Category: After the Sunday Papers

After the Sunday Papers #10

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“She had read novels while other people perused the Sunday papers”
~ Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Doctor’s Wife

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I can’t believe it’s been nearly two years since my last After the Sunday Papers post! I had intended it to be a weekly feature, looking back on the previous week and forward to the week ahead, but obviously it didn’t work out like that. Today, not having any reviews ready to post and wanting to mention a few book-related events, I decided to revive my Sunday posts and hopefully can make them a more regular feature, if not a weekly one.

Giveaway Blog Hop success!

I was lucky enough to win two books in the recent Literary Giveaway Blog Hop and I received both of them this week. Thanks to Heavenali for the beautiful Penguin English Library edition of Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and thanks to The Little Reader Library for The Long Song by Andrea Levy – both books I’ve been wanting to read for a long time.

Lymond is back

Annabel of Gaskella is hosting a readalong of The Game of Kings, the first of Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles. As I’m currently immersed in Dunnett’s other series, The House of Niccolo, I won’t be officially taking part, but to anyone who has been thinking about reading the Lymond Chronicles this could be a good time to start. Annabel has even made a bookmark with the character list, which should be very useful!

Advent with Atwood

Following the success of last year’s Advent with Austen, this year Yvann, Alex, Iris and Ana will be co-hosting Advent with Atwood. The event includes a readalong of The Blind Assassin, but participants can read any book by Margaret Atwood during the month of December. I would like to join in as I’ve never read anything by Atwood before and she’s an author I’ve been meaning to read for years. I have no idea which of her books to start with, so any suggestions are welcome.

That’s all for now – hope you all have a good week!

After the Sunday Papers #9: Reading Challenge Wrap-Up & New Book Arrivals

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It’s almost the end of 2010, which means most of the challenges I’ve been participating in this year are coming to an end (and some are already finished). I don’t want to bore you with twelve separate challenge wrap-up posts, so I’ve decided to incorporate them all into this week’s Sunday Papers post.

You can see the complete list of books I read for each challenge on my challenge page.

Women Unbound Reading Challenge: 8/8 books Completed
This challenge was a success. I had originally signed up for the Bluestocking level (5 books including 2 nonfiction) but easily reached Suffragette level (8 books including 3 nonfiction). I particularly loved all three of my nonfiction choices, Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, Wild Swans by Jung Chang and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.

Year of the Historical: 12/12 books Completed
I had expected this to be an easy challenge to complete – and it was. For a total of 12 books, all I needed to do was read one historical fiction novel per month, but I actually met the requirements of this challenge halfway through the year.

New Authors: 50/50 books Completed
For the New Authors challenge I could choose to try either 15, 25 or 50 new-to-me authors in 2010. I chose 15, because in the past I’ve been slow to try new authors, preferring to stay with authors I know and love. Of course, book blogging has helped me to discover lots of new authors who I would never have even thought about trying, and I ended up reading 50!

All About the Brontes: 2/3 books Failed
Unfortunately I forgot that this challenge would be ending in the summer. I had been thinking I had until the end of the year to read my three Bronte books, so this one has been a failure. Not a complete failure though, because I enjoyed the two Anne Bronte books I read and am still intending to read Villette by Charlotte Bronte in 2011.

A-Z Challenge: 20/26 books Failed
For this challenge, I needed to read one book beginning with each letter of the alphabet. As I expected, some letters proved more difficult to find than others. I still haven’t read anything beginning with J, K, Q, X, Y or Z so I’ve obviously failed this one!

Flashback Reading Challenge: 2/6 books Failed
I’m disappointed to have failed this challenge because I used to love revisiting my favourite books. I fully expected this to be one of the easiest challenges to complete and it makes me feel sad that only two of the books I’ve read this year have been rereads. This is something I want to change in 2011, while still continuing to discover new books.

What’s in a Name? 3 Challenge: 4/6 books Failed
This challenge sounded fun, but was always going to be a difficult one for me. I managed to read a book with a plant in the title (The Black Tulip), a music term (The Cellist of Sarajevo), a title (The White Queen) and a food (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) but have failed on the place name and the body of water.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: 20/20 books Completed
Like Year of the Historical, this one was easy to complete as historical fiction is one of my favourite genres.

Our Mutual Read: 12/12 books Completed
As you’ve probably noticed, I love anything Victorian so this challenge was perfect for me! I read three neo-Victorian books and the rest were Victorian classics.

Gothic Novel Challenge: 5/5 books Completed
I signed up for the Easy level, for which I needed to read five gothic novels. I chose four gothic classics (The Castle of Otranto, The Monk, Vathek and Dracula) plus The Unburied by Charles Palliser.

Daphne du Maurier Challenge: 3/3 books Completed
I loved all three of the Daphne du Maurier books I read for this challenge (I’ll Never Be Young Again, My Cousin Rachel and The Scapegoat). The challenge doesn’t finish until next April, so I still have plenty of time to read one or two more.

RIP V Challenge: 4/4 books Completed
This was one of the challenges I enjoyed the most – and it helped me get in the mood for Halloween! I actually read more than required – eight books and one short story.

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Newly acquired books

I haven’t shared my new book arrivals with you for a while, mainly because I haven’t acquired very many recently. My TBR pile is starting to get out of control, so instead of adding to it I’ve been trying to read some of my unread books. I have received a few this month, though.

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West: I found a second-hand copy of this and thought it would be perfect for the Virago Reading Week Rachel and Carolyn are planning.

Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin: Won this through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Ghost Light by Joseph O’Connor: I received this a couple of weeks ago courtesy of Jessica at Park Benches & Bookends. It was the prize I won during the Readathon in October.

Darkside by Belinda Bauer: I received this one from Transworld Publishers. This is Belinda Bauer’s second book – I recently reviewed her first novel, Blacklands.

Have you read any of these?

Have a great week and enjoy whatever you’re reading!

After the Sunday Papers #8: Persephones and Jane Austen

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I had a nice surprise this week when I discovered part of my review of Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes had been quoted in the Readers’ Comments section of the Persephone Biannually Autumn and Winter 2010 magazine.

I’ve enjoyed all four of the Persephones I’ve read so far, and would appreciate any recommendations for which ones I should read next.

The Persephones I’ve already read are:

The Victorian Chaise-longue by Marghanita Laski
Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson

Have you read any Persephone books? Which books or authors would you recommend?

Jane Austen

I came across this article yesterday about Jane Austen. Apparently Austen’s manuscripts show that she made spelling mistakes, had trouble with the ‘i before e’ rule and wrote in a regional accent. Although I’m not a big Jane Austen fan or an expert on her background, I think the article is a bit harsh considering the standard of education that was available to girls in those days and also the fact that written English didn’t necessarily follow the same rules then as it does today. What do you think?

Currently reading

I’m still working my way through the stories in The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories by Wilkie Collins which as you might expect, is proving to be a perfect Halloween read! This will be my seventh book for the RIP challenge, which means the only book on my original challenge list that I haven’t read yet is Frankenstein. I don’t think I’ll have time to fit that one in before the end of the month, so I’ll have to either read it after Halloween or leave it until next year.

I’m also reading a book that I requested from Netgalley, called The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. It’s the true story of a woman living in Taliban-era Afghanistan who started her own business to support herself and her younger sisters, and is one of the most inspirational stories I’ve ever read.

What are you reading this week?

After the Sunday Papers #7: Reading From Lists

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So far October has been a great reading month for me – I’ve finished eight books (including Bleak House, which I began in August). Last weekend’s Readathon obviously helped, as well as the fact that I’ve had a week off work. I’m back to work tomorrow, so my reading will probably slow down again now – that’s okay though, as it will give me a chance to catch up with all the reviews I still need to post.

I’ve become aware recently of the increasing number of bloggers who like to read from lists, whether it’s a list of must-read classics, the longlist or shortlist for a literary prize, a list of books from a specific publisher or a list for a personal challenge. Compared to a lot of people, my reading has no real structure at all. When I finish one book, I just choose another from my shelf almost at random – whatever I’m in the mood for next. I also try to only sign up for challenges that allow flexibility and where sticking to a list is not essential. I do wonder though whether it would be a good idea to try to plan my reading more than I currently do. There are so many books that I keep saying I want to read ‘sometime’, but ‘sometime’ is disappearing further and further into the future!

What do you think? Do you like to read from lists or do you just read whatever you feel like reading?

Before I go, I want to mention that yesterday was my first Blogoversary! It’s hard to believe it was a whole year ago when I decided to start a book blog. The time seems to have flown! I’d like to say thank you to everyone who reads my blog, and I’m looking forward to the next 12 months!

After the Sunday Papers #6

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On Thursday I posted my sign-up post for the RIP V Challenge. Now I’m signing up for another one: The Really Old Classics Challenge.


The idea of this challenge is to read at least one work that was written before 1600 AD. If you’re very ambitious you can become a ‘Classicist’ by reading four! You can also read a retelling of a really old classic.

The challenge runs until December 31 2010. See the challenge blog to sign up.

At the moment I have no idea what I’m going to read for the challenge. I’m completely new to ‘really old classics’, so any recommendations would be very welcome!

Recently acquired books…

Bought on a visit to my favourite bookshop:
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon
The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski

Won from LibraryThing Member Giveaways:
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope

I was particularly excited to find a copy of The Victorian Chaise-longue, as it’s the first dove-grey Persephone I own (I do also have a copy of Laski’s Little Boy Lost, but it’s one of the Persephone Classics editions). I’m hoping to read The Victorian Chaise-longue soon for the RIP challenge.

Currently reading

I’m still reading Bleak House for the readalong. I’m also reading Vathek by William Beckford, which is a Gothic novel from 1786.

Whatever you’re reading this week, I hope you enjoy it!

After the Sunday Papers #5

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Last month was a great reading month for me – I read ten books, which I know is not many for a lot of other bloggers, but for me it’s more than I usually manage to read. And as well as reading those ten books, I was also slowly working my way through Middlemarch by George Eliot, which I finished last weekend. Considering this was my third attempt at reading it, I felt a real sense of achievement when I reached the final page! As I’ve finished it a few weeks ahead of schedule for Ana’s readalong, I won’t post my thoughts on the book just yet, but will wait until later in the month. Who else has been reading Middlemarch for the readalong? Are you enjoying it?

Another readalong I’ve signed up for is Bleak House by Charles Dickens, which is being hosted by Amanda of The Zen Leaf. Bleak House, like Middlemarch, is a book that I started reading once before but stopped because I wasn’t in the right mood for it. I can be a very moody reader sometimes! Hopefully this time I’m going to enjoy it. If you’d like to participate too, see Amanda’s post to sign up.

This week I’ve been reading The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory which I was sent by Simon & Schuster UK for their Red Queen blog tour. The Red Queen is the second book in Philippa Gregory’s new Wars of the Roses series, which was a fascinating time in English history. I would welcome any recommendations of good non-fiction books about this period as I’d really like to learn more about it.

I’ll be posting my review of The Red Queen soon, but in the meantime why not enter this competition to win a signed copy of the UK hardback – it’s open worldwide until September 30th.

I also received two more books for review this week, which is exciting for me as I don’t usually get very many.

After You by Julie Buxbaum is the third book I’ve received from Transworld for their Summer Reading Challenge (the first two that I’ve read and reviewed were Second Hand Heart and If I Stay). I also had a nice surprise when Rosy Thornton contacted me to offer me a copy of her new novel, The Tapestry of Love. I’m looking forward to reading both of these books.

What will you be reading this week?

After the Sunday Papers #4: Reading Challenge Update

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I have now completed four reading challenges so, instead of posting individual wrap-ups for each challenge, I’ve decided to incorporate them all into this week’s After the Sunday Papers post.

Before I begin, I want to let you all know that I probably won’t have internet access this week as I’m going away tomorrow to spend five days in one of my favourite parts of England, the beautiful Lake District.

I won’t be able to comment or reply to comments, but I’ve scheduled one or two posts for while I’m away.  This is the first time I’ve tried the WordPress scheduling feature so I hope it works!

Now, on with the challenge updates.  For the full lists of books I’ve read for each of the challenges mentioned below, with links to my reviews, see my Completed Challenges page.

The first is the Typically British Challenge.  The idea was to read books written by British authors.  I signed up for the “Cream Crackered” level, which meant I needed to read 8 books.  The 8 British authors I chose were Anne Bronte, Horace Walpole, Richard Adams, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Anthony Trollope, Daphne du Maurier, Thomas Hardy and Georgette Heyer.

The second challenge I’ve completed is the Chunkster Challenge.  I knew this one wouldn’t be a problem for me as I read so many long books.  To complete the challenge I needed to read 6 or more chunksters of 450+ pages or 3 books with 750+ pages.  I ended up reading 4 with 450+ pages and 2 with 750+ pages, so I think I’ve now satisfied the requirements of the challenge!

For the 2010 Classics Challenge, I had to read 6 classic novels.  Before the challenge started, I made a list of the classics I wanted to read but I’ve actually only read one from the list and five others that I hadn’t been intending to read.  This is why I don’t like making lists for challenges – I know that I won’t be able to stick to them.

The fourth challenge I’ve completed is the 18th & 19th Century Women Writers Challenge.  I only needed to read two books for this, and the two that I read were The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte and The Doctor’s Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

I am still working on the rest of the challenges I signed up for and am making good progress with most of them.

Have a great week, and I’ll be back on Friday.