Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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Please Introduce Yourself
Welcome Meg! I'm glad you've joined and I can see why you'd want to read more classics, as you must spend much of your time teaching them! I think the definition of a classic might have changed over time, from meaning a 'great book' to more of just an 'old book'. I tend to think that anything still published after 50+ years must have some literary worth to it. Newer books are harder to define, but there are definitely some books from the 60s and 70s that I consider modern classics, but anything from the 80s onwards I'm not so sure if they're classics yet. I've had this conversation before with another group and the consensus seems to be that books within our lifetime don't feel like classics, so the older we are, the older we think a book should be before it's deemed a classic.
Anyway, I hope you find some great books to join us with and I look forward to having some bookish discussions with you soon :)
Hi Everyone- I just found your group and love the Classics so I joined. - can't wait to see what you are reading and plan to read! I am here in Sacramento, CA, married with two college boys going to University of Arizona in Tucson! (I saw a few members on here from Arizona.) My kids love U of A- they are having a great time.
Hello, Erica from Texas here. I work as a manager in a manufacturing plant and have two young children. I love to read to get away from all the structure in my life without leaving the house. I have been catching up on all the classics. I'm excited to participate in this group to help this goal and introduce me to classics I was wasn't aware of
Martha wrote: "Hi Everyone- I just found your group and love the Classics so I joined. - can't wait to see what you are reading and plan to read! I am here in Sacramento, CA, married with two college boys going t..."Hi Martha! Welcome! We're so glad you found us! Can't wait to discuss the classics with you! Enjoy and happy reading!
Erica wrote: "Hello, Erica from Texas here. I work as a manager in a manufacturing plant and have two young children. I love to read to get away from all the structure in my life without leaving the house. I hav..."Welcome Erica! You'll be in good company here because we all love to read classics and have discussions about the books we read. I'm sure you'll enjoy ourself here!
Hi Josh and the other new members. I'm from Chicago too. Hope you enjoy it here.
Welcome Martha and Erica, I'm glad you've both joined us and hope you find some great classics to discuss with us :)
Hey everyone! I'm Jen, I'm from Michigan. I work third shifts at a hotel and, as you might imagine, I generally have some time where I don't have anything to do, since everyone's asleep except me usually. Lately I've been using this time to catch up on my reading--a lot of which is classic literature--and in my browsing through goodreads, I found you guys.I also have a book blog on wordpress (diaryofapartimewriter, and believe me, I will be forever mortified that I spelled "part-time" wrong) and I've been wanting to do a "where to start reading classics" recommendation post, but I'm not as familiar with New School classics, or with pretty much anything that wasn't either written from about 1816 to 1900 or by William Shakespeare. Since this group does a super-wide range, I thought it would be a good fit. :)
Jennifer wrote: "Hey everyone! I'm Jen, I'm from Michigan. I work third shifts at a hotel and, as you might imagine, I generally have some time where I don't have anything to do, since everyone's asleep except me u..."Hi Jennifer, welcome! Glad your browsing landed you here! I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself! Happy reading!
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Hi everyone! I'm Katie and I enjoy classics, nonfiction, and any well-written book rich with ideas. Some of my favorite books are The Martian Chronicles and Lord of the Rings, although I'd have to say my all-time favorite is The Picture of Dorian Gray. I just finished 1984 and I'm pretty sure that'll be on the list in the future as well.I'm looking forward to being here!
Welcome Katie. Hope you enjoy it here.
Jedi wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Katie and I enjoy classics, nonfiction, and any well-written book rich with ideas. Some of my favorite books are The Martian Chronicles and Lord of the Rings, although I'd have to ..."Hi Katie, welcome! I just did a re-read of 1984 and enjoyed it so much more than the first time I read it! Glad you've joined and look forward to discussing the classics with you! Enjoy and happy reading!
Mod
Welcome Jen and Katie, I'm glad you've both joined :)
Welcome, Kat. I just joined this group recently also. Sometimes it's more fun to read a book when you get to discuss it.
Kat wrote: "Hey everyone, I'm Kat. Normally I'd be too shy to comment or anything but I'm trying to branch out and get more involved. I love classics, but I have a hard time reading them on my own so I figured..."Hi Kat and welcome!! No need to be shy, you're among people who all share the love of reading classics, with light and easy discussions about the books we read. I'm sure you'll fit right in! So, enjoy and happy reading!
Kat wrote: "Hey everyone, I'm Kat. Normally I'd be too shy to comment or anything but I'm trying to branch out and get more involved. I love classics, but I have a hard time reading them on my own so I figured..."Kat, it's great that you are branching out and thank you for introducing yourself. I hope you know that any and all comments are welcome. So join in wherever you feel comfortable and enjoy discussing the classics with us. We are a rather lively group.
Jackie wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Jackie from Switzerland.I enjoy reading classics a lot, although I feel I haven't read that much yet (so this group is perfect!); Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, and Mark Twai..."
I love all these too, Jackie!
Kat wrote: "Hey everyone, I'm Kat. Normally I'd be too shy to comment or anything but I'm trying to branch out and get more involved. I love classics, but I have a hard time reading them on my own so I figured..."
Welcome Kat! You've already read quite a few amazing classics :) This is a very nice group and we're always keen to hear each other's opinions on books we read together (and even those we don't read together). Enjoy!
Welcome Kat! You've already read quite a few amazing classics :) This is a very nice group and we're always keen to hear each other's opinions on books we read together (and even those we don't read together). Enjoy!
Welcome Kat, I'm glad you've decided to get involved. There's no need to be shy here, we're all a friendly bunch and love chatting about books, but feel free to join in with whatever suits you. There's no pressure to read any of our group books, but hopefully you'll find something that you like the sound of and discover a new favourite :)
Mod
hI!My name is federica, an italian girl, and i'm in the second group: I read a few classic books.
I discovered GR last year and I restarted to read books after many years!
I want to fill my classics gap and I think this is a good group to start!
I read in Italian (because I'm not so good at english) but maybe I can ask you to suggest me simple english classic books!
I'll take a look!!
Bye
Mod
My name is federica, an italian girl, and i'm in the second group: I read a few classic books.
I discovered GR last year and I restarted to read books after many years!
I want to fill my classi..."
Welcome Federica! So glad you found our group and have decided to join us. You might start with some of our Short Stories in English. Happy Reading.
Hi Federica welcome. There are classics from all over the world as well as English language classics published in other languages so I'm sure you'll fit right in here.
Feseven wrote: "hI!My name is federica, an italian girl, and i'm in the second group: I read a few classic books.
I discovered GR last year and I restarted to read books after many years!
I want to fill my classi..."
Ciao e benvenuto Federica! Piacere di conoscerti! This group is a fine way to start filling in your "gap" of reading the classics and having discussions about the books with members! Enjoy and happy reading!
Thank you all!As soon as possible I'll start a classic book :)
Welcome Federica, I'm so glad you've joined. I hope you find something you like :)
Loretta wrote: "Feseven wrote: "hI!My name is federica, an italian girl, and i'm in the second group: I read a few classic books.
I discovered GR last year and I restarted to read books after many years!
I want t..."
Loretta- that was beautiful. I don't know what you said in Italian, but what a lovely language! I want to learn Italian!
Martha wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Feseven wrote: "hI!My name is federica, an italian girl, and i'm in the second group: I read a few classic books.
I discovered GR last year and I restarted to read books after many..."
LOL! she wrote: Hello welcome! Nice to meet you :)
If you want we can exchange language lessons :)
Italian is beautiful but the grammar is a bit difficult!
Thank you for the translation! My husband's mother's family is from Sicily, Palermo ("Lobue" is the family name); therefore, my two boys have Sicilian blood running in their veins. This is why I am inspired toward Italian language. (Or Sicilian?) Is there a difference? Or is it all Italian? Yes, I'd love to exchange language lessons. Not sure, but you may be a northern Italian - not usually fond of Sicilians from what I have learned. Lol - My sons have learned Spanish growing up and the grammar was very difficult from what I recall - so many different tenses compared to English. I would assume It is somewhat similar to Italian.
Martha wrote: "Thank you for the translation! My husband's mother's family is from Sicily, Palermo ("Lobue" is the family name); therefore, my two boys have Sicilian blood running in their veins. This is why I am..."Nice to hear that your sons have italian blood :) My mother is from Sicily too! I live near Milano, in the North.
In italy we have the official Italian language (the one we learn at school) and a lot of local languages (dialetti).
Here you can se a spread map of it.
I think we are off topic but we can continue the discussion in private. I don't want to bother other people :)
I was thinking the same thing. :) Sorry everyone! Yes, we can talk "off line". I'll send you a friend request.
Martha wrote: "Thank you for the translation! My husband's mother's family is from Sicily, Palermo ("Lobue" is the family name); therefore, my two boys have Sicilian blood running in their veins. This is why I am..."My mother was born in Cosenza. She came to America with my grandmother when she was two years old. My father's family was from Sicily. My parents spoke Italian only when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about! :). I don't really speak Italian but through the years you pick up a few words. I can read some Italian, not sure how that happened and I'm always online looking to learn more!
Thanks for the kind words Martha!
Hi, I'm Michaela. I live in Scotland and am a nursing student. I love reading classics, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and YA.
Michaela wrote: "Hi, I'm Michaela. I live in Scotland and am a nursing student. I love reading classics, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and YA."Hi Michaela! Welcome! You've come to the right group for your love of reading classics! I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself! Happy reading!
Loretta wrote: "Michaela wrote: "Hi, I'm Michaela. I live in Scotland and am a nursing student. I love reading classics, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and YA."Hi Michaela! Welcome! You've come to the right..."
Thanks I've not read as many classics as I would like so I'm hoping this group will help to give me lots of recommendations.
Michaela wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Michaela wrote: "Hi, I'm Michaela. I live in Scotland and am a nursing student. I love reading classics, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and YA."Hi Michaela! Welcome! You've c..."
Michaela, you'll do fine here, trust me!
Loretta wrote: "Michaela wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Michaela wrote: "Hi, I'm Michaela. I live in Scotland and am a nursing student. I love reading classics, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and YA."Hi Michaela! ..."
Thanks
Welcome Micaela. I hope you enjoy being in this group.
I am excited to be here. At first I wasn't going to join because I am reading so many things right now but then I saw you guys do a re-read category so if I miss something there's a chance I'll see it again.I have Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) as I wanted to try to do it in German I might get that done we'll see, I have the German audio too, I might try to have the two versions side by side and see if that helps. I am excited for Fyodor Dostoyevsky though. I read the Brothers Karamozov years ago (it took me quite some time to get through it actually) I really liked it so I'm pumped to read another. I've read too there's a new translation out that might be better. I thought maybe one day I'd try to get into that but not knowing Russian the one I had seemed okay to me.
I'm intrigued by the Hunchback. I bought an English copy years ago but never read it. I'd like to try to muddle through the French. If I find a dual language edition I may jump into that one.
Welcome to the group Luella. That is motivating that you want to read classics in other languages. Might give me the push to try myself.
Mod
Welcome Michaela and Luella, I'm glad you've both joined our group :) I've pushed myself to read plenty of classics since joining goodreads and especially with this group! I'd love to be able to read books in other languages, as inevitably something is lost in translation, no matter how well done and sometimes a bad job can ruin a classic! I hope you both find some great books to join us with :)
Martha wrote: " My sons have learned Spanish growing up and the grammar was very difficult from what I recall - so many different tenses compared to English."People I know who have studied Spanish consider it an easy language...
Martha I'm a Spanish teacher by trade. It's phonetic and easy to learn. Much easier for me than French imho. Goal of mine to read a Spanish language classic in Spanish v
Hello! ^_^ I'm Feli and I used to read lots of classics in my teens. Stopped reading recreationally when I entered uni because I thought it was a waste of time, foolish me! I started a "Dickens Challenge" in 2006 where I would read all the novels by Charles Dickens in chronological order- 10 years on, I'm sorry to say that I'm still stuck on "Dombey and Son". Hahaha!! Time to get cracking...
Welcome Feli, I'm so glad you've joined. You're doing better than me with Dickens, I got stuck after A Christmas Carol and haven't tackled him since, shameful I know! I hope you find something to read with us that suits you and look forward to chatting with you more :)
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Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
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Hi and welcome Meg! It's wonderful to have you here. I'm sure you've read your fair share of classics being an English teacher but I'm sure you'll find our classics to your liking! Can't wait to have discussions with you! Enjoy and happy reading!