Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Woman in White Readalong Sign-ups:

I am pleased to announce that in January 2011 I will be hosting a readalong of Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. I am extremely excited to be reading this novel, as I have heard so many wonderful things about it around the blogosphere.

I hope you will consider joining in on the fun and get a wonderful classic read at the beginning of new year (we all need some classic love in our lives).

I have never read anything by Collins before, so this will be a new experience. In fact, I don't have a copy of this title on my shelves yet! I asked for the beautiful Penguin clothbound edition for Christmas and I will be sure to go purchase it if need be. I am going to make my plans for this readalong based on the information I find online (I generally like to have the book by me when I plan these things, but I can't do that in this case).

If you are considering joining in, here is a little synopsis of the novel taken from Goodreads.com:

"The story begins with an eerie midnight encounter between artist Walter Hartright and a ghostly woman dressed all in white who seems desperate to share a dark secret. The next day Hartright, engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, tells his pupils about the strange events of the previous evening. Determined to learn all they can about the mysterious woman in white, the three soon find themselves drawn into a chilling vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue.

Masterfully constructed, The Woman in White is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction: Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish, yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and flamboyant "Napoleon of Crime.""

Sounds like a wonderful read for a cold winter night, right?

The book is roughly 600 or so pages, so we'll divide it down the middle. I would recommend looking to see where there is a break around the 300 pages mark and calling it halfway. :)

There will be two times to post on the following days:
  • January 14-17, 2011: This post will focus on the first half of the book (roughly 300 pages or so)
  • January 28-31 2011: This post will focus on the second half of the book (roughly 300 pages or so)
Since I am hosting 2 other readalongs in January (War and Peace and Rebecca), I am making your posting dates a little spread out. I will do my very best to have my post up with my thoughts and observations on the first day.

If you decide to participate, here is what you need to do. First, you need to comment here letting me know that you want in. I will put your name below with a link to your blog so we can all come cheer you on. When it comes time to post, all you need to do is comment on my main post with a link to your own thoughts about the novel. I'll add links to the bottom of my page so other participants can visit your blog and comment.

I don't require participants to read everyone's thoughts, but it is more fun to visit and comment as much as possible.

I do ask that if possible you post a link on your blog somewhere promoting the readalong. I always say that the more participants, the better.

And everyone who succeeds in finishing the novel and makes their posts is eligible for a small prize, furnished by me.

So, if you are interested, comment below and let me know! I hope to see you joining! :)

Participants:
Kate
Christina
Zoe
Carey
April
Edie
Medical Librarian
Amanda
Tahleen
Liz
IndieReader
Denise
Aimee Burton
Jo
Andi

22 comments:

  1. I'm up for it! It's available for the Kindle on amazon for just 95 cents, so I bought it. Can't wait!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know that I'm ready. :) Can't wait!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've decided to join this one! I may join another one too, but in the meantime I'm excited to read this book.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I only recently read this one so it's too soon for a reread, alas. I just wanted to drop in and say that you're in for a treat; this was one of my favourite books of 2010. I look forward to seeing what you make of it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm down for this! The Woman in White is on my Project Fill In The Gaps list, so yayyy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've been wanting to read this one for a while too. Sign me up! Would love to read Rebecca as well, but I will also be reading War and Peace. Another time!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll be participating--and probably "reading" on audio. Sounds like fun!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What the heck, we'll sign up for this one as well!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yay, a readalong I want to do! I have been meaning to read this one for a while now. I'm in.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I bought this one last spring and haven't gotten to it, so I would love to join. Here's a link to my blog. I'll definitely have to post about this soon!
    http://consumedbybooks.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm interested in giving this one a try. I haven't read Wilkie Collins, though I've read about him. I don't know if I'll make it, but I'm going to give it a try.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've had this one on my TBR list a while, so I think I'll go for it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I was planning to read this this year for a book challenge - what better way to do it than through a readalong!

    -Aimee
    Poisoned Apples and Smoking Caterpillars

    ReplyDelete
  14. Have had this on my to be read shelf for ages, so count me in.

    ReplyDelete
  15. So I'm in the third epoch right now and am really contemplating coming up with a drinking game for the Woman In White. It would be so easy.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oops, different blog account....

    my blog link is here:

    http://content.boomerangbooks.com.au/poisoned-apples-blog/


    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Allie, I am so sorry to say I'm going to be unable to participate in the read-along after all. I was planning to listen to it on audio, but the copy I have turns out to be abridged (which I don't want) and very poorly recorded so I cannot understand the narrator. (I am slightly hard of hearing and sometimes have difficulty with particular audio.) I'll plan to read the print version soon--and if I can get to it this month, I will definitely play along in the comments here--but for now, I'd appreciate it if you'd remove me from the participant list. Thanks, and so sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm late but I want to sign up! I started reading this one last year and bailed because work was crazy. I'm definitely back in.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Not an entry, I just wanted to say: Whoa. Cool cover. It really grabbed me. I'm off to learn more about this book.

    Happy weekend :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hello again, Allie!

    Here are my thoughts on the first 300 or so pages:

    http://content.boomerangbooks.com.au/poisoned-apples-blog/read-along-the-woman-in-white-by-wilkie-collins-pages-1-309/2011/01

    ReplyDelete