Category: Reading Challenges

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2011 Historic Fiction Challenge

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on 2011 Historic Fiction Challenge

Alright Dear Reader this is the LAST ‘mini’ reading challenge for me this year….as I said before there are just so many various challenges that have peaked my interest this year and I discovered without the convenient planning of my teachers at college I am sad to say I was at a loss as to what to read! So here we are, this is the Historic Fiction reading challenge hosted by Historical Tapestry.

This challenge has a couple of different levels and I have decided on the “Out of My Comfort Zone: 2 books”. I think I can manage this with NO PROBLEM as most of the books I read are either Gothic/Victorian which often have a historic perspective (obviously!). For the challenge it says “any kind of historical fiction is accepted (HF fantasy, HF young adult,…)” so I have decided to read two books.

Anyway if you are interested and would like to follow along or sign up—click here for all the details!

This is it—no more challenges for me this year!! 🙂

Enjoy everyone!

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

2011 Jewish Literature Challenge

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on 2011 Jewish Literature Challenge

In for a penny, in for a pound! In my random blog searching I managed to find another book challenge that perked my interest. Since one of my New Years resolutions was to broaden my literary horizons I thought about participating in some challenges which included books I would not normally pick up. The end result….millions of books to read for 2011 LOL.

I hesitate to commit myself to the larger book lists as the goal for many  of these challenges is just to get outside my ‘comfort zone’ which is what I have done! For instance, I picked one book for the Haruki Murakami reading challenge and so I am doing the same with the Jewish Literature Challenge–one book.

The challenge simply requires that one read a book by or about Jews–so that could be a Holocuast memior, fiction, non-fiction and so on. The book does not count if you have already read it–and you must complete the challenge before Passover.

As I said I am planning to read one book for sure but might make it to more it just depends on how the year goes. Check out the page and challenge info here!

Mazel tov!

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Review: Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger

by The Lit Bitch26 Comments on Review: Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger

I am pleased to say that I have finished my first book for one of my reading challenges and the first day of 2011 is barely over!

The 2011 Steampunk Reading Challenge hosted by Bookish Ardour kicked off 1/1/11 and I started reading Soulless by Gail Carriger in the wee hours of 2011 simply because I was not tired and thought there is no time like the present when it comes to New Years resolutions!

The 2011 Steampunk Challenge intrigued me because of course I am a huge fan of all things Victorian and Gothic but had never really gotten into the other sub-genres such as Steampunk. For those of you who don’t know what Steampunk is check out The Steampunk Age website, they have lots of useful info about the genre. I like that the genre has many of the same elements that Gothic Literature does so when I saw one of my fav blogs, Bookish Ardour, was hosting this challenge I could’t resist!

The first thing that drew my to Soulless was the cover, I’m not gonna lie I think a well designed cover makes books more eye catching and this cover style is right up my alley. I wasn’t sure what to expect as this book is generally considered pararomance not just steampunk, but I was so caught up in the book I could hardly put it down! In short, it was AMAZING!

The story is set in early 19th century London and the protagonist is a 26 year old spinster named Alexia Tarabotti. Here is a description from Shelfari: Continue reading “Review: Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger” →

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Review: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

by The Lit Bitch17 Comments on Review: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I went out on a high note when I finished my last book of 2010 last night and so I now write my last book review of 2010.

The timeless novel Gone with the Wind was written by Margret Mitchell in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel in 1937. In 1939 the epic romantic was made into a film, one of the first in color if I recall.

GWTW maintains its appeal even in today’s society, at my ‘day job’ one of the history teachers shows this film to her class when they are done studying the period and the kids are all TOTALLY into and don’t talk through it at all!

The novel it self can be intimidating because of it’s length. My sister bought me the book last year for Christmas and the pocket paperback copy was 1200 pages and HUGE!  I promised I would read it at some point during the year but ultimately decided to buy it on my iPad since I didn’t want to struggle with the bulky book.

I am so glad I decided to stat this book and even though it took me about 2 weeks to read, it was SO WORTH IT! Everyone should read this book at least one time in their life! Continue reading “Review: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell” →

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2011 Steampunk Reading Challenge

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on 2011 Steampunk Reading Challenge

Another book category which is slowly growing on me is the Steampunk reading genre.

Steampunk is a genre similar to my Victorian/Gothic favorites but with an emphasis on machinery and steam driving technology. Popular at the turn of the century this literary device has developed into a whole sub-culture. There are people who have Steampunk meet up groups and there are all kinds of Steampunk fashion lines among many other things.

I personally am not all into the fashion part of it, but I love the books. I would love to be able to wear all the Victorian clothing and jewerly and do all that other fun stuff that these people do but I think I would have to quite my day job if that were the case–not to mention I think my husband would say I finally went totally crazy–but nevertheless I am a fan of the style and reading genre. So when I saw this reading challenge I knew I just had to join though I promised myself no more reading challenges this year, I just couldn’t resist. So here I am signing up for another reading challenge. This one I am going to take it easy on though and only pledge to do the lowest catagory so I don’t over extend myself. So here you have it, this is the 2011 Steampunk Reading Challenge info hosted by Bookish Ardour:

Here is the direct link to the challenge and the info on the challenge is listed below:

Continue reading “2011 Steampunk Reading Challenge” →