Friday 9 January 2015

Let's start at the very beginning... #atozauthors

So, last week, I filled you all in on my somewhat different New Years Resolutions (you can see them here)... I actually spent a bit of time coming up with them this year, rather than the usual rush to throw something - ANYTHING - together, and pregnancy means that I am avoiding the whole "get fit" thing that usually features in everyone's Resolution list...

So this week, I've had a little fun coming up with my Reading List for Resolution Number 4...

Read Authors A-Z...

The idea is that I read 26 books I have never read before by the end of the year, by authors A-Z, beginning with A and running all the way to Z by the end of the year... I have some books already lined up, but on the letters I'm stuck for, I'm planning to hit the library and uncover some unknown authors!

I've been doing a bit of Amazon Kindle "window-shopping", jotting down some books I've wanted to read for ages, and also taking recommendations... and I've started reading my first book.

It's taking me right back to my childhood, and I'm not complaining!

I've started my book challenge with one of my favourite childhood authors, with a book I have not read before...

Introducing for the letter "A"...

The Old-Fashioned Girl 
by Louisa May ALCOTT


Louisa May Alcott is one of those writer's who takes you right into the story... I mean, who doesn't love Little Women?! I love the fact that her stories always have slightly non-conventional characters and feel-good storylines with a good dose of reality thrown in. The sort of books all little girls should read, and the sort of books all little girls who grow up into women go back to read again and again before reading them to their own little girls.

You just don't get classics like these any more!

So I think its fair to say my book challenge is off to a good start... I've already got my "B" book lined up (a biography), but I'm looking for recommendations of books that EVERYONE should read beyond that. I'm talking your "favourite ever books" and "favourite ever authors"... so wing your ideas my way in the comments below!!!

And if anyone fancies joining me on my little 2015 challenge, leave a comment and instagram/tweet your books with #atozauthors and we can all share a little book love!!

Happy weekend everyone!

19 comments:

  1. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

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    1. Cheers John Gathergood... Will take a look... Vaguely know the story but haven't read OR seen film. Always prefer reading first!

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  2. daphne du maurier's 'Rebecca' and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre are my two favourites :)

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    1. Ooo... Read Jane Eyre, but not Rebecca... Will look it up. Thanks Kirsty!

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    2. It's a shocker - only book that made squeal out loud in delight, horror and surprise! ☆

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  3. A suggestion for S, and an encouragement to mix up your mediums: "Maus" by Art Spiegelman. It's a memoir, Spiegelman recording his father's experiences as a Jew in Nazi Germany. It flicks between the present day as he tries to work out how to possibly tell a story like that and the past as he reconstructs his father's experiences.

    The twist: it's a graphic novel. The Jews appear as mice, the Germans as cats (and other nationalities as various appropriate animals). This really adds a whole new layer to the storytelling. If you've not read a graphic novel before, this is routinely one that people who aren't really into the medium make a start with, since it's just such fantastic storytelling and illustration. It's one of the best historical books I've ever read, period, let alone as a piece of graphic fiction!

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-MAUS-Art-Spiegelman/dp/0141014083/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420841473&sr=8-1&keywords=Maus

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    1. Yes yes yes read Maus!!! It is absolutely amazing!!

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  4. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards is an amazing book! Couldn't put it down. X

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  5. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier-totally loved. Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand. Absolutely brilliant.

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    1. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck. Beautiful book.

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    2. S has been claimed I'm afraid Claire Neal but def going to check out the other two!

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  6. Oh dear, so many favourite books don't know where to start!! The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger had me in bits. I also keep rereading "Angels and Men" and "THe Benefits of Passion" by Catherine Fox (who is a vicar's wife with a wicked sense of humour).

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  7. Reading Rebecca at the moment and loving it. Big fan of Jane Ayre too. Also love Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee and The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot.

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  8. Gone with the wind - Margaret Mitchell - fave book ever!

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  9. This is an awesome idea. Will have to keep this in mind if I get into a reading rutt. I'm reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles at the moment and trying not to blub through, such an amazing book.

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  10. To Kill a mocking Bird by Harper Lee & Captain Corellli's Mandolin by Louis de Berniers which is well worth persevering through the first 50 pages which are heavy going to an amazing story....x

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  11. To kill a mocking bird by harper lee & captain Corelli's mandolin by Louis de Berniers, which is well worth persevering through the first 50 pages or so to an excellent read...x

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  12. Oh there are so many favourites. Definitely Rebecca if you've never read it, Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons (children's books but my childhood favourites), Robert Goddard's In Pale Battalions, anything by John Masefield, ditto Dorothy Whipple and Dorothy L Sayers. I can't think of anything for X or Z right now but I shall consult my bookcase and see what I come up with - I love this idea even if my reality is that book reading time is in short supply!

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