If you've read all 6 Jane Austen novels, you might think you've read all there is to read from the author, but you'd be wrong. Jane started writing when she was a wide eyed youngster and unlike juvenilia from us mortals (like my own magical cats) it's worth reading. Lesley Castle is 3 unfinished works written to entertain her family when Jane was 16.

Lesley Castle: In epistolary* form, the vanities and jealousies of gentrified women are told. Margaret Lesley is bored of her castle in Scotland. She writes to her friend Charlotte who worries include what to do with all the food she prepared for her sister's wedding after the groom dies. The nastiness is not as refined and subtle as her later works but the groundwork is there.

To be so bent on marriage – to pursue a man merely for the sake of situation – is a sort of thing that shocks me; I cannot understand it. Poverty is a great evil, but to a woman of education and feeling it ought not, it cannot be the greatest. I would rather be a teacher at school (and I can think of nothing worse) than marry a man I did not like.
-- Emma, in Jane Austen’s, The Watsons –

Have a great Monday!

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to not take on more than I can handle, especially when it comes to challenges. In 2007, I discovered Reading Challenges and signed up for everything and completed very little. I still have a few books to finish for the TBR Challenge and The Something About Me Challenge. I really hate not finishing things.

Now the new run of challenges is starting and I find myself being drawn in. They're just so tempting. Why is that? Is it the camaraderie of people working towards the same goals? The cute buttons?

Anyway, I'm sticking to a few rules before I join:

As I get ready to watch Persuasion, the first of the Jane Austen marathon on PBS, I had a couple of things to bring to your attention:

*1st Becky's Mini-Austen Challenge is underway. Hope you have your books picked out for that.

I finally decided on my picks for the Novella Challenge. If you don't remember, the rules are read 6 novellas (100-250 pgs) between April and September 2008.

1. Lesley Castle: Jane Austen
2. Stardust: Neil Gaiman
3. Fahrenheit 451: Ray Bradbury
4. Breakfast at Tiffany's: Truman Capote
5. The Lifted Veil: George Eliot
6. Summer: Edith Wharton

I've been looking forward to reading these for awhile and now I have the perfect reason to take them off the TBR list.

I finished six books for RIP II Autumn Challenge.

Here are my reviews:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowlings

Checking it twice. Okay, I'm making my book lists for 2 future challenges:

The 2nd Canadian Book Challenge hosted at The Book Mine Set. I'm picking The Free Spirit approach. I don't like being boxed in. Well, mostly it's because I still have a bunch of books I haven't finished for the last challenge. I will do better this time. Here's my list:

I remember trying to read Mansfield Park years ago and not finishing it. I wondered why. I wonder no more.

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

And, folks–Becca was nice enough to nominate Booking Through Thursday for a Blogger’s Choice Award–while you’re here, why don’t you head over and vote for us, too. Because, a vote for BTT is a vote for all of us who play each week!

From May 1 - Feb 28/09, read 10 books from the 1001 list (which would be about 1%) for this challenge. I'm already planning to read 15 books from this list before Dec. 21/08 so this challenge shouldn't be a problem. Below are the 15 books. Life of Pi by Yann MartelThe God of Small Things by Arundhati RoyMemoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenThe Stone Diaries by Carol ShieldsWild Swans by Jung ChangThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerNineteen Eighty-Four by George OrwellOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken KeseyTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeJourney to the Center of the Earth by Jules VerneEmma by Jane AustenThe Handmaid's Tale by Margaret AtwoodOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia MarquesThe Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverSlaughter House-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Booking Through Thursday

Suggested by: Superfastreader:

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
Sin' auld lang syne.

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

I can name many authors. I used to read a lot of Ludlums. But I have not done it for a long time now. His latter books seems boring and repetitive. Same is the case with Alistair Maclean. Grisham too I cannot read now. In classics, I cannot read Jane Austen now. I fall asleep although I have committed to read at least two Austens for a challenge!

Instead of authors, I would say I can't read certain genres like run of the mills mysteries bore me. Romances without stories too cannot hold my interest. I cannot read too much of sex scenes with vampires, werewolves, monsters. That puts me off completely.

I thing it depends a lot on mood and time too. What we loved in our younger days might bore us to death now. And vice versa. In a way , one can suppose that our reading changes with age.

Everyone is by now very familiar with the1001 Books to Read before you die list, which can be found here (this is mostly for future reference for myself). I'm going to note here which of the few from the list I've read so far. As lists always are, this one is skewed to the compilers' tastes, and some are widely divergent from mine. Still, there are more than ten unread titles which appeal to me.

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.

I just found this meme on Ticket to Anywhere, a bookblog I recently discovered. She found this meme on LibraryThing's blog.

The following is a list of the top 106 books tagged as “unread” on LibraryThing. I’ve divided them up into categories.

Let’s see how I do.

UNOWNED AND UNREAD
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Emma by Jane Austen
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Lady Chatterley's lover by D.H. Lawrence
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

What new books are you looking forward to most in 2008? Something new being published this year? Something you got as a gift for the holidays? Anything in particular that you're planning to read in 2008 that you're looking forward to? A classic, or maybe a best-seller from 2007 that you're waiting to appear in paperback?

Hmm... this is a hard one. I haven't really thought too much about what I'll be reading in 2008. I'm sure I'll read quite a few (my goal is to read 175), but I usually play it by ear (excepting review assignments, of course, which I try to read sooner rather than later; things went to pot in the second half of this year, but I'm getting back on track now).

It is that time of year, isn't it? I've been seeing round-up posts popping up everywhere, and there is something quite satisfying about quantifying what you've been doing all year. Of course, this time of year also makes me realize I will never have enough time to read all the books I want to, probably not even all the books I have on my shelves. But I will keep trying, nevertheless. 2007 was a good year for reading - all the encouragement and suggestions from bloggers and our many challenges kept me picking up one book after another. How pleasant!

Books Bought 2007

I was away over the weekend. It was a trip that was both fun and aggravating. Five year olds don't like to shop unless it's at Toys-R-Us.

Dana asked:

My question is, is there anything you wouldn't be able to stand your significant other reading? Or are you ok with anything? Let me know

...after reading this NY Times article. Aquatique, a single lady, had an interesting discussion about it in this post.

For myself, my husband doesn't read anything unless it's a manual for some electronic thing-a-ma-jig. This is in no way a reflection of his intelligence. Actually, it might be, because I can never understand manuals. I usually end up tossing them and using trial and error. Hubby never liked reading. Math and science is his thing. He's probably the smartest person I know (don't tell him that). I've always found intelligence attractive.

Booking Through Thursday

• When somebody mentions “literature,” what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?)
• Do you read “literature” (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Lit-Ra-Chur. I can just imagine a gray haired man writing 'literature' on a chalkboard when I read that. It's funny the first thing I think of isn't Tolstoy or Dickens but the CBC. I think of on-air interviews with Margaret Atwood or someone of that type. Books written by Tolstoy or Dickens don't make me think 'literature'. They make me think 'classic'. Dickens wrote most of his stuff as a serial for the newspaper. He needed the money. At the same time, he brought to the public an awareness of important societal problems, like poverty. I don't know if he was aware he was creating literature.

NOTE: This post is a sticky, please scroll down for newest posts.

It's Sept. 1, time to read! If you didn't sign up, you still can, you just won't be eligible for the prize.

I have prizes! That's right, not one but TWO! The prizes are:
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

The Notebook has some water damage to the cover and first few pages but is completely readable.

This was begun by Simon at Stuck-in-a-book, but I saw it first at A Work in Progress. Upon a bit of research, I see that many others have given this a go; Juxtabook, LizzySiddal, Kirsty, Iliana, and Litlove, among others.

The goal of this is to list favourite authors according to last name (with a representative fave book as well). Here's mine, though with the caveat that it was really difficult to fit everyone in. I kept thinking of more authors with names beginning with the letters I'd already filled, and how can a decision be made between two or four or eight favourites? But I finally chose a few, and have included some of the children's books I've loved for a long time. This meme provided much entertaining rumination over the past couple of days, so thanks Simon!

Austen, Jane / Pride and Prejudice

I'm going to be late getting back to commenters and blogging in general. 4 words: whiny kid, ear infection.

I've seen Colleen Gleason's Gardella Vampire Chronicles raved about by all my blogger buddies. I've even been to Colleen's blog but until now I haven't read any of the series. Why? I have no idea. The Rest Falls Away has been on my TBR list for a long time. I just never got to it until now.

Victoria Gardella has just come out in society. Her mother's eager to find her a suitable husband. However, not only is Victoria hunting for a husband but for vampires as well. The Gardella Legacy has been passed to her. It is her destiny to keep the world safe from vampires. At her side in the fight is her reluctant partner Max Pesaro, her aunt Eustacia and her maid Verbena.

I could sit at Chapters for 18 hours a day, day after day, and never be bored.
Anyone who knows me, knows that this is true.
Knows that it contains not even the slightest amount of exaggerosity.
I could do it. I could live at Chapters.
However, I should clarify something.
It is not the bookstore itself that I am really addicted to.

I think I am getting cold feet looking at my own list. However, I have to do this. I can't go on procastinating!

Man Booker Challenge 2008
1) 2007 The Gathering by Anne Enright
2) 2006 *The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
3) 2000 *The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood currently reading it
4) 1981 *Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
5)
6)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the very awesome Advergirl Blog - hat tip to Dave Armano's fierce Twittering:

Question: What blogs and books do I read to stay on top of trends?

Well, I should say that 'staying on top of trends' is a pretty relative term these days. But, to stay somewhat aware of the cool stuff in my tiny area of addiction/interest, here are my top picks:

Blogs:

← Me.
Actual recent photo!
Today is [was] my birthday!
Yayyyyy! Happy Birthday To Me!
What did I do on my birthday?
Ummm….. → WORKED!