Do the 2007 TBR Challenge

Not off my list but long in the TBR zone so I’m counting it. Would not have chosen to read it, if not for this challenge.

Very interesting account of a seasoned teacher who was not exactly young when she set off to teach in the most remote and needy parts of Alaska she could find. The fact that she approached working with native people and ‘civilizing’ them from a completely altruistic place made the book readable.

So often these period accounts make you squirm in places by being so superior about the wonderfulness of western society. But she has studied anthropology and is respectful and observant of the native cultures. So even though she teaches everyone about hygiene and the flag and gardens and not drinking and all, it’s done respectfully but firmly – which is really how a good teacher works.

The woman really made a difference everywhere and had some wild adventures. It’s too bad she wasn’t a more engaging storyteller. It’s all there, but it’s written so matter of factly that it’s not a gripping read. In the hands of a real writer, this could have been a best seller.

I kind of dreaded reading Stargirl. I could tell what the subject matter was going to be and I was not looking forward to it. I’m not really a fan of torment – emotional or physical and I try to avoid revisiting my own adolescent scars when possible.

And yeah, this was an uncomfortable book, but well written enough to make up for it. Glad I read it and would really like to pass it on to someone else – possible a teen or pre-teen – Emelle?

More here

I haven’t been choosing TBRs that are short on purpose – just books tha fit my mood of the moment.

So I burned right through The Venetian’s Wife – partly because it wasn’t that long, but partly because I was ready for it!

More here

Burned through Gobbolino, the Witches Cat. Hey! It’s seasonal!

Easy breezy children’s fiction. Nice and cute- brief discussion here

But unread for 3 years. I picked this up in an orgy of children’s book buying in London on honeymoon.

I seem to have quite a backlog of easier to read books from 3 years ago. I wonder what happened then that stopped my reading? Ha.

As talked about with Sessygail et al, I’m wandering away from my list and picking other longtime TBR books and counting them here. Not exactly the challenge, but still clearing the shelves a bit.

Just finished Jane Austen and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor. Discussion here

This was a relatively new TBR addition – only 3 years old!

Well, I’m still at it!

Long and confused discussion here. Would love to hear what anyone else has to say about this book.

Haven’t yet but the truth is, it’s not going to happen.

I’m about half way through July’s book. I am not going to get through 5 more big books, I’m just not. I have, yet again, bitten off way more than I can chew.

I have read (or will have read) 3 really challenging books and, though interesting, they slowed me way way down.

I’ve learned something interesting though – I require a plot. I can read and even enjoy books without them (see At Swim Two-Birds, whenever I finish it) but I really like a story.

Anyway, next year? Less ambition. It’s not like I don’t have hundreds of books I can list, I just listed too many ambitious ones and not enough breezes.

I’ve had this book since 1988 when a theatre company I was the ATD for was doing a version of it.

I never read it though started it several times. So this time I’ve read it half way through – 240 pages in! – and I’m quitting.

I think this book may be proof that not all children’s literature can sustain 450 pages. I’m just not interested. The plot moves so slowly and every time you start to get engaged, there are digressions. It’s like Moby Dick, junior version.

I could finish it, but why? I just don’t care what happens.

Very interesting.

This is the second of the Cerebus ‘phone book’ compilations that I bought almost all of and never read. It’s the point at which the comic book seems to turn from being a humor book into a social critique. It’ still funny though – well, funny-ish.

I enjoyed reading it but I felt that the author had very little interest in making it readable. I mean, if I was reading this in its original serialized form, I’m not sure I would appreciate waiting a year and a half to have the various religious sects in play partly explained. I mean, he clearly has a very complex world created here, but it would be nice if he made more effort to make a readable book.

I enjoyed it but I’m not sure if I’ll be reading all of the next 8 I see on my shelf – 500 pages is a lot!

I really enjoyed this one. It was very much a product of its time and place – 1860’s England. The mystery, the atmosphere, the flowery language, The Secret, O! The Secret!

A true melodrama – all about the story. What is the mystery? What will happen when the secret is revealed? Even so, all the characters were fully drawn and quirky and interesting. Reminicent of Dickens in this – incidental characters are real people with motives and histories and quirks.

Also like Dickens in that it was serialized before being a novel. I’m thinking more books now should be written for that form – if more authors had to keep reader’s interest each issue, maybe there would be more attempts to create an engaging stories.

Anyway, dated in many ways but still a lot of fun to read. I’ll definitely try another Wilkie Collins someday.