Book Nerd’s Comments (group member since Dec 20, 2018)

Book Nerd’s comments from the Never too Late to Read Classics group.

I want to read more Algernon Blackwood. The Willows and The Centaur is all I've read so far. The Willows was great but The Centaur was a major miss for me.

The Boats of the Glen Carrie is nominated for next year.

Chad wrote: "I really like these types of books. Why? I have no idea. This one started out slow for me but has picked up quickly. I think books in a military setting sometimes start off slow for me because things are very dry and impersonal in a military setting. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. But, again, this one picked up quickly. I like it."
It's kind of slow because it's really just people's daily lives with no major events but it is a really good book.
I finished and it's definitely a book that will stay with me. Technically it's not science fiction but I really enjoyed it.

Piyangie wrote:You could join us, Book Nerd! 😀"
Maybe.
I was just saying they're some good books.

Great hefty choices. I haven't read the huskies.

This is very depressing in a very compelling way.

That Hideous Strength was great overall but the ending was kind of anticlimactic.

I'm way behind. I'll start this soon.

I finished Vathek a while ago.
It was definitely interesting. Great writing and it was almost an anti-hero's journey.

Welcome to the group Daniela.

Nancy wrote: "I've read:

The Lathe of Heaven
her novella Vaster Than Empires and More Slow
The Left had of Darkness
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia"
Of those I've only read The Left Hand of Darkness but I want to read all the Hannish series eventually.
Suggest anything you want to read in the nominations thread.

Mbuye wrote: "'Vathek' is a marvellous fantasy, if you can get past the obsolete style and language. It is a cautionary tale, like most novels produced in the late eighteenth century, but it is also very entertaining and enlivened by a streak of humour. Since you like science fiction and fantasy, you might like this too. Mercifully, it is fairly short."
I'm enjoying it so far. It reminds me a lot of Faust.

I've never heard of this before but it sounds really interesting. I've started but I haven't had much time lately so I haven't gotten far.

Vathek (1786), originally written in French, remains one of the strangest eighteenth-century novels and one of the most difficult to classify. Perverse and grotesque comedy alternates with scenes of 'oriental' magnificence and evocative beauty in the story of the ruthless Caliph Vathek's journey to superb damnation among the subterranean treasures of Eblis. Underlying the elegant prose is a strong element of self-indulgent personal fantasy on the part of Beckford, youthful millionaire, dreamer, and eventually social outcast. Byron, Poe, Mallarmé, and Swinburne are some of the literary figures who have admired Vathek's imaginative power.

After a nuclear World War III has destroyed most of the globe, the few remaining survivors in southern Australia await the radioactive cloud that is heading their way and bringing certain death to everyone in its path. Among them is an American submarine captain struggling to resist the knowledge that his wife and children in the United States must be dead. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from somewhere near Seattle, and Captain Towers must lead his submarine crew on a bleak tour of the ruined world in a desperate search for signs of life. On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare.

Rosemarie wrote: "I've just finished the book and loved it! I had an inkling about Lucy so I think the ending of the book was terrific, and the rest of the book was good too."

Yeah, (view spoiler)[When he said they needed a new keeper for the talisman I knew it would be her.

I also thought the U.S. Government was weirdly cooperative. (hide spoiler)]

That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

370 pages

Group Total: 534,841

Just read She Stoops to Conquer. Highly recommended. It's a quick, funny read. Or you could just watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qaoqs...

I'm thinking about getting serious about this next year too and maybe squeeze in a couple this year.
I've read 18/37 so far, mostly the tragedies.
I'd like to watch them all too. Hopefully there are performances of them all on youtube.

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith


121 pages

Group Total: 524,934

I'm behind in this.

Carrie by Stephen King

199 pages

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

228 pages

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

117 pages

Group Total: 524,514