Challenge: Dystopia

I love all genres. Or most of them, anyway. But recently I've got into a dystopia mood... For anyone who's confused:

dystopia (n) : an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. Opposite of utopia.

Dystopian, science fiction and post-apocalyptic novels are often one and the same. Although not always. Some famous ones are:

1984 by George Orwell
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (recently made into a film starring Keira Knightly and Carey Mulligan)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

To mention just a few!

Anyway, I decided I might as well make use of my dystopian mood, so I'm climbing on the band wagon started by BA Reading Challenges. Here's how the challenge works:


How To Participate

    1.    Decide which challenge level you'll be doing (see below).
    2.    Grab the code for the badge down below and post it on a side bar or in a signature.
    3.    Create your own post to let all your readers know you’re taking part in the challenge and at what level. Make sure to link back to this page with either one of the buttons or a text link.
    4.    Use the link form below to enter into the challenge by sharing your challenge post URL and your name (either your name, blog name, or both).Please don't use the comment form to participate, only to comment on the challenge or something else.
    5.    Submit your reviews (if you choose to review them, but that's optional) on the review page.
    6.    When you’ve completed you’re challenge let us know on the completion post. If you're using a tag or category I recommend sharing the link back to that so everyone can find them

Challenge Levels:
    1.    Asocial–  Choose 5 books to read
    2.    Contagion – Choose 15 books to read
    3.    Soldier – Choose 30 books to read
    4.    Drone – Choose 50 books to read
    5.    Conditioned – Choose 75 books to read

For Extra Hard Challenges:
    1.    Brainwashed – Choose 76-125 books to read
    2.    Totalitarian – Choose 126-200 books to read

I'll be doing Contagion, I think. Seeing as I'm not that amazing, and I don't think I can even list 30 dystopian novels!!

These are the novels I'll be doing (I think):
1) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
2) 1984 by George Orwell
3) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
4) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
5) Animal Farm by George Orwell (this may or may not count as dystopian... I hope it does!)
6) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
7) The Time Machine by H.G Wells
8) The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
9) Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks
10) The Running Man by Stephen King (under the pen-name of Richard Bachman)
11) The Iron Heel by Jack London
12) The Neuromancer by William Gibson
13) The Children of Men by PD James (perhaps, although I'm not sure about this one... )
14) ??
15) ??

Ug. I think I'll go get reading... !!

Top Five Romances

On today of all days, the wedding of Prince William (British royal family) and Kate Middleton, I'm thinking about looove. So what're the top five romances in novels?

Here's what I think:

1) Elizabeth and Darcy in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It just has to be, really - they're one of the most famous couples ever. But it's not Colin Firth striding out of ponds that's made this story so hot, it's the masterful writer behind it. This is a classic example of 'the course of true love never did run smooth', and Pride and Prejudice set a whole new precedent and sparked numerous romantic novels, plays and films where the protagonists begin by disliking each other.

2) Dona and Jean-Benoit Aubéry in Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier. Although Rebecca is du Maurier's most famous novel, Frenchman's Creek will always be my favourite. The snatched romance between a Lady and a French pirate is one that is often overlooked in lists such as this one. It's a really beautiful novel, and I owe it thanks on a personal level for inspiring my latest story The House of Make Believe.


3) John Ridd and Lorna Doone in Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore. If this isn't a classic love story, I don't know what is. John and Lorna, first separated by their warring families, then by the rigid class system, get caught up in the wars, feuds and battles that give this book such a kick. I love it especially for its host of baddies, the violent outlaws the Doones, contrasted with the simple goodness of the Ridds, farming folk. The characters are vibrant, the action is quick. I love it to pieces.

4) Jane and Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. This is one of the first novels of its kind because it covers so many genres: romance, moral, mystery, gothic, supernatural... Jane Eyre also boasts a strong heroine and a less-than-perfect hero. In times when everyone's drooling over impeccably behaved vampires, it's more than a little refreshing.

5) Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and Cathy Linton and Hareton Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I love this novel for many reasons - the gothic feel, the tragic story of Heathcliff and Catherine's love - but what I like best about it is the way it stretches over the generations. Brontë could easily have ended it with Catherine's death, or even before that, but she chose instead to show us all how consequences pile up and effect the next generation. Apart from all this, it's a lovely romance and gets extra points because it's not only one love story but two!

Don't agree with me? Think I missed something important? Give me a yell, or even better, have a go at this on your own blog to remember the day of the royal wedding!

Good luck William and Kate!
~West x