Vicky’s Comments (group member since Apr 10, 2011)

Vicky’s comments from the Should have read classics group.

I'm here! You must have thought I abandoned you, sorry! I was in your country, visiting with the ocean (Maine), I was supposed to have wireless Internet in the suite but we never managed to get it to work so I was truly disconnected for a while. I am back and ready to read, I'll start Le Père Goriot tomorrow!

Mid-september is perfect for me Lisa!

I haven't read the other ones, this was my first Narnia read, but definitely not the last one. I also just finished it, what's left of IRENE is hitting Montréal right now, it was the perfect afternoon to read. With the creation of Narnia, Aslan definitely represents God in this one and I assume, since he created the world, he is also the one who issued the interdiction of taking for oneself the (forbidden) fruit that is inscribed on the door of the Garden. So God for this one, but I'll keep your question in mind for when I read the other ones Kerry, I'm curious.

Lisa wrote: "Would anyone be interested in starting the buddy read of Père Goriot in September? We talked about it earlier in the summer and if anyone is interested would you like to start it then?"

Yes, me, me me! It has been so many years since I've read it, so many great things to read and so little time! I'll be reading it in French Lisa but I'll get a free ebook copy in English so I can quote and refer to it if need be.

Francis, yes we're still reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD! This is an extra read for those who are interested and who have time for it (or as in my case are willing to make time). Lisa issues an open invitation, anyone can join, and of course the more the merrier!

Lisa, tell me when we start, I'll follow!

Lisa wrote: "Since July has now ended(unbelievable)and the only book left is The Count. Does anyone want to suggest a title for this month or just have The Count as the lone figure for this month? I don't know..."

Kerri had posted this in the book battle thread:

message 16: by Kerri, the sane one (new) Jun 27, 2011 07:31am
Aug. will have Magician's Nephew, Sept. will have To Kill A Mockingbird, Oct. will have Frankenstein, Nov. will have North and South and Wind in the Willows. All the other books for the battle will be on your own and not necessarily part of our regular monthly reads. Hope that helps in your planning.

So magician's Nephew should be our children's book, as for the other book, I'll go along with any choice everything you mentioned is on my to read list except
Number the Stars which I have never heard about but judging from the prizes it collected I am adding it also to my to read list (which is already too long). I might be rarely present for the next two weeks but I'll catch up later (vacations for me and my little one, my tender half having to work, but I might sneak a word here and there during nap time).

Once in a while life catches up with us and it's impossible to stay ahead. Don't worry Lisa, I'm sure we've all been there so we all understand!

Now, are you worried that we'll kick you out?!? LOL. Nay, we still love you, enjoy your summer, we'll be right here!

Lesa wrote: "This link will take you to a list comparing the characters in Animal Farm to the people who brought about the Revolution. It's quick and dirty, so it won't take long.
http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~sb..."

My turn to thank you for that link Lesa, I just took a look at it today since I am going to start "Animal Farm" and it's really a great link, short and sweet with essential information!

The episode with the little beggar and the baker really got to me, kindness engendering kindness, how beautiful!

Michelle wrote: "I think that looks very tasteful! ."

This is where the second language thing manifests itself!?! If you mean the house, yes I agree, it is done tastefully and I can see myself filling up so many shelves very easily! If on the other hand you mean my bookselves, thankyou and if not oh well, let's blame it on the second language thing! LOL. ;)

"Other people have lived in worse places. Think of the Count of Monte Cristo in the dungeons of the Chateau d'If. And think of the people in the Bastille!" chapter 8 (The Attic)

How surprising to find mention of one of our other group read in The Little Princess!

I'm curious, have any of you found it, let's say "challenging", to reconcile Edmond Dantès with Sinbad the Sailor (as he reappears in chapter 31 on the Monte-Cristo island)? Do you find the evolution of the character pleasing, was it what you expected the character to develop into, does it fit the image and the feelings you had develop for this character?

Keep my question in mind as you keep reading as well cause I think it might be interesting to come back on our perception of Dantès later on...

Wow! And here I thought I was overdoing it having the bookshelves built over the doorways (see profile picture), now I can tell my other half that I was perfectly reasonable, actually I can now show him!

I love the style of narrative Dumas uses, most of the time he is the classic omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent narrator but, once in a while, he makes the reader a witness and together the narrator and the reader are watching the drama unfold, he uses the present tense (in the original version in French) which suits this perfectly, and the first person plural (we) as if the omniscient narrator didn't already know where he was headed.

"We will leave Villefort on the road to Paris, travelling—thanks to trebled fees—with all speed, and passing through two or three apartments, enter at the Tuileries the little room with the arched window, so well known as having been the favorite closet of Napoleon and Louis XVIII., and now of Louis Philippe." (1st paragraph chapter 10)

I like the intimacy it creates, it kind of feels like he's holding my hand and showing me around.

I'm ready when you are

Debbie wrote: "I had also wondered about Balzac since seeing The Music Man, but I never did research his books. What book do you recommend starting with when reading Balzac?"

I'm not sure who you were addressing your question too but I'm all for Lesa's suggestion of "Le Père Goriot" (probably translated as Father Goriot ot something close, it's late and I'm getting lazy!) and I'm all for Lisa's suggestion of a buddy read ( or reread in my case),maybe you could join us?!

Kaila wrote: "I watched an interview where she said she was going to do 3 more books after Dead in the Family. It just feels to me like she's kind of bored with the series."

Very possible, I haven't read Dead Reckoning yet although I've bought it and it's sitting there on my shelf calling to me, but I want to read Death's Excellent Vacation first and haven't gotten to it yet. I think it might be difficult dealing with the success of the True Blood series, how much of Sookie belongs to her now? We all know that there's a lot more people watching the series than there are people reading the books and a lot of the people actually reading the books saw the series first... It makes me wonder how much of Sookie still belongs to her?... I think once an author sells a series or a character, she has to be ready to let it go, it belongs to a greater entity, it is a choice an author makes and while making this choice they are fully aware that they're limiting where they can take that series or character in the future.

That said, Charlaine Harris has talent seeping out at the seams. Her strength is in painting the characters, she'll take the reader in bubbleheads' land and then she'll write a sentence, just one, that brings an image to mind, and as a reader you'll think "that's it, she's got it" and just like that she's painted a true image of the south, of the people that inhabit it and it seems so simple, so obvious, so true! She's great! If she gets bored with that series, at this particular time I'm willing to follow her wherever shell want to take me next... I don't know how long it is going to take for the True Blood series to fade, but I think eventually the novels are going to become cult novels and from there we'll see... It's not so much the stories she tells as the ways she paints her characters, sometimes a whole world seems to be living within a few written words in her novels...

Oh and I'm up for Hawaii and I'm all for the stranded group, book swapping, idea as well Lisa!

Katherine wrote: "Vicky wrote: " Oh, how I wish I had a book that had stayed with me all my life and that I'd jotted notes in--what a wonderful keepsake and a terrific heirloom for future generations to get a " picture " of you. ..."

Oh but it is so worn out and my Raphaëlle is not even four years old yet, I'm afraid it's not going to make it! ... Still there's a lot more to it than my own notes, there are the stories told by my first literature teacher about how he use to read it in the dark with a flashlight under his covers when he was in boarding school. there's the memory of the first time I heard some of Baudelaire's poem recited in public, in Québec city, I'll never forget that... There's a world around "Les fleurs du mal" for me and it's not all written down in this copy, although there's a lot... and hopefully if I can't transmit my love for this particular work to my daughter I'm at least reassured in the fact that she loves books, she lives surrounded by them and when I can't hear her anymore I'm sure to find her sitting down looking at one of her books!!!

And you know what, Katherine, it's never too late, why don't you take one of your desert island books, start rereading it and taking notes in it as you go along... Why not, while you're at it, not make it a yearly date with this book that you love, to reread it at the same time every year and to feel free to write down in it anything that comes to mind?! Why not feel free to write in it what it inspires you, where it brings you, because it might be very unique and it might be precious, one day, for this daughter of yours who is so different from you to discover who you were inside... Not the public persona, but the true you... Even if you only do it for a year or two, it's worthed, and I can guarantee the reread of your own notes is going to be something worthed even if you only do it for yourself...

It's been a full week, first I finished the "UGLIES" series, which I enjoyed. I read it in English but just bought today the first book in French and am sending it to my 14 years old niece, and I told my brother over the phone he should read it too, He'll love it. Then I read The Sickroom and was so disappointed because it's obvious the author does have talent but it felt as though she published a first draft. It needed work, and it could have been so great had she given it the attention it deserved, but as it is, don't bother. Having no talent is one thing, being lazy reworking your first draft when you do have talent is unforgivable in my book.
Then I read something I felt obligated to read because I'm linked to the author... I was hoping it would be good, it was horrible, did I say horrible because I meant horrible! (Can I add a few "r" to horrrrrrrible) I'm not even going to name it, I don't think I'm even going to bother with a review, it's not worth my time, It is in my Goodreads profile if you're that curious but believe me it's not worth your time either and I truly wish it was but I'm honest, can't help it...

Now for the good things to come, tonight I'm starting "Animal'z" by Enki Bilal. His works will be classics one day, his drawings are sold in galleries worldwide. It's a reread, it was a gift from my other half two years ago when it came out in 2009, and, knowing my love for bilal's drawings, he just bought me "Julia & Roem" so I'm rereading this one first and then will move on to "Julia & Roem".

I love Bilal's drawings, I love how you can distinguish the pencil strokes... I feel in love with his work with the first instalment of the "Nokopol trilogy" which was in color (even though it shows a particular relation to color, but that's another story). I wasn't surprised a few years later when I found galleries selling some of his drawings. ...but these two last ones, they're in tones of grey (everything from white to black) with a burst of red here and there. I've been flipping through them all week, looking at the drawings, delaying the reading as I use to do as I child when I was served something I really liked, lingering to taste it, making it last, saving the best for last.

I hate that they're called comic books in English, this sounds so derogatory... Bilal's work is art, nothing less. Whether someone likes the stories he writes or not is a matter of taste and to each his own, I respect that, and frankly I find the stories secondary to the art, they "support" the drawing. ...but the drawings... They are amazing, and they are unique, altough they are dark and bold, and daring... And I'm not dark, (LOL I'm the ever smiling, full of good intentions, friend or neighbor you'd like to have! Believe me!) but for having drawn once, for knowing what it's like to hold a pen and to create from nothing, I can't help but love and respect what he creates, and my other half who is a true "BD" (comics) fan and who has perhaps even more culture than I have (LOL I can definitely hold my own) says that Bilal is not about the stories, each drawing being a work of art, I agree... Once you know his work you can spot it anywhere, you can spot his influence so often. But here I am going on and on and I haven't even started to reread Animal'z... Let me read and feast my eyes a little... I'll be back, but expect me to take my time, this is not something I want to rush through! ;)
Animal'z

Lisa wrote: " ... At a bookstore though, I just go straight to what books I need/want. I can't spend too much time browsing, might blow the grocery money on books!:) ..."

Food for the brain, that qualifies as grocery doesn't it?! LOL