2012 - What classic are you reading now?

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2012 - What classic are you reading now?

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1Porua
Jan 2, 2012, 3:26 pm

Happy New Year everyone! A brand new year calls for a brand new thread. So here it is!

I have started on A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.

2socialpages
Jan 3, 2012, 2:55 am

I have started Lady Anna, one of Trollope's less well known works.

3Bjace
Jan 3, 2012, 9:10 am

Our mutual friend by Charles Dickens. Also, The clicking of Cuthbert, a book of stories about golf by P. G. Wodehouse.

4rocketjk
Jan 3, 2012, 10:54 am

I'm continuing my "tradition," now in its third year, of starting each new year with a Joseph Conrad novel. This year, it's The Nigger of the Narcissus. Hadn't read it in over 20 years and had forgotten how good it was.

5atimco
Jan 3, 2012, 12:25 pm

I am absorbed in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes.

6bluemeanie11
Modifié : Jan 3, 2012, 7:02 pm

I started the year with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It wasn't what I was expecting, somehow, but it was good anyway.

7kac522
Jan 3, 2012, 9:53 pm

I've started Trollope's Framley Parsonage. I love the way characters from the previous novels weave in and out, but I need a scorecard to keep track of the players!

8ncgraham
Jan 3, 2012, 10:01 pm

Finally finished Robert Stevenson's Kidnapped. It was wonderful, except that my edition was ridden with typos and there was even a paragraph missing in the last chapter! Luckily I found a beautiful hardcover illustrated by N. C. Wyeth in my favorite used bookstore today -- for only $5! Happy New Year to me!

9madpoet
Jan 4, 2012, 1:20 am

At long last, I've finished Bleak House!

I've got a nice long holiday coming, so I plan to read four of Jane Austen's novels, to compliment the two I've already read: Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey (She only wrote six novels, to my knowledge). I'm not a big Jane Austen fan, but I think I should read through her novels, at least once.

10Bjace
Jan 4, 2012, 8:10 am

#9, madpoet, Emma and Persuasion I loved, Sense and Sensibility I liked and Mansfield Park I decided was very dull and ordinary.

11endpapers
Jan 4, 2012, 1:53 pm

Four times I've tried Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility once, Emma too. I want to love Jane but perhaps I just don't.

12jnwelch
Jan 4, 2012, 6:06 pm

That's too bad, endpapers. P & P and Persuasion are my favorites, and Northhanger Abbey is a hoot, but I like all of them.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is what I'm reading now. I'm getting a kick out of it.

13endpapers
Jan 4, 2012, 7:45 pm

I've had a little idea about reading Henry James's "A Portrait of a Lady". I like his short stories, and I read "Turn of the Screw" and "The Aspern Papers" a long time ago, but I couldn't get through "What Maisie Knew". I guess I'll just pick it up and begin and see what happens.

14thorold
Jan 5, 2012, 9:45 am

Good to see that there are still a few others working through Trollope: I read Last chronicle of Barset over Christmas, with great pleasure. I think that means it's time to move on to the Pallisers, though I've also got quite a bit of Scott and practically all of Balzac on my hypothetical "classics to read" shelf...

15scribe001
Jan 5, 2012, 9:52 am

Happy New Year! I am re-reading Herodotus as the New Year arrives.

16Porua
Jan 5, 2012, 1:38 pm

Finished The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse a while ago. It was, as all Jeeves stories are, entertaining. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/77727481

17socialpages
Jan 6, 2012, 2:41 am

#13 endpapers. Give The Portrait of a Lady a go. I couldn't finish What Maisie Knew either although I enjoyed The Portrait of a Lady. I recommend James' Daisy Miller which is quite short and a good read.

18Bjace
Jan 6, 2012, 7:33 am

I second #17 on Daisy Miller I have to say that I started and could not finish Portrait of a Lady

19thorold
Jan 6, 2012, 10:16 am

>13 endpapers:,17,18
The spoils of Poynton is another less-intimidating James novel.

For some reason I launched into a different sort of classic last night, and started reading Seven types of ambiguity — one of those books you refer to when you're a student but never quite get around to reading all the way through. A bit dated, but surprisingly amusing.

20jnwelch
Jan 6, 2012, 10:33 am

I love the Jeeves stories, Porua. If you need a smile, they always bring one on. Bertie's a lucky guy to have Jeeves, and even when they have a dust-up, Bertie always comes around to realizing that in the end.

21thorold
Jan 6, 2012, 11:53 am

>20 jnwelch: Bertie's a lucky guy to have Jeeves

I think that's debatable! Some people (e.g. Kristin Thompson) argue that more often than not, it's Jeeves who creates, or at least exacerbates, the problem that Bertie has to overcome. He wants to make sure (a) that Bertie doesn't get married and (b) that Bertie never gets the idea that he could survive without Jeeves.
If you look at The inimitable Jeeves, for instance, in the first story Bingo and Bertie think Jeeves is helping Bingo when in fact he's only using him to sort out a problem in his own love-life; in the second he spots the con-artists in the hotel but doesn't warn Bertie about them until he's already got himself into a mess and Jeeves can use the opportunity to scotch Aunt Angela's scheme for marrying Bertie off and at the same time win the battle of the cummerbund...

...None of which makes the Jeeves stories any the less worth reading, of course. Bertie's language is the point. The plots and the early-morning tea are just a bonus. And, Jeeves or no Jeeves, we wouldn't want to see the poor sap married to Honoria or Florence.

22jnwelch
Jan 6, 2012, 12:14 pm

Yes, you got to what I was thinking about this at the end, Mark. The women Jeeves steers Bertie clear of without exception (as far as I can recall) would be a disaster in marriage. So I'm still of the view he's lucky to have him. Jeeves has some self-interest on this, but do any of us think he couldn't have another job in a blink? He likes Bertie, and the adventures he gets into with him, is my impression. Jeeves is like that popular chef in the stories that everybody's trying to get their hands on - he has a lot of choice in who he decides to work with.

The plots can be a little predictable, no question about it - but as you indicate, who cares? It's the fun of Wodehouse's language and his humor and the interactions of the characters that make these stories so popular.

23endpapers
Jan 6, 2012, 2:31 pm

#17, 18, 19 - Thanks for the encouragement. I've read The Spoils of Poynton and Daily Miller, actually. I'll let you know how I do with "Portrait".

24Cecrow
Jan 9, 2012, 9:20 am

Quarter of the way through The Pickwick Papers, and almost done with Treasure Island.

25Nickelini
Jan 9, 2012, 11:39 am

I'm reading To Kill a Mockingbird, which at only 52 years old, may not officially be a classic. However, I first read it in grade 10 English in the 70s, and it's still on the curriculum because my daughter is now reading it for grade 10 English. so I think that might make it a classic right there.

26Porua
Jan 11, 2012, 4:54 am

Read and reviewed A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. A great read to start off 2012 with! Hope the rest of the year goes this well.

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/76733195

27bookwoman247
Jan 13, 2012, 3:26 pm

I'm now reading The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal, and I'm really liking it, so far. It begins at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and I'm reminded of bits of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Stendha;'s tone seems more sardonic, though. It's early days. I'm just on pg. 50-ish, so I may have formed the wrong impression.

28rocketjk
Jan 13, 2012, 4:44 pm

#27> I read Charterhouse many years ago, but very much enjoyed it all the way through. Hope you do, too.

29leccol
Jan 15, 2012, 5:06 pm

I see that many of you are reading books I've read and reread over the years. My armchair pile of classics contains new ones I haven't read and several old friends. I just had my LEC copies of Gulliver's Travels and The Chimes rebound in Nigerian goatskin, and they have joined the pile to be read again.

Books I've never read before, but am now reading, include the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz and Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory. Both are LEC editions superbly designed, illustrated, and printed.

30thorold
Jan 15, 2012, 6:06 pm

I read Arnold Bennett's The Card and Arthur Quiller-Couch's On the art of writing this weekend — a couple of minor classics in their different ways. Coincidentally, both dating from the years immediately before the Great War. And I suppose you could just about link them by arguing that they are both debating the nature of literature: Bennett's book is a sort of allegory of the successful writer as entertainer; Q is trying to work out what a professor of English Literature is supposed to do.

31Bjace
Jan 16, 2012, 10:32 am

Have been reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn over the last couple months slowly. Finally finished it this morning. Still working on Our mutual friend

32Porua
Jan 17, 2012, 3:42 am

Read and reviewed Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, my second Shakespeare of the year. Enjoying Shakespeare's comedies!

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/76732319

33thorold
Jan 18, 2012, 7:38 am

I decided last night that it was time to start rereading South Riding, after watching the dreadful Andrew Davies BBC version. They had to cut out so much to fit it into 3 hours that the story became almost unintelligible - not a patch on the version Stan Barstow wrote for Yorkshire TV in the 70s.

34labwriter
Jan 21, 2012, 9:04 am

I'm reading Clarissa, started in a group read that seems to have fizzled out. I'm loving this book. I'm only reading a letter or two a day, or at least that's the plan for now, but if I read more than that--well, I can't see how that's a problem. This is the Penguin Classic edition, unabridged at 1499 pages.

35bookwoman247
Jan 21, 2012, 9:30 am

I've started Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson. I'm loving the writing, so far. Some of the descriptive passages are so beautiful!

36Bjace
Jan 21, 2012, 9:43 am

I've never read Green mansions, but a year or so ago I read Hudson's Idle days in Patagonia The first half of the book was amazingly good. Hudson went to Patagonia to study birds. He didn't end up doing much of anything, but he recorded his impressions of Patagonia in fine, lyrical prose. (The 2nd half of the book, which is about 19th century pseudo-science, isn't nearly as good.)

37atimco
Modifié : Jan 21, 2012, 1:10 pm

I read Green Mansions as a teen and always remembered it distinctly. I really savored my reread a few years ago. Enjoy!

38kac522
Jan 22, 2012, 1:36 pm

Just finished Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. Although some parts have awkward writing, much is outstanding, especially descriptive passages of 1890's Chicago and New York.

39rocketjk
Jan 22, 2012, 3:30 pm

I'm reading I'm Not Stiller by Max Frisch. This dense but insightful book is listed under Switzerland in the Classics in Their Own Country thread in the Reading Globally group, so I mention it here as well.

40thorold
Jan 23, 2012, 5:26 am

Following on from South Riding, I've been sticking to 1930s England. I read Odette Keun's I discover the English (probably not a classic, but an amusing chance find in a secondhand shop) last night and just started J.B. Priestley's English journey this morning. Interesting how what they all say about the superficial effects of the Depression echoes the things that catch your eye as a visitor to England nowadays, but a reminder that the kind of individual hardship that's going on behind the scenes is probably quite different.

41madpoet
Jan 23, 2012, 5:51 am

Just finished Persuasion. Three more Jane Austen novels to go. I actually enjoyed Persuasion- at least it was better than Northanger Abbey.

I'm also reading Little Dorrit by Dickens, and Don Juan by Byron.

42JerzyLazor
Modifié : Jan 23, 2012, 8:41 am

39: That's a great novel. All of Frisch's books are worth reading, but this one is a beaty.

43Cecrow
Jan 24, 2012, 8:22 am

>34 labwriter:, there's one I've been afraid to add to my TBR pile, for how long it will sit there staring at me.

I'm taking a similar approach to The Pickwick Papers. Lots of fine resting places since there's not a lot of continuous narrative; it's fairly episodic.

44Porua
Jan 26, 2012, 12:39 am

Read the classic locked room mystery The Big Bow Mystery (1892) by Israel Zangwill. A so-so experience. My complete review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3196902

45rocketjk
Jan 26, 2012, 1:03 am

#42> Quite so. I finished I'm Not Stiller and found it very rewarding.

46JerzyLazor
Jan 27, 2012, 7:28 am

#45 > I would recommend my favourite of his novels: Mein Name sei Gantenbein. It's been translated into English as "Gantenbein" and "A Wilderness of Mirrors". I am on my 4th copy, having last the first 3 to various "borrowing" friends.

47Porua
Jan 30, 2012, 2:02 am

Finished a re-read of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It reminded me why I prefer the Sherlock Holmes stories to the novels. My full review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3205978

48madpoet
Jan 31, 2012, 9:06 am

I finished Sense and Sensibility. Two more Jane Austen novels to go. Now I'm starting Emma.

49dharmalita
Jan 31, 2012, 11:37 am

I'm reading The Sign of Four, again. I love Sherlock Holmes, can't help myself. I'm following that up with a re-read of A Tale of Two Cities to celebrate one of my favorite author's 200th birthday.

50vivienbrenda
Jan 31, 2012, 3:08 pm

I'm reading The Red and the Black by Stendhal, on the recommendation of my son. I'm enjoying it very much, although I realize I do not fully understand the politics that drive the protagonist. That aside, the author has a light touch when it comes to description and a delightful understanding of basic human behavior. The more things change the more they indeed stay the same.

51Bjace
Fév 1, 2012, 1:24 am

Our mutual friend by Dickens. I need to find more time for it. There are so many character threads in this book that it's sometimes a little hard to follow, but it's very rich.

52Porua
Fév 1, 2012, 1:40 am

Finished Measure for Measure, one of William Shakespeare's lesser known plays. It was much darker than I expected.

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/81427053

Or my 75 Books Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815

53socialpages
Fév 3, 2012, 3:12 am

In honour of what would have been Charles Dickens' 200th birthday this month I am reading The Old Curiosity Shop.

54bookwoman247
Modifié : Fév 3, 2012, 8:17 am

In honour of what would have been Charles Dickens' 200th birthday this month I am reading The Old Curiosity Shop.

# 53 That's my favorite Dickens!

I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities in honor of Dickens' 200th birthday, myself.

55Porua
Fév 3, 2012, 11:24 am

# 54 bookwoman247, Love A Tale of Two Cities!

56bookwoman247
Fév 3, 2012, 11:37 am

# 55 Porua: It's brilliant so far! I'm having to slow myself down or I may finish it before his birthday on Tuesday!

57Nickelini
Fév 3, 2012, 12:27 pm

I'm reading Dickens too -- I read one of his novels each year around this time. I'm in my 5th year and it's time for Oliver Twist.

58Porua
Fév 3, 2012, 10:53 pm

# 56 bookwoman247, It's always so great to know that someone is liking the book you've loved for so long! :-)

59kac522
Fév 3, 2012, 11:17 pm

And I'm reading Great Expectations, which, amazingly, I have never read. Bleak House and Little Dorrit are in my top ten favorite books of all time.

60ncgraham
Fév 4, 2012, 9:17 pm

Oh dear, I forgot it was the Dickens birthday month. I ought to nab one, although I'm not sure how I'll fit it into my reading schedule. Maybe The Mystery of Edwin Drood? Wouldn't normally be the next one for me to go to, but I think they're airing an adaptation on PBS later this spring.

61Porua
Fév 13, 2012, 2:32 am

Read another old time mystery, At the Villa Rose by A.E.W. Mason. It was exciting but only in parts. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3236092

62Cecrow
Fév 20, 2012, 10:13 am

Took a while, but I've finished reading Memoirs of Fanny Hill. Other than its age (1748/49), it doesn't have a whole lot to recommend it. Jane Eyre ought to be a palate cleanser after that.

63thorold
Fév 20, 2012, 10:24 am

>62 Cecrow:
If you're not careful, you'll end up with a mouthful of cinders...

64atimco
Fév 20, 2012, 11:47 am

I'm reading War And Peace.

65bookwoman247
Fév 20, 2012, 2:34 pm

#64 Wisewoman: I can't wait to hear what you think about War and Peace! It's my all-time favorite book!

66atimco
Fév 20, 2012, 4:09 pm

What do you love about it? Why is it your favorite? I read it at age thirteen because I'd read everything else at our small-town library. All I remember is that everyone had an average of eight names apiece :P, and that there was a sense of inevitability about how the families' lives unfolded. I don't remember any details so it's like I am reading it for the first time. I'm reading the acclaimed Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. So far things are rather slow, so if you can tantalize me with the brilliance to come, I'd be very grateful!

67bookwoman247
Fév 20, 2012, 5:20 pm

What I loved most is how Tolstoy pulled me into that world. For weeks I was completely immersed in that world, to the point that when he described a meal at a hunting lodge, it made me hungry, which has never happened with me.

I hear that most people have trouble keeping track of the characters, but that was not a problem for me. The different nicknames mostly made sense because they were either foreign varients of the same name, or dimminuitives. I loved that he wrote so deeply of their lives, and had such a sense of human emotions. He wrote as well about the emotions of Natalya as he did about Nikolai, for instance. He even made historical figures like Napoleon seem more human than an abstract figure.

68Bjace
Fév 24, 2012, 5:57 pm

I read War and Peace last year and very much enjoyed it. Spent most of my day off finishing Our mutual friend which teems with marvelous life.

69bakabaka84
Fév 27, 2012, 4:38 pm

currently reading Death in Venice by Thomas Mann and just finished Spring's Awakening by Frank Wedekind

70atimco
Fév 28, 2012, 10:56 am

Thanks bookwoman. I'll read with those thoughts in mind.

I have also started listening to Pride and Prejudice, read by Josephine Bailey. Delightful.

71rocketjk
Fév 28, 2012, 11:23 am

I have started the at least semi-classic Advise and Consent by Allen Drury. I don't know, maybe controversial as an entry on this thread, but it is a Pulitzer winner, anyway,

72rolandperkins
Mar 15, 2012, 8:01 pm

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
In Sherlock Holmes: the Four Long Stories

THe others that are included are more "classic"
than this one: A Study in Scarlet,
The Sign of the Four.
and The Hound of the Baskervilles

73madpoet
Modifié : Mar 19, 2012, 9:36 pm

Of the four Sherlock Holmes novellas, the ones I most enjoyed are "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" I'm a huge Holmes fan, but I couldn't really get into the other two.

74madpoet
Mar 19, 2012, 9:36 pm

Having just finished all of Jane Austen's novels, I'm moving on to the Bronte sisters. Just started The Professor by Charlotte Bronte.

75Porua
Mar 24, 2012, 1:13 am

Reviewed a 19th century German classic, Aslauga's Knight by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Fouqué was also the author of Undine.

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3308130

76Bjace
Mar 24, 2012, 7:12 am

I read Undine a few years ago and found it dreamy, but strange. It's definitely not a "happily ever after" fairy tale.

77bluemeanie11
Mar 25, 2012, 12:52 pm

I'm reading Middlemarch right now, which is lovely so far but going very slowly.

78Porua
Mar 28, 2012, 6:03 am

I have finished reading Irving Stone's The Agony and The Ecstasy. Not a good experience for me. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/81425669

79Nickelini
Mar 28, 2012, 10:17 am

I tried to read the Agony and the Ecstasy a few years ago, but couldn't do it. I'd recently studied Michelangelo, and found it very repetitive to what I'd already read. Stone did do meticulous research, and took existing documents and massaged them into a novel of sorts. This resulted in those stilted conversations you noticed, and the repetition that I noticed.

80Porua
Mar 29, 2012, 12:29 am

# 79 Yes as I have said in my review the story is extremely repetitive. Michelangelo has talent, he gets into trouble with powerful people, he is miserable, he builds/makes/paints something incredible and everything is okay until the next difficulty rears its ugly head. It’s basically the same thing happening again and again.

Stone's extensive research shows but he has tried to cram all that information into the book. It gets really tedious after a while.

81Nickelini
Mar 29, 2012, 12:37 am

Right- you did say it was repetitive in your review. I didn't get far enough to see that. The repetition that I saw was that the book was the same material that I'd read when I studied Michelangelo at university. It's like Stone took the source documents and just sort of slightly novelized it.

I was interested in his book on Van Gogh, but now I'm not sure.

82riani1
Mar 29, 2012, 11:18 am

I liked Stone's Those Who Love, which is about John and Abigail Adams.

83Porua
Mar 30, 2012, 1:32 pm

# 81 "It's like Stone took the source documents and just sort of slightly novelized it."

You've said it! The Agony and The Ecstasy is his research material, only slightly novelized. Sure makes some dull reading. I would rather read a straight-up non-fiction book.

The Van Gogh book is called Lust for Life. Stone's writing's dullness notwithstanding, he sure had a knack for catchy titles!

84rocketjk
Mar 30, 2012, 11:24 pm

I remember the Mad Magazine take-off on the movie version of The Agony and the Ecstasy, which they called, "The Agony and the Agony."

85bookwoman247
Mar 31, 2012, 8:37 am

I just have to say that all tihs talk about The Agony and the Ecstasy makes me glad that I've never been inclined to read it. If and when I feel the inclination to learn about Michelangelo, I'll choose a non-fiction biography.

86Porua
Mar 31, 2012, 12:15 pm

# 84 Ha I didn't know that and yet in my head I was calling it 'The Agony and The Agony'!

# 85 "If and when I feel the inclination to learn about Michelangelo, I'll choose a non-fiction biography."

That's a good plan. The only reason I even read The Agony and The Ecstasy is because of the Chunkster Challenge. I so regret paying good money for it!

87rocketjk
Avr 1, 2012, 12:40 am

Finally finished Advise and Consent, which I though was terrific. I've now started What Maisie Knew by Henry James. I had to read a lot of James in grad school and must say I hated most of it, or at least hated the novels. Since that was 23 or so years ago, I thought I'd give him another go. Maisie is one of the few I didn't have to read back then, and I had it sitting about, so Maisie it is.

88madpoet
Modifié : Avr 1, 2012, 8:17 am

I just finished The Professor by Charlotte Bronte. I'm continuing my Bronte marathon with Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

As a teacher myself, it's interesting to read these two stories, both about teachers, by authors who had experience in the profession. I understand perfectly what poor Agnes is going through. Someone who has never taught might blame her for not being able to control her students, but sometimes it really is quite impossible.

89ncgraham
Avr 2, 2012, 9:41 pm

90Porua
Avr 4, 2012, 1:41 am

Read the children's classic The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit and throughly enjoyed it! My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/81426899

91Cecrow
Avr 4, 2012, 7:51 am

Working through The Pickwick Papers. The main narrative is hilarious - and interspersed with these odd tangential stories full of tragedy and revenge, etc. Pretty uneven in tone but, read with knowledge of how it was written as a weekly serial, very entertaining.

92socialpages
Avr 4, 2012, 5:32 pm

Just finished the Japanese classic, Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe. A man is imprisoned in a steep sided sand pit by villagers and forced to shovel sand each night to ensure his survival and the village's. Sand permeates the novel and from now on when I go to the beach I will think of sand very differently.

93jnwelch
Avr 4, 2012, 5:53 pm

David Copperfield, as part of a group read lead by msf59 (Mark).

94madpoet
Avr 4, 2012, 11:44 pm

I finished Agnes Grey. It seemed very autobiographical, except for the ending (Anne Bronte died young and unmarried, whereas her heroine's story has a bit of a fairy tale ending).

I think I'll take a break from the Brontes to read The Warden, since I haven't read any of Anthony Trollope's novels yet, and it is the first in the Barchester Chronicles series.

95Porua
Avr 5, 2012, 12:28 am

# 91 Yes, it is important to know that The Pickwick Papers was written as a weekly serial to properly enjoy it. I loved it when I read it more than a decade ago. I didn't know about its serialization then but that didn't bother me. I suppose as a kid I had a higher tolerance level for disjointedness in narrative. My adult self would probably not be as open.

# 93 Read David Copperfield about two years ago and didn't really fancy it. Hope you're going to like it better than I did. :-)

# 94 I read my first Trollope last year, Barchester Towers, the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire. I did like it but there seems to be something missing from Trolllope's prose. I found it to be kind of dry. I have another book from the Chronicles of Barsetshire, Framley Parsonage on my TBR pile. It is the fourth book in the chronicle. Hope you're enjoying The Warden.

96Bjace
Avr 5, 2012, 7:39 am

I've just started The Warden as well. Read Barchester Towers so long ago I don't really remember it and am hoping to like Trollope this time.

97atimco
Avr 5, 2012, 8:37 am

When I was first exposed to Trollope, I didn't care overmuch for him. I started with Can You Forgive Her? and stopped halfway; I just couldn't summon the interest. I had just plunged in with the first Trollope that came to hand, and that probably wasn't the best approach. I have since read The Warden, Barchester Towers, and Dr Thorne, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. He can be very funny and I love the way he writes his characters, but there is definitely a restraint in his manner that Dickens, for example, simply doesn't have. Once you get used to it, you might enjoy it as I learned to.

Framley Parsonage is next on my list. Maybe on vacation this year...

I'm still working through War and Peace, waiting for it to grip me. Nearly 500 pages in, it isn't yet, but that could be because I haven't had any good, uninterrupted stretches of reading time lately.

Oh, and I'm listening to Tess of the D'Urbervilles on audiobook. It's fairly depressing and Hardy is using his narrative to accuse God of wrongdoing on pretty much every level, but I still enjoy his characters and prose. He opens a window into worlds (both historical and spiritual) that I am unfamiliar with.

98madpoet
Avr 5, 2012, 8:26 pm

>97 atimco: Tess is Hardy at his best. His description of the reapers in the fields in the early morning is classic. And yes, the novel can be a bit of a downer, sometimes- but that's just Hardy the pessimist. I don't remember him accusing God of wrongdoing, though.

Everyone finds something different to interest them in War and Peace. For me, it was the historic sections, especially the Battle of Borodino, and Tolstoy's philosophical digressions on war and history. (If you aren't interested in history, you might find those sections a tad dry...) On the other hand, I absolutely hated the first chapter, when they were all just sitting around the salon gossiping.

99atimco
Modifié : Avr 6, 2012, 9:27 am

Oh yes; I just reached the part where he quotes St. Augustine as saying to God, "You have counseled a better course than You have permitted." It strikes me as very accusatory, and this theme underlies the entire plot, I think (or at least, what I've listened to thus far).

The characters' relationships and Tolstoy's spiritual musings are what interest me most in War and Peace, followed by the history (I was a history minor). I really think my indifference is due to my hectic schedule that hasn't allowed me any good chunks of time to read it.

100rocketjk
Avr 10, 2012, 11:08 am

I finished What Maisie Knew. I never could stand James' novels back in grad school and now I remember why. I know he's beloved by many and I completely understand why people feel that way. Not my bowl of gruel, however.

101Porua
Modifié : Avr 11, 2012, 12:17 am

# 100 Hear, hear! Congrats for actually finishing What Maisie Knew. I couldn't even do that. There is something very off-putting about James' books.

102Nickelini
Avr 11, 2012, 1:29 am

I started out reading James and hating him, but he grew on me, and now he's one of my favorites! Have you ever had that happen? I ask, because my favourite author of all time is Virginia Woolf, and I started out really hating her too. But the more I hated her (and had to study her), I quickly realized I really loved her.

103bookwoman247
Avr 11, 2012, 6:39 am

If children's classics count at all, I'm now reading The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling. It's so much more satisfying than the Disney version!

#100 RJ: I find James to be very uneven as far as my taste goes. I've really liked some of his work, but abandoned others. I've made at least three attempts at What Maisie Knew. I think at this point I'll put it in the permanently abandoned catagory.

104Bjace
Modifié : Avr 11, 2012, 7:41 am

I don't get James at all. I liked Daisy Miller probably because of it's length. I had to abandon both Portrait of a lady and The Ambassadors for the sake of my sanity.

I remember enjoying The Jungle Book which I read in junior high. I've never seen the Disney movie. When I saw from the ads that they made buffoons out of the animals, I didn't want to. I do remember the version made in the 40's or 50's with Sabu which was kind of creepy but interesting.

Right now I'm reading Ivanhoe, which I'm enjoying very much.

105rocketjk
Modifié : Avr 11, 2012, 11:37 am

James seems to be somewhat like Conrad. People either love him or hate him, it seems. James was very important for Western literature in the development of point of view and delving deeply into his characters' motivations and psyches. But in less you happen to be taken with his particular way with words and manner of storytelling, he's hard going. Still, there are those who swear by him. To me it's like opera: I completely understand why people are passionate about it. It makes sense to me that people would love it, but it doesn't do anything for me personally.

#104> Bjace, I found Ivanhoe very enjoyable, too.

106Cecrow
Avr 11, 2012, 2:58 pm

I'm finally just starting to read The Turn of the Screw, probably the gentlest introduction to James available, following the advice I received more than a year ago on an earlier thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/96765 So far I'm impressed. Ten pages in, I'm having Jane Eyre flashbacks.

107madpoet
Avr 19, 2012, 12:26 am

I just finished reading The Warden, my first by Anthony Trollope. Did anyone else notice his attack on Charles Dickens, as the author 'Mr. Sentiment'? He refers to two Dickens characters by name. Still, I think Dickens is the better writer, from what I've seen so far.

Now, it's time for me to get back to the Bronte sisters. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is up to bat next.

108kac522
Avr 19, 2012, 12:51 am

#107 Yes, I laughed out loud when I read that. Dickens is the better descriptive writer and story-teller, but if you read a bit more of Trollope, you'll find his comments on human nature are more realistic and complex. No one is completely good or completely evil, as in Dickens. In the Trollope series, I've particularly liked Barchester Towers and Dr. Thorne, where men wrestle with small, but important, moral stands. The Last Chronicle of Barset is waiting on my nightstand.

109Bjace
Avr 19, 2012, 7:29 am

How interesting. I just finished The Warden as well. I found that bit about Mr. Sentiment and journalism a bit much.

110bookwoman247
Avr 19, 2012, 8:22 am

Now I'm reading a non-fiction classic, The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin, and loving it! I have a small atlas, which I am using to follow along, and it is oh-sp-much fun!

111Cecrow
Avr 19, 2012, 1:37 pm

The Turn of the Screw was fantastic, if wordy; and I've just finished The Call of the Wild - talk about a contrast in writing styles - that had me reminiscing about reading White Fang way back in my school days.

112Porua
Avr 21, 2012, 1:41 am

Read a short mystery novella from the turn of the century, In the Fog by Richard Harding Davis. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. My thoughts on it here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3356090

113thorold
Avr 23, 2012, 5:09 am

I finally managed to sit down and read the last few hundred pages of Doktor Faustus this weekend (see the 2011 thread!) and I'm now relaxing with an altogether different sort of modern European classic, If on a winter's night a traveller.

114rocketjk
Avr 24, 2012, 11:46 am

Today I started The Hamlet by William Faulkner. My plan is to read the Snopes Family Trilogy over the next few months. Hard to believe that I am a lifelong book and literature lover who at age 56 is finally reading his first Faulkner!

115Steven_VI
Avr 24, 2012, 5:25 pm

>113 thorold:, can you compare Doktor Faustus to The Magic Mountain? I finished the latter a few months ago, after a long struggle and now I'm not sure if I should also read Faustus. If it's even denser than The Magic Mountain, I don't think I would very much enjoy it...

116kac522
Avr 25, 2012, 12:09 am

Just finished Billy Budd for book club--certainly had a lot more meaning than it did in high school.

117thorold
Modifié : Avr 25, 2012, 3:57 am

>113 thorold:
Now you put me on the spot, I have to admit I haven't yet got beyond the lower slopes of the Mountain. From that rather limited sample, I'd guess that Dr F is the denser of the two, but there's probably not much in it. The music-theory is probably the test: if you enjoy reading about music at a rather technical level, you'll probably survive; if not, it will be a struggle.

I've moved on from Calvino to what looks as though it's going to be an even crazier bit of silliness, Trollope's satire The fixed period. Steam-powered cricket and compulsory euthanasia at 68! Coincidentally, it's set in 1979, the year If on a winter's night... was published.

118Shivam21
Modifié : Avr 25, 2012, 6:24 am

Can Stephen King's "It" be considered as a classic....?

119Cecrow
Modifié : Avr 25, 2012, 7:42 am

>118 Shivam21:: It made the list of 501 Must-Read Books ... but in the Modern Fiction category, not the Classics section. Then again, that was also the category given If On a Winter's Night a Traveller and nobody's batting an eye at that one as a classic. "501" isn't exactly an authority on the subject, of course. As usual, a controversy ensues...

120Bjace
Modifié : Avr 25, 2012, 2:16 pm

#114, rocketjk, I read five novels by Faulkner when I was 16 and haven't touched one since. I really liked him at the time; I'm not sure why I've never read more. I haven't read The Hamlet--maybe I will.

Next up for me may be Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South I've also been dabbling with The Cloister and the hearth which does hold my attention but is really long.

121rocketjk
Avr 26, 2012, 10:46 am

#120> I'm very much enjoying The Hamlet, about 50 pages in. My reading it now is sort of an accident, although I'd always meant to get to Faulkner sooner or later. I stumbled onto a beautiful, older hard cover edition of the third of the Snopes trilogy, The Mansion, which I couldn't resist. But I decided I might as well start at the beginning of the three books, so here I am. Very absorbing characters and language.

122atimco
Avr 26, 2012, 11:30 am

I recently discovered Hamlet. It was excellent. I'm glad you're enjoying it, rocketjk.

I just finished (and reviewed) Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Yes, it's utterly depressing but oh, so well written.

123theBookfurnisher
Modifié : Avr 27, 2012, 10:38 am

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

124theBookfurnisher
Avr 27, 2012, 10:38 am

I have been wanting to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles for a very long time, but uni is very good in preventing me from doing that!

125Porua
Avr 27, 2012, 11:33 pm

Finished an okay vintage mystery, The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart. My thoughts here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3366644

126Sandydog1
Avr 30, 2012, 9:59 pm

Sigh...

I have been away for a LONG time.

However...

I FINALLY finished The Magic Mountain, after starting circa September, 2011!

What a slog; even Ulysses seemed to be easier-going.

127bookwoman247
Mai 1, 2012, 2:11 pm

I'm just starting Oroonoko, The Rover, and Other Works by Aphra Behn. It's far too soon to know if I'll like it or even stick with it, but it's interesting just in the fact that it was written by a woman in the Seventeenth Century - a woman who seemed to have seen much of the world. That, in itself makes it unique, I would think.

128lilisin
Mai 1, 2012, 2:12 pm

I am reading Dumas' La Reine Margot. Needed a good adventure story.

129riani1
Mai 1, 2012, 5:29 pm

#125: I saw that on one of the ebooks sites and downloaded it but haven't read it yet.

130bookwoman247
Mai 2, 2012, 11:00 am

I've given up on Oroonoko, The Rover, and Other Works by Aphra Behn. It just wasn't for me.

Now I'm reading a non-fiction classic, The Travels of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta. It should be interesting comparing it to the travels of Marco Polo. So far I prefer Marco Polo as he seemed much more observant and curious about the people and places he was seeing. That may be because Ibn Battuta hasn't left Islamic culture yet, though.

131thorold
Mai 2, 2012, 11:15 am

>113 thorold:,115,126 : Evidence at last! The magic mountain clearly takes a couple of weeks longer to read than Doktor Faustus. Admittedly, the sample is a bit small so far...

>130 bookwoman247:
I found Ibn Battutah a lot of fun (I read him in Tim Mackintosh-Smith's one-volume abridgement). But don't hold your breath waiting for him to leave Islamic culture: apart from China and West Africa, he's basically in the Islamic world all the way. And he's very vague about China.

132bookwoman247
Mai 2, 2012, 11:32 am

#131 - Thanks for the info on Ibn Battuta. I'm reading the Dover edition edited/translated byRev. Samuel Lee. It is supposed to be unabridged, but it's only about 250 pages long or less. A big difference from Marco Polo! I'm sorry to hear that he's vague about China. He certainly doesn't seem to go into much detail about many of the places he's visiting, IMO. When he was in Jerusalem, he did mention it's significance to Islam, but didn't say much of what he thought of the great mix of people who must have been there too ... the Christians, the Jews, etc..

It's still a very interesting read. I'm learning quite a bit about Islamic world in the Middle Ages from an Islamic perspective.

133Porua
Mai 5, 2012, 3:33 am

Read another vintage mystery The Lodger by Marie Adelaide Belloc, although this falls more into the category of psychological thriller. This book went on to become the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger. The book and the movie have different conclusions though. My thoughts on the book are here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3378534

134Bjace
Mai 5, 2012, 7:33 am

Started Elizabeth Gaskell's North and south this week and am finding it interesting so far.

135rocketjk
Mai 7, 2012, 2:27 am

Finished Faulkner's The Hamlet. All I can say is, "Wow!" It's hard for me to believe after reading this that I didn't get around to reading any Faulkner until now, at age 56.

136ncgraham
Mai 9, 2012, 12:25 am

Reading The Winter's Tale as the last play for my Shakespeare class.

137bookwoman247
Mai 12, 2012, 2:48 pm

I'm reading and loving The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham.

138rocketjk
Mai 12, 2012, 2:57 pm

I'm reading the classic WW2 memoir, Guadalcanal Diary. Fascinating reading.

139kac522
Mai 12, 2012, 8:37 pm

I've just finished listening to Dickens' Bleak House, read by Simon Vance. Unabridged, so the 34 CDs took me about 6 weeks (mostly in the car). But it is so wonderful to listen to Dickens--almost more meaningful than reading it, in some ways.

140Bjace
Mai 18, 2012, 10:20 pm

Just finished North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, which I enjoyed very much. Now reading Sir Gibbie by George Macdonald.

141bookwoman247
Mai 21, 2012, 10:51 am

I'm just starting an anthology of Sophocles' Greek tragedies: Antigone, Oedipus King, and Electra.

I realized I'd never read Greek drama before, and I'm lreally enjoying it so far.

142Bjace
Mai 21, 2012, 1:16 pm

#141, bookwoman247, I'm glad you're having a better experience with Greek drama than I've had with Russian drama. I read both The three sisters and The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov and I was completely underwhelmed. Maybe it was those Russian names. I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. I realize I probably wouldn't have this problem watching a stage production.

143madpoet
Mai 21, 2012, 7:08 pm

>142 Bjace: I felt the same way about Chekhov. Not impressed. Maybe he's better in the original Russian, or in performance.

>141 bookwoman247: Oedipus the King and Antigone are two of the best, and most complex, of the Greek plays. Oedipus at Colonus, the third play in the trilogy, was disappointing, however. It's like a bad, and unnecessary, sequel.

144rocketjk
Mai 21, 2012, 9:04 pm

Wow. Not impressed with Chekhov. He is one of my absolute favorites. Goodness does he display human nature on the page/stage in all it's frustrations, foibles and longings. I had help in my appreciation, in that I studied Chekhov's plays in grad school for my oral exams and read a lot of excellent criticism of the work along with the plays themselves.

Oh, well. As my mom used to say when I was a kid, "That's why they make vanilla and chocolate."

145ncgraham
Mai 21, 2012, 10:11 pm

As far as I could tell—I was reading an English translation, of course—there's some lovely poetry in Oedipus at Colonus, but it's not as dramatically potent as the other two. Antigone is my favorite of the three Theban plays.

Sad to hear all the negative impressions of Chekhov! I have a volume of his plays and was really looking forward to reading him. I love his short story "The Lady with the Little Dog" and once recited one of Konstantin's monologues for a class.

146rocketjk
Mai 22, 2012, 1:55 am

#145> I would urge you to read the Chekhov plays and make your own determination. Those plays are considered enduring classics for many good reasons. Certainly not everybody's going to like them (or anything), but if insight into human nature is of interest to you, you may very well love those plays as I do. In my view, "The Seagull," which is Chekhov's first full-length play, falls below the others in quality. But the rest I've found to be superb over many readings and viewing of the plays. "Uncle Vanya" is my favorite, for whatever that's worth.

147Porua
Mai 22, 2012, 2:47 am

# 144 rocketjk, I have not read any of Chekhov's plays. I do however love his short stories. Sad to hear the plays are not that good.

148madpoet
Mai 22, 2012, 3:52 am

Cheknov's plays are well written, I recognize that. It's just a matter of personal taste. Some writers I respect, but I don't enjoy reading. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from reading his plays for themselves.

149Bjace
Mai 22, 2012, 9:18 am

And neither would I. I think that I would have had a vastly different reaction to Chekhov if I'd seen the play performed rather than read it. As it was, I read both The Cherry Orchard and The Three Sisters online in interrupted sequence and I found them hard to follow and less than compelling.

150jnwelch
Mai 22, 2012, 10:08 am

Finished The Grapes of Wrath and it was mighty good.

151rocketjk
Mai 22, 2012, 11:21 am

#147> "Sad to hear the plays are not that good."

As far as I and a huge number of literature/theater lovers over the past 100 years or so are concerned, the plays are brilliant.

#149> I'm not sure what you mean by interrupted sequence, but certainly these plays are works that one needs to immerse oneself in to get their full power. The deeper you delve into these plays, the more they have to offer. But if they're read in a setting or via a medium that serves to strip them of atmosphere and nuance, which is what they are built on, they will lose power. That stands to reason.

To all: I agree it's a matter of personal taste, absolutely.

I highly recommend the movie version of Uncle Vanya called "Vanya on 42nd Street." It is a filmed version of the play performed by a group of actors who used to get together regularly to put the play on for a small group of friends in an abandoned theater in NYC.

152madpoet
Mai 25, 2012, 4:00 am

I just finished Shirley by Charlotte Bronte. I switched to Shirley from Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I guess I'll read Tenant now, or else Villette, the only two titles left in my 'Bronte-thon'.

153thorold
Mai 25, 2012, 4:19 am

I'm on a bit of a Trollope binge. I started on the Palliser books by reading Can you forgive her? during my recent holiday, and — after a brief diversion into Bagehot's The English Constitution to get into the spirit of 1867 — am now well into Phineas Finn. I hope that's not a sign of impending middle age...

154Porua
Mai 28, 2012, 12:13 am

Read and reviewed yet another vintage mystery. This time it is The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Emmuska Orczy from 1909. It was quite an enjoyable read!

My thoughts here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3412454

155bookwoman247
Mai 28, 2012, 8:15 am

Now I'm reading The Iliad by Homer.

I'm not far in, but really enjoying it. It's about time I'm reading this one!

(Odd. I can't get the touchstone to work for poor old Homer.)

156mstrust
Mai 30, 2012, 5:15 pm

I'm reading The Sun Also Rises. This is my third from Hemingway- I read The Moveable Feast a couple of years ago and loved it. So I tried out The Old Man and the Sea, was bored stiff after 60 pages or so, abandoned it and didn't pick up another from him until now. This one is going very well.

157rolandperkins
Juin 6, 2012, 9:11 pm

". . .touchstone . . .for Homer "

Homer did come out in blue on my screen in 155. Iʻve found that this happens sometimes on the second try, but not on the first.

158bookwoman247
Juin 7, 2012, 8:11 am

#157 RP: It does create the blue hyperlink, but takes you to the wrong author. I've had that happen once or twice as well. Yours took me to a book "Homer" by Jasper somebody.

159rolandperkins
Modifié : Juin 8, 2012, 3:30 am

". . .takes you to the wrong author"
Right -- usualy to an author that has some vague connection with what you clicked on-- the name you
clicked was somehow in the same field with this new, mysterious author. My own clicking, In this case, took me, not to "Jasper..."* but to someone else with no perceptible connection to Homer: it led to timtimlin, one of those intriguing authors who currently have "no books...". But correcting the spelling of timtimlin will give you 3 titles -- Timlinʻs, though, not Homerʻs

*I notice now that Jasper Griffin does have a book with the simple title "Homer". In general, clicking on an authorʻs name in Touchstones does sometimes lead to a paritcualr bookʻs page, not to (as expected) an author page

160tungsten_peerts
Juin 7, 2012, 3:09 pm

I'm not currently reading one (though I plan to take on another very soon), but for me this is the year of Zola: I've read L'Assommoir and The Belly of Paris in quick succession, and am completely hooked.

Alas, I don't read French (yet), so I'm relying on translation.

161mstrust
Juin 7, 2012, 8:35 pm

I've started Tom Sawyer. I'm sure I've only read sections in school before.

162thorold
Juin 8, 2012, 3:45 am

>161 mstrust:
The trick is to get all your friends to read a few pages each, then you'll have it finished in no time :-)

163mstrust
Juin 8, 2012, 11:46 am

>162 thorold: How sad that our society no longer trades in pieces of glass and dead rats on string.

164rocketjk
Juin 17, 2012, 4:33 am

I finished J. D. Salinger's short story collection, Nine Stories. I don't know if I would consider this a "classic" collection, but some of the stories are, at least for me, absolutely classics of the short story form.

165bookwoman247
Juin 20, 2012, 4:50 pm

I'm currently reading Summer by Edith Wharton. The more of her work I read, the more I love it!

166DanMat
Juin 20, 2012, 6:06 pm

-164

Classics for me. Except De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period. Teddy, Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes and The Laughing Man are favorites.

167tungsten_peerts
Juin 21, 2012, 11:46 am

Am finishing a book of short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer called Passions. It's pretty amazing: I want to read more.

168bookwoman247
Juin 21, 2012, 2:20 pm

I'v just finished Summer by Edith Wharton, and since I loved it so much, I'm starting another book in the same vein, Mag-Marjorie & Won Over: Two Novels by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

169tungsten_peerts
Juin 25, 2012, 1:41 pm

Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle. An aggressively odd book.

170donbuch1
Juin 25, 2012, 10:19 pm

Carlyle gave Mill his manuscript of the History of the French Revolution. Mill lost it on a train, and Carlyle had to rewrite the whole thing again. He was aggressively thorough and copious.

171thorold
Juin 26, 2012, 9:06 am

>170 donbuch1:
I'd forgotten about that: I thought it might be worth making a list for lost-and-rewritten manuscripts: http://www.librarything.com/list/350/all/Best-manuscripts-lost-on-public-transpo...

172rolandperkins
Modifié : Juin 26, 2012, 9:44 am

On the Carlyle/Mill Train Syndrome:

Thereʻs a story* that novelists John Updike and John Cheever were stitting on a train, with an open window, Updike in the aisle seat and Cheever in the window seat. U. had given C. the manuscript of a non-yet-published Updike novel to look over. Cheever took a few minutes to scan it, and then
casually threw it out the window.
The narrator didnʻt say if
it was U.ʻs only copy, or if there was any attempt to
retrieve it. Nor what was
U/ʻs reaction.

*Authenticity not guaranteed. In Millʻs case, Iʻm assuming that he wasnʻt using :Open-Window Criticism".


173tungsten_peerts
Juin 26, 2012, 10:36 am

I should note that I have heard that, rather than being lost on a train, the first volume of The French Revolution was burned by Mill's maid (she mistook it for a pile of waste paper) ...

174thorold
Modifié : Juin 26, 2012, 10:56 am

>173 tungsten_peerts:
That's what Wikipedia has, too. On reflection, it would have taken quite some effort for Mill to leave it on a train in 1834. He would have had to go to Manchester or somewhere to do it - the first railway into London was the London and Greenwich in 1836, if I remember rightly. T.E. Lawrence was the specialist for manuscripts-on-trains.

175Sandydog1
Modifié : Juin 27, 2012, 11:27 pm

Well...

I've read Gilgamesh, The Illiad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid.

It's time to tackle the next epic. I'm on Book 4 of Paradise Lost.

Compared to the others...what a tedious slog.

'Ironic. It's the only one that was originally written in my native language!

176madpoet
Juin 28, 2012, 12:41 am

>175 Sandydog1: That reminds me of a story about two kids. One says, "I wish Shakespeare's plays were written in French." The other asks why, and the first kid says, "Because then they would be translated into modern English!"

May I recommend The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, if you are reading great epics? It inspired Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but is much funnier, and has more sexual innuendo. (The author is Italian, not English, after all...)

177Sandydog1
Modifié : Juin 30, 2012, 10:06 am

LOL! Maybe we can get someone like Cormac McCarthy to write a translation of Milton.

I've read Canterbury Tales. Decameron is on my K2 sized TBR pile.

178Porua
Juin 30, 2012, 11:59 pm

Finished and reviewed Death And The Dancing Footman (1942) by Ngaio Marsh. I guess Marsh will never be one of my favourites but overall this book was enjoyable. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3467216

179bookwoman247
Juil 1, 2012, 10:00 am

I'm reading and loving The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim.

180tungsten_peerts
Juil 2, 2012, 7:43 am

I just started Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year for a little light diversion following Thomas Carlyle. :^)

181thorold
Juil 2, 2012, 8:17 am

Started Buddenbrooks on the bus(!) this morning - lets see how long it is before I feel the need for a break. Maybe Sartor resartus would be good for light relief...

182leccol
Juil 9, 2012, 8:16 pm

Get your story straight! Carlyle didn't give Mills his manuscript of The French Revolution. He gave approximately the first half to Mills' wife. She stayed up most of the night reading it, but left the pages strewn about. Her maid thought it was some abandoned papers and used them to start a fire the next moring. So Carlyle had to start over again, but only the first half.

183Sandydog1
Juil 9, 2012, 11:49 pm

Wow, that almost sounds like the origin of the Book of Mormon!

I finally finished that misogynistic epic, Paradise Lost. Wait a minute - Gilgamesh, The Illiad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid - whoops - I guess they're all misogynistic.

184madpoet
Juil 10, 2012, 5:01 am

I finally finished Villette, now I have just one more Bronte to read: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

185tungsten_peerts
Juil 10, 2012, 4:36 pm

> 182 source, please. I'd like to read the full account.

186tungsten_peerts
Juil 20, 2012, 3:44 pm

I am reading The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.

187Sandydog1
Modifié : Juil 20, 2012, 10:21 pm

Mark Twain is the best! I've read a portion of Innocents Abroad. A year or so, ago I read A Tramp Abroad and peed myself laughing.

I've re-started Old Goriot. Dunno why I stopped reading this re-hash of King Lear years ago; it is wonderful.

188madpoet
Juil 21, 2012, 12:58 am

I just finished Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey. The footnotes and asides were actually more entertaining than the narrative, in my opinion.

189bookwoman247
Juil 21, 2012, 8:56 am

187 Samdydog1: I agree with you about Twain! I love his writing, especially his travel narratives.

186 chexmix: Enjoy!

186 and 187: If you've not yet read Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain I highly recommend it!

190Bjace
Juil 21, 2012, 10:22 am

187, Samdydog1: I loved Balzac's Cousine Bette; if you haven't read it you might give it a try. Old Goriot is near the top of my TBR pile and I think I'll take it on vacation in September.

191lilisin
Juil 23, 2012, 7:13 pm

Just finished reading La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas. Loved it and wondering what I'm going to read next.

192kac522
Juil 24, 2012, 1:16 am

While commuting to work I am listening to Bronte's Jane Eyre, read by Juliet Stevenson. It is an outstanding performance--takes my mind completely out of traffic! I plan to find more audiobooks by Stevenson.

193bakabaka84
Juil 24, 2012, 5:36 pm

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and wondering why its taken me this long to read it? i loved the Disney movie when i was a kid

194Cecrow
Juil 30, 2012, 9:49 am

>192 kac522:, finally read it this year, after enjoying last year's film version. Fantastic!

>193 bakabaka84:, finally read it this year, after it sat on my shelf for 20+ years prior. Didn't grab me, but most folks still seem to enjoy it. I'll stick with the Disney film (and continue to shudder every time "remake" is suggested)

195atimco
Juil 30, 2012, 5:01 pm

192: yes, she's wonderful. I loved her reading of Persuasion.

I'm listening to The Best of Edgar Allen Poe, read by Edward Blake. Chilling stuff.

196Steven_VI
Août 1, 2012, 10:11 am

I've just started reading Eugénie Grandet in the original language. Balzac loved to use a lot of old-fashioned words so it's quite a challenge sometimes. Loving it so far!

197tungsten_peerts
Août 1, 2012, 12:30 pm

I started a somewhat different kind of classic last night: Garrett P. Serviss' Curiosities of the Sky, an early 20th century popular exposition of the mysteries of astronomy.

It's great stuff. The science is of course quite dated, but in a way that makes it more interesting ... and the prose is a type that no one writes any more, at least not about scientific subjects: it's unabashedly enthusiastic, poetic, even gushing and, yes, purple. I love it!

Serviss wrote a number of these things, and they are all available for nothing at gutenberg.org.

198jfetting
Août 1, 2012, 12:57 pm

I'm reading Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. It is hilarious and I love it.

199Sandydog1
Août 2, 2012, 12:06 am

I just listened to the severely abridged Naxos recording of Tristram Shandy. Maybe I will finally get around to reading the real thing...

200madpoet
Août 3, 2012, 8:22 am

Finally finished my Bronte-a-thon. Now I've read all of the novels of Anne, Charlotte and Emily.

I also read The Jew of Malta by Kit Marlowe today. If you thought The Merchant of Venice was anti-Semitic, you should read this play! I don't think any theatre company would even stage it these days. Still, it's interesting to see how Shakespeare 'borrowed' a few lines from this play in his own, later ones, including Romeo and Juliet, oddly enough.

201madpoet
Août 9, 2012, 8:19 pm

I am returning to Dickens, for the last 4 of his novels I haven't read. First up: Little Dorrit

202Sandydog1
Août 9, 2012, 9:03 pm

Finished The Turn of the Screw. I wasn't enamored with it:

A little novel about a dear little boy and a dear little girl, who are plagued by the ghosts of their previous caretakers, who may or may not have taken part in little perversions. The angelic little children live in a mansion full of little rooms, run by a governess who may be a little crazy. The plot suffers from a little bit of ambiguity. I guess it's time to read a dozen critical essays on this classic. Until then, 3 - more than a little generous - stars.

203Nickelini
Août 9, 2012, 10:59 pm

Does it help to know that James wrote the ambiguity in on purpose?

204dreamydress48
Août 10, 2012, 9:58 am

I just started A Room with a View, since it's not too long. Then I'll delve into some Dickens.

205tungsten_peerts
Août 12, 2012, 10:44 pm

Reading Tom Jones, which really is all those things I have heard: merry, rollicking, genial, etc. -- and more! Great, great stuff.

206madpoet
Août 13, 2012, 12:10 am

>205 tungsten_peerts: I found the morality of Tom Jones surprising. It's pre-Victorian, so the middle class morals of the 19th Century have not developed yet. For example, when Tom knocks up a girl he's seeing, his guardian advises him not to marry her, and ruin his life. In a Victorian novel, Tom and his guardian would be judged harshly for this, and there would be some kind of poetic justice or divine retribution. Not in the 18th Century!

207Bjace
Août 13, 2012, 2:05 am

I'm not sure this qualifies, but I finished The pothunters by P. G. Wodehouse, which was his first novel. (Pots, by the way, are school sports trophies. The trophies in question were stolen, hence the hunt.) Not the Wodehouse of the convoluted sentence and the tangled situation, but I could see that the author had developed a point for departure. Enjoyed it very much.

208Porua
Août 13, 2012, 3:20 am

# 198 I have Cranford on my TBR list. Glad you're enjoying it.

# 202 I didn't enjoy The Turn of the Screw that much. Henry James's other works I couldn't even finish.

Read and reviewed yet another vintage mystery. This time it is The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one at all.

My thoughts here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130815#3538401

209tungsten_peerts
Août 13, 2012, 4:05 pm

>206 madpoet: Interesting observation, and I will attempt to read with an eye more open to this. :^)

I get distracted, dontcha know, by all the rollicking.

210Sandydog1
Août 13, 2012, 10:03 pm

207,

Whoah. Wait a minute. I've seen some pretty zany things called "classics", on these here threads.

But Wodehouse?

Absolutely. He's right up there with Gilgamesh, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Virgil, Cicero and all the rest!

The king of the classics!

211jnwelch
Août 15, 2012, 3:26 pm

I'm more than halfway through Moby Dick. Wish me luck with finishing it.

212tungsten_peerts
Août 16, 2012, 10:52 am

> 211 Good luck. I found Moby Dick wonderful. Pierre, on the other hand, was a tough slog. I like 'em weird, but that one ... is weird in a way I did not find, well, pleasant.

213Porua
Août 16, 2012, 2:37 pm