My Thoughts: Peony In Love, Lisa See

I read this book as part of a bookring and absolutely loved it.

The novel is about the life of a Chinese girl living in Seventeenth Century China. Although at the time education for women and allowing women to the theatre were looked down upon, Peony is encouraged by her father to love literature. The book centre around the famous Chinese play, Peony in the Pavillion, and the story and characters of the novel grow to reflect those from the play.

Peony meets and falls in love with a hansome stranger just months before her arranged wedding, when her mother finds out she is locked away in her bedroom, and so the story of unforgetable love begins....

I thought that this book was well written and I learnt a large amount about Chinese customs, beliefs, herbal medicine and literature.

Definately well worth picking up.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Books I have read in 2008

103. The Host, Stephanie Meyer****
102. Passing, Nella Larson ****
101. All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy ***
100. Hardboiled/Hardluck, Yoshimoto ***
99. Choke, Palahnuik
98. East of Eden, Steinbeck *****
97. Life isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee, Myal ****
96. Under the Skin, Faber ****
95. Sea of Poppies, Ghosh ***
94. Metamorposes, Kafka ****
93. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Edwards ****
92. The Gathering, Enright ****
91.The Gargoyle, Davidson *****
90. Creatures of the Night, Gaiman
89. Coraline, Gaiman
88. Fragile Things, Gaiman ****
87. The Little Black Book of Stories, A.S Byatt ***
86. The Wooden Sea, Jonathan Carrol *****
85. The End of Mr Y, Scarlett Thomas *****
84. Two Carvans. Lewycka ****
83. The Stolen Child, Donohue ****
82. Rabbit Proof Fence, Pilkington **
81. Goodbye Tsugumi, ****
80. The Virgin Blue
79. The Famished Road, Okri ***
78. The Three Shadows
77. Varjak Paw
76. Skin, Roald Dahl ****
75. Portrait in Sepia, Allende ****1/2
74. Blankets
73. Yossel
72. The Changeling, Jenkins *** 1/2
71. Neverwhere, Gaiman *****
70. Gods Behaving Badly, Phillips ****
69. Theft: A Love Story, Carey ***
68. A Woman of My Age, Bawden ***
67. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
66. The Garbage Kid, Laird ***
65. The Fragrance of the Guava, Mendoza ****
64. Gone With the Wind, Mitchell *****
63. Apache, Landman ****
62. Tomaree, Robson ***
61. Gatty, Crossely-Holland****
6o. Journey to the River Sea, Ibbotson ***
59. The Unabridged PocketBook of Lightning, Foer**
58. The Secrets We Keep, Monroe ****
57. Persepolois: A Return, Satrapi ***
56. Stuart: A Life Backwards, Masters *****
55. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Capote ****
54. Siddartha, Hesse***
53. Persepolis, Satari *****
52. Mirrormask, Gaiman ***
51. Twilight, Meyer*****
50. Stardust, Gaiman****
49. The Red Queen, Drabble
48. Junky, Burroughs ***
47. A Dog So Small, Pearce ****
46. The Space Between Us, Umigar ****
45. A Pure Swift Cry, Dowd *****
44. Daughter of Fortune, Allende ****
43. The Sandman: Dream Country (Graphic Novel), Gaiman ****
42. Mister Pip, Jones *****
41. The Plague, Camus ***
40. The Orchard on Fire, Mackay ****
39. Moon Tiger, Lively **
38. Sour Sweet, Mo ****
37. A Walk in the Woods, Bryson ****
36. The Alchemist, Coelho ****
35. The Shadow of the North, Phillip Pullman ****
34. Persian Brides, Rabinyan ***
33. The Echo Maker, Richard Powers ***
32. Peony In Love, Lisa See *****
31. The Devil and Miss Prym, Coelho ****
30. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland ****
29. The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara ***
28. The Book of Dave, Will Self *****
27. The Ruby In the Smoke, Pullman ****
26. A Thousand Acres, Smiley *****
25. Twelve, McDonell **
24. The Ringmaster's Daughter, Gaarder *****
23. Waiting for the Barbarians, Coetzee ****
22. Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel ***
21. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 and 3/4 ****
20. The Passion, Winterson *****
19. Autobiography of a Geisha, Mesuda ****
18. Monster, Wuornos ****
17. The Bookseller of Kabul, ****
16. Cold Comfort Farm, Gibbons ***
15. The Sound Of the Waves, Mishma ***
14. Falling Leaves, Yen Mah ****
13. As I Walked Out One Summer Morning, Lee **
12. Roots, Haley ****
11. The Thirteenth Tale, Seterfield *****
10. The Shipping News ****
09. The Notebook, Sparks *****
08. The Savage Garden, Mills **
07. The Kite Runner *****
06.A Spot of Bother, Haddon ****
05. In the Eye of the Sun ****
04. Snow, Pamuk ****
03. Black Dogs, McEwan ****
02. Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, Hoeg ****
01.Empire of the Sun, Ballard ****

Challenge: Notable Books

This challenge is held over at Notable Books, participants need to read a selection of books from the Notable Books list.
I'm going to try and read 8 books, one for each month of the year left:
1. THE GATHERING, by Anne Enright.
2. AFTER DARK, by Haruki Murakami.
3. THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, by Mohsin Hamid
4. A Swift Pure Cry, by Siobhan Dowd *****
5. The People's Act of Love, by James Meek (Canongate)
6. Night of Sorrows by Frances Sherwood
7. The New Policeman, by Kate Thompson
8. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

This is my proposed list although this may change. I'm abandoning this challenge as I'm very unlikely to finish it this year, I'll have a try next year I'm sure

Challenge: I heard it Through The Grapevine

This challenge is hosted by Lynne's Little Corner Of The World. I just have to read 3 books (or more if I like) which have been recommended, by November.

At the moment I'm planning on reading:

The Echo Maker, Richard Powers (done)

A Walk in the Woods, Bryson - my brother keeps nagging me to read anything by Bryson, I have to say I'm a few chapters into this and I agree that he is entertaining

Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones - this was being recommended by people all over the place so it had to be read.

My Thoughts: The Devil and Miss Prym

I really liked this book, will definately be checking out more of this authors work in the near future.

The novel is based in a small village, the devil comes to visit putting temptation in the villagers way - if they murder someone the village the whole village will be given enough gold for them all to be rich. The novel focuses a lot on the idea of a sacrifice for the greater good.

Definately well worth a read.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

My Thoughts: Microserfs - Douglas Coupland

This has always been one of those books that I felt that I should read but never fancied it, when I saw it offered as a Bookring on Bookcrossing I thought I'd have a go. AND I really enjoyed it!

I don't like computers, wouldn't know how to prgram one and wouldn't know Star Trek from Doctor Who, but despite all the techiness of this novel I got sucked into their little world. Ultimately, this is a novel about twenty-somethings striving for promotion and getting lost in the world of work. They strive for the 'life' others have but never seem to escape their circular lives, then things start to change...

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Reading Around the World

Reading Around the World is a personal challenge to try and ensure that I read a wide range of literature and potentially learn some Geography and History at the same time. I'm counting books written by authors from that country or the book is set predominantly in that country.
There is no target date as I expect this is going to be a hard one.
I've set up my own virtual bookbox to help people trying to complete this type of challenge at Bookcrossing.com
Countries:
A
Afghanistan – The Kite Runner, Hosseini
Albania –
Algeria – The Plague, Camus
American Samoa –
Andorra –
Angola –
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina – (Place of Birth) Che Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries
Armenia –
Aruba
Australia – Mister Pip, Jones
Austria –
Azerbaijan –

B
Bahamas, The –
Bahrain –
Bangladesh –
Barbados
Belarus –
Belgium –
Belize
Benin –
Bermuda
Bhutan –
Bolivia –
Bosnia and Herzegovina[13]
Botswana –
Brazil – The Devil and Miss Prym, Coelho
Brunei –
Bulgaria –
Burkina Faso
Burundi –

C
Cambodia –
Cameroon –
Canada[14] Microserfs, Coupland
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic[15]
Chad –
Chile – Daughter of Fortune, Allende
China – Empire of the Sun, J.G Ballard
Christmas Island –
Colombia –
Comoros –
Congo –
Cook Islands
Costa Rica –
Côte d'Ivoire –
Croatia –
Cuba –
Cyprus –
Czech Republic[20]

D
Denmark – Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, Hoeg
Djibouti –
Dominica –
Dominican Republic
E
East Timor –
Ecuador –
Egypt – In the Eye of The Sun, Souief
El Salvador –
Equatorial Guinea –
Eritrea –
Estonia –
Ethiopia – The Garbage King, Laird

F
Falkland Islands
Faroe Islands
Fiji –
Finland –
France –
French Polynesia
G
Gabon –
Gambia, The –
Georgia
Germany – Siddartha, Hesse (authors birthplace)
Ghana –
Gibraltar
Greece –
Greenland
Grenada
Guam –
Guatemala –
Guernsey –
Guinea –
Guinea-Bissau –
Guyana –
H
Haiti –
Honduras –
Hong Kong –
Hungary –
I
Iceland –
India – The Space Between Us,
Indonesia –
Iran – Persian Brides, Rabinyan
Iraq –
Ireland -
Isle of Man
Israel –
Italy –
J
Jamaica
Japan - The Sound of Waves, Mishima
Jersey –
Jordan –

K
Kazakhstan –
Kenya –
Kiribati –
Korea,
Kosovo –
Kuwait –
Kyrgyzstan –
L
Laos –
Latvia –
Lebanon –
Lesotho –
Liberia –
Libya –
Liechtenstein –
Lithuania –
Luxembourg –
M
Macao –
Macedonia –
Madagascar –
Malawi –
Malaysia
Maldives –
Mali –
Malta –
Marshall Islands –
Mauritania –
Mauritius –
Mayotte –
Mexico – Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel
Micronesia –
Moldova –
Monaco –
Mongolia -
Montenegro –
Montserrat
Morocco – A Woman of My Age, Bawden
Mozambique –
Myanmar –
N
Nagorno-Karabakh –
Namibia –
Nauru –
Nepal –
Netherlands –
Netherlands Antilles
New Caledonia –
New Zealand
Nicaragua –
Niger –
Nigeria –
Niue
Norfolk Island –
Northern Cyprus –
Northern Mariana Islands –
Norway – The Ringmaster's Daughter, Jostein Gaarder
O
Oman –
P
Pakistan –
Palau –
Palestine –
Panama –
Papua New Guinea –
Paraguay –
Peru –
Philippines –
Pitcairn Islands –
Poland –
Portugal – Yossel, Kubert
Puerto Rico –
Q
Qatar –
R
Romania
Russia –
Rwanda –
S
Saint Barthélemy –
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts and Nevis –
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin –
Saint Pierre and Miquelon –
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa –
San Marino –
São Tomé and Príncipe –
Saudi Arabia –
Senegal –
Serbia –
Seychelles –
Sierra Leone –
Singapore –
Slovakia –
Slovenia –
Solomon Islands
Somalia[36]
Somaliland –
South Africa- Elizabeth Costello, Coetzee
– South Ossetia –
Spain –
Sri Lanka –
Sudan –
Suriname –
Svalbard
Swaziland –
Sweden –
Switzerland –
Syria –
T
Taiwan –
Tajikistan –
Tanzania –
Thailand –
Togo –
Tokelau
Tonga –
Transnistria –
Trinidad and Tobago –
Tunisia –
Turkey – Snow, Orphan Pamuk
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu

U
Uganda –
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom – The Years, Virginia Woolf
United States – (See bootom of page) A Walk in the Woods, Bryson
Uruguay –
Uzbekistan –
Vanuatu –
Vatican City –
Venezuela –
Vietnam –
Virgin Islands, British –
Virgin Islands, United States –
W
Wallis and Futuna –
Western Sahara[40]
Y
Yemen –
Z
Zambia
Zimbabwe

USA I will split into the States as this is where a lot of my reading comes from:

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
DC
Delaware
Florida
Georgia - Gone With the Wind, Mitchell
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Taylor
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska - The Echo Maker, Richard Powers
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York - Breakfast at Tiffany's, Capote
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington - Twilight, Meyer
West Virginia
Wisconsin Blankets, Thompson
Wyoming