Lorri’s Comments (group member since Sep 23, 2020)

Lorri’s comments from the #ClassicsCommunity 2021 Reading Challenge group.

Classics I’ve read February-April (Including Contemporary Kids Classics)

February (Black American)
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 1861 Harriet Ann Jacobs
- Passing 1929 Nella Larsen (Harlem Renaissance)
- Their Eyes Were Watching God 1937 Zora Neale Hurston (Harlem Renaissance author)
- Dear Martin 2017 Nic Stone
- The Secret Life of Bees 2001 (12+) Sue Monk Kidd

March (Middle School)
- Forge 2010 (10-14) Laurie Halse Anderson
- Ashes pp32016 (10-14) Anderson
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler 1967 (9-12) E. L. Konigsburg
- Heidi 1881 (10+) Johanna Spyri (Swiss)
- The Westing Game 1978 (10+) Ellen Raskin
- The Red Badge of Courage 1895 (11+) Stephen Crane
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958 (10+) Elizabeth George Speare
- The Crucible 1953 4-act play by Arthur Miller
- Gothic Tales: Disappearances, The Old Nurses Story, The Squire’s Story, The Poor Clare, The Doom of the Griffiths, Lois the Witch, The Crooked Branch, Curious if True, and The Grey Woman 1851-1861 Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
- Agnes Grey 1847 Anne Brontë

April (Gothic)
- The Castle of Otranto 1764 1st Gothic Horace Walpole (British)
- Castle of Wolfenbach 1793 Eliza Parsons (British)
- The Necromancer; or, the Tale of the Black Forest 1794 folktales by Ludwig Flammenberg aka. Carl Friedrich Kahlert (Polish) translated from German and novelized by Peter Teuthold
- “The Fall of the House of Usher” 1839 and “The Gold-Bug” 1843 Edgar Allan Poe
- C. Auguste Dupin Collection (Ill.): Murders in the Rue Morgue 1841, Mystery of Marie Rogét 1842, Purloined Letter 1844 Edgar Allan Poe (American)
- The Midnight Bell 1798 one of the greatest of all gothics Francis Lathom (Dutch)
- Washington Square 1880 Henry James

And still reading classics!

Taya wrote: "Hello everyone! I’m Taya, a high schooler in Canada. I’m still a newbie to classics, but I absolutely love the Victorian era so far. My favourite classics are “Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Lerou..."

Welcome, Taya. I just finished reading Phantom a few days ago and really enjoyed it. I also love the Victorian era.

In March, I participated in #MiddleGradeMarch by reading these children’s classics:
- Forge 2010 by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Ashes 2016 by Laurie Halse Anderson
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler 1967 Newbery Medal by E. L. Konigsburg
- The Westing Game 1978 Newbery Medal by Ellen Raskin
- Heidi 1881 by Johanna Spyri translated from German
- The Red Badge of Courage 1895 by Stephen Crane
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958 Newbery Medal by Elizabeth George Speare

Then moved on to read these classics:
- The Crucible 1953 four-act play by Arthur Miller
- Gothic Tales: Disappearances, The Old Nurses Story, The Squire’s Story, The Poor Clare, The Doom of the Griffiths, Lois the Witch, The Crooked Branch, Curious if True, and The Grey Woman 1851-61 by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
- Agnes Grey 1847 by Anne Brontë

So far this year, I have read 22 classics and a total of 28 titles!

My mostly American Literature April TBR follows:
- The Scarlet Letter 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Adam Bede 1859 George Eliot’s response to The Scarlet Letter
- Short Stories: The Gold-Bug, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter (1st detective story), The Fall of the House of Usher, The Premature Burial, & Eleonore by Edgar Allan Poe
- The Turn of the Screw 1898 by Henry James
- Daisy Miller novella 1878 by Henry James
- Age of Innocence 1920 by Edith Wharton
- The Old Man and the Sea 1952 by Ernest Hemingway
- Short Novels: The Pearl 1947 by John Steinbeck
- Of Mice and Men: Teacher ed. 1937 by John Steinbeck
- The Catcher in the Rye 1951 by J. P. Salinger

Shannon { Library Girl Reading } wrote: "Lorri wrote: "Hi, everyone. I am Lorri a grandma and recent grad school graduate who loves to read literature including children's and young adult lit. This book has been on my TBR for a number of ..."

Hi, Shannon! My BS is for teaching 5-12 English Language Arts and my MA is in English with a concentration in Education, so I can teach literature and composition/rhetoric at the college level.

I am participating in #MiddleGradeMarch and these are the titles I have read so far this month:

- Forge 2010 (ages 10-14) by Laurie Halse Anderson
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler 1967 (9-12) E. L. Konigsburg
- Ashes 2016 (10-14) by Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Princess and the Pea 2013 (9+) by Diane Setterfield
- The Westing Game 1978 (10+) by Ellen Raskin
- Heidi 1881 (10+) by Johanna Spyri
- The Red Badge of Courage 1895 (11+) by Stephen Crane 5-stars
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958 (10+) by Elizabeth George Speare

Happy reading!

Hi, everyone. I am Lorri a grandma and recent grad school graduate who loves to read literature including children's and young adult lit. This book has been on my TBR for a number of years. I seem to recall seeing an afterschool special as a kid but can't find it.

1. I think Claudia was on a mission to get her parents to treat her with more dignity and respect by proving how capable and mature she is. Claudia also proved she is self-centered and short-sighted. However, their adventures in the museum were wonderful. But, the author stayed well away from the duo's homesickness and the family's responses and reactions to the two missing kids. The lack of realistic consequences bothers me a lot.

2. I would have chosen one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution for a greater variety of exhibits.

3. This book is definitely a product of its time period. I am a child of the 60s and remember that parents were strict and children had almost no voice. Children running away from home as an act of rebellion and "I'll show them!" was a common theme in society and on tv. Some of an author's attitudes and perceptions wind up in their texts. Society, parenting, and novel-writing have changed quite a bit since this book was published, so this book could not be written now.

*Overall, I enjoyed From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler. Claudia and her thinking felt genuine and child-like.

In February, I concentrated on Black/White racial issues reading nonfiction, Young Adult fiction, and these classics:

- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Ann Jacobs
- Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen
- Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston
- The Secret Life of Bees (modern classic 2001) by Sue Monk Kidd

They were all fantastic and I would love to teach Passing because it is so well written and demonstrates that race is only a state of mind.

Valerie wrote: "On Tuesday I finished the Scapin the Schemer by Moliér (1671). I gave it 5*s. It was wisely stuck to the personality of Scapin, who is a servant of Octave.
Wednesday till Friday, I read L'Étourdi ..."

I love Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers series!

It turns out that, in my humble opinion, Invisible Man (1952) is a work of absurd existentialist modernism with violence and a menacing political agenda/message/manifesto. I dislike all of these things and, after about 30 pages, decided not to finish it.

So, I started reading Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s: A Brief History with Documents Although this is not a classic, the documents include MLK’s 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which is. I am pairing this book with Nic Stone's 2017 YA novel Dear Martin because I would like to teach them together.

On Tuesday, I finished A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft. I gave it 4*s. It was well reasoned and wisely stuck to the argument that keeping women ignorant is ignorant and both men and women would benefit from educating women.

Wednesday and Thursday, I read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Ann Jacobs. I gave it 3*s because I questioned the credibility of some of the events.

Today, Friday, I read Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen. I give it 4.5*s. It is amazing. Larsen elucidates the social-constructed-ness and ambiguities of racial identity. And she does this in a compelling story of less than 100 pages!

Next, I plan to read Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison to give me more insight into Black perspectives of 1950s America.

I am Lorri and unemployed, so I am researching areas of interest through reading. This February I am concentrating on Black American issues and literature. February TBR:

- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 1861 by Harriet Ann Jacobs
- Passing 1929 by Nella Larsen (Harlem Renaissance)
- Invisible Man 1952 by Ralph Ellison
- Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s: A Brief History with Documents 2004 (includes MLK’s I Have a Dream speech and 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail) edited by David Howard-Pitney
- Dear Martin 2017 by Nic Stone
- Their Eyes Were Watching God 1937 by Zora Neale Hurston (Harlem Renaissance author)
- The Souls of Black Folk 1903 by W.E.B. DuBois

Lorri wrote: "I created a reading plan for 2021 without worrying about numbers. The plan includes titles from many of my favorite genres and authors as well as titles I am curious about. I prioritized titles tha..."

Yesterday, I completed my January TBR. My favorite was The Vicar of Wakefield.

For January, I participated in Georgianuary (British and Irish texts from 1714-1836) but expanded my timeline to anything before 1837. I read:

• Hamlet 1600 by Shakespeare 4* Eloquent, complex, and ambiguous and I watched the 1996 adaptation
• The Vicar of Wakefield 1766 by Goldsmith 5* wonderful story that influenced many authors such as Jane Austen and elements later incorporated into sensation novels
• She Stoops to Conquer; Or, The Mistakes of a Night: A Comedy 1773 by Goldsmith 4* play that remains funny
• The Vampyre; A Tale 1819 by Polidori 3* first vampire story in the English language that influenced many vampire and gothic authors
• Mysteries of Udolpho 1794 by Radcliffe 2* one of the most-read gothic novels is uneven with both gothic and sentimentally romantic perspectives
• “An Argument Over the Abolishing of Christianity” 1708 by Swift 5* His sarcasm, wit, wisdom, and shockingly accurate observations make me laugh and fill me with astonishment at how much they continue to describe the civilized
• “The Battle of the Books” 1704 by Swift 4* brilliant

I am finishing up:
• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1792 by Wollstonecraft her arguments are against the ignorance of keeping women ignorant and virtual slaves to men and for the education of women beyond acquiring accomplishments and decorum. I give it 4* at 62% of the way through because she makes me want to cheer her reasoning and do bodily damage to the selfish and unreasonable men who created and continue to protect the oppressive system.

Amanda wrote: "Can anyone recommend a classic in which the female characters actually think for themselves and aren't just perfect little angels?

I recently read Agnes Grey, and while I liked other parts of the ..."

Try Elizabeth Gaskell. I highly recommend North and South and Wives and Daughters. Wives and Daughters is unfinished but only missing the final wrap-up chapter and is most like Vanity Fair and Emma.

Barbara wrote: "Lorri wrote: "Cleo wrote: "I just finished The Mysteries of Udolpho and was very pleasantly surprised. Radcliffe does an excellent job of crafting a very suspenseful story. It's not hi..."

The Mysteries of Udolpho is available on Project Gutenberg and was last updated in 2018.

Barbara wrote: "Heard about these books in a Northhanger Abbey movie I watched and want to read them. Has anyone read them? I need to read Northhanger Abbey too and I want to read Northhanger Abbey and Dragons."

Currently, I am on Chapter 1 of The Mysteries of Udolpho and am planning on reading all nine horrid novels before rereading Northanger Abbey in Jane Austen July.

Cleo wrote: "I just finished The Mysteries of Udolpho and was very pleasantly surprised. Radcliffe does an excellent job of crafting a very suspenseful story. It's not high literature but it's cert..."

Except for The Monk, all these novels are compiled into one The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection and I plan to read them all before rereading Northanger Abbey in Jane Austen July.

Twelve Years a Slave

mariam wrote: "What are some good Urdu Classics to start with? I want to read more Urdu literature but I don't know where to start with."

Here's the link to Goodreads 50 Best Urdu Novels to Read Before you Die List: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Barbara wrote: "Alright. I am confused. Watching your video. The hashtag is classicscommunity and you say it is all year. Then in this group you say the hashtag is classicsathon and its only January 1-15th. So, wh..."

Hi Barbara. From what I see, the #classicscommunity is all year with the suggestion of enjoying classics and reading about 1 book per month. The #classicsathon was a mini-challenge within the larger group for those who want to read more classics and start the year off strong. Lucy did not post a new thread for the #classicsathon for this year, but some members are choosing to meet the challenge anyway.

I created a reading plan for 2021 without worrying about numbers. The plan includes titles from many of my favorite genres and authors as well as titles I am curious about. I prioritized titles that appeal to me and must-read titles that I have not yet read. One of my goals is to read the nine Horrid Novels—totaling 3709 pages!—referred to in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey before reading this novel in late July.

To keep my TBR fresh and balanced between longer and shorter and weightier and breezier reading, I created monthly themes: January (Pre-Victorian), February (Black Experience), March (Middle School), April (American Literature), May (Murder and Mayhem), June (European Classics), July (Jane Austen July with a Gothic Theme), August (Steamy Romance), September (Cultural Diversity), October (Victorian Literature—Victober), November (Native, History, and Nonfiction), and December (Warm and Romantic).

January (Pre-Victorian and Georgianuary 1714-1837) TBR:
- Hamlet ~ Shakespeare
- “The Battle of the Books” and “An Argument over the Abolishing of Christianity” ~ Jonathan Swift
- The Vicar of Wakefield ~ Oliver Goldsmith
- She Stoops to Conquer; Or, The Mistakes of a Night: A Comedy ~ Oliver Goldsmith
- From The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection: Ann Radcliffe: Mysteries of Udolpho
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ~ Mary Wollstonecraft
- The Vampyre; A Tale ~ Polidori