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

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

Leona - I got to experience the fun dust storm (sometimes referred to as a haboob) here in Albuquerque. It was pretty bad, but worse east and south of us! We had 60 mph gusts. Almost no visibility. The mountains completely “disappeared”. I-10 in southern NM was shut down. East of me, on the other side of the mountain, they turned off the electricity for several hours for fear of forest fires starting (like in CA). I don’t think that’s ever been done here before! Fortunately, nice weather returns tomorrow!

I saw a book on display at the library today, which I checked out. The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne. Has anyone read it?

I went for a Sandia Mountain hike yesterday morning with my 2 brothers. It was the first hike I’ve done in awhile! It was a beautiful morning with fantastic clouds (which made for great pictures!) I think the trail is likely snow covered today. No snow at my house, just rain. We are very thankful for any precip right now. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Welcome Talah, Milja, and Ben! I hope you all find some great classics to read and discuss with the group.

I have the same edition Kathy. I’m on page 33 and am really enjoying the humor.

My husband and I went to the zoo on Friday. It was a beautiful day! I was in short sleeves and got a bit sunburnt on my face and arms. (It’s time to start wearing sunscreen again.) We saw something we have never seen before - the Komodo dragon coming out for her weekly walk with the zookeeper! It was very cool! This is the only animal they do that with and it was her first walk of the season, now that’s it’s warming up.

I’m starting it today. The first thing I did was browse through the illustrations.

I thought Les Miserables was fabulous, especially the actor who played Jean Valjean! The set design was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I didn’t know any of the music except for I Dreamed a Dream (thanks to Susan Boyle singing it on Britain’s Got Talent). I’m not a musical theatre person but I have a friend who is a donor and gets amazing seats (front row this year). Her husband doesn’t go so she always invites a friend. I’ve been in her friend circle for a couple of years now. Eventually, I will read the book. It’s my husband’s favorite. I’m not picking it up, though, until I finish War and Peace!

I’m excited to be going to see Les Miserables tomorrow afternoon!

Lindenblatt - I hope you enjoy the puzzle also! The insert shows all of the characters (~70), including Austen, and explains who they are.

I finished the World of Jane Austen jigsaw puzzle. It was a really good one! Now, I will have to start reading some books.

I read it in December. It was ok. I’m not much of a mystery reader but I was interested in it since we vacationed on the Cape when I was a kid. I didn’t get a strong sense of place from the book, which is what I was hoping for. It kept me guessing, so in that regards, it was good. I’d like to read another book in the series, if I can find one.

Hi Lindenblatt - The puzzle has 60 tiny characters from Austen books. I wouldn’t call it a collage of her books, though. The pieces are normal size and shape. It’s a good puzzle but it’s challenging!

Beautiful weather here in Albuquerque this week with highs in the high 60s! It’s a nice change from last week.

I’m having a really hard time focusing on reading right now. Hoping that changes soon.

I’m working on The World of Jane Austen 1000 piece puzzle. It’s a tough one! I could read all of Austen’s books before I finish it.

Welcome to our new members! It’s great to see more people joining the group!

Rosemarie - Yes, I use Libby but my library doesn’t have this book available on it. It’s on Hoopla but lately it’s been hard to check out anything on it because they meet their maximum checkouts before I wake up! I have to stay up until midnight or get on my phone if I wake up around 3am and then remember to get on Hoopla. I downloaded the book on Serial reader app but it will take 37 days to get the entire book downloaded. You only get one “issue” (10-15 minute reading chunk) per day. I just want to read the footnotes to see if I missed something.

Also, the edition I read ended with the word “into”. Did it just end like that or am I missing some words?

I agree that the 2nd half was more interesting than the first. Overall, I didn’t enjoy it though. I think it was too dark for me and thinking about oligarchies right now was not great timing. I was wondering if there were actual footnotes in the book. I read the ebook on SimplyE and the footnotes had hyperlinks but not linked to anything.

Welcome to our newest members - Rudy, Dani, Mary, Kirill, Sarah, Catherine, and Bee! It’s great to see so many new members who are enthusiastic about reading classics!