Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Pages read total: 475
Books read: Finished Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett, read What I Was by Meg Rosoff and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Total reading time: approx 7 hours

This is a book that I've been meaning to read for ages as it's one of those 'must-read' classics but kept putting off because I didn't think I'd enjoy it - and boy I was wrong.
The Old Man in the Sea is about an old mans (surprise!) stuggle and determination to prove himself. Once he hooks a giant fish he battles for days to bring the fish in, he battles not only against the fish but pain, hunger and tiredness. This book really reminded me of Japanese sea stories in its style. I may have to read more Hemingway in the future.

Challenges:
1001 btrbyd
A-Z (Author)
1% well read challenge
999 (1001)
Guardian 1000 Novels

My Thoughts: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Another 1001 book ticked off the list. This tiny book, only 147 pages tells of one day in the life of a Russian prisoner. One good day in his life.
The prisoners are subjected to working outside for 11 hours a day at -11 degrees, the men have little to keep them warm and have to strive to keep every morsel of food and clothing to themselves.
The men work together like a family, constantly trying to scrape something extra for themselves at the risk of being put in confinment.
Challenges:
999 (1001)
Nobel Prize
Olympic Challenge: Russia
A-Z (Title)
1% Well Read Challenge
Orbis Terrarum
Through the Decades (1960s)
Lost in Translation
Guardian 1000 novels