Megan’s Comments (group member since Dec 30, 2017)

Megan’s comments from the EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club group.

I nominate The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones. 352 pages.

I also second The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I second Beloved and Racing In The Rain

I also second Flowers for Algernon

I second Northhanger Abbey, Catcher in the Rye and The Little Prince

I second The Jungle Book

This is my second read of the Great Gatsby. I love the descriptive language.

I finished The Great Gatsby today, I’ll add it to my reserved post tomorrow, when I can get on the computer. I look forward to talking about it with anyone else who’s reading it for November.

updated message 34 with my final book for October, plus tally of my October points. Added one children's book for November, Just A Minute by Yuyi Morales, a clever bi-lingual counting book where Grandma Beetle keeps putting off Senor Galavera, aka Death, which seemed appropriate, given it's Dia de los Muertos, The Day of The Dead. Sadly, did not manage to finish either of the two books I thought I was closer to finishing last night. I was too tired to read. I blame the unseasonable snow and requisite snow shoveling ; ) Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Happy Halloween! I finished Aru Shah and The Song of Death yesterday (304 pg) and hope to finish at least one more book before the deadline tomorrow. I’ll get my reserved post updated right away tomorrow.

Lower Years:
We did a lot of poems, short stories, mythology and excerpts. I remember an intriguing short story by Ray Bradbury about a colony on Venus where it always rained, and having to memorize the first stanza of William Blake’s Tiger Tiger Burning Bright.

We had silent reading time after lunch recess, and there were lots of classics available. At eleven, I attempted reading Lord of the Flies and hated it. I thought it was unrealistically pessimistic, but having read more about boys’ lives in British boarding schools since then, it makes more sense that the author would expect boys to devolve into savages when left on their own. I also read Huckleberry Finn and Diary of Anne Frank, but I’m not sure whether it was by choice or was assigned. The one book I remember HAVING to read was The Red Pony by Steinbeck, which ended up being a terribly depressing tearjerker.

Middle Year’s:
Again, poetry, short stories, plays and mythology.
Things Fall Apart
The Black Pearl, by Steinbeck (I really hated Steinbeck after this as it’s even more depressing and bleak than The Red Pony)
The Metamorphosis by Kafka
A Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare
A play by George Bernard Shaw that I really enjoyed, but it’s name escapes me.
Stuff in Latin. Latin was one of my favorite classes. Our teacher was in a folk-rock band and played the banjo. We watched Monty Pythons The Life of Brian in class because of the scene where the Roman soldier corrects his Latin grammar when he’s painting rebellious graffiti on the wall.

Upper Years:
The Odyssey by Homer
As You Like It by Shakespeare
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Something with a woman’s name for the title by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Short stories by Tolstoy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fenimore Cooper, Faulkner, etc.
Excerpts from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and Walden Pond by Thoreau

finished Interview With A Vampire last night, updating message 34.

I read this back in 1987, when I had just started high school. I loved it, got my mom and sister to read it and we all became huge Anne Rice fans, at least of the first three books. I liked the movie and was happily surprised at how well Tom Cruise played Lestat (I didn't expect him to do well), and I loved Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst as Louis and Claudia. I watched the film with my son recently and had forgotten how disturbing it was. The movie, like the book, really examines and embraces the vampires need to kill.

It was interesting reading it again. The descriptive, visceral kill scenes disturbed me a lot more this time around, I actually got physically nauseous during some of them. Maybe it's because I'm a mom and the eating children and teenagers bothered me more? It's funny to me that some people consider Louis boring, when he seems very relatable to me. If I'd been coerced into being a vampire, the kind that has to kill to survive, I'd be wondering whether I was damned and pondering the nature of good and evil too. I agree that he goes on a bit too much though. Some of his depressed philosophizing could have been cut where it slows down the book.

I hadn't read Portrait of Dorian Gray when I first read this, but I'd read it when this group chose it as a classic read, so I noticed the parallels others have pointed out with this reread.

I loved the descriptive writing, the world building and the thoughtful examination of good, evil, life, death and humanity. I plan on eventually re-reading the next two books, though I'm not sure about the whole series. I've heard the Atlantis book does some retconning fans are unhappy with.

added 3 children's books to post 34

I discovered Agatha Christie when I was 10 or 11 and devoured all of her books that I could find in the local libraries. I was a huge fan of the Poiret and Ms. Marple BBC/PBS series in the 1980's, so I enjoyed experiencing Poirot again. He's definitely a bit of a know-it-all, but charming too. I love watching him puzzle things out. It was fun re-reading this, or really, re-listening, as I listened to an excellent narration by Dan Stevens. I have to say, I think he did a better job with Poirot than Branagh did. I liked the recent movie, it was beautifully shot and the entire cast worked well together, but why did they move some of the action off the train? The whole point of this story was IT ALL TAKES PLACE ON A TRAIN.

for some reason, my last couple updates didn't save properly. I hope I successfully updated message 34. If my math is correct, my total is 17 points

Lina wrote: "- Member roster updated with reserved links where requested!
- Point totals updated per person and overall
- We are ahead of Hufflepuff according to Joanna's calculations, but we still want to util..."

I listened to the Les Mis audiobook recently. I loved it!

Just finished The Water Dancer, 406 pg, so I think 2pt? Will have to update my official post 34 tomorrow. It was EXCELLENT!

updated post 34, added some short books, so total now 15

updated post 34, added two books. Total 12 1/5 points.