The Eponymous Challenge

This is my first reading challenge so bear with me.

The Eponymous challenge is hosted by coversgirl at Between The Covers and can be found here.

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Here’s how it works:

The challenge will run from 1 March to 31 May, 2008.

During that time your mission should you choose to accept it is to read 4 books whose titles are the name of one or more of the characters (e.g. Evelina, Oscar and Lucinda); or a description of one or more of the characters (e.g. The Merchant of Venice, Sylvia’s Lovers).

Non-fiction books and overlaps with other challenges are welcome, as are books named after four-legged characters.

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My list:

- Army Wives by Tanya Biank (Read: 2/03)
- The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (Read 5/03)
- Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre (Read)
- Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (21/04)

I just came up with those names of the top of my head now so it might be subject to change.

10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader (Daniel Pennac)

In 1992, the French author Daniel Pennac wrote Comme Un Roman in which he claimed that reading should never be used as a torture method by the educational system. The book ended with the following list:

The 10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader:
1. The right to not read
2. The right to skip pages
3. The right to not finish a book
4. The right to reread
5. The right to read anything
6. The right to "Bovary-ism," a textually-transmitted disease
7. The right to read anywhere
8. The right to sample and steal
9. The right to read out-loud
10. The right to be silent.

Bovary-ism means to mistake a book for real life.

Here are the original rules in french (because I'm french and because I believe there is nothing better than the original version of a text.

Les droits imprescriptibles du lecteur:

1. Le droit de ne pas lire.
2. Le droit de sauter des pages.
3. Le droit de ne pas finir un livre.
4. Le droit de relire.
5. Le droit de lire n'importe quoi.
6. Le droit au bovarysme (maladie textuellement transmissible)
7. Le droit de lire n'importe où.
8. Le droit de grappiller.
9. Le droit de lire à haute voix.
10. Le droit de nous taire.

My dad introduced me to this writer, this novel and specifically these rules at a very young age. As my love of reading grew they stayed in the back of my mind so I thought that I would share them.

What I'm currently reading: When I Walk by Rebecca Growers

Books I've Read In 2008

I've been doing so much reading that not keeping some sort of reading log seems outrageous.

So here are the books I've read so far in 2008. I have very eclectic taste.

January - February
1. Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
2. Number9Dream by David Mitchell
3. Rasselas by Samuel Johnson
4. Man or Mango by Lucy Ellman
5. Man of Feeling by Henry Mackenzie
6. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
7. Evelina by Frances Burney
8. Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
9. The Late Hector Kipling by David Thewlis
10. Clear: A Transparent Novel by Nicola Barker
11. Vathek by William Thomas Beckford
12. When To Walk by Rebecca Gowers
13. Fourth Coming by Megan McCafferty

March
14. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano
15. Army Wives by Tanya Biank
16. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
17. Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre
18. The Castle In The Forest by Norman Mailer
19. Nature And Art by Elizabeth Inchbald

April
20. Blood Work by Michael Connelly
21. Void Moon by Michael Connelly
22. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
23. Oroonoko by Aphra Behn
25. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

May
26. A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly
27. City of Bones by Michael Connelly
28. The Wrongs Of A Woman (or Maria) by Mary Wollstonecraft
29. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
30. Chasing The Dime by Michael Connelly
31. The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
32. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory
33. Lost Light by Michael Connelly
34. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

June
35. The Narrows by Michael Connelly
36. The Closers by Michael Connelly
37. Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes
38. Sushi For Beginners by Marian Keyes
39. Echo Park by Michael Connelly

I'll go back to reviewing those at a later date.