Pam’s Comments (group member since Jul 12, 2018)

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

Lesle - Thanks! Balloon Fiesta never gets old! We see balloons all year round but it’s amazing to see so many at one time, especially the special shapes. Starting tomorrow, my FB feed will be flooded with balloon pics! It’s the world’s most photographed event.

Tomorrow morning starts the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta! 9 days of over 500 hot air balloons filling the skies! I don’t usually go because I have a good view from my house. We walk a few blocks to the dam where there is a great vantage point and balloons land, when the wind is blowing that direction. It’s always a fun time of the year! And, the weather is perfect right now. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

I finished the graphic novel about 3 weeks ago. It didn’t inspire me to read the books though! There were some lines I liked and the illustrations helped but overall I didn’t care for it. Slow and a bit boring. But, at least I now know what it’s about. I’m not sorry I read it but I prefer a faster-paced book, especially for a graphic novel.

Jen - Cool! Glad you found a copy! Let us know your thoughts once you get to read it. Another book you might like is the novella Aura by Carlos Fuentes.

Hi Jen! I wasn’t able to find anything by Mistral either. Some of these Latin American authors are hard to find, especially in English, even in the US. I got hold of the book you’re talking about that includes both House of Mist and The Shrouded Woman but I only read the first story. It was an ILL so I had to return it before finishing it and you can’t renew it. I wish I would’ve powered through and read the second story! I enjoyed House of Mist. To me, it felt like a very different vibe than American and European books I’ve read. Hope you can get a copy! If you are a library user, maybe try requesting it through the ILL program. Mine came from the UNM library, which is in the same city where I live, but I’ve gotten books from as far as the NYPL!

I received an email message that the group was reading Psycho this month so I immediately checked it out on Libby and started reading it! It’s always interesting to read the book when you are familiar with the movie. I was planning on reading this one with the group but forgot about it. I haven’t been able to keep up with the group reads this year. This book is short and very fast-paced.

I’m in for this one! Perfect for October. 👻

Kathy - House of Mist is a good read for October! Let me know about Green Mansions. I’m not in any hurry to start it since I’m trying to finish up challenges in other groups. I’m more likely to read it if someone else is also!

Luís - Even though we have a suggested monthly schedule, the plan is really just read what you want, whenever you want, and discuss! I tried to follow the schedule earlier in the year and then completely stopped reading classics this summer. I have 4 books I hope to finish this year: Collected Stories by Gabriel García Márquez (I’ve read maybe 1/2 the stories), Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (I need a restart on this one), Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson (Guillermo Enrique Hudson in Argentina) and The Violent Land by Jorge Amado. Sometimes I have a hard time switching gears and getting back into classics because the language, style, and the flow is very different than contemporary fiction. I’m about ready to try to switch gears in a week or two, after I finish one of the 2023 Booker prize shortlisted books.

Is anyone else interested in reading Green Mansions? The author was Anglo-Argentine, born in Argentina and died in England. He was a naturalist and ornithologist. The story is described on GR as an exotic romance about a traveller to the Guyana jungle of southeastern Venezuela and his encounter with a forest-dwelling girl named Rima.One unusual adaptation from this book is that, in the early 1970s, DC Comics came out with a comic Rima the Jungle Girl. This character was also part of the Super Friends cartoon TV show. I remember watching Super Friends in the ‘70s but don’t remember that character. If anyone wants to read this one, let me know when you want to start! I need a little motivation to get started.

Hi Jen & welcome! I haven’t read anything by Gabriela Mistral but I’ll see if I can find something at the library. Let us know your thoughts!

Best wishes Karin!

I would like to read My Sweet Orange Tree but can’t find it anywhere. I’ll have to try ILL or order it. Thanks for the recommendation!

Mike - I am so sorry to hear about your wife’s condition. I’m glad though that you found a good care facility for her and that you and your kids will be able to visit her. I will keep your family in my thoughts.

Lorraine - Yes, that is the book I’m reading! There is a translator’s introduction which talks about some of the difficulties in translating and adapting the text, including the long sentences. So, some changes had to be made obviously. He also asks “Who will want to read this book, and how should they approach it?…the critic Michael Wood imagined that the typical reader would be a person who had always dreamed of reading Proust but had been put off…by the difficulty or by the sheer magnitude of the undertaking.” I can’t say that I’ve always wanted to read Proust BUT, for me, this seemed like a good approach, especially since I do like graphic novels. I’m really interested to get further into it. I’m only on page 18. There’s a helpful glossary and family tree at the end plus a map of Paris.

I’m not familiar at all with Proust but found a graphic novel of Swann’s Way, which I just started. The book is the size of a large coffee table book and is 224 pages! That’s one long graphic novel! I’ll see after I finish it if I want to continue with Proust.

Just FYI, there is a new English translation of The Lost Steps by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier. I think it's the first in over 20 years and GR has a giveaway for it! I struggled with the edition that I have and am hoping this translation might be better and make a difference for me. There is another giveaway for his book Explosion in a Cathedral. Good luck if any of you enter! I'm hoping to win copies of both. I am due for a win!

I’m almost finished with Moonraker by Ian Fleming. I was curious to see how the James Bond books compare to the movies. This is the first that I’ve read. After I finish it I plan to watch the movie again. From what I remember, it’s a very different storyline!

Thank you for the encouragement Rosemarie! The chapters are short enough that I can read one per sitting. My plan is one in the morning and one in the pm.

I just started the Spanish edition of El túnel by Argentinian author Ernesto Sabato. It’s a short book but will take me a while to read en Español!

Leona - My daughter lives in Iowa and has been to the Iowa state fair twice already this past week. It looks like a lot of fun, especially for the kids!