1901: Kim

Book Name: Kim

Author: Rudyard Kipling

Genre: Spy; Picaresque

Year Published: 1901

So despite what I wrote last time, I ended up reading a 1901 novel this time - Kim by Rudyard Kipling. It was indeed difficult to read at times and took me just over a month to read as at times I simply couldn't get into it for more than a few pages (though time constraints didn't help!) Kim started off for me in a very confusing manner as it seems to start of as a kind of religious journey and then suddenly at the end of the first chapter a load of spy language is thrown in and then not mentioned again for a while. However, it was this mishmash of genres that ended up making the book really interesting for me.

The internet tells me that Kim is a spy and picaresque book. The picaresque part is certainly true, but the spy part is more subtle in the book. It is more an underlying theme that you are reminded about from time to time, whilst the main emphasis is on Kim's journey and his growing up. The Indian setting was very interesting to read, but the usage of foreign and archaic words liberally throughout the book made me feel very glad I was using a Kindle with an inbuilt dictionary. However, I don't think the book would have felt quite the same without it as it really adds to his journey due to the way language is used by different characters in the novel.

Overall I only have two complaints about this book. Firstly, the start was very confusing and I didn't really have a clue what was going on in terms of genre and actual storyline till a few chapters in. I am undecided as to whether this a good thing or not. Secondly, it ends quite abruptly. I was fully prepared to keep reading Kim's journey and suddenly the book ended. Certain storylines within the book are left therefore unfinished and you simply have to decide for yourself what might have happened. Interesting for some, maybe, but I found it a bit frustrating. Regardless, I really enjoyed the majority of the story and I would certainly recommend keeping going to anyone else who found it confusing or difficult to read. It is worth the effort!

Books I Read In Between: Monday to Friday Man - Alice Peterson (2011)

1900: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Book Name: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Genre: Fantasy; Children's

Year Published: 1900

For the second book in my challenge I thought I'd go all the way back to the start and the year 1900. Originally I planned to read the full 100 years of books in chronological order, but to be completely honest I thought I would find it a little difficult only reading relatively old books for some time. For example, whilst reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I found that although I could tell it was aimed at children, the language used was of course quite different to what you'd find in a modern children's book, from little things like, "Toto did not like it", as opposed to "Toto didn't like it" to phrases such as "resolved to wait calmly" and "gave a cry of amazement". I read two more recent children's books around the same time as this novel and it's safe to say this kind of phrasing featured in neither of them. Given that this book was aimed at children, I figured that adult novels would be even more difficult to get into reading and so it would perhaps be more fun and refreshing to skip between time periods and genres when choosing which book to read next. I may go for a simple method of rolling a d100 to choose books, but we shall see.

As for the content of the book, I have to say that I did find it fun to read. I watched the film The Wizard of Oz quite a long time ago so I could only remember the basic storyline of Dorothy goes to Oz, meets x, y & z and they all want things so they ask the Wizard for them. Therefore it was quite fun to read the book and rediscover all the events and of course find the ones that didn't even feature in the film, or at least that I don't remember being in the film, such as a land of china people and the field of poppies which makes them fall asleep. Something that struck me in particular was the fact that at times the book was really quite creepy, such as when you think about how exactly is the scarecrow talking when his face is only painted on. But despite a few points like this, where I did question what on earth was going on, and yes, I know it's a children's fantasy novel, it was overall a good and well-written tale and I found it easy to read quickly and often, though maybe I wouldn't recommend it for particularly young children as some of the content is a little weird for nowadays.

Books I Read In Between: Who Could That Be At This Hour? - Lemony Snicket (2012); There's A Boy in the Girls' Bathroom - Louis Sachar (1987)