Danaë’s Comments (group member since Nov 19, 2012)

Danaë’s comments from the Classics Without All the Class group.

I haven't read a book of the month here for a long time. For some reason I was worried this one would be dull, and I wouldn't be able to get into it. I'm thrilled to discover it is funny and full of interesting characters. I'm listening to the audiobook read by Kate Reading. She's done a lovely job.

This was the first year I set reading goals. I wanted to read 75 books, including all the book club picks, and the classic author challenge. I'm up to 89 books and finished the author challenge. I read all the club picks except Fahrenheit 451 and The Bell Jar which I have read before. I'm bummed I totally missed my goal of participating in the discussions for all the club books though. Hoping I make more time for that next year.

Jean wrote: "Does setting a number of books to read each year cause stress or a hurried attitude for those of you that do it? I think it would for me. Instead, I set goals of the types of books to include to e..."

I didn't feel hurried with my number goal. This is my first year setting one though, and I used it like a marker to see how much I regularly read. I feel more stressed by the type of genre and author goals you mention. I started a genre expansion challenge and quit part way through because I wasn't enjoying the books, and decided it wasn't worth it to me.

Yay finished! At least I am if The Legend of Sleepy Hollow counts even though it is short. I figured since The Fall of the House of Usher and Sherlock Holmes short stories were previous group reads it might.

Congrats to all the others who are done! It's been very interesting to see everyone's picks.

A - Austen, Jane - Persuasion
B - Bronte, Anne - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
C - Conan Doyle, Arthur - Sherlock Holmes
D - Dickens, Charles - Great Expectations
E - Emmuska Orczy - The Scarlet Pimpernel
F - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
G - Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
H - Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
I - Irving, Washington - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
J - John Wyndham - The Midwich Cuckoos
K - Kingsolver, Barbara - The Bean Trees
L - Lem, Stanislaw - Solaris
M - Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
N - Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Blithedale Romance
O - Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
P - P.G. Wodehouse - The Girl on the Boat
Q - Laura Esquivel - Like Water for Chocolate
R - Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
S - Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
T - Tolstoy, Leo - Anna Karenina
U - Upton Sinclair - Oil!
V - Verne, Jules - Around the World in Eighty Days
W - Wharton, Edith - The Age of Innocence
X - Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Y - Yann Martel - Life of Pi
Z - Zane Grey - Riders of the Purple Sage

Catherine wrote: "I'm glad I'll be able to join in this discussion. I got the book on audio and am enjoying my "reread"."

Which edition did you get Catherine? I am listening to the one read by Juliet Stevenson and enjoying it very much. I've read Persuasion before and like trying a different format.

At this point in the book I can only say poor Anne. So overlooked by her family. I love the way her sister Mary is written. So silly and arrogant. I like characters I can roll my eyes at, haha.

Bookshelf for sure. I don't have anything new to add, but can only echo the others who say this feels a little too possible for comfort.

fire

buried

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Painting

While I'm waiting for The Handmaid's Tale to show up from interlibrary loan, I'm reading Lady of Devices and listening to Storm Front. Also just started The Scarlet Pimpernel for another group.

I stalled out three quarters of the way through Anna Karenina and then missed the next couple months from travel and general summer craziness, so I guess it's time to join this challenge! My books are:

Anna Karenina
Phantom of the Opera
Solaris
Madame Bovary
The Fall of the House of Usher
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Cloud Atlas

I've read Fahrenheit 451, so I'm using this month to get through Anna Karenina and Phantom of the Opera. I just started listening to Phantom today, Lindsey, and could switch to one of the others if you still want a reading buddy. I have already read Life of Pi though.

Octavia E. Butler

Lisa wrote: "I have totally a different view, I really like Vronsky. He's not trying to deceive Kitty or anybody, he just is who he is unapologetically - he doesn't see anything wrong with being a flirty bache..."

Oh good, I love a character discussion! I agree that Kitty and her mother were reading into Vronsky's behavior intentions that were not there. However, if you're accusing them of seeing things solely through the lens of expected behavior in their circle, isn't Vronsky guilty of the same? It seems that he had more opportunity to contrast Moscow Society expectations to his Petersburg bachelor behaviors than they did. After all he was the traveler, and presumably had contact with many other Moscow families.

To me Vronsky comes across as very selfish. He delights in having "sweet, innocent Society girl" Kitty fall in love with him with no care to her heartbreak when their flirtation ends. What is worse, he "felt himself to be a conquorer" when she turns away a serious suitor because of that love. At that point it seems he would realize what she must be expecting from him, even if he had been blind to it before. I agree stringing her along would have been worse, but simply dropping her like a hot potato when Anna caught his eye is almost as bad in my mind. He definitely knew of her love, if not her dreams of marriage. The only good that I can see for Kitty in the quick end is that she was saved from wasting any more time on him, and can possibly repair things with Levin - pretty clearly my hope for the next part of the book, haha!

Alex wrote: "I'm curious as to whether a modern reader would sympathise with him if the points of view were reversed. Are we really more culturally conservative than 19th century Petersburg, or are there too many broken hearts on this forum? "

Hmmm, good questions. I think there are enough parts from his point of view for me to say that my opinion would be unchanged. My main problem with Vronsky was that knowledge of Kitty's love and increasing dependence on him did not create any sort of consideration for her future feelings. I have just as much problem with a woman treating a man that way as the reverse.

I wouldn't generally describe myself as conservative, but we're all patchwork quilts, and in some areas I am more conservative than others I suppose. I think we all have an obligation to treat each other with care especially when deep feelings are involved.

Thanks Jessica. :) Looking forward to seeing your quotes.

Great ones Francie! I especially like that first one.

Alphabet Serial meets Word for Word...

Deadeye Dick

I thought a thread where we can put some of our favorite passages would be nice.

I loved this one about Kitty's mothers feelings on marriage arrangments from Part 1, Chapter 12. "And whatever people might say about the time having come when young people must arrange their future for themselves, she could not believe it any more than she could believe that loaded pistols could ever be the best toys for five-year-old children."

Kitty's father, in Part 2, Chapter 2: "These stupid chignons! One can't get at one's real daughter, but only caresses the hair of expired females." Quite the mental picture of the fashionable hairstyles of the times!

Susan wrote: "Asservation is definitely a new one for me. What I want to know is, do I get to go around using it now? I suppose not if I want to be understood."

I've made vocab lists like this in the past, and have the same problem. I love learning the new words, but I've been waiting 15 years to work "febrile" into casual conversation. :D

A lot of good insights to ponder! I hadn't caught on to the nicknames of the sisters at all.

I am pleasantly surprised how enjoyable a read this book is. I had expected to find it dragging, although I am not sure why, since along with several others here I do not know much about the actual story.

I love the background details that flesh out the story. A favorite example is the skating scene, where an attendant bores holes in Levin's boot heels for the ice skates. Sounds like the skates being used were similar to these. http://hockeygods.com/images/5936-Ice...

If only Kitty could have taken a poll of this group, I imagine we would all have given our votes to Levin over Vronsky. :) I liked how Vronsky is first described through Levin's eyes at the dinner party. The way he sees only the good in his rival tells us as much or more about him than Vronsky. I'm trying not to completely detest Vronsky, but it's a struggle.

I don't have much feeling for Anna yet. I am looking forward to learning more about her character in the next section.

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