Category Archives: The Book Challenge

Challenge: Day 30

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I don’t really have a favourite coffee table book because, to be honest, we don’t really have many in my house. However, many years ago, we went to a family friend’s house and they let us take home any books we wanted, and I chose large coffee table books on birds and castles. My favourite one from that collection is a book on all the historic castles of Britain, with gorgeous photographs and lengthy history about the castles. I have a strong attachment to the history of royals and know so much about King Henry VIII and his family. The book pictured above is not the book I’m talking about, but I couldn’t remember what the book was called and this was the next best thing.

What’s your favourite coffee table book?

Challenge: Day 29

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At the moment, I am reading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. It’s taking me simply forever to go through it, and that’s not because I don’t like it. On the contrary, it’s a fabulously written story. I started it in December, then chose to read The Hobbit halfway through, which made me stop reading The Forgotten Garden altogether. And then while I was reading The Hobbit, my grandfather passed away, which just put a stop to everything that I was doing in my life. A few weeks ago I finished The Hobbit, and so now I’m back to finishing The Forgotten Garden. Hopefully I’ll be done soon so I can get a review up for you all.

(Sorry for that very long-winded explanation).

What book are you reading at the moment?

Challenge: Day 28

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The last book I read and finished was The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. I know I haven’t done a review on it yet for this blog, but I did do one for my school newspaper, The Reflector, and I’m just waiting for a PDF version of it to come out so I can link it to my blog. It should come soon!

Anyways, I absolutely loved this novel. It was so fresh, honest, funny, uplifting, depressing, bittersweet and romantic — all at once.  The character of Peter van Houten kind of annoyed me though. He was the one weak link to an otherwise fantastic canopy of characters and intriguing plot.

I’ve never read anything else by John Green, but after such a wonderful introduction to his writing, you can be sure that I’ll be reading his other work.

What was the last book you read?

Challenge: Day 27

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I’m sorry I missed yesterday’s daily challenge! I spent the entire day working on an essay and nursing a terrible migraine. Anyways, here is the challenge from yesterday.

This book challenge has given me the opportunity to remember all the books I’ve read in the past, and has reminded me that Harry Potter is not the only favourite book/series of mine. I can confidently say that Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter and The Book Thief are all on the top of my “favourite fiction books” list. Pride and Prejudice is a lovely romantic novel and it always makes me smile when I think about it. Harry Potter has been there with every step of growing up, and I have a lot to thank for this series. And The Book Thief is one of the saddest novels I’ve read, and I can’t but cry thinking of what all the characters went through over the course of the novel. These three literary works of art are some of the best written stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, and I cannot recommend them enough.

What is your favourite fiction novel?

Challenge: Day 26

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I have always been fascinated by stories from World War II’s Holocaust. I read The Diary of a Young Girl in elementary school and Night in high school, and was absolutely entranced by both novels. They are heartbreaking and really made me think hard about what all those people had to go through during such a horrific time period. No one will ever forget the Holocaust, but reading stories such as these really helps put everything into perspective and humanizes the tragedy. All stories need a face (my years studying journalism have taught me that much) and both Anne Frank and Elie Weisel take us through their lives during WWII in such a way that it is impossible to ignore their suffering.

What is your favourite non-fiction book?

Challenge: Day 25

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In Grade 11 my class read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and I fell in love with it. It’s one of the best written books I’ve ever read, and I bought it soon afterwards. It’s one of those stories that just stick with you. Our teacher had the option between 1984 and Brave New World, and he chose the latter one. Both books get compared a lot to each other; and while I haven’t read 1984 yet, I do have the original first Canadian edition of it at home (that’s right – I’m a book collector). This semester in my Fiction class, we’ll be reading 1984, so I’m excited to see which one really is the best (and more accurate) between the two.

In elementary school, my Grade 4 teacher read us Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. And boy, am I glad he did. Mr. Anderson told us Harry Potter was one of the best children’s books he had read in a long time and just had to share it with us. Those four weeks of reading it to us developed such a strong bond between the series and myself. Thank you, Mr. Anderson!

Challenge: Day 24

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This one is tough, because I really don’t know what book holds my favourite scene ever… I’m a complete romantic, so I guess my favourite scenes would be when the girl and guy in the novels realize they love each other, or have a cute moment together, etc. Therefore, these three books top the list of my favourite scenes.

I absolutely adore the scene in Pride and Prejudice when Mr. Darcy drops in unexpectedly to see Elizabeth, but doesn’t have anything to talk about. It’s completely awkward and cute and realistic, that it’s hard not to love them. The fact that he wanted to see her but didn’t have a good enough reason to and ended up going to Charlotte’s house anyways (where Elizabeth was staying), is simply perfect.

The Hollow Tree also provides a cute scene between Jem and Phoebe around the campfire. They’re trying so hard to fight their feelings but it’s obvious they can’t. This is a young adult’s novel, but I love it anyways. I was always jealous of Phoebe’s romantic situation when I was young because she and Jem just fit so perfectly together.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has two of my most favourite scenes in literature. Firstly, the battle scene at the very end was incredible. The movie version didn’t do it complete justice, but I lose myself in the book. Fred’s death is unbearable, not to mention all the deaths, but that only strengthens the scene even more. Secondly, I love the moment when Ron and Hermione finally admit their feelings to each other. And by that I mean Hermione jumps into Ron’s arms, kissing each other fiercely, while a battle goes on around them. The movie was cute, but not as powerful as it had been in the book.

Those are some of my favourite scenes in novels, but like I said, I’ve read too many books to name just a few scenes.

What is your favourite literary scene?

Challenge: Day 23

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Okay, truth time! I am sorry to anyone I ever lied to. I just felt embarrassed saying I had never read Oliver Twist before, so I started saying I had read the book. In all honesty though, I watched the very dark movie from 1948 and was petrified of it (especially the part where the evil man murders his wife in the street). To this day, I still don’t want to go anywhere near Oliver Twist, no matter how amazing everyone says it is.

What book do you say you’ve read but really haven’t?

Challenge: Day 22

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I had started this novel a year ago, but with school getting increasingly busier, I never had the chance to actually finish it. So after I finish The Forgotten Garden (finally), I plan on reading Juliet again — and this time finishing it. I’ve heard many good things about it and I’ve always been captivated by the story of Romeo & Juliet, so I know this novel will definitely be a good choice for me.

What book will you be picking up next and why?

Challenge: Day 21

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“There’s no doubt about it” — The Berenstain Bears were my absolute favourite picture books when I was young. I’ve got so many of their books, it’s ridiculous. Way more than what’s pictured in this picture above. I just love the lessons that are taught in these books. It’s so easy to relate to the stories because we’ve all been in at least one of the circumstances chronicled in the well-written children’s books.

What’s your favourite picture book?