Kendra’s Comments (group member since Aug 26, 2016)

Kendra’s comments from the Reading Classics, Chronologically Through the Ages group.

I've finally finished after five months! I have so much I want to discuss but a lot of it surrounds a major spoiler. What is the group's policy on spoilers in discussions?

Cleo wrote: "Oh heavens, me too! I'm stalled at about chapter 30"

I'm well into part 2 - maybe 75% done with the book, and I truly am enjoying it! I just got distracted by library books that needed to be read and returned. But I'm going on a trip this weekend and I'm only allowing myself to bring my one library book and DQ, so hopefully I'll make some good progress.

You're reading Herodotus right now, though, so I don't blame you for stalling! History takes a lot more time and energy to read than most novels.

Ok! The plan is clarified! I'm going to really push through The Story of Civilization and after finishing 4 more chapters in Our Oriental Heritage, I'm going to temporarily skip over the second half of the book, which goes into India, Japan, and the Far East. I'll work through the first 10 chapters of The Life of Greece, which will bring me up to 480 B.C. That way, I can start reading the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Greek Lyrics and make some headway on the list with a sufficient understanding of the historical background. While I'm reading those, I will jump back and finish Our Oriental Heritage and hopefully I'll be caught up in time to continue forward chronologically.

But first, I really just need to finish Don Quixote!

Cleo wrote: "I started learning Latin using Henle Latin but, of course, stalled. What program are you planning to use?"

I have no idea. I've barely looked into resources, I've just decided I'm going to do it. I could use recommendations if you have them.

Once I finish Don Quixote, maybe I'll just take this intense drive I have and pour it into Our Oriental Heritage because, technically, I won't get into the history of the time period of my next chronological reads (The Iliad and The Odyssey) until I reach the next book in Durant's series. I can buffer the denseness of Our Oriental History with some of my lighter non-TWEM books, which I'll limit to reading during my work breaks and before bed. That way, I can read the two books that are on hold at the library for me without getting off track (before you yell at me, both of them are on my reading plan for the year!). That delays my progress on the chronological list but still keeps me on track for the year.

It's funny that I'm having to put limits on myself. But I decided that once I reach my book "goal" of 25 books, I'm going to limit myself solely to TWEM books so then I can also focus on learning Latin, since I'd love to read a lot of the later books in their original Latin.

I'm a huge nerd, but I am embracing it completely!

Also, I had 4 TBD spots left on my plan for the year so I grabbed 4 books off my shelf of unread books and planted them in. Now I have that all settled - I have a plan and I'm sticking to it. It'll be interesting to see how much I enjoy a structured reading plan compared to my whatever-seems-interesting mentality of years past.

*very minor spoiler*

I just read this in part 2: "On the way, the cousin said to Don Quixote that they should stop at the hermitage for something to drink. As soon as Sancho Panza heard this he turned his donkey toward the hermitage, and Don Quixote and the cousin did the same, but as Sancho's bad luck would have it, the hermit was not at home, which is what they were told by an assistant hermit whom they found in the hermitage."

I thought the irony in this was hilarious. A hermit who had an assistant and who was not at the hermitage. Brilliant!

I began thinking about the original languages that many of the books we are reading were written in and I stumbled upon this link: http://www.openculture.com/2010/10/th.... It is part of the epic read in the original Akkadian. While I don't expect any of us to understand it, it is cool to hear what it would have sounded like to the first listeners of the tale.

Haha thank you both. I have done a lot of reading this month (what inevitably happens when they cut my hours at work), but it feels like so little of that has actually been from TWEM and my lists. I keep ending up reading random books I pick up from the library (my personal version of drunk dialing is late night library requests). And, in all fairness, maybe 4/5 of those books I started before the beginning of the year.

I think I mainly just want to finish Don Quixote - it's been like 6 months since I started it.

Kirk wrote: "I've hesitated asking this question, but...

What are some of the shorter books found on The Well-Educated Mind book list?

I may knock off a few of those until the end of March."

The Great Gatsby is a pretty short. Gilgamesh went pretty quickly for me given the layout of the poetry (and since some of it is missing).

I'm currently reading Don Quixote so I completely understand how some books, no matter how interesting, can drag on quite a bit... I want to say I'm going on 5 or 6 months at this point for DQ.

I did some major organization of my top posts and clarified the scope of my projects. I also began the daunting task of copying my entire list (that isn't actually finished yet) onto a post. I might just add to it as I plan/finish books, or at least wait until my reading decisions are actually solidified.

Now, will someone yell at me to ACTUALLY READ?

It seems like a lot of people in this group are not the biggest fan of this book! I am actually finding it very entertaining and I'm enjoying it more and more as I go along. I'm a couple chapters into part 2 and there is definitely a shift in style. In a lecture about this book it was said that part 1 is Renaissance and part 2 is Baroque. I don't yet entirely understand what the lecturer meant by that but the decade separating the two parts is definitely noticeable.

I agree that I am thankful to have found this group! It's special to find people with similar aspirations as me, especially outside of a formal institution. I always enjoy our conversations and being able to share the journey along with the rest of you.

Thanks for the book recommendation, Kenia! I never thought about it in that way! I just requested the book from the library.

And thank you for the encouragement, Cleo.

Sometimes I think that just the sheer number of things I plan to do causes me to hesitate in beginning. But this is a life-long journey and I should take the time to enjoy each step.

I hope everyone's reading is going well so far this year! It's been a slow month for me at work so I've been able to get a lot of reading done.

To me, this project is wider than just a list of great books to read. I plan on teaching myself a variety of subjects and skills. Essentially, I've watched my friends who are homeschooling their kids and I've said, "Well, I don't have any kids of my own but I want to learn all these things too!" so I just started making a list of my interests.

The overall learning plan is still in progress but something I've struggled with is the desire to be learning 10 different things all at the same time and so I get distracted. I'll sit down to start reading and I end up researching things like resources for learning Latin or nature journaling or sewing.

So my question for those who are doing something similar or homeschooling is, how do you keep on track with one subject and know when to move on? Do you have a great, over-arching plan or do you just follow your interests? How can I get moving on actually doing these things instead of researching them ad nauseum?

Looks like an awesome year of reading! I love the idea of reading all of Austen's books in one year. Also, Brave New World was one of my favorite books I was assigned to read in high school - it's so strange but also fascinating. Enjoy!

I kind of got a head start on my list so I'm about halfway done with maybe four of the books. If that speeds up my reading time, I might be able to read The Histories with the rest of the group. I'd really love to partake in the conversation.

As contradictory as it sounds, I am actually an outgoing introvert. I'm very outgoing and social but I am drained after social interaction. I just frequently get to the point where I would rather stay inside and read instead of being with people and, in a way, I began to value reading more. All of this to say, I lowered my reading goal to keep my priorities in balance.

Kenia, I understand the struggle. I've done the Goodreads challenge the past 3 years and each time I surpassed my reading goal, and usually way before the end of the year. I like to see the percentage inch up and I do get an odd sense of accomplishment once I hit the goal. But the goal number has never been my motivation for reading. Nevertheless, I intend to read a lot more books this year that require more time to ponder and I don't want my enjoyment of that to be dampened by the fact that I might be behind on the challenge.

It is hard though. Sometimes I get so excited about how many awesome books I have to read that it actually distracts me from reading! Some days I swear I spend a greater portion of my time planning my reading lists instead of actually working on them. It needs to be a balance.

As for time spent pondering vs reading more, I just sort of follow my curiosity. If a book fascinates me, I'll dive deeper into it and do more analysis, but if I'm uninterested, I'll move on to the next one. No use wasting time on a boring book when there are so many other good ones to read!

I'm also recognizing that my reading goals have actually made me more introverted. So in my case, it might actually be better to lessen the reading goal and spend more time investing in friendships!

Cleo wrote: "Best of luck with your reading in 2017, Kendra! You've inspired me to try to at least target some books for my challenges in 2017. Usually I like to fly by the seat of my pants but I'm getting the ..."

Thank you, Cleo! Best of luck to you too!

The Complete List: *Still a work in progress*

The Story of Civilization:
✓Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant (1935)
✓The Life of Greece by Will Durant (1939)
✓Caesar and Christ by Will Durant (1944)
✓The Age of Faith by Will Durant (1950)
The Renaissance by Will Durant (1953)
The Reformation by Will Durant (1957)
The Age of Reason Begins by Will and Ariel Durant (1961)
The Age of Louis XIV by Will and Ariel Durant (1963)
The Age of Voltaire by Will and Ariel Durant (1965)
Rousseau and Revolution by Will and Ariel Durant (1967)
The Age of Napoleon by Will and Ariel Durant (1975)

U.S. History:
✓Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence Hunt (2003) - Completed 07/24/18
✓Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (2005) - Completed 10/13/16
1776 by David McCullough (2005)

Around the World in Books:
✓Albania: Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare (1971) - Completed 8/21/17
✓Afghanistan: The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi (2008) - Completed 10/19/15
✓England: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847) - Completed 4/26/16
✓Germany: Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (2008) - Completed 10/23/15
✓India: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008) - Completed 10/14/15
✓Japan: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (2002) - Completed 1/18/18
Mexico: Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo (1955)
✓Poland: The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz (1933)
✓Spain: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605/1615) - Completed 2/24/17
✓Wales: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn (1939) - Completed 3/11/16
✓Zambia: A Cowrie of Hope by Binwell Sinyangwe (2000) - Completed 11/13/17

Miscellaneous:
✓The Oldest Code of Laws in the World: The Code of Laws Promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, B.C. 2285-2242 (1754 B.C., History) - Completed 1/27/17
Orations by Cicero (63 B.C., History)
The Aeneid by Virgil (29 - 19 B.C., Plays)
✓The Sagas of Icelanders (1200 - 1400?, Saga)
✓A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold (1949, Nature) - Completed 3/30/17
✓Night by Elie Wiesel (1958, Autobiography) - Completed 2/27/17
✓A Separate Peace by John Knowles (1959, Novel) - Completed 11/06/18
✓Imperial Spain, 1469-1716 by J.H. Elliott (1960, History) - Completed 1/18/17
✓Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live by Akiko Busch (1999, Architecture) - Completed 08/29/18