Mayday - Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??
And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and your passport (which you fortuitously brought with you in case they asked for ID in the ethnic food aisle). This is hypothetical, remember….

Although at all costs I avoid the bookshops I would have to be forced, a Jodie Picoult novel and a good newspaper would have to do. Saying that at Heathrow they have a big Waterstones bookshop so if I was there I'd have to stop myself from buying more than one book.

Weekly Geek

This weeks Weekly Geek

The theme for Week 2 is something I borrowed (yes, she said it was ok!)
from Darla at Books and Other Thoughts. She says in her sidebar that if she reviews a book that you’ve reviewed, you
can email her and she’ll link to it in her review. I love this idea for three
reasons.
1. As a blog reader, I like that I can have my review linked in
someone else’s blog.
2. As a blog reader, I like that if I’m interested in a
book Darla writes about, there will be other reviews linked at the bottom of the
page, so I can get other viewpoints. You can see how this works here.
3.
As a blog writer, when I review a book, I often remember that I read someone
else’s review at some point, but whose? And when? With Darla’s method, people
tell her about their reviews, and she can see what they had to say about a book
that is still fresh in her mind.
So here’s your challenge! If you’re willing,
adopt Darla’s policy in your own blog. I realize this is a big commitment, so
think it over first, but I think it can be really community-building.

Anyone who wishes to add a link to any of my reviews is more than welcome although I don't have a huge amount at the moment as I'm fairly new.

Southern Reading Challenge 2008

This challenge is being hosted by Maggie Reads, participants have to read 3 southern set books by Southern authors between May 15th to August 15th. I loved the feeling and atmosphere created when I read the Ya-Ya Sisterhood years ago so I'm hoping I can find some more great reads like that.

I need to think about which books to pick. Thinking at the moment about: The Sound and the Fury, Gone With the Wind and something else, I'm thinking either The Awakening or Cold Mountain. There's loads to pick from on the 125 best Southern Reads page, but looking for something fairly modern.

Books Read:

The Secrets We Keep, Monroe (North Carolina)

Gone With the Wind, Mitchell (Georgia)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mississippi) with challenge wrap-up

May's Reading List

1.Persian Brides - this is part of a bookring but will also help Reading Around the World Challenge , Orbius and The Novella Challenge. (read)
2. I Am Charlotte Simmons - for Orbius and Reading Around the World (Abandoned)
3. Gravity's Rainbow - 1001 Challenge (Currently Reading)
4. Elizabeth Costello - for 1001 and the Novella Challenge
5. The Gathering - The Complete Booker, Notable Books
6. The Echo Maker - I Heard it Through the Grapevine ( read)
7. The Poisonwood Bible - MLA, 1001

Plus whatever else comes along.

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