Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The rules:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page (avoiding spoilers)
One day as I ground roots, putting all my anger into the satisfying crunch of the stone against stone, she put her hand on my arm, and I stopped.
“Sometimes, Darya, a curse may be a blessing,” she said.
p. 114 “The Moonlit Cage” by Linda Holeman
What books did you read while in school? Were there any that you particular liked, or even hated? Did any become lifelong favourites?
Here are a few of the books we read at school. I’m sure there must have been lots of others, but these are the only ones I can remember at the moment!
Beowulf – I remember reading this at school when we were 11 or 12 – it would have been an abridged version, though, and definitely not in the original Old English!
The Pearl by John Steinbeck – I’ve had a copy of this on my shelf for years but have never read it since I was at school. Maybe I should try reading it again sometime.
Frankenstein’s Aunt by Allan Rune Pettersson – I didn’t enjoy reading this at all. I suppose the teacher chose it thinking it would appeal to 12/13 year olds – but it didn’t appeal to me.
Across the Barricades by Joan Lingard – We read this in Year 10 (age 14/15). Considering this would have been in the 1990s when Northern Ireland was often in the news, it was quite an appropriate book to read – the story took place in Belfast and the two main characters were Kevin, a Catholic boy, and Sadie, his Protestant girlfriend. I can’t remember much about the story, though.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor – This was one of the best books we read at school. It reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird (another teacher had recommended TKAM to me the previous year and I loved it).
Shakespeare – Like most English classes, we also read some Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth.
I also read Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Animal Farm and Silas Marner, but these were books that my English teacher told me I should read, rather than books I had to read.
I won’t list everything I read outside of school, as there would be far too many books to mention here!
With the holiday season now upon us, have you left any hint – subtle or otherwise – for books family and friends might buy you for Christmas? Do you like to receive books, or do you prefer certificates so you can choose your own?
I love receiving books for Christmas – in fact I would probably be quite happy if I received nothing but books! My family don’t like buying me books without asking first, as they wouldn’t know if I’d already read them, so I usually have to choose the books myself. My Amazon wishlist is growing longer by the day so I always have plenty to choose from!
Here’s this week’s question from Booking Through Thursday.
Suggested by JM:
“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation.
That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.
Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?
I try to only buy books that I think I’ll enjoy, so there are very few books that I actually own that I couldn’t read through to the end.
However, if it’s a book that I’ve borrowed from the library and I find I’m not enjoying it, I would just stop reading. I don’t want to waste time reading a book that doesn’t interest me when there are so many other books I could be reading instead – though if I get halfway through the book before I lose interest I might just skim the last few chapters to find out how it ends.
Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your bookshelf…
Does your house have a communal bookshelf? If not, is your bookshelf centrally located so everyone has access to it?
No, we don’t have a communal bookshelf. I have my own bookcase in my bedroom, but any member of the family would be welcome to come and borrow a book if they wanted to.
My bookcase is almost full and I haven’t really got anywhere to put another one. I already have books in boxes, on my desk and on my bedside table. I think I’m going to have to reorganise the layout of my bedroom before I can accommodate any more books…anyone else having the same problem?
This week’s question from Booking Through Thursday is:
Which do you prefer? Biographies written about someone? Or Autobiographies written by the actual person (and/or ghost-writer)?
This is quite a difficult question to answer. I usually only read fiction and don’t read either biographies or autobiographies very often (although as it happens I’m reading one at the moment!) but I don’t really have any preference for one or the other. The most important thing to me would be to get an honest and unbiased account of the person’s life – and of course, for the book to be well written and interesting.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The rules:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page (avoiding spoilers)
I wonder how much really all you have seen and done has changed you. Personally, after seeing some of the dreadful things I have to see here, I feel I shall never be the same person again and wonder if, when the War does end, I shall have forgotten how to laugh.
p. 191, “Testament of Youth” by Vera Brittain
She Reads Novels 