2015 Reading Challenges Master List

In a bid to make up for my lacklustre attempts at reading as many books as I'd like to in the last few years, I've signed up for five separate reading challenges for 2015. While I could place books on two lists, I haven't done that. The idea is to read as many books as possible and broaden my horizons a little bit. I'll probably fail miserably but I'm going to have fun trying with this lot.

New Author Challenge

Hosted by Literary Escapism, this challenge does what it says on the tin - you have to read a set amount of new authors in 2015. I'm opting into the lowest rung of fifteen novels which may make me a bit of a wimp but I want to try and complete it after all. I've listed the precise books I intend to read and not just the authors because the rest of the lists will look like this and I'm nothing if not methodical. It's a reasonable mix of modern novels and older stuff. 

1. The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
2. After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry
3. The Failed Assassin by Richard Pierce
4. Dead to Me by Cath Staincliffe
5. The Accidental Mother by Rowan Coleman
6. Heresy by S.J. Parris
7. The Bawdy Basket by Edward Marston
8. The Lost Abbot by Susanna Gregory
9. The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte Yonge
10. Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins
11. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
12. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume
13. King Solomon's Mines by Henry Rider Haggard
14. The Angel of Terror by Edgar Wallace
15. The Bartlett Mystery by Louis Tracy

Women Challenge

Hosted by Peek a booK!, the idea is to get people reading more books by women. While that's probably my default position anyway, it can't hurt to make it official and, besides, it's setting in stone that I need to read some of those classics I've so far neglected. I'm opting for the second level which is six to fifteen books and aiming for the higher end of that category.

1. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
2. Brick Mother by S.J. Bradley
3. The Lovels of Arden by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
4. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
5. Here Be Dragons by Stella Gibbons
6. Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell
7. In the Days of My Youth by Amelia Edwards
8. Murder on a Summer's Day by Frances Brody
9. Mathilda by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
10. Camilla by Fanny Burney
11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
12. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
13. Nancy by Rhoda Broughton
14. Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant
15. The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner

TBR Challenge

Hosted by Roof Beam Reader, this is the challenge I failed miserably at last year, only getting through five of my choices. As a consequence, several of these books are appearing on the list for the second year running and I'll try to do better this time. As per the rules, all of these books have been waiting to be read for at least a year and there are twelve books on this list. 

1. Author, Author by David Lodge
2. Mutants by Armand Marie Leroi
3. Radclyffe Hall: A Woman Called John by Sally Cline
4. The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins
5. The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
6. 800 Years of Women's Letters
7. Collected Stories by Dylan Thomas
8. Henry Dunbar by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
9. The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins
10. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
11. The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
12. Witch Stories by Eliza Lynn Linton

Victorian Bingo Challenge

This one, hosted by Becky's Book Reviews, is rather fun. You have to complete a row, line or diagonal on the bingo board and, again, I'm using this challenge to read books I should've read already. I've gone across the top, mainly because I wanted to avoid some categories that would likely put me off the challenge and there are five books involved in this one.

1. Book Published in the 1840s - Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
2. Male Author - The Warden by Anthony Trollope
3. Female Author - Charlotte's Inheritance by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
4. Book with a Name as the Title - Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot
5. Book Published in Serial Format - The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade

Reading England Challenge

Hosted by Behold the Stars, this challenge is to read books set in different parts of the country. I'm opting for level two which is four to six books and aiming for the higher number again. I've deliberately filled this selection with classics too, probably because I'm a glutton for punishment.

1. Berkshire - Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
2. Essex - Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
3. Derbyshire - Rookwood by W.H. Ainsworth
4. Nottinghamshire - Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
5. Somerset - Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
6. Lancashire - Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

2014 Reading Challenges Round Up

In 2014 I attempted two reading challenges - and I failed them both! However, it's been that kind of year all round so I'm trying to look on the positive side of things and say that at least I read the books from the challenges that I did.

Chunkster Challenge

My aim for this was to read five books of more than 550 pages and, in the event, I only managed three. However, that's still a lot of pages and I thoroughly enjoyed two of those three books. 

1. Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
2. Kate: The Woman Who Was Katharine Hepburn by William J. Mann
3. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

TBR Challenge

Again, I failed miserably at this, only managing five out of my list of twelve books. On the plus side, two of those five made it onto my 'favourite books of 2014' list so I'm certainly glad this challenge encouraged me to get round to them. 

1. Die a Dry Death by Greta van der Rol
2. The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
3. Room by Emma Donoghue
4. London Lore by Steve Roud
5. Quicksand/Passing by Nella Larsen

My Favourite Books of 2014

When I look back at 2014, books aren't really the aspect that sticks out, which is a terrible shame. I haven't read that many - at least not as many as I feel I should've - so this list was actually very easy to compile. I think it's certainly eclectic anyway. My complete book review list for 2014 can be found here.

Jill by Amy Dillwyn

This delightful romp was something I picked up in Gay's the Word in London and turned out to be my spontaneous book purchase of the year. This is a funny book that alters tone later on and proves to be memorable for several reasons. My full review can be found here. 

The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell

As the last book I read in 2014, this is obviously fresh in my memory but, from the moment I started it, there was no question it would make this list. Funny, grotesque, realistic, haunting: pick almost any word of praise and you can apply it to this novel. My full review can be found here. 

The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah

I'm not normally one for scary books but, as Hannah is one of the few authors I make sure to buy, I thought I'd give it a go. I was very impressed with the build-up and the haunting ending that stayed with me for weeks afterwards. I'd revisit it but I'm worried about being unsettled again. My full review can be found here. 

Die a Dry Death by Greta van der Rol

Speaking of unsettling, this one fits that category as well. Based on a true story of a shipwreck, it is both painful to read and utterly riveting. Again, it stayed with me for a while and, though not a book to take lightly, it's certainly one worth reading. My full review can be found here. 

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Although I'll admit that the exposition at the beginning of this one irritated me a little, the rest of the novel more than made up for it. Filled with Austen's witty dialogue and sneaky examinations of life, this is possibly my favourite Austen to date. My full review can be found here. 

Collected Book Reviews 2014

For reference, here's a complete list of the books I reviewed in 2014. It's been a pitiful year all told - must do better. So many books I want to read before I die so I'd better get a shifty on.

New Grub Street by George Gissing

Quicksand/Passing by Nella Larsen

Yorkshire Villains: Rogues, Rascals and Reprobates by Margaret Drinkall

Starlight by Stella Gibbons

Intersection by Nancy Ann Healy

Kate: The Woman Who Was Katharine Hepburn by William J. Mann

The Disgrace of Kitty Grey by Mary Hooper

The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah

The Emancipated by George Gissing

Die a Dry Death by Greta van der Rol

The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet by Burton E. Stevenson

The Aspern Papers by Henry James

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Valentine Grey by Sandi Toksvig

The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah

Restless by William Boyd

The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable by Carol Baxter

The Wisdom of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

The Odd Women by George Gissing

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Jill by Amy Dillwyn

Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody

Tinseltown by William J. Mann

Love Alters ed. Emma Donoghue

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

Room by Emma Donoghue

The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell

Book Review: The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell

In 2012 I read J.G. Farrell's Troubles (reviewed here) and it rapidly became one of my favourites. Its mixture of humour and tragedy, often within the same sentence, was intoxicating and that's also a combination used to great effect in The Siege of Krishnapur. This one's a book I bought for my undergraduate degree and never got round to reading. It tells the story of, as might be guessed, a siege in Krishnapur where the British community is living a serene existence. Only the Collector, Mr Hopkins, senses the danger ahead but he's dismissed as a crank until violence sweeps closer.

Once again, I adored this book. It's a strange mixture of light and dark, using the macabre to great effect. I was a little impatient for the 'real' story to get going, the scene-setting of people and places might have been important but I wanted to delve into the stress of the siege. However, everything we'd learned earlier played a part in the later scenes of despair and tragedy.

Description is one of Farrell's strengths and he uses smell to particularly good effect in this novel. Days after finishing reading it I'm still captured by the unseen bodies lying beyond the walls and the starving dogs tied up and forced to survive any way they can. Most of the characters are distinctive and there are little ongoing skirmishes which add to the overall effect of civilisation in peril. The two doctors, for instance, have on-going rows which, as with most situations in this novel, come to a darkly comical conclusion. The Padre, as well, goes around trying to convert everyone in the midst of battle. Two of the scenes that linger from this book, for me, come from this character: firstly, the battle scene where he is preaching and preaching even while the cannons are firing around him and, secondly, the scene where he's trying to convert one character while digging a grave and the corpse almost ends up going in vertically by accident. Yes, macabre but extremely memorable.

The Siege of Krishnapur is an excellent book, not for the squeamish perhaps but certainly beautifully written and evocative. It is full of reality drawn from contemporary sources about the Indian Mutiny and woven into a stunning novel that I really found it a pleasure to read, despite the horror it was detailing. That's quite a feat and I remain in awe of Farrell's literary ability.

Book Review: Room by Emma Donoghue

Room is an entrancing story about Jack, a boy who's just turned five and lives in a locked room with his Ma and believes that they are the only things that are real at the things in Room. Through the eyes of this little boy, the reader experiences an unimaginable situation that he perceives as normal. Then his Ma tells him the truth - that everything he sees on the television screen is real and that there's a world outside of Room.

What a draining book this is to read. With a book as lauded as this, you sometimes doubt it'll be as good as they proclaim and perhaps that's why it's been sat on my shelf for years. However, it was well worth the wait and is one of those books I'll envy others for still having the opportunity of coming to it fresh. It certainly isn't a happy book so I can't say you'll 'enjoy' it in any conventional sense of the word. Nevertheless, it's extremely well-written and engrossing and I can't think of a negative aspect of it. The detail of Room is astounding. Every action and situation is carefully thought out and depicted through Jack's eyes, with the reader able to interpret both the situation itself and the frustrations of his mother. Donoghue spends just the right amount of time in that stasis situation before altering it and the rest of the book is engrossing for very different reasons.

It's difficult to review a book like this without explaining everything and it's also very difficult to appreciate it if you haven't lived for at least a few pages in Jack's company. So I'll leave this review as a short one, just saying that Room lives up to every fantastic thing ever said about it.

This book was read as part of the TBR Challenge 2014, details here.

Classic Film Review: The Constant Husband (1955)

The Constant Husband stars Rex Harrison as a man who wakes up one morning in Wales with no recollection of who he is. With the help of a professor (Cecil Parker), he tracks his life down to a swanky house in Hampstead and learns that his name is Charles Hathaway. However, when he is kidnapped he learns that he has a trail of wives behind him and that the police would like a chat. Kay Kendall also features as the Hampstead wife, Monica, and Margaret Leighton stars as council for the defence.

This is a gentle comedy which, once you know the premise, holds very few surprises. Harrison is perfectly cast as the bemused 'Charles', particularly in the opening scenes where he's trying to get his bearings. He also has a good rapport with the ever-dependable Cecil Parker as the professor. Their scenes together throughout the film are a highlight. I've adored Kay Kendall since watching her in Genevieve (1953, reviewed here) and The Constant Husband occupies a special place in her biography as it brought her together both personally and professionally with future husband Harrison. This adds an extra layer to their scenes together, especially for the film buffs like me. 

I think this film's problem is that it spreads itself too thin. Although we only really encounter Monica and Lola (Nicole Maurey) as 'Charles's' wives, the court scenes are diluted by the fact that we're focused on many women and not just one or two. Of course, that adds to the comedic effect but I always like a bit more character with my comedy. I did enjoy Margaret Leighton as the defence counsellor though, again, she was used more as a satellite to Harrison than anything else. 

Ultimately, this is a steady film to enjoy once and then rewatch perhaps for choice scenes. It's not awe-inspiring but Harrison puts in a congenial performance as the central character confused by the actions of a self he doesn't remember, tying the judge in knots as he tries to understand the peculiar 'defence' the bigamist puts up. It's all solid fun, though I watched it more for Kay Kendall than anything else.