All posts tagged: Challenges

TBR 2009- The Observations

After reading Sarah Waters’ “The Night Watch”, the “Customers who bought this, also bought…” feature on Amazon recommended this. The Synopsis intrigued me (I love me a good mystery/ghost story), so I decided I’d give it a try… I waited for what seemed like ages for the book to make its way to one of my local bookstores and -failing that- I eventually went ahead and ordered it online. Maybe it was all the wait, or the brilliant 4 and 5 star reviews it got from other readers but I, somehow, expected more… It took me forever to get into this -despite the funny and original narrative- and, once I did (after about the 1st half of the story had painstakingly gone by), it was only to be let down by a largely anti-climactic (in my humbe opinion) finale. Maybe it’s just me but a book shouldn’t require such an effort to enthrall you in the first place, only to come to such an abrupt and minimalistic end 😦 That said, “The Observations” wasn’t an …

To Be Read Challenge 2009 Edition…

As some of you may have noticed (and gracefully not mentioned), I failed to live up to the “To Be Read” (TBR) Challenge last year 😦 I’m now hoping to complete the 2009 one and -to that effect- publish my Reading Lists below. As always, I’ll also post little reviews of the books upon finishing them (which -for those of you who are interested- will be filed under the “Books” category). Main Reading List 1. The Lollipop Shoes 2. The Shakespeare Secret 3. The Cargoyle 4. Pop-Co 5. Dancing with Eva 6. The Book Thief 7. The Observations 8. The Cairo Diary 9. Sundays at Tiffany’s 10. The Tenderness of Wolves 11. The Devil & Ms. Prym 12. A Girl’s Guide to Vampires Alternate Reading List 1. Addition 2. Small World 3. The Ex Boyfriend’s Handbook 4. Save Karyn 5. Playing James 6. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House 7. Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chamber 8. Manual of the Warrior of Light 9. The Luminous Life …

TBR Book Challenge- 2008 Edition…

So…here I am, taking on my very first online, book challenge…After checking a number of the available ones, out there, I finally settled on this one -mainly in the hope that it will help me manage my book addiction & tackle the resulting, ever-expanding number of unread titles on my bookshelves (see relevant entry below) 😆 I won’t be joining the Yahoo group available for this purpose, so my two lists (main & alternate) for this year’s edition will have to be posted here: Main Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Sleep with Me Lolita The Devil & Miss Prym The Tenderness of Wolves Twilight The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox The Interpretation of Murder The Lollipop Shoes Extra Virgin Nights of Rain & Stars The Long Way Round Alternate The Observations Minus 9 to 1 Plan B A Girl’s Guide to Vampires Death by Chocolate Twenty Times a Lady A Short History of Nearly Everything Ps. I Love You In the Dark of Night Full Dark House Love in the …