Double Date Challenge

Writing My Own Fairy Tale is hosting the Double Date Challenge for Bout of Books 9.0. You must pick two books that you would recommend someone read together (like a double date!) and explain your reasons for the recommendation. 
I have 2 double date recommendations:

Drood by Dan Simmons 
and 
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Drood tells the story (fictionalized) of the relationship between Collins, who is writing The Moonstone, and Charles Dickens.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham
and 
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Two great books, one is (among other things) the story of the woman who is writing the other. 

The Woman in White

Wilkie Collins was a contemporary (and friend) of Charles Dickens, author of Bleak House (and many other books) and serves as the narrator of the novel Drood.  After reading about his rather sordid personal life in Drood, I was interested to see what Collins' writing would be like. It did not disappoint.

The Woman in White was originally published in serial form beginning in November 1859. It is a suspense novel filled with dastardly deeds and mysterious events. Spying and intercepted letters and forged documents and secret loves all play a part in the complex plot and keep the pages turning. What gives the novel weight is the characters. Each is a detailed and unique individual, especially the villains.

The point of view of the narrative switches around so you see events and people from various perspectives which adds depth to each character. Count Fosco, for example, is felt by some narrators to be evil and sneaky and definitely responsible for harming them all. Other narrators contend that he is the personification of a gentleman and acting only out of kindness and concern for the well being of them all. By the end you get a report of the actions from his own viewpoint and can draw your own conclusions.

The novel is composed of many pairs of people and this parallel structure --two heroines, two villains, two houses-- helps keep the action of the story moving without having to give anything away too soon.

I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading Collins' The Moonstone which was discussed at length in Drood.

Challenge Update: Tea and Books 2012

I have completed The Book Garden's Tea and Books Challenge 2012 (with 4 days to spare!) Reading 6 books (the Earl Grey Aficionado level for which I signed up) with more than 700 pages each in a single year was a lot harder than I expected it to be. In celebration I am having a cup of Manhattan Earl Grey as I write this.


Of the books that I was originally considering for this challenge, I ended up reading all but one of them. Here is my final list:

• Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, which I read but didn't review (925 pages)
• Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell by Susanna Clark (846 pages)
• Bleak House by Charles Dickens (965 pages)
• The Salterton Trilogy by Robertson Davies (775 pages)
• Drood by Dan Simmons (775 pages)
• Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light by Patrick McGilligan (864 pages, but really 789 because the last section is bibliographic references and the index)

Review: Drood

Drood by Dan Simmons

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was really liking this book until I got to the ending which I thought fell flat. The novel is narrated by Wilkie Collins (the author) who is the epitome of the unreliable narrator: he takes a ton of drugs, drinks a good deal, and is completely self-absorbed and quite cruel. The story spans several decades and not a lot actually happens beyond basic life stuff (work, moving households, babies), unless we believe Collins in which case a battle to the death between Charles Dickens (the inimitable author) and a mysterious Egyptian monster named Drood is taking place over these years. There is a lot of detail about the work of both writers and various aspects of London that I found interesting. I especially liked the parts where Collins condemns Dickens' work as being sub-standard to his own. The Bleak House critique is excellent, for example. What I didn't like about the ending was that the whole novel (700+ pages) was heading for a grand battle between various players and then the battle scene isn't there. There are several smaller incidents that seem to foreshadow the showdown, but ultimately we never get to see it. I felt cheated.

There is a review of this book by Louis Bayard in the Washington Post.  I mostly agree with the reviewer, though the "padding and sock-puppetry" didn't bother me that much. I love his conclusion:

"A more apropos title, then, might have been "A Tale of Two Egos," which, all in all, is a worthy subject, but not worth the epic length afforded to it. Inside this artery-clogging almost-800-page book is a sleek and sinewy 300-page thriller waiting to be teased out. If only Simmons hadn't left the job to us"

I read this book for the Tea & Books Challenge (#5 of 6).

Tea & Books Reading Challenge

I decided to join the Tea & Books Reading Challenge because (1) I love the name and (2) it fits perfectly with a 2012 reading challenge from my husband.

I typically read a lot of books, my husband reads fewer. His books can often double as doorstops however, as they are huge. When I was considering what I might want to do as a 12 in 12 challenge he suggested that I should read 12 long books in 2012. He defined long as more than 600 pages.

The Tea & Books Challenge requires that the "chunksters" you read for it be at least 700 pages long. I have compiled a list of long books that had been in my "to read" list and which I might take on this year. Many of them have more than 700 pages so I decided to join T&B at the Earl Grey Aficionado (6 books) level. (Earl Grey is, in fact, my favorite tea, so this seemed the best option.)

So far this year I have read one book toward this challenge: Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 which is 925 pages and about which there was an interesting article in The Guardian.

I haven't totally decided on the other 5 titles, but am considering a novel by Charles Dickens; the first book in Geroge R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series; Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke; and Drood by Dan Simmons. I plan to check out the postings from other Tea & Books participants for other book ideas.

Please add a comment and let me know what book of 700+ pages you enjoyed.