European Reading Challenge 2012 - Complete

My Reading Selection

Germany - The Neverending Story
Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
England - The Moonstone
Russia - Pale Fire
France - Pierre and Jean and Selected Short Stories

Recommended
The Neverending Story
Pierre and Jean and Selected Short Stories

Disappointments
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Moonstone

Classics
Pale Fire
The Moonstone

Surprises
Pale Fire
Pierre and Jean and Selected Short Stories

I was about to publish a post about how I wasn't able to finish this challenge, when I realized I already had! Here I am struggling to read The Three Musketeers when I don't need to--ha!

You see my Kindle tells me I'm at 38% and I'm pretty sure I've read at least 300 pages. So the entirety of that book is some absurd number of partially engaging narration. I can't do it. I didn't know the story was that long. Had I known, I would've chosen another book and adjusted my reading schedule accordingly. But like I said, I don't need to. I had already read a book by a French author sometime in July of last year.

At first it was looking like this would be an unsuccessful reading challenge, but it was actually decent: The Neverending Story was wonderful, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--overrated, The Moonstone--boring, Pale Fire--leaves me with a question mark and The Three Musketeers--is not at all on the level of The Count of Monte Cristo Pierre and Jean and Selected Short Stories was eclectically morose.

With this complete (We had until January 31st to finish), I can finally focus on my 2013 reads.

All the way from Indiana--a package!

Look what came in the mail!

...it had to be inspected first.

...and then once again after I opened it...animals are so silly. 

Anyways, it's a copy of Wolf to the Slaughter by Ruth Rendell, courtesy of Bev at My Reader's Block. In 2012 I participated in her Color Coded Reading Challenge, and was selected as a winner of sorts...so she gave me the option of choosing a book and I chose this one. Exciting because 1) I'm not one of those people who win things--ever (unless it's a competition) and 2) I love getting packages in the mail..

Reading List for Color Coded Reading Challenge 2012 

Thanks Bev!

Smooth Criminals Reading Challenge 2012 - Complete

Another challenge complete!

My Reading Selection:

A Demon In My View - With psychopath protagonist
The Feast of the Goat - "Why the hell am I doing this to myself" book
The Maltese Falcon - Hardboiled classic
The Monk - Gothic
Monster - Prison book
The Moonstone - With plot that revolves around a crime
The Picture of Dorian Gray - By author who did time
The Postman Always Rings Twice - Noir classic

Recommended
A Demon in My View
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Maltese Falcon
The Feast of the Goat

Disappointments
The Moonstone

'Classics'
The Maltese Falcon
The Moonstone
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Picture of Dorian Gray

Surprises
The Monk

This challenge introduced me to Ruth Rendell, Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain, three authors whose work I intend to further explore, therefore it was a great experience. 

I noticed that not all the characters in the books I read committed crimes because they were marginalized (i.e, Dorian Gray, Arthur Johnson, Godfrey Ablewhite) No, they weren't 'marginalized' but they were still susceptible to social illness...and they did bad things because of those addictions, insecurities, impulses, etc.

I'm not sure if we're supposed to draw a certain conclusion on Dennis Lehane's statement (mentioned briefly on Ben's sign up post) about the social novel turning into crime fiction. Honestly, I don't know the entire context of that claim....but based on my reads for this challenge, I think it's safe to go with the idea that not all social novels are now crime fiction, but almost all crime fiction are social novels.

I don't know, it's tough. It's all connected I guess...and I would need to do more reading to support the idea I whipped together above. Either way, it's something to think about and it's something I'll keep in mind when reading other social novels and crime fiction. 

Monthly Keyword 2013 Selections (1 of 3)

I wanted to post selections for this challenge last month, but I couldn't decide on which books to read. 

I eventually settled on choosing books for the first third of the year (January - April) 

I'll include selections for months May through August in a later post. You can find out more about the challenge here.

Okay, so here are the selections thus far:

***Minor update: February's read has switched to The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCuller***

Reading Challenge: TBR Pile 2013

And another one-- The 2013 TBR Pile Challenge hosted at Roof Beam Reader.

This is commitment numero dos. I really need to do this one. No 'ands, ifs or buts' about it...when you see my list you're probably going to think: "What--She hasn't read that yet? why?" And all I can say is I know, I'm a literary slacker, blah blah blah.

Anyways, twelve books for this challenge. There are simple specifications on which books to choose from and how to go about updating challenge progress (something about a master list)...go here for more details.

The list (to be read in no particular order):

1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
3. The Things They Carried by Tim O' Brien
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. Love in a Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
8. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
9. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
10. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
11. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
12. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

...so many 'classics'. How did that happen?

Reading Challenge: Monthly Key Word 2013

I'm about 95% done with my current challenges (two books left, two challenges left, one book each challenge) Even though I have yet to complete all of the reading challenges I've committed to for 2012, I'm looking ahead and planning for the future. And I think it's alright to at least get somewhat organized for the upcoming months. 

I've decided to sign up for the 2013 Monthly Key Word Challenge hosted by Kim at Bookmark to Blog. It's an interesting concept, without too much restriction. And I believe this challenge will force me to read a variety of fiction next year. 

Essentially, readers must read one book per month with a title containing a key word from the list for each month. You can find out more information here. You should join!

My 'to-read' pile has grown substantially...it's usually a fluid list of ten books or so. Now it's triple that. Hopefully this challenge will help me whittle it down to a reasonable number. 

I'll put up my book selections for the first quarter of the Monthly Key Word Challenge in a post later. 

Color Coded Reading Challenge 2012 - Complete

I completed my first reading challenge!

I think it's pretty self-explanatory...you can check out more color-coded reviews here.

My Reading Selection
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgress
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey
The Red Rooster by Michael Wallace
Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead
The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson


I enjoyed this challenge mainly because I read across genres and found some great reads...I also discovered that finding an interesting book with 'brown' in the title is quite difficult. Anyways, here's the breakdown:

Recommended
Coal Black Horse
The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man
Devil in a Blue Dress

Disappointments
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Devil in the White City
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

'Classics'
The Yellow Wallpaper
A Clockwork Orange

Surprises
The Red Rooster

Reflections on May...and the first half of 2012.

First, enjoy this song by Arcade Fire - Month of May. It's on my "trampoline jumping" playlist.

The entire album is great by the way.

Now onto the real reason I'm posting -- May was a good month for me. I somehow managed to get through five books (...I'm kind of a slow reader). And in case you missed it (check out my reviews) I read:

• The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey*
• Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz*
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• The Red Rooster by Michael Wallace*

Tomorrow is the first day of June and I have about six months or so to complete my challenges. This sounds very doable. Overall, I think I've maintained a good balance of reading according to my lists and random, mood-induced choices of books to read. Participating in three challenges gives me the right amount of freedom I want, but just enough pressure to venture out of my comfort zone. So what have I accomplished?

Smooth Criminals - 5/8:

• A Demon In My View by Ruth Rendell*
• The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain*
• The Monk by Matthew Lewis
• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett*
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Color Coded - 5/9:

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• The Red Rooster by Michael Wallace
• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson*
• The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey

European - 2/5:

• The Neverending Story by Michael Ende*
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

I'm content with my progress so far...Right now, I'm halfway through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a quarter of the way through Prodigal Summer and Mockingjay is on deck on my Kindle. I've been feeling like I need some sci-fi or fantasy in my life, so I'll probably head in that direction with my reading in the not so distant future. That's about it for now -- hasta luego.

* = read this book one day.

Book Selection for European 2012

Reading Challenge: European 2012

Yes. I've found another one. Numero tres. I read so much European literature in college and its carried over into my casual reading, so it only seemed natural to sign up for this one. Gilion over at Rose City Reader is hosting the challenge. I'll be pledging the five-star Deluxe Entourage level of participation. Find out more about the challenge here. 

Book Selection for Color Coded 2012

'Red' in the title: 

'Blue' in the title:

'Yellow' in the title:

'Green' in the title:

'Brown' in the title: 

'Black' in the title:

'White' in the title:

Any other color in the title:

Color implied by the title:

Review - The Monk

The Monk
Author: Matthew G. Lewis
Pages: 300+

Description:

Set in the sinister monastery of Capuchins in Madrid, The Monk is a violent tale of ambition, murder, and incest. The great struggle between maintaining monastic vows and fulfilling personal ambitions leads its main character the monk, Ambrosio, to temptation and the breaking of his vows, then to sexual obsession and rape, and finally to murder to conceal his guilt. 

My thoughts:

Based on the book description, I expected something sort of...Faustian?; and I suppose those expectations were met. There were two things that left an impression. The first being the crazy amount of violence against women in the novel; the drugging and attempted murder of the German Baroness, the rape and murder of Antonia, the murder of Elvira, and the public flogging of the Prioress (to name a few) I guess the horror has to get mixed in somehow...The second thing was the persistent presence of Evil, and the lack of presence and/or intervention by Good. Not that I expected Good to prevail over Evil in a Gothic novel, but Ambrosio had absolutely no willpower when it came to temptation. Predictable. I'm sure a contemporary upbringing has jaded any potential feelings of surprise or horror. My least favorite element was easily the lyrical poems that ran rampant throughout the book and I'm not going to lie--I skimmed over the really long ones. My favorite parts of the book are probably when the riots rage against the convent, when Ambrosio faces the Inquisition and the end when Ambrosio signs his soul away. 

Quotes...

The Wandering Jew explaining his circumstance to the Marquis de las Cisternas.

'Fate obliges me to be constantly in movement: I am not permitted to pass more than a fortnight in the same place. I have no Friend in the world, and from the restlessness of my destiny I never can acquire one".

When Ambrosio discovers Matilda has given up her soul to avoid death at the stake. 

'Wretched Woman, what have you done? pass but a few years, and how dreadful will be your suffering!'

    ' Weak Man, pass but this night, and how dreadful will be your own!'

 Satan's response to Ambrosio's belief that he can still be pardoned.

'Are you not infamous in the eyes of Men and Angels. Can such enormous sins be forgiven? Hope you to escape my power? Your fate is already pronounced . The Eternal has abandoned you; Mine you are marked in the book of destiny, and mine you must and shall be!'

Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. Glad I read it. 

The Monk

3 out of 5 stars 

Book Selection for Smooth Criminals 2012

Hardboiled Classic: 

Noir Classic: 

Prison Book: 

Book written by writer who did time: 

Book with psychopath protagonist: 

Gothic Novel: 

Classic where the plot revolves around a crime: 

The "Why the hell am I doing this to myself book?: 

Reading Challenge: Color Coded 2012

I've signed up for another challenge. I found it at My Reader's Block and I'm really excited for this one as well...This makes two so far, which I don't think is overly ambitious for someone new to the reading challenges. I'll need to do some research before I post a list of books. Looking forward to all the reading.

Reading Challenge: Smooth Criminals 2012

I finally signed up for a reading challenge! Dead End Follies has a Smooth Criminals Challenge where I basically have to read eight books related to crime fiction. Each of the eight books differs in the requirement for the challenge. For example, one book must be a Noir Classic and another must be a Gothic novel. I'm looking forward to this, especially since I have until December 31st  to get it done.