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

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

I just started House of Mist (original title La última niebla) by Chilean author María Luisa Bombal. I’m really enjoying it! I feel like I’m reading a fairy tale. If I didn’t have other things to do, I would finish it in one setting. The edition I have includes a 2nd novella The Shrouded Woman (La amortajada), which I’m sure I will read, also.

I just finished Part I. It was excellent!

Lorraine - I’m glad to hear you are enjoying this Buddy Read and finding new authors! I am too, especially considering before I created post 1 with the list of potential authors, I had only read one of them! So, anyone I read is new to me. For whatever reason, Latin American Lit has always felt intimidating to me. I’m getting over that now.

I finished Wide Sargasso Sea. I thought the story was interesting but there was too much info on GR (reviews, etc) and the book’s forward about the main character, which spoiled the ending for me. (It also spoiled the other classic it references, which I haven’t read!) I wasn’t crazy about Jean Rhys’s writing style. I didn’t like the changing of the narrator, especially mid paragraph in part 2. I thought it was very awkward. For being such a short book, it took me a lot longer to read than I expected it to. I skipped all of the essays.

I just checked out The Minpins. This is one I’ve never heard of before.

I just started it yesterday. I’m also reading it for our March sci-fi book club at our public library. So, I have until March 19 to finish it!

Rosemarie- Wow! 3 times?! I can’t think of any book that I’ve read more than twice and very few twice. I expect it will be a good book for a group discussion!

I’ve just started 3: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. (a March group read for this group and also the sci-fi group at my library), Julius by Daphne du Maurier, and House of Mist by Maria Luisa Bombal. I’m going to try to finish Canticle first so that I can return it to the library so someone else in the group can check it out. The introduction is by one of my favorite authors Mary Doria Russell and I’m more excited about it after reading her thoughts on the book. She says “you’ll be different when you finish it.” We’ll see if that’s true!

Definitely some good ones, Kushagri! Enjoy!

I picked up a like-new hardback edition of War and Peace for $2 at the library. Now, I have no excuse to not read it! It’s the one classic that I’ve always wanted to read.

I bought 3 classics this past week: Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Stories by Joseph Conrad, Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee, and Zadie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau. I’ve only read one book by any of these authors- Disgrace by Coetzee, which blew me away! I’ve been wanting to read another one of his books ever since then. 📚

Looks like a good selection! The only one I’ve read is Killers of the Flower Moon and I highly recommend it! This was a case and a very sad part of US history that I was unfamiliar with. The two I hope to read are A Son of a Middle Border and In the Garden of the Beasts. I’ve been interested in reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich for a long time but won’t get to it this year. I’m definitely interested to see what group members have to say about it.

How’s everyone doing w their journaling?? I’ve kind of slacked off and need to catch up. I’ve been taking notes on my phone instead. But, I do want to capture a few thoughts in my journal for each book since it’s my “permanent record”.

Lorraine - I liked Miguel Street a lot, also!

Thank you John for your recommendation! I have several books by Fuentes to choose from. Now, to decide which one!

For those of you who read Wide Sargasso Sea, did any of you read critical essays on the work? The edition I have is the Norton Critical edition which has 140 pages of essays! I’m halfway through the actual story but am not sure if I want to read all of the essays. Maybe 1 or 2, if they look interesting. I feel like this edition is well suited for an English major!

I’m getting ready to start a book with 2 novels, House of Mist and The Shrouded Woman, by María Luisa Bombal, after finishing Wide Sargasso Sea. One thing that is interesting, before even starting them, is that the author did her own translation, with the help of her husband, of both books from Spanish to English. Both sound really interesting! I’m reading a Chilean author early since my hold from the UNM library came in. Sometimes it can take 3-4 months to get a book so I’m requesting them early. Not surprisingly, the University library has some Latin American authors that the public libraries don’t have.

I recently finished and enjoyed Miguel Street by V. S. Naipaul but I did find all of the references to domestic violence (beatings) to be disheartening. Keeping with the Caribbean Island setting, I’m now reading Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I’m also trying to finish A High Wind in Jamaica by British author Richard Hughes but am lukewarm on it. The writing isn’t as engaging as recent authors I’ve been reading (e.g., Naipaul, Rhys, Roumain, Dahl, and contemporary Cuban sci-fi author Yoss).

Glad to see you joining in John! I checked out the ebook version of Those Barren Leaves but am going to finish one other book, in the next few days, before reading it. Do you have a favorite book by Huxley? I’ve only finished one - Brave New World.

Sandy - I’ve paused on reading Huxley. I tried several books and couldn’t get into any of them. I’ll try again in a few weeks. I just started Miguel Street, set in Trinidad, by V.S. Naipaul, which I’m enjoying.

Thank you Annette for the ideas! I had forgotten about Pedro Páramo. That was one I had planned to read.

Does anyone have any suggestions for Mexican classics, for those of us planning ahead? I’ve only read the novella Aura by Carlos Fuentes and I recommend it! It definitely has a gothic/horror element to it.

Also, just a reminder, even though we presented a monthly schedule in the first post, feel free to read and discuss books by authors from any of the countries. I know that some of us are relying on the library systems which can take months to get a book, especially if it’s an InterLibrary Loan. I’m waiting on one from the Chilean author María Luisa Bombal. I’m only requesting one book at a time, though, so they don’t all come in at the same time! I just checked out Collected Short Fiction by V. S. Naipaul. It includes Miguel Street, A Flag on the Island, and a few selections from In a Free State. I look forward to hearing what everyone is reading this month!

I’ve read ~25 from the men’s list. I remember that A Separate Peace, which we read in high school English, stuck with me for a long time! I keep thinking I should re-read it. The Outsiders was a personal favorite of mine in the early 1970s. S.E. Hinton had some great books for teens! I believe it was the beginning of the YA genre. Lonesome Dove is another book I loved. There are a few scenes, like the one crossing the river, that I will never forget! Watching the mini-series helped cement that scene in my memory. There are a few books on the list that I plan to read/finish this year.

I just started A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes. It was published in 1929 and there was a film adaptation in 1965. So far, so good but I’m only 50 pages into it.