2015 Bookish TBR Pile Reading Challenge

I realize that this is going to be a bit redundant, but because I am doing Adam's TBR Challenge as well, I thought that this would be a natural for me as well.

Here are the guidelines for this challenge:

1. The challenged will run from January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2015. The sign up link below will remain open until January 16, 2015 at 11:30am.
2. Anyone can enter! You don't have to be a blogger, just as long as you review the book you've read. You can review on your book on your blog, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, etc.
3. Any genre, length, or format of book counts as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your self for some time. Short stories and novellas do count! The only stipulations that the book must have been released in 2014 or earlier. No 2015 ARCs or 2015 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed.
4. On the 25th of every other month (see schedule below), we will post a wrap-up for the previous two months. These posts will be done by one our bloggers and will contain new linkys for you to add your own wrap-up posts. If you did not sign up by January 17, this is where you can sign up as well.
5. To help you tackle your TBR piles we will also be hosting Read-A-Longs on months that do not have wrap-ups. Voted on by challenge participants, Read-A-Longs will have two post dates: the first half of the book and the second half. Please note: You do not have to take part in our Read-A-Longs to participate in the TBR Pile Challenge. You can participate in all of them, some of them, or none of them. This aspect of the challenge is entirely optional.
6. There will be two giveaways - July and December. Giveaway details will be explained once the giveaway post goes up. We don't want to overwhelm you with too many details now  :)
7. You don't have to follow Bookish to join the challenge, but you do have to follow us to be entered in the giveaways.

How many books are you planning to read for this challenge?

1-10 A Firm Handshake

11-20 A Friendly Hug

21-30 First Kiss

31-40 Sweet Summer Fling

41-50 Could This Be Love?

50+ Married with Children

I am going to do 11-20 (A Friendly Hug) and here are the books that I am planning on attempting:

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantal (2009)
• The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (1954)
• Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb (2010)
• A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (2010)
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1889) 
• Outlander by Diana Galbaldon (1991)
• Peace Shall Destroy Many by Rudy Wiebe (1972)
• A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (2004)
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (2011)
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1856)
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
• Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (2012)

I will link up with title as I complete them.  If you wish to join, you can join over at Bookish.

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

Title: The Remains of the Day
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Pages: 245
Published: 2005 (first published 1988)
Challenges: Historical Fiction, Blogger Summer Reading, Roofbeemer TBR, Bookish TBR
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Edition: Paperback
Source: Personal

Description: The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence. (from Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: This was the third Ishiguro novel that I read (first two were When We Were Orphans and Never Let Me Go) and this was by far my most enjoyable experience, probably because I had already knew what the story was about due to the Merchant Ivory movie of the same title that was based on this book (the one that starred Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Grant and Christopher Reeve).

I did have some issues with the book, namely that when Stevens was in the 'present'.  I found that those sections dragged and that when he was reflecting on his life just prior to World War II seemed to fly by and go more quickly.  It also didn't help that it took me the majority of the book for me to find a rhythm and get a sense for the book.

What I did like was that the ending was a bit ambiguous and Ishiguro allows for the reader to draw their  own conclusions about what happened in the end.

Bottom line:  I would probably say that if you have really enjoyed any of Ishiguro's other pieces of fiction, you probably will enjoy this book as well.  Also if you enjoyed the film, you probably will like the book as well.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.25/5

Pages for 2014: 13,061

If you have read the book, what did you think of it?

A Clash of Kings - George R.R. Martin

Title: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Fire and Ice #2)
Author: George R.R. Martin
Pages: 1009
Published: 2005 (first published 1998)
Challenges: Chunkster, Blogger Summer Reading, Bookish TBR, Roof Beam TBR
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Edition: Mass-Market Paperback
Source: Personal

Description:  A comet the colour of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk at night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles. (from Goodreads)

Thoughts: After reading A Game of Thrones, I suspected that I would be a bit let down with the second book.  What I found with the book was that it tended to be bleak and dreary to the point that at times I wondered when I was ever going to get end the least bit happy and I felt that the book seemed to plod on for pages on end, with the book never seeming to end (felt like I was going through torture myself at times), especially since the first book seemed to be full of action and plot twists coming left and centre.

Being it the case, since I have gotten this far in the series, I am definitely in it for the long haul and will find out who gets to claim the throne, if there is anybody left in the end.

Bottom line:  Even though it did seem to plod along at times, I did enjoy it and am planning on finishing up the series, whenever that may be.  And yes, you do need to read the first book in the series, as the story basically picks up from the end of the book and there are characters and events you need to have a little background about.  Highly Recommended.

Rating: 4.25/5

Pages for 2014: 11909

2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

I know that some of you are thinking that didn't I sign up for a TBR Pile Reading Challenge sometime recently and you would be correct.  But I thought I would be a little bit crazy and sign up for another TBR Pile Reading Challenge.  So here I go.

Here are the guidelines:

1.  This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2014 – Dec 31, 2014.
2.  Anyone can enter! You don’t have to be a blogger, as long as you review the book you’ve read! (On your blog, Amazon, Random Buzzers or Goodreads/Shelfari!)
3.  Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that’s been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Short stories and novellas are OK, too! Only books released in 2013 and earlier! NO 2014 ARCs and 2014 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!
4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
5.  When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2014 TBRPILE Reading Challenge. (If you don’t have a blog, post about it on Facebook or Tweet!
6.  You can move up levels, but no moving down.
7.  Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2014, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
8. On the 20th of each month we will post a wrap-up post on BOOKISH. Every wrap-up will have it’s unique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It’s open to INTERNATIONALS. The giveaway will be open until the next wrap up post goes up! (i.e. the entire month)
9.  If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice – we will be checking ;
10.  December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you’ll link up in December will be entered into a GRAND PRIZE giveaway
11.  You don’t have to follow Bookish Blog to join the challenge, but you do have to follow us to be entered in giveaways!

Here are the levels:

(how many books you're planning to read for this challenge in 2014)

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - First Kiss
31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling
41-50 - Could this be love?
50+ - Married With Children

I hope to do the Friendly Hug level

I realize that naming the books isn't required, but because I have books that I have said I will read on the one hosted by Roof Beam Reader, I will do it here as well, in addition using the books that I have as alternates:

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1868)
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (1844)
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (2012)
• Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (2010)
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2003)
• Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson(2010)
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1372)
• The Passage by Justin Cronin (2010)
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2009)
• Runaway by Alice Munro (2004)
• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2005)
• A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (1996)

I might add two of the books that aren't here that I got for Christmas (Dear Life and The Luminaries) and the one the new Flavia de Luce paperback (Speaking from Among the Bones) that I purchased before Christmas.