I have
skipped three challenge update posts from May to July, but here I am again!
Book(s) read = 18
Review(s) posted = 17
- Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier for #TBR2018RBR
- The Phantom of the Opera by GastonLeroux for Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (Re-read a favorite classic)
- Towards Zero by Agatha Christie for Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (a classic crime story)
- The End of the Affair by Graham Greene for #TBR2018RBR and The Classics Club
- March by Geraldine Brooks for #TBR2018RBR
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck for The Classics Club and Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (a 20th century classic)
- Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy for #TBR2018RBR, The Classics Club, and Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (a classic with single-word title)
- The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder for The Classics Club
- A Love Story by Émile Zola for Victorian Reading Challenge
- The Sin of Abbé Mouret by Émile Zola for Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (a classic in translation)
- Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff for #TBR2018RBR
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte for The Classics Club, Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (classic by a woman author) and Victorian Reading Challenge
- Famous Five: Five Go Off in a Caravan by Enid Blyton for Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (children’s classic)
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco for #TBR2018RBR
- The Siege by Helen Dunmore for #TBR2018RBR
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Classics Club and Back to the Classics Challenge 2018 (classic that scares you)
- Howards End by E.M. Forster for The Classic Club and #TBR2018RBR
- An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris for #TBR2018RBR (review will be up early next week)
Question of the month from #TBR2018RBR:
Have you challenged yourself with a genre
outside of your “comfort zone” this year?
Yes, I have.
I’m no fan of fantasy; yet I have forced braved myself to finally read The Lord of the Rings (yay me!) Did I
enjoy it? Not really… ha! Only because it’s an epic tale and beautifully
written that I can get through the three books.
It is four
and a half months to the end of 2018, and I have some exciting books to read.
Also, I will be participating in the 13th Readers Imbibing Peril (RIP) challenge, which will start next month. I have three or four books on my
TBR pile that I’m going to read through September and October:
- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K.
Chesterton
- The Whistler by John Grisham
If there is
still time, I might also squeeze in Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
How is your
reading pace right now? Will you join in #RIPXIII too?
Wow, you are doing an incredible job with your challenges! I envy you your reading list, this year. I struggled with the Lord of the Rings series when I read it, too, as a lot of it was so very dense. I do think it's one of the most incredible things ever written, though. Tolkien's mind... I just can't fathom it. I see The Turn of the Screw on your R.I.P. Challenge - I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on that one. I thought it was 'interesting.'
ReplyDeleteThanks, Adam! LOTR was tedious, indeed, so glad I have read it (though, I confess, I skipped several passages, specially the songs, ha!). But I agree, it's a genius piece of work from Tolkien.
DeleteNow you made me curious about The (interesting) Turn of the Screw... :)
So impressed with your progress this year - there are some serious tomes on that list! (LOTR for one... and Resurrection!) Also, I didn't know you had a history/historical-fiction themed blog. I will start following it for sure. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marian! You're right, my choice this year is much challenging than usual. Cleopatra and The End of the Affair were quite difficult too. But I have found quite a lot of gems too!
DeleteI appreciate your interest in my other blog; you're always welcomed to visit. ;)
I forced myself to read The Lord of the Rings last year, fully prepared to hate it, & I fell in love. I found it riveting! :) I had no idea I could love a book about elves and hobbits.
ReplyDeleteNice job on your challenges!
Actually it's you who have encouraged me to read LOTR, Jillian, because you ended up loving it. But unlike you, I didn't love it. I couldn't relate to most of the passages.
DeleteThis is an impressive list of books. It is good to read out of ones comfort zone sometimes. I think that an important thing to do is to try to go with high quality choices when one reads a type of book that one normally would not read. That way, even if one does not like the book, at least one started with the best. You definitely went with the best with Lord of the Rings.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree, Brian! It was for that purpose did I read LOTR through the end. And that's also the reason why I focus more on classics, besides that I truly love the genre.. :)
Delete