BW6: Dante's Inferno

Happy February!   This year marks the 700th Anniversary of Dante Alighieri's Inferno, the first cantica of The Divine Comedy.     Inferno is considered one of the great classics in literature and is on Susan Wise Bauer list of Poetry in Well Educated Mind.  I've never read it, so figured now would be the perfect time.  And as long as we are reading Inferno, why not go to Italy. Plus I'll be continuing with my Centuries challenge and exploring the 13th Century this month.  More on Italy and centuries challenge next week. 

Dante was born 1265 in Florence, Italy.    When he was 9, he met and fell in love with Beatrice Portinari who became his muse and central inspiration for all his major poems,  even after her death in 1290.  At the age of 11, he entered into a marriage contract with Gemma Donati and married her in 1285.  Beatrice continued to be his focus  of his poetry as the ideal lady even though she married and eventually died at the age of 24.  Due to his politics, he was exiled from Florence and eventually made his home in Ravenna. Dante died from Malaria at the age of 56 in 1321.

I'll be reading this version of Dante's Inferno translated by Allen Mandalbaum which has the Italian version on the left facing page and the English translation on the opposite right page. 

You can find out more about Dante and read Inferno online here, here or  here.

Join me in reading Dante's Inferno. 

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BW5: Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The 16th novel in Susan Wise Bauer's list of fiction reads from her book The Well-Educated Mind is The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. An abbreviated form of the story was first serialized in The Philadelphia Press in December 1894 and so spread to newspapers across America.  The book was published in October 1895.  Stephen Crane was only 23 at the time and did from tuberculosis at the age of 29. 

Chapter 1

The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. It cast its eyes upon the roads, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper thoroughfares. A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile camp-fires set in the low brows of distant hills.

Once a certain tall soldier developed virtues and went resolutely to wash a shirt. He came flying back from a brook waving his garment bannerlike. He was swelled with a tale he had heard from a reliable friend, who had heard it from a truthful cavalryman, who had heard it from his trustworthy brother, one of the orderlies at division headquarters. He adopted the important air of a herald in red and gold.
"We're goin' t' move t'morrah--sure," he said pompously to a group in the company street. "We're goin' 'way up the river, cut across, an' come around in behint 'em."

To his attentive audience he drew a loud and elaborate plan of a very brilliant campaign. When he had finished, the blue-clothed men scattered into small arguing groups between the rows of squat brown huts. A negro teamster who had been dancing upon a cracker box with the hilarious encouragement of twoscore soldiers was deserted. He sat mournfully down. Smoke drifted lazily from a multitude of quaint chimneys.

"It's a lie! that's all it is--a thunderin' lie!" said another private loudly. His smooth face was flushed, and his hands were thrust sulkily into his trouser's pockets. He took the matter as an affront to him. "I don't believe the derned old army's ever going to move. We're set. I've got ready to move eight times in the last two weeks, and we ain't moved yet."

The tall soldier felt called upon to defend the truth of a rumor he himself had introduced. He and the loud one came near to fighting over it.

A corporal began to swear before the assemblage. He had just put a costly board floor in his house, he said. During the early spring he had refrained from adding extensively to the comfort of his environment because he had felt that the army might start on the march at any moment. Of late, however, he had been impressed that they were in a sort of eternal camp.

Many of the men engaged in a spirited debate. One outlined in a peculiarly lucid manner all the plans of the commanding general. He was opposed by men who advocated that there were other plans of campaign. They clamored at each other, numbers making futile bids for the popular attention. Meanwhile, the soldier who had fetched the rumor bustled about with much importance. He was continually assailed by questions.

"What's up, Jim?"

"Th'army's goin' t' move."

"Ah, what yeh talkin' about? How yeh know it is?"

"Well, yeh kin b'lieve me er not, jest as yeh like. I don't care a hang."

There was much food for thought in the manner in which he replied. He came near to convincing them by disdaining to produce proofs. They grew much excited over it.

There was a youthful private who listened with eager ears to the words of the tall soldier and to the varied comments of his comrades. After receiving a fill of discussions concerning marches and attacks, he went to his hut and crawled through an intricate hole that served it as a door. He wished to be alone with some new thoughts that had lately come to him.

He lay down on a wide bunk that stretched across the end of the room. In the other end, cracker boxes were made to serve as furniture. They were grouped about the fireplace. A picture from an illustrated weekly was upon the log walls, and three rifles were paralleled on pegs. Equipments hung on handy projections, and some tin dishes lay upon a small pile of firewood. A folded tent was serving as a roof. The sunlight, without, beating upon it, made it glow a light yellow shade. A small window shot an oblique square of whiter light upon the cluttered floor. The smoke from the fire at times neglected the clay chimney and wreathed into the room, and this flimsy chimney of clay and sticks made endless threats to set ablaze the whole establishment.

The youth was in a little trance of astonishment. So they were at last going to fight. On the morrow, perhaps, there would be a battle, and he would be in it. For a time he was obliged to labor to make himself believe. He could not accept with assurance an omen that he was about to mingle in one of those great affairs of the earth......

Continue reading here or here or here. 

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BW4: Wintertime blues

Farmhouse in Delaware by Michael Melford

While most of the nation is freezing, it's a balmy 64 degrees in Northern California and our Governor has declared a drought emergency.  It's been so dry, one of my fur babies who usually suffers from asthma during the damp winter, has been quite happy.  I don't know why it is, but I've been in the mood for wintery reads.  Maybe I'm living vicariously through the characters as they pit themselves, man against nature. So much drama!   I'm currently reading James Rollins Ice Hunt which is set in the Antarctic in which scientists found an old Russian base set inside a polar iceburg

Carved into a moving island of ice twice the size of the United States, Ice Station Grendel has been abandoned for more than seventy years. The twisted brainchild of the finest minds of the former Soviet Union, it was designed to be inaccessible and virtually invisible. But an American undersea research vessel has inadvertently pulled too close--and something has been sighted moving inside the allegedly deserted facility, something whose survival defies every natural law. And now, as scientists, soldiers, intelligence operatives, and unsuspecting civilians are drawn into Grendel's lethal vortex, the most extreme measures possible will be undertaken to protect its dark mysteries--because the terrible truths locked behind submerged walls of ice and steel could end human life on Earth.

I love James Rollins - he has the most incredible imagination.  If you haven't read any of his stories yet, I really recommend you do.  All of them are a thrill ride. 

Since Winter began, I've been reading books with Winter or a cold word in the title, about Winter, set in the Winter season or in icy landscapes. Currently in my stacks are:  Cold Magic, Hum and the Shiver, Ice Station, Snow Crash, Storm Front and Winter Sea.   You starting to see the theme here.  *grin*

So much fun to curl up in a comfy chair, with a hot cup of tea, a warm blanket and, yes, a fur baby and delve into some winter time books.   Your task, should you choose to accept it, read a book from your stacks with Winter, Frost, Ice, Cold, or other synonyms in the title. 

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BW3: 12th Century Literature

A couple years ago when I took an Art history course, I fell in love with illuminated manuscripts. They are beautifully detailed works of art so searched online and found St John's Bible.  The St. Johns Abbey and University commissioned Donald Jackson to produce a hand written, hand illuminated bible.  I bought one for my folks, because you know parents are the world's hardest people to buy gifts for, because they have everything.  They loved it and I enjoyed sharing it with them.  Which brings us to the 12th century or back to the 12 Century (1101-1200 AD) as it were. 

Back in the 12th century, during the middle ages, books were made by hand, one at a time with ink, pens, brushes and paint on vellum or parchment.  Paper made of cotton and linen began to replace parchment in the 1200's but paper really didn't come into common use in Europe until the 1400's.  The Christian church was the center of learning in Europe and medieval books were made by monks and nuns in the scriptorium.  The Chinese invented movable clay type during the 1100's and the Europeans didn't have moveable type until the mid 1400's.  When the demand for books increased, rulers set up workshops in palaces and put them under the direction of well-known scholars. 

I'll let you in on a secret.  I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction.  I'm very picky about my reads and they must be well written and the storyline intriguing enough to hold my attention.  So when I decided to do the Centuries challenge, it surprised me to find had so many books from different eras on my shelves.  Figured I'd pick the 12th Century to begin with, because if I managed to read at least one book a month from each century progressively, by the end of the year, I'd be in the present.  However, once started perusing the shelves, and seeing all my choices, can guarantee my reading will be all over the map this year.

Back to the task of reading books either written in the 12th century or set in the 12th century.  When I did a search online, I found this goodreads list of the best books published in the 12th century.   The list was kind of daunting, so decided I would go with books set in the 12th century.  Surprisingly, I found I had a few on my shelves which we had inherited when my husband's mother passed away. She was originally from England, a writer working on an historical fiction novel and had quite a collection.  For example, Sharon Kay Penman's When Christ and His Saint's Slept, (and her whole Welsh trilogy but that was set in the 1300's), and  Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. 

A couple years back I read Elizabeth Chadwick's The Scarlet Lion and fell in love with her writing and the storyline.  I've since added Greatest Knight and A Place Beyond Courage to my library. Yes, I'll admit it, I'm a bookaholic, and a book hoarder, and I have more books than bookshelves.  Which is one our projects this year, to build wall to wall bookshelves in our master bedroom, but I digress. 

Chadwick and Penman and Scott also happen to be on the Goodreads list of Popular 12th Century Books.  And I think my buying ban isn't going to last too long because Ellis Peters Chronicles of Brother Caedfal is calling my name.  *sigh*

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read a book set in the 12th century.

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Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.  

BW2: Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami -  January 12, 1949

In honor of Haruki Murakami turning 65 this month, I am reading Wind Up Bird Chronicle.  

Synopsis: Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.    In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat.  Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo.  As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

Last year, one of the gals over at Well Trained Mind introduced me to Murakami through his book 1Q84 and I was hooked.  And since we are armchair traveling through Japan this month, it is a perfect time to read more of his stories. 

Haruki was born January 12, 1949 in Tokyo, Japan.  He began writing at the age of 29, inspired by all things, a baseball game. Hear the Wind Sing, his first book in Trilogy of the Rat, was published in 1979 and he won the Gunzou Shinjin Sho, the Gunzo New Writer Award for new writers, established by Gunzo Magazine.

He soon followed up with two more books in his Trilogy of the Rat:  Pinball 1973 in 1979  and A Wild Sheep Chase in 1982.  He won the Noma Bungei Shinjin Sho (Noma Literary Award for New Writers) for A Wild Sheep Chase in 1982.  During this period of time he sold his bar, Jazz Cats, which he had opened in 1974, and began writing full time.

In 1985 he wrote Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the Year  for which he won the  Junichi Tanizaki Award.  In 1991 he moved to the United States where he taught at Princeton and also wrote The Wind Up Bird Chronicle which was published in 1994. He won the prestigious Yomiuri Literary Award.

He moved back to Japan in 1995, where he's gone on to have published numerous books including Kafka on the Shore, a short story collection - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, and his latest in 2011, 1Q84.   

Check out his facebook page maintained by his publishers Alfred Knopf  for articles and interviews.  

Join me in reading Wind Up Bird Chronicle or one of his many other fascinating stories.

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Link to your reviews or year end wrap up posts:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.  


 

Week 1 - Cheers to a new reading year

Happy New Year and welcome to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.  Welcome back to all those who are joining me for another round and to those joining in for the first time.  

The rules are very simple. Read 52 Books. That's it. How you get there is up to you.  We have several optional challenges which are listed in the link bar above to stimulate your imagination and help you on your reading journeys.   Beside the perpetual A to Z, Well Educated Mind challenge, Dusty/Chunky books, and another journey Around the World,  new this year are the Literary Nobel Prize Winners and 52 BaWer's recommendations from 2013.   I've also come up with some fun Monthly Themes and Readalongs.   

Mrs. Santa was quite nice to me this past Christmas and gave me Nancy Pearl's Book Lust to Go, Tom Nissley's A Reader's Book of Days and Peter Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.  I was completely blown away by 1001 books because I had seen the lists on line, but never the book itself.  It is huge and besides the book descriptions, it is chalk full of pictures, artwork and posters for the majority of books.  Absolutely beautiful and I'll try to share some pictures soon.  I can already tell these books will be beneficial to all of us because they are already helped spark my imagination to help with weekly posts, plus making my already really long wish list even longer. Not to mention my teetering TBR stacks. 


To start off our journey, we are going to begin our Around the World tour in Japan. Join in on a readalong of Haruki Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicles or choose one of his other books if you've already read it.  To make life interesting, I'm also starting a personal Centuries Challenge beginning with the 12th century (1101-1200).  So - to make life fun for the month of January, go find some books written by Japanese authors, set in Japan and/or set in the 12th century.  Although I went a little nuts and found books from several different centuries.  *grin* 

Currently in my backpack besides Murakami's Wind Up is his A Wild Sheep Chase, the first volume of The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki  (Waley Translation), Shinju (1st book in her Sano Ichiro series) by Laura Joh Rowland, Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn and the novella The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.  

We are going with a short week one in order to avoid a short week 52 and no one having time to do wrapup's.  It all works out in the end so don't panic over finishing a book this week.  

Cheers to a happy, fun, entertaining and educational reading new year! 

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Link to your reviews or year end wrap up posts:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.  

BW52: 2013 Year End Wrap Up!

It's official - Winter has arrived. Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Los Posadas or Happy Winter solstice. Which also means it is time for our year end wrap up. This year went by way too fast in my opinion, was a bit more stressful than normal and I'm ready to relax for the next couple weeks, getting cozy on the couch with some good books. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's year end list of reads, which is sure to expand our wish lists and cause our already teetering TBR piles to grow exponentially. 

1. How many books did you read and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 
2. What are your top 5 (or more) favorite stories?  Top 5 least favorites? 
3. One book you thought you would never read and was pleasantly surprised you liked it? 
4. Most thrilling unputdownable book? 
5. Did you come across a story that you enjoyed it so much, you turned around and read it again or plan on  rereading it again in 2014? 
6. One book you thought you would love, but didn't? 
7. Which book or books had the greatest impact on you this year? 
8. Do you have a favorite cover or quote from a story you'd like to share?  
9. What book would you recommend everyone read?  
10. What was your most favorite part of the challenge? Did you do any of the mini challenges? 

To round out the rest of the year, we'll be having a winter read-along,  reading all those books with winter in the title or set in the season of winter.  Which works quite well if you are still reading books set in the Antarctic for the Continental Challenge.  Join me in reading Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale.   

Thank you to everyone who joined me in this reading journey this year and congratulations!  Reading to me is as necessary as breathing. It doesn't matter how fast or how slow you read or whether you are reading classics or contemporary books, the most important thing about the whole challenge is reading. I'm happy to have shared the experience with all of you.  I'm looking forward to hearing about everyone's reading year and to more fun in the coming new year. 

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Link to your reviews or year end wrap up posts:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post. 

BW51: Challenge News

No, you aren't going crazy. There are actually 2 1/2 weeks left to the year and week 52 will be a long one since I didn't include the last 1/2 week in my count.  You may have noticed I posted the information for the 2014 challenge and the I'm participating thread below this post. I've been brainstorming with the gals over on Well Trained Mind forums and came up with a list of readalongs and monthly themes.  Hopefully everyone will enjoy all, some or a few of the things planned for the coming new year. I know some folks like to plan ahead so here's what I have so far:

January:     Haruki Murakami's 65th birthday - Wind Up Bird Chronicles Readalong

February:    700th Anniversary of Dante's Inferno - readalong

March:        Sully Prudhomme (French) 1st Nobel prize Winner -  birthday 3/16/1839)
April:          National Poetry Month

May:           Art History Mysteries - Monuments Men Readalong   
June:          Steampunk month (gear con) (steampunk.com)
July:           Anniversary of Thomas More's Death - Utopia /  Utopian/Dystopian literature 

August:       World War 1 100th Anniversary / Fiction or Non fiction readalong 
September: Banned Books Month   
October:     Spooktacular 
November:  Non Fiction November   
December:  Inspiration read month

Now mixed in with all those things, we have a geography Challenge and a decades challenge, so my plan is to try to tie those things in. Such as with Murakami readalong, also read other authors or books from Japan; for Prudhomme, turn it into an all things french month and visit different decades.  That's the plan, but who knows how it will really work out.  Because you know those rabbit trails that pop up while you are reading? They kind of send you off on side trips and before you know it, you started off in France but end up reading about the scientific theory of Gnomes.

Speaking of Gnomes, since next Saturday, the 21st is the first day of Winter, I'll be following a winter theme and be reading Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, followed by Susanna kersley's  Winter Sea.  So join me in all things winter for the remainder of the year.  


For those anxious about what the wrap up questions will be, check out the list from last year to get started. 

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Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.

 

  

2014 Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Click on the home button to join our 2017 round of 52 Books in 52 weeks



2014 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Are you ready for another round of Reading 52 books in 52 Weeks? Whether you are just joining in or continuing on for another round, the rules are very simple. The goal is to read one book (at least) a week for 52 weeks. Make the year easy and casual or kick it up by exploring new to you authors and genres. Challenge yourself to read at least some classics or delve into that chunkster (more than 500 pages) you always wanted to tackle. Do you have books gathering dust on the shelves just waiting to be read? Then now is the time. The goal is to read 52 books. How you get there is up to you. 

I have included several mini challenges to make it fun:

Read Around the World:  You can read books set in and/or written by an author of a different country each week.  You can hang out in one country, exploring their history and culture or strike out across the world, mixing and mingling.  It's entirely up to you how fast and how far and how many books you want to read.  Have fun exploring!  

Nobel Prize Winners in Literature:  read books written by winning authors

Well Educated Mind:  Continuing exploring the classics in 5 categories: Fiction, Autobiography, History/Politics, Drama and Poetry. 

52 BaW Reader Recommendations:  Read books recommended by participants in 2013

Dusty Mini challenge: Limit buying new books for 1 - 4 months and read 4 to 12 or more books gathering dust on your shelves prior to 2013. 

Chunky Mini Challenge -books more than 500 pages.

 The mini challenges and weekly challenges are optional, Mix it up anyway you like. 

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014. 
2. Our book weeks begin on Sunday. 
3. Participants may join at any time. 
4. All books are acceptable except children books. 
5. All forms of books are acceptable including e-books, audio books, etc. 
6. Re-reads are acceptable as long as they are read after January 1, 2013. 
7. Books may overlap other challenges. 
8. Create an entry post linking to this blog. 
9. Sign up with Mr. Linky in the "I'm participating post" below this post. 
10. You don't need a blog to participate. Post your weekly book in the comments section of each weekly post. 
11. Mr. Linky will be added to the bottom of the weekly post to link to reviews of your most current reads.

I'm participating in 2014

I'm participating in 2014 

BW50: Nobel Prize for literature challenge

Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Peace Prize

In 2010, I took a Nobel Literature class and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it was a lot of work, I read several books that probably normally would never have considered reading including Jean Paul Sartre's Nausea, Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, Gabriel Garcia 

Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude,and Kenzaburo Oe's The Silent Cry.  After reading these books, it made me want to read more selections from the literature prize list. Since then, I've read one or two authors from the list each year.

The history behind the Nobel Prize for literature is quite interesting and well worth perusing when you have the time.  Alfred Nobel was Swedish and when he died, he requested the bulk of his fortune be used to establish a prize which would be divided in 5 equal parts. 

Excerpt from his will:

"The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows:

one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics;

one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement;

one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine;

one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction;

and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiology or medical works by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not."

He also specified who would be responsible for selecting the noble laureates and for literature, the responsibility was given to the Swedish Academy.  A big question has always been how do you get nominated.   Well, an author cannot nominate himself.   He must be nominated by what the Academy considers a qualified person.  Who is qualified?   

• members of the Swedish Academy and of other academies, institutions and societies similar to it in membership and aims;
• professors of literary and linguistic disciplines at universities and university colleges;
• former Nobel Laureates in Literature;
• presidents of authors’ organisations which are representative of the literary activities of their respective countries.

Then the academy gleans through the candidates, eventually narrows down the nominations to a select few, reads their works and decides whom will win the prize.   The members of the Academy don't always agree and it seems there have been some controversial and what some consider politically motivated awards handed out to writers.  Plus there has been controversy regarding some of the authors who haven't won, whom some considered better qualified.  And then you have some authors who didn't want to accept the prize because they considered it the death of their career.

And you have a group of 18 people who are interpreting Nobel's words "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction."   It depends entirely on their definition of ideal.   The members of the academy are a diverse group of linguists, literary scholars and historians.

My main thought while reading all this was where did the money come from. Was Alfred Nobel independently wealthy, did he inherit the money himself, where did all this money come from that is being used to fund the prize?   Long story short, in 1867 he invented Dynamite.  He had factories and laboratories in over 90 places in 20 different countries.  He had initially created dynamite to be used for mining and because it ended up being used for purposes he never intended, he created the Nobel Prize.

The Nobel Prize Winners in Literature 

• 2013 - Alice Munro
• 2012 - Mo Yan
• 2011 - Tomas Transtromer
• 2010 - Mario Vargas Llosa
• 2009 - Herta Müller
• 2008 - Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
• 2007 - Doris Lessing
• 2006 - Orhan Pamuk
• 2005 - Harold Pinter
• 2004 - Elfriede Jelinek
• 2003 - J. M. Coetzee
• 2002 - Imre Kertész
• 2001 - V. S. Naipaul
• 2000 - Gao Xingjian
• 1999 - Günter Grass
• 1998 - José Saramago
• 1997 - Dario Fo
• 1996 - Wislawa Szymborska
• 1995 - Seamus Heaney
• 1994 - Kenzaburo Oe
• 1993 - Toni Morrison
• 1992 - Derek Walcott
• 1991 - Nadine Gordimer
• 1990 - Octavio Paz
• 1989 - Camilo José Cela
• 1988 - Naguib Mahfouz
• 1987 - Joseph Brodsky
• 1986 - Wole Soyinka
• 1985 - Claude Simon
• 1984 - Jaroslav Seifert
• 1983 - William Golding
• 1982 - Gabriel García Márquez
• 1981 - Elias Canetti
• 1980 - Czeslaw Milosz
• 1979 - Odysseus Elytis
• 1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
• 1977 - Vicente Aleixandre
• 1976 - Saul Bellow
• 1975 - Eugenio Montale
• 1974 - Eyvind Johnson, Harry Martinson
• 1973 - Patrick White
• 1972 - Heinrich Böll
• 1971 - Pablo Neruda
• 1970 - Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
• 1969 - Samuel Beckett
• 1968 - Yasunari Kawabata
• 1967 - Miguel Angel Asturias
• 1966 - Shmuel Agnon, Nelly Sachs
• 1965 - Mikhail Sholokhov
• 1964 - Jean-Paul Sartre
• 1963 - Giorgos Seferis
• 1962 - John Steinbeck
• 1961 - Ivo Andric
• 1960 - Saint-John Perse
• 1959 - Salvatore Quasimodo
• 1958 - Boris Pasternak
• 1957 - Albert Camus
• 1956 - Juan Ramón Jiménez
• 1955 - Halldór Laxness
• 1954 - Ernest Hemingway
• 1953 - Winston Churchill
• 1952 - François Mauriac
• 1951 - Pär Lagerkvist
• 1950 - Bertrand Russell
• 1949 - William Faulkner
• 1948 - T.S. Eliot
• 1947 - André Gide
• 1946 - Hermann Hesse
• 1945 - Gabriela Mistral
• 1944 - Johannes V. Jensen
• 1943 - No winner for war years 1940 to 1943 so the prize money was allocated to 1/3 to the
  
• 1942 - Main fund and 2/3 to the special fund.
• 1941 - 
• 1940 - 
• 1939 - Frans Eemil Sillanpää
• 1938 - Pearl Buck
• 1937 - Roger Martin du Gard
• 1936 - Eugene O'Neill
• 1935 - No winner
• 1934 - Luigi Pirandello
• 1933 - Ivan Bunin
• 1932 - John Galsworthy
• 1931 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt
• 1930 - Sinclair Lewis
• 1929 - Thomas Mann
• 1928 - Sigrid Undset
• 1927 - Henri Bergson
• 1926 - Grazia Deledda
• 1925 - George Bernard Shaw
• 1924 - Wladyslaw Reymont
• 1923 - William Butler Yeats
• 1922 - Jacinto Benavente
• 1921 - Anatole France
• 1920 - Knut Hamsun
• 1919 - Carl Spitteler
• 1918 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1917 - Karl Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan
• 1916 - Verner von Heidenstam
• 1915 - Romain Rolland
• 1914 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1913 - Rabindranath Tagore
• 1912 - Gerhart Hauptmann
• 1911 - Maurice Maeterlinck
• 1910 - Paul Heyse
• 1909 - Selma Lagerlöf
• 1908 - Rudolf Eucken
• 1907 - Rudyard Kipling
• 1906 - Giosuè Carducci
• 1905 - Henryk Sienkiewicz
• 1904 - Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray
• 1903 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
• 1902 - Theodor Mommsen
• 1901 - Sully Prudhomme

Which Nobel prize winners have you read?

If you haven't yet, that's okay. I'll be adding Nobel Prize for Literature as one of the main mini challenges for 2014.   

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Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.

BW49: Australia or Antarctica

We are heading into the last month of the year and if you've been doing the continental, there are two continents left.  I have been debating between being adventuresome and heading up into the cold, windy antarctic or being lazy and hanging out on the warm, sunny beaches of Australia. Call me crazy, but I am going to be adventuresome.  Currently in my backpack is An Antarctic Mystery by Jules Verne.  We'll see what I pick up along the way.  

Meanwhile, check out the links above to Australia Adventure or Chillin in the Antarctic. Plus,  Rosie, our resident expert on Australia had a few suggestions:

Robbery Under Arms

Anything by Nevil Shute

Bryce Courtenay wrote a lot of Australian novels. They make me want to jab myself in the eye, most of them, but maybe they'd be more appreciated by non-Australians. He's responsible for getting a lot of boys reading, though.

Garth Nix's trilogy- Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen for those who like fantasy
You could always download The Magic Pudding off Librivox. A children's classic, that one.

For the Term of his Natural Life  seems to be free for Kindle. It's ugly, but I think a must read for that part of Australian history. Not that I particularly recommend reading Australian history...

We of the Never-Never

For teen fiction- The Silver Brumby (There's a whole series)

Into Bullo if you like autobiographies

Happy travels! 

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Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.