Challenge Update July

A-Z Challenge (Authors) 14/27
A-Z Challenge (Titles) 16/27
In Their Shoes 4/4 COMPLETE
The Dream King 2/12
1% Well Read Challenge 4/13
Orbis Terrarum 14/12 COMPLETE
The Genre Challenge 6/10
The Decades Challenge 4/10
The Carribean Challenge 0/6
My Year of Reading Dangerously 2/12
The World Citizen Challenge 0/3
Y.A Challenge 10/12
Deweys Book Reading Challenge 0/6
100 Shots of Short 53/100
The 2009 Pub Challenge 2/9
Themed Challenge 2/4
999 Challenge 43/81
Book Awards 3 0/0
2nd Canadian Challenge 1/13 ABANDONING - WILL NEVER COMPLETE
Latin American Challenge 4/4 COMPLETE
The Rescue Challenge 0/6
The Graphic Novel Challenge 10/12
Manga Challenge 1/4
War Through the Generations: WWII 2/5
Lost in Translation 7/6 COMPLETE
Notable Challenge 3/6
What's in a Name? 5/6
The Well Seasoned Reader 3/3 COMPLETED!
The Chunkster Challenge6/6 COMPLETE
The Guardian 100 novels 3/10
Banned Book Challege 1/4
Once Upon a Time III Challenge 5/5 COMPLETE
Herding Cats 0/2
Its the End of the World 1/4
100 Books Project 0/100
Non-Fiction 5 2/5
Beckys Mini Challenge - Scott Westerfeld 0/2 Steinbacek 0/2 Defoe 0/2

My Thoughts: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

I finished my last book for the Once Upon a Time III challenge!
I had kept The Invention of Hugo Cabret for this challenge, and then had a tough time finding an evening to sit down and devour it.
For those of you who haven't read it (you should go add it to a wish list now! ;0 )
the book is told through a large number of sketches and words, it looks chunky but can be read in a few hours tops. The tale follows Hugo an orphaned mechanical genius as he fights to restore an automaton - a machine which can write or draw. He discovers many new people along the way.
I loved the pictures they were so serene, I'll be going back to this book again and again. I also loved using this book at school with a class of kids who all have either dyslexia or literacy difficulties. They could 'read' the pictures fantastically and it was a book that was easily accesible. I'm trying to convince the department to buy a set as I only had my copy and 15 kids.


Other Once Upon a Time III reads:
The Wild Woods, Charles de Lint
Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
Beauty Sleep, Cameron Dokey
Lady Cottingham's Pressed Fairy Letters, Brian Froud
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

4 of these books were out of my pool of 8, which I'm very impressed with as I normally go off on a tangent. If I really had to pick a favourite I'd pick Beauty Sleep, but all of the books were great.
I should be joining in reading a version of A Midsummer Night's Dream on Sunday but not sure if I'll be managing the play or a fairytale version I discovered in the school library

My Thoughts: The Wild Wood by Charles de Lint

Charles de Lint is an author I've heard much about through the blogging world and this was my first experience with his work.
In The Wild Wood Eithnie, an artist lives surrounded by her beloved woods yet her art and her feeling of serenity in the woods is fading. She feels like she is watched, like someone or something is haunting her.
Eventually she is visited by the Faeries who have a special favour to ask of her.
I liked the simple language in this book and that the Faeries were part of a very real and recognisable world. I wouldn't give it 5 stars but I definately want to read more of Charles de Lint's work in the future.
Challenges:
Once Upon a Time
999 (Fantasy)

A Graphic Novel Trio

y

Orbiter by Warren Ellis and Collen Doran
This really wasn't my cup of tea, way too sci-fi.
Venture, a space mission which went missing 10 years ago suddenly lands back on earth, one astronaut has survived the other 7 are missing. And the space ship is covered in a layer of skin!
Very random and full of science stuff that went straight over my head, I must have been suduced by the pretty colours on the cover when I picked this up because it was never going to be my thing.



Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie
Set on the Ivory Coast in the 1970's when the country was experiencing an economical boom: the city florished, education was of a high standard and life was a lot easier than it had ever been.
Aya is hardworking, she concentrates on school while her friends spend their evenings out partying trying to attract the next man. Despite Aya's warnings her friends meet their boyfriends in the 'night city' - the empty benches of the market. Parents are concerned with finding the best (richest) husband for their child.
Gorgeous illustations.

Read for Graphic Novel Challenge, YA, Olympic Challenege, Orbis Terrarum



The Wasteland by Martin Rowson
I was really concerned when I picked this up that this fella may do a disparity to my favorite poem. Luckily he stayed fairly well away from the poem.
The graphic novel is apparently based losely on TS Eliot's The Wasteland and Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep (which I haven't read). The story is about a cops hunt for his partner's murderer in the murky underground of the city.
It was okay, nothing to scream home about, odd character references and titles from the poem came into play but not in a big way.

My Thoughts: The Bonesetter's Daughter

Synopsis: Ruth is struggling in America with her life, her ungrateful step kids and boyfriend, a busy life and her mothers constant put downs. Gradually Ruth realises that her mother is becoming more and more forgetful, and a doctor diagnoses Altzimers. Whilst searching her mother's house she discovers a manuscript her mother had written in Chinese about her childhood, the husband and mother her own daughter had never known she had.

What I liked: I prefered the section in China, discovering how mothers of illegitimate children were treated and the simple tone of this section of the novel.

What I didn't like: The rushed simplistic ending, felt like everything suddenly was fixed and perfect which seemed unrealistic in the situation.

Challenges:
Orbis Terrarum
999 (tbr)

My Thoughts: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

With just 5 days to go till the end of the Once Upon a Time Challenge I still have 2 books to read!!!! Life has been chaotic and I haven't been getting in my normal amount of reads, last week we had an open door week at school - any teacher can go and walk in and observe another teachers lesson (stressful), I had to organise and take 200 kids on a trip and write 26 reports on pupils in my form group (I see them for 15 mins a day and only teach 2 of them). Plus I uped the amount of time I'm spending at the gym.

I have the biggest book pile to tackle, the 6 weeks summer holiday is going to be a book a day mission to try and control the ever growing stack of books.

Over the weekend I finished Inkheart, and boy it was great.
Synopsis: Meggie is wokeon one night to find a strange man standing outside her bedroom window. Awakening her day he invites the man in and they go off for a private chat.
After that night Meggie's life makes a massive change, her and bookloving bookbinding father go off to an book obsessed aunt in the country. Meggie discovers her father can read characters out of a book, and he is hunted down and kidnapped by the very creatures he once read out of a book. And then the adventure begins...

What I liked: The fairy tale style, made me feel like a kid again. It also has a really positive approach to reading.

What I didn't like: It made my mental tbr pile grow, each chapter starts with a quote from another novel, it made me want to read Peter Pan again, The Princess Bride, and The Jungle Book. Seriously, I enjoyed it all.

Challenges:
Once Upon a Time
YA 2009
A-Z (Title)
999 (YA)

Orbis Terrarum Short Story Mini Challenge: Poland

visited 3 states (1.33%)
Create your own visited map of The World or jurisdische veraling duits?
So far I journeyed from France to Germany and now I'm setting foot in Poland. As the last two stories have been classics I thought I'd mix things up a little and read a modern story I found here at the wonderful Words Without Borders

The Knight by Olga Tokarczuk
This is a strange story, its about being in a relationship and both knowing that everything isn't working, that your out of synch, both alone and yet neither person is able to break the relationship up.
The couple go away to a cold cottage beside the sea, a fairly good description of their relationship, cold but locked tight trying to keep out the truth that is battering them every second they are together.
Its a simple story but worth reading for the detail, the small things that manypeople will be able to empathise with having been at that point too.