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.

My Classics Club List!

I thought that I had joined The Classics Club already...I follow them on Twitter, did the read-a-thon earlier this year, and read fellow member's blog posts.  However, I realized earlier this week that I am not officially a member, because I haven't joined officially or created my book list!  So today I am rectifying that situation.  I am going to post my list of 50 books below.  I am going to try to read all of these books by the end of 5 years (so December 31, 2017) and then start with a new list of 50, especially if I finish early.  I like that I can easily read 10 in a year. Though as I make this list...a lot of them are goals for this year. In terms of how I made this list--it included ones that I want to read this year but also ones that I have always wanted to read but never have. Well, I am considering myself already started...so I have linked my review from Sense and Sensibility below.

1. Sense and Sensibility  by Jane Austen  review
2. Persuasion by Jane Austen
3. Mansfield Park  by Jane Austen
4. Emma by Jane Austen
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
6. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen review
7. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
8. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
9. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
10. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
11. Anthem by Ayn Rand
12. We the Living by Ayn Rand
13. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte review
14. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
15. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury  Finished sometime in Fall of 2014 
16. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
17. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
18. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
19. Animal Farm by George Orwell
20. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
21. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
22. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
23. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
24. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
25. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
26. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
27. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
28. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
29. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
30. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
31. Hard Times by Charles Dickens
32. The Brothers of Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevesky
33. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
34. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
35. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
36. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
37. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
38. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
39. Beloved by Toni Morrison
40. 1984 by George Orwell review
41. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
42. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
43. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
44. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
45. Dracula by Bram Stoker
46. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
47. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
48. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
49. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
50. Echoes from the Macabre by Daphne DuMaurier

Character Thursday: Sydney Carton

 

In honor of Celebrating Dickens, I thought that I would do my first Character Thursday link-up with Fanda.  I mentioned previously that I love A Tale of Two Cities.  I have taught it and read it often. My favorite character in the book is Sydney Carton. I thought he was appropriate to talk about with this being Valentine's Day and all.

When the book opens, Sydney seems a lot like what we would affectionately call a nerd.  He is very smart, but not socially confident in himself.  He doesn't put himself in the spotlight and just prefers to stay in the background. We first meet him when he is defending Charles Darney, and they look very similar to each other--which actually helps them win the case.  

Carton seems to change as he falls in love with Lucie Manette.  He was a very selfish, self-pity kind of guy.  But in telling Lucie of his feelings for her--he really opens up and tells her that he would do anything for her or those that she loves.  That chance comes as Darney is accused again and faces death.  Sydney convinces Darney to change places with him so that it is not Charles that is killed.  As Charles escapes to be with Lucie, Carton is beheaded at the guillotine.

I love Sydney Carton as a character, because he is so willing to sacrifice.  Love really changes him and it shows us that even some people can surprise us in life. A great lesson on a Valentine's Day like this. 

Dickens, Me, and My Students

Through the great inspiration of a blogger name Fanda, I am aware that today is the great Charles Dickens' birthday.  On your birthday, you should always know why people respect and honor you. I thought that I would write (kind of to Dickens) about my favorite experience with A Tale of Two Cities.

It is kind of interesting/tricky to start teaching students about Dickens because they are intimidated by the length of his books, the denseness of his writing, and it is harder for them to get into it. With this particular class had read three whole Shakespeare plays the previous month, so to me if they get through that--then Dickens shouldn't be hard.  The best thing to me about this opportunity to teach students--they started to get into and catch on.

This is the great part about Dickens--his stories transcend time.  My students were able to relate to the relationship between Lucie and her father.  They start to follow the French Revolution---they are fascinated by the guillotine and the secret plotting.  They relate to the prison and trapped feeling that Dr. Manette experiences.

Some of them might start to appreciate Dickens' writing, but it really starts to come with the teacher appreciates it as well.  Give them the opportunity to really dive into the writing, and they will start to see what is so great about the amazing Charles Dickens.

This is actually the edition we used, because it is very cheap and
the students can  have their own copy to mark up