23 August 2007

R.I.P. II Reading Challenge

R.I.P. II Challenge
I wasn’t going to take on Carl’s Readers Imbibing Peril II challenge. I really wasn’t. But it was so tempting, and the weather lately has been perfect for considering all things eerie and spooky: cloud, rain, and a wind that howls around the corners of the house at night. So I decided to refer the decision to an inanimate object: I tossed a coin. Specifically, a dollar I found while walking to uni on an appropriately wet and windswept morning. Heads I was in, tails I was out ... and it came up heads. So if I do get hopelessly overloaded with books, I can always blame the coin.

I’ve chosen Peril the First, four books that are spooky and/or scary. And I’ve combined the ideas of a list and a peril pool: four main choices, plus some optional extras and the prerogative to insert others as opportunity allows.

The books are:

Nocturnes by John Connolly - a collection of short stories from one of my newest favourite authors.

The Shape-Changer’s Wife by Sharon Shinn - a totally new-to-me author, and a book that sounds suitably weird.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt - an overlap with the TBR challenge.

Madam Crowl’s Ghost and other stories by J. Sheridan le Fanu - I was hoping to save these for torchlight reading in the next blackout, but it’s such a perfect fit that I have to include it.

In the extremely unlikely event of me having the time to read more I might just squeeze in one or more of:
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

The Secret Woman by Victoria Holt

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Or whatever else takes my fancy/gets borrowed from the library within the next two months.

Now that I’ve taken the plunge I am really looking forward to this challenge; it should be - well, a R.I.P.per! Also, definitely the last challenge I am signing up for in the next three or four months. And this time I actually mean it.

7 comments:

  1. Reading this list, I may have to swap in one of John Connolly's books - I read The Book of Lost Things earlier in the year and since then have been promising myself I would check out his other work.

    Great list! Look forward to your thoughts on your selection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Same as Quix, I read the Book of Lost Things earlier this year and have been wanting to read more Connolly. I really should've added one of his books.

    Very unique list you have! I'm glad that the coin came up heads ;) Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You all are making it so hard to stay out of this challenge. Your lists are making it so tempting though. I won't join, I won't. I mustn't!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for posting about this challenge - I'll have to add it to my list. Sorry to have not had a chance to complete the meme you forwarded me last month; things here have been a bit hectic leaving little time for blogging. Happy to be catching up now though - looks like you have some great picks for the RIP Challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was kind of disappointed with My Cousin Rachel, but I do like du Maurier. Rebecca is fantastic. Jane Eyre is pretty terrific, too. Looks like you've got some fun reading ahead of you.

    --Bookfool

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have to second Literary Feline. I've been trying to stay out of this reading challenge and the more I see everyone else's selections the more I start thinking about things that I'd like to read if I joined. I fear that by the end of the long weekend, I'll have joined the challenge myself. It just seems so incredibly fun!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Quixotic: After The Book of Lost Things everything else by Connolly went on my must-read list, and the challenge provided the perfect excuse.

    Chris: I'm glad too - I think!

    Literary Feline: That's what I told myself . . .

    Kirsten: Being horribly backlogged myself right now, you are definitely forgiven!

    Bookfool: Hmm . . . I guess if it's a letdown the challenge will be good for supplying motivation to finish! I hope I get time to fit in Jane Eyre; I've been meaning to reread it for ages.

    J.S.: So fun that resistance is futile :-)

    ReplyDelete

Newer Posts Older Posts Home
Header image shows detail of A Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1776