Never Enough Shelf Space: Classics

Showing posts with label Classics. Show all posts

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Cover Characteristic: Swords

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic.

Audiobook Review: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (Adult)

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Author: Anthony Burgess

Genres: Classics, Science Fiction, Dystopian

Format: Audiobook (Amazon | Audible)

Narrator: Tom Hollander (Audible)

Length: 7 hours & 45 minutes

Book Club (Book of the Month): The OC Young, Fun and Nerdy Meetup: Nerds Read Books

Reading Challenges: 2015 Goodreads Challenge, 2015 Audiobook Challenge

n this 1962 classic, a novelistic exploration of modern crime and punishment, Alex is the 15-year-old leader of his gang of "droogs" thriving in the ultraviolent future as prophetically imagined by Burgess. Speaking a bizarre Russian-derived slang, Alex and his friends freely pillage and slash their way across a nightmarish urban landscape until Alex is captured by the judicial arm of the state. He then becomes their prized guinea pig in a scientific program to completely "redeem" him for society. If we had the power of absolute criminal reform, what, the novel asks, would this mean for our ideals of freedom and society?

This edition reinstates the final chapter missing from Kubrick's film and , in which Alex is on the verge of starting a family as he reflects on--and completely rejects--his adolescent nastiness. It also includes Burgess's introduction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."

FIRST IMPRESSION:: I wish I would've read it in high school. But I guess with all the violence and other unlawful activities, I can understand why I didn't. That said, I still wish it was so. I found it this book to be thought-provoking, enjoyable read.

It’s Monday What Are You Reading?: 04/13/15

Hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey

This meme shares what we read this past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week. It’s a great way to see what others are reading and add to your own To Be Read list.

This week wasn't too bad. I didn't blog much to get some reading done. I'm halfway through the majority of these books, so that''s good. Soon, I'll switch to one audiobook, one physical. At least, that's the plan.

It’s Monday What Are You Reading?: 04/06/15

Hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey

This meme shares what we read this past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week. It’s a great way to see what others are reading and add to your own To Be Read list.

Last week wasn't so great for progress.

Work kicked my butt, so I didn't get much complete, save for finishing A Shade of Vampire which wasn't even in the queue. But the audiobook was teensy, so...

Cover Characteristic: Numbers

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic.

Cover Characteristic: Pink Covers

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic.

Cover Characteristic: Gardens

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic.

Making Up for Monday: Most Hated School Reads

Hosted by An Avid Reader; A Wannabe Writer

Each week, there will be a book-related theme or game, or something fun to do that week. And you can play along! All you have to do is find the question for that week and write a post that day based on that question.

This Week's Topic/Question:

What books did you hate reading in school?

My Answer:

The short answer would be what books did I like in school? I didn't like most of the classics I read. Maybe it was youth, but I remember being bored out of my mind. Or angry, very very angry (how anyone can get to the end of The Great Gatsby without wanting to throttle pretty much everyone - especially Daisy - is beyond me).

Maybe if I reread them, I'd feel different. Well, never mind. You couldn't pay me to read A Separate Peace again; that book was a special kind of torture.

Here are the worst offenders:

Old Man in the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
A Separate Peace by John Knowles

My favorite is easy, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; no surprise I read almost every dystopian out there.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I Haven't/Want To Read From the Dystopian Genre

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, as they are "particularly fond of lists".

This Week's Topic:

Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I Haven't/Want To Read From X Genre

My Answer:

My fill-in-the-blank genre is Dystopian. I've been quite fond of this genre since reading Brave New World, which was the sign assigned-reading novel from high school that I actually loved. Dystopian has more than exploded in recent years, especially when it comes to YA. That said, there are quite a few books I haven't read that pretty much everyone else in the bloggersverse seems to have read—or even finished the entire series. The they are::

THESE BROKEN STARS
Book Series:: Starbound, Book #1
Author:: Amie Kaufman (Twitter) & Meagan Spooner (Twitter)
Genre(s):: YA, Dystopian, Science Fiction

Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive -- alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.

The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.

Why I Picked It:: I met Amie and Meagan at an event a few years back, and was intrigued by both ladies, the story and their writing process, which each writing the male and female leads' POV respectively. And the cover is unbelievably gorgeous, which is a huge pull for me. I've even got an autographed copy. No excuses here.