PawsforThought's challenge 2013, part 3

Welcome to part three of my 2013 Category Challenge!

All categories are named after a 1980's movie.
This is my plan:

January

Yentl Novels where a main character is Jewish or part-Jewish.
√ 1. Great House by Nicole Krauss
√ 2. Simon and the Oaks by Marianne Fredriksson
√ 3. This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
√ 4. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Possible candidates:
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (Read in 2012)
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman (Read in 2012)
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (Read in 2012)
The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe (Read in 2012)
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
√ Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Group read: √ Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

February

A View to a Kill Spies and spying.
√ 1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
√ 2. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
√ 3. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
√ 4. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
Possible candidates:
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré
Smiley's People by John le Carré
Group read: √ The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles

March

Life and Nothing But Novels set during World War One.
√ 1. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
√ 2. Group read: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
√ 3. A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot
√ 4. The Zimmermann Telegram by Barbara W. Tuchman
Possible candidates:
√ War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence
Group read: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Group read: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

April

1918 Novels & short stories focused around major epidemics like cholera, Spanish flu, the plague and others - also books where main characters are doctors or nurses.
√ 1. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
2. Light by Torgny Lindgren
3. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
4. Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks
Possible candidates:
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
World Without End by Ken Follett
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Group read: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (cont.)

May

Sophie's Choice Post-World War 2 novels.
√ 1. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
√ 2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
√ 3. The Reader by Bernard Schlink
4. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Possible candidates:
Pavel and I by Dan Vyleta
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Böll
Group read: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (cont.)

June

My Beautiful Laundrette Pride month and all, this is for fiction with LGBTQ main characters or an LGBTQ theme.
1. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
√ 2. Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
3. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
4. The Wives of Bath by Susan Swan
Possible candidates:
√ The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Edward II by Christopher Marlowe (Read in 2012)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Group read: (Maybe) The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

July

Aliens Science fiction. At least one book each of Isaac Asimov and Terry Pratchett, possibly more if I like them.
1. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
2. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
3. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Possible candidates:
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Mort by Terry Pratchett
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
et al.
Group read: Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (The Gormenghast trilogy)

August

Mask Main or important characters with disabilities, both physical and mental.
√ 1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
√ 2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
3. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
4. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Possible candidates:
Richard III by William Shakespeare
Group read: The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
Group read: Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (The Gormenghast trilogy)

September

Amadeus Novels and drama (no biographies or non-fiction) about classical musicians, choirs/choristers and opera soloists.
1. Mozart and Salieri by Alexander Pushkin
2. The Pianist by Wladislaw Szpilman
3. The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
4. A Life's Music by Andrei Makine
Possible candidates:
The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
√ The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The Choir by Joanna Trollope
Group read: Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Group read: Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake (The Gormenghast trilogy)

October

Gorky Park Novels by Russian authors.
1. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
2. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
3. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
4. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
Possible candidates:
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Metro 2033 by Dmitrij Giuchovskij

November

The Big Chill Novels set in either of the polar regions. Doesn't have to be the North or South Pole, but can be Alaska, northern Russia, Greenland or other.
1. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
2. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
3. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
√ 4. His Dark Materials: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
Possible candidates:
His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

December

The Great Mouse Detective The original Sherlock Holmes novels/short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Will be read in order.
1. A Study in Scarlet
2. The Sign of Four
3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Possible candidates:
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
His Last Bow
The Valley of Fear
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

Year long group read: The Sandman Chronicles by Neil Gaiman:
√ Sandman Volume 1
Sandman Volume 2
Sandman Volume 3
Sandman Volume 4
Sandman Volume 5
Year long read: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin:
√ A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance With Dragons

#29.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

This book was actually intended to be an "in case I run out of reading material"-book but I somehow ended up borrowing it from the library anyway. It's not the sort of book I would normally read (not much really happens) but I'm glad I read it. It gives a good insight into the daily lives of people living in a warzone and gave me a lot more knowledge about the war in former Yugoslavia, of which I knew embarassingly little beforehand.

#30.

His Dark Materials: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

I've read this book before and really liked it but reading it again made me question just how much I'd actually paid attention the first time around because the latter half of the book was absolutely nothing like how I remembered it. It was much better, luckily. I love this series and am already almost halfway through book two.

Stopping by to check out your shiny new thread!

I've polished it especially.
Been away for a while (again) but back again now.

Howdy! Nice new thread! Good to see you again :)

#31.

His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Bloody h*ll! Pullman certainly doesn't pull any punches when it comes to people being vicous and vile, hurting and killing each other. It's well done, and necessary for the plot but I was a bit surprised at the rawness. And the giant philosophical questions. No wonder the church was angry when these books were published!

We are slowly but surely nearing Christmas - it's the first Sunday in advent next week! - and as part of my warm up to the holidays I always make sure I re-read A Christmas Carol, Tomten and the Christmas chapter in The Wind in the Willows every year.
It's not time just yet but soon enough.

I was just wondering if anyone has any suggetions for other Christmas books or books with a Christmas chapter in them. I might not be able to read them this year (I have Sherlock Holmes novels to read!) but it'd be nice to have a list just in case, or for future reference.

My yearly read is The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth. Its a small novella.

@ 8 -- O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" is a must! Little Women also starts with a Christmas scene.

>7 PawsforThought: - Hmmm. I read the first one and your comments have me wondering if I want to continue or just pull the others from the TBR pile.

I like "The Gift of the Magi" also. I saw elsewhere here that Anne Perry writes a series of Christmas novellas.

11. I really like the books (currently reading the third and final one) but I'm an atheist and have no problem with people taking a swing at religion. It's a matter of what you're comfortable with, I suppose.
It's not as if there's blood and gore on every other page but Pullman does kill off people I would've thought "safe". Most of the "rawness" is in people's attitudes and ways of treating people. Honest, I suppose, which is a bit unusual for a novel with such a young demographic.

I need to reread His Dark Materials as well - the film has muddled my memory of the first book and I really want the books to reign supreme. :)

13. I can understand that. The movie's terrible.

#32.

His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Ah, what a shame. The first book was great, the second one good and this one: okay. While I liked that it dealt with great philosophical and theological questions, it was just too much. There were too many twists and too many dull moments (the mulefa!) and the ending reminded me of a romance novel. I did like several of the new characters, the gay angels were my favourite!

Your reviews of books 2&3 have pretty much convinced me to "Pearl rule" them before I even start them. I have so much else on my shelves that I'd rather read. I wasn't particularly enthralled by book 1 anyway. Probably why they are still in the pile.

16. You should. If you weren't enthused by the first book (which I loved) there is no reason for you to read the others - they only get more difficult to get into and more confusing. And more boring,

->15 PawsforThought:
I have the trilogy on the reread list since I pretty much just mowed through them the first time. I do remember having a similar reaction to the last installment, though.

It's such a shame. I really wanted to like them.

Now you've got me all curious! Yeah, I'm one of those, intrigued when people say something potentially negative, and utterly turned off when something has a ton of hype. hahaha.

I'm not usually too affected by people's opinions on books. I'm far too stubborn to listen to much to other people's opinions on something that is a matter of personal taste.

Generally speaking, I agree. But someone with similar tastes/opinions I'm inclined to trust their opinion (which of course doesn't mean I may not still try out something they disliked or wind up disliking something they loved, but...), or when someone clearly states that they liked/didn't like it because it did/didn't do ABC and XYZ and gives a bit of detail on it, then I may be able to have a decent idea of what my own feelings on it would be, you know? Of course, nothing is foolproof. ;P

Absolutely, there are always exceptions to the rule. There is a group of select few whose opinions I tend to trust. DOesn't mean we have the same taste but I know what type of books they like and when that coincides with my likes.

Merry Christmas everyone!

As we have Christmas on Christmas Eve over here I'll be spending the 24th away from my computer screen and in the presence of my lovely family. I hope you all ahve a lovely holiday and I'll see you in a couple of days.

Merry Christmas, Paws! Enjoy! :)

Merry Christmas -- hope you had a good one!

#33.

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

The last book I read in 2013 and I almost forgot mention it. It was my first Sherlock Holmes and I very much enjoyed the story and how it was explained. I did find the second half of the story to be too long and I skimmed most of it. I understand why it was there but think it would have worked better if trimmed (especially considering the fact that the novel is so sort in itself).

I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes short stories so much at Christmas that I'm considering reading several of the "original" books in 2014.