Here’s the next installation of the 30 Day Book Challenge for Days 8-14!
As someone who is currently away from her home and living in an apartment for a while, I have to say that this is soooooo much tougher when I can’t look at all of the books on my bookshelf!!!
Day 8: An unpopular book you believe should be a best seller – When I was younger, I read Mandy by Julie Andrews (you know, Mary Poppins!) and I thought this was the best book ever. It was probably the first novel I reread. Mandy is an orphan who finds an abandoned cottage which she makes her own. Not that it was unpopular, but I guess I just expected it to be loved by everyone, not unheard of by most everyone!
Day 9: A book you’ve read more than once – I have read a few books more than once, but it’s not something I do often, although since I have started my book blog, I have been doing it more recently! I have read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale twice, almost all of the Harry Potter series twice, and recently (like I finished yesterday and still need to post the review later this week) reread To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Day 10: The first novel you remember reading – It has to be the Babysitters Little Sister Series with Karen by Ann M. Martin or the Goosebumps Series by R. L. Stine. I guess I enjoyed the series books when I was a kid!
Day 11: The book that made you fall in love with reading – I can’t answer this. . . I have never NOT been in love with reading! But a book I had my parents read me so many times that I memorized it and probably still know most of the words is This is the Bear.
Day 12: A book so emotionally draining you couldn’t complete it or had to set aside for a bit – I don’t find tough books emotionally draining where I have to put them down. I love that a book can evoke such an emotion from me. I think that an emotionally draining book that I have read would be My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Such an amazing book, but such an awful translation into the movie.
Day 13: Nonfiction book that you enjoyed – Ok, a nonfiction book that I’m OBSESSED with is Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars. This book was written conversationally with such fun, unique facts about space travel. For instance, did you know that one of the most famous comments about how beautiful Earth is from space is probably actually an astronaut commenting on released urine that is sparkling in the atmosphere?
Day 14: Book that should be on high school/college required reading list – What a good question! Tough one, too. I consulted with my mom, and we agreed on One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. One Thousand White Women is a fictional book with a potential for great historical discussions. The Native Americans (heathens according to the white people) are given one thousand white wives in order to “tame” them. However, the white wives are the outcasts of white society, not the most civilized women!
With this novel, it would be easy to discuss Native American policies with the U.S. back then, race relations, and tolerance and acceptance of differences.
What about you? I’d love to hear some of your answers!
Thanks for reading,
Related post: 30 Day Book Challenge #1-7
rscaglione.wordpress.com 
“This is the bear who fell in the bin. This is the dog that pushed him in.”
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Haha!!! That proves something right there, doesn’t it???? Even my MOM remembers all the words to This is the Bear!!!! And it’s been at least 20 years since you have read that book, probably more!
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I had to go back and read last week’s post (I was traveling and not keeping up with blogs). What a great idea this is! I agree with you about My Sister’s Keeper — what a gut-wrenching book. I, too, steered clear of the film when I heard how they messed with it.
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Yes, I saw the film and was angered by the ending. They turned it into the Hollywood, expected ending. To me, the ending of the book was the most gut-wrenching surprise and made the book so amazing. The movie ruined that.
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I really like Julie Andrew’s books, especially “Mandy”…(Here’s what I said in my review on Goodreads):This is a great read for any age and the first book I’ve read by the author, Julie Andrews Edwards.The story captivated my interest and it is worth your time reading. Do you remember what movie she starred in? Of course you will when I tell you. It’s “The Sound of Music”.
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You read Mandy??? That’s my only Julie Andrews book, but it was so fun because it dealt with a great fantasy, with Mandy being an orphan and finding a place just for her in the world.
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Yes, and here’s another good one that she wrote:http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10336.The_Last_of_the_Really_Great_Whangdoodles
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I’ve heard of it but haven’t read it! 🙂 Thanks!
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Mandy was one of my FAVORITE books as a kid. I had no idea it was written by Julie Andrews!
I listened to Roach’s book Bonk on audio and really enjoyed it. Packing for Mars looks like fun as well! I love her wit and how she can make science things fun 🙂
I also have One Thousand White Women on my shelf (it was given to me by a former classmate) but haven’t read it yet. I’m so glad to hear you liked it! I’ll have to get to it … someday!
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I haven’t read or listened to Bonk. I tried to listen to Stiff (the one about cadavers and death) and was nauseated and had to stop. Probably didn’t help that I listened first thing in the morning after breakfast!
But Packing for Mars is amazing and I’m sure you can find an audio version if you prefer! I read it on my Kindle, and it was one of the most interesting books I have ever read. I’ll have to get Bonk!
One Thousand White Women is a good I think you would love!!! Put it higher on your to-read list! It’s worth it!
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Aww, I never read Mandy, sounds like I missed out! I’ve never heard of 1000 White Women, that sounds crazy/interesting!
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It was soooo good! It is written in such a convincing faux historical way that I had to do some googling to find out if the events actually happened!! My mom recommended it to me, and it was a really good read!
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I didn’t know One thousand white women, but it sounds like a book I have to read (and if you say it’s for college students, it can be a great read for me because I can understand it better!!). This last question is a good one because at school you are always asked to read classics and most students finally hate books because of that. It’s terrible.
My school reads were The Quixote and that kind of books: awful, even when you are an adult!!!
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We read classics, too, but in English class, sometimes we were able to read some modern literature, too. So I thought more on the modern literature side of things.
Also, One Thousand White Women is a great book to read if you’re NOT a college/high school student! I just thought there was so much room for discussion and relation to history in the book, which makes it good for a classroom.
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