What classic has most surprised you so far and why?

The classic that has probably surprised me the most is a tie between Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.  I love Persuasion, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice....but I barely finished Sense and Sensibility and I haven't been able to finish Mansfield Park.....I don't know why but it surely is surprising to me that I haven't enjoyed these two Jane Austen classics. Maybe one of these days I will try to get through Mansfield Park and I will try Sense and Sensibility.

January 2016's Question Meme from Classics Club (Repeat of February 2013).  Add your answer.

TBR Pile Challenge Checkpoint 3

I have gotten started on my first book for this challenge.  I am currently listening to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen on my drives.  I am glad about the progress that I have made on it.  It is seven discs, and I am on disc four--so I'm pretty proud.  I wish I had started earlier so it could be done by this checkpoint, but hey progress is good! Hopefully March is a better month.

Overall, Northanger Abbey isn't a bad book for me. It isn't one of my favorites of Jane Austen, but not the worst.  That at the moment is still Mansfield Park which I have yet to get through.  I think it is funny that there is the regular triangle drama though. But it moves a bit slow.  So we will see what the end gives me.

Remembering 2013 in Last Minute Read-a-thon

As I look back on the reading I've done in 2013....I am still disappointed with how much I have accomplished.  So I'm not sure how productive this challenge will be...but I will give it my best shot..

1. Best book of 2013: I have said it numerous times but The Storyteller by Jodi Piccoult was by far my favorite of this year!
2. Worst book of 2013: Don't really have one....
3. Favorite new author. Charlotte Bronte....I know not "new"--but definitely new to me and I want to read more of her stuff!
4. Book that surprised you: Divergent by Veronica Roth.  I am traditionally not a huge fan of the dystopian type of things.  They are sometimes too much with the shoving down your throat about how life should be better or they don't create a believable universe. This one was great. Though I'm a little nervous about starting Allegiant...I have not heard good things.
5. Book that disappointed you: Mansfield Park is what I'm going to put on here...because I have yet to finish it! I love Jane Austen and I'm disappointed that this book is not at all enjoyable...at least yet--I'm going to keep trying!

Our hosts: http://vonniesreadingcorner.blogspot.com/2013/12/last-minute-2013-rembering-2013.html
http://anightsdreamofbooks.blogspot.com/2013/12/last-minute-read-thon-remembering-2013.html

My Progress

Very low...like I don't even want to own up to it. Spent the day hanging out with the husband--it was a great day to spend some quality time together!

Bout of Books Day 4 Update

Today there are two challenges with Bout of Books.  The first one was from In Wonderland and this one made me smile.  Hers is a road trip challenge--list books that take place in different places that you would travel to.  I had to smile, because I did this for last week's Top Ten Tuesday.  So I thought that I would link that post here as my participation in this challenge.  So click here to see my original list instead of me boring you with the same books again :)

The other challenge is an I Spy Challenge.  Paperback Daydreamer has a list of things that we need to find in books that we own.  So I am going to start racking my brain and see if I can think of all of these things in the books that I have at home.  I think the hardest thing is not repeating books!

• snowflakes: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• flames: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (I think so...I am not confident with this one--but wasn't one of the armies the Flame Army and then there's the whole fighting thing)
• a city skyline: Texas Hold 'Em by Lisa Cooke
• the moon: Swinging on a Star by Janice Thompson
• a sword: Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• a wedding dress: Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson
• high heels: Spying in High Heels by Gemma Halliday (note I have not read this...it was freebie on Kindle, so I have NO idea if its any good)
• fog: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• a Christmas tree: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• sunglasses: Snoopes in the City by Darlene Gardner
• lightning: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
• a tattoo: Downburst by Katie Robison
• combat boots: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
• hand-cuffs: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
• a road: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

In terms of an update on progress: today I read a little bit more in Mansfield Park....I am beginning to wonder at what point Fanny will step up for herself...usually I feel like Austen women have strength which is why the books have had such "staying power" but I must not be there yet...or she never shows it--just waiting to see.