On this list I'm currently reading...

[Betty]

Thought Voss would be the initial Peng. classic; Vivisector is the one on my shelf.

[Raymond]

I'm reading: The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck

[Kelsi]

I am about to start The Master and Margarita. I'm really interested in this and have heard people either love it or hate it.

[[deleted user]]

I am going to revisit Herzog

[[deleted user]]

Shaun wrote: "My Herzog is brand new from amazon, so want to crack it open..although the only other one I have is Stendhal's Red and the Black. I'm still on the road with Kerouac at the present time."

Good we can share the mid life crisis together! :D we'll do a buddy read buddy!!! Are ya in? Lemme know

[[deleted user]]

Shaun wrote: "I'm also itching to get back to Steinbeck..especially after Raymond's post."

Scratch the itch! Your shelf will be waiting for you :D

[Louie]

Hola Todos!! This evening I will be starting "Revolutionary Suicide" By Huey P. Newton a Penguin classic that I have really been looking forward to as it deals with some aspects of the civil rights movement post Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, As well as the starting of the Black Panther Party. It should be interesting to see a different point of view of race relations.

-Happy Reading, Louie

[Louie]

Shaun and Libby thank you for you kind words, so far the read has been very eye opening in itself...less then 100 pages in and personally I can relate to some of what Newton speaks of. I encourage you both to look up his definition of what "Revolutionary Suicide" is. A phrase he says he coined prior to the writing of this autobiography. I am looking forward to discussing future books within the Penguin Classic library there are so many I would like to get my hands on. =)

-Louie

[Jim]

I just finished 1984. A re-read for me and long overdue. Highly recommended. My short review is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I also read Anna Karenina earlier this year. Looking at the reading guide list, I've read about 25 of the titles over the years, plus many more Penguin books not on the list.

[[deleted user]]

Shaun wrote: "Curious what methods are employed by all you folks to lead you to your next read.

Aside from a pre-selected group of ~75 titles of course."

Random. Mood. Scan list and say YES!! That's the ONE! As you can see a total cerebral selection process. Very complicated but effective.

[Elizabeth]

Shaun wrote: "Curious what methods are employed by all you folks to lead you to your next read.

Aside from a pre-selected group of ~75 titles of course."

NY Times book reviews, Fresh Air interviews, NPR in general, friend recommendations, looking at friends' Goodreads lists, serendipity as I browse book stores.

[Elizabeth]

Shaun wrote: "Bookstores, that used to be my method, until all the Borders stores closed. Nearest quality store is rather far away, save gas, utilize other methods."
Yeah, my book club is still mourning the loss of Borders - we still don't feel quite at home at Barnes & Noble... I still go to used book stores & browse. One book I just added is Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America's First Imperial Adventure which I found at Half price books.
Also, when I travel I look up and browse local stores. I'll be going to Istanbul in a few weeks & have three book stores I plan to visit while there (recommended by Lonely Planet guide). You should see the random pieces of paper in my purse containing names of books I've encounter as I go about my normal life!

[Elizabeth]

Even though Proust intimidates me I am doing to attempt Swann's Way (À la recherche du temps perdu #1)

[[deleted user]]

Try these sites to save $

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

http://openlibrary.org/

Amazon Market too. Often books start at a penny on up

[[deleted user]]

Few more links for purchasing

Paper/Hardback books
http://www.alibris.com/discount-books

http://www.abebooks.com/

Ebooks
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

http://www.kobo.com/

[[deleted user]]

Shaun wrote: "Comment, and you shall receive."

Yeah I know I'm fab :D Will post more as they pop in my head.

[Russell]

Good to hear it, Shaun!

Am presently re-reading Steinbeck's Cannery Row, having just finished Tortilla Flat. I recommend both to get one's mind clear, focused and happy!

Russell

[Russell]

Shaun,

Do you know the works of J. P. Donleavy? You might find A Fairy Tale of New York to be just what the doctor ordered.

Russell

[Russell]

Yes, Shaun. But only the first 93 pages -- at which point, I gave up.

Joyce can write. The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners are proof of that.

But Ulysses and Finnegans Wake? I dunno.

Russell

[Elizabeth]

Shaun wrote: "Last few strides of Oliver Twist, Ulysses is lined up for my next read..anyone read it?"

Russell wrote: "Yes, Shaun. But only the first 93 pages -- at which point, I gave up.

Joyce can write.
The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man
and
Dubliners
are proof of that.

But
Ulysses
and
F..."

I've taken it up and put it down more than 5 times. Never get past 100 pages... Maybe I'm not smart enough for stream of consciousness. :-)

[Russell]

@Elizabeth and Shaun,

I don't know that the issue is strictly stream of consciousness. For many years, Henry Roth's Call It Sleep was my favorite book (until it was supplanted by Cervantes' Don Quixote ), and Call It Sleep is chock full of stream of consciousness.

I just think Joyce got off on a bender with Ulysses , and then put the pedal to the metal with Finnegans Wake.

Russell

[Elizabeth]

Russell wrote: "@Elizabeth and Shaun,

I don't know that the issue is strictly stream of consciousness. For many years, Henry Roth's
Call It Sleep
was my favorite book (until it was supplanted by Cervantes'
..."
@Russell,
I'll buy this or any other excuse for not feeling obligated to take up Ulysses again :-) thank you!

[Russell]

@Elizabeth,

You're quite welcome!

Before you dismiss Joyce entirely, however, get yourself a copy of Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man (if you haven't already read it). It is a PERFECT -- and short -- novel.

Russell

[Elizabeth]

Russell wrote: "@Elizabeth,

You're quite welcome!

Before you dismiss Joyce entirely, however, get yourself a copy of
Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man
(if you haven't already read it). It is a PERFECT ..."

I have read Portrait & agree with you.

[Lauri]

I started reading War and Peace; so far I am enjoying it. It is definitely going to be a "long" read.

[Russell]

Laurie,

I don't know anything about Louise Maude's translation. But before you get too far into your read of War and Peace, you might want to consider alternatives. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's translations of the Russian classics -- including Tolstoy's War and Peace, which I, too, am currently reading -- are the absolute best I know of.

A bad translation can KILL a work for a reader!

Russell

[Russell]

No Penguin Classic yet, but I believe everyone should know O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi." It's arguably the greatest (American) Christmas story ever written. FREE at: http://bit.ly/4j55bN. Unfortunately, you can't swap a read & review with O. Henry. He's dead.

Also FREE, however, today (12/2) and tomorrow (12/3) -- and again 12/23 and 12/24 -- but for your smart children (if you've just bought them a Kindle and now want to help fill up their "digital stockings" with something warm and cuddly this Christmas): "One Little Christmas Tree" at http://amzn.to/19iclpD. And if you'd like to do this on the basis of a reciprocal read 'n' review for a piece of comparable length, just leave word here. We've got a whole month to sort this out.

Thanks, And happy Kindle time with the kiddoes!

Russell
http://bit.ly/1bdu4Kq

[Lauri]

Russell wrote: "Laurie,

I don't know anything about Louise Maude's translation. But before you get too far into your read of
War and Peace,
you might want to consider alternatives. Richard Pevear and Lariss..."

Thank you Russell. I am actually reading Louise Maude's translation and I am enjoying it.

I definitely understand what you are saying about making sure you have a good translation. I attempted to read Les Misérables earlier this year and had to abandon it, because I was not enjoying it. I feel I probably had a crappy translation. If anyone has suggestions on a good translation I will take it.

[Russell]

Laurie,

I don't know anything about translations of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. I've never read him in English.

In any case, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are the two best I know of for translations of the Russian classics.

Suerte! (as they say in Spain).

Russell

[Sylvia]

We are studying focalisation, and the difference between the reliable narrator and unreliable narrator. Focusing on 'Great Expectations' and 'Confessions of a Justified Sinner'. Anyone read the latter?

[Sylvia]

Shaun wrote: "I think I'll look into Charles Dickens next."

Any book in particular?

[Sylvia]

Ah! Me too! Summer reading, along with 'A Tale of Two Cities'. Nice selection!

[Sylvia]

How did you streamline? I need to know! I need to read two-three novels a week for class!

I love DC!

[Kashyap]

Sorry to jump into the conversation like this, but I just finished reading David Copperfield. It was gripping, but quite a long book and I'd be really interested in knowing about streamlining reading.

[Sylvia]

Just a random update!

I tend to read several books at the same time, so it does take a little while, but oh my, I've discovered Dostoyevsky. I don't know much about him as a person, but on the Penguin Classics wall at my local Waterstones, his name is always there. I was intrigued, and decided to buy a copy of 'Notes From the Underground'. I have been hooked since! His style of writing is like Orwell, in the sense that he writes what we as readers already think and feel. It's odd. It is as if he just extracts the thoughts and feeling you have, and unashamedly puts them on the page. Now, I'm still new to the writer, and his writings, as I'm also reading 'The Brothers Karamazov', 'The Idiot' and 'The Double' (which has since inspired a film due out very soon), but I must say, he quite the surprise.

Maybe a total long-shot, and he would probably be completely offended but his style of writing, his tact and bare faced honesty, which causes you to put a book down and just swear a little in order to feel alive again, reminds me of the Marquis de Sade's reasons behind his works, being that these thoughts and experiences are one everyone's minds, we ought not to pretend like we're innocent. Still boggles my mind to no end.

[Sylvia]

Hahaha XD

[Elizabeth]

Just discovered The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa - a Penguin Classic

[Sylvia]

Ooh! I've been meaning to read that one!! One of my old teachers would talk about it often.