What's your reading personality?

I saw this quiz over on Book Chick City's blog and I had to give it a go...sounded like fun!

What's your reading personality? Are you an eclectic, serial, exacting or involved reader? Find out now by taking BookBrowse's fun, fast (and not to be taken too seriously!) quiz.

So here are my results after taking the quiz:

Personality: All-Rounder

Your responses showed you fitting equally into all four reading personalities:

Involved Reader: You don't just love to read books, you love to read about books. For you, half the fun of reading is the thrill of the chase - discovering new books and authors, and discussing your finds with others.

Exacting Reader: You love books but you rarely have as much time to read as you'd like - so you're very particular about the books you choose.

Serial Reader: Once you discover a favorite writer you tend to stick with him/her through thick and thin.

Eclectic Reader: You read for entertainment but also to expand your mind. You're open to new ideas and new writers, and are not wedded to a particular genre or limited range of authors.

These results actually describe me to a T! Great quiz =)

Why not take it yourself? Here: BookBrowse

The Let's Be Friends Award

I received this great award from Ryan at Wordsmithonia. Ryan's blog was the first blog I visited on Blogger since being on Twitter and it was his blog that inspired me to create my own blog here on Blogger (I previously dabbled in blogging on MySpace). So thank you Ryan...for the award and for being an inspiration to a fellow blogger =)

"Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers."

I would like to pass this award on to these great blogs:

Melissa at My World

Book Chick City

Miranda at I Am Not Jane Austen

Be sure to stop by and befriend these wonderful bloggers!

Awards!!!

I received this wonderful award from Melissa at My World and I would like to thank her so very much! Melissa has a fantastic blog and I hope you will take the time to stop by and check it out.





Being a recipient of this award affirms that this blog invests and believes in the Proximity - nearness in space, time and relationships. This blog receives this great award as a further way to reiterate that it is excedingly charming, and aims to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!


I am giving this award to:


Ryan at Wordsmithonia

J. T. at Bibliofreak


These two bloggers put a lot of thought in to their posts and this leads to some great content on their blogs. I really hope that you will give them a much deserved read!

I received this beautiful award from Deb at Bookmagic. Thank you Deb! Deb also has a lovely blog with great content. Please stop by and check it out.

I'm giving this award to:

Angie Muresan

Heidenkind's Hideaway

Jane Austen Today

I hope you will stop by these lovely blogs. They have great things to say!

The Humane Award

I received the Humane Award from Krista over at Life or something like it...! Thank you, Krista! The Humane Award is to honor certain bloggers that I believe are kindhearted individuals. They regularly visit my blog and always leave great comments. After all, what is a blog without great people who stop by and comment?! Their blogs are also amazing and are thoughtful and intelligent. I thank them and look forward to our growing friendships through the blog world.

This award I pass on to:

Melissa at My World

Deb at Bookmagic

Robyn at This is what I have to say....

I really hope you'll stop by these blogs and visit with these wonderful bloggers!

The Dark Divine Contest

Bree Despain is having a great contest that includes the following: 1. A pedicure kit complete with my new THE DARK DIVINE nail polish! + An autographed ARC of THE DARK DIVINE + $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble. 2. Signed copy of MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Sydney Salter + Signed copy of LIFE IN THE PIT by Kristen Landon 3. A $30 gift card to Barnes & Noble. The contest ends on August 29.

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Jenny at TakeMeAway. It is the time each week to recognize those older books… an older book you’ve always wanted to read, or one that you have read and love; maybe one from your childhood; or review an older book -- how about even a classic!

This is my first time doing this and my pick for this week is:

Queen Of The Damned by Anne Rice

Did you ever wonder where all those mischievous vampires roaming the globe in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles came from? In this, the third book in the series, we find out. That raucous rock-star vampire Lestat interrupts the 6,000-year slumber of the mama of all bloodsuckers, Akasha, Queen of the Damned.
Akasha was once the queen of the Nile (she has a bit in common with the Egyptian goddess Isis), and it's unwise to rile her now that she's had 60 centuries of practice being undead. She is so peeved about male violence that she might just have to kill most of them. And she has her eye on handsome Lestat with other ideas as well. (synopsis from Amazon.com)

Now anyone that knows me knows that Anne Rice is my favorite author and that this is my favorite book. The story behind my discovery of it is interesting. When I was in my late teens/early twenties, I came across this book as a book club selection in one of those mail order book clubs. It sounded good so I bought it. I started reading it and my mom noticed the author. She went to her bookcase and pulled out Interview with the Vampire and said, "That book is actually the third in the series. This one is the first one." Now I had remembered seeing it in mom's bookcase for years, but had never actually pulled it out and read it. So to make a long story short, I still ended up reading Queen of the Damned first and then went back to the beginning of the series. I don't know if it's due to the fact that I read it first or if it's because in this book, Rice really explores the history and the origins of the vampires (I lean toward the latter). All I can say is that I have read it three times and I'm getting ready to revisit it a fourth time as I'm reading The Vampire Chronicles (actually on audio) once again, up to Menmoch the Devil, in preparation of reading The Vampire Armand. I have been too long away from Rice's beloved vampires!

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge

UPDATE: I am restarting this challenge this month (November) because I have not committed to it well. It is a perpetual challenge, but I still need to commit to it!

I must be on a challenge kick because earlier on Wednesday I joined my first challenge ever, the RIP Challenge. Well, I was over at the bloggers group on Library Thing and I came across this challenge being hosted by Melissa at Coffee, Books, and Laundry.

The 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list is pretty daunting, but I consider that since reading is so very important to me, then this is the challenge that should be ongoing in my life. So I accept this challenge with gusto and maybe just a little apprehension (take a look at the list here and you'll see what I mean).

The rules are relatively simple actually and are as follows:

Must read 1 book a month from the list.

Must rotate lists every month.

(For example, August I will take a book from the 2000's list, then following month choose a book from the 1800's.)

The beauty of this is that I am already reading Frankenstein for my B & N book club and for the RIP Challenge and it's number 931 on the list!

If you decide to accept the challenge, be sure to go over to Melissa's blog (link above) and leave a comment. She doesn't really have an "official" sign up, but I'm sure she will be interested in everyone else's progress. I know I will!

Happy reading!

Super Comment Award

I received this awesome award from Ryan at Wordsmithonia and Deb at Bookmagic. I am honored that they thought of me and I hope you will check out their blogs, as they are most excellent.

I am in turn giving this award to a couple of my super commenters:

Laura at Laura's Reviews

Krista at Life or something like it...

I would also be giving this to Deb at Bookmagic and Ryan at Wordsmithonia (who gave this award to me) and also to Melissa at My World, but they all have already received this award themselves. These three are actually my most super commenters so here is a shout out to them. I appreciate their comments even more than they know! I also want to thank anyone and everyone who takes the time to comment. It really means a lot =)

The RIP Challenge-Halloween Here We Come!

I have been wanting to do a challenge since I started my blog in early August, but there are so many out there, I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed. Then tonight as I was looking through the new posts of blogs I follow, I saw the RIP Challenge on Bibliofreak's blog. This challenge is hosted by Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings and it consists of the following guidelines:

Choose from these genres:

mystery

horror

gothic

dark fantasy

suspense

thriller
supernatural

The number of books that have to be read are 1, 2, or 4....very easily accomplished!

This challenge runs from September 1st through October 31. A very Halloween appropriate challenge!



So now, without further ado, here are the books I have chosen to read (I'm doing four!):



(Addendum: I'm adding a couple more books to the pool because I need to read these before the movies come out in October)



1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

(I'm also reading this for the Literature by Women group at B & N Book Clubs)

2. 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs

(ARC I won from Library Thing)

3. The Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

4. Elsewhere by William Peter Blatty

5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

6. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane



I'm excited that my first challenge is in one of my favorite book genres--horror and the like! I am SO ready to begin!

Extravagant Bookcase/Book Giveaway

--BOOKIN' WITH BINGO is having an EXTRAVAGANT BINGO BOOKCASE GIVEAWAY sponsored by CSN STORES who sell everything from fireplaces to office furniture. Stop by and enter by 6 PM, EST, on September 26th.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here is how it works. Grab the book you are currently reading (anything at all). Open the book to any random page. Share 2 "teaser" sentences from anywhere on the page. Please Make Sure They Are Not Spoilers! (Don't Give Too Much Away) Just enough to pique our interest. List the book and author so other participants can get their hand on it if they choose to read it as well.

For This Week:

The man in front of me had begun to change. The first indication

was the shift in the tenor of his voice, lowering from a man's

wordless anger to a beast's primal growl.

From Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

How To Make Life Work Book Giveaway

Shauna at Book Giveaways is giving away five copies of How to Make Life Work by Michelle McKinney Hammond.

To read more about the book, click the Book Giveaways link above. The giveaway ends on Tues, Sept. 1st.

Good luck!

The Time Traveler's Wife...The Movie

I saw The Time Traveler's Wife today and since I reviewed the book the other day, I thought I would do a little comparison. Don't worry, there will not be any spoilers!

First off, I will say (as I usually do) that the book was better! No big surprise there. However, the movie was very well done. Some elements of the book were left out, obviously due to time constraints, but overall it did not bother me so much. I guess because the actors that were chosen for the main roles were great choices. I thought Eric Bana as Henry was a very good fit. He is a good actor and has been overlooked in the past, but I think this movie showed off his dramatic chops. Rachel McAdams, of course, was ethereal. I just think she lights up any role she plays. She has a very bright future in acting. And Ron Livingston as Gomez...outstanding! It was just regretful that his part in the movie was so much less than in the book.

Now there was one thing I missed in the movie and that was the comic relief. As I said in my review of the book, what was great about it was the combination of science fiction, tragedy and comedy. The movie was mostly focused on the two latter elements. There just wasn't enough comic moments to balance the sad ones. However, I was glad that the movie eliminated the constant lovemaking between Henry and Clare. I'm not a prude by any means, but I think the movie portrayed well the great love between the two without having to show constant sex, like the book.

So, in conclusion, I do recommend that you see this movie, but if you're a reader or if you were planning on reading the book, I would suggest that you read the book first. Reading the book first really keeps the confusion at bay and fills in any holes that might have your mind full of question marks. And if you really must choose between the book or the movie...choose the book.

BINGO: Beautiful Blog Award

This is the BINGO Beauty Award. I have been awarded it from Melissa at My World. Thanks so much Melissa! I would give it to you again, if you hadn't already received it, because your blog is most deserving!

Addendum: I had to edit this post because I just found out that I
was also given this award by Deb at Bookmagic. She rated my blog as beautiful. Thank you Deb! *blushing* You have already received this award from others and you are deserving of it!

This award means that this blog is:

B: Beautiful
I: Informative
N: Neighborly
G: Gorgeous
O: Outstanding



I am bestowing the award to the following outstanding blogs:

• Brooke Reviews



• Jane Austen Today



• Lit and Life



• Opinionated? Me?
  

Please take a moment to check out these blogs, as they exemplify the meaning above.

If there are a few blogs that you feel warrant this award, then by all means, pass it on!

The Lemonade Award!

Thank you so much to Book Chick City for this great award, thanks for including me in your illustrious list =) The Lemonade Award is a feel good award that shows great attitude or gratitude. Here are the rules for accepting this award:


• Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post.
• Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.
• Link your nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award.

Okay, so here are the blogs I would like to pass this award on to:

• Wordsmithonia
• A Word to the Wise
• My World
• Laura's Reviews
• Scuffed slippers and wormy books....
• Life or something like it...
• Bibliofreak
• I Am Not Jane Austen
• My Novel Reviews
• Lost in Books

Be sure to check out their blogs, as they are total book lovers and great bloggers!

Book review--The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I am crying as I write this so let me warn you--when you read this book, you had better be prepared to cry...and to laugh...and to be amazed. How does one describe a book that so seamlessly combines science fiction, comedy, and tragedy?

Henry and Clare have a relationship that transcends time...literally. Henry is what is known as a chrono-displaced person, or CDP. There are no time machines or devices. He just disappears from one time leaving a pile of clothes behind and appears in another time completely naked. He meets Clare when she is a child and they develop a friendship that carries on every time he travels back to her time, as she is growing up. When she finally meets Henry in his present, he doesn't know who she is, but she has known him for years. It all seems very confusing here as I describe it and that's the problem. This book defies description. But I'm not saying this in a negative sense. When you actually read the book, it's not confusing and that, in itself, is the beauty of it. To explain the story further here would give too much away and I do not want to do that, dear reader.

So I will focus on the storytelling. The author has taken a difficult situation (to say the least) and made it both comic and tragic at the same time. Who in life hasn't tried to see the funny side of a grave situation? I know I have. It's human to look on the bright side and Henry and Clare have a love that withstands the obstacles because of their ability to focus on the good. In the end, it has been their love that has seen them through. As Henry says to Clare, "Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust." Their love has been the only constant in time.

It is rare for a book to really touch a person to the core. This book does just that in a way that is soul-soaring and heart-wrenching, but also manages to invoke a smile in the back of your mind.

Book Giveaway...Confetti Cakes for Kids

Shauna at Book Giveaways is giving away this wonderful book!





Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes has created confections as elaborate as a platter of sushi, a wine bottle in a crate, and a designer handbag. Now she focuses her talents on her younger fans with this enchanting collection of cakes, cookies, and cupcakes for kids. Strauss starts readers off with 20 delicious recipes and all the basic techniques needed to complete any project in the book. Then she offers step-by-step instructions for 24 jaw-dropping designs that can become the centerpiece of any celebration. Projects span the imagination--from a charming sock monkey, to an MP3 player, to playful hula gingerbread girls and boys--and will appeal to anyone looking for the perfect way to thrill a child with a delectable, spectacular creation.

For instructions on how to enter, click the Book Giveaways link above.

The contest ends on Tuesday, August 25th.

Much thanks to Shauna for this giveaway!

Good luck!!!

How Well Read Are You?

I found this on Rebecca's blog Lost in Books. She found it on the blog Lit and Life first, so I am linking back to it, but the idea came first from Laura, at Laura's Reviews. Laura wanted to see how well read she was in American Literature so she combined a few top 100 lists of books pulling out the American authors. How well read do you think you are?

Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.

(Like Rebecca, I decided for fun to put an M for those whose movies I have seen.)


1. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (X)
2. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (X)
3. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (M)
4. Moby Dick by Herman Melville(X)
5. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne(M)
6. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (X) (M)
7. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
8. Dune by Frank Herbert (M)
9. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (x)(M)
11. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
12. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (x)
13. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
14. O Pioneers! By Willa Cather
15. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
16. My Antonia by Willa Cather
17. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (M)
18. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
19. Little House on the Praire by Laura Ingalls Wilder (X)
20. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (X)
21. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
22. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (X)(M)
23. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
24. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (will read this fall!)
25. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
26. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (M)
27. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (M)
28. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (M)
29. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
30. The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
31. Roots by Alex Haley (M)
32. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (M)
33. Katherine by Anya Seton
34. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (this fall..before the movie comes out!)
35. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (X)(M)
37. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
38. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee(M)
39. The Collected Stories of Katherine Ann Porter
40. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (M)
41. The Stand by Stephen King (partially)(M)
42. Carrie by Stephen King (X) (M)
43. Walden by Henry David Thoreau (X)
44. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (X)
45. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (M)
46. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
47. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
48. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
49. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (M)
50. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
51. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (M)
52. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
53. Mystic River by Denis Lehane (M)
54. American Pastoral by Philip Roth
55. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (M)
56. Rabbit Run by John Updike
57. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates
58. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty (M)
59. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan(M)
60. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
61. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt (X)(M)
62. Sandman by Neil Gaiman
63. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
64. World’s Fair by E.L. Doctorow
65. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
66. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
67. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
68. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (M-Simon Burch)
69. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger
70. Cathedral, Raymond Carver
71. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (M)
72. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (X)(M)
73. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (X) (M)
74. Deep End of the Ocean by Jacqueline Mitchard (M)
75. John Adams by David McCullough (M)
76. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
77. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Piccoult (M)
78. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
79. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
80. Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut (X)
81. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (X)
82. Native Son by Richard Wright
83. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
84. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
85. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren (M)
86. The Bridge of the San Luis Ray by Thornton Wilder
87. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
88. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (M)
89. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
90. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (M)
91. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy (M)
92. Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (X) (M)
93. Beloved by Toni Morrison (M)
94. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
95. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (M)
96. So Big by Edna Ferber
97. Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
98. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
99. The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
100. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Conner

Books read: 19 (eeeeekkkk!)
Books seen movie of: 36
Books read AND seen movie: 9
Books not read yet: 81

I better get busy! This list makes The Book Addict look very bad!!!


How do you compare? Do the Meme on your blog! Please link back here and to Laura's Reviews if you do. Thanks.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here is how it works. Grab the book you are currently reading (anything at all). Open the book to any random page. Share 2 "teaser" sentences from anywhere on the page. Please Make Sure They Are Not Spoilers! (Don't Give Too Much Away) Just enough to pique our interest. List the book and author so other participants can get their hand on it if they choose to read it as well.

For This Week:

"I keep getting ratted on by the motion detectors in the stacks at the Newberry. Twice this week I've ended up in the stacks after hours, and as soon as I show up the guard is upstairs checking it out."

From: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Zombie Chicken Award

I received this award from two great bloggers: Ryan at Wordsmithonia and Melissa at My World. Thanks guys!



The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all. I have come across a few, well more than a few, outstanding blogs which I am now following. The bloggers I would like to award this award to are as follows:

http://iamnotjaneausten.wordpress.com

http://pussreboots.pair.com/

http://janitesonthejames.blogspot.com/

http://bibliofreakblog.com/

http://blogs.myspace.com/lisas_lair

Of course, there are so many great ones I'm following, but since I'm limited to 5... I hope I have appeased the Zombie Chickens.

Side note: I would have awarded it to Ryan and Melissa, but they have already received it from others. But they do get a special shout out from me!

Book Giveaway...The Eight and The Fire

Nikola is giving away a copy of The Eight and The Fire by Katherine Neville!

Click on his name above for details. Good luck!

Book giveaway-Dewey, The Small Town Library Cat....

Book Giveaways is giving away a copy of the wonderful book "Dewey"!

Giveaway ends on Tues., August 18th.

Good luck!

Have you read 6 of these books?

I borrowed this from Ryan's blog Wordsmithonia

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions: Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (X)

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (X)

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (X)

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (X) (except the last one)

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee ()

6 The Bible (X)

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (X)

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell ()

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman ()

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens ()

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (X)

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ()

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ()

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare ()

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (X)

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (X)

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk ()

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger ()

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (/) (half X ...am reading now)

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ()

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (X)

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (X)

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ()

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ()

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams ()

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ()

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck ()

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (X)

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (X)

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ()

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens ()

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (X)

34 Emma-Jane Austen ()

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (X)

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (X)

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein ()

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ()

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (X)

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (X)

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell ()

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (X)

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ()

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving ()

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ()

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery ()

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ()

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood ()

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding (X)

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan ()

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (X)

52 Dune - Frank Herbert ()

53 Cold Comfort Farm ()

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen ()

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ()

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ()

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ()

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley ()

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon ()

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ()

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck ()

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ()

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ()

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold ()

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ()

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac ()

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (X)

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding (X)

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie ()

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (X)

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens ()

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (X)

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett ()

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson ()

75 Ulysses - James Joyce ()

76 The Inferno – Dante (X)

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ()

78 Germinal - Emile Zola ()

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ()

80 Possession - AS Byatt ()

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (X) (but, of course!)

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ()

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker ()

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ()

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ()

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ()

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (X)

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ()

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ()

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ()

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (X)

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery ()

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ()

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (X)

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole (X) (blah!)

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute ()

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ()

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (X)

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (X)

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo ()

I got 34, which is somewhat more than what the BBC thought, but The Book Addict should have read many more...for shame! I own most of these books. Now, just to get around to actually reading them all! *sets mouth in a determined line*

Friday Fill-Ins #136

Friday Fill-Ins is a weekly meme sponsered by Friday_Fill-Ins

1. Sandals are my favorite summertime footwear.

2. My favorite John Hughes movie is Sixteen Candles, followed closely by Some Kind of Wonderful.

3. My sons' hair after they get a fresh haircut is something I love to touch.

4. The full moon makes me feel and act weird...maybe I'm a werewolf!

5. I should be in bed right now.

6. When daylight fades I come alive (I'm a night owl).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Twitter, reading, and blogging, tomorrow my plans include my monthly used book sale (yay!) and Sunday, I want to relax, but I really need to clean and organize my library!

Contests

Book Giveaways is giving away a $50 Barnes and Noble Gift Card.

Trying to Stay Calm is giving away a portable DVD player and a PUR water pitcher.

Contests end on Tuesday, August 11, 2009.

Book review--The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater

For those of us who love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this book is an excellent companion piece to that wonderful novel. This is Pride and Prejudice told entirely from Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy's point of view--written entirely in diary form. I liked this book because it gives more insight in to the character of Darcy...his inner turmoils and doubts. In his diary, he wears his heart on his sleeve and we are shown an even more caring character than we find in Pride and Prejudice and, therefore, a more suitable match for Miss. Elizabeth Bennett. We also are treated to a look at Mr. Darcy's friendship with the illustrious Lord Byron. Darcy's propriety and genuine character contrast nicely with Byron's debauchery, although Darcy is far from being of complete innocence--he is a single man after all. I found the addition of Lord Byron to the story very clever as it gives Mr. Darcy a place, so to speak, in the historical world. Some may be shocked by some of Mr. Darcy's actions in the book, but I find it refreshing as it seems an accurate portrayal of a well-to-do bachelor of the time period. What I do find ironic is the fact that the Bennett sisters are considered "unsuitable" for a high-born marriage because of their lower status in society and yet a wealthy bachelor could visit houses of ill repute, etc. and not fear for a lowering of his reputation. I guess it was certainly a man's world back then! In all, The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy is an excellent read. Ms. Slater has produced a novel that is smart and provocative. Austen enthusiasts should consider reading this, especially after reading the original Pride and Prejudice again.

32 Questions Asked and Answered

I borrowed this from wordsmithonia and since he "borrowed" it from another blog I thought I would give it a try since it is about my favorite subject...books! Thank you Ryan and also to the person that you "borrowed" this from as well.

1. What author do you own the most books by?

Stephen King weighing in at 41, second would be Anne Rice at 24.

2. What book(s) do you own the most copies of?

I have only one copy of all my books except for The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice which I had in mass market paperback and then bought the hard cover copy and then but never donated the paperback.

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?

I struggle with this every day in my writing...whether it's appropriate or not. Not sure if I notice it so much in other's writing.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

The vampire Lestat, Mr. Darcy, Edward Cullen (I know, I know...leave me alone!)

5. What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?

Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice three times, Little Women countless times, A Christmas Carol countless times

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?

Little Women

7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?

Dali & I: The Surreal Story by Stan Lauryssens. I rarely give negative reviews since I do like most books, but here is a snippet of the review I wrote: Although well written, Dali and I was somewhat boring. And I just could not identify with the main character, Stan. He was both immoral and bland at the same time. I really hate to give a negative review, but this was not my cup of tea.

8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?

Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Duma Key by Stephen King, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince...I guess it's a three way tie!

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?

I'm with Ryan on this one, no tagging. However, it would have to be Let Me In by Lindqvist. One of the best horror novels I've read in a while!

10. Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?

I'm not sure on this one...I'd have to really do some digging!

11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?

I've actually heard from Anne Rice on Facebook that The Witching Hour and The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned are going to be made...which will be great if they do them right (unlike Queen of the Damned). Also, I think The Host by Stephenie Meyer would make a great movie. Bag of Bones by Stephen King is supposed to be in pre-production which I'm looking forward to as well.

12. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?

Dali and I...too late, it's already being made with Al Pacino (I think) and Cillian Murphy in the lead roles.

13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character?

I actually had a dream recently that involved the vampire Lestat...can't remember the details though! I think it was because he was voted the number one vampire character in Entertainment Weekly recently!

14. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?

I'm going to have to go with Ryan on this one. It was one of the Conan books. Can't remember which. I still like those books though...lol!

15. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

16. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?

Titus Andronicus (same as Ryan here again) and one of my favorites

17. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?

no preference

18. Roth or Updike?

Updike

19. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?

Have not read either of their works

20. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?

Shakespeare, of course!

21. Austen or Eliot?

Austen, again of course!

22. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

I'm not really embarassed by it because I know I will read it eventually...War and Peace. I am, however, embarassed that I have not read some of my favorite author's (Stephen King) best work such as The Shining, Salem's Lot, The Stand (did start this one though)!

23. What is your favorite novel?

I have so many favorites so I will just name one that always makes it in to my top five...Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice

24. Play?

Toss up between Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet

25. Poem?

Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

26. Essay?

Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

27. Short Story?

I'm not much on short stories. I did enjoy Clive Barker's Books of Blood I & II and I like some of Stephen King's short stories. I also enjoy reading my friend Lisa Kessler's short stories.

28. Work of nonfiction?

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper-Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell

29. Who is your favorite writer?

Oh dear! There are so many. Top ones would be Anne Rice, Stephen King, Charles Dickens, J. K. Rowling, Jane Austen

30. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

This is a hard one since I don't like to criticize authors....Janet Evanovich, I guess.

31. What is your desert island book?

Since it would need to be pretty long, then this would be a good time for War and Peace..haha!

32. And ... what are you reading right now?

The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenberger, 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs