Zesty Z's #atozchallenge

Day 26 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

Synopsis: This is the story of two men, their incredible friendship, and the importance of living life to the fullest. Zorba, a Greek working man, is a larger-than-life character, energetic and unpredictable. He accompanies the unnamed narrator to Crete to work in the narrator’s lignite mine, and the pair develops a singular relationship. The two men couldn’t be further apart: The narrator is cerebral, modest, and reserved; Zorba is unfettered, spirited, and beyond the reins of civility. Over the course of their journey, he becomes the narrator’s greatest friend and inspiration and helps him to appreciate the joy of living.

This is the last post of the April A to Z Challenge. I visited some great blogs and I had more fun this year (my second year doing this) than last year. I will go into further detail on that in my reflection post on May 9. Hope everyone enjoyed the challenge and I can't wait to do it again next year. Speaking of next year, I'm thinking about having both of my blogs featured in the challenge. Thanks everyone who visited my blog.

You are all welcome to follow me on twitter.

Check out my other blog: Writing with Meg. I just recently started it as a way to only feature my own writing - since it's a blog though, I'm going to be doing mostly flash fiction stories. Starting on May 9, I will be doing a writing series on my heart condition and my journey with that through the years. For the A to Z Challenge last year, I did a post on that. If interested, you can see it here.

♥Meg♥

Youthful Y's #atozchallenge

Day 25 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Synopsis: Hawthorne's classic tale of a young Puritan's meeting with the Devil.

♥Meg♥

EXcellent X's #atozchallenge

Day 24 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (I had to cheat for this, see what I did there?)

Synopsis:Humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman — and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride.
♥Meg♥

Wonderful W's #atozchallenge

Day 23 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Synopsis: The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amid woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts.

My Favorites: Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
                         White Oleander by Janet Fitch

I read White Oleander earlier last year. You can check out the review here.

♥Meg♥

Vibrant V's #atozchallenge

Day 22 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf

Synopsis: Woolf’s first novel is a haunting book, full of light and shadow. It takes Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose and their niece, Rachel, on a sea voyage from London to a resort on the South American coast. “It is a strange, tragic, inspired book whose scene is a South American not found on any map and reached by a boat which would not float on any sea, an American whose spiritual boundaries touch Xanadu and Atlantis” (E. M. Forster).
♥Meg♥

Ultimate U's #atozchallenge

Day 21 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Ulysses by James Joyce

Synopsis: Joyce weaves strikingly versatile prose styles and varying perspectives to encompass the whole of life within the hours of a single standard day, June 16th, 1904. This day, dubbed Bloomsday, is celebrated with increasing popularity in modern times, which is a testament to the lasting greatness of the novel (and to the desire to drink and be merry of all people). Instead of taking a daily life and elevating it to mythical proportions, Joyce has taken mythology and reversed it, shrinking it into an average day, which in turn gives each character and action a heroic sense about them.

♥Meg♥

Terrific T's #atozchallenge

Day 20 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Twenty Thousands Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Synopsis: Professor Pierre Aronnax is part of a team sent to investigate reports of a sea monster suspected to be a narwhal off the coast of New York. They soon discover that the monster is in fact a submarine called the Nautilus, headed by Captain Nemo, an enigmatic man who has withdrawn from the world. When Arronnax and his team are taken prisoner by Nemo, the Nautilus heads into the deepest fathoms of the seas where adventure and discovery await.

My Favorites: The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit by Julius Lester

                        To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I recently did a post on Harper Lee soon after she passed in February. You can check it out here.

♥Meg♥

Sassy S's #atozchallenge

Day 19 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Synopsis: A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions.

My Favorites: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares

                        The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

                        The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

♥Meg♥

Radiant R's #atozchallenge

Day 18 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Synopsis: Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being.

My Favorite: Ramona series by Beverly Cleary

♥Meg♥

Quaint Q's #atozchallenge

Day 17 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (I had to cheat a little with this by putting this under Quixote for the letter Q)

Synopsis: Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances, that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray – he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants – Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam the world together, and together they have haunted readers' imaginations for nearly four hundred years.

Fun Fact:

I've been doing community theatre productions for a local theatre company since 2008. This year, we did Man of La Mancha, a musical based on Don Quixote. I chose to do stage crew this year instead of acting in it. The show was in March, the two weekends before Easter and my birthday was during the closing weekend shows.

This is the musical version of Don Quixote. I believe it's the official Broadway image.

The picture below is me with the actor who played Don Quixote.

♥Meg♥

Peculiar P's #atozchallenge

Day 16 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic:  The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Synopsis: When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond, who, beneath his veneer of charm and cultivation, is cruelty itself.

♥Meg♥

Outstanding O's #atozchallenge

Day 15 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Synopsis: It is the story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Using the simple, powerful language of a fable, Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of defeat and personal triumph won from loss.

My Favorite: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

♥Meg♥

Nifty N's #atozchallenge

Day 14 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Synopsis: The story's heroine is Catherine Morland, an innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry's mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.

My Favorites: Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene

                        Night by Elie Wiesel

 ♥Meg♥

Magnificent M's #atozchallenge

Day 13 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Synopsis: It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional high-society woman in post-World War I England. Created from two short stories, "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister," the novel addresses Clarissa's preparations for a party she will host that evening. With an interior perspective, the story travels forwards and back in time and in and out of the characters' minds to construct an image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure.

My Favorite: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. I did an author spotlight on her, which you can find here.

♥Meg♥

Lovely L's #atozchallenge

Day 14 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Synopsis: In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

My Favorite: Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

♥Meg♥

Kinky K's #atozchallenge

Day 11 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green

Synopsis:

King Arthur is one of the greatest legends of all time. From the magical moment when Arthur releases the sword in the stone to the quest for the Holy Grail and the final tragedy of the Last Battle, Roger Lancelyn Green brings the enchanting world of King Arthur stunningly to life.

♥Meg♥

Joyful J's #atozchallenge

Day 10 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Synopsis: Run with them. Or fear them:
Bagheera the Panther: A silken shadow of boldness and cunning.
Kaa the Python: A thirty foot battering ram driven by a cool, hungry mind.
Baloo the Bear: who keeps the lore and the Law, and teaches the Secret Words.
Rikki the Mongoose: The young protector who sings as he slays.
Akela and Raksha the Wolves: Demon warriors of the Free People.
Shere Khan the Tiger: The dreaded enemy of all.
And Mowgli the Man-cub: The orphan baby raised by the wolves, taught by Baloo, trained by Bagheera and Kaa. The sorcerer who knows the ways of the jungle and speaks the language of the wild.

♥Meg♥

Inspiring I's #atozchallenge

Day 9 of the April A to Z Challenge

A Book Extravaganza - featuring classics and some of my favorite books

Classic: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Synopsis: Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local "powhitetrash." At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

♥Meg♥