Shanea’s Comments (group member since Dec 02, 2012)

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

Yay! It feels like such an accomplishment after spending so much time reading it. Rashiqa wrote: "I am finally done with Anna today!! It was a long ride but I'm glad that I stuck with it......in my opinion the later parts are better, deeper. Both Anna's and Levin's transformation through the b..."

It sounds like a sparknotes title, but:

Douglas Adams + Stephen Hawking = The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in a Nutshell

I think this might be one of the few books that I literally donate, so this is definitely in the donate category. I like science fiction, but I didn't feel really invested in any of the characters, which is extremely necessary to me in any book that doesn't have a majorly interesting plot going for it.

I actually found another bookmark to mark this one, to remind me to share it.
"The fate of a single man can be rich with significance, that of a few hundred less so, but the history of thousands and millions of men does not mean anything at all, in any adequate sense of the word."

Nadja wrote: "I'm the right age to be the HP generation, but I wasn't interested until college, at which point I took out both the first book and a book about them from the library. I was concerned about witchc..."
Was he Hermione's dad? As a major Harry Potter fangirl, that might make it's way up by to read list very soon. Thanks.

Matthew wrote: "Maybe the author was a Curious George fan? (Written by H. A. Rey)"
I would die if that was the reason.

Nadja wrote: "I think he must have chosen the names very carefully, but I don't know what's up with Harey. It's not Polish at all I don't think (it sounds distinctly unfeminine as well, not ending in -a), and o..."
I had known a lot of the name meanings like Dumbledore means bumblebee and all of the Black star names, but I had not noticed the alchemy in Harry Potter.
Just thinking of this makes me want to read every book searching baby websites for every character.

Having an incredibly odd name myself, names are something I spend quite a bit of time pondering.
When reading science fiction or fantasy novels set in a different world/country/millennium I usually take a second to look at the different names. Some authors seem to go all out in creating their character's names, Suzanne Collins, Terry Brooks, while others seem to throw in an average name in there, possibly for ease of pronunciation,or because they think the name will hold up, or that it doesn't matter, Winston and Julia of1984, Richard of Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth, while others have a combination of the two, Frank Herbert's Dune, Douglas Adams.
Do name's of characters matter when reading a book? Does what the author chooses to name character's imply something about their intended personalities?

Lolita

Pam wrote: "I have been readng this book -- off and on -- for about three weeks. I am only at 45% on the kindle. Probably not a good advice, but I find myself skimming the dreadfully long parts that go on an..."

That makes sense, but then I end up being afraid that I'll skip some minor detail that will end up being important in three chapters. That's probably a side effect from reading Game of Thrones before bed and then missing major plot points.

I'm thinking of just going all out and listening to the audio while reading and hoping it will go through my think skull.

Now, I am a fairly rapid reader, and can usually plow through an average book in a day, while an epic fantasy novel usually provides less than a week's entertainment, but Anna Karenina is killing me. I have barely gotten through part five after starting early. Judging by the lack of activity on the forums lately, it can not be just me having this issue.
Any advice from those who have gone through the book already, or tales of a similar situation to make me feel less alone?

Bookshelf. It is definitely not a book that can be absorbed completely in one go.

The Veiled Lodger

(The Adventure of the) babey erangg

I love this series!
I am seriously Sherlock Holmes obsessed, and this is amazing. I particularly love the way that Benedict Cumberbatch plays Sherlock, just how I personally believe that a modern interpretation of the written Sherlock would be translated.
I also like the format/timing. As Martin Freeman said in an interview on Graham Norton, I think, it is more like getting a series of small movies instead of a television show.

22/26


A Margaret Atwood Cat's Eye
B Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange
C Truman Capote Breakfast at Tiffany's
D Charles Dickens Bleak House
E Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex
F Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary
G George Eliot Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life
H Aldous HuxleyCrome Yellow
I
J James JoyceThe Dead
K Kate Chopin The Awakening
L Stanisław Lem Solaris
M Thomas Malory Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table
N Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter
O Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray
P Paulo Coelho The Alchemist
Q Laura Esquivel Like Water For Chocolate
R Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
S Sinclair Lewis Babbit
T Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina
U
V Voltaire Candide
W Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence
X Gaston Leroux The Phantom of the Opera
Y Yann Martel Life of Pi
Z Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God

Northanger Abbey

I read it first, and was not particularly impressed, so I thought I'd try to go through the audio version, since I had some tome. It made me notice some funny lines that I had missed, but for the most part I was rather bored the second time as well. A few bits I enjoyed, including the end where the son and Newland Archer were discussing the differences, and the son, whose name I forget, said that his parents' generation were much more aware of one another and their feelings, and that his generation didn't communicate, despite being more free with their actions. But between every amusing little chunk like that, I feel like I read through at least ten little gossip sections, which bore me in real life, that are meaningless fluff to me when in a fictional book.

Hello. My name is Shanea and I'm from Pennsylvania.
I am currently trying to motivate myself to read more, and tend to do better when I have something holding me accountable. I'm rather an omnivorous reader, but I'm currently trying to work my way through all of the Sherlock Holmes canon.