☯Emily ’s Comments (group member since Jul 27, 2011)

☯Emily ’s comments from the Classics for Beginners group.

On the Beach by Nevil Shute. I can lead.

Many of us would like to see more discussions. However, the moderators don't always have the time to read and discuss the book that wins. Please nominate a book you are willing to read and discuss. You aren't required to be the discussion leader, but it would be helpful if you participated in the discussion in some way. Thanks!

It's time to nominate the first book of the new year. What would you like to read in that month? Nominations will close and the poll will open on November 12.

These are the new rules for nominations:
1. One nomination per person.
2. Classic books only (over 50 years old).
3. Books can be of any length, but if a book wins and is over 600 pages, we will read it over a two month period.
4. No book we have read before as a group read.*
5. No book from an author who we have read either in the last 10 group reads or the last 4 tri-monthly reads.†
6. To facilitate poll creation, please use a Goodreads link to add the nomination by clicking on 'add book/author' above the text box.
7. Please indicate whether or not you would be willing to lead the discussion if your nomination is chosen.


*For a full list of books we have read before please check the master-list:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
(Note: lists sorted by book title, author surname, or date read)

†Authors not to nominate:
Albert Camus (November 2016
M.R. James (October 2016)
Jack London (September 2016)
Mark Twain (August 2016)
Truman Capote (July 2016)
Henry Miller (June 2016)
Rebecca West (May 2016)
Anne Brontë (April 2016)
Robert Louis Stevenson (March 2016)
Frank Kafka (February 2016)

Charles Dickens (October-December 2016)
James Joyce (July-September 2016)
Wilkie Collins (April-June 2016)
R.D. Blackmore (January-March 2016)

Ward opens the book with "Maman died today." Ward mentions that Sartre goes out of his way to point our Meursault's use of the child's word "Maman" when speaking of his mother. Ward believes that "to use the more removed, adult "Mother" is to change the nature of Meursault's curious feeling for her. It is to change his very sensibility."

I think children's fiction is a good idea. Not sure if there are enough classics for the animal category.

Holls wrote: "I'm going to be reading the Penguin Modern Classics version, The Outsider, translated by Sandra Smith.

It seems that all of the English translations are a little bit contentious, so I'm also goin..."

This might be an interesting discussion. My book is translated into English by Matthew Ward. He has a note in the beginning of the book comparing his translation to Stuart Gilbert, who gave a "Britannic" rendering. Mr. Ward tries to give a more "American" quality as well as attempting to "capture what he (Camus) said and how he said it, not what he meant."

He continues by saying that no sentence in French literature in English translation is better known than the opening sentence of The Stranger. "It has become a sacred cow of sorts and I have changed it."

So what is the first sentence of your book?

So far, I am enjoying it, but I have only read 5 pages!

Camus gave a speech at the Nobel ceremony. Does the speech help to understand this book and his message? http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...

Albert Camus won the Nobel prize for literature in 1957. He led a very interesting life. A biography written by the Nobel Prize committee is found here. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...

This thread is for discussing Part 2 of The Stranger as well as the book as a whole. Please note that there may be spoilers in this thread, so use discretion when perusing this thread.

About a year ago, this group read The Plague by Camus as the Ebola virus was ravaging Western Africa. I found the book so relevant that I have been eager to read another Camus book.

We are going to try something new this month. We will divide the book into two sections. This thread is for discussing Part 1 ONLY. There should not be any spoiler comments in this thread. If you want to discuss the book as a whole, please use the spoiler thread. Thanks.

This thread concludes the book. There might be spoilers in this section, so read the comments with this in mind.

Comments about episodes 11-15 can be posted in this thread.

This thread is for discussing Episodes 6-10. I hope the book continues to be hilarious.

You can make comments here about the first five episodes.

I created a thread for the book yesterday. I hope you and Kirsten can make comments there.

Beranga wrote: "I suggest adding Historical Fiction to the list."

I am not sure what people mean when they say "historical fiction." Many people think that Dickens or Austin wrote historical fiction, but they did not. These authors wrote about contemporary life. I have a feeling, based on past experience, that there will be lots of discussion and disagreement if that theme were selected. Can you give a definition of what you mean and an example?

Holls wrote: "He he. "Classic avant garde" would be classic radical, experimental, or unorthodox novels. Think almost anything by Samuel Beckett, especially Watt, Joyce's Ulysses, One Hundred Years of Solitude o..."

Thanks for the link. Looks like The Stranger, which we are reading in November, is considered avant garde.

Now we have a tie with two books right behind!

It has been suggested that the group occasionally have monthly themes. I have listed the themes suggested on another thread. Do you have any additional ideas for themes?

science fiction
crime/mystery
love stories
horror/suspense
early 20th century classics
epistolary (or told in letter format) fiction
women authors
dystopian / utopian fiction
Greek & Roman classics
classic avant garde (I'm not sure what this is!)
literature by country (e.g. Russian, African continent, French, etc)
plays
banned or challenged book
non-fiction
translated work
westerns
Children's literature
Reread books that were read more than 4-5 years ago.