Showing posts with label Wilkie Collins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wilkie Collins. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

WWW Wednesday -- September 1, 2010






To play along, just answer the following three questions……


  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

Currently reading:


  • We the Children by Andrew Clements 
  • Claim to Fame by Margaret Peterson Haddix















Recently finished:











Cover of
Cover of






Up Next:

  • Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  • Steering the Craft:  Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew by Ursula K. Le Guin



Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays -- August 31, 2010 -- Wilkie Collins Mini-Challenge Wrap-Up

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!

 It is exceedingly difficult to get enough walking exercise; and it is next to impossible (where secrecy is an object) to make love without being found out. Reverting for the moment to the latter difficulty only, life within the narrow and populous limits of a vessel may be defined as essentially life in public. 
Wilkie CollinsImage via Wikipedia
Miss or Mrs? by Wilkie Collins, p. 19

This is actually a collection of three of Wilkie Collins' novellas -- Miss or Mrs?, The Haunted Hotel, and The Guilty River.  With this collection, I'll have finished the Wilkie Collins Mini-Challenge.  My daughter and I listened to the audio-book of The Woman in White, my husband and I watched the movie of The Moonstone (I'd read both of those already) and now I'm reading these three novellas.

I do enjoy Wilkie Collins -- I love his vibrant characters and dry wit and I love the glimpse into a nation, society, and time I have not experienced.  If you haven't read any of his work, give him a try sometime.   The audiobook my daughter and I listened to was excellently performed, if you'd like to go that route.

Oh, and I wanted to add that many people consider Collins to be the first to write mystery novels -- with Edgar Allan Poe being the first to write short stories in that genre.  As I continue to read these three novellas, I see parallels to Poe that I haven't noticed as much in Collins' longer works.  Interesting stuff.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Starting line post for the 48 hour reading challenge

 MotherReader's starting line

My plan is to start at 1:30 p.m. MST today, June 4th.  My 48 hour period will end at 1:30 p.m. MST Sunday June 6th.  I will not be posting again until sometime after 5:00 today, as my husband will have the computer.  That means a few concentrated hours of reading without computer tasks to distract me!

My sponsors thus far:

Lutheran Lisa $1/book
Sara Sara and Raj Sara $1/book with a $10 minimum
Amber Owen Amber $2/book
Dara who I haven't met yet Dara $2/book (and an extra $10 if I can get my hands on To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis...)
Keely tiny dogs Wiley and Halston Keely $10 for finishing the audiobook of Woman in White by Wilkie Collins  (been listening to this one with my daughter -- this'll be a good incentive to finish it up!)


All funds from sponsors will go to Alpine Valley School.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Wilkie Collins Mini-Challenge!

Challenge creator says:

This challenge is for 2009-2010.
The challenge will begin October 1, 2009. The challenge will end December 1, 2010.

Read and/or watch two works by Wilkie Collins.


This will be fun! I read a fair bit but I think it'll be fun to have something that puts a framework around what I am reading.

Sadly, my holds account at the library is maxed out, so sadly I will have to wait til Tuesday (when the library is open again so I can pick up my books that are on the holds shelf) before I can put my selections on hold.

I've read The Moonstone already, so I think I'm going to try to watch the movie version. I'm not sure yet what my other selection will be -- I'm thinking of just reading lots and lots of his works (Becky, the mini-challenge host, posted a bibliography from Wikipedia and there are a lot of options!).

Thanks, Becky, for a great idea!