50 Book Challenge
Kirsty Morgan
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Book 46: Oedipus The King

7/10/2016

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46
A Play
Oedipus The King
Sophocles [Ian Johnston, trans.]
​09.07.2016
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I was browsing Audible recently, and discovered that for a very limited time the three Oedipus plays written by Sophocles were free to download. Naturally, I downloaded them immediately, and that night I listened to the first play of the trio, Oedipus The King.
I knew a little about the Oedipus story going in. I knew that he was the son of a king, but had been sent away because of a prophecy that told how he was destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother. I knew that this then backfired, because having not been brought up in their company, Oedipus then did not recognise his parents when it came to killing or sleeping with them. And I knew that Sigmund Freud named his theory that suggests all men want to sleep with their mothers after Oedipus. (I'm sure there is more to Freud's theory than just that, but I'm a musician not a psychologist, so that's basically all I've picked up.)

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Book 37: The Invisible Man

6/18/2016

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37
A book with a colour in the title
The Invisible Man
H. G. Wells
17.06.2016
Invisible is a colour, right? Either way, I'm counting it as one because: (a) there's stuff I want to say about this book, and (b) it didn't really fit into any of the other categories either. If that rankles your linguistic or scientific sensibilities then I guess that's a shame, but I'm sure you'll get over it. Besides, it's my blog and it follows my rules. So, yeah. Disclaimer over, let's talk about The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells.

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Book 26: You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

1/1/2016

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26
A memoir
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)
Felicia Day
04.12.2015
I first came across Felicia Day while watching the web series Doctor Horrible's Singalong Blog, which is a musical starring Neil Patrick Harris as an aspiring supervillian and Nathan Fillion as his jerkass superhero nemesis. (I definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't seen it.) But I didn't put a name to her face until a few years later, when I saw her in some videos on the YouTube show TableTop - in which Wil Wheaton plays board games with a few of his friends. I thought she was really funny and always seemed to be having a good time playing games for a living, but it was a throwaway comment she made on during one of the TableTop episodes that especially drew me to her. It turned out that, like me, Felicia Day was a music major. I've often been told that music is a hobby, not a viable career option, so encountering a person who had studied music at university (and managed to make a living out of it) made me feel a lot more confident about my own choice of degree. I was encouraged that there was still a possibility that I wouldn't end up spending most of my adult life in unfulfilled, penniless misery. It sounds sort of pathetic as I write it out, but at the time I found it really affirming to know that someone that I admired had made the same degree choice that I had.
So, when I saw that Felicia Day had written a memoir, of course I bought and read it. And, in all seriousness, I loved it. The writing style was casual and personal, the topics that Felicia chose to talk about were interesting and relevant, and she managed to highlight some serious issues in a funny, lighthearted manner without trivialising the content.

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Book 17: Pantomime

10/27/2015

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17
A book a friend recommended
Pantomime
Laura Lam
22.10.2015
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Pantomime (Book Cover)
Last May, one of my best friends suggested that I read the young adult novel Pantomime, by Laura Lam. I borrowed the book at the time, but university exams and then other time constraints meant that I didn't complete it until a few days ago. However, having been urged to get a move on so that it can be lent to some other people, I took a few hours' break from studying in order to finish the book.
Pantomime follows an intersex teenager, who has been raised as a girl (Iphigenia Laurus) but runs away to join the circus adopting a male identity (Micah Gray). It is a pretty original premise for a story - I had never come across any other novels that feature a non-cis protagonist who is openly described as such. (Admittedly, I'd also never actively sought out books about non-cis people, and a quick Google search brought up a few others). It's clear, though, that there is a significant dearth of books about people who aren't cisgender, which alone makes Pantomime worth checking out, even if it weren't for all the other factors that make the book a good read.

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Book 42: A Deadly Deception

7/28/2015

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42
A book that takes place in your hometown
A Deadly Deception
Margaret Thompson Davis
17.07.2015
I found this challenge harder than I expected I would. It turns out there are very few fiction books set in my hometown of Bearsden, which is a suburb just outside Glasgow. The most famous book - if Google is to be believed - is one about 'family and incest', which I was certainly in no hurry to read. Luckily for me, however, my mother was on hand to save the day. I'm visiting my parents in Bearsden at the moment for the summer holidays, and she suggested we check the local library to see if they had any books set in Bearsden. As well as the aforementioned 'family and incest' book, she found Margaret Thomson Davis's A Deadly Deception.
It wasn't the kind of book I would generally choose to read - I wouldn't have given it a second glance if not for this challenge, let alone continued to the end. The book made me angry and I found it infuriating to have to read about a bunch of unlikable characters making horrible mistakes. However, having left ten days between finishing the book and writing this review, I've realised that the revolting characters and bad decisions is what makes the book worth reading.

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Book 5: Five on a Treasure Island

6/13/2015

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5
A book with a number in the title
Five on a Treasure Island
Enid Blyton
13.06.2015
PictureFamous Five TV Series (1995)
I have a confession to make. I never read any of the Famous Five novels growing up. I knew their basic premise – four middle-class English children and a dog drink lashings of ginger beer and enjoy idealised summer holiday adventures together – but my main exposure to the franchise came from the mid-nineties TV show and being cast as Suspicious Character No. 1 in a drama production (loosely based on the books) when I was eight. However, nothing could have prepared me for the twee nostalgia bombardment that awaited me as I plunged into the first book of the series, Five on a Treasure Island.


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Welcome!

6/10/2015

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The other day, I was listening to an audiobook called How to Write Everything by David Quantick. In it, Quantick repeatedly insisted that the only way to become a writer was to write. Write anything. His audiobook was the catalyst needed to make this blog a reality.

The idea for this blog had been floating around in the back of my mind somewhere, ever since my friend, Ali, gave me a reading list of 50 book categories back in February. I like to read; I like to make lists; I like to write. Writing a blog about the experience of reading a list of books sounded perfect! I just never got around to beginning the project until now.

Hopefully, the blog will be interesting and fun for everyone. I don't intend to read the books in the order listed, but I do plan to read (and write about) them all eventually.

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    Author

    My name is Kirsty Morgan and I am a music student at the University of Aberdeen. I like monkeys, the colour pink, the TV show Firefly, Diet Coke and playing on swings.

    Archives

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    Book 05: A Book With A Number In The Title
    Book 17: A Book A Friend Recommended
    Book 26: A Memoir
    Book 37: A Book With A Colour In The Title
    Book 42: A Book That Takes Place In Your Hometown
    Book 46: A Play

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