Currently Reading

I am participating in the 28 Books in 2008 Challenge!

#1 Title: Mrs. Dalloway
Author: Virginia Woolf
Started: Jan 1st, 2008
Finished: Jan 8th, 2008
Thoughts: Wow, what a dense book! It all takes place one day in June, 1923, in the life of Clarissa Dalloway read more…

#2 Title: The Storyteller
Author: Mario Vargas Llosa
Started: December 2007
Finished: January 2008
Thoughts: Read this for IB World Lit, it takes the form of a dual narration where one unnamed narrator tries to discover the events that led his friend, Saul Zuratas, to become enthralled with the Amazon jungle and the other narrator is a Machiguengas storyteller.

#3 Title: Code to Zero
Author: Ken Follet
Started: Feb 1st, 2008
Finished: Feb 2nd, 2008
Thoughts: Finally! A leisure reading novel. Great spy story, fast-paced, historically accurate, couldn’t put it down!

#4 Title: Oryx and Crake
Author: Margaret Atwood
Started: Jan 4th, 2008
Finished: Jan 10th, 2008
Thoughts: I read this ages ago for leisure, but am now doing it for my World Lit essay. I will never get tired of Margaret Atwood and the eloquence she shows in her novels. Totally recommend it!

#5 Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Started: December 29th, 2007
Finished: February 2nd, 2008
Thoughts: I’ve been reading this online (decades behind everyone, yes I know) and it was quite enjoyable. I prefer paper-based books though, ebooks are too straining. Anyway, what a great overview before one dives into the Russian Revolution portion in history class! I would never have picked up on the themes if I didn’t read Sparknotes’ guide immediately afterward.

#6 Title: Fugitive Pieces
Author: Anne Michaels
Started: February 4th, 2008
Finished: March 5th
Thoughts: Read for IB English Higher Level.  It’s gotten high praises apparently, but its language is so “vividly sensual and poetic” that it sort of eludes me. In a nutshell, it’s about a boy named Jakob Beer whose family was killed in Poland when the Nazis invaded and he was rescued by an elderly Greek gentleman scholar. He moved to Toronto with the gentleman (Athos) and starts a new life. The second part is about an admirer of Jakob who makes the journey back to Greece to revisit Athos’ home. Gotta read it again for final exam =X

#7 Title: Cat’s Eye
Author: Margaret Atwood
Started: April 2nd, 2008
Finished: Early June
Thoughts: There’s some noteworthy artistic connections to the plot, but beyond that, I’m not impressed. This book made horrible long-train-trip-reading. Or maybe it was because I had a cold that entire time. Too much agonizing on the small details. Plus it’s set in Toronto, FAIL.

#8 Title: The Partner
Author: John Grisham
Started: March 15th, 2008
Finished: N/A
Thoughts: Another Grisham, hope it doesn’t disappoint!

#9 Title: Emma
Author: Jane Austen
Started: May 31st, 2008
Finished: Early June
Thoughts: Wonderful classic! The couple I shipped came together =D

#10 Title: The Passenger
Author:
Started: June 28th, 2008
Finished: June 29th, 2008
Thoughts: Suspenseful, beautiful, the perfect conspiracy involving once again, the American government. Has quite a bit of military references, but those don’t take away from the fast-paced plot.

#11 Title: The Nature of Economies
Author: Anne Jacobs
Started: June 26th, 2008
Finished: N/A
Thoughts: Time for some intense non-fiction in preparation for university economics.

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