Challenge 26: A book based on a true story

Ida's choice: "What Happened?" by Hillary Clinton (Simon & Schuster, 2017)

I started reading this back in february this year (2018) but as of October (still 2018) I haven't had a chance to finish it. It's not that it's boring or anything, it's actually quite enlightening and I like the writing, but I just get so tired and angry. However, I think the book fits neatly in to this challenge, so I'm gonna aim to finish it soon.

Comments:

I managed to get this as an audiobook which helped greatly! It's a really great book and very much an important one too.

Challenge 25: A book that is more than 10 years old

Ida's choice: "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown (Corgi Books, 2000)

I actually considered this for the "a book that everyone but you has read" challenge, but then decided against it. Seeing as it also fits this challenge I'm gonna give it a shot (I quite like The DaVinci Code).

Comments:
Well. I mean, the story is fine but the writing is really annoying at times. I hate when accomplished female scientists (or any job field, really) is reduced in writing to how hot they are. Stop it. You as the author need their expertise for the plot, so treat your characters right. Also, in this case, I felt Brown didn't even need her expertise for the plot, she was simply there to act as a damsel in distress and I do not subscribe to that use of women in litterature. So yeah, no thanks Dan Brown - try harder!

Challenge 24: A book you loved... read it again!

Ida's book: "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin's Press, 2013)

At first I had decided on a different book for this challenge, but life happened and it just had to be this one. It's a YA (young adult) novel and it is brilliant. As someone who would happily describe herself as a fangirl and who has written fanfiction, I see myself way too much in the main character of this book. 

Comments:

Not much to say here except: it felt like coming home.

Challenge 23: A book from the library

Ida's book: "Dødevaskeren" by Sara Omar (Politikkens Forlag, 2017).

This book was all the rage when it was published last year. It wasn't something I would normally read so I put in a reservation for it at my local library - I was the 17th in line for the book, and I got it the day after my last exam for uni. The title means someone who washes the dead that no one else wants to wash - mostly women who have been cast out by society.

Comments:

This was a tough book to read, although it only took me two days. It tells the story of a little girl, Frmesk, who are born into a family who does not want another girl. To be fair, the violence in this books makes it almost unbearable to read. With so much violence against women in the world today, I read mostly to escape from all that, but there was no escape in this book. Nevertheless, it was a good and important read. 

Challenge 22: A book with pictures

Ida's book: "The Body Book" by Roz MacLean (Promontory Press, 2016).

So this challenge was a bit out of the ordinary, but then I remembered that I'd bought this little book last year, as part of an effort to have and read more body positive/fat activist inspired books, so I gave it a go!

Comments:

Every child should read this book, every adult too, for that matter. There is so much hatred for our bodies in society and if we can stop that at an early age and make children understand that all bodies are great, then we can truly do something good.

Challenge 21: A book with a great first line

Ida's book: "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollanz, 2011)

"It started at one thirty on a cold Tuesday morning in January when Martin Turner, street performer and, in his own words, apprentice gigolo, tripped over a body in front of the West Portico of St Paul's at Covent Garden.".

Comments:

Normally I don't judge a book on its first line. My way of finding out whether a book is interesting is to find a random page and read it - if I am I intrigued enough to find out what happens next (and sometimes what happened before) I either buy the book or take it out of the library. So this challenge was a bit tricky, as I found a lot of books can have very boring first lines. This book has been on my reading list for a long time, but I'd forgotten all about it until I spotted it at my local library. I took it off the shelf, did my random page test and took it home with me. A few days later I remembered about this challenge and I looked at the first line. I liked the writing style of it so I thought it would be a perfect fit for this challenge. The book itself was pretty good, I might give the follow ups a chance too although I do find the main character a bit annoying at times. 

Challenge 20: A book 'everyone' but you has read

Ida's book: "The Lord of The Flies" by William Golding (Faber & Faber, 2011)

Somewhere among the many suggestions for the last challenge, this title kept coming up. I therefore decided to use it for this challenge as I haven't read it, and obviously, quite a few people had!

Comments:

Well. Along with Brave New World, this is one of those books that leave a lasting impression, but which isn't really that good to read. It wasn't until the last 30 pages or so I actually felt invested in it and wanted to find out what would happen. I think I see so much of male violence in everyday society that reading a book about it felt too much. It's the stuff I normally try and shield myself from (why wallow in reading about it when real life seems to be so much more worse), so it was a hard read. I can see why so many people recommend this book, I can see why it has gained status as a classic, but it is not because it's a pleasure to read.

Challenge 18: A book with a blue cover

Ida's book: "Dietland" by Sarai Walker (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015)

So this is yet another book that have been on my to-read-list for a long time. I became aware of it through a fat activist network, but I was reluctant to actually read it: probably slightly scared of the inevitable truths it would make me aware of. Then a book shop offered 20% on all english books, and I thought, why not.

Comments:

Although it has only taken me just under a month to read this book, it was a slow start. The writing is excellent and I wanted to savour it; reading slowly and not rushing it. The main character's 'awakening' for lack of a better word is so well written and I follow her anger and wish for revenge, in fact, all the characters are believable and you sort of come to respect and care for them. As a fat woman, it hits close to home, and sometimes I just couldn't summon the energy to read on, it's a tough read sometimes, but then you get to the last 100 pages and I probably read them in a day or so (very typical reading behaviour from me). It's such a great book, and I will be sharing it with other fat women in need of an eye opener to the diet industry (land) that we live in. I'll probably return to it as well, in a not too distant future. Although I took my time (with most of the book) I still feel there is much to discuss and pick through, and I have a feeling it'll be one of those books that I will come back to time and again.

Challenge 17: A Book That Will Make You Smarter

Ida's book: "1915 - Da kvinder og tyende blev borgere" by Pia Fris Laneth (Gyldendal, 2015)

This book is about the Danish suffrage movement - it's title in English: "1915 - When women and servants became civilians". I've been reading it on and off since March, and have read embarrassingly little of it so far. I know quite a lot about the English suffrage movement as I wrote my MA thesis on it (its representation on screen, anyway) but I know next to nothing about the Danish effort. So I shall use this challenge number 17, to get to the bottom of it.

Comments:

Halfway point comment: The problem with books that will make you smarter is that they can be hard to get through. I am halfway through this one now, and have read two other fiction books in between - oops! It's not that it's badly written or anything, but sometimes it becomes too much of a trip through history, I think I need a little more structure and a feeling of connectedness between all the characters and events described. I have decided to continue with the book (obviously! I never abandon books), but also to continue with the other challenges alongside this one, as I would otherwise grind to a complete halt, and I can't really not read books. Stand by for further comments when I finish it.

I FINISHED IT!
I decided to give this book a few days, so I could complete it, and move it from my 'reading pile' to it's proper place on my shelf. It picked up in the second half, and the last few chapters were quickly read. It's a great book for the wider perspective on women's suffrage in Denmark, and I have definitelt learned some new things so - mission accomplished!

Challenge 16: A Book You Learned About Because Of This Challenge

Ida's book: "The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From A Small Island" by Bill Bryson (Doubleday, 2015)

So this is a book that Donna read, and I have since then heard a lot of good things about Bill Bryson, so I'm gonna give it a go!

Comments:
Overall, this was a really enjoyable read. Bill Bryson clearly loves the UK as I think only a foreigner can (myself included). His writing is witty and warm and the amount of knowledge gained about tiny villages and moorlands is pretty staggering. However, I do find that some of his opinions can be filed under 'old man refuses to acknowledge change', especially his dig about trans* people was a low point, as were some of his other utterances.
So my enjoyment of this book is somewhat dampened byt this, but his writing can't be faulted, and I obviously agree with him, when he says the the UK is a wonderful country.

Challenge 15: A Book Of Poems

Ida's book: "Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis" by Wendy Cope (Faber Faber, 2001)

I've been waiting for this one to come up, and I've had a name down for this challenge basically since beginning the whole reading challenge: Wendy Cope. I can't remember why or when I first read her poem The Orange, but I absolutely loved it, and since then I've read a few of her love poems; they are quirky and to the point, but embody so much feeling as well (I can heartily recommend 'Differences of Opinion' just because it's so on the point on mansplaining).

Anyway, I've chosen to read Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis, mostly because my Danish library had it, and so the choice was sort of made for me. We shall see whether it lives up to the poems I already know.

Comments:

For new-comers to Wendy Cope I would recommend her love poems, as most of them are quite straightforward and deliciously unprententious. This collection requires slightly more thought, or maybe I just feel like that because, despite having lived in England for 5 years, there are still a lot of (cultural) references I don't get and my reading of this collection suffers slightly from it. However! There are brilliant poems in this collection. The 'All-Purpose Poem For State Occasions' is wonderfully to the point and a true comment on the role of the royals in British society. 'From June To December' and 'Rondeau Redoublé' are, I suppose, love poems, but not the soppy ones. They are more bitter or bitter-sweet, but all the better for it, I think. And the concluding poem, 'Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis' is possibly the star of the collection, what with it's position at very back of the book, in it's own section, and the way it completely does away with any kind of implied depth from the title of it. I won't spoil it (can you spoil a poem?), but read the collection and make sure you save it for last.

Challenge 14: A Book Set In Summer

Ida's book: "The Yellow Wallpaper" (and other stories) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Dover Publications, 1997)

So! It's been quite a while since I've given any thought to this reading challenge, and I am only slightly cross with myself about it. I moved back to my home country, became unemployed, then employed again, and all the while I re-read some of my favourite books. Probably a bit of a coping mechanism: if life is chaos, it's nice to return to a familiar place and familiar characters, to not be surprised by anything.

But life has calmed down a bit now, and the reading challenge has been nagging for at least a month. Yesterday I read a short story, sort of by accident, and then realised that it was set in summer, and that it would therefore fulfil challenge number 14: A book set in summer! So I am now back in the game, with The Yellow Wallpaper.

The book (if you can call it that) is short. But my God is it well-written! The story is about a woman confined to a room by her doctor-husband, because of her nervous breakdown, but of course it only makes it worse, and of course, her confinement should be read metaphorically (after all this is a feminist text!).
The woman's descend into madness is gradual, and you can't help but follow her, it's not until the end that you realise you've been sucked in and that's what makes it so good.

It's part of a collection of some of her other stories, which I will now promptly go read!

Challenge 13: A Book With A Female Heroine

Ida's book: "Swamplandia!" By Karen Russel (Knopf, 2011)

For me, this reading challenge is about reading new books, broadening my horizons. It can be rather tricky finding books, as you ideally want an amazing reading experience every time, but obviously that's not going to be the case. When I'm stumped for what to chose for a challenge, I go to my "to-read" list on Goodreads, it's VERY long and this time I found this odd title; I can't even remember why I put it on the list. Probably because it sounds absolutely mad. It does, however, use the word "heroine" so I reckon it'll be good for this challenge. We shall see.

Here's the abstract, if anyone would like to read it: 

"The Bigtree alligator wrestling dynasty is in decline--think Buddenbrooks set in the Florida Everglades--and Swamplandia!, their island home and gator-wrestling theme park, is swiftly being encroached upon by a sophisticated competitor known as the "World of Darkness." 

Ava, a resourceful but terrified twelve-year-old, must manage seventy gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief. Her mother, Swamplandia!’s legendary headliner, has just died; her sister is having an affair with a ghost called the Dredgeman; her brother has secretly defected to the World of Darkness in a last-ditch effort to keep their sinking family afloat; and her father, Chief Bigtree, is AWOL. To save her family, Ava must journey on her own to a perilous part of the swamp called the "Underworld," a harrowing odyssey from which she emerges a true heroine."

Comments:

So this books was quite a bit different from what I expected! The alligator swamp setting was suitably weird, as were all the characters in the book. It did however get too dark for me, and I feel like I have to put a trigger warning (and SPOLIER ALERT! ---- Get ready!) for rape and pedophilia, because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have read the book if I had known that. I'm unconvinced that Ava, the main character, ends up a 'true heroine' but her plight and her dedication to both Swamplandia and her family was very convincing. All in all a book that sounded better than it turned out, although it stayed with me for quite some time after I had finished it.

Challenge 12: A book with a Lion, a Witch, or a Wardrobe

Ida's book: "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness (Penguin Books, 2011)

I've always loved stories about witches, I find them absolutely fascinating. Although I've read this one before, I decided it was time to revisit it, and seeing as it's October and Halloween it seemed to fit the season 

Comments:

I absolutely love this book, despite it's sometimes frustrating treatment of it's heroine and her sudden frailty when she falls in love. The book does manage to treat the whole witches, vampires and demons with a authenticity that ultimately makes this book such a great read.

Challenge 11: A Book You Started But Never Finished

Ida's book: "The Historian" by Elizabeth Korstova (Little, Brown and Company, 2005)

So this book has been a long way underway. I saw it in a charity shop ages ago and thought it sounded interesting, but given a very slow start, it is continually abandoned in favour of other books. It therefore seemed the obvious choice for this challenge!

Comments:

Good Lord, this took me ages to read! The story itself was okay, I'm a sucker for vampire stuff (no pun intended), but some of the choices the author made just seemed weird. It's almost 3 or 4 different stories interwoven, and sometimes it can be hard to keep track of which year we're supposed to be in. If it wasn't for this challenge I doubt I ever would have finished it, although the final 200 pages or so were pretty good.

Challenge 10: A Book Set Somewhere You've Always Wanted To Visit

Ida's book: "The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the last Tzar" by Robert Alexander (Penguin Books, 2004)

Originally I had wanted to read 'The Romanovs' by Simon Seberg but seeing as that book is incredibly long I decided to pick something a little lighter, given that I am supposed to be writing my MA thesis at the moment. Anyway, I've been interested in the Romanov family since I was around 10 years old, when the film Anastasia  came out: it was the first film I saw more than once in the cinema and I remember renting it on VHS so many times, before I finally got my own copy. So clearly this book had to take me pack to the Russian empire and why not do it with a murder mystery - or rather, a survival mystery. I am familiar with the narrative idea of a kitchen boy (because it was also used in the film) but other than that I didn't know much of those last few weeks; a fiction book is probably not the best informative tool, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.

Comments:

It was incredibly slow at first, and given that I'm going on a 2 week holiday to Canada later this month, I wanted, if possible, to finish this book before then. I therefore decided to get the boring bits over with and then read one chapter each night of the (hopefully) good ones. Well, suddenly I couldn't put the book down and I just had to finish it so I did... 5 hours later I was done. I have no idea how accurate the book is with regards to the family's life in that little house, but seeing as two corpses were never found, it's always interesting to see what a writer does with that kind of set up and I was not disappointed! I thought I had it sussed, but the final twist was very good and actually quite believable. So even though the book is a bit slow, the ending more than makes up for it!

Challenge 9: A Book With A Colour In The Title

Ida's book: "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf, 2006)

Since reading Adichie's "We Should All Be Feminist" for a reading group at my university, I wanted to read more of her writing and this book fit the bill perfectly. It's not what I would normally go for, but that's quite exiting and I can't wait to see what world the book (and author) will show me.

Comments:

Having never read anything about Nigeria or Biafra, this was an eye-opening reading experience for me! Sometimes I felt the book proceeded too slowly, but still I couldn't leave it for too long I simply had to know what would happen to the characters. It's such an amazing book I can't really do it justice, but I will definitely read more from Adichie. 

Challenge 8: A Book At The Bottom Of Your "To Be Read" Pile

Ida's book: "Did She Kill Him? A Victorian Tale Of Deception, Adultery, And Arsenic" by Kate Colquhoun (The Overlook Press, 2014).

I bought this book last year in the local Oxfam charity shop and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since. I don't really have any expectations of what it'll be like, so this is something of a leap of faith (as it was when I bought it on a whim) but I'm ready for a (possibly) murderous woman from the Victorian era, so bring it on!

Comments:
Okay, so this book became a bit of an obsession for me, which I hadn't actually expected! First of all, it's set in Liverpool which was nice because I knew the places described in the book. It also managed to paint a picture of the Victorian era, by piecing together letters, transcripts and the like (always in italics so you knew these were the 'facts' as they were written down in the 1880s). Finally, the fate of this young woman, Florence Maybrick just kept me coming back for more and I was genuinely angry at the shoddy police work done at the time and the incompetent judge. These books about murder cases are curious things, as it would be quite easy to just look up whether she was sentenced or not, but I managed to steel myself and read through the book without looking up the case, which really is the only way of reading this kind of book, constantly asking yourself - yeah, but did she do it? Amazing book about a time when arsenic was simply everywhere and a the worst a woman could do was to have an affair.

Challenge 7: A Book By An Author You Love

Ida's book: "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by J.K. Rowling (Bloomsbury, 1997)

So I'm well aware this challenge simply states "a book by an author you love" and not "a book you've read before" but I see no problem in re-reading and re-discovering old favourites, so that's what I'm doing this month. The first book came out in Denmark when I was 10 or 11 so it was the perfect age for me and I just fell in love with the whole concept. It's also a relatively short and easy read and I have multiple essays to write over the next month and a half so I needed something that I could properly relax with and I knew this book would be lovely to re-read.

Comments:

No surprises here, except that it was so lovely to rediscover Harry's world, and J.K. Rowling's wonderful writing. Quidditch was, and remains, the only sport I could ever get into.

Challenge 6: A Book By An Author You've Never Read Before

Ida's book: "The Summer Book" by Tove Jansson (Sort of Books, 2003 (org. 1974))

Although I've seen countless Moomin cartoons on the telly I've never actually read anything by Tove Jansson. One of my friends recommended me this though, so I'm gonna give it a go. I have absolutely no expectations for this book, but the cover is very nice, and someone who came up with the Moomins can't be a bad writer!

Comments:

For some reason I found it very difficult to finish this book, hence the belated post here. There is no overarching narrative, the chapters seem like they're dipping into the rich stories of summers spent on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. The young girl can be quite annoying at times but is also incredibly well-written and totally believable, as is her relationship with her grandmother who's sarcasm, wit and wisdom kept me reading the book, she really was the star of the story.