Ten Things About ‘One Day’ by David Nicholls

One Day by David Nicholls…

1.) …surprised me
2.) …was much heavier (in theme and tone) than I expected
3.) …rang true anyway
4.) …was, despite the fact that the film version has not yet been released, already taken over by the film’s casting in my head. First time for everything!
5.) …raised questions about literary validity of a happy vs. unhappy endings
6.) …turned into another ‘Odyssey Years’ read (see also: This Side of Paradise)
7.) …inspired me to read more David Nicholls and get curious about his next book
8.) …made me wait for ages and ages to get it from the library (it’s a hot ticket at Senate House Library!)
9.) …had me seriously pondering a swim in the ladies bathing pond at Hampstead Heath
10.) …made me cry

As a result of combined life, the universe, and everything stuff for both me and Kate, LT will be going on a sort of hiatus until the autumn. The Classics Challenge will continue unabated, but expect a lot of ’10 Things’ reviews rather than proper write-ups, probably a lot less musings, and possibly a lot more about female travel narratives of the 19th century than you ever wanted to know.

–Corey

Books as protection

In a belated repost from the Housmans blog, I’m tickled to report a recent trend in student protest in Europe: using books as protection against the police! It turns out that shield-sized book mock-ups are great protection against police batons when used by groups of students to form something akin to the Roman legion “turtle”. Apparently it is called “Book Bloc” and it’s pretty awesome (see above).

So the question naturally arises, as Housmans asks, what book would you use to protect yourself? Personally, I’m a fan of the guys using things like 1984 and Brave New World, although I might lean towards something more swash-buckling in my bookish student protest: “I will fight you off with the strength of The Three Musketeers!” quoth the protestor. A girl can dream.

–Corey

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!

It’s that magical time of year again! Yes, at this very general time at the end of April, possibly on this very day, Shakespeare may well have been born. You have to love the speculative nature of this particular literary anniversary.

In honor of the occasion, I give you a few fun tidbity videos:

First up we have the inimitable Fry and Laurie learning how best to perform Shakespeare in their “Shakespeare: Master Class: An Actor Prepares.”

Author Guessing Game

Here’s a fun little game to get you over any middle-of-the-week blues!

Below I’ve provided a picture of five authors along with five quotes about the writing process from each of them. The game is to guess the authors and match the quotes to the correct author. (At the bottom is a list of possible authors so it isn’t completely impossible!)

LT’s Second Annual Literary Oscars List

Last year, we made up a list of all the Academy Award nominees with a basis in literature (any remote basis, really). I had fun putting the post together and was surprised (although I’m not sure if pleasantly or not) at how many nominees had their roots in books.

This year, we don’t seem to have as literary a group, but still, enjoy the show tonight; it has to be the closest Shakespeare’s wife will ever come to an Academy Awards ceremony!

Amusing Search Queries

Here at Literary Transgressions, we take active pride and amusement in the searches that lead people to our humble shores. This week, I’d like to present some of the very finest accompanied by what I hope are some helpful answers. If you have a question that I haven’t answered or a personal search term I’ve (unintentionally, I promise!) ignored, definitely comment below!

Search term: fun facts about authors
Margaret Atwood is also an amateur cartoonist! Fun!

Customer Service Survey

Cheerio, loyal readers! In an effort to improve your reading experience here at Literary Transgressions, please take a moment to tell us what you want to see more of! I’m heading into the class-less days of my graduate school existence, so I’ll (hopefully!) be doing more reading and maybe more posting. Thus, I’m very interested to know what you want to see here at LT! And polls are just fun for everyone.

It’s multiple choice and you can comment or write in anything I failed to mention that you want to see. Thanks for taking the time!

–Corey

The Spring 2011 LT Classics Challenge: The Search for Contemporary Classics

After a long hiatus and some re-tooling, the Literary Transgressions Classics Challenge is back! So welcome all!

For those of you unfamiliar with the LT Classics Challenge, here’s how it works: We read one classic piece of literature every two weeks and join together to discuss the book at the end of the two weeks (Fridays will be Classics Challenge Day for this cycle). Discussion questions to get the mental wheels turning will be posted on Friday of the first week we spend with each book, but discussion is pretty open and all are welcome to bring up just about anything related to the book.

But how is this cycle different, you ask? What is this “re-tooling” you mentioned up top, Corey? Well I’ll tell you!

The Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2010″

So the New York Times just released its list of books that makes me feel like one big ole slacker of a reader, its annual “Notable Books” list. (Apparently, directly after Thanksgiving is the moment when it is suddenly acceptable to start publishing “best of the year” lists and reminiscing about 2010. Still a month to go, people! Ahem…)

Of the 100, I have heard of eleven, read none, and wished I’d read nine (mostly different from the ones I’d heard of before, funnily enough). Since this was demoralizing and made me seriously doubt the very validity of a list that is purportedly “notable” if I, an avid reader, had experienced none of the books dubbed as such, I’m turning to you, dear readers. What are your notable books of 2010?

On a break

Hey readers! Just wanted to let you know that Weekly Geeks will be on hiatus until next Wednesday. That’s right — a full week off while Corey and I catch up on reading and real life. Enjoy the week, and we’ll see you back here Oct. 13.

Happy reading –

Kate