On Past And Future Reading Projects

I'm always trying to get more reading done and nothing motivates like a reading challenge, right?

At least, that's what I'm telling myself year after year when I sign up to yet another reading challenge that I fully intend to complete, but deep down know I wont.

Last year's project was The 12 Months Classics Challenge.
The mission: read 12 classics in a year. A quite simple and easy goal to accomplish.

So did I finish it?

Need you even ask? Of course I didn't!

Then was it a failure? Not at all!

Though I didn't get through all 12 books I read 6 of them - books I wouldn't have read if not for the challenge. And I discovered 2 new instant favourites, so last year was by no means wasted on the literary front.

Let me briefly tell you my thoughts on the books I read:

January- A classic you've always wanted to read
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 
I fell completely in love with this book right from the start. I'd wanted to read it for more than 10 years but the timing never seemed right (and because I knew I would love it, I needed to be in the right mood before starting it).
It was brilliantly written. And just the vocabulary used impressed me (I had to look so many words up in the dictionary). And off course Jane!! I loved Jane. She is such a wonderful character.
Mr Rochester on the other hand, I wasn't very impressed with. It wasn't until the end of the book I started liking him. But what an ending! And What a book.
In case you haven't guessed it, this was an instant new favourite.

                                                 

February- A classic you've always dreaded reading
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

I thought I would have to drag myself through this play with sheer will power, but I must say I liked it a great deal more than expected. Rationally the plot makes little sense and I generally dislike mushy romances and love at first sight, but the plot just sucked me in and all the speeches were so sweet that I just bought it all for a little while. And that ending was so tragic, even though I knew it was coming. So all in all, I actually liked it and wouldn't mind reading it again someday in the far future.

                                         

March- A classic you've been recommended
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

Everyone in the blogging world was gushing about this book so I decided to read it, and boy am I glad I did. Never have I felt so instantly drawn to a character as I did to Valancey and her sad life. And it's been a long time since I enjoyed a book more than this one. I may even like it better than the Anne-books, because it's just so thoroughly sweet and delightful and it makes you all happy and gooey inside. Another instant favourite!

                                    

April- A classic you've seen the movie/miniseries/TV show of
The Code Of The Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
The one word to describe this book is hilarious! Wodehouse's books have the ability to make me shriek with laughter all the way through and this was no exception. If you' enjoyed the TV show, I can promise you taht you will enjoy the book even more!

                                        
May- An American classic
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stove
To tell you the truth, I never really got into this book. The characters were good the plot was good but the narrator was really obnoxious. And when I had to return the book to the library I realised that with only 70 pages left of the book I didn't really care what happened to everyone. So I technically never finished it, but I am still counting it as read.

                                     

June- A British classic
The Hound Of The Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
A truly classic Sherlock Holmes story that I had somehow never read or watched so it was with bated breath I read this book. I love Sherlock Holmes so naturally I loved this book as well, and can now say that I've read all 3 Sherlock Holmes novellas.


There! That's brief reviews on all the classics I read last year.

I actually promised myself to not start any new reading projects this year and instead focus on rereading my favourite books. That soon turned into dubbing this the year of non-fiction, but let's see which of the projects I stick with;)

And as fate will have it, I had no sooner given myself the above mentioned promise before I stumbled upon Heidi's Adventure of Reading Challenge 2017. And as I cannot resist a good challenge I just have to be a part of it. This year I will be wise and do like Heidi herself: start at the Explorer level that is 3-5 books, and then take it from there.

                                      

I do not yet know what I will be reading, but I will make a page dedicated to this project and add books as I think of them (in case anyone is interested in my progress)

Do you have any reading projects for 2017?

My Favourite Poets

I remember loving poetry as soon as I was introduced to the genre in elementary school. In the following years I was introduced to a variety of different poets, and while I loved some and only tolerated others, my love for poetry in itself has never wavered.

                    

Picking my favourite poets for this post was actually quite hard, for while I have read a lot of poetry I have rarely read a lot of poetry from a particular poet, and thus have a hard time deciding if I like the poet's writings enough for him to be a favourite of mine.

But I have tried to pick out a few that hopefully illustrate the kinds of poetry I have liked through the years!

Tove Ditlevsen
For those of you who don't know, Tove Ditlevsen was a Danish poet and writer who was mainly active in the 1950's. She was one of the very first poets I was introduced to, and a big reason that I came to love the genre so much.
Her poems are often characterised by a certain wistfulness and melancholy and many of them are written from the point of view of a young girl (possibly why I could relate to them so much).
My favourite poem of hers is called The Eternal Three (roughly translated) and is basically a story of a woman trapped between the two men in her life; the one she loves, and the one who loves her. (Lots of sadness, right? But it pretty much sums up her writing style)

                                 
Tom Kristensen
Another Danish poet (most of the poetry I've read is Danish after all). Tom Kristensen was writing in the 1920's and he is considered part of the expressionism movement. What I immediately liked about his poems were the constant rhythm and rhymes, which makes them a pleasure to read out loud. But they are also very descriptive and livid, and I just like them a lot.


Alfred Tennyson
Yes, now we have arrived at the English poets! I discovered them a bit later when I started reading a lot of English literature. I remember sometimes in period dramas they would cite passages of poems, and when I later looked it up online, Tennyson was the author of all the passages I enjoyed the most. So obviously he has earned a place on my list of favourites!

                    


William Shakespeare
Last but definitely not least! I couldn't even fathom having a list of poets without Shakespeare appearing. For a long time he was my only reference for true classic English poetry, and his name was spoken with reference. When I actually got around to reading some of his works I saw for myself the brilliance of his writings. There are many pretty lines of poetry hidden in some of his plays and many of the sonnets are true masterpieces (especially no 116 - my all time favourite).

                    


Now you know a bit of my poetry preferences, though just because a name isn't on this list doesn't mean I don't enjoy their poetry. It probably means I haven't read enough of that particular poet to properly judge if he should be among the favourites.


If you want to read more poetry related posts, Hamlette has been hosting a poetry celebration throughout this month, so be sure to pop over at her blog for the full list of entries.

                         

My Reading Projects

Last year was not a good year for my classic reading, so when 2015 came around nice and fresh, I decided this would be a year for reading a big chunk of my To Read List and for rereading a lot of my old favourites.

Let's just say I got a rough start, and couldn't concentrate on reading anything the entire winter. But with spring comes motivation, and when I am motivated to do something I start making lists. 

Books on my To Read List that I'm actually gonna read this year

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (it's been on my shelf for almost a year now)

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare


It's not that long yet, but I should actually have a chance of finishing it. And when I do I can always pick more from the other (quite ambitious) lists I made. (One is never enough) 

New books added to my To Read List

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (so much Dickens, so little time)

Middlemarch by George Elliot

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stove

Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (just for laughs, and background for
                                                                                      Northanger Abbey)
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

More Works of William Shakespeare

Books I want to reread

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott

Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (I know I just read it, but who says you                                                                                can't reread a book on a regular basis)
North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (the unabridged version this time)

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier


And suddenly my innocent little project evolved into 3 monster lists, with more than enough reading projects for this year. (And probably the next few years too)

(By the way, I do also read modern books but I only blog about the classics)

Quote of the week

In lack of inspirational quotes from the book I am currently reading, I give you instead my favourite Shakespeare sonnet (anyone care to guess where I know it from?)

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
     If this be error and upon me proved,
     I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

  Sonnet 116 - William Shakespeare