1% Well-Read Challenge

Michelle from 1 More Chapter is hosting the 1% Well-Read Challenge and I've decided to take up the challenge. I barely have time to do much reading but I just couldn’t resist taking part in this one. I must be CRAZY!

I actually went through the excel sheet list provided by Arukiyomi and sadly I’ve only read 11 books out of the 1001 listed.

Anyway, I’ve decided to read 10 titles from the new list. The challenge runs from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009. Wish me luck!

If you are interested to participate, please click here.

Here’s my list of TBR books for the challenge:

1. Everything is Illuminated
2. Life of Pi
3. Veronika Decides to Die
4. The God of Small Things
5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
6. The Time Machine
7. Journey to the Centre of the Earth
8. Emma
9. Sense & Sensibility
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles

Book Review: Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

I think Burning Bright is the first historical fiction I’ve ever read, written by the author of best seller Girl with the Pearl Earring. The story revolves around the Kellaway family who moves from the country side to London after the tragic and sudden loss of one of their family members.

The family from the countryside is soon shocked and at the same time at awe by the hustle and bustle of London. During this period, Jem Kellaway and Maggie Butterfield makes acquaintance with an artist and poet named William Blake and according to the book cover, he becomes '... a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience.’

Set in the 18^th century, Tracy Chevalier provides incredible detail and visual description depicting the era, which is what I liked about the book.

From the book cover, I had the impression that William Blake would be strongly featured in the storyline but he turned out to be a character which I felt was forced into the book and was weak in presence. The characters were not engaging and I didn’t care much for the events that unfolded in their lives. Sad to say, the book failed to capture my interest and it was one of the rare books that I wanted to end as quickly as I could.

Book Review: Juggling Elephants: Be the Ringmaster of Your Work and Life

Juggling Elephants is a light and easy read. The message brought across is simple and may be blatantly obvious to most but is definitely overlooked by most of us in trying to manage our daily lives.

The message is simple: don’t juggle elephants.

Meaning: don’t do everything all at once.

Using the circus ring as an analogy, the book provides similarities of how a ring master of a circus successfully coordinates three separate rings of a circus performance by focusing on one before moving on to the other. Each ring represents the different elements in our life:

1. Self ring
2. Relationship ring
3. Professional ring
   

Each ring is connected to the other. In order for an individual to gain success it’s best to focus on each of the elements or ring one at a time.

I was juggling elephants at the time I started reading this book and the book helped me gain my focus and momentum back on the things that needed to be done.

For more information on the book, please click here to visit the official website.

Quote from Washington Irving

I’ve been overwhelmed with a lot of things lately. Work has been crazy and keeps me in the office till late most weekdays working on last minute proposals and request. Weekends are the same; if I'm not at the office then I’m running around like a headless chicken, catching up on household chores, catching up with family members and running around doing everything except giving myself me time.

I was feeling sorry for myself for the late hours in the office and started picking on small things. I allowed the small things to get to me and started barking at almost everyone and everything. Its no excuse and I’m not proud of it but I thought it was quite apt that I stumbled on this quote while I was researching on Washington Irving:

‘Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued with misfortune; great minds rise above them’

So here’s to not sweating the small stuff and hoping that with a little bit of focus and purpose, I’ll rise above the challenge.

Book Review: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Catherine Morland is the protagonist of this novel who is intelligent but unfortunately inexperience with the ways of the world. At 17 years of age, she has never left the comforts of home until invited by Mr & Mrs Allen who requested for her company to Bath. It’s during this trip that Catherine’s innocence become obvious.

Catherine’s obsession in reading Gothic novels also gives her an overactive imagination. Her visit to Northanger Abbey seemed like an adventure which turns badly when she suspects her host, General Tilney of murdering his wife.

I can understand why Northanger Abbey is an all time favourite romance novel. It has innocence, it has romance (in this case with Henry Tilney), it has drama that separates the two love birds, followed by the hero going after the heroine and it ends with a wedding. A happy ever after type of romance that is sure to get the attention of female readers.

As much as Northanger Abbey was an interesting read, it felt as though I was reading a teenage romance novel. Of course, this could be because Northanger Abbey is thought to be one of Austen’s first novels written in her early twenties. It was an easy read and I did enjoy Catherine’s active imagination at work which is reflective of her youth. I also have to mention that I found Thorpe’s character annoying...

I like Headline Review’s version of Northanger Abbey as it includes background on the book, a reading guide as well as history on Austen herself. One of the information included in the book which I thought was interesting is that some publishers placed Northanger Abbey under the Gothic genre.

In fact, I managed to find the cover from the 1960’s that pitched the book as a Gothic novel. With some research I also discovered that the quote on the back cover was amplified to fit the genre:

Actual quote:

‘The wind roared down the chimney, the rain beat in torrents against the windows, and everything seemed to speak the awfulness of her situation’

The ‘improved’ quote:

‘The storm still raged, and various were the noises, more terrific even than the wind, which struck at intervals on her startled ear. The very curtains of her bed seemed at one moment in motion, and at another the lock of her door was agitated, as if by the attempt of somebody to enter. Hollow murmurs seemed to creep along the gallery, and more than once her blood was chilled by the sound of distant moans.’

Ha ha... a bit over the top don’t you think? Personally, I think Northanger Abbey is still a romance novel that has some gothic elements to it but it definitely is not a Gothic genre.

If you’ve read Northanger Abbey, my question is do you think Northanger Abbey can be considered under the Gothic genre? Do you prefer the 1960’s version? Why?

Book Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

This classic short story is about a legend in a small community called Sleepy Hollow. The narrator of the book begins with an explanation on how he stumbled upon the town whilst hunting and describes it as a peaceful place and stated ‘If ever I should wish for a retreat wither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley’. Despite its beauty, the narrator continues to describe that the ‘peculiar character of its inhabitant’ seem to be influenced by superstition and legends. One such story that the inhabitants truly believe in is that of the Headless Horsemen:

‘The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on a horseback, without a head.’

The book then introduces through the narrator the tale of a local school teacher called Ichabod‘...tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose...’ 

After reading this, I thought that Disney’s version of Ichabod Crane fits Washington Irving’s description of the character the best.

 

As the story goes, the simple school teacher is also fearful of the local terror tales. However, according to the narrator, none of the terror tales put together can cause more bewilderment than that of a woman, specifically Katrina Van Tassel who is the daughter of a wealthy farmer. I love this quote from the book and thought it was funny. I’m guessing that Ichabod would have appreciated the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus if he had an opportunity to read it:

‘All these, however, were mere terrors of the night, phantoms of the mind that walk in darkness; and though he had seen many spectres in his time, and been more than once beset by Satan in divers shapes, in his lonely perambulations, yet daylight put an end to all these evils; and he would have passed a pleasant life of it, in spite of the Devil and all his works, if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity to the mortal man than ghost, goblins, and the whole race of witches put together, and that was—a woman.’

Also vying for Katrina’s attention is Ichabod’s rival Brom Bones, who is the complete opposite of Ichabod Crane. Brom Bones was described as ‘...the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strengths and hardihood. He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance.’

One night after a party held by the Van Tassels, Ichobod Crane met the Headless Horsemen, went missing and was never found. It was concluded by the locals that Ichabod was ‘carried off by the Galloping Hessian’. What really happened to Ichabod no one ever knew, although the narrator shared towards the end of the book:

‘Brom Bones, too, who, shortly after his rival’s disappearance conducted the blooming Katrina in triumph to the altar, was observed to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related, and always burst into a hearty laugh at the mention of the pumpkin; which led some to suspect that he knew more about the matter than he chose to tell’.

I strongly suspect that Brom Bones had something to do with Ichabod disappearance. Poor Ichabod, I really liked his character.

Washington Irving’s book had a detailed narrative of the location and the events that transpired which made reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow exciting. It had a mix of humour and horror, although I'm quite certain anyone reading the book at this day and age will not be frightened easily by the ghostly details of Ichabod’s encounter with the Galloping Hessian.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. If you’d also like to read the short story and share your thoughts on the book, please click here.