Summer Reading Challenge: The Giver

     So my first attempt at this challenge failed. I've finished The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, however instead of taking two weeks to complete, it took three. I have failed you! I am failure! But I did finish it, and let me tell you; as laughably campy as it is, the book gets downright creepy in some parts. Emily, our heroine is as dull as brick and faints like one too! Seriously I think one could invent a drinking game from the amount of times she literally hits the floor. The story is all over the place, and some plot points are terribly useless (i.e. the black veil, whatever happened to Manchon, the disappearance of Ludovico). And how much better would it be if this story was about Annette and Ludovico? These are two are the best characters in the whole book. Still Ann Radcliffe was a highly influential author, giving rise to some of the greats of gothic literature such as Edgar Allen Poe. If you're a literature-buff you might want to check her writing out.

     For the next two weeks, the next book from my list will be The Giver by Lois Lowry. I have very mixed feelings about dystobian, romance, Y.A. fiction-turned movie adaption shenanigans. However, this is a favourite of a reader who's opinion I trust, and if I'm going to watch a movie adaptation, I must read first! So wish me luck for the next two weeks! Hopefully I'll be able to finish in time!