PB’s Comments (group member since Jul 29, 2015)

PB’s comments from the 100 Classics and beyond... group.

Okay, I finally thought of some discussion questions! :)

1. What do you think drew Heathcliff and Catherine to each other?

2. Catherine: "My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath - a source of little visible delight, but necessary. I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind - not as a pleasure any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

Despite that admission, why did Catherine marry Linton? What factors contributed to what she felt she ought to do and did?

3. Why did Emily Bronte choose Mr. Lockwood to be the narrator? What was Mr. Lockwood's role in the story? Why not just Nelly?

4. Heathcliff to Catherine: "Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine."

What did he mean by that? Do you agree?

5. "...treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends - they wound those who resort to them, worse than their enemies."

I found this a little bit of wisdom from Isabel Heathcliff. Did you find a different one?

6. "Catherine's face was just like the landscape - shadows, and sunshine flitting over it in rapid succession."

Beautiful prose.. one of the many verses that makes the novel a true classic. Share with us your favorite verses.

Please, don't limit yourselves with the questions above. I would love to hear from you!

So... I apologize immensely because it took me a long while to post an update.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure how to start a discussion on this novel. Some parts of it, I like, because the prose is certainly beautiful, but a few parts I hated (particularly Joseph's dialogue! It is painful to try to read and understand what he was saying).

So, if you've read the book, and you have any specific thoughts.. please kindly share them with us.

I will attempt to think up a few discussion questions over the next few days, so I ask for your patience once again.

Thank you everyone!

:) 3 votes (60%) voted for A Tale of Two Cities.

I will be posting more details later, because we don't start reading it until we finished Wuthering Heights on September 15.

Hi everyone,

It's been a while, and I apologize. It's been very busy.
I know it takes more time to read classic books, so I decided to extend our reading period of Wuthering Heights until September 15.

I hope to hear from you in our discussion board.
Please don't hesitate to post while reading.. I find it fun to read about your reactions to specific scenes or dialogues in the novel.

Odwyer wrote: "Can I vote for sense and sensibility - Austen."

Yes, of course. Please do so by going to the poll section (it should also be at the bottom of the homepage when you scroll down) and selecting that as your choice! That is the only way it would count as your vote.

Thanks!

Odwyer wrote: "Hi
I'm an avid reader and was interested in joining a classics book club.
Only just joined but have previously read wuthering heights so may join the discussion."

Wonderful! Welcome to the club!
:) You are very welcome to post your thoughts on the discussion board if you'd like.

Hello everyone,

It's time again to vote for our next classic.
The poll will end on August 21, so you have plenty of time to make up your mind. We don't start reading the next book until the beginning of September. Make your votes count!

HAPPY VOTING!

Once you finish reading the book, this is where you can post your thoughts. I will make sure to respond to all your posts.

I will also be posting some discussion questions later (after I read it, of course!).

I can't wait to hear from all of you.

Thank you for being a part of this club.

Peachy

Hello everyone!

For this month, Wuthering Heights won the poll with 50% of the votes (3, to be exact).

I hope that I hear from all of you.

HAPPY READING!

Yes, AK is a lot like WaP's "Peace" portions, then add to that Levin's search for the meaning of life, and Anna Karenina's scandalous affair.

Even though you would like WaP more, I still think that you will enjoy AK, no matter what, because you're a classic lover, and it's just one of those novels you don't want to miss out on. In some ways, it is similar to WaP, but in other ways, it is different (you know what I mean!)

I'm only about a quarter of the way through. It's when Rostov just got home from the war. For me, I like the non-war portions better, but only because I have a more difficult time comprehending the military terms. Although I like the war moments when Tolstoy starts to describe how the soldiers are feeling.. the fear of death, uncertainty, the desire for recognition. In those moments, I feel very sympathetic of the characters as if I was there with them, amidst war.
So far, I like it, but find it hard to progress as quickly as I would like to.

Cameron wrote: "Although not what I'm reading right now, I recently finished "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky. This was my 4th Dostoevsky (also read and willing to discuss The Brothers Karamazov, Notes from the Undergrou..."

Hmmm. I have never read any novel by Dostoevsky, and I really must because it seems that most classic lovers have. It is interesting what you pointed out about Russian classics, because I also find it to be true; when I read Anna Karenina (and I'm also reading War and Peace), I cannot helped but be engrossed by their world, no matter how commonplace the events seem to be (such as a tea party, or some political conversation).

There is a new thread up where you can talk about the classics you are reading right now or have read recently.

Did you love it, did you hate it? Tell us.

If you're currently reading a classic or if you recently read one and want to talk about it, you're welcome to share what you think about it here. Someone may have read it too and it might spark up some discussion!

Tara wrote: "Hi! My name is Tara and I am a 34 year old mother of 2 boys. I have loved to read as long as I can remember. Looking forward to reading with you."

Hi Tara! Welcome to 100 Classics and Beyond, and thank you for joining us. It is always a pleasure to read with people.

Btw, the poll is up for our first book, don't forget to make your vote count. :)

The first 4 book choices are all about the same length, so I'm expecting for us to finish reading it by the end of August.

HAPPY VOTING!

The amount of time we will spend on each novel will vary, because of the novels' differing lengths and depths.

We will not be reading the 100 classics in order. For each selection period, I will choose 4 different books from the list so we can vote on what books to read next. Alternatively, if the list of suggested books is growing, I will pick from those (instead of from the 100 classics).

If anything is unclear (or if you have other suggestions), please message me or post on the Questions thread.

If you'd like to read a classic that wasn't included in the 100 Classics List I posted, please kindly add it in the club's TO-READ shelf, or you can just comment on this thread, and I can put it in for you.

:)

Please check out the 100 classics discussion folder to see the list.

Title Author
Emma Austen, Jane
Sense and Sensibility Austen, Jane
Go Tell it on the Mountain Baldwin, James
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Baum, L. Frank
Waiting for Godot Beckett, Samuel
#4 - Jane Eyre Bronte, Charlotte
#1 - Wuthering Heights Bronte, Emily
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Carroll, Lewis
Through the Looking Glass Carroll, Lewis
The Cherry Orchard Chekov, Anton
The Awakening Chopin, Kate
Heart of Darkness Conrad, Joseph
The Last of the Mohicans Cooper, James Fenimore
The Deerslayer Cooper, James Fenimore
The Red Badge of Courage Crane, Stephen
Inferno Dante
Robinson Crusoe Defoe, Daniel
Oliver Twist Dickens, Charles
#12 - David Copperfield Dickens, Charles
Bleak House Dickens, Charles
#2 - A Tale of Two Cities Dickens, Charles
Nicholas Nickleby Dickens, Charles
The Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Crime and Punishment Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
#9 - The Hound of the Baskervilles Doyle, Arthur Conan
#6 - The Count of Monte Cristo Dumas, Alexandre
The Three Musketeers Dumas, Alexandre
The Mill on the Floss Eliot, George
Silas Marner Eliot, George
Invisible Man Ellison, Ralph
Tom Jones Fielding, Henry
Autobiography Franklin, Benjamin
Tess of the D'urbervilles Hardy, Thomas
Far from the Madding Crowd Hardy, Thomas
The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne, Nathaniel
A Farewell to Arms Hemingway, Ernest
The Iliad Homer
The Odyssey Homer
The Hunchback of Notre Dame Hugo, Victor
Les Miserables Hugo, Victor
Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston, Zora Neale
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Irving, Washington
The Turn of the Screw James, Henry
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce, James
#8 - The Trial Kafka, Franz
On the Road Kerouac, Jack
The Man Who Would be King Kipling, Rudyard
Kim Kipling, Rudyard
The Jungle Book Kipling, Rudyard
Lady Chatterley's Lover Lawrence, D.H.
Sons and Lovers Lawrence, D.H.
#13 - The Phantom of the Opera Leroux, Gaston
White Fang London, Jack
The Call of the Wild London, Jack
Death in Venice Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus Marlowe, Christopher
Moby Dick Melville, Herman
Death of a Salesman Miller, Arthur
Paradise Lost Milton, John
Utopia More, Thomas
#3 - 1984 Orwell, George
Animal Farm Orwell, George
Rights of Man Paine, Thomas
Cry, the Beloved Country Paton, Alan
Republic Plato
Don Quixote de la Mancha Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes
Ivanhoe Scott, Sir Walter
Black Beauty Sewell, Anna
The Tempest Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare
Macbeth Shakespeare
King Lear Shakespeare
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
Hamlet Shakespeare
Pygmalion Shaw, George Bernard
#11 - Frankenstein Shelley, Mary
The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Stevenson, Robert Louis
Treasure Island Stevenson, Robert Louis
Dracula Stoker, Bram
Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Gulliver's Travels Swift, Jonathan
Vanity Fair Thackeray, William Makepiece
War and Peace Tolstoy, Leo
Barchester Towers Trollope, Anthony
Father and Sons Turgenev, Ivan
Rabbit, Run Updike, John
Journey to the Center of the Earth Verne, Jules
Around the World in Eighty Days Verne, Jules
The Aeineid Virgil
The Color Purple Walker, Alice
The War of the Worlds Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine Wells, H.G.
The Age of Innocence Wharton, Edith
The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde, Oscar
#7 - The Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde, Oscar
The Glass Menagerie Williams, Tennessee
To the Lighthouse Woolf, Virginia
Native Son Wright, Richard
Beowulf


**Arranged in alphabetical order, by author. Excuse me for the messy format.