Nienna Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 (edited) 2010 Reading List The Classics � The Thirty-Nine Steps - Tom Buchan � The Tenant of Wildfeld Hall - Anne Bronte � Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray � Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy � Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky � Candide - Voltaire � Middlemarch - George Eliot � Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas � Les Mis�bles - Victor Hugo � The Turn of the Screw - Henry James � Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert � Ulysses - James Joyce � The Old Curiosity Shop - Dickens � The Odyssey and The Illiad - Homer � The Red and the Black - Stendhal Others � A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin � A Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin � Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel � Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett � The Wasteland and Other Poems - T.S. Eliot � Poems and Short Stories - Tolkien � Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller KEY ■ Currently Reading ■ Re-attempt ■ Re-read ■ Read Edited July 25, 2010 by Nienna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooshie Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I like your list, Nienna - looking forward to hearing what you think of them as you get through them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nienna Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 Thanks Ooshie! I'm almost finished The Thirty-Nine Steps, so should have an update soon. I'm looking forward to reading them all too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooshie Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 The only two on your classics list that I have read are Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary, but I have Crime and Punishment, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Ulysses on the shelf waiting to be read. And quite a few of the others are books I would like to read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Ooh, you have some great books there Nienna and others that I also have on my TBR pile. I'll be interested in your thoughts on The Thirty-Nine Steps, which I wasn't all that impressed with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nienna Posted June 3, 2010 Author Share Posted June 3, 2010 (edited) The Thirty-Nine Steps Tom Buchan Plot: In May 1914, Europe is close to war and spies are everywhere. Richard Hannay has just returned to London from Rhodesia in order to begin a new life, when a freelance spy called Franklin P. Scudder calls on him to ask for help. Scudder reveals to Hannay that he has uncovered a German plot to murder the Greek Premier and steal British plans for the outbreak of war. Scudder claims to be following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone. A few days later, Hannay returns to his flat to find Scudder murdered. If Hannay goes to the police, he will be arrested for Scudder Edited June 7, 2010 by Nienna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 I forgot about the explosives. I think the most unbelievable moment for me was when he was running across the moors or something, a million miles from anywhere, and he happened to bump into someone he knew. I suppose it would have been good for its time - I believe it was one of the first of its type. But I think it has certainly dated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Butter Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I think the most unbelievable moment for me was when he was running across the moors or something, a million miles from anywhere, and he happened to bump into someone he knew. Really? I'm always doing that .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nienna Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 Yes Kylie, I think dated is the word! I imagine it was an exciting book back in 1915 - something like what James Bond is now. Credit for being the first "man-on-the-run" novel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Really? I'm always doing that .... I guess those moors are more populated than I realised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nienna Posted July 4, 2010 Author Share Posted July 4, 2010 (edited) A Game of Thrones George RR Martin Plot: After 15 years of apparent peace since Robert Baratheon took the throne of the Seven kingdoms from Aerys Targaryen (The Mad King), the new king's hand has been murdered. Meanwhile, across the narrow sea, Aerys' surviving son and daughter live in poverty, but with plans to return to the Kingdoms and win back the throne. Turmoil, slaughter and treachery wreath the setting of the first installment of Martin's saga, A Song of Ice and Fire. Review: Not knowing what to expect from A Game of Thrones, I took it for a traditional elves and dragons fantasy. Whilst I got half of this, I was left surprised, too - not at the setting (your average medieval-esque fantasy Europe), but at the strength and uniqueness of the characters. Martin attempts to tear down all our notions of idyllic fantasy, where, in the end, good triumphs over evil and peace resumes. His purpose (or what I perceived it to be) is to play out what might really happen, given mans inherent shortcomings, in the war for a throne. Some of the scenes seem to be written with the purpose of making us cringe or gasp - to remind us of the capabilities of a man or woman after power. There are plenty of twists, and the book never relents in its excitement. Martin keeps throwing our expectations back in our faces. There is incestuous sex, the betrayal of friends, ruined promises and even the death of a main character. Nothing is to be taken for granted in this book. For sheer swear-worthy drama and the noble intention of portraying man and woman as he/she really would be with the snake dangling the apple in front of his or her face, I rate this novel: 4/5 The 1 point was deducted for his reliance on characters to distract from a basically copy-cat fantasy world, and the fact that the book can't really be read as a stand-alone in the series. Edited July 4, 2010 by Nienna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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