Simona’s Comments (group member since Nov 26, 2014)

Simona’s comments from the RMFAO (Reading My Frigging A** Off) group.

Turns out there's always time for another Zola. #7 Madeleine Férat. Reminds me of Thérèse Raquin which so far is my favourite.

Heena wrote: "I just finished reading The DUFF... and it was awesome!!! <3
I really, really enjoyed this light hearted read with some really messy teen-problems a DUFF faces :)
I'll recommend to anyone who wants..."

I, too, read it but I found that I liked the movie far better.

Dagny wrote: "Simona wrote: "Dagny wrote: "You can check the translators. Any that are Vizetelly, you can probably find eBooks at Project Gutenberg. The public domain translations are very satisfactory for most ..."

Oh, well, no harm done ;)

Dagny wrote: "You can check the translators. Any that are Vizetelly, you can probably find eBooks at Project Gutenberg. The public domain translations are very satisfactory for most of Zola's books, but if that's what you'd be reading anyway, you can give yourself a break from the monster-sized book.
"

It's getting warm and sunny here. I love to read outside, maybe even at the beach and such a big book hardly fits into my purse. Checking out Project Gutenberg would be the smartest thing to do. Thanks again!

It gets tedious, doesn't it? Sometimes I am tempted to skip some pages, but I drag myself through it - wouldn't feel right otherwise.

I will definitely start with The Fortune of the Rougons, thanks :)
I aim to read as many as I can.

I got my hands on the Delphi Classics edition of the Complete Works of Zola. It isn't really handy to drag around, but it makes due to the fact that there are all his novels, short stories and essays.

Your going full on French Literature, then :) very cool.

#6, The Mysteries of Marseille by Zola.

I really am enjoying my Zola moments )though sometimes I have trouble keeping my attention trained on the story when all that political stuff comes up) so I am pretty sure I will read a lot more of his in 2015. Next in line Madeleine Férat which is the last of his early novels.

I don't think I can manage to squeeze some more Classics in for this month,but I have whole bunch on hand for May's Classic challange. I am trying to mix it up as much as I can.

Ivanhoe
Suite Française
The Brothers Karamazov
Some Zola, of course. I'd like to read at least two of the The Rougon-Macquart Cycle.
Probably some Fairy-Tales, too.

Should I manage to go through this selection, I will tackle the ever-growing pile of Classics I keep next to my bed ;)

Yeah, it's historical. It's set in the period when Garibaldi and his 1000 marched on Sicily to unify the whole of Otaly under the Savoia kings.
My teacher used to brag that he (Garibaldi) slept in her ancestors' town home.

Glad you can squeeze it in fpr historical month. Didn't occur to me.

Dagny wrote: "I've ordered The Leopard which Simona recommended. Not sure if it was originally published long enough ago to qualify, but I've heard of it before and want to read it anyway at some point"

Yeah, The Leopard dates back to the 1950s, so technically it does not qualify. It's still a great Italian classic, a must read in our schools (or at least it was considered as such by my teachers). But of course I am partial to it ;) I hope you enjoy it when you eventually get to read it, Dagny. It's one of my all time favourites. When I was 16 I was obsessed with the movie and madly in love with Tancredi...

So far I've decided to read:
- Son
- Crushed
- Shadow and Bone
- Siege and Storm
- Ruin and Rising

And I am goin to read Origins Rising as a review request.

There are some (a boat-load, actually) YA series I started some time ago that I'd like to finish. When I was 16-17 I really was into angels, and I really think I owe it to my teenage self to finally read all of Lauren Kate's Fallen series.

Dagny wrote: "May is Classics/Literary month. I'm thinking ahead because sometimes it's difficult to find books in translation. I need some non-British and non-American recommendations.

Heena, I don't believe I..."

The thing with Italian Classics is that there are mostly epic poems and boring political rampages, loads of poetry and not as many novel style books. Though, I gotta say, I love epic poems and would recommend Orlando Furioso & Orlando Innamorato, Gerusalemme liberata, Adone. And I do claim The Aeneid to be Italian, tough it was written in Roman times and thus in Latin.

All in all, I am very fascinated by epic poems and I'd like to know from Heena which are the most important Indian epic poems.

I totally second Dagny: I'd like to diversify my reading, too.

Steve wrote: "Dagny wrote: "May is Classics/Literary month. I'm thinking ahead because sometimes it's difficult to find books in translation. I need some non-British and non-American recommendations.

Heena, I d..."

In Italy we consider to be classics certain books written up until the 1940s. Personally, I do not consider The Name of the Rose to be a classic, but I am partial to all of Eco's works since I cannot seem to get to the end of any of them...
However, there are loads oi Italian classics worth reading. Aside from The Divine Comedy which I would not recommend in translated version because I have never read it in anything else but Italian and do not think it would be as good in any translation since the poetry would be lost, or even The Betrothed (one of the best books I have read in school), I would recommend Zeno's Conscience, Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis, all of Pirandello's and Giovanni Verga's works (particularly Mastro-Don Gesualdo, I Malavoglia, Little Novels of Sicily).
For some adventure classics, I would go with Emilio Salgari, grandfather of the "Spaghetti Western": The Mystery of the Black Jungle, Sandokan: The Pirates of Malaysia , Sandokan: The Two Tigers, and so on.
One of my favourites is The Leopard. I highly recommend it.
If any more come to mind I'll let you know.

Steve wrote: "I'm finished with Stardust, and my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This one is an enchanting, timeless fairy tale/coming of age/romantic/heroic story. ..."

Yeah, the movie is marvelous. I liked the book, too.
Great review!

Dagny wrote: "Simona wrote: "Dagny, I went with your recommendation for Madame Bovary and I gotta say I very much enjoyed it. I wrote a review, though I really am not big on reviewing classics since I always fee..."

Yeah, me too. Like War and Peace or Crime and Punishment. Wonderful stories, but complicated style. But I like it when I have to concentrate. That's what "classic" means to me. They are always the books I read with the most attention.

However, Madame Bovary was actually an easy very pleasant read. I am really happy I decided to read it.

So far, I am really enjoying Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Dagny wrote: "The ONE book that I recommend for a classic romance is Madame Bovary. A super good book that I think I may have mentioned..."

Dagny, I went with your recommendation for Madame Bovary and I gotta say I very much enjoyed it. I wrote a review, though I really am not big on reviewing classics since I always feel like I cannot make them justice. Bottom line, I think it truly is a beautiful story; so I decided to go on with the adulterous and pick up Lady Chatterley's Lover as my 5th classic for this year.

I'd be lying by telling you I am not into this genre, because I really am. I have a ton of it on my tbr list and it's basically my fill in genre: whenever I can't decide what book to read next I pick up a romance.

I'll go with bookiopath, but so far I only know I am going to read Madame Bovary since I've had my eyes on it for a while now and Dagny recommended it and she obviously knows her classics; and Lady Chatterley's Lover

I've read some Sherlock Holmes novels/short stories, but for this challenge I am going to consider them only as 1 book. So, I've read 3 classics accountable for tha challange.

Boy am I loving Mystery Month!

I've read had a chance to read quite a lot.

- The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel (4/5)
-The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (4/5)
-The Sign of Four (3/5)
-Moriarty (4/5)
-The Return of Sherlock Holmes (4/5)
-Summer Knight (5/5)
-The Valley of Fear (3/5)
-The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (3/5)
-A Red Herring Without Mustard (4/5)
-I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (3/5)
-Body of Evidence (3/5)
-Death Masks (4/5)
-House of the Lost (remarkable good read 4/5)
-In the Belly of Jonah (loved this one! 5/5)


I am currently reading Lot's Return to Sodom and I am very confident this is going to be another (5/5)

Shellii wrote: "For the Classics Challenge, I have set my goals at Level 4-10 books.For this challenge I have chosen:
The Communist Manifesto
The Sun Also Rises
[book:The White Stag|298523..."

Wow, great selection!

Heena wrote: "Simona wrote: "Heena wrote: "This is totally my thing! I'm gonna go for Level 5 :)
Following are the books that I've to read... though I'm gonna squeeze in a few more...

-[book:Hercule Poirot: The..."

We sure will! So far only one of my friends is a fan of Poe's, and I really am fascinated with him :)
Happy reading to you too!