Chunkster Challenge Wrap-Up

For the Chunkster Challenge, participants could choose to read any number of chunksters from any genre. A chunkster was defined as 400 pages or longer. I didn't do so well with this one. Of my original picks, I only read one:
Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee.
I substituted two of the others out for two I did read:
Olympos by Dan Simmons
Illium by Dan Simmons
And I just ran out of steam and never got through a fourth one.

I don't feel all that bad though, because I read 30 books that were 400+ between January and June. So, somehow I think I still fulfilled the challenge!

The best book: Lee's biography of Virginia Woolf. I felt like I lived at Bloomsbury!
What book could I have done without? Illium by Dan Simmons
Any new authors? Both :)
Books I did not finish: Che Guevara, a biography of Jon Lee Anderson. I'm very interested in the subject, and in Anderson's writing style, but at that point I'd been reading so much non-fic for school I just needed a break.
What did I learn from this challenge? To put Hermione Lee on the top of my kickass biographers list! Also, that it's ok to fail. :)

(Note: thanks to Nyssaneala for the idea to have questions!)

Odds and Ends

I wrapped up the Once Upon a Time Challenge with a rereading of "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream." It's just as good as I remembered it! I won't bother with a review; however, if you haven't read, you're doing yourself a disservice.

Lately, my reading has been quite erratic. It feels like a start a new book, get a few chapters into it, and then move on to another one. I've given up attempting to complete Che Guevara for my Chunkster Challenge. It feels like assigned reading, and I'm not in college anymore. :) So, I'll just accept having read three books; I know that I've read many books over 400 pages since January, so I don't really feel that bad. Plus, reading Lee's Virginia Woolf was such an accomplishment, I think I've gotten quite a bit out of the challenge.

I'm not sure if I'll get through all of the classics before the Summer Reading Challenge ends (I didn't realise it ended August 1), but I intend to keep reading them regardless. I'm about half way through Dangerous Liasons, and it's still a lot of fun. I also just bought a new journal, since I've decided to take it up again. When I journal, I love making kind of scrap book pages: I cut pictures out of magazines, and then I find favorite poems or quotes and arrange a page with it. My new journal is pretty small (I'd guess 8" x 5"), so it's sometimes difficult to fit the longer poems, but I've been enjoying an outlet for my creativity. I have no drawing ability, so I take solace in collages! :)

Of course I have to mention my latest book mooch arrivals. I have nine books to send out on Monday, but it's worth it for book stacks like this (there're 11 books in it-one is hiding between The Scarlet Pimpernel and French Lessons)!



Edited to add: here's a fun meme I stole from Bookie. Use the first letter of your first name to answer the following.

Famous singer/band----um, how about Mr. Elvis Presley?
4 Letter Word ----- I don't think there are any swear words, but regular four letter words...exit
Street Name -----
Color ------ Eggshell
Gifts/Presents ----- earrings
Vehicle ------ Eclipse
Things in a souvenir shop ---- enamelled boxes (I think I spelled that wrong)
Boy name ----- Erik
Girl name ----- Elizabeth
Movie Title ----- Emma (great movie!)
Drink ------- Eggnog (gross)
Occupation ------- English teacher
Flower ----- English rose
Celebrity ------ Ewan McGregor
Magazine ---- E! Weekly (I think that's what it's called)
U.S. city ------ Eugene, OR
Pro sports team ---- the Eagles
Fruit/vegetable ----- Eggplant
Reason late for work ----- Excuses, excuses ;)
Things you shout ----- Eureka!
Cartoon character ---- Elmer Fudd

The Challenge Diaries

I just realized that I need to get a move-on on two of my older challenges! The Chunkster Challenge ends on the 30th, and I had yet to begin my last book. However, I've resolved to read at least two chapters a day (starting three days ago), which will allow me to finish in time. It's a biography, in fact "the definitive biography," of Che Guevara. It's interesting, and after my Latin American politics class last fall I feel that I have more of a context for it, but it's just not what I'm in the mood for right now. Oh well. Two chapters a day is manageable. I thought about giving up, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so.

In brighter news, I also need to get a move on in reading "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to top off the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I really enjoyed that one, and it'll be good to finish it. I think I'm going to read the play while watching my DVD-it makes the experience much more fun!

I'm behind on reviews for my current challenges, so I'll try to get a review of The Turn of the Screw up later tonight. I'm really enjoying Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but since I was sun-bathing today I went for the light The Secret History. I've raced through the first four hundred pages of it, but I'm saving the rest for tomorrow. That'll put me half way done with the Summer Mystery Challenge.

I need to start reading more non-fic again, however. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm open to anything other than self-help books and anything really, really depressing (i.e.-memoirs about death, abuse, etc.). I know that there are people out there who prefer non-fic to fiction...they need to come out of the woodwork and give me some ideas!

Oh, and as a housekeeping question, does anyone know how to make the cute pics for all my challenges links in the new blogger? I'm comfortable with html, but the new blogger doesn't like me playing with it. :(

Ilium and Olympos (thoughts)

So, I ended up reading Iluim and Olympos by Dan Simmons as two of my Chunkster Challenges (they come to 1,643 pages-more than War and Peace). It's a two-book series, that should probably be published as one extra-large book, since the action continues seamlessly. As a disclaimer, I'm not a sci-fi fan. While I occasionally read fantasy (mainly David Eddings), I've never enjoyed a science-fiction book.

That being said, I was favourably impressed with Ilium. The plot is complicated, involving three main threads. In the first one, Simmons essentially decides to retell Homer's The Iliad in a sci-fi setting. In the second one, people are on Earth, but their lives are pretty unrecognisable for a twenty-first century human. In the third one, these robots (with some living parts) from Jupiter are flying out to Mars (where The Iliad is happening) and talking about Western literature (Shakespeare and Proust, mainly). Sound weird? Well, Simmons manages his stories pretty well, alternating between the three plots mainly by chapter. It's a good device for maintaining tension. Also, he manages to ground the book by strongly developing a handful of characters in each situation. That way, the reader always has a handle on what's going on. I actually raced through Ilium, occasionally glossing over uber-tech passages, because I truly cared about what would happen to the characters. I thought the plot was a little out of the box, but workable.

So, a little annoyed that Ilium ended so quickly, but curious about the characters' fates, I picked up Olympos. And everything fell apart. Simmons tried to combine The Tempest and The Odyssey in with The Iliad. It was bloody painful. I only stuck with it to see how he would manage to bring everything together. In the end, all of the plots collided, but at the point it felt so rigged and silly that I could hardly keep from laughing. The plot just became more and more outlandish, reminding me of why I don't like sci-fi. I'm not even going to attempt a plot summary; it would take just about as long as the book.

Would I recommend these books? Honestly, no. I would have recommended Ilium, but you can't read it and then not read Olympos. And Olympos is an 892-page waste of time.

Updates

+ I changed one of my Chunkster Challenges. Instead of reading Lonesome Dove, I read Ilium. I think it's a fair swap, because Ilium was also very long and also in a genre that I don't read (albeit sci-fi instead of westerns). I read it on the basis of a friend's rec-look for my thoughts soon.

+Super exciting news-Hermione Lee (whose glorious bio of Virginia Woolf I read) has a new biography out-Edith Wharton. I adore Wharton, so opening my NYT Book Update to that made my day!

+My reading list for Reading Across Borders is undergoing a slight change as well. Instead of Street of Crocodiles, I'm reading Naomi. My library lost its copy of Street of Crocodiles, which makes me upset, but Naomi seems like it'll be a good read. It's been described as the Japanese Lolita.

+I've slowed down in my reading, which is probably a good thing. After all, I do have to attend to real life sometimes!

Virginia Woolf (thoughts)

After three months, I have finally completed my first chunkster challenge, Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee (ok, I finished it last week). I'm not sure if I'm going to complete the chunkster challenge; I've read plenty of books that would qualify, so maybe I'll cheat. We'll see.

Meanwhile, Virginia Woolf is a great biography. Lee uses plenty of excerpts from Woolf's diaries and letters, allowing her to weave together Woolf's life. Furthermore, while moving somewhat chronologically, Lee organises Woolf's life into themes, each of which then becomes a chapter. Examples include "Houses," "Liasons," "Reading," "Selves," and "Waiting." The greater Parts are arranged chronologically. In this way, Lee can explore how Woolf thought about things throughout her life (i.e.-her father) and still tie the book together. I knew next to nothing about Woolf before picking up this book, so the first few chapters were a bit confusing. However, it quickly became less so, and in the end I found myself wondering what was going on Virginia's life now, as if she as a close friend. That's part of why I took so long to read the book.

That said, I only recommend this to people in it for the long haul. If you're willing to committ to a close to 900 page hardcover tome, you'll come away with a good understanding of Virginia Woolf and the forces in her life.

Favorite Passages (most of these are actually other people's quotes, which I've acknowledged)

For we think back through our mothers if we are women. (Virginia Woolf, 79)

She [Julia Stephen] was a woman who believed in working for good, in a practical way, in her immediate domestic circle and through benevolent institutions. (85)

These "prodigies" were extremely nostalgic for their just-ended undergraduate life: they published a little volune of pseudo-classical verse called Euphrosyne as a way of keeping together, they still called each other by their student nicknames, and their letters were full of discussions about whether intellectual standards-or levels of depravity-at Cambridfe had gone up or down since they left. (206)

I do not think that her new existence had "become alive" to Virginia's imagination in those first years. She gave the impression of being so intensely receptive to any experience new to her, and so intensely interested in facts that she had not come across before, that time was necessary to give it a meaning as a whole. (Duncan, Grant, 208)

They say: "Come to tea and let us comfort you." But it's no good.
One must be crusified on one's own private cross.
It is a strange fact that a terrible pain in the heart can be interrupted by a little pain in the fourth toe of the right foot.
I know that V. will not come across the garden from the lodge, and yet I look in that direction for her. I know that she is drowned and yet I listen for her to come in at the door. I know that it is the last page & yet I turn it over. There is no limit to one's stupidity and selfishness. (Leonard Woolf, 751)

Chunkster Challenge...

So I just spent an hour trying to determine my list for the Chunkster Challenge. I wanted to do 6 books in 6 months, preferably without Classics overlap, half non-fic. You wouldn't think that would take a lot of effort, would you?

However, I've realised that I read too many chunkster books. I visited *every* other participant's blog, and most of the books that looked really good I had already read. lol I think I was also just in a fussy mood. So, I ended up giving up with only four: the rest will be arranged. I know one of them is going to be some kind of historical fiction; I haven't read any in awhile, and I'm craving the genre.

Here are the four:
Che Guevara by Jon Lee Andersen
Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd

I'll add the Chunkster button/link to the side later...right now I am internet-ed out.