Darlene's Book Nook: Classic Double Challenge 2014

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Classic Double Challenge 2014

This challenge is being hosted by Melissa at One Librarian's Book Reviews.

Here are the details copied from Melissa's blog:

Classic Double Challenge 2014

I'm so excited to bring back the Classic Double Challenge for another year! Despite my spotty at best blogging of late, I wanted to do this challenge again for any of you looking for motivation to read a retelling or classic. I love the idea of new retellings bringing love to our old favorites.

By "classics" I'm being very loose in my definition, as this challenge lets you read fairy tales, mythologies, classics, any kind of original story to compare with a retelling. Also "retelling" is pretty loose too - the original and the newer book have to relate in some way that you can define; it doesn't have to be a straight-forward retelling. Hopefully these definitions allow you the wiggle room needed to find something to fit your fancy.

Here are a few examples:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
The first is kind of a "classic" and in the second, the main character loves A Wrinkle in Time and it plays a part in the plot, but this is not a retelling.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series by Kenneth Oppel.
The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein is a prequel series to Frankenstein.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Jane by April Lindner.
Jane is a retelling of Jane Eyre, set in a modern day.

So, you can see there are lots of options for you. If you need some inspiration for retellings, I've compiled a rather extensive list of retellings. I have another list for fairy tale retellings. Also, during the Retell Me a Story celebration next month I will be highlighting some newer retellings that have been released or are coming out soon.

And, of course, there are levels of participation, so you can choose how much or how little you'd like to commit to:

Small: You read 2 related books.

Medium: You read 4 books (2 sets of related books).

Large: You read 6 books (3 sets of related books).

Super Size: You read 8 books (4 sets of related books).
Once you decide on your level of participation, post your pledge on your blog/tumblr/goodreads/in the comments and maybe give us some possibilities of what you want to read (obviously, these aren't set in stone). When you complete a pair, feel free to write reviews/reactions/comparisons/whathaveyou about the books and I'll have a monthly link up here to share our progress.

If you would like to join me in the challenge, click on the challenge badge at the beginning of this post.

I am aiming for SMALL (read 2 related books).

I will keep track of my progress below and link up my reviews (I am making a list of the ones that I am interested in that I might choose for the challenge):