July Reads

Still plugging away? I've been so wrapped up in events around home and reading books for review that I've fallen way behind on most of my challenges. I got lucky tonight and happened to catch the movie adaptation of William Styron's Sophie's Choice. We saw the movie when it was released (why, yes, I am that old). It was one of the first movies my husband and I saw after we got married - nothing like a little dysfunctional love story to get you started off right! Of course, I had to rush out and get the book and read it as well. I don't keep many of the books I read, knowing I'm highly unlikely to ever find the time to re-read any of them with so many interesting books out there. But Sophie's Choice is one I did keep. It more than lived up to the movie - the splendid Southern feel of the narrative, the strong characters, the incredible emotional story. Have you ever read the book or seen the movie?

Leave a comment for any books you've read/movie adaptations you've seen in April/May/June/July.

March Reads

First of all, can I just say how much I love this picture of Emily?! Speaking of Emily, anyone getting close to reaching the Emily level yet?

Please leave a comment with a link here for the books/movies you've completed in March. I read The Sun Also Rises this month and would love to see the Tyrone Power movie version but, like the Franco Zeferelli version of Romeo and Juliet that I wanted to rent, I can't find this one in the video store either. Anyone know a good online site (other than Netflix) for finding old movies?

Please Leave A Link For Books Read In January and February Here

I don't know how to get rid of the Mr. Linky that I used two years ago so that I can start a new one and I think there are few enough of us to make leaving links in the comments work. Once we get through February, I'll post the links so that we can all see what the others have read so far for the challenge. I'm eager to hear how you're all doing! I tried to rent my favorite version of "Romeo & Juliet" last night but the store didn't have it. Going to have to check Hulu because I was really hoping to get a couple of items ticked off my list for this challenge this week. Have any of you seen the Franco Zefferelli version? I absolutely adore it!

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

I'm trying to get a game plan together for my reading for this challenge - of course I do this every year and it sure didn't help last year!

I'm grateful that my hubby minored in English in college and that we've moved all of the books he read many times so that I was able to find The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, a full collection of Charles Dickens' books, and Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'm planning to read the Hemingway, the Twain, and at least one of the Dickens for this challenge plus I was also able to scrounge off of our shelves William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury and Rebecca Wells' The Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I'll possibly add a re-read of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (now what shelf is that on?) and probably will read Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and The White.  Then I'm up in the air as to whether or not I'll do a couple of movies to round things out or do more reading.

When you sign up for challenges, do you make a plan at the beginning or do you wing it? If you've made a plan, what's on your agenda for this challenge this year?

Better Late Than Never!

A few weeks ago, I asked if any of you were interested in giving this Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge a try again. Thanks to those of you who responded that you'd would, I was convinced that a) I wasn't the only one who had a hard time getting to this one last year and b) I should run the challenge again. And then my gall bladder kicked up and I've been pretty much out of it for the past month. Argh! Still, I'm game if you are and we'll just run this challenge with a slightly different start date than planned.

 

Here are the rules for 2012:

1. The challenge will begin February 1, 2012 and run through January 31, 2013.

2. There will continue to be three reading levels:

    EMILY: Read 3 books from 2 different categories

    LORELEI: Read 5 books from 3 different categories

    RORY: Read 10 books from at least 3 different categories

3. As we've done previously, movie adaptations of any of the movies can be counted. For the EMILY level, one movie can be substituted, for the LORELEI level 2 movies can be substituted, and for the RORY level, 3 movies can be substituted. 

4. The categories to choose from are: Classics, Childrens/YA, Modern Classics, Non-fiction and Other. 

5. A complete list of the books to choose from can be found here.

6. Cross over books from other challenges count.

7. Any book that you have started this year but not read more than half of by February 1st will count. 

At the end of the challenge, a winner will be chosen at random from those who have successfully reached the level that they signed up for. You do not need to announce your books now and do not have to have a blog to participate. If you do have a blog, please link a starting post and leave it in a comment. 

Hope you'll decide to read along with us!