Cleo’s Comments (group member since Apr 12, 2016)

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

I'm going to post some of my 2019 plans here to hopefully help keep on top of them. A work-in-progress:


January:

Deal Me In:

Dec 31st week: An Apology for Idlers and Other Essays (9 of spades)
Jan 7th week: Just David (4 of hearts)
Jan 14th week: Signs and Symbols (Ace of clubs)
Jan 21st week: The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings (5 of clubs)
Jan 28th week: The Story of a Farm Girl (6 of clubs)


Phantastes Chapters I-IV before January 2nd
Phantastes Chapters V-VIII before January 9th
Phantastes Chapters IX-XII before January 16th
Phantastes Chapters XIII-XIV before January 23rd
Phantastes Chapters XV-XIX before January 30th

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

February:

Moby-Dick or, The Whale


Phantastes Chapters XX-XXII before February 6th
Phantastes Chapters XXIII-XV before February 13th

February:

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (where has the read-along gone though?)

Sorento62 wrote: "
Yes, more than 100 chapters, many of which are only 1 to 3 pages."

Ah! Then I imagine we'd be doing more than one chapter per week. I believe she's planning to start it in February so keep an eye out!

Hi Julie! Again I envy you and your in-person book club!

The read along is going to be hosted by Brona at Brona's Books. I think we're going to read a chapter and listen to a podcast episode until we finish. I thought I heard a chapter per week but I think MD has a number of chapters so I'm not sure. In any case, we will be reading slowly. I hope that you can join in somehow. It would be good to have your already enlightened opinion! ;-) Take care and Merry Christmas!

Sandy wrote: "I just learned of a new GR group which is in the hands of a very capable moderator and might interest some members of this group.

Ovid's Metamorphoses and Further Metamorphoses — https://www.goodr..."

Thanks a bunch, Sandy! I joined!

Elizabeth wrote: "Count me out! Once was more than enough..."

Lol! I've heard from a number of people who really enjoyed it (I was surprised, I must say) so I'm going to give it a shot. And reading with others for a book like this is too good to pass up.

On another note, there is a Moby Dick read-along coming up in February. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll give you the details.

Hi Karen! Welcome to the group! I homeschooled my daughter as well. I miss it!

Sandy wrote: "Cleo wrote: "I wasn't intending to lay a guilt trip on you, Cleo...."

Don't worry, you didn't guilt trip me, Sandy. I've been meaning to add the novels for ages and your words reminded me.

I'm sorry to hear about your health. I think of you often and wonder how you're doing. If you can find a good naturopath, they can often be so helpful. I hope he can put you on the road to better health, which, of course, means more reading! All the best!

Hi Sandy, I should put the novels up but I jumped into the project with someone else when they were starting biographies and I'd already read most of the novels so I decided to skip the list. I should go back to it.

So far I've really enjoyed the books SWB chose aside from the slave narratives however Up from Slavery was wonderful and now one of my favourites! Even Nietzsche, who drove me crazy, ended up being a favourite in a sort of twisted way, lol! ;-)

I am just shoving in the reading when I can instead of hoping for that oh, so elusive "time". I'm signing up for challenges in 2019. Not that I expect to complete any, but I do notice I read much more when I join them, so join them I will! Hope you're doing well and I see you're getting some reading accomplished!

Thanks, Sandy! I see you've found my new and improved (I hope!) Classical Carousel. My list is from the first edition so it doesn't have the updated books. But it's a good start at least.

City of God is a brute of a book but Augustine's thoughts are very interesting. Kendra has a thread with an excellent introduction that certainly helped me understanding why Augustine was beating certain topics to death highly concerned about various issues. ;-)

Elizabeth wrote: "I'm not sure systemic gender discrimination is the same thing as personal animosity to women..."

Hey Elizabeth, I think they can be different. One is personal and the other could be due to a variety of different factors, power being one of them.

Elizabeth wrote: "There's another book I've been meaning to read by a very provocative author, a lawyer named Catherine MacKinnon (I happened to hear her talk on a podcast) called "Are Women Human?..."

How interesting! It appears that she borrowed the title from Dorothy Sayers' book, Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society. This is a great read if you have the time. Sayers did experience discrimination as an intellectual woman trying to enter the university and her observations are point-on. What I like about her is that her responses, instead of fuelling more animosity which would make the problem worse instead of better, while direct, were respectful and respectable, and she was easily able to be seen as a contemporary intellectual by such notables as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, etc. It would be interesting to compare the two books. I will definitely explore the link that you sent. Thanks!

Elizabeth wrote: "I really hate how anti-woman the ancient Mediterranean cultures were and how that colours the whole western canon so I can get grumpy while reading.
..."

In a general sense, I don't think every society would think of themselves as anti-women nor do I believe the women of those cultures would see it that way. There is lots of modern writing espousing this idea but I often see evidence that says otherwise.

With regard to the Greeks, the men's domain was the polis which meant the city of which politics was a part and the women's domain was the home. It appears they did this not to subjugate women but because it made the most logical sense. Cross-over, however much we would have liked to see it, would not be viewed as efficient.

The Apostle Paul continually put women in high positions and had an extremely high respect for them and their abilities.

Part of my readings of The Sayings of the Church Fathers, contained a number of sayings by women, so there were in effect "Church Mothers" although certainly not as many as men. However they are included on a equal footing.

Hypatia, a woman who taught philosophy and astronomy in the Eastern Roman Empire and was highly respected for her intellect has been presented as the only woman who escaped from a misogynistic male social “prison”, however reactions to her abilities by men of those times were often not negative at all and often expressed admiration. A Christian historian of the time, gives a glowing account of her and ends by saying: “… For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more.” One modern account I read was not only inaccurate, but did not do justice to the memory and life of Hypatia.

What I find curious is that many times when I encounter women like Hypatia, I don't encounter surprise at their abilities by their male contemporaries. People seem quite generous to give praise. I do however encounter animosity for different reasons other than gender, such as an unbalancing of the power structure whether political or religious, etc. that could have happened to a man as well. It gives me pause to think. And I wonder how many other women did “extraordinary” things and we simply don’t know about them because we have no historical documentation.

All that said, that while I'm sure there was gender discrimination, I'm not sure that it's as widespread as we assume.

You've mentioned a number of interesting women, Elizabeth. I've heard of them all but Ruth Benedict. Perhaps a buddy read will metamorphosize in 2019! :-)

Aaaahhhh! That look's great! I've read a few of these but there are many that are high up on my list. Great choices, Kendra!

Kendra wrote: "It's funny - my copy of The City of God says "For the modern reader" on the cover. What is that suppose to mean?! Are you saying the "modern reader" can't handle the complete text? I am offended!"

Yes, I would think that's what they're saying. And they may also have dumbed down the translation. Rather sad commentary on modern society, I'd say ....

Hi Elizabeth! Welcome to the group! Do you have a TWEM book that you're wanting to start? I'm going through the histories at the moment but have kind of stalled. This group is a good reminder to keep me going. I hope 2019 is a good year for discussions here!

LOL! Augustine is pretty tedious in this one but having the background is a necessity to understand where he's coming from and going.

Having read a few terrible abridgements (Les Miserables pops to mind), I won't read them anymore no matter how long the book is. Often they miss huge pieces that really have an impact on how one views the book and ideas contained within. I'm still only halfway through this one but I'll keep plugging along and eventually finish. And we can always come back to this thread, right?

Anyone who can get through it in two months deserves a medal! ;-)

Welcome, Irene! Let me know when you start Don Quixote. I’d planned to read it again. I’m pretty busy but if I can, I’ll join you. Don’t be daunted, just start reading!

I would have allotted 4 months for City of God. I know it's a long time but it's a real slog. Sorry, Augustine! ;-)

Ooo, I can join in this discussion as I've read Confessions. I'm actually about 1/2 of the way through City of God at the moment but progressing VERY slowly. It's SUCH a different read than Confessions.