Classics – Page 27 – BooksPlease

Today I was going to write a post about one of the books I’ve read recently but then I saw that Cornflower had posted this meme: ‘œMy Day in Books’. I did this last year and fancied doing it again with this year’s books. The task is to complete the sentences using the titles of books you have read this year. Here’s what I came up with:

I began the day by The Secret River

before breakfasting on Red Bones (that’s all there was!)

and admiring The Victorian Chaise-Longue.

On my way to work I saw The Woman in White,

and walked by The House of Silk

to avoid Our Mutual Friend

but I made sure to stop at The Village.

In the office, my boss said, Death Comes to Pemberley

and sent me to research The Murder on the Links.

At lunch with My Cousin Rachel

I noticed A Man Lay Dead,

in A Room Full of Bones,

greatly enjoying A Quiet Life!!

Then on the journey home, I contemplated Endless Night

because I have A Weekend with Mr Darcy

and am drawn to Dancing Backwards.

Settling down for the evening in A Place of Greater Safety

I studied Dark Matter

by Blue Lightning

before saying goodnight to (the) Bad Boy.

I’ve written posts about most of them. Here are the links If anyone wants to to read what I thought about the books:

The Secret River by Kate Grenville
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves
The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Village by Marghanita Laski
Death Comes to Pemberley by P D James
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
A Quiet Life by Beryl Bainbridge
Endless Night by Agatha Christie
A Weekend with Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
Dark Matter by Michelle Pfeifer
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
Bad Boy by Peter Robinson

This year I’ve been taking part in A Classics Challenge hosted by Katherine of November’s Autumn. The goal is to read at least seven classics in 2012 and every month Katherine is posting a prompt to help us discuss the books we are reading.

There are several questions for this month’s prompt:

Of all the Classics you’ve read this year is there an author or movement that has become your new favorite? Which book did you enjoy the most? Or were baffled by? Who’s the best character? The most exasperating? From reading other participants’ posts which book do you plan to read and are most intrigued by?

Before I started this challenge I’d have said my favourite author is Jane Austen. She’s still a favourite, but I must add Charles Dickens as a favourite too. It follows that the books I enjoyed the most are by those authors – in particular Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities.

I haven’t been baffled by any of the books.

I think one of the ‘best’ characters in the classics I’ve read is Marian Halcombe from The Woman in White. She’s feisty, loyal, passionate, clever, resourceful and assertive.

The most exasperating are also from The Woman in White. They are Laura and Frederick Fairlie because both are quite irritating – Laura because she is so insipid and her father because he is such a selfish hypochondriac.

After reading Jane’s post about Barchester Towers I decided it was time I read Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles and have begun with reading The Warden. The novels and their characters are all new to me as I’ve never watched any of the TV dramatisations.