Agatha Christie Reading Carnival - October 2011

It's been a little while since I referenced Kerrie's Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Carnival. It runs every month and is a place where readers can link up their reviews of all things Agatha Christie.

I read and reviewed Agatha Christie's little known spy thriller, They Came to Baghdad just in time to participate this month. You can read my link here, but be sure to stop by the Agatha Christie monthly carnival to see what other mysteries fellow readers and bloggers have discovered.

Maybe next month you can join in the fun too! Submit your blog article to the next edition (November 24, 2011 ) of the Agatha Christie Monthly Carnival using the carnival submission form.

Happy sluething err... reading!

Is It Time For Another Jane Eyre?

Can there be too much of a good thing when it comes to literature on the big screen? I guess we're going to find out.

I learned earlier this week that there is to be yet ANOTHER Jane Eyre adaptation. It seems like we just had one of these, so I checked and there was one in 2006. This will make the 9th adaptation! (The third in 15 years.)

It amazes me how many times certain novels can be adapted to the screen and sometimes in nearly back to back years and others remain with only a single filming. For example, Gone With the Wind was filmed in 1939, but over 70 years later it remains the only adaptation of that novel. Yes, there have been wanna-be sequels, but no remake of the original script has been filmed. Why is that? Is it because that adaptation was so great it just cannot be topped?

If that is the case what does that say about the classics by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters that have been filmed time and time again? Pride and Prejudice has been adapted five times, Emma five times, Oliver Twist seven times, Wuthering Heights no less than 11 times and now Jane Eyre for the 9th time!

What is it with these stories that make screenwriters, directors, and producers want to film them again and again? Is there still something left to be brought to the screen? I guess we'll have to wait until March 2011 to see for ourselves.

I will say this much, from the movie trailer it looks like it will be a good adaptation. It is produced by the same company (Focus Features) that adapted Pride and Prejudice in 2005. Although that version of P&P is not a favorite of mine it was a fairly good adaptation. So with that in mind I am both curious and interested in their adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Curious to learn more? Check out One Literature Nut's blog post: The Bronte Sisters Take Popular Culture By Storm... Again.

Other Blogger Give-Away

Remember when I read and reviewed Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay?

If not you can read my review of Russian Winter here. For those interested in reading this new release you now have the chance to win your own SIGNED copy!

The Boston Bibliophile has posted a give-away for three signed copies for US residents. To enter for a chance to win you must visit her blog post: Russo-Biblio-Extravaganza Giveaway- 3 *signed* copies of RUSSIAN WINTER and leave a comment before November 30.

Good luck!

I Read It! - November

It's the first Tuesday of the month, which means it's time for the November edition of "I Read It" at 5MinutesforBooks.com.

I Read It is a monthly posting that gives fellow readers (and bloggers) a chance to share the books they've read because of another readers recommendation. Posts can be anything from as detailed as stating the title and author of the book, who recommended it to you, why you wanted to read it, and what you thought about the book. (In other words, a full review.) Or you can keep it simple and announce what you read by recommendation and whether you agreed or disagreed. This is a fun way to spread the word about a great read... or in some cases, sadly, about the bad ones too.

Of course if you haven't read anything by recommendation in the last month you can still participate. Head on over to 5MinutesforBooks and see what other readers have read and reviewed upon recommendation. Then read their reviews and leave your own comment letting them know if they have inspired you to read the book too.

Whatever you decide, have fun and of course -- keep reading!

It's Saturday! And we have a winner!

It's Saturday AND it's the 23rd of the month and that means...

Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books. Each week readers and bloggers head to Semicolon's blog to link up their reviews for books they read in the previous week. I already linked up my review from this past week, have you? Join the 47+ bloggers and link up! Or head on over to see what other bloggers have to say about what they just finished reading.


Tomorrow is the October edition of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Carnival! In addition to linking up blogger reviews of Agatha Christie's novels ACRCC highlights a particular blog each month. I was excited to learn earlier this week that yours truly, A Library is a Hospital for the Mind, has been chosen and will be highlighted in this month's ACRCC. In addition to this there will be a number of links to other bloggers' Agatha Christie reviews.

Didn't know about this reading challenge? Want to participate? If you have read a Christie novel and want to participate in the November carnival then head to the Carnival collection page to enter your blog link. I've been participating for over a year and I can honestly tell you it's a lot of fun.

Last, but certainly not least it's time to announce the winner for this week's Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge give-away.

This week the winner will receive Straight from the gift shop of the Betsy-Tacy Society -- a 3½" x 8½" "Betsy making lists" notepad!


And now, once again with thanks to Random.org and my husband's uneducated assistance we have have a winner. The winner this week is:

Congratulations Shari! Please email me your mailing address so I can get the notepad on your way.

For everyone else, thanks for participating! We have one final give-away, which I will post tomorrow. (Check back before the end of the day.)

I can hardly believe we're into the final week of October, which means we only have one more week of the Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge. Thank you all for participating, for sharing your thoughts, and spreading the world. Enjoy your reading this week! Don't forget to come back here throughout the week for my final MHLRC posts and on Sunday to link up your reviews or final posts.

The Borrowers: Now She Tells Us!

As I've mentioned numerous times before, when I was growing up my mother used to read to my siblings and I over the lunch hour. Some of the books she read included: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Borrowers, Rabbit Hill, Carry on Mr. Bowditch, and The Bronze Bow -- to name a few.

I was reminded of these wonderful memories when I came upon a recent post by children's book collector and blogger Peter Sieruta. I thought his post on The Borrowers series by Mary Norton was extremely interesting and worth noting on this blog.

And so if you are a fan of The Borrowers, or at least have read them -- or even if you've never heard of them -- be sure to check out Peter's post, Now She Tells Us!

Attention Mystery Lovers

If you have ever read an Agatha Christie novel and enjoyed it then maybe it's time you check out the Agatha Christie Reading Carnival hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise.

Today is the 6th carnival with twelve bloggers participating, and yes that includes my own post from A Library is a Hospital for the Mind.

I want to thank Kerrie again for hosting this monthly carnival and for opening it up so others can participate. It is an added incentive to finish my own personal Agatha Christie reading challenge each month.

As for the rest of my readers, I encourage you to hop over and check out the carnival and read some of the reviews... Or maybe even consider participating next month (or sometime before the end of the year).

Post Alert

I was browsing some book blogs I've found and came across a post from May where the blogger reviewed Gaskell's North and South. Just in case my review wasn't enough to get you to read the book, maybe theirs will? You can read their review here.