Sue’s Comments (group member since Jan 21, 2020)

Sue’s comments from the The Obscure Reading Group group.

It does read quickly. I’m simply not as far along as I thought I would be. Should be finished by Wednesday.

She feels the love Diane…or the coming of food.

Kathleen, I think I will have to do that, much as I dislike the idea. After all, I have Alexa reminding me of when to take pills or when I have a zoom meeting. So why not a list of characters.

Ken, I can’t. It’s from the library. While future readers might be pleased, the library probably would not. And who knows how marks would erase on this nearly 100 year old paper.

My copy does have a list of characters with a pronunciation guide but with no guide as to who each name is. Just the name!

I have begun too. Have to admit the names do slow me down quite a bit so I focus on the first part.

I actually got a copy of that one through Abe Books, Ken. So I will read it eventually.

Good thing mine showed up as it was the only one in our system. Odd that they never got another copy in almost 100 years but I guess that speaks to how obscure it is!

I know exactly what you mean, Sara. I’d love to know who wrote in the book but it was probably a cheeky student. It’s apparently from a series of Turgenev novels from MacMillan. In the list of books, Fathers and Sons is Fathers and Children. This novel is The House of Gentlefolk.

I have a strong feeling that I will desert this book before long in favor of something easier to read. While I would like to read a paper copy this is not the one I want and electronic allows for so many size options.

I picked up my 92 year old copy of the book, held by a local private school library, translated by Constance Garnett. It appears that there are so many pages because the pages themselves are small and the area with print is much smaller than in a modern book… one and one-half inch margins on three sides with about half an inch on the inside margin.

I’ll see if I can tolerate the print size.

And there is a note written in the margin on the first page of chapter two. It appears to be in Russian so I have no idea what it says! I should ask a friend of mine who went to this high school years ago and studied Russian in college.

Ken, I’ll probably get the book soon, unless it’s missing in the bowels of the school library where it’s located. The length may be due to the font or some other idiosyncrasy from 1930. If it’s too crazy, I’ll opt for the Penguin edition.

Thanks Sara.

I will check it out and if it’s a problem, I’ll get it for kindle.

I’m wondering. Did you download the Penguin version for kindle, Diane? I bet it would be better than the 90 year old library copy though I hadn’t planned on buying one. Hey, I haven’t read a Russian novel for a while.

Different editions seem to have quite different number of pages. Interesting. The edition I have requested from the library says 311, hopefully much of it an introduction.

Just requested from the library. Looks like it may be a 1930 edition. Hopefully it will be readable!

I’ve ordered one so far. One is available from the library. Unsure about the third though I do want to read it eventually.

Thanks for the info on the Turgenev, Carol.

I recommend people try Bookfinder.com to look for copies of books. They list under new and old copies and give all different sources. They show a copy of Night’s Lies for $2.95 shipping included. This is for U.S. but there may be applicable for other places. I don’t know.

Thank goodness we have our little bastion to hang out in.