Monday, 29 February 2016

Leap Year Book Challenge 2016

Leap Year babies will tell you how special it is to be born on the 29th February.

To celebrate a once in 4 year event - go to page 29 of the book you're reading right now and copy the first sentence onto your blog or into my comments section. 

Four years ago today I came upon this little book meme doing the rounds on facebook. I decided to re-jig the idea for the 2016 leap year.

I hope you can join me.

My book for the 2016 Leap Year is Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.

My page 29 quote:
The last prank had been to give the hens bread soaked in rum, which made them tipsy and scandalised all the other fowls, for the respectable old biddies went staggering about, pecking and clucking in the most maudlin manner, while the family were convulsed with laughter at their antics, till Daisy took pity on them and shut them up in the hen-house to sleep off their intoxication.

16 comments:

  1. From Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant:
    "There were, however plenty of things to attend to before they could set off."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I loved this book last year. It has continued to grow in my affections since then too :-)

      Delete
  2. From Jane [Austen] and Her Gentlemen, by Audrey Hawkridge: "It was a crowded household, a little uncongenial to a writer's soul, but it was a safe harbour and only temporary, for in 1809 she moved to Chawton, near Alton."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This one sounds very interesting - any goss so far?

      Delete
  3. Anonymous29/2/16

    My book for the 2016 Leap Year is 'Bend in the River' (Naipaul)
    "The shops were empty; water was a problem; electricity was erratic; and petrol was often short".
    Main character Salim describing the town (on the bend in the river) where he has decided to start his new life/business.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another Nobel author - well done Nancy!

      Delete
  4. Jasper Fforde 'Shades of Grey'
    He had a faded Yellow Spot on his grubby lapel and his hair was not only without a neat parting, but without any sort of parting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Delighted to see you on here Geoff & delighted that you're loving Jasper Fforde :-)

      Delete
  5. Anonymous1/3/16

    The first complete sentence on page 29 of Anne Enright's The Forgotten Waltz is "So I waved." That doesn't tell you much, does it? ;) (The book is excellent though; hard to put down despite an unlikable narrator. That's always a good sign.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I enjoyed The Gathering & hope to try another Enright soon - I'll watch for your review.

      Delete
  6. Here's the first line on page 29 in Against a Brightening Sky by Jaime Lee Moyer: "The air filled with the smell of burning cloth and wood and flesh."
    Fun post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks I'm enjoying seeing all these new-to-me books popping up too :-)

      Delete
  7. Nice...I used Little Women. http://100greatestnovelsofalltimequest.blogspot.com/2016/02/leap-year-book-challenge-2016.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. I only just saw this today so I added mine to Joseph's blog as it's still the 29th over there!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Here it is anyhow! "Oho, quelle aristo!" they shouted with ironical astonishment, gazing at the young girl's face, fingering her gown, thrusting begrimed, hate-distorted faces close to her own."
    'I Will Repay' by Baroness Orczy, 1913.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous3/3/16

    "Well then, isn't it better to just be honest about it?"
    From Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

    ReplyDelete

This blog has now moved to Wordpress.
Please visit This Reading Life to comment.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.