that pertain to the specific people and time periods of which she writes. Another great resource is the Tudor Books Resource as listed on Benedictionary.

I am entering this challenge as a commoner which is a 5 book commitment. I hope to read the following books:

1. The Constant Princess

2. The Other Boleyn Girl

3. The Boleyn Inheritance

4. The Queen's Fool

5. The Virgin's Lover

6. The Other Queen

I have to admit that I have not yet seen the TV series, The Tudors. Many of my friends have raved about it to me. I think that what I'll do is rent a season at a time - but not until the summer - and this will give me time to read the books first.

451 Challenge

I'm just amazed at the endless number of challenges that are available to join in the book blogging community. Which to join? What level to choose? What are the rules? Oh, I'm such a rookie. I've decided to just jump in with both feet and join challenges that will allow e-book reading, overlapping, and have the end of 2010 as the deadline. I thought 26 books was a big challenge for the year but the bloggers I've been following often have in the hundreds and join 20+ challenges in a year! Here is another challenge that I have joined.

451 Challenge hosted by As Usual, We Need More Bookshelves
Inspired from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, in which the idea of keeping books alive for future generations leads the Book People to becoming the book , a group of book bloggers post on "451 Fridays" about the books they feel most passionate about. From these posts, a master list of books was compiled for which the bloggers deemed so important they would be willing to take on the challenge of becoming. From this master list, the 451 Challenge was born.

Between Jan 1 and Nov 30, 2010 participants are to read books from the 451 List and may choose to participate at one of the following levels:

Spark 1-2 books from master list
Ember 3-4 books from master list
Flame 5-6 books from master list
Blaze 7 or more books from master list

Re-reading is acceptable, books can cross-over with other challenges and audio, print, and ebooks are permitted. Participants are asked to post their reviews on the challenge blog and are then entered into a drawing for a prize.

I looked over the master list and decided to enter at Blaze level. There were so many remarkable books listed that I had 7 quickly selected. I'm not sure that I'll stick to these first 7 but here is my tentative list:

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
(I have never read this book and felt that if I'm going to do a challenge inspired by it, I should read the book)
2. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan *re-read One of my favourite authors
6. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
7. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

26 Books and other Challenges

Well my course is finished (Peter's last, he's on to his thesis- keep sending me book suggestions) and the Christmas Holidays are fast approaching. I've finally had some time to think about my personal reading and the commitment I intend to make to this in 2010.

As many of you know (Ok, I use the term "many" very broadly here) I have blogged about my intent to complete a "26 Books" challenge over the course of the year. I have hundreds of books just waiting TBR all stored securely in my ereader. But how to pick 26?

I subscribe via RSS feeds to several book blogs through my Google Reader. I can read multiple book reviews and add to my reading wishlist. Through one of my favourites Book Addiction I heard about the "What's in a Name? 3 " challenge. I thought that it might be fun to incorporate a few mini challenges into my bigger one and make connections with other book lovers and bloggers.

What's in a Name? Challenge

Between Jan 1-Dec 31 2010 I need to read one book for each of the following categories:
My selections are in brackets.


1. A book with a food in the title (Chocolat by Joanne Harris)

2. A book with a body of water in the title (Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie)

3. A book with a title in the title (The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory - I may even try and make this one work with a series challenge)

4. A book with a plant in the title (The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton)

5. A book with a place name in the title ((My Life in France by Julia Child)

6. A book with a music term in the title (I'm still thinking about this one)

The books do not have to be read in any particular order, do not have to be selected ahead of time, and this challenge is ok to be imbedded or overlap with others.

I'm not sure where I'll start but it has already been fun selecting books for these categories. I hope for a few January "snow days" to kick start my initiative!

Sidebars and Book Talks

I sat in class yesterday morning beside my friend Peter. During the lulls and short breaks in the day's agenda, we had a quiet conversation about books. This talk, often in the form of scribbled notes, in the most unlikely of places, buoyed my spirits as I realized that I had found someone whose interest in books paralleled mine.

Peter recommended several books to me and I scrawled notes all over our case studies and agenda pages. From my scribbles, here are some of Peter's suggestions:

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel


I had seen this book on several top ten lists and searched it out. When I read a brief summary of this 2002 Man Booker Prize winner for fiction, about a young boy adrift at sea with various animals, I have to say that I decided not to pursue this read, as it sounded a bit "too far out". (Unlike many of my friends who adore Mitch Albom, I struggled through the first part of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and it became one of few books that I have ever abandoned).

So Peter, at your suggestion, I now plan to include this book in my 26 Books challenge for 2010.

2. The Road (Pulitzer Prize, 2007) by Cormac McCarthy

I have not read any of McCarthy's novels and looked into this one. This book is considered of 'the post-apocalyptic' genre as it deals with the journey of a father and son as they travel across the landscape of a destroyed civilization, seeking salvation. This read will be a great way for me to challenge myself, as I am virtually unread in this genre.

3. My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme


Here is a memoir that I know I will love. It has all the essential elements for me, a romantic post-war setting (France), interesting form (letters home, personal notes for recipes), and a love story (the author and her husband, Paul Child) that Julia let the world in on decades later and after the death of her husband. Prud'homme is the greatnephew of Child.

4. Push by Sapphire

Another great recommendation. A first novel by the poet Sapphire, the story is told from the point of view of "Precious" Jones, an illiterate teen living the brutal existence often associated with inner-city life. The movie version that hit theatres this November is entitled "Precious" and is not to confused with the 2009 release of the movie "Push" which is unrelated to this book. I've included the trailer below. Word is that Mariah Carey is receiving rave reviews for her performance (who knew?).



5. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Peter cautions that the pace of this book is "a bit slow". I asked him if it was sad and he confided that it really was. See, here is another book that I had researched some time ago and again, as I so often do, talked myself out of it before I gave it a chance. For a synopsis, click the title above which is linked to the website dedicated to this story.



Thanks to Peter for all of these suggestions and the dialogue on books.

Favourite Irish and British Writers

I just finished reading Lessons in Heartbreak by Cathy Kelly, one of my favourite Irish authors. My cousin Lisa lent me a bag of books recently and so I picked this one up because it was a Kelly I hadn't read. (This is the first "traditional" book I've read in 7 months. I found it hard at first to adjust back to real paper from the virtual grayscale paper of my ereader. )

Lessons in Heartbreak weaves together the stories of Izzie, Anneliese, and Lily -- three characters related by family ties, each representative of a different generation. This is a more sombre book for Kelly as it deals with the issue of infidelity from several points of view. Izzie is Lily's granddaughter who lives in New York where she works for a modeling agency. She is involved in a relationship with a wealthy businessman who is "mentally separated" from his wife. She learns that her grandmother, Lily, has suffered a stroke back at home in Tamarin, Ireland and travels home to be at her side. Izzie's aunt, the long depressed Annaliese, uncovers the shocking truth of her 30+ year marriage around the same time. But I was most intrigued by Lily's storyline. The ailing 90 year old's past is slowly unraveled as the story progresses and we are taken back to wartime London where Lily trains to be a nurse, survives the bombing raids and indignities of class distinctions of that era.

I really liked that this was not a happy endings type of novel. And I never say that... I love happy endings. However, extramarital affairs by their nature cannot have fairy tale endings. Everyone gets hurt. In this novel, the characters all come to a sense of closure and in a sense there is more peace and contentment than "happily ever after."

Kelly writes with an interesting twist. One might expect Lily to narrate her own story, but she doesn't. Also, I loved how the prologue returns in the book.. not what I was expecting. Well, I didn't want to give away too many spoilers, but I definitely would recommend this story.

Now, if you're looking for a funny story by a British writer than I'd suggest reading anything by Catherine Alliott. I stumbled across Alliott's work in a local bookstore a few years back. With few expectations I dove into The Real Thing and then read Rosie Meadows Regrets. Hysterical, I mean hysterical. I laughed out loud, snorting, belly jiggling, hiccuping type laughter ... all the way through these two. The scene in The Real Thing where Tessa arrives at the summer house... classic! For anyone with young children, you will so get this. And Rosie Meadows, well, I needed oxygen to get through this. As my friend Lynda would say, TOO FUNNY!! I haven't read all of Alliott's work yet, sometimes its nice to save a few stories to savour over a holiday or weekend away. So, this Christmas, before I start my 26 books initiative, I'd like to read The Old-Girl Network, just for the laughs.

Join my New Year's 26 Books initiative!

Lately I've been struggling with the concept of time. "Time flies!" When will I ever finish all of my work? How is it Hallowe'en already? Christmas is just around the corner! The underlying theme being that time is a precious commodity and I never seem to have enough of it, and more importantly, fail to distribute any time for myself. It's ironic that we all seem to accept the concept of working overtime, yet we struggle with the idea of "living overtime." It shouldn't be that I'm creating Summer Reading Wishlists... I should commit time for myself to pursue my passion for reading all year round. And I really think that I should be able to do this free from guilt.
So, I'm intrigued by the original purpose of the book blog, "26 books." This idea began on Shane Richmond’s blog in 2006. As part of a plan to motivate himself to read more, Shane decided to read 26 books in a year. He completed the task with a couple of weeks to spare. For 2007, he decided to invite some friends to join him. The target was to have read and reviewed 156 books by the end of 2007. In fact the total was 167, although only 3 of the participants made it to the target of 26....
What a great way to establish a commitment for my love of reading throughout the year. So, I've decided to do the 26 books initiative and I plan to start in January. I haven't decided yet if I will pre-select the 26 books ahead of time (yesterday, I lamented in a blog post about the trouble with anticipated expecatations for great reads) or let the books come to me as the weeks roll by.
Anyone interested in joining this initiative with me? Are you a passionate reader but never have the time between work brought home, running kids to dance class, hockey, groceries, housework -- ok, well, I've never let this one interfere with my time-- making dinner, walking the dog, laundry --again, purely an example, but I think you get the picture? Let your New Year's resolution be about pursuing something that you love. For those of us who always choose the "I'll re-start my diet" resolution, this will support two resolutions at once. Put down the Hershey bar and pick up a decadent novel instead! Switch your focus from 2lbs a week to 200 pages a week. Get some exercise by walking the stacks at your local library or favourite bookstore.
We don't have to read the same books, in fact it might be interesting to hear comments and posts regarding many books as the year unfolds. An informal book chat versus a "book club."
Not sure what to start with? One of my favourite reads this year was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Send me a message or comment directly to this post to join the "26 books" movement.

Back to Blogging...... a Paperless Reader

I can't believe how much time has slipped by since my last blog post. The summer has passed quickly by, and I did manage to read several of the books on my Summer Wish List as I had previously posted. So here I am well into Autumn and finally returning to my blog.
One of the things that has captured my attention in the last few months was my birthday present, a Sony e-reader. I had wanted an e-reader for quite some time and since Kindle is so slow coming to Canada, I decided on the Sony PRS 505 model. Basically, I've gone completely paperless in my reading. The reader weighs about 9 oz and is enclosed in a leather cover to simulate a "book". The screen has several layers of grayscale technology and is essentially "virtual paper". There are various sizes of fonts and it did take me awhile to move away from large to smaller font sizes. There is no computer glare phenomenon with this device and I find that I read much faster because with a quick press/or toggle of a button, the page turns. The battery is good for about 7000 page turns. You can download text in pdf, lit form and the Sony files convert to lrf files. I have downloaded a converter that takes a file format such as .lit and converts it to .lrf and sends the file directly to my reader. I can purchase books through the online Sony book store and there are several sites where books can be shared or borrowed. Sony has reached an agreement with Google and over 500 000 texts in the public domain are available free online. (These are similar to Project Gutenberg files - so all the great classics are readily available. I've now got all my favourite Dickens and Austen novels on my reader.) My reader has 162 novels on the actual hard drive and then there are 2 slots for memory cards. I'm using one 2G card right now and have stored 1000 novels on this card and have 1.5G remaining. How amazing is that to have my own personal library at my disposal! I don't know if I'll ever read these 1162 novels, but to have the choice at my fingertips, wow! Its great for the cottage and works well out in the sunlight. Instead of carting a box of books with me in the boat, I bring my reader and my charger and I'm set. I also take it with me when I travel as it takes up such a small amount of space in my overnight bag. I can also download many work papers in pdf form to read while I am away. Ok, I've never done this, but its nice the option is available for me. There is the option to download my RSS feeds as well, but I primarily use this for my personal reading. I prefer to use my google reader on my PC for RSS, because then I can not only read these, but link to subsequent pages and view videos and pods, etc.
And speaking about personal reading, a few comments about Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. I read this with perhaps too much anticipation and felt really let down. I enjoyed the first two Robert Langdon stories, especially Angels and Demons and have to say that this third installment left me disappointed. Was it because of the location? Washington and Freemasons? I loved the European settings of the first two books. The Louvre, Paris, Rome, the Vatican... great history, very romantic. Maybe I've watched National Treasure one too many times, but I felt like I'd heard the storyline before. For me, very anticlimatic.
The other book that I'd been hyped up about was Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. Without being a spoiler, ewww! The leg bit put me right over the top. I also found the erratic time traveling confusing, trying to keep straight the events of past, present and future. The Clare/Henry age difference, nude man, young girl scenario was a bit creepy for me. Henry was a downer of a character all the way through, and although I liked Clare, she was quite the downer enabler. I felt that I expended so much energy to get through this book. Am I getting too picky?
I'm not finished with the books on my Summer Wish List, but I'm wondering if by creating this list, through my anticipation of their greatness, I've set my expectations too high?
I really want to be swept away by a truly great book. Any suggestions?