October 26th, 2007 |
Hosted by Pour of Tor at Sycorax Pine
Read at least 6 unread authors.
September 2007 through February 2008
I finished this challenge with 6 books of new-to-me authors. I’ll continue to post reviews here, though, of new unread authors until the end of December.
1. Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset FINISHED
2. Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather by Gao Xingjian FINISHED
3. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini FINISHED
4. History of Love by Nicole Krauss
5. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn FINISHED
6. Mr. Ives’ Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos FINISHED
Alternates/Extras:
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller FINISHED
Bud, not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis FINISHED
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad FINISHED
Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright FINISHED
Middlesex–Eugenides FINISHED
Half of a Yellow Sun by Adichie FINISHED
Never Let Me Go–Ishiguro FINISHED
The Hours by Michael Cunningham FINISHED
Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol Vol. 1 FINISHED
Mad Shadows by Marie-Claire Blais FINISHED
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett FINISHED
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith FINISHED
The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander FINISHED
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells FINISHED
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf FINISHED
Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano FINISHED
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx FINISHED
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini FINISHED
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky FINISHED
October 26th, 2007 |
6 books where location is integral to the story.
I finished this challenge with 6 books completed. However, I’ll continue to add the reviews of the books below until December 31st.
My choices (at least 6 of the following):
1. The Sea by John Banville (Ireland) FINISHED
2. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan) FINISHED
3. The Wreath by Sigrid Undset (Norway) FINISHED
4. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (France)
5. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho (Slovenia) FINISHED
6. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana) FINISHED
7. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (Czechoslovakia)
Alternates/Bonus:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (South Carolina) FINISHED
The Bookseller of Kabul (Afghanistan) FINISHED
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (Nebraska) FINISHED
Half of a Yellow Sun by Adichie (Nigeria) FINISHED
October 26th, 2007 |
I’ve seen three films recently that I want to recommend.
Equilibrium stars Christian Bale and is a fantastic dystopian film. The storyline is sort of a mixture between We by Yevgeny Zamyatin and The Giver by Lois Lowry (two books I LOVED) and has many film elements of The Matrix. Christian Bale is amazing as always (I’ve been in love with him ever since Empire of the Sun), and the movie also stars Emily Watson, Angus Macfadyen (Robert the Bruce in Braveheart), and, in a small part, Sean Bean. You’ll especially appreciate this if you’ve read either of the books above. I was so pleased that my husband and sons enjoyed a movie that I picked out for them. Warning: there is quite a bit of violence! Rating: A
The Painted Veil stars Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, and Liev Schreiber. Loved this as well. Based on a W. Somerset Maugham book, the story is about a spoiled English girl who finds herself in the middle of a cholera epidemic. Very well done. I can’t recommend this for kids, though. Rating: A-
Away from Her is based on a short story by Alice Munro. Julie Christie is absolutely fantastic in this as a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s. I’ll definitely be reading this as I was confused some about the ending. I can’t say I agreed with some of the choices made here, but I still thought this film very thought-provoking. Rating: B+
If you’ve seen any of these please comment as I’d love to hear your thoughts on them. If you see them based on my recommendation, come back as well!
