As we close out the first half of 2014, I thought I might give a quick update on what’s been happening with the Literary Exploration Reading Challenge. I’m really impressed with the book club’s efforts so far, with over thousand books being read by 106 participants with a 39% completion rate so far. This means we have a lot to catch up on; personally I’ve managed to complete 23 of my 36 books and almost tempted to go for another round. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m pleased to see how many people have enjoyed reading out of their comfort zones.
This month’s book club book Divergent had some really interesting reactions; not many liked it but I really enjoyed the discussions. I don’t want to say too much about the book but it was fun live tweeting this book and I was very pleased with my review. Next month we return to book that will probably get a better reaction when we read a gothic classic, The Monk by Matthew Lewis.
I had a very interesting reading month and I think I have to blame two amazing books for this, The Fictional Woman by Tara Moss and Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. Both books have altered the way I view books, especially The Fictional Woman; I tend to pick up on the feminist ideals in most books now and you will notice this will come across in all future reviews. Also you might have noticed that thanks to my book blogging manifesto that I’m writing more non-review posts too. I hope this is a positive change in my blogging and my reviews as well.
Monthly Reading
- Critical Theory: An Introduction by Jennifer Rich
- Skinjob by Bruce McCabe
- The Fictional Woman by Tara Moss
- The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas
- Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
- Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Cop Town by Karin Slaughter
- Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
- Mr Mercedes by Stephen King
- just_a_girl by Kirsten Krauth
Monthly Posts
- Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Should Read
- Sex Criminals, Vol. 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction
- Returning to my Autodidactic Ways
- Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Culler
- How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper
- The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins by Irvine Welsh
- Top Ten Tuesday: Top Books I’ve Read so far this Year
- The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
- First Steps: Suburban Noir
- Top Ten Tuesday: Top Books On My Winter TBR list
- Live Tweeting Divergent
- Contemporary Fiction Vs. Literary Fiction
- The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas
- Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneda Clarke
- Thoughts on Book Clubs
- Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Monthly Review – June 2014
I just won a copy of The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir… and I am wanting to read Stephen King’s… Great month for you. Happy July reading!
It was a good month, I’m happy with ten books a month 😀