Category Archives: Literary

The 50 in 52 Project continues! I’ve finished Adventures of Huckleberry Finn…up next is Tess of the D’Urbervilless

I’ve just finished the 13th book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain…only 37 more books to go!

Next up is….Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (1891)

For those keeping score: this is book #14, week #18.

 

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)

A little info on Thomas Hardy and his work:
Thomas Hardy was born in Dorchester, England in 1840. Before becoming a man of letters, he was trained as an architect and moved to London, studying at King’s College. His growing awareness of class divisions made him feel uneasy in London, but it did lead to a keen interest in reforms. Social inferiority was one of the major reasons he returned home, and there he dedicated himself to his writing. His work often came with powerful social criticisms, but they were no mere message novels; they were lyrical, often densely-plotted works. A Victorian realist, Hardy, in his fiction and poetry, tackled social constraints, and as a writer, he was often obsessed with the notion of fate. His most famous novels include Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), and Jude the Obscure (1895). When Tess of the D’Urbervilles was first released, it shocked readers by challenging the sexual mores of Victorian England. Hardy passed away 1928. His ashes were buried at Westminster Abbey, but his heart was buried in Dorchester.

 

The 50 in 52 Project is a fundraiser for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19). To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE for all the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

 

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project
GoodReads: goodreads.com/michaelpatrickharrington
RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

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50 in 52 Project Quotes – 2 from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

50 in 52 Project Quotes!

Because it’s Mark Twain (that’s him in the photo), you get two quotes from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.”

“Jim said that bees won’t sting idiots, but I didn’t believe that, because I tried them lots of times myself and they wouldn’t sting me.

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE. Be the hero in someone else’s story!

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for all the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

Thank you!

#50-in-52
#RAINN

Twitter: @50_in_52Project
Instagram: 50_in_52_Project

RAINN on Twitter: @RAINN

 

The 50 in 52 Project continues…I’ve finished The Portrait of a Lady…coming up: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I’ve just finished the 12th book, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James…only 38 more books to go!

Next up is….Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884)
For those keeping score: this is book #13, week #17.

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)

A little info on Mark Twain and his work:

Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens in 1835. Before he became Mark Twain, Clemens worked as an apprentice pilot on the Mississippi River and as a journalist. His first major book, was The Innocents Abroad (1869). His canon includes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1882), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889), and Puddn’head Wilson (1894). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the first of the three sequels to Tom Sawyer. Ernest Hemingway wrote, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” In his obituary, the New York Times called him, the “greatest humorist this country has produced.” William Faulkner called Twain, “the father of American literature.” Mark Twain brought realism to its height and helped usher in the Modernist era (roughly 1900-1939, especially the 20’s). Huckleberry Finn has been subject to censorship because of the use of the n-word, all the hoopla obscuring the fact that “Jim’s basic humanity…is the issue, not the fact that he is a slave,” according to critic John Seeyle. Jim isn’t actually a slave (the 13th Amendment passed in 1865), although his situation is at times dire; nevertheless Huckleberry Finn stands as Twain’s ultimate defense of the freedom of all men and women, a subject he would address in essays later in his life. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn casts shadow that is massive and largely inescapable. Twain passed away in 1910.

 

The 50 in 52 Project is a fundraiser for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19). To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE to see all the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

#50-in-52
#RAINN

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

She could never rid herself of the conviction that unhappiness was a state of disease; it was suffering as opposed to action.

from The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (that’s him in the photo)

 

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE. Be the hero in someone else’s story!

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for of the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

Thank you!

 

 

#50-in-52
#RAINN

 

 

The 50 in 52 Project continues…I’ve finished Middlemarch…next up is The Portrait of a Lady!

I’ve just finished the 11th book, Middlemarch by George Eliot…only 39 more books to go!

Next up is….The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (1881)

For those keeping score: this is book #12, week #16.

 

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)

 

A little info on Henry James and his work:
Henry James was born in 1843 in New York. He attended schools in Europe and finally ended up in law school at Harvard. While traveling in Europe, he met literary giants Turgenev and Flaubert. After serializing a novel in The Atlantic, which made his reputation on both sides of the pond, James released classic novel after classic novel: The American (1877), Washington Square (1880), The Wings of a Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), The Golden Bowl (1904), and more. He became experimental in his later works, in which the dynamics and motivations of characters were often ambiguous, impressionistic, even contradictory, and he layered these to develop a character’s state of mind. Henry James passed away in 1916. He was in the forefront of developing the psychological novel, and his work helped pave the way (along with Twain’s and others) for the Modernistic literary period, which rose at the start of the 20th century.

 

The 50 in 52 Project is a fundraiser for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19). To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE to see all the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

#50-in-52
#RAINN

 

 

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

Mortals are easily tempted to pinch the life out of their neighbour’s buzzing glory, and think that such killing is no murder.
From Middlemarch by George Eliot (that’s her in the photo)

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I’m in book 10, week 16.

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE.  Be the hero in someone else’s story!

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE to see all of the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

Thank you!

#50-in-52
#RAINN

The 50 in 52 Project: can 2 more people please sponsor me today?

The 50 in 52 Project

I NEED YOUR HELP!
Can 2 more people sponsor me today please? I’ve read 10 out of 50 books so far!

As of now, I have 13 sponsors and 20 page Likes for my 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge fundraiser. My personal goal by the 10th book was 15 sponsors.

To sponsor me, click HERE. I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/2018 – 6/2019) to benefit RAINN.org. You can sponsor me by pledging any $ amount you like per book read—and you don’t have to pay until after 6/1/2019.

This is a GREAT cause—all proceeds benefit RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network), an organization that helps those whose voices are often silenced or ignored.

(More info & the book list are on the top post of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

If you get a chance, could you please accept my invitation and Like my 50 in 52 page? Thank you!

Click HERE to read all the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

#50-in-52
#RAINN

 

The 50 in 52 Project continues…I’ve finished Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland…coming up is Middlemarch!

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)

I’ve just finished the 10th book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll…only 40 more books to go!

Next up is….Middlemarch by George Eliot (1872)

For those keeping score: this is book #11, week #14

 

A little info on George Eliot and her work:

George Eliot was born Mary Anne Evans in 1819. She chose the pseudonym to avoid the stereotype of female-written literature being concerned solely with (usually lighthearted) romances. Her work furthered the concerned of realism and also frequently had psychological underpinnings. While Middlemarch is considered her masterpiece (it was serialized 1871-72), Eliot is also famous for Adam Bede (1859) and Silas Marner (1860). Writer Martin Amis called Eliot “the greatest writer in the English language ever.”

 

The 50 in 52 Project is a fundraiser for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19). To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE is read all the 50 in 52 blog posts.

#50-in-52
#RAINN

 

 

A 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge Quote: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

A 50 in 52 Project Quote!

How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the doorway; “and even if my head would go through,” thought poor Alice, ‘it would be of very little use without my shoulders.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (that’s him in the photo)

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for www.RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

 

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE. Be the hero in someone else’s story!

 

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE to see all the 50 in 52 Project posts on this blog.

Thank you!

#50-in-52
#RAINN