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

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

This section is for discussing chapters 1-15. Please indicate any spoilers.

Well, 42 people voted for it, so I hope others are reading it.

You can continue to comment on book until the thread gets closed.

This is the thread for The Three Musketeers. I will not be reading it. If any of you readers want the book divided into sections like Gone with the Wind and Bleak House, please let me know by telling me a good way to divide it. Thanks.

I enjoyed it too and I hadn't expected I would.

Was Heathcliff's feeling for Catherine love or obsession?

The narrator will be revealed near the very end. It is nice to speculate, but you might not be right.

Oh, you are talking about the daughter...okay, I get it.

Wow, I can't believe the sympathy for Catherine. I don't believe she was naive at all. She was extremely selfish and manipulative and, in the process, destroyed everyone around her. I think Heathcliff and Catherine are two of the most despicable characters in literature.

Traci wrote: "RebeccaS wrote: "I didn't even think that Heathcliff could be Cathy's half-brother!! I wouldn't be surprised, but if so I think Bronte may have hinted at it more (maybe she did and I didn't notice)..."

There was nothing wrong with first cousins marrying at the time the novel was written. In fact, in some states in the USA, first cousins are allowed to marry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_m...

There are different kinds of plagues and at least two types will show up in Oran: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-co...

Most of us have heard that plague outbreaks were spread by black rats. However, new research indicates that rats might not be to blame: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-envir...

The book is not very long or hard to read, so all of you have plenty of time to read it.

We read and discuss as we go. It is helpful if you state where you are in the book when commenting. If you think something might be a spoiler, put the comment in spoilers.

Great! Thanks, Louise.

Camus sets his book in Oran, Algeria, which is a real city on the Mediterranean Sea. If you are like me, you want to know a little about the setting of the novel. This link gives a brief history of the city: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

If you are a history buff, you might recall that Oran played an important role in World War II. The city lost much of its European population during the Algerian and French conflict in 1962, which occurred after this book was written.

Over the past year, we have viewed with horror how Ebola ravished several countries in West Africa. We were stunned when people refused to realize the danger to themselves and others. We saw some people rebel and try to escape quarantines. We also saw bravery, love, and courage from other citizens and aid workers.

All this behavior will be seen in Albert Camus' book, The Plague. This is a brief paragraph from SparkNotes that I believe will help you in reading the book: "Throughout his life, Camus was deeply concerned with the problem of human suffering in an indifferent world. In The Plague, Camus addresses the collective response to catastrophe when a large city in Algeria is isolated due to an outbreak of the bubonic plague. Although the effort to alleviate and prevent human suffering seems to make little or no difference in the ravages of the plague, Camus asserts that perseverance in the face of tragedy is a noble struggle even if it ultimately fails to make an appreciable difference. Such catastrophes test the tension between individual self-interest and social responsibility."

We also need volunteers for May and June. Any takers?

I have tried to find the thread for Wuthering Heights, but I can't find it. Nicolle might have archived it. I suggest that you continue to use this buddy read thread. Perhaps others will join you. I have too much to read to be a part of the discussion.

I'm not sure of the rules! I don't see any reason why you can't have a buddy read for a book previously read in the group four years ago. We have new people in the group all the time who might want to join a contemporary reading. You can also add comments to the previous group read.