The Classics Club Spin #13

It’s time for yet another Classics Club Spin – and although I didn’t finish the last one, I’m going to jump ahead and get myself a new spin book so I don’t have to keep staring at Dracula. I’ve thrown in a couple choices that mean I can read with someone else, but if you see we have a book in common, let me know and I’ll juggle around my list so we can read together, if you like!

Onto the list:

1. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
2. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
3. Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
4. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
5. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
6. The Plague – Albert Camus
7. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
8. White Fang – Jack London
9. Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
10. The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett
11. The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
12. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
13. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
15. Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne
16. Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne
17. Night and Day – Virginia Woolf
18. A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
19. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
20. The Absentee – Maria Edgeworth

Update: I’ll be reading Tristram Shandy.

 

BOB15: Day 1

Day 1 didn’t go quite to plan reading wise, I had a doctors appointment which then led to intense physio later that day, then a friend over for dinner. We watched the cricket and then I slept. For 15 hours. I’ve been over doing it, but I still managed to get a little reading in.

I’m going to complete the wonderful would you rather challenge hosted by Lori @ Writing My Own Fairy Tale. 

Would you rather lend books to someone who dog-ears pages or to someone who reads with cheesy Cheetos fingers?

I would rather lend a book to someone who dog ears pages than have cheeto fingers touching them!

Would you rather be able to meet one character of your choice or meet one author of your choice?

I would rather meet one character of choice over an author!

Would you rather never be allowed in a book store again or never be allowed in a library again?

I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT MY LIBRARY. I’m too poor for bookshops anyway – I live in Australia.

Would you rather have to choose one of your favorite characters to die in their book or have to pick one of your favorite couples to break up in their book?

Break up a couple in a book – I mainly read action/crime/classics and although there are a few relationships I uh, ship – I would prefer my favourite character to be alone and sad then dead!

Would you rather be required to read Twilight once a year for the rest of your life or The Scarlet Letter once a year for the rest of your life?

I’d take The Scarlet Letter over Twilight. I actually intend to read The Scarlet Letter again, but I never intend on touching Twilight again. I didn’t even make it through my first read. I’d take Hawthorne’s drivel, thanks.

Onto my totals:

Day 1:

190p of Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride
50p of Dead Wake by Erik Larson

Total for today: 240p
Total for readathon: 240p

Books completed: 1
Birthdays for the Dead

Bout of Books Challenge: From Modern to Classic

Hi guys! Today’s challenge arrives a little late. Sorry about that, I can’t handle timezones! I hope you’re having a lovely readathon and getting in some quality reading. I’m delighted to be able to present today’s challenge, it is such an honour to contribute to one of the bookish events of the year!

THE CHALLENGE Share one book that you believe will be considered a classic in 100 years time. Simple? I do have a few caveats, the book must have been published in or after 2005 and you need to provide two reasons for why this book will be a classic.

HOW TO ENTER You can enter this competition on any platform, including posts on your blog, on twitter, facebook, goodreads or in the comments of this blog post. Include a link to the entry in your comment. Also, make sure the post is public, so I can check out your awesome answers!

THE PRIZE

• The winner of this challenge will recieve a book from bookdepository.com up to the value of US$15.
• The challenge winner will be selected by random number generator and notified, so please include your email address, twitter handle or however you wish to be contacted in the comment!
• You must be a Bout of Books participant to win the giveaway. So please include your Bout of Books signup number
• Only one entry per participant will go into the draw, but if you wish to discuss multiple books that are classic, go ahead!

Onwards, bookish fiends!

 

THE CHALLENGE IS NOW OVER! NO NEW COMMENTS WILL BE APPROVED

BOB11: Day One update

Well, yesterday I got some decent reading in, I had uni in the morning but then got home and started the new Spider Shepherd book, and didn’t stop reading until I finished the darn thing. I also finished off the last 80 pages of 1984 at uni – I was hoping to finish before the readathon started, but ended up reading it during.

I was quite happy because I managed to check out peoples blogs, but didn’t spend too much time on the net – that was my downfall last BOB.

Reading Progress:
1984 – last 80p
White Lies – 384p

Total Pages = 464

Today’s challenge – The Book Monster’s Scavenger Hunt! I had fun doing this one, and I realised I picked three books written by Stephens – It was a coincidence, I promise!

 

Challenge #1
1 Starts with a B – Beat by Stephen Jay Schwartz
2 Has been made into movie – Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter (was made into the movie Sniper)
3 Favourite series – Hard Landing by Stephen Leather (#1 in Spider Shepherd books)
4 Collection of poems/short stories – 100 Best Loves Poems edited by Philip Smith
5 TBR book – No Going Back by Matt Hilton

Today’s plan:

The Great Gatsby – 120
No Going Back – 360
Participate in a challenge
Visit blogs

BOB Spell it out Challenge

This looks like a fun challenge to participate in, so I decided to use my first name – Rebecca, and then realised in the past four years I haven’t read a single book starting with the letter E – let alone two of them! So I decided to go with my birth month – August (you know, cause Leo was also out).

A – Aggressor by Andy McNab

U – Undersea Prison by Duncan Falconer

G – Good Jihadist, The by Bob Shepherd

U – Ultimate Weapon by Chris Ryan

S – Strike Back by Chris Ryan

T – Traitor by Duncan Falconer

Okay, so I decided to use books only by ex-SAS and ex-SBS authors! SUE ME.

Challenge #2 – Battle Royale!

I decided to choose combatants from my ‘Classics’ shelf on Goodreads, and each has been called a monster in his own right!

The Combatants:

Frankenstein’s Monster from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein is hideous! He is a real brute of a guy and boy is he a tad immoral! He will do anything to get revenge on his pesky creator Dr. Frankenstein! Although he is strong and not afraid to kill, he is a hell bent on getting revenge on his creator, so he is prone to distraction.

My Hyde from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Mr Hyde is Dr. Jekyll’s evil alter-ego! Boy can he kick some butt and kill some people. However, Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll are the same person, and if Dr. Jekyll has anything to do with it, Hyde won’t be getting into any trouble!

Grenouille from Perfume by Patrick Suskind

The creepy monster on tonight’s bill, Grenouille has an incredible sense of smell! No really, he can smell lots of things! It doesn’t sound like a problem until you realize he becomes a killer so he can preserve people’s scent! However, Grenouille is likely to be distracted by beautiful, or interestingly new scents!

A Battle Report:

The three contestants enter the arena, and immediately, Dr. Jekyll declares this battle inhumane and demands to be released! The other two take this as a sign of weakness and pounce on him, ripping him to shreds!

Grenouille decides to take Dr. Jekyll’s underpants (Sweat. Soap. Poo?) and make perfume from them, and Frankenstein’s monster laments his loneliness.

Grenouille starts to boil the pants, and Frankenstein’s monster asks to be called Frankie, and to help Grenouille with making his perfume. Grenouille agrees to his help and tells Frankie to take his own underpants off so they can make a perfect aroma a la panties.

Grenouille gets distracted by a red-headed virgin in the crowd and sends his new minion friend into the crowd to get her. Frankie declines, because he doesn’t want to be left alone! *sniff*

Frankie backs away from his new found friend, and Grenouille attacks him with a knife he was using to stir the underpants soup.

THE WINNER IS GRENOUILLE, mainly because the other two have emotions! YAY EMOTIONS!

Challenge #1 Bout of Books

So, I’ve decided to participate in a challenge or two, and decided to jump straight in with The Book Barbies ‘If you like X, try Y challenge. Very easy, but fun first challenge!

If you like thrillers with a twist of western, try C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett Series

I just managed to finish a C.J. Box novel, and loved every word, so I thought I should include him in my challenge today!