I meant to post the winners of the previous Classically Challenged Jane Austen giveaway yesterday, that said I meant to do a whole new page for Classically Challenged full stop. Oops. So today I am giving away more books and announcing the winners of the three winners of ‘Persuasion’ in the same post. I myself have started ‘Persuasion’ now but it is too early to give you any details as to whether I think I am going to love it or not.
Anyway today the lovely Oxford University Press have kindly offered to give away three copies of ‘The Warden’, the first in the Barchester Chronicles, by Anthony Trollope on both my blog and another three on AJ’s blog too. Now as we have a bit longer to get the books to you this time the competition is open worldwide wherever you are. So if you have always fancied giving this book a try then now is the chance to get a lovely edition for nothing.
So what do you have to do to win one of these novels? Well, now that you have asked, you need to do the same thing, but twice. So firstly we would like you to tell us what your favourite series, or chronicles, of books are and why. AND you need to do this on both mine AND also AJ’s blogs. This actually gives you double the chance of winning and also means both me and AJ get to chat to you, as it were, which is doubly nice all round.
You have until midnight GMT on Saturday the 13th of October to enter the draw and the winners will be chosen at random out of a hat and announced on the following Monday when we announce which Dickensian delight we will be reading from your votes the last time round (as we haven’t had chance to tally them yet. Good luck!
P.S the winners of ‘Persuasion’ were… Russell, Katy and Rosie. Please email me your details to savidgereads@gmail.com with the subject ‘Persuasion’.
Savidge Reads 
Simon, can those of us outside the UK enter the contest? I’m having trouble finding this book over here, I’d love to win this!
I echo Chris’ sentiment above – I have always meant to start Trollope, but am now outside the UK and it’s nearly impossible to find him at the libraries or bookshops here.
My favourite series are: Narnia by C.S, Lewis (you knew someone was going to mention that, didn’t you?), the Swedish Martin Beck crime series (a real classic of the genre) and Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet. OK, I admit I read this last one when I was in my late teens, so I may feel quite different about the opulent language now.
My favorite series of books are the Spenser books by the late Robert B. Parker. They are a mystery crime series that takes place in and around Boston. The main character lives by his own moral code which leads him to solve crimes and deal with the bad guys in his own way. I love this series for the dialogue, but more for the fact, that when I met my husband, a book in this series was my first gift to him (it was one of his favorites, too!).
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Hi folks, just to let you know that I have now opened up this entry over at AJ Reads too (just in case you were trying to enter and wondered where the relevant post had gone).
We’re both looking forward to your suggestions! And congratulations to the winners of the first giveaway!
Recently I’ve loved The Hunger Games – gripping and couldn’t put them down, but also as they have a decent female heroine and are a total antidote to the rubbish that is Twilight and the hideous example that is Bella.
But overall, my favourite series is the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome. I loved them when I was little and I still do now – perfect childhood, and Nancy Blackett as captain of the Amazon pirates has always been my idol!
Ooh I’ve never read Trollope so I’ve love to win this! I’ve already got a copy of Persuasion so I’m looking forward to re-reading that too.
There are a number of series which I could mention, but my favourite (and most re-read) ever would have to be Colin Dann’s The Animals of Farthing Wood series. I enjoyed the TV series when I was a child but the books are wonderful… and can be appreciated just as much as an adult!
Oh, Persuasion! That’s my favourite Austen novel.
As for favourite series, the first thing that comes to mind is Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake/The Year of the Flood/Maddaddam series. I’ve recently reread the first two books and am looking forward to the third one. I love me some dystopian fiction.
By the way, I’ve also enjoyed The Hunger Games series – maybe you might want to rethink not reading that series, Simon! The book is better than the movie, although I did enjoy the movie quite a lot.
It would be a tie for me between The Hunger Games and The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo series (surprising as I don’t really like crime).
I enjoy the Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood set in Melbourne, Australia in the 1920’s. Beginning with the first in the series Cocaine Blues Phryne finds herself embroilled in some shady shenannigans and decides to try her hand at some detective work. I find these books an indulgent escape into a bygone era. Just lots of fun.
For some crime I like Kathy Reichs and her series featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.The detail in regard to the science is fascinating and the back story of her personal life has made each new book eagerly anticipated. I cannot however understand the association to that ghastly TV series ‘Bones’ !!
So far my favourite is Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. The story was intriguing (mostly because of Lisbeth Salander’s hacking skills!) and it kept me hooked up. 🙂
My favourite has been the Morland dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. Loved the books.
Thinking about it I seem to read a lot of series. When I was a child I was very fond of the Nancy Drew books, and also several of Enid Blyton’s series (Famous Five, Mallory Towers, The Five Find-Outers, St Clares – just about any of them really).
Now E.F.Benson’s Mapp and Lucia novels are amongst my favourites – I can read them again and again. Then there’s PG Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster, and moving onto crime fiction Kathy Reichs Temperance Brennan, Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, Ed McBain’s 87th precint… (I said I read a lot of series, didn’t I?) Trying for a slightly more literary image (too late, I know) I have really enjoyed Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bringing Up the Bodies – possibly because I have always enjoyed history and historical novels (many days spent reading anything by Jean Plaidy)
I think I am not really a series reader. I did enjoy the Tolkien books very much when I was younger. And I loved “The Dark is Rising” which I read with my daughter when she was a kid. Oh, and also the Lloyd Alexander “Taran” books which I read with my son.
That said, I actually have read the entire Barchester series. Why did I do that? Well, I like Mr. Trollope’s worldly wisdom and his understanding of human nature. Additionally, I enjoy very much how easily he either quotes the Bible or makes reference to it. And, indeed, some of the references are hilarious quips or asides. But, mostly, I like his interest in character. This, I think, is what actually drove him as the writer of the series. (Take, for example, the development of the incomprehensible Lily Dale between “The Small House at Allington” and “The Last Chronicle of B.” Or the detailed examinations of Adolphus Crosbie and John Eames in the former. Or how Archdeacon Grantley becomes less and less comical as we get to know him more.) Mr. T. wanted his characters to be full and real. Their development is the real “plot” of the series. The events, the twists and turns of outer plot, are his vehicles for this development.