30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 28

Day 28 – Favourite Title For a Book

Jerome K. Jerome is a favourite of mine, especially for his more well-known work, Three Men in a Boat.  Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow is written in the same style but is a series of humorous essays on different topics.  Some quotes from this book:

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.


Swearing relieves the feelings–that is what swearing does. I explained this to my aunt on one occasion, but it didn’t answer with her. She said I had no business to have such feelings.


That is just the way with Memory; nothing that she brings to us is complete. She is a willful child; all her toys are broken. I remember tumbling into a huge dust-hole when a very small boy, but I have not the faintest recollection of ever getting out again; and if memory were all we had to trust to, I should be compelled to believe I was there still.


There are various methods by which you may achieve ignominy and shame. By murdering a large and respected family in cold blood and afterward depositing their bodies in the water companies’ reservoir, you will gain much unpopularity in the neighborhood of your crime, and even robbing a church will get you cordially disliked, especially by the vicar. But if you desire to drain to the dregs the fullest cup of scorn and hatred that a fellow human creature can pour out for you, let a young mother hear you call dear baby ‘it.’

30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 26

Day 26 – A Book That Changed Your Opinion About Something

This book really opened my eyes with regard to world politics …… how governments of industrialized nations proclaim they have people’s best interests at heart, but in actuality are driven by power, greed and monetary gain.  While millions of people are being slaughtered in Rwanda, Belgian forces pull out of a school where they are protecting Tutsi people and the people are then massacred; U.S. forces remain stationary at the airport because they do not have orders to leave; and French forces let hundreds of Hutu murders pass through the borders into the Congo …….  Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but one wonders how there was so little action taken to stop this atrocity.  An incredibly sad read.

30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 25

Day 25 – A Character That You Relate to Most

Not only is Anne of Green Gables one of my favourite books, but Anne is one of my favourite characters.  I just loved Anne’s approach to life, her imagination and her loyalty to those dear to her.  After her experience as an orphan, her life at Green Gables was really idyllic for a child, a perfect place to grow character, develop a sense of community and a joyful spirit.  If I could be any character, I would choose to be Anne!

30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 24

Day 24 – A Book You Wish More People Would Have Read

 

A fascinating look into not only present day education, but the history of compulsory schooling.  Gatto digs deep to point out not only the flaws in the system but how if affects our social order and even our individual souls.

I don’t always agree with him but he is passionate about his beliefs and brings so many issues to light that would otherwise be left unexamined.  While slightly haphazard in its organization, the book is riveting.  I try to read it at least once per year.

30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 23

Day 23 – A Book That You’ve Wanted to Read But Haven’t

Written by Giovanni Boccaccio in the 14th century, it is a medieval allegory presented as a frame story.  One hundred tales are told by ten young people, seven young women and three young men, after they flee to a deserted villa to escape the plague ravaging Florence.  The stories are various tales of different forms of love interspersed with tales of wit and moral lessons.  

This book is a tome but I think it would be fascinating to get a look in at 14th century Italy.  

30 DAY CHALLENGE – DAY 22

Day 22 – A Book That Makes You Cry

This book was soooooo sad!  As a child reading this book, I cried and cried when Old Yeller died.  I’ve always wanted to re-read it to see if I would find it as heart-wrenching as an adult, but just the thought of experiencing the emotions I did as a child, has made me hesitant.  Does that mean I was traumatized the first time? 😉

30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 21

Day 21 – First Novel You Remember Reading

This book is so obscure that I can’t even find a cover photo for it.  Flip: the Story of An Otter.

It wasn’t a classic, and obviously it is not now well-known, but from it I developed a complete love of otters.  The story was so cute in some places, yet starkly realistic in others, that it drew me right into their world.  I still have the book on my shelf and from the library due date card in it, I took it out of library at least once every two weeks. It is still one of my most treasured books!

30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 20

Day 20 – Favourite Romance Novel

Okay, I admit that I don’t read romance novels very much anymore.  So I’m going to change the challenge to “favourite romances in books”.  Now for an eclectic mix ….

The romance of Dante and Beatrice!  He first saw her when she was eight years old and loved her until her death at 24, even though their lives did not intersect.  She was his muse and guides souls to heaven in The Divine Comedy.




Another Beatrice and her love Benedick feature in the Shakespearian drama, Much Ado About Nothing.  It is said that the course of true love never did run smooth and that is a perfect description of the relationship between these two characters.  A fun romance to read about!





A beautiful story of a boy and his dog.  It made my cry!

30 DAY CHALLENGE – Day 19

Day 19 – Favourite Book Turned Into A Movie

Without a doubt, the movie version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle is my favourite book turned movie.  The producers stuck so closely to the plot and all the lines so closely mirror the dialogue in the book that it is a true production of the original. 

Other versions try to alter the story or the actors aren’t able to portray the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy accurately, making them poor comparisons.  

And, just to be obscure, another adaptation that I have actual enjoyed more than the book is Doctor Finlay by A.J. Cronin, a story of a doctor in a small town in post-WWII Scotland.

David Rintoul’s performance is excellent and I find the medical procedures of the time fascinating.

An interesting tidbit:  Rintoul played Mr. Darcy in a 1980 version of Pride and Prejudice.