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 7: A Book By An Author You Love

Donna's Book: "The Road to Little Dribbling" by Bill Bryson (Transworld Publishers, 2015)

It wasn't hard for me to pick a book for this challenge.  I've always loved Bill Bryson's books and I've got about three that I haven't read so this challenge is the ideal opportunity to finally getting aroud to reading at least one of them!  I have to confess that I've already read the first few pages, and I laughed out loud at every single one of them.  I'm really looking forward to the next month!

Comments:

Because of the annual madness-that-is-end-of-year-marking, I had a feeling that I'd get a bit behind with the reading challenge, but that just means that I had longer to be entertained by Bill Bryson.  I'd post my favourite quotes from the book here, but that would mean that I'd had to type out virtually the whole book!  (And besides the time that would take, there is a teensy problem with copyright infringement if I do that.)  Suffice to say that I laughed out loud at virtually every page.  Mr Bryson has not lost his keen observational skills, or his comic touch in describing what he's seen and done.  This is brilliant from start to finish.  Do yourself a favour.  Read this book!!

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.

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

Donna's Book: "A Wilder Rose" by Susan Wittig Albert (Persevero Press, 2013)

I grew up reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's series of "Little House" books, and then relived all of them through the TV series.  I'm proud to say that I read the books first though.  So, when I came across this book, it had to go on my reading list.  It's a fictionalised account of the relationship between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose, as they worked to publish the Little House books against the backdrop of the Great Depression.  Although Susan Albert declares it to be a work of fiction, it's based upon letters and private papers and so will also be biographical.  I'm hoping that this will make them very similar to the Little House series and will continue Laura's story told in her original series.

Comments:

I really loved this!  Although it's hard to always remember that this is a work of fiction, that may be because I wanted so much for it to be true.  The characters seem so real, with Albert bringing the letters and documents upon which this book is based truly to life.  What was so great is that the Laura in this book came across as a real human being, with all the flaws and frailties that humans have, rather than as a fictionalised heroine.  I think that, in reading this, I finally found the real Laura; the Laura that I was hoping to find.

The main storyline addressed the debate that has arisen in recent years over who was the true author of the Little House books -- whether it was Laura, or whether it was Rose.  Not having read anything on that subject, it's easy to be convinced by Albert's argument.  However, I'm not sure that it really matters to me who actually wrote the books.  They were written; that's enough for me.  What I found much more interesting was the way that this book delved into the relationship between a mother and her only child; how Rose clearly adored her mother and the conflict she felt between wanting to do everything that she could for her mother while at the same time living her own life.  If Rose sacrificed to write the Little House books, as Albert seemed to imply, then I got the impression that it was a sacrifice that Rose never, ever regretted.  To me, a greater understanding of that mother/daughter relationship is the real gem of this book.

Challenge 5: A Book Published This Year

Ida's book: "Destination Thailand (The Lonely Hearts Travel Club, Book 1)" by Katy Colins (Carina, 2016)

This proved to be rather a tricky challenge, and I ended up buying an ebook from the iBooks thingy on my iPad, mostly because I didn't fancy spending a lot of money on a newly published hardback book that I might not like, but also because it was easy and I didn't have to go into town (I can be so very lazy). 

I chose this one because it seems like a fairly standard 'chick-lit' book, in the same genre as Bridget Jones which I absolutely loved when the films came out, and which I have since analysed to death in my studies. I therefore begin this book with a mix of feelings: joy because it will be an easy read and provide some escape from the winter chill, and trepidation because I'm pretty sure I'll be annoyed at some point due to post-feminism and all that... so yeah, let's see what happens!

Comments:

So this book was pretty much exactly as I had anticipated: young woman who thinks herself ugly (but is standardly attractive according to the description) is dumped a week before her wedding and decides to go backpacking to find herself... yeah. Most of the time I was annoyed by the amount of stupid/silly things that were happening, not so much because they were unrealistic, but because I saw them coming a mile off - SPOILERS - that guy that's really into you? Yeah, he's after your money, surprise!

Anyway, the last 50 pages or so were pretty decent so it was a nice ending/setting up the main character for the next two books in the series. 

Challenge 5: A Book Published This Year

Donna's Book - "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" by Alan Dean Foster (Century, 2016)

As it's only January 22, I thought that choosing a book published in 2016 was a bit of a challenge but not only did I find one that has an official publication date of January 1, it also is one that I've been dying to read since December 17 last year!

I chose this book because I read the novelisations of the original Star Wars films back in the 1970s and 1980s, and they added so much depth and dimension to the storylines that they made me enjoy the films even more.  In fact, that may be why I love them so much, and have loved them for so long.  And yes, I admit that the main reason why I read the book of "The Return of the Jedi" was because it came out before the film and I couldn't wait any longer to find out who Yoda meant when he said "there is another Skywalker."

I absolutely loved the film of The Force Awakens, and I'm hoping that reading the book will have the same effect as in the past, and I'll end up loving it even more.  We shall see ...


Comments:

WARNING!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!

If you haven't seen "The Force Awakens" then read on at your peril.  There will be spoilers.  However, I hope that enough time has passed that nearly everyone will have seen the film who wanted to.

If you're a reader, and you loved the films, then this book is a must!  It adds depth to the storyline of the movies, and helped to fill in some of the gaps.  For example, right at the start there's an explanation as to why the happy ending at the end of the "The Return of the Jedi" didn't last, and how the First Order was able to rise and gain popularity and support.  Without solving the "who is Rey" debate, there are some tasty clues -- my favourite being Ren's gasp of "it is her!" during the epic lightsabre battle in the snow.

As I read on and on through the book, and got nearer and nearer to "that" moment, I got more and more nervous.  I think that's to the credit of Alan Dean Foster as well as the sheer emotion of what I knew was coming.  The writing was beautiful and really captured the depth and emotion of all the characters.  When Han and Leia shared one last look, when Han and Chewie looked at each other before Han stepped out to face his son, and when Han reached to take the lightsabre from Ben -- all three descriptions were almost too painful to bear.  If anything, I thought the book was even more emotional and sad than the film had been.  Sometimes adding depth to celluloid images is not easy to take!

Overall, then, a great read that really added an extra dimension to the movie.  I'm already looking forward to the novelisation of Star Wars VIII!

Challenge 4 - A Book Your Friend Loves

Donna's Book: "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens 

(1843)
(Project Gutenberg E-Book, FREE, so no excuse)

For this challenge, I asked several friends for recommendations and ended up with a great list.  One of the suggestions, though was this book and, as I was reading over Christmas for this challenge, and as I'd never read the original book -- and just seen various versions of the film -- I felt like I should choose this one.

Comments:

I'm sure that there isn't anyone who doesn't know the story, but no matter how many film versions you've seen, there is absolutely no excuse (in my opinion) for not reading the book.  The original books are always best, and I wondered if that would hold true for A Christmas Carol, especially given how long ago it was written.

Well, of course it goes!  Books are always best.  But I admit that I will still be watching "The Muppet Christmas Carol" next Christmas Eve.  However, what really struck me was how the script to Muppet Christmas Carol follows the text of the book so closely, which is probably why Charles Dickens receives credit for the movie on IMDB!  Sometimes, you just can't improve on the original!

Seriously.  If you've never read the book then, along with watching your preferred version of the film next Christmas, give yourself a treat and read the book too.