What We Are Reading: Classics, Part 2

This is the place to post your 'oldies but goodies' reads!

Thanks Stasia! We did need a new one.

I'm reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Does this qualify as a classic? I know it's old, but old doesn't necessarily make it a classic, does it? I often wonder about that with authors who have penned true classics. Just cuz a person wrote one (or two or three) doesn't mean everything they wrote is a classic - does it?

I think the definition for this thread is pretty much anything published before 1960. Doesn't seem to matter whether it's part of the official canon or not (although, I would argue that all of the Brontes works including Villette are part of the canon).

Yes, very loose definition of classic in these parts!

There are those who think that Charlotte's masterwork is Villette.

Robert

I've just started My Antonia. I think I must have read O Pioneers in school, but I don't remember loving Willa Cather this much.

"...definition for this thread is pretty much anything published before 1960."

And that's the definition I use for all of my 'classics' read.

Have just finished Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings The Yearling (1938) and it was one this years best readings. I love the descriptions of the wild untamed nature the family are trying to survive in. The hunting down of the old, mean bear Slewfoot. And most of all the relationship between the wise and loving father Penny and the son Jody. And I haven't even mentioned the fawn.....

I am (hopefully) starting Loving by Henry Green tonight.

I just finished and reviewed Classic Crimes, by William Roughead, a collection of true crime stories written in the early 20th century by a Scottish lawyer who was a connoisseur of murder trials.

I've started my second Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop. I do like the descriptions of New Mexico, but religion has little interest for me so I'm not loving it the way I did My Antonia.

I just finished and reviewed the compellingly readable sprawling saga of They Were Counted by Miklós Bánffy, the first volume in his trilogy about pre-World War I Hungary.

#13 That one sounds interesting to me Rebecca. I will have to look out for it.

Thanks, Jennifer. I don't think it's published in the US; the copy I bought at my favorite bookstore in NYC was published in the UK, and I've had to order the other two volumes of the trilogy from the UK.

Just finished King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard - a no nonsense adventure/swashbuckler that is both fun and exciting.

I've now completed and reviewed the second two volumes of Miklos Bánffy's Transylvanian trilogy, They Were Found Wanting and They Were Divided; the whole series is both a fascinating portrait of Hungary in the early years of the 20th century and a compelling set of stories.

Finally managed to review Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope. It was quite good.

Finished Macbeth and Little women this weekend. Quite a contrast, too. :-)

#17 I still have not made a start on the first volume, which I've had for over a year. I'm glad to hear good reports of the whole trilogy.

I'm currently reading The Island of Dr. Moreau (H.G. Wells) for the TIOLI challenge.

# 21: Oh, oh...scary, scary... one of my favorite Wells.

Just finished The Thirty Nine Steps (1915), very funny "man-un-the-run" spy-novel. And then Poirot have just heard a bump in the cabin next to him....currently reading Murder on the Orient Express (1934).

I've just finished and reviewed the subtle, complex, and bitingly witty The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay.

A book and an author I've never heard of. Thanks for reviewing it.

#23 Oh, I loved that book when I read it, years ago. Never read anything else by Macaulay; I wonder if her others match up?

#25 It's said to be her masterpiece, but I'm going to look for some of her other work.

I just finished an audiobook of The Age of Innocence, my favorite Edith Wharton. Now I've started The Good Earth. I guess conditions in China make those of the upper class New Yorkers seem a little less brutal, though you could transpose any of the characters to respective positions in either book, and they would act the same, I think.

I've just finished the delightful Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes and hope to read more medieval literature over the coming year.

If you enjoyed Chretien, you might like to try Marie de France also - I remember enjoying both of those in one of my medieval literature classes at college.

Thanks, Genny. Several other people mentioned this, so I'm going to look for it.

The Moonstone rates as a classic, don't you think? I gobbled it down this weekend. Yum.

Have been reading The Mill on the Floss slowly, savouring a few chapters a day. Really loving it.

Pleased to hear that Genny - it's on my to read shelves:)

I've finally started Persuasion for the Austenathon.

I figured that Christmas is close enough to read A Christmas Carol. I am always sceptical of Dickens, but my edition has illustrations by Quentin Blake, so that will help. At least I liked the first chapter.

I didn't come in to the 'group' much since I didn't have much spare time to breeze other fellow reader's thread, but now I finally made some (before leaving to dreaded writing-2 class...)
I have just finished reading The Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ... do you think this counts as a classic?

>35 applebook1: Absolutely. Our definition of classic here is anything published before 1960.

I'm a little ways into listening to The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, a mystery about Richard III, it's listed by the British Crime Writers Association as the 1 mystery of the top 100 mysteries, and by the American group as #4. So far I can see why she's called a mystery writer for people who don't like mysteries.

Love Willa Cather. Death Comes for the Archbishop is incredibly moving. I love the "Bride/Wolves" story in My Antonia. I have never forgotten it.

I have started The Count of Monte Cristo. It might be a while before I finish.

Ooh, but well worth it. I read a very very abridged version a number of times in my teens and twenties. My book club read it last year on my recommendation and while they read a somewhat abridged version, I read the unabridged electronic version and it was so much fun. Entire story lines are dropped out of the abridged versions. But any edition is good to read. So much humor and drama and injustice and justice.

As you can tell, I'm a fan of The Count of Monte Cristo :-)

I am pretty sure mine is unabridged since it is well over 3,000 Nook Book pages. It is pretty good so far, but the translation is not the best. I am very happy that I finally started the book. It has been one I have been meaning to read all year.

Started Our Mutual Friend to meet my quota of 2 Dickens a year. A little slow going, but seems to be a mystery, which suits the increasing chill in the air this time of year.

Continuing my medieval mini-theme, I've finished and reviewed the somewhat ponderous Parzival and Titurel by Wolfram von Eschenbach, one of the earliest versions of the grail legend.

And now I've finished and reviewed the mysterious and melancholy Adventures of Sindbad by Gyula Krúdy.

Continuing my reading with Mr. Fortune's Maggot and the Salutation by Sylvia Townsend Warner and Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.

I've just reviewed Three Novellas and The Leviathan by Joseph Roth, and Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono.

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo! Hooray! It was really good. It was well worth the time spent.

I just finished my last book of the year, Parnassus on Wheels. Just lovely, and Helen is one feisty woman.

Both of those are good books - Congrats to both of you!

#47 I just started listening to The Count of Monte Cristo as an audio-book - many hours of listening to follow, so I'm glad you think it is worth the time!

I'm about to start Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty years a slave, and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley. I gather it was quite controversial in its time and afterward.