Classics and the Western Canon discussion
Introductions
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Please introduce yourself~
Sasha wrote: "Hello Having finished a Diploma in Education last November, I was supposed to start looking for jobs as an English teacher in Sydney, Australia, but I have decided not to work at all for a while ..."
Welcome, Sasha. A plus for getting your Kindle now rather than later: many of those classics you can get for free or almost free.
Hello I joined this group some months back but I was without a computer for a while. When I got back on-line, Anna Karenina's train had left the station and I was too far behind to make that journey.
I am reading Middlemarch and looking forward to the discussions. I've been waiting for the opportunity to jump into some book discussions. Reading is one of my favorite activities, but it can be much more enjoyable if it's done in a group - a lot of interesting interpretations may emerge and lead to further discovery.
I like the approach this group uses - unhurried, careful reading. No twittering about from one teenage vampire to the next!
My name is Gundula, I have a graduate degree in German, and I found out on one of my other groups that you are going to be reading and discussing "Middlemarch" which I have always wanted to reread and discuss. I'm also very interested in reading and discussing other "Western Classics" (including German classics like Goethe's Faust etc.) without the pressure and antagonism that sometimes occurs in university literature courses.
Tom wrote: "I like the approach this group uses - unhurried, careful reading. No twittering about from one teenage vampire to the next! "Glad to have you back, Tom. You're right, we like a good, sustained, meaningful discussion here. By the time you get this post, the Middlemarch topic will probably be up and ready for discussion. We'll look forward to hearing from you!
Gundula wrote: "My name is Gundula, I have a graduate degree in German, and I found out on one of my other groups that you are going to be reading and discussing "Middlemarch" which I have always wanted to reread..."Welcome, Gundula. Yes, the Middlemarch discussion will be starting as soon as I get the topic up and running, which will be shortly. Glad to have you joining us.
Hello everyone,I'm Jur, a 24 year old student (Philosophy and Logic) from the Netherlands. I have a serious book addiction, as I suspect most people on here have. I'm slowly working my way through the Western Canon, and I suspect this group can help me tackle some of the more daunting works (Middlemarch is a good example of such a work). I look forward to participating in this group!
Welcome, Jur! We're only on the second book of Middlemarch, so even if you haven't started the book yet, you should be able to catch up fairly easily. We look forward to your comments and participation!
Hi everyone! I'm Alicia. I graduated recently with a degree in civil engineering. I have always loved reading and love classics, most of them :)
Alicia wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Alicia. I graduated recently with a degree in civil engineering. I have always loved reading and love classics, most of them :)"
Welcome. We're delighted that you found us! You're in plenty of time to catch up with Middlemarch, if you haven't read it yet. It's such a rich and fantastic book that I'm sure you'll find it worth reading and joining in the discussion.
Everyman wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Alicia. I graduated recently with a degree in civil engineering. I have always loved reading and love classics, most of them :)"
Welcome. We're delighted that ..."
Thanks! I will see if I can find it at the library.
Hello, Miss Belle here,
student of English Literature :-)
student of English Literature :-)
Miss Belle wrote: "Hello, Miss Belle here,student of English Literature :-) "
Hello, Miss Belle, and welcome!
Middlemarch fits right in with your English Literature studies, doesn't it?
Hi everyone!I'm Brittany and I'm a college student getting ready to hopefully transfer to a different school and to a different major (history to aeronautics, random, I know). I'm absolutely addicted to reading! I love a variety of books, classics among them. I look forward to being in this group!
Thank-you Everyman, indeed, lots from Eliot and her contemporaries, sayeth I peeping out from behind burgeoning Reading Lists...
Brittany wrote: "Hi everyone!I'm Brittany and I'm a college student getting ready to hopefully transfer to a different school and to a different major (history to aeronautics, random, I know). I'm absolutely a..."
Glad to have you, Brittany.
History to aeronautics -- that's quite a difference!
History to aeronautics is quite a difference. Even though I love both, its easier to find a job in the aviation field.
Hello everyone!My name is Lj. I'm currently a sophomore in college working towards getting my degree in English Literature. I hope after graduating I can enter into Grad school and get my masters focusing on Ancient Literature, especially Old and New Comedy.
I love books and the ideas they hold. It's quite amazing how a few hundred pages can influence people. That being said, my ultimate goal is to open a bookstore. I would love to be able to teach a class, so to speak, in the store. Anyways, I'm looking forward to functioning in this group. I probably wont be active in the discussion based reading until the next book, which I believe is Paradise Lost.
Thanks!
Lj wrote: "Hello everyone!"Welcome, Lj!
When you say "old and new comedy," do you mean old and new ancient comedy? Or ancient and modern comedy?
And if the former, who do you include in the categories? Aristophanes, I assume is clearly in the Old ancient comedy. I would think Terence would be an example of new comedy. But would you put Gnaeus Naevius in the Old or New category? And do you make the separation between old and new based entirely on the calendar, or on the style of comedy?
Don't mean to quiz you right off the bat, but curious what you meant!
I think all of us have at one time or another had the dream of opening a bookstore. Sadly, the general interest independent bookstore seems doomed these days except in small pockets which may be able to support a very small bookstore. If you're interested in a specialty bookstore -- travel, mystery, those seem to be surviving -- or a second hand bookstore -- with many or even most of your sales over the Internet -- your dream may still be possible. But don't expect to get wealthy selling books. I wish it were otherwise, but . . .
Everyman wrote: Welcome, Lj!
When you say "old and new comedy," do you mean old and new ancient comedy? Or ancient and modern comedy?
And if the former, who do you include in the ..."
I do mean Old and New Ancient Comedy. For Old Comedy, Aristophanes is the typical sole source referred to mainly because his works are the only ones existing in their entirety. As for New Comedy, it is again the case that one writer, Menander, is usually taken to represent the entire time period due to lack of other existing works.
Strictly speaking, both Old and New Comedy are primarily associated with Greek writers. There exists unique characteristics to both comedy sets, political satire, scatological jokes, and stock characters; the problem is, however, that only a few writers have intact works. Thus, people often try to merge other writers into the genres. One of the things I love the most about Old and New Comedy is how heavy of an influence it was on future writers. Roman comedy, for example, derived purely form imitation of Old and New Comedy. Terrence and Plautus clearly based their works on that of Menander and Aristophanes. Then in turn, Plautus went on to inspire Machiavelli, Ben Jonson, Marston, Moliere, and up to Shakespeare. The beautiful thing is that this long line of comedy can be traced back years to the Old and New Comedy of Aristophanes and Menander respectively.
As for Gnaeus Naevius, I would place him into the Roman Comedy genre as his works are based off of New Comedy.
Haha. Yes, I understand there is not much money to be made in the bookstore industry. I have already accepted that fact that more likely than not I'm going to be poor. I'm perfectly content with such a truth. It's really the only thing I have ever really wanted to do. I plan on teaching Ancient Literature as well as a course that focuses on what is "the self", examining works like Notes from Underground and excerpts from David Hume as well as Louis Borges before opening my store, saving money along the way (not that teachers make a grand income either).
Hello all. I have been in the group for a while, but this is my first post. I think I may be one of the youngest in this group, so I've been intimidated to post. (I'm 14.) I joined this group because I enjoy reading classics, and the discussions really force me to think deeper.
Adorée wrote: "Hello all. I have been in the group for a while, but this is my first post. I think I may be one of the youngest in this group, so I've been intimidated to post. (I'm 14.) I joined this group becau..."Hi! 14 is pretty impressive. I don't know what I was reading at 14 but I'm sure it wasn't the classics.
Adorée wrote: "Hello all. I have been in the group for a while, but this is my first post. I think I may be one of the youngest in this group, so I've been intimidated to post. (I'm 14.) I joined this group becau..."Welcome! (Nice name, by the way. Is there a family story behind it?)
No need to be intimidated. We're all friendly here, and happy to welcome anybody who enjoys reading and talking about these books. It will be interesting for those of us in our sixth or seventh decades to hear the thoughts of the next generation of keeping-the-classics-alive readers!
Good to see you starting early on good reading. I can fully understand -- I was also reading classics, though not the harder ones, at about that age. When I was in 7th grade, for example, my teacher assigned me Paradise Lost, which I enjoyed even without understanding it all (and which we're reading here in about three or four weeks, and it will be nice to think of another middle schooler finding out the glory of PL!
I'm actually in my first year of high school, and summer is approaching fast... I keep thinking that I'm old but my life has only just begun!I'm interested in history and old(er) books because I'm sick of books like Twilight which have no literary value at all.
I won't be posting for Middlemarch, but I will try for PL (I still didn't finish MM. Haha.)
The story of my name actually is kind of funny. My dad didn't want a name that is unisex or could have a shorter nickname (like Alexandra to Alex, etc.) My mom and dad were debating with either Thalia or Adoree but they chose the later. It's funny because my dad spelled my name wrong on the birth certificate, so I think they chose it at the last minute. I still need to get it changed. My mom and I will hopefully do it over the summer.
I'm glad to be in the group and hopefully I can contribute more soon.
Hello Adoree! I'm glad you posted. I was reading Dickens and Austen when I was a young teen. When I was in my first year of highschool, my English teacher recommended me read Dickens and that was my first taste of the Classics. I also read Beowulf when I was 14 and I was entranced. I haven't touched PL yet though ... it is still a little scary for me. :)
Yrinsyde wrote: "I haven't touched PL yet though ... it is still a little scary for me. :) "Oh, don't be scared by it. My advice, FWIW, for first time readers is to read without trying to dig too much into every nuance of the allegories and references -- just read the wonderful language and get the general meaning and the vivid images.
PL is offputting at first because the first sentence is so convoluted (the verb, "sing," doesn't come until line 6) that people think the whole poem will be that way and quit before they've really begun. That's a shame, because you quickly get used to the rhythms of his language and it all does come alive.
The reason that Milton wrote that way is that at his time he had to decide whether to write his epic in Latin, which was still the language of intellectuals, or in English, into which the Bible had just recently been translated. He compromised, writing in English but using some Latin grammatical structures (the first sentence's grammar is pure Latinate). In so doing, he really created a whole new poetic language -- a mixture of English words and Latin sentence structure.
Milton is challenging, no doubt about it. But he is also well, well worth it, no doubt about that, either!
Kristy wrote: "I found this group yesterday and will try to join the reading schedule for PL if I can get the book from my library by the 9th. I am a stay-at-home mom to two little boys who gets up early to read ..."Welcome, Kristy. No need at all to be nervous about joining the discussion. I know it can look intimidating at first with some of the more erudite posts, but really, truly, we welcome ANY post, and sometimes what appear to be simple questions or simple thoughts turn out to be the basis of excellent discussions. So do join in -- I promise nobody will bite your head off!
BTW, if you want to start reading before your library can get the book for you, Paradise Lost is available on line in several places.
Here's a basic text version
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext91...
And here's a version with some annotation:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/read...
Here's a link to a heavily annotated edition. I don't recommend it for a first time read through, the annotations interfere too much, for my taste, with the flow of the poem, but for looking up the background to certain passages it has a lot of interesting content. The somewhat cryptic number line at the top of the page is to the 12 books of PL.
http://www.robotwisdom.com/web/milton...
Aloha...I had to join this group because I have a passion for Classics and the Western Canon.I have a BA and MA in literature, and I teach high school English, American and British Literature.
I see that your next epic is John Milton's Paradise Lost. It is one of my favorite Classics. Can't wait to read your comments and ideas.
Melita wrote: "Aloha...I had to join this group because I have a passion for Classics and the Western Canon."Welcome! Glad to have you with us.
I see that your next epic is John Milton's Paradise Lost. It is one of my favorite Classics. Can't wait to read your comments and ideas.
And, I hope, to share your own thoughts and ideas with us.
I'm a horrible person. :/ I've joined this group some while ago, but didn't get around posting or reading the books because I'm about to finish high school and I've been putting a lot of time and effort into studying for my exams (for reasons which remain unclear back in November I thought it would be a good idea to take philosophy as an exam subject). If I pass my exams -and I hope I will-, I'm going to move to Scotland and start an English Lit/Comparative Lit degree in September. Although I'm Romanian, I've been a fluent speaker of English (and an avid reader of English literature) for the past three years so I'm both extremely excited and terrified of the prospect of moving to an English-speaking country. For the past couple of months I've been trying to orient myself more towards dusty English classics in an attempt to patch up my knowledge of English literature/literary history/culture to match that of people who have actually taken English literature/history classes. Thus in addition to the pleasure of reading great books alongside wonderful people, what I want to get out of this group is a sense of how English speakers read and discuss literature.
Andreea wrote: "I'm a horrible person. :/ Quite the contrary. You're a busy person trying to balance competing commitments. That's all. And it's entirely right that your primary focus is on your exam work.
"for reasons which remain unclear back in November I thought it would be a good idea to take philosophy as an exam subject"
I don't know about exam subjects, but philosophy is a subject well worth taking -- for a lifetime. I'm still reading and enjoying philosophy forty plus years after my last formal philosophy class.
"Thus in addition to the pleasure of reading great books alongside wonderful people, what I want to get out of this group is a sense of how English speakers read and discuss literature. "
I'm sure you'll get the first, and I hope you're finding enough value here in the second.
Glad you've come out of lurking mode, and if you can find the time for us in addition to all the time and stress of moving to Scotland and adjusting to what will certainly be a very different lifestyle and culture, I hope you can share the benefits of your reading of Paradise Lost with the rest of us.
Whats up guys...joined the group because I was Kindeling the Western Cannon on my own and then searching the internet for context.Now I get to read along with others and get some great feedback... Looking forward to Milton!
Tom wrote: "Whats up guys...joined the group because I was Kindeling the Western Cannon on my own and then searching the internet for context.Now I get to read along with others and get some great feedback....."
What's up is that you've joined just in time to wrap up the discussion of Richard II and get ready to start the discussion of Paradise Lost. Pretty good timing!
Yeah, I dl'd Richard II to fill in the time since Ive been on a Contemporary Book - Cannon -Contemporary alternating schedule so Im going to independently read Richard II and catch up with the thread.Two questions...Amazon has a TON of versions of these books as well as Free from Guttenberg, but its almost impossible to tell which offer the best footnotes/format etc...
Does the group normally 'suggest' an e-version thats considered the best for each of these books?
And...
How focused is the group on the Philosophical works (which may be better read in order) and if its not, can you suggest a GOODREADS philosophy book club?
Tom wrote: "Two questions...Amazon has a TON of versions of these books as well as Free from Guttenberg, but its almost impossible to tell which offer the best footnotes/format etc...Does the group normally 'suggest' an e-version thats considered the best for each of these books?"
We do sometimes discuss the merits of different editions of classics, but usually nobody has done a survey of editions sufficient to recommend any specific one.
There is a discussion of editions of Milton in the Galbraith Crump edited commentary to Paradise Lost. According to this discussion, of volumes which contain more than just PL, the most frequently cited edition is the Hughes Milton ("John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose" edited by Merrit Hughes), which is the text adopted by the Yale course on Milton and is widely used by serious students of Milton. (I have had this edition for some years and find it excellent.) Two other editions frequently cited by teachers are those edited by Shawcross and Carey/Fowler; the latter, the comment notes, has much more commentary than the former, to the point that some people find it distracting. There is also an edition by Northrup Frye, who I consider a very valuable commentator on Shakespeare and general critic of canonical literature, though I don't know anything of his Milton scholarship.
Of specific editions just of Paradise Lost, the essay on editions mentions three in particular. Hughes has extracted the materials from his broader work into a volume just on PL. There isa Modern Library College Edition and a Norton Critical Edition, both of which are intended for college student use; the Norton has a bit more extensive material.
Any one of these editions should be more than adequate to your needs.
As to e-editions that can be downloaded onto an e-reader, I'm not up on those, but there are several that have been mentioned in the Paradise Lost thread; you might go there to look at what is said.
"How focused is the group on the Philosophical works (which may be better read in order) and if its not, can you suggest a GOODREADS philosophy book club? "
We have so far not gotten into philosophy specifically, though we may, but that's not our primary focus. There is a philosophy group on Goodreads, read only a limited amount of philosophy, at http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1..., but it isn't very active. If you click on the "groups" menu and then search on philosophy, you will find a number of groups (I found 102) that have philosophy as one of the terms in their title or description, but I don't know anything about these. Others here may have experience with groups that might be more appropriate to your interests.
Hello all-I'm a linguistics major at UT in Austin, TX. I'm fascinated by literature as a cultural snapshot. I am uncomfortable with this whole digital book revolution going on. There's just nothing like holding a book in your hand, enjoying the cover art, and taking in that glorious book-y smell. I sometimes go through phases where I have 4 or 5 books on at the same time, but it usually ends with me having to put aside 3 of them and focusing on one or two until they're finished! What can I say, I'm an ambitious reader!
Kristin wrote: "Hello all-I'm a linguistics major at UT in Austin, TX. I'm fascinated by literature as a cultural snapshot. I am uncomfortable with this whole digital book revolution going on. There's just not..."
Welcome, Kristin. I hope that Paradise Lost is one of the one or two that you plan to focus on in the next few weeks! It certainly fits the bill for ambitious reading!!
Hello everybody,Paradise Lost will be the first book I have the pleasure of reading with you fine folks, thanks to David's suggestion that I join in on the group reading.
As for introductions, I am an undergraduate student in evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto. I have always been a big bookworm, and I have a particular interest in the genre of sci-fi and fantasy known as steampunk, for which I run an appreciation society here in the GTA. However, I definitely feel like I need to brush up on my classics of literature, hence joining this group.
Nice to meet you all :)
Amanda wrote: "Hello everybody,Paradise Lost will be the first book I have the pleasure of reading with you fine folks, thanks to David's suggestion that I join in on the group reading. "
Delighted to have you join us.
Hmmm ... I wonder just what steampunk references you will be able to make to Paradise Lost! :)
Hello everyone,I'm Julie, a 17 year old soon to be college sophomore. Right now I'm working towards an associates in apparel design in hopes of becoming a costume designer. Though it's unrelated to my career goals, I would love to transfer to a four year after and get a BA in philosophy.
I've been actively interested in the classics for over a year, after I read Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I opted out of taking classes over the summer in order to have plenty of time to volunteer at theaters, so I should have plenty of time to read with this group.
Julie wrote: "Hello everyone,I'm Julie, a 17 year old soon to be college sophomore. Right now I'm working towards an associates in apparel design in hopes of becoming a costume designer. Though it's unrelated ..."
Glad to have you with us, Julie!
I'm Shannon--I sold my soul and become an engineer despite my deep rooted love of literature. My father is a high school English teacher (yes, I was in his English class my senior year), and he raised me to love the classics. Family vacations were traveling to Shakespeare festivals or Twain's caves. Family outings often involved seeing plays (Shakespeare, of course). One of my favorite memories of my dad took place during the birthday celebration for Shakespeare held at the Botanical Gardens in Wichita, KS. My dad stalked the poor actor commissioned to play the Bard and cornered him in the gardenias. My father then proceeded to have a "quote off" with "Shakespeare" (much to my adolescent horror) in which he had "Shakespeare" recite any line from memory and then my father would speak the next line. Let us just say that the poor actor was no match for my dad. My dad was more than disappointed that he did not find a worthier foe that day. But, my father's influence runs deep within me.
I love and miss the days of reading, dissecting and heatedly debating works of great literature. I am very excited to be a part of this group and look forward to delving into Paradise Lost. I am so glad I found this--what a wonderful forum!
Shannon wrote: "I'm Shannon--I sold my soul and become an engineer despite my deep rooted love of literature. My father is a high school English teacher (yes, I was in his English class my senior year), and he ra..."Welcome, Shannon. Sounds like you'll fit right in here.
Hi I'm Gayle, and up until last Friday I taught literature and drama at a classical school. Now that school's out, I'm looking forward to reading what I choose, and discussions with a group in which everyone has chosen to read the book and loves literature as much as I do.
Gayle wrote: "Hi I'm Gayle, and up until last Friday I taught literature and drama at a classical school. Now that school's out, I'm looking forward to reading what I choose, and discussions with a group in whi..."Welcome, Gayle. You're just in time for a summer of Milton. What could be better for a classical teacher??
Some critics think that PL is as much a work of drama as it is of poetry. Perhaps we can hear your thoughts on this, as a drama teacher, as the reading goes on? I think some of the speeches in Book 2, in particular, when we get there in a few days, will sound very much like speeches in a great dramatic play.
Hi I'm Kate. I have been reading fluff and my brain needs to be stretched.
PL has been on my list of "must reads" for 20+ years, but every time I started it, I wanted to talk about it and bounce ideas off people. And since I am surrounded at home and at work with nothing but scientists and engineers, I wasn't very successful at getting conversations going. I love discussions that connect ideas, social and political context, intellectual history with literature and kisses to whoever structured the PL topic to include threads for Politcs, Milton the Poet, and other Resources.
I need to do some catch up reading, but I am very much enjoying the discussions so far. Thanks for being such an interesting group of people!
PL has been on my list of "must reads" for 20+ years, but every time I started it, I wanted to talk about it and bounce ideas off people. And since I am surrounded at home and at work with nothing but scientists and engineers, I wasn't very successful at getting conversations going. I love discussions that connect ideas, social and political context, intellectual history with literature and kisses to whoever structured the PL topic to include threads for Politcs, Milton the Poet, and other Resources.
I need to do some catch up reading, but I am very much enjoying the discussions so far. Thanks for being such an interesting group of people!
hi I am gökçe I am studying literature I am interested in myths , legends.As I believe that Literature is derived from myths.For example Look at Shakespeare's tragedies,you will see they are shadows of Myths.I am new member I registered in that website yesterday so I dont have any friend in my list.Everybody in that group may add me as a friend
I am a 54 year old grandmother, former teacher with an interest in languages and the history of the English language. I live in a suburb of Perth, Western Australia with my husband, my eighteen year old daughter, my pregnant niece and various overseas students who come for homestay and learning English. As well as running a busy household I also like to ice-skate,tap dance, rollerblade, sing, watch movies and tv, go for walks along our beautiful coastline or in nearby bushland, spend time with family, including my two beautiful granddaughters, trace my family history, grow my own vegetables, read books and sit in the sun and think. I have always loved reading but have purchased more books than I've read in recent years. I rarely used the computer until one month ago when I broke my arm.(rollerblading accident) I have now discovered that I am not the only person in the world trying to read 1001 books before I die.....The classics seem to be the most important and this group looks very promising as a place to encourage discussion. I have just started listing all my books but it's going slowly due to the broken arm...I'm still listing the books in the bedroom. I wonder how long it took other people to list all their books? My favourite book is Pride and Prejudice. I recently re-read David Copperfield and was struck by the strength of emotions expressed and the feeling of autobiography..something I hadn't noticed twenty years ago. DC's initials are the reverse of the author's, intentionally no doubt. I'll finish with a favourite (but unfortunately anonymous) quote:We read not to pass the time, but to inhabit time.
Hey everyone! I've been on Goodreads for a while, but just stumbled upon this group today. I am a high school English teacher (American Lit & AP British Lit/Comp) and a graduate student in English (comparative literature) at University of California, Irvine. My current interests tend toward contemporary literature, but I try to be as well-rounded as I can be. I will try to jump in on the next read, as I am currently pretty heavily invested in research, but I wanted to introduce myself nonetheless.
Hello Everyone,
I'm David and am new to Good Reads and to this group. As I am newly retired, I feel that it might be interesting to include a 'classic' in my reading from time to time. This will encourage me to read those books which I should have read and to re-read others which I have read but probably a long time ago.
I live in Wales and I addicted to the Hay Festival of Literature where I am a regular steward, and to the Brecon Jazz Festival where I also steward.
I am currently trying to get my French language skills up to a standard where I am able to read Balzac and others in the language in which they were originally written.
Looking forward to reading the suggested book and following the subsequent discussions.
I'm David and am new to Good Reads and to this group. As I am newly retired, I feel that it might be interesting to include a 'classic' in my reading from time to time. This will encourage me to read those books which I should have read and to re-read others which I have read but probably a long time ago.
I live in Wales and I addicted to the Hay Festival of Literature where I am a regular steward, and to the Brecon Jazz Festival where I also steward.
I am currently trying to get my French language skills up to a standard where I am able to read Balzac and others in the language in which they were originally written.
Looking forward to reading the suggested book and following the subsequent discussions.
Classics and the Western Canon
Books mentioned in this topic
Metamorphoses (other topics)Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic (other topics)
The Portrait of a Lady (other topics)
Ficciones (other topics)
Dracula (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Søren Kierkegaard (other topics)Dorothy L. Sayers (other topics)
John Ciardi (other topics)
Alexis de Tocqueville (other topics)
Dani Shapiro (other topics)
More...
Having finished a Diploma in Education last November, I was supposed to start looking for jobs as an English teacher in Sydney, Australia, but I have decided not to work at all for a while instead. I am 40, live with my husband and two cats and love gardening and of course, reading.
Books are very expensive in Australia and I started reading classics partly because they are much less expensive (she says brazenly), but now I find it difficult to read anything else. Dickens, Bronte, Gaskell, Tolstoy, Zola, Dostoevsky etc. I read mainly 19th C. fiction, but I am also interested in Victorian history.
I am very excited by Kindle and will invest in one in due course, although it really should be sooner rather than later as my husband and I are compulsive readers and if I have to put together another Billy bookcase from Ikea I'll scream!
It is very exciting to join a group of people who are so passionate about literature and I look forward to learning much about the classics.