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Common reads
message 151:
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Carol
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Jun 03, 2015 08:02AM
My only association of Maugham was Of Human Bondage, which I read when I was 18 and it made a big impression on me. When I researched him, I discovered he was prolific!!! Evidently he felt Cakes and Ale was his best work.
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Carol and Werner -- and anyone else who wants to read Cakes and Ale with us -- I just wanted to let you know I now have my copy of Cakes and Ale, and will probably start reading soon. Do you like to discuss a book while your reading it, or wait until finished?
The usual practice with group common reads is to make them coterminous with a calendar month (making it easier for people to keep track of the schedule, I suppose). So on our group's to-read shelf, I scheduled this one for July 1-31. Barring a last-minute change of plans, I'll be out of town with limited access to the Internet from July 1 through July 5. But I'll get my copy from the public library as soon after I get back as possible, and plan to start a bit late. (I'll try to post the discussion thread before I leave!)In the common reads I've taken part in, people post comments as they're reading, rather than waiting until they finish. Of course, I'm no expert on how these things should be done (I'd never even heard of common reads before joining Goodreads!). But I think sharing impressions and questions as you go along is a big part of the appeal of a common read in the first place.
Yes, let's make comments as we go along.
Werner wrote: "The usual practice with group common reads is to make them coterminous with a calendar month (making it easier for people to keep track of the schedule, I suppose). So on our group's to-read shelf..."I just ordered my copy of Cakes and Ale from the library today.
Last April, we'd decided to make that the month for our group's at-least-once-a-year common read. April 2016 is still a ways away --but not too far away for us to begin brainstorming about what to read. As always, we'll use this thread to kick around suggestions, trying to come up with at least two, and no more than six or so. Then I'll post a poll around the beginning of March to pick the actual book democratically.One title I'd suggest is Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow. He's an author we haven't read together yet; and I read the book in junior high school, and liked it. It's been on my to-reread shelf for a couple of years, ever since one of my Goodreads friends gave it a rather disparaging review. My natural impulse was to stick up for it; but it's been so long since I read it that I've forgotten a lot of significant detail (though I remember a lot, too!); so I thought I should first reread it to see if my adult impression is as positive as the judgment of my younger self. :-)
I read that book a while back and the only draw back was...Stevenson's language. Takes getting used to, LOL.
Mike, I read and liked your review. Of course, older classics tend to be characterized by old-fashioned diction. In this case, though, on top of Stevenson's Victorian style, he also does the dialogue in a passable rendition of 15th-century speech, and that can be a challenge for many readers
I would love to have The Black Arrow as a common read, because I absolutely love RLS. I have read and listened to Kidnapped several times, looking up the Scottish dialect words. I tried to read Catriona, the sequel, but I just cannot get into it. Same with The Black Arrow. So, if others were reading it, and commenting, it would be easier for me to get back to both. It is fun to read challenging diction. I don't understand why I could read Kidnapped so easily and not Catriona or The Black Arrow. Although I must admit, I also listened to it on Audible, and that made the speech much easier to read, and vice versa.
I have to admit I don't plan to tackle it again. I noted in my review that I love the story and the idea behind the story, but the dialect is so think in it that it continually distracted me. I kept losing interest to.
Carol, it's great to hear from you again! Yes, dialect speech is much easier to understand when you can hear it spoken, rather than just read it. (I've never read Catriona myself, though I've heard of it. Maybe I should!)Mike, if the group does choose to do The Black Arrow for this read, you don't have to read it again, since you've already read it once. You can go ahead and join in the discussion, if you remember it well enough. (In that event, I plan to read it again; but as I noted, I have a special reason for that.)
A good example of your premise is Shakespeare. The difference in reading him and seeing the play performed .
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "A good example of your premise is Shakespeare. The difference in reading him and seeing the play performed ."Very true, Mike; I've experienced that myself!
I am listening to Rudyard Kipling's Kim and reading it at the same time. I also did this with The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (it was read by Colin Firth) Listening and reading at the same time makes the experience of appreciating fine writing so much richer. However, I am retired and I have time to do this. By the way, why can't we italicize names of books on this book website?
Carol wrote: "...why can't we italicize names of books on this book website?" Actually, Carol, we can (I do it all the time). For directions on how, click on the "some html is ok" link just above the comments box. (They explain it there better and more efficiently than I could!)
So far, The Black Arrow is the only book that's been suggested for the upcoming read. But like an old Soviet "election," a "poll" with only one option on it seems to lose something sort of crucial! So I'm hoping that we can come up with a least one more nominee! :-)
I have yet to read The strange case of Dr. J...etc. I would enjoy reading it as a group read.
Good suggestion, Mike! I've read (and reviewed) Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; if the group chooses it, I can easily chime in on the discussion.
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I was torn...I also thought of The Picture of Dorian Gray."Well, I can put them both in the poll. I've read that one too, and personally would be just as happy discussing it as the other.
Actually, though, I just thought of something. Robert Louis Stevenson is the author of both The Black Arrow and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Do we want to put two boooks by the same author in the same poll? One could argue that it might tend to split his fans' votes; but on the other hand, the two books represent entirely different genres and are quite different in style, so they might appeal to very different fan bases.
I'm cool. I've read The Picture of Dorian Gray but have always been meaning to get to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Oh yes, I love RLS, and The Jekyll and Hyde would be a good option. I just saw The Picture of Dorian Gray (1930) at the film noir festival. I would be willing to read if others want it, but I would prefer Jekyll and Hyde.
I have read The Picture of Dorian Gray and enjoyed it also. As I mentioned before, I haven't read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both would be fine with me, but I would choose the RLS novel simply because I haven't read it yet.
I'll plan to get the poll posted on March 1.
Okay, the poll is up, and I sent a general message to all members inviting everyone to vote. As usual, the poll will run for two weekends, or through March 13. The link is here: www.goodreads.com/poll/show/131174-wh... ; you can also find it by clicking "Polls" in the links at the top of each page on the group's site (it will be the top one). We have three great selections here; I'd be happy with any one of them, so I probably won't vote unless I need to break a tie!
Hi Werner, thanks to the poll link I am finally able to access the group bookshelf. I see a lot Hugh Lofting books. When I was in school I loved Dr. Dolittle. Since then I have reread all of them. I see lots of familiar books on the list.
Glad you found the bookshelf, Rosemarie! I added the Lofting books myself; I was a big fan of Dr. Dolittle as a kid, too, and read every book in the series that I could get my hands on. :-)
Only about one more week to vote in the poll, if you have any interest in doing so!
We have a clear winner in our poll; The Black Arrow beat out Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde five votes to three. (The Picture of Dorian Gray came up without any votes this time.) So we'll be reading the first book together next month; it'll be a re-read for me, but I'm looking forward to joining in. (Participation is voluntary, but we'll be delighted if you join us!)
Sounds good. Now I have a specific goal when I check out used book stores.
Good look in your quest, Rosemarie! If you don't find a copy for sale, it's a novel that shouldn't be too hard to find in a public library.
Since you've already read the book, Mike, I hope you'll chime in on the discussion whenever you can contribute something from your perspective!
My library does have a copy, but only in hardcover. With luck, I should be able to find a Penguin or Oxford Classic edition. I'm going on a trip for 11 days in April and it's going to be one of my airplane reads.
Rosemarie wrote: "I'm going on a trip for 11 days in April and it's going to be one of my airplane reads" Cool!
I started The Black Arrow a few years ago on my Robert Louis Stevenson kick, but I could not follow it. I really wanted to read it again, so this time I will have both the book and listen to the recording on Audible.
Hopefully when we read it as a group, Carol, we can help you follow it better.
So, apparently the group reading started 1st of April? I guess I'm a bit late then :) So I'd just wait for the next one .. :)
Melomatin, earlier this month, I read The Black Arrow in the space of nine days (and I have less free time for reading than many people do). If you have ready access to a copy in the university library, you might be able to finish it by the end of the month.Our next regularly scheduled common read will be in April 2017. Of course, if any members want to suggest another common read before then, and generate enough interest, we can do another one before next April (that happened last year, in fact).
A summer read sounds like a good idea--something relaxing for those lazy days of summer.
Rosemarie wrote: "A summer read sounds like a good idea--something relaxing for those lazy days of summer."For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, June, July and August are the lazy days of summer. (For our members Down Under, they're the months of winter.) But they're also months when many people are on the road traveling for vacations, etc. (For instance, the college I work for likes its employees to take their vacations in the summer, so as not to interfere with the school year.) That doesn't preclude a summer common read (obviously, since we did one!) but it's something to consider.
I should remember that about the Southern Hemisphere since I just came back from Peru. I also agree with what you said earlier about being too busy with group reads other groups to find time to read something you pick yourself. I have been immersed in classics, so what did I choose to read on my own--Martin Chuzzlewit, weighing in at 802 pages! It is one of the books mentioned in The Eyre Affair, my personal challenge being to read all the works mentioned by Jasper Fforde. Hopefully, that is the longest book mentioned.
Rosemarie, Martin Chuzzlewit is on my to-read shelf (along with quite a few other Dickens novels I haven't read), and so is The Eyre Affair. I'll be interested in learning what you think of both of these!
I have reached page 230 of Martin C. and my favourite character so far is Tom Pinch. My goal is to finish the book before May 31. The Eyre Affair is an entertaining book, quite silly at times, but the main focus of the novel is literature. It really helps to have read Jane Eyre before you read it.
I've read Jane Eyre twice, Rosemarie, so I'd be prepared on that account! :-)
Our co-moderator, Bruce, also broached the idea (in a comment earlier today, on one of his recent reviews) of doing a common read in this group this summer. I'm not against the idea as such; if all goes according to plan, I'll be on vacation, with limited access to the Internet, for a week each month this summer, but not for the whole month. There's no reason I couldn't take part before and after those interruptions, and discussion can certainly go on about a book even when I'm not here! If we do that, because of some other reading commitments I have, August would work best for me.Bruce, you mentioned not being able to take part in the earlier common read of The Black Arrow this spring. That got me to thinking. Since you, and Bill as well, teach high school English classes from fall through the spring, I imagine much of your reading during that part of the year has to be curriculum-related, and doesn't leave a lot of time for other reading. So for both of you guys, summer might actually be the best season for a common read. Perhaps in 2017, we should change our schedule for the annual common read from April to one of the summer months --what do you all think about that?
Werner, a summer common read sounds like a good idea. Has this group ever done "Buddy Reads"? At this moment I am committed to reading a lot of books, but sometime soon, after I have read Richard The Third by Shakespeare and am caught up with my reading, I want to read A Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey again, probably this summer.
Rosemarie wrote: "Werner, a summer common read sounds like a good idea. Has this group ever done "Buddy Reads"? At this moment I am committed to reading a lot of books, but sometime soon, after I have read Richard T..."Until I joined Goodreads, I'd never heard of "buddy reads." Since then, I've done several; but the way I've always experienced them, they're done by a pair of people, not a group. The two reading buddies agree on a book they'd like to read together, set a time frame in which to start, and then use the personal messaging system back and forth to discuss the book as they read. (I use the Goodreads feature for indicating my reading progress in a book if I'm doing it as a buddy read, so my buddy has an indication of where I am in the book.) It's a kind of reading experience that has some of the advantages of a group read, but is more intimate.
Another group I'm in (Reading for Pleasure), uses the term "buddy reads" for situations where several people in the group agree to read a book together, and set up a thread to discuss it. To me, that's essentially a common read; but they use the "buddy read" terminology to distinguish these from the reads where the group as a whole has voted for a book in a poll (and they do three of those a month!). IMO, though we do a poll to pick the book for the annual common read, other common reads don't have to have a poll; they can be gotten up on an ad hoc basis, the way our read of Cakes and Ale was last summer. And since they're voluntary, they don't have to involve everyone in the group (and probably won't --the regular annual one doesn't either!).
The Daughter of Time is on my to-read shelf, and I wouldn't be opposed to doing a common read of it in August, if enough other members of the group are interested in that idea.
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