Monday, August 24, 2015

And the Lucky Number is...








The Classics Club Lucky SPIN number!



We promised you a spin number this morning, and here it is! Your Spin Number is –

5.

If you joined the game last week, find number 5 on your Spin List! That’s the title you are challenged to read by October 23, 2015. We’ll toss a post up on October 23 to see who completed the game.
As always, the prize is the reading experience. Details Here
In case anyone asks — it would be awesome if everyone posted about their Spin book on October 23. But that’s not mandatory or anything. If you want to, though, have at it! :)
Check in below if you played. What’s your #5 title? Are you glad, hesitant, excited about your title? Do tell!


OH NOOOOOOOOOO!!

 Number 5 on my list is Canterbury Tales!!!

 Why do I always get the HARD BOOKS!!!!


Sunday, August 23, 2015

Literary Character Tag!


I found this post on another blog because the owner is doing the classic club SPIN, so I thought I would try it myself.

Feel free to do this yourself if you wish. 

Literary Character Tag!

The rules are: Randomly list any twelve literary characters, and then answer the following questions.

Make SURE that you list the characters BEFORE reading the questions! Or else you’ll miss the Mad-Lib fun.
____________________________________________________

My Characters: (mostly taken from books I have reviewed on my Bibliohistoria blog)

1)   Kurt Austin (NUMA)
2)   Hermione Granger
3)   Anne Shirley (Green Gables)
4)   Lady Emily Ashton (Tasha Alexander Books)
5)   Richard Sharpe
6)   Caitlyn Dexter (WWW series by Robert J. Sawyer)
7)   Robert Langdon
8)   Lara McClintoch (Lynn Hamilton series)
9)   Miss Mary Bennett (Colleen McCullough)
10) Diana Bishop (The All Souls Trilogy - by Deborah Harkness)
11) Thursday Next (Jasper Fforde)
12)  Man in the Iron Mask

The Questions:

1. Who would make a better college prof, 6 or 11?

I would have to go with the blind Teenager - Caitlyn Dexter. She is a tech whiz and would be far more comfortable teaching others. She would be more adaptable and flexible as well.  Thursday Next is a police office amongst book characters and has to work within the rules.


2. Do you think that 2 would win the “Cutest Guy of 2009?

Well, considering she’s a teenage girl with bushy brown hair,  I’d have to say NO.

3. 12 sends 8 out on a mission. What is it? Does it succeed?

Oh yes, Lara is the perfect detective to find out who the Man in the Iron Mask is, why he was dumped in a prison cell, and how he can be released. 

4. What is or would be 9’s favorite book?

Miss Mary Bennett has read every book in the Library, so I doubt it would be the Bible or Pilgrims Progress. But otherwise, I'm sorry I could not say for sure. 

5. Would it make more sense for 2 to swear fealty to 6, or the other way around?

That will never happen!!! Both of these two are teenage girls. One is a know-it-all bushy haired witch and the other is a blind american tech-whiz expert with computers.

6. For some reason, 5 is looking for a roommate. Should (s)he share a studio apartment with 9 or 10?

Richard Sharpe is the consummate soldier. He treats women as equals. But he still grew up in an age where witches are reviled. So I think he would prefer Muss Mary Bennett as his roommate.


7. 2, 7, and 12 have dinner together. Where do they go, and what do they discuss?

(Someone sure likes the #2).


Hermione Granger, Robert Langdon and the Man in the iron mask. Well first off, dinner would have to be at the Man in the masks prison cell since he cannot go anywhere. Secondly, Hermione and Robert would get into a wonderful discussion on Symbology, and what they mean in religion and how magic affected religion as well. The man in the mask would feel quite left out, I'm sorry to say.


8. 3 challenges 10 to a duel. What happens?

Anne Shirley knows nothing about duels other than what she has read in books. Diana Bishop on the other hand is a rather formidable witch and is some years older than Miss Shirley. I don't see Anne challenging anyone to a duel. But if Anne did get into a duel, I would have to say that she would NOT do well at all.

9. If 1 stole 8’s most precious possession, how would she/he get it back?


Lara doesn't have any specific favourite possession - except for her antiques shop. If Kurt Austin was commandeer her shop, that would NOT go down well with Lara at all.

10. Suggest a title for a story in which 7 and 12 both attain what they most desire.

Freedom From our Past

11. What kind of plot device would you use if you wanted 4 and 1 to work together?

A standard detective story since they are both detectives of a sort. This detective or mystery story would have to have some connection with water since that is Kurt's speciality area. Perhaps why and how the Mary Celeste disappeared?

12. If 7 visited you for the weekend, how would you get along?

Robert Lamgdons area of expertise is symbology in religion and I detest religions. While I would be happy to discuss the symbology. I would not be so happy discussing the catholic church.


13. If you could command 3 to perform any one task or service for you, what would it be?

I would probably tell Anne Shirley to stop being such an interfering busybody. She could end up turning into Mrs Rachel (whatever that old gossips last name is) if she keeps behaving like that.

14. If 2 had to choose sides between 4 and 5, which would it be?

I think Hermione Granger would take Lady Ashtons side over the soldiers side, because that is her nature. She is all for equality and Ms Granger detests all signs of women being treated so poorly.  Besides, Richard is a soldier. He is more than capable of looking after himself!!

15. What might 10 shout while charging into battle?

Matthew? Matthew, Where are you? Come and help me!!

16. If you chose a song to represent 8, which song would you choose?

A song for a detective? I dont think there are any.

17. 1, 6, and 12 are having dim sum at a Chinese restaurant. There is only one scallion pancake left, and they all reach for it at the same time. Who gets to eat it?

The man in the Iron Mask doesn't get anything to eat. His hands are shackled. So that leaves Kurt Austin and Caitlyn Dexter. Austin being the gentleman that he is, will allow Miss Dexter to take the last food item from the serving platter.

18. What might be a good pick-up line for 2 to use on 10?

Since Hermione Granger and Diana Bishop are both females, and they are both straight, there will be NO pickup lines spoken at all. However they ARE both witches so they do have that in common. 

19. What would 5 most likely be arrested for?

Probably assault on a senior officer. He's been promoted up through the ranks and some of the upper class officers just do not like that all. They tend to treat Richard Sharpe very badly indeed. Just ask Richard about Obadiah Hakeswill.

20. What is 6’s secret?

She’s a blind teenager but she sure doesnt act blind when she "chatting online". She can get around  the real world pretty much on her own as well.

21. If 11 and 9 were racing to a destination, who would get there first?

That's easy, Thursday Next will always get there first. She is a police officer and it is her job to get there fast!!. Miss Mary Bennett was raised to know that upper class ladies do not run. That is just so unladylike.

22. If you had to walk home through a bad neighbourhood late at night, would you feel safer in the company of 7 or 8?

Well, since I am a female, I would naturally feel safer with Professor Robert Langdon that I would with Lara McClintoch.

23. 1 and 9 reluctantly team up to save the world from the threat posed by 4’s sinister secret organization. 11 volunteers to help them, but it is later discovered that she is actually a spy for 4. Meanwhile, 4 has kidnapped 12 in an attempt to force their surrender. Following the wise advice of 5, they seek out 3, who gives them what they need to complete their quest. What title would you give this fiction?

Since there is NO quest to go after the Man in the Iron mask, I will have to call this - The Man that Time forgot!!!

Friday, August 21, 2015

Spin Number 10




We have a new SPIN challenge.

Spin Challenge Number 10

Below are the rules. The same as the last spin.


Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List.

    Try to challenge yourself:
list five you are dreading/hesitant to read,
five you can’t WAIT to read,
five you are neutral about,
and five free choice (favorite author, rereads, ancients — whatever you choose.)

    Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog by next Monday. (August 24th)

    Monday morning, we’ll announce a number from 1-20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted, and select the book that corresponds to the number we announce.

    The challenge is to read that book by October 23, even if it’s an icky one you dread reading! (No fair not listing any scary ones!)



Below is MY Spin List for August



1 Richard Adams - Watership Down

2 Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden

3 Rachel Carson - Silent Spring

4 Susan Coolidge - What Katy did at School

5 Geoffrey Chaucer - Canterbury Tales

6 Agatha Christie -  A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery

7 Daphne Du Maurier - The Glass Blowers

8 Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose

9 F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

10 Arthur Hailey - Final Diagnosis

11 Helene Hanff - 84 Charing Cross Road

12 Laura Lee Hope - The Bobbsey Twins at Home

13 Louis L'amour - Sacketts Land

14 Gaston LeRoux - Phantom of the Opera

15 C S Lewis - The Magicians Nephew

16 E Nesbit - The Railway Children

17 Gene Stratton Porter - Moths of the Limberlost

18 William Shakespeare- All’s Well That Ends Well

19 H G Wells -  The Island of Dr. Moreau

20 Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House on the Prairie


About half of this list is the same as Number 9.

And about half of these books have been changed.

This is the second SPIN challenge that I am participating in.

We must read the Chosen Spin Book by October 23 - That is 2 MONTHS away!!!