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

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

VeeInNY - I’m glad you got pulled in to the story! I’m still plugging away with the Serial Reader app. I’m on chapter 20. It works for me because I’m trying to finish some library books with deadlines. I look forward to my 6 minute fix every day! I want to finish it by the end of November so I will have to switch over to the regular book soon.

I’m curious if anyone’s reading it for the first time. I read it decades ago but don’t remember the details except for the ending. The names are coming back to me. This was probably the first Russian novel I ever read.

VeeInNY- I’m so glad that the Serial Reader app is working for you! It’s a good way to get started on a long classic but not good if you want to read it for hours! I’m always reading other books so it works for me to squeeze in 1 or 2 chapters every day. I’m just starting chapter 8. So far, so good!

I will suggest Hans Fallada. I have one of his books and my library has 2 different ebooks.

I will 3rd Goodbye to All That.

Here are the ones I’ve read that I can think of:
Vanity Fair
Atlas Shrugged (twice)
The Fountainhead
An American Tragedy
East of Eden
Buddenbrooks
Of Human Bondage (twice)
Anna Karenina

I decided to start reading it today on the Serial Reader app, where you get 10-12 minutes of reading per day. I started War and Peace a few days ago but just can’t get into it so I will drop it and stick with Anna K! I thought I had the print book but can’t find it so I will have to download the ebook. It’s on Overdrive, Hoopla, and SimplyE so availability shouldn’t be a problem. Looking forward to it!

Thanks Trisha for the recommendation! My husband likes Hardy and we have several of his books but not that one. It’s not on Overdrive but I found it on the SimplyE App so I will give it a try.

I just finished the book. I wound up ditching the audiobook and reading the eBook. I was a little bored in the beginning with all of the sappy romance build up. But, I stuck with it for 2 reasons:
1) I can finally cross off Thomas Hardy on my 100 Authors to Read Challenge (my own personal challenge)
2) I can check off the Maximillian Hell prompt for the ATY52 challenge. (Hell was a 1700s astronomer who documented the transit of Venus.) This book fit perfectly! It even mentioned the Transit of Venus several times.

I'm glad I stuck with it because the story did take some interesting turns although some of the those events did seem a bit convenient. I didn't see them coming though so that was the upside! I found the astronomy angle interesting and unique. I don't think I've read any other books with an astronomer as a character.(view spoiler)[I kept thinking that there would be some tragic event relating to the tower, like one of them jumping to their death! I didn't see this ending coming and was a little disappointed. After all of their travails, it was over just like that. Really?! I don't like romance novels but I would've preferred a happy ending. (hide spoiler)] I did enjoy the book but I think I might enjoy some of his other works better! I plan to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles even though I've seen the movie. It was so long ago that I've forgotten the story.

I suggest the Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. I’m on the App so I can’t access the group’s bookshelf to see if it’s been read.

I started listening to the audiobook today and am enjoying it! I love the description of a typical day in the Land of Doldrums! Sounds a bit like some of my days. Recognizing the similarities, I've decided to be more productive and positive today! I plan to flip through the physical book, which I have, since I tend to miss details while listening.

I would like to read this book with the group but probably won’t be able to until December. I’m pretty sure that I read it decades ago.

I’m a month late but just saw the post. It fits in perfectly for a challenge prompt in another group. I checked out both the ebook and audiobook. After I read it, I’ll read all the comments and put in my 2 cents. I think this is my first Thomas Hardy book so I don’t have any expectations other than my husband’s praise! This is one Hardy book, though, that he hasn’t read.

I heard about this book on a podcast but never before! A friend of mine, a former school teacher, gave me a bunch of mid-grade books a few weeks ago. This was one of them so I will TRY to remember to read it and come back to this thread to discuss!

I haven’t been reading many classics this year but just started H. G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau. We have an old box set of 5 of his works.

I knew that I had a bunch of science fiction short story collections because they are all displayed together. I was surprised at how many other collections I had. They were scattered in different places. Now they are all together.

Leslie- Non-SF means everything that is not science fiction! For some odd reason, I have a whole shelf full of SF short story collections which I never read. I like the occasional short story but a whole collection is usually too much for me, with one exception, one of my favorite books The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu.

I am always drawn to organizing by color. I like the way it looks. I have very few repeat authors so there’s no point in keeping series or author collections, for example, together since I don’t have them!

I finished downsizing my books (donated ~100, many large hardbacks!) and finished reorganizing my bookshelves. I’m very happy with the results! I still have too many books but I’m making a dent in reading them. I have much more space and am better organized now. I didn’t realize how many non-SF short story collections I have! I rarely read short stories so I’m not sure why I have any. They will be the next ones to go most likely. I kept my one shelf of black cover books and changed the other color shelves to order by author, just for something different.

The last time I counted, I had ~400 books. I’m in a downsizing mode & just donated over 60 recently. I have separate areas for non-fiction, sci-fi, & classics. Everything else is random. One of my bookshelves is a microwave cart, turned into a book case/storage unit. I keep on display the books I plan to read this year for reading challenges. When I’m looking for what to read next, I go to that shelf first. I just finished reading Marie Kondo’s Spark Joy & have been thinking about her idea of the words you see & how they reflect who you are. I will rearrange my 2 major bookshelves with this idea in mind. I do like to organize my downstairs bookshelf by color but will probably change that.

Thomas Mann- Germany
George Eliot - England
Kingsley Amis - England
Alexandre Dumas - France
Anatole France - France

Per Petterson
Sigrid Undset
Knut Hamsun
Par Lagerkvist
Halldor Laxness