8.31.2006

RIP Challenge - life is now worth living

Remember that semi-awful Elton John song, Someone Saved My Life Tonight? Well, I feel that way about Carl V. over at Stainless Steel Droppings. Just when a stupid-ass work e-mail made me want to drink a bottle of Vitameatvegemin before ramming my head through my computer screen, Carl invented the RIP (Readers Imbibing Peril) challenge. Any daredevil readers willing to take up the gauntlet pick 5 books of chills and thrills to read from this weekend through Halloween. Irresistible!

My one dilemma is that I am committed already to Proust Vol 2 and three Middle East books, plus Henry James, before year's end. Still, I'm with Carl V. -- I never can pass up at least one spinetingler in autumn. I was going to make do with Virginia Woolf's The Haunted House, but this is too tempting. (Sorry, Marcel, I'm a fickle kitten.) So, I negelected my work e-mails temporarily, and drooled over countless titles before arriving at my selections: a little offbeat, very literary, with a smidgeon of humor. A lot like moi.

Now I can take up memos and brochures and PowerPoint slides for the rest of the day.
Thanks, Carl, for giving me something to live for.

LK's RIP Selections

  • The Turn of the Screw, Henry James (okay, it'll count for my James book at least)
  • Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving (this is totally revisiting my childhood)
  • A Haunted House, Virginia Woolf (is it a horror story? the title counts doesn't it?)
  • The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (love Edith Wharton, love the fact that she couldn't sleep in a room with a ghost book even in it but managed to churn out some tales of her own)

THIS IS SORT OF LIKE THOSE BONUS TRACKS ON CDs, BUT MAYBE NOT SO MUCH, BUT JUST GO WITH ME--FINAL SELECTION WILL INCLUDE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING, BOTH IF I CAN MANAGE IT OR IF VIRGINIA TURNS OUT TO BE A RED HERRING:

  • Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen (a spoof on gothics by Jane Austen? if I can't squeeze it in this year, this is one I will definitely get to at some point)
  • Dragonwyck, Anya Seaton (the dark horse, and fairly lengthy given my crunched circumstances, but in the spirit of the event [bad pun intended], I wanted to branch out into new territory)

7 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

Awww, shucks!!!! I'm so glad you're joining in. I picked some short books myself because I knew that in the midst of other reading and, well...life! that I would'nt be able to do many of the longer titles that I so desperately want to read this autumn.

Very good choices. I remember really liking Northanger Abbey though its been awhile since I've read it.

I need to pick up a nice copy of Legend of Sleepy Hollow...haven't read that since I was a wee one!

Rebecca H. said...

The Wharton and the Woolf sound very interesting -- enjoy this! Proust will always be there.

litlove said...

I had no idea Edith Wharton had written ghost stories! I am assembling (yet) another huge TBR list from people's choice for this challenge. Do read the Austen if you can, LK, I'm going to!

Anonymous said...

What a terrific list! And you know what? It never occurred to me that Northanger Abbey might be a spoof on gothics. What a great excuse to get in some Jane Austen. You're a genius, LK

PS -- My condolences about those power point slides, etc. You sound like you've got them under controll though.

litlove said...

How wierd is this - I could have sworn I left a comment here, encouraging you to read Northanger Abbey, and yet it seems to have disappeared... Did I just dream I posted it? Or did the cyber fairies whisk it away? Is this R.I.P. challenge causing spooky things to happen already??

LK said...

It's that time of year, Litlove! We should start wearing our garlic necklaces about now...

Anonymous said...

I can't believe I didn't think to through in the Jane Austen! Duhr. Anyway, I'm glad your in on the challenge. It ought to be fun.