The first is Dune by Frank Herbert, which I posted about yesterday in the first post on this blog. I’d been meaning to reread Dune for a while now, and another participant in the challenge and a fellow book lover in the Book Cougars community, Tina, said she was considering it for her challenge, which pushed me to start reading it. Another Book Cougar community member, Kim, whom Tina and I have both met on the Readalong Zoom Discussions hosted by the Cougars, is joining us for a summer of Dune. We will have to figure out how to share our experiences and maybe try to watch the movies at the same time or together online somehow.
The second is The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson. I’m intimidated but excited. I’ve never read it in its entirety in anyone’s translation.
The third is The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, which finishes out Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy.
I’ll be reading these last two alongside a college roommate with whom I recently reconnected. She has always had a passion for literature and philosophy, and when we were in college she majored in our university’s Great Books program. I’m pretty pumped to tackle these books with her! She already has her sights on finding some good YouTube lectures and maybe some extra coursework from any classics syllabi we can find on the internet for The Odyssey. I feel like I’m in good hands already, but if you have any suggestions on good resources for any of these books, please pass them along!
Welcome to the 2021 Big Book Summer Challenge, Colleen! And welcome to the blogging world, too! I'm honored that you kicked off your book blogging journey with this challenge! And you're a Book Cougars fan, too :) You'll fit right in!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with your Big Book choices! I haven't read any of them, but of course, I've heard of them all. I love that you've lined up friends and book buddies to read along with this summer - sounds like an excellent reading summer you have planned!
Enjoy your Big Books!
And remember that you can come back to the challenge page to leave links to your reviews or challenge updates in the 2nd links list there - it will help more people to find your blog!
Sue
2021 Big Book Summer Challenge
Thank you, Sue, for being so welcoming. I look forward to reading about your and others' big books as the summer progresses and definitely plan on posting updates. Community is so important especially for us readers who spend so many hours reading alone, and I'm so grateful for the work you and others have done in building that out.
DeleteFirst of all, welcome to blogging!!! It's always nice to see more people joining the book-blogging world. I love that you're reading these books for the challenge alongside other people—I've been lucky enough to recommend some books to friends of my own recently, and it is definitely a fun experience! I've heard good things about The Mirror and the Light, and it's wonderful that you're trying out The Odyssey (which I haven't read except in excerpts). Thanks so much for the great post, and good luck with the challenge!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the warm welcome and for commenting! I'm excited to join you all, it seems like a wonderful community. And you are so right, having a reading buddy can make the reading experience so much richer. Some books just need to be talked about. I look forward to reading about your Big Book Summer and more at your blog too!
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