Chimera

Yep, I agree completely with the others. Just read whatever strikes your mood at the time and you'll have the pleasure of seing your challenge getting completed efortlessly!

I have Saturday on my tbr pile. Not sure when I'll get to it though.

The child, wide - legged on the ground, licked dust off his fist and tried to pretend he was tasting camel milk. The Camel Bookmobile - Masha Hamilton

It is. Which is also why you'll find lots of free classic audio books out there. But honestly, I cant imagine reading a volume such as The Count of Monte Cristo on a screen... As a reference or a way to re-read favourite extracts it's great... But to read the whole book??

Congrats Kate!

Wow, that's really thoughtful of her, and your boyfriend! That's a valentine gift you won't be forgetting any time soon I'm sure

Iknow, I know, just kidding! Me too. I actually had an idea but then the next day it didn't sound that good... Who knows, maybe ii will inspire me? Aww persistent little things aren't they?

Ah well, we all have our excuses don't we? *laughs* Though I'm sorry to hear you're still sick. Any signs of the bug getting tired yet?

Great idea and lovely photo Nici! *laughs* You just keep coming up with ideas but won't use them yourself? Ok then, I'd love to hear it. Though given the time limit, and how aware I am of just who's giving the idea here I won't promise anything

Lovely pictures Kell! And he has reminded me that I should get a move on, though I dont have any idea that's both unusual and feasible at the moment...

I have finally reviewed Dreams from my father and Passag

Blurb from Amazon At the age of 20, Fabienne Verdier dropped her art studies in Paris to travel alone to Communist China in search of studies in traditional Chinese art. The year was 1981 and what Verdier found when she arrived at the small university in Central China was shocking. She was confronted with Communist Party policies of artistic and intellectual repression and secrecy, which she met by boldly demanding to be treated as just another Chinese student. When the authorities relented and allowed her to join the other students, she found herself struggling to maintain her health and mental well-being because of the students

Blurb Before Barack Obama became a politician he was, among other things, a writer. Dreams from my father is his masterpiece: a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking the big questions about identity and belonging. The son of a black African father and a white American mother, Obama recounts an emotional odyssey. He retraces the migration of his mother’s family from Kansas to Hawaii, then to his childhood home in Indonesia. Finally, he travels to Kenya, where he confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Review This is a book that I finished reading a couple of weeks ago but with one thing and another, and probably some apprehension as to how to review it (I’ll do my best, please don’t flame me! ), I haven’t gotten round to writing about it yet. When I decided to pick it up it was of course because I hoped, probably like all the other persons who rushed to buy it in the last months, that it would give me some insight into Barack Obama’s life track and personality. I thought that, more than The audacity of hope which is a political essay, it would allow me to better understand just who the new President of the United States is. And of course it did, as much as an autobiography can, but I also found it had a lot to offer, independently of who it’s author has become, on the themes of culture and identity. Dedicated to Obama’s life up until the end of his studies in Harvard, Dreams from my father explores the way in which he constructed himself from a completely unusual background. Indeed it seems that he grew up constantly searching for his own identity: as a small child, when he was lulled by his family’s tales about his absent father and origins ; as a ten year old, when he lived in Indonesia and was both pushed towards and grabbed away from this new culture by his mother, who was unsure of where she stood herself ; as a teenager, living in Hawaii with his white grandparents who adored him but were still wary of black men ; as a college student trying to show that he truly was part of the black ‘brotherhood’, despite being of mixed origins ; as a young man working as a ‘community organiser’, trying to bridge the gaps between different communities in Chicago… and finally as an adult visiting for the first time the country of his father. The resulting account is fascinating, a very rich reflection on what brought him to make the life choices he made and a basis to all his present declarations. You can feel all through the part dedicated to his work as a community organiser that this is just where his Philadelphia speech on race originated. It also is a very dense and demanding read which sometimes seems to drag as Barack Obama delves into his thoughts and questions his own actions… A trend which certainly shows much of the man he his, prone to reflect and consider every aspect of an issue before taking any decision. But Dreams from my father definitely is worth sticking to it till the end and dedicating it all the time needed. Will it make you (even) more confident about the new American President’s abilities to lead such a strategic country? Not necessarily, but it certainly is encouraging!

Now that has to win the 'creepy sentence' prize

Ok then, I'll start with this one when I get my hands on it and see if I want to take it further in the 'narrated by death' theme *laughs*

I know, it's the type of book which seems to creep up everywhere on the forum, which must mean something! I guess what's been keeping me back (besides needing to buy it) is the narrator being death... That just sounds like a very creepy idea *shudders*

Hi and welcome Johanna Your thesis sounds really interesting! What were the two novels chosen?

Well it's certainly nudged me that much more towards it I have to get a hold of this book!

Yes, a few years ago for school. I didnt like it much unfortunately but I hope you'll enjoy it more! It seems to be a 'love it or hate it' kind of book. So you did enjoy Cell in the end?

"There will soon be more people living in the city of Bombay than on the continent of Australia." Maximum city: Bombay lost and found - Suketu Mehta