The 2015 Reading Challenge Update

I am finally starting the Reading Challenge. This was due to my reading overdue from last year, aka from two weeks ago. I was reading A Song of  Ice and Fire. I was under the impression i would have uninterrupted reading time and finish the book in less than a week. Unrealistic assumptions and two weeks into the new year later, i'm ready to take up this challenge!

I wrote down the list on sheets of paper and started looking up books in my bookshelf. Turns out, not many match the list! So, monday happens to be the day i can borrow books from the library in my college. I'm going to scower the one shelf of novels (yup, ONE) and try and utilise my free library membership to the fullest!

The first challenge i'm taking up is
#23 A Book More Than 100 Years Old
The search for the book was extremely convenient. I looked up books more than a hundred years old and found nothing. Yeah, i swear! Then i looked up "Classic Authors and Books". As i scanned the list i saw "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", the book i had borrowed from a friend probably a year ago and never got around to reading, but i should definitely be returning it soon. This was a win-win situation for me, as the book is a 131 years old. WHoa!

The second challenge
#17 A Book A Friend Recommended
In October 2014, a friend of mine asked me if i had read Judy Blume. I hadn't and so she gladly loaned me her copy of "Summer Sisters". Which, i obviously haven't read yet. So i chose to cross of number #17 with this book!

ALSO! (a small book haul!)

I watch a lot of youtubers and a lot them have been coming out with books. One book i've been very keen on reading is Grace Helbig's, " Grace's Guide : The Art of Pretending To Be A Grown-up"

I don't know what challenge I'll put this under, but i just cannot wait to read this book! I can bet anything this will be a LOL-trip!

2015 Reading Challenge

Oh hello there! No, i haven't fallen off the face of the earth, as some would like to think of my whereabouts. I know the previous book challenge i took up was an utter failure. Failure is just a lesson learnt here for me, to not set unrealistic reading goals.
Therefore, as a part of my New Year 2015 Resolution and under the subsection "Intellectual Goals" of my "Life Goals", I'm taking up the 2015 Reading Challenge!
Whilst scrolling through Pinterest, I found this list and even before my mind could process it, i knew the answer to, "Should I do this?" was "YESSSS!"

I shall keep a track of the books i read this year, here! It's going to be just like Julie & Julia except, there's no Julia at all and the "recipes" I'm trying will feed the hunger of my mind! 

A few of my friends are also joining in and it's going to be a book rave if you ask me! 

Join in the fun if you like! 

With this, i start The Bookworm Saga 2015! :D 

The Bookworm Saga | Of Mice and Men

I've been procrastinating  updating of The Bookworm Saga and with a legitimate reason. I had decided to read One Hundred Years of Solitude. Unfortunately, halfway through the book I stopped. I am apparently not one of those people who would find the book influential in my life. 

I initially picked up this book to read because i'd heard a lot of praise for it. Initially i liked the writing style and thought i would like the book like everyone else. But i have to be honest, i started reading it with the most distinct form of confusion. I was waiting for a concrete storyline. It has everything within the first hundred pages, gypsies, magic, alchemy, insomnia disease(??), inappropriate relations, creepy little girls, overdone love proclamations, incest and im sure ive missed a quite a lot more.  Then it got very very confusing, thanks to the parents naming all their offsprings after their grandfathers.

I returned the book immediately as I did not want to waste precious days on it anymore. As I scanned through the library shelf(yes one shelf of English fiction, just one) my eyes fixed on John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men". I am a huge fan of the band Of Mice & Men as a matter of fact and that is how I learnt about the book as well. So I picked it up immediately along with another book by Gabriel Marquez ( how daring!) The General in His Labyrinth.

Just now with steaming tears and a running nose, I finished reading the book "Of Mice and Men" . I knew there was a controversial ending, but did not expect it to be this. No spoilers of course, but if I you haven't read the book yet, please do. I made the mistake of reading it a bit too late. But hey, better late than never!

My eyes fill with tears even as I think about the story, to re-narrate it here. It starts with George and Lennie by a beautifully described river-side. For all you know, they could've been hiking. The real weight of the situation is only revealed much later. George and Lennie are childhood friends, but their closeness could qualify them as brothers I would say. Lennie is the big guy with a brain of a kid and George is the caretaker. George seems frustrated and annoyed with Lennie's antics (spoiler material, yeah) , he admits to it as well but he would never consider for a second about abandoning his friend.  The characters are so well written that you start to imagine them as they are and feel as they feel and when tragedy of sorts strikes, take my word, you will also be stricken as I was. George and Lennie dream about working up a stake and buying a place of their own where Lennie can pet his rabbits and be answerable to no one. This sets off the story and the events that follow are casual, if not normal. But they are subtle that gives the sense of unpredictability to the story. They work in a ranch owned by a man who has crazy self-esteem issued son, wife who "gives eye" and a bunch of other men all of whom have a story and nature of their own. Their well intertwined stories is a brilliantly written masterpiece by Mr. Steinbeck. Lennie is so well described that your heart goes out to him and any unlikely thing he does seems normal to you, because it's normal for Lennie. You start to make excuses for his actions to be acceptable, because he's poor little(ironically cus he happens to be a big guy!) Lennie. Innocent Lennie who know nothin'! 

I kept wondering why the book was called Of Mice and Men. Boy was I surprised! Lennie here was always given mice to pet, as he was extremely fond of petting things, by his Aunt Clara. Lennie being the book ruffian taken over by "aggressive love" would end up killing the tiny mice by squeezing them too hard. This IS why it's so named right? Let me know if I'm wrong!

Now, as a tribute to the brilliance of the book, I shall listen to "Of Mice & Men" the band and fall asleep without having another teary flashback of the book! 

Bookworm Saga: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I just found my new Heroine! Lisbeth Salander. Badass-punk-chick with an in-your-face, up-your-a$$ attitude who is an excellent researcher with a photographic memory who gets what she wants and how! The book title is about my Heroine, and is the first in the trilogy by Stieg Larsson. 

The book was originally written in swedish and the swedish title actually translated to 'men who hate women'. It was translated from Swedish to English, by one Reg Keeland, thank heavens for that! It is one of the most exciting books i have read. The initial parts of the book was honestly, to me a bit boring but once the plot took-off i could not take my eyes off the pages and my fingers from turning the pages. It is all based in Sweden apart from being exotic (to me) it literally gave me chills in the middle of the night when i read certain parts of the book. (wont type out those parts, you should read it!)

I have to show-off here and say i could deduce who the 'culprit' was. If most of you could also do it then....well.....alrighty then. 

I particularly liked Lisbeth's action plans, her attitude towards everything and everyone, her action and consequences analysis and most of all her tattoos and piercings. I just love the fact that Stieg Larsson thought up a punk heroine while most authors would make a tall slender red-head who's the society's version of 'attractive'. I know that is not the central theme or whatever but different people learn and think differently and this is what appealed to me the most ok? Ok. That is obviously apart from the brilliant storyline, which i shouldn't type out, because where's the fun in reading my version of the story right? So if you've not read the book, READ IT! And if you have, lets fangirl about it!!

I can finally watch the movie now, because i would not let myself watch the movie without reading the book first. Daniel Craig's jawline, here i come! 

Next on my Bookworm Saga List: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Can't wait! 

The Bookworm Saga

What is The Bookworm Saga?

If you are an active Facebook user, you should be aware (no pressure) of the so called 'Bookbucket Challenge' or whatever name it goes by from where you're around. As a person who has made it pretty clear that she loves books, i was tagged, obviously. But lets rewind a bit here. When the book challenge started initially, i was in awe of the kind of books people had read and also to see some people being unable to choose from the 'hundreds of books' they'd read. HUNDREDS!
My face was burning, i was mortified. For a self-proclaimed book lover, the number of books i've read is indeed a shame. I don't think all the books i've read in my two decade old life will add up to a hundred (unless you count all the nancy drew books and the Goosebumps books huh?) and to think about the hundreds, hell, thousands of books i haven't got my chubby fingers on yet makes my head whirl.

So, the solution has been thought of! I challenge myself to a book reading challenge. Every week i will choose a book or an author and read it. Then i review it, probably. Or declare the accomplishment of the challenge into the void, that is the internet. If there are actual humans reading this, do not hesitate to join me! We can have a book club and everything! (fun fun fun!)

The Bookworm Saga Goal: The month is september. Four months till its 2015. (THE FUTURE)
I will exclude my exam month of october as i dont think i acn do much reading then SO, based on rough estimation, with ingenious mathematics,
3 months x 4 weeks = 12 weeks.
12 weeks. 2 books a week (minimum)
That is, 24 books.
Small number. But then again, rough estimates and unwelcome exams.
Therefore, Book Goal by New Year 2015, 24 books atleast!

Let the Saga commence!