18th and 19th Century Women Writers Reading Challenge

18th and 19th Women Writers Reading Challenge
Hosted by Becky of Becky's Book Reviews
Minimum 2 books;
All of 2010

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Read books written by women authors that were written and/or published between 1700 and 1900. Contemporary historical books set in this time period do not count towards this challenge! The challenge is to encourage you to read some classics.

Here is a place where you can get ideas, but be careful, the list includes some authors who won't count. (The site lists authors based on when they were born. So on the 1801-1900 list, for example, you might find women authors who were born in this time but didn't begin writing and publishing their books until the twentieth century.)

Celebration of Women Writers 1801-1900
Celebration of Women Writers 1701-1800

Overlaps with other challenges allowed.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Celebrate the Author (2010)

Celebrate the Author
Hosted by Becky of Becky's Book Reviews
12 Books, 12 Months
January - December 2010

The challenge is designed to “celebrate” author birthdays. Choose one author for each month of the year. Read at least one book a month. 12 authors. 12 birthdays. If you like, you can read MORE than that. Read the books IN ANY ORDER YOU LIKE. As long as you've got one book representing an author birthday from each month of the year by the end, then you're good.

You can choose picture books, poetry books, early readers, chapter books, fiction for middle grades, fiction for teens, adult reads, nonfiction, whatever you want.

The challenge is designed to ‘celebrate’ the special bond–the connection–that occurs between the author AND the reader as well as the connection between readers. It is very easy to “bond” with other readers over certain works, certain authors, etc. To find out author birthdays, visit these helpful sites:

Author birthdays by date (pdf), author birthdays by name (pdf), kidsreads.com, teenreads.com, author birthday directory, etc.

Or conduct google searches of your own. (Hint: typing the authors name, a “+” and the word ‘birthday’, tends to work if you assume that wikipedia gets such things right.)

No lists are necessary. You can make a list if you like. But you *don't* have to make a list and stick to it.

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If you'd like other participants to keep track of your progress, then I'd suggest having one post on your blog where you keep an as-you-go list. (If you don't have a blog, then don't worry about it! You're still welcome to join in on the fun.)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Indigo King

Owen, James A. The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica: The Indigo King. Simon & Schuster. 375 pages.

Hurrying along one of the tree-lined paths at Magdalen College in Oxford, John glanced up at the cloud-clotted sky and decided that he rather liked the English weather. Constant clouds made for soft light; soft light that cast no shadows. And John liked to avoid shadows as much as possible.

The third in the series. (The first book: Here There Be Dragons; The second book: The Search for the Red Dragon). This fantasy stars three Inklings: C.S. Lewis (Jack), J.R.R. Tolkien (John), and Charles Williams. (Though the Charles in this novel isn't the Charles we really know. But that is a long story!) It is also sprinkled with other writers (aka Caretakers) including H.G. Wells (Bert), and Jules Verne. New caretakers are being discovered in each book and it is fun to see which writers are the good guys and which ones aren't.

It's been fourteen years since these three Oxfordians became Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica. And these years have been sprinkled with adventure here and there. (Which of course you're encouraged to read about in the first two books.) In case you don't remember, an accident in the second book (I believe it was the second book anyway) caused troubles with time, with the time line. And those troubles erupt in this third novel. Jack and John (and friends) are traveling here, there, everywhere in time trying to solve problems and prevent catastrophic changes in the timeline. If they don't succeed, the world as we know it may never exist. It can be a bit complex. But it's a good and satisfying kind of complex, in my opinion. We have Jack and John meeting some very interesting characters (both human and animal) along the way. And there are a few fun twists. And new characters. Including Hugo Dyson.

This one does play around with the theme of King Arthur, Merlin, Mordred, The Green Knight, and The Holy Grail. So if you're in the Arthurian challenge, you can count this one.

Other reviews: Rhinoa, Semicolon, Deslily.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Devil's Paintbox

McKernan, Victoria. 2009. The Devil's Paintbox. Random House. 360 pages.

Aiden Lynch slid down the steep creek bank, dirt crumbling beneath his bare feet and dust rising in a cloud behind him.

This is a difficult read. Emotionally that is. Especially if you are allergic to westerns. Aiden and his younger sister, Maddy, are starving to death. As in eating dirt and splitting up small bugs between them starving. If no one intervenes, it's only a matter of time until they both die. Their parents have died. And their neighbors have all scattered. Some have died. Some have moved away. But regardless, these two are isolated from the world. (The setting is Kansas in 1865.)

These two are given a second chance when Jefferson J. Jackson stumbles upon them. If Aiden agrees to work two years in a lumber camp (one year for himself, one year for his sister) then Jackson will let them join his wagon on a wagon train west. But the Oregon Trail holds so many dangers--some expected, some not so much--and their survival is never a guarantee. Every day almost seems to be a life-and-death matter.

The heart of this one turns out (in a way) to be about small pox and the oh-so-controversial vaccinations for small pox. Who deserves the chance to be vaccinated? Who doesn't? Should everyone be vaccinated? Should race and class matter? How much prejudice is involved?

This is a novel that makes you think. About the war. About the effects of the war. About prejudice. About what is right and wrong. About friendships. About life and death too.

It's a bit raw-and-rough on the emotions.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

PW's Best of 2009 List

Publisher Weekly has published their "best of" list for 2009. (For children and young adults.) I'm pleased to see Lips Touch Three Times, Marcelo in the Real World, The Ask and The Answer, Season of Gifts, When You Reach Me, and Wintergirls.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews