Nobooksnobooksnobooks! the walls cry at her.The whole house is filled with a malignant whispering...READ DA SPARKLY WUNS! READ DA SPARKLY WUNS!
"No!" choco cries as she wipes the chocolate smears from her face. "On the name of my reading honor, I will not!"
READ DA SPARKLY WUNS!
"I WILL NOT READ THEM" she howls heroically into the dark moors of the trembling bookstacks. She raises the might of her chocolate swordpen against the treacherous whispers.
(choco slices of the arm of MALIGNANT WHISPERING)
Choco: Now stand aside, worthy adversary.
MALIGNANT WHISPERING: 'Tis but a scratch.
Choco: A scratch? Your arm's off.
MALIGNANT WHISPERING: No it isn't.
(MALIGNANT WHISPERING resumes whispering)
IF YOU DON READ US, WUT YOU READ?
An idea sparks in choco's head, sparkling like a beacon of auburn, marble-chested hope.
"I WILL READ LITERATURE!"
/end failed attempt to be funny, which has since morphed into a Monty Python steal fest *
Ahem. Perhaps I shouldn't write blog posts right after I've just woken up.
Okay, in case I haven't scared everyone away...
I have a sparkly idea! Deprived of both transportation and new books, sans parents, plus empty house, and this equals...I have nothing to do. Except read the literature I've never had a chance to get to, that has been moldering around for anyone to take
A quick survey of
1. Animal Farm by George Orwell
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
3. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
4. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
5. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway
6. The Secret Agent by Joesph Conrad
7. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
8. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
9. Light in August by William Faulkner
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (holy crap, this is a lot of Faulkner)
11. Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
12. Oxygen by Andrew Miller
13. Madeleine is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
14. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
15. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
16. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
17. The High Window by Raymond Chandler
18. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
19. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
20. Native Son by Richard Wrigth
21. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
22. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Ooh, and some books actually from my bookshelf:
23. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (I swear I have a literary girl crush on this woman :p)
24. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ( I'm going to read this one for sure)
25. The Poisonwood Bible by Barabara Kingsolver
26. The Piano Lesson by August Wilson
UPDATE:Pilfering of le parents bookshelves has unearthed these books:
27. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
28. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
29. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris
30. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
31. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I <3 Fitzgerald. <3)
32-35: This is where I would say I had Lolita, anything by Tony Morrison, 1984, Push, and all manner of other books I've been wanting to read, BUT DEAR, BOOKISH SISTER has FAILED to purchase these books. *le sigh*
So here is the idea:
Here's what it entails:
Starting Sunday, I read a book everyday, and review it.* I'm not sure if I want to do a more teenaged viewpoint of literature to make it more relatable, or to just do regular reviews.
Teenaged view: LIKE, OMG Heathcliff earns a 10 on the hawt scale! He's as delicious as heath and cliff bars COMBINED!
Regular: The writing in Wuthering Heights is beautiful.
Perhaps a mixture of both?
The bottom line: [insert book] may be called great literature, but it's in essence sentimental drivel. Definitely not worth your time.
Now, I'm not 100% I want to do this. So that's why I'm asking you to vote in the poll (quickly!It closes on Sunday!) niftily located on the top right column.
Also, if you really, really want me to read/review one of the books mentioned, please say so in the comment below. I still haven't decided which ones I want to read. Or if you have any suggestions from the ones listed?
AND IF YOU HAVE ANY OBJECTIONS, SPEAK NOW! I wouldn't want to waste my time with or chase all my followers away with book reviews about books they're not interested in. It's okay, I do have a backlog of a YA reviews that I could write up for this next week, I just don't have any new reading material. I just thought this would be good motivation for me to read those books, and perhaps offer a viewpoint on whether a novel of "great merit" actually is worth reading.
So, in the comments, please tell me if this is something you'd would or wouldn't like to see. Don't be afraid to say it's not. Or ANONYMOUSLY in the poll you can select the "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" option in protest.
*Oh, how I love that movie!
*This is why War and Peace isn't on the list. Can you imagine reading that BEAST in one day?
17 comments:
LOL, have fun with those books!
Go for it! It sounds like a great idea. I voted yes. :D I remember reading Animal Farm, such a depressing book but it stays with you. I would love to hear your thoughts on it!
@ladystorm: Haha, I hope I do!
@Anna: Yay! And I will definitely try to read & review Animal Farm! I'm pretty curious about it :)
HAHAHA. Love this. Hmmm... I'm not one for classics, but I would recommend reading Animal Farm, Brave New World and Catch 22 just 'cause I've heard they're awesome. :)
I read Animal Farm when I was little... I didn't really get it. haha
I thought Animal Farm was depressing. Homocidal, slave-driving pigs. But anyways, I don't really have a preference because I enjoy seeing you do all kind of reviews. It's a good idea if you want to do it though. :)
no preference here. What ever flows from you
Oh my, you seem like a great writer. I LOVE YOUR ADJECTIVES! :D
And yes, yes, yes, you should definitely do this. It sounds like a really good idea. The teen version of a review made me laugh, so maybe you should do that kind for a teen novel or something. It sounds like fun!!! You should do some reviews for both too, and others could be sophisticated, like the one in "The bottom line". Very nice. :)
I vote yes. This is awesome :) Ooh, ooh, you have to review Brave New World and you MUST go and find Lolita. Seriously creepy but the writing is just so beautiful.
@Emilia: Hehehe. I've heard great things about Animal Farm & Catch 22 & Brave New World as well, so they're definitely on top of the list of my possibles!
@Jenn: Homocidal, slave-driving pigs?! Whoah. Even if it is depressing, that does sound strangely interesting. Thanks for your thoughts :)
@Cleverly: Haha. I think I will go through with it after all.
@Justine: bahahaha. I had entirely too much fun writing the intro. Hmm, maybe I should include a few short sentences of a teen's point of view after the main review. Hmm...
@ink: Brave New World seems to be getting a lot of love so I think I must read & review it. AND I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET A HOLD OF LOLITA FOR HALF A YEAR NOW!
Library? All copies lost. Bookstore? Out of stock.
I've finally broken down and bought it online in my MASSIVE BOOK PURCHASING SPREE THAT IS STILL ONGOING AND OMG I AM BUYING SO MANY BOOKS SOMEBODY STOP ME BEFORE I DESTROY MYSELF AND SINGEHANDEDLY FINANCE ALL THE PUBLISHING HOUSES IN THE WORLD WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY BEING THE SOLE REASON A WHOLE FOREST HAS BEEN CUT DOWN.
Someone. Come. Stop. Me.
I LOVE Ernest Hemmingway!
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway was a GREAT book!
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I have only read part of this book but you're going to love it!
And you MUST read Wuthering Heights. YOU MUST. It's one of those books that stays with you.
I vote yes, by the way. It's good to read great literature every once in a while. But if you actually finish a book a day, you will be my hero. ^_^
Do it! I love to hear your thougts about the books in your list! I read animal farm for school and have to say it was good! :)
YES YOU CAN!
HOW CAN YOU NOT FIND LOLITA? Bad bookstore and library! It's so iconic, imo. It'd be as bad as walking into a bookstore and not being able to find Pride and Prejudice. Penguin released it as one of their 'classics' range, meaning every bookstore has about ten copies of it(This also means that Lolita is wonderfully cheap -- ten bucks. Yay!)
@Raven: Haha, I'd like to be someone's hero. MUST. READ. A. BOOK. A. DAY. TO. BE. RAVEN'S HERO. Ooh, ooh I really should read Hemmingway, I LOVE Fitzgerald, and I'm definitely reading Wuthering Heights so maybe I'll read all 3 you suggested :)
@Nina: Haha, thanks for the encouragement!
@ink: *shakes head* I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT HAPPENED but yes, my library is an ATROCITY when it comes to classics. I can't get a hold of 1984 either! Every time I go and look and it's not there--continually "lost and paid" or "in processing" whatever the heck that means. Never, never "In library". Grr ><
So then I finally got fed up and went to the bookstore. NOTHING THERE. Sad little "Out of stock" option..nearest copy 30 mins away? WTH.
Then back to library. NOTHING THERE.
Rinse, repeat, endless cycle for half a year and finally annoyed enough to by it online for X-mas. (I've bought like, under 10 books this whole year up to now :p)
I'm way too late with this, but HOMG YES! DO IT DO IT DO IT! And I am jealous of your uber fast reading skillz. Wuthering Heights in one day? Go Choco!!! :D
This is a cool idea, although I'm ashamed to say that I haven't even heard of all of the books on this list! Eek!
Wow, great idea! I don't think I've hardly ever read many books in one day, though, you must be a fast reader. =)
I need to read your reviews that you've already posted though, but I'm definitely going to read whatever else you post on this.
I love raiding other people's bookshelves. That is the sign of being blessed.
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