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Classics: To Read or Not to Read...
Emily wrote: "Titiana - LOL!!
And what are you currently reading?"
Another classic, Middlemarch -- I'm only about a quarter of the way through since I've had guests over for the holiday season who don't leave until tomorrow, but I see echoes of Anna Karenina in what I've read so far. It's good stuff. :)
And what are you currently reading?"
Another classic, Middlemarch -- I'm only about a quarter of the way through since I've had guests over for the holiday season who don't leave until tomorrow, but I see echoes of Anna Karenina in what I've read so far. It's good stuff. :)
Becky wrote: "From that list: Read and Enjoyed:
1984 by George Orwell
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
Emma by Jane Austen
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre b..."
I've only heard of one of the ones you've listed as you've never heard of. Death of a Salesman and that only because of I've heard of the play.
I went thru a period of reading the books on the 500 books to read before you die list. I have never read such boring books in my life! Last time I read a book because someone said I should.
Oh, I must have missed that one. I have heard of Death of A Salesman. It should be on my "Maybe Someday" list.
I had to read My Antonia in high school. I adored that book though I remember nothing about it. I know it takes place in Nebraska and I know that Nebraska is the worst place ever so I don't really know why I liked it so much so I am itching to do a re-read on that one. I thought Frankenstein was just meh. I could take it or leave it.
I read Grapes of Wrath when I was maybe 12 and while I retain a few visuals from the book I know that I didn't understand it whatsoever so I also want to revisit that one.
As for the Bronte or Ayre books or whatever. I'm just never interested in romance novels new or old so I can't fault 'the classics' in that front.
Dracula was the tits. Loved it. It was so atmospheric. I think I did that one as an audiobook and the reader was great. I also got a complete graphic novel for it that I haven't gotten too yet but probably in October (yes Chris, that would be breaking the resolution...Just when I thought I was out, they drag me back in).
Also, of course, Count of Monte Cristo (which wasn't on the list right?) which is probably in my top 10 books ever. It's been so long I really need to do a re-read so I can remember why I loved it.
Les Mis was awful to read and to watch. Just not my bag.
I had to read A Tale of Two Cities in high school and I hated it. About 2 years ago I went to see the musical and cried my eyes out. It was so amazing. Such a beautiful story. Then I was pissed that somehow that amazing story was trapped in that awful book. I've kinda wanted to re-read it to see if I could see it now. If maybe it was lost on me cause I was young. But at this point I'm afraid I'll still hate it. Maybe I should audio it like Chris did.
Wait.. Did I just read the phrase "was the tits"? That's a new one ...
I like classic romances much more than contemporary ones.
Nyssa wrote: "Wait.. Did I just read the phrase "was the tits"? That's a new one ..."It makes sense. Everybody loves bobbies. Men, women, gay men, babies. They are universally adored.
Felina, you said re-reads didn't break your resolution...
Nyssa wrote: "Wait.. Did I just read the phrase "was the tits"? That's a new one ..."LOL I read that and was just like "That sounds like something Felina would say... probably wasn't an autocorrect."
Oh, I missed Death of a Salesman on ones I've read. We semi-performed it in English class.
Can't remember but thing we did that. (salesman)I also enjoyed The Iliad and Gilgamesh.
I had to do Gilgamesh in college. Didn't like it so I abandoned any ideas of Homer.
Chris wrote: "Poor Homer...doh!"
lol
Felina wrote: "I had to do Gilgamesh in college. Didn't like it so I abandoned any ideas of Homer."Homer's not as different as Gilgamesh and you already know the basic stories. It makes it easier. I liked the Odyssey a lot so...I read Waterworld.
Felina wrote: "Also, of course, Count of Monte Cristo (which wasn't on the list right?) which is probably in my top 10 books ever. It's been so long I really need to do a re-read so I can remember why I loved it."Count of Monte Cristo is one of the only classics I've read that never felt dated or "old". Easily one of the most entertaining books I've read. I want to read The Three Musketeers too.
I don't think I've ever read Dracula or if I did I forgot. I should probably get to that this year.
Dracula I loved! The Three Musketeers I didn't like. It seemed to me, like a melodramatic soap opera starring a gang of adolescent boys!
I didn't like The Three Musketeers either, which was really a shame because I LOVED Count of Monte Cristo.
MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "Felina wrote: "I had to do Gilgamesh in college. Didn't like it so I abandoned any ideas of Homer."
Homer's not as different as Gilgamesh and you already know the basic stories. It makes it easie..."
Agreed. Also, the Fagles translations are really good. I wish they'd been the first versions I read.
Homer's not as different as Gilgamesh and you already know the basic stories. It makes it easie..."
Agreed. Also, the Fagles translations are really good. I wish they'd been the first versions I read.
Becky wrote: "I didn't like The Three Musketeers either, which was really a shame because I LOVED Count of Monte Cristo."Have you read The Man in the Iron Mask? I read it years ago but I remember I liked it.
Did you know that iTunesU has a series called Lit2Go and there are a lot of the classics listed as "classes" but are unabridged audiobooks?
I want to read Man in the Iron Mask. What is iTunesU? Is that just a series of audiobooks iTunes sells?
Kathy wrote: "I want to read Man in the Iron Mask. What is iTunesU? Is that just a series of audiobooks iTunes sells?"
Nope, its a free app in the iTunes Store that is attached to college (and some HS, I think) classes. All of the classes are free and there is a huge variety of classes from math to science to literature.
Nienna wrote: "Becky wrote: "I didn't like The Three Musketeers either, which was really a shame because I LOVED Count of Monte Cristo."Have you read The Man in the Iron Mask? I read it years ago but I remember..."
I haven't read that one, but I think I own it (or did at one point?) and want to. LOL
I can't use iTunes U but I checked on my phone and found a similar app. I've never listened to an audio book but I'm going to give it a try Monday at work.I never would've thought to look on my own. Thanks! :)
Colleen wrote: "Speaking of Les Mis:"
I adored that when I saw it.
I forgot that I never got around to doing my read list, so here we go.
1984 by George Orwell
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevksy
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Divine Comedy Volume I: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (translated by Mark Musa)
Emma by Jane Austen
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (Oprah's Book Club) by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Odyssey by Homer
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
I thought it'd be longer... I have some reading to do. (Also, I gave up on Moby-Dick but intend to go back to it and I think I read Huck Finn when I was in hospital but can't remember anything about it, so I didn't put those on there.)
1984 by George Orwell
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevksy
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Divine Comedy Volume I: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (translated by Mark Musa)
Emma by Jane Austen
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (Oprah's Book Club) by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Odyssey by Homer
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
I thought it'd be longer... I have some reading to do. (Also, I gave up on Moby-Dick but intend to go back to it and I think I read Huck Finn when I was in hospital but can't remember anything about it, so I didn't put those on there.)
There are several I want to read, but here are the ones I have read.Loved
1984
Anna Karenina
A Death in the Family
The Grapes of Wrath
Of Human Bondage
Pride and Prejudice
Liked Lots
East of Eden
Frankenstein
Jane Eyre
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Master & Margarita
Read
The Odyssey
A Room With a View
The Secret Garden
Sense & Sensibility
Siddhartha
Of Mice and Men
The Moonstone
Disliked
Moby Dick
Hated With The Fire of a Thousand Suns
wow...there's almost always at least one of these on a list
MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "Did you know that iTunesU has a series called Lit2Go and there are a lot of the classics listed as "classes" but are unabridged audiobooks?"I downloaded my first book on my ipod (thought it only worked on ipad or iphone) and listened to Dracula while I worked. It was easier than I thought it would be and I loved being able to 'read' when I normally can't. :)
:)I LOVE iTunes U. I love free classes.
I've read a lot of classics at uni when studying English. A couple of years ago I had a period where I only read gothic novels. I still want to read A Tale of Two Cities. Twenty years ago, in high school I was traumatized by this book. During our second year in high school we had to read short books (about 20 pages long with a lot of pictures) for English. Some were written specially for this purpose, some were basically summarized classics. I was already reading English books on my own, mostly Stephen King so the teacher always gave me the harder and longer books, 40 pages with less pictures. One of them being A Tale of Two Cities. I just didn't understand the story. I got confused by the switching between Paris and London because the switches were never indicated and in the end I failed that test.
The version of Wuthering Heights also thoroughly confused me since the book never made it clear there were two different Catherines. I read the full version about ten years ago and really liked it.
I hated Catherine and the whole rotten family, lol. Never understood why it was romantic.
I just finished Tale of Two Cities and I don't remember anything about the London parts. They did switch a lot..
MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "I hated Catherine and the whole rotten family, lol. Never understood why it was romantic."Not romantic for me either. I hate both Cathy and Heathcliff. I guess they deserve each other. I like the b&w version of Wuthering Heights though. It cuts out the whole last part of the book and shows Heathcliff in a better light.
I didn't get the whole thing. I didn't...understand. Not the text but the emotions and the actions and the whole thing reads to me like a depressed teenage girl on super hormones. I'd love for someone to explain it to me.
MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "I'd love for someone to explain it to me...."That's why all classics should be read with Cliff/Spark Notes close by.
Chris wrote: "MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "I'd love for someone to explain it to me...."That's why all classics should be read with Cliff/Spark Notes close by."
Truth
MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "I hated Catherine and the whole rotten family, lol. Never understood why it was romantic."I said the same thing when I read it. I was discussing it with a work-friend of mine who tends to like classics and more literary kinda books than I do... and she reckons it wasn't written to be a romance but, rather, a sort of psychological study about abuse and the cycles of abuse and whatnot.
I think if I read it with that point-of-view I would've gotten a lot more out of it than I did going into it thinking it was a romance.
Colleen wrote: "Colleen (blackrose13) | 208 comments MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "I hated Catherine and the whole rotten family, lol. Never understood why it was romantic."I said the same thing when I read it. I was discussing it with a work-friend of mine who tends to like classics and more literary kinda books than I do... and she reckons it wasn't written to be a romance but, rather, a sort of psychological study about abuse and the cycles of abuse and whatnot.
I think if I read it with that point-of-view I would've gotten a lot more out of it than I did going into it thinking it was a romance. "
huh. If I didn't hate it so much I might try to re-read it in that PoV...
I think of Wuthering Heights as more of a tragedy/revenge story about obsession than I do a romance.
Nienna wrote: "I think of Wuthering Heights as more of a tragedy/revenge story about obsession than I do a romance."
Yes, this. I quite enjoyed Wuthering Heights but I never really saw it as a romance. (Also one of the reasons I enjoy Austen, whose works I view as satire far more than romance.)
Yes, this. I quite enjoyed Wuthering Heights but I never really saw it as a romance. (Also one of the reasons I enjoy Austen, whose works I view as satire far more than romance.)
Well!Somebody explain it to me!
Wuthering Heights is one of those - "I really think I should read that.", - books for me. Weren't all girls supposed to read it at some point in high school...?
Nyssa wrote: "Wuthering Heights is one of those - "I really think I should read that.", - books for me. Weren't all girls supposed to read it at some point in high school...?"*gag*
I was forced to read it in HS and I read it again in college.
Each and every time I was like Ugh.
Plus, a friend gave me an old copy to share her favorite book. *sigh*
I want to read Wuthering Heights! Hoping to get to that soon!
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Read and Enjoyed:
1984 by George Orwell
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
Emma by Jane Austen
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Read (I'm pretty sure) but Don't Remember (AKA: To Be Re-read):
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Read and It Was OK:
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Divine Comedy Volume I: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Read and Disliked it:
Candide by Voltaire
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Howards End by E. M. Forster (Abandoned this one - YAWN)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Want to Read:
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
The Odyssey by Homer
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Maybe One Day?:
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevksy
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Dubliners by James Joyce
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (includes The Loss of the Ship Essex and In the Heart of the Sea)
The Oresteia by Aeschylus
Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
Never Heard of It:
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck
The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara
Carpenter's Gothic by William Gaddis
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
City of God by E. L. Doctorow
Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
A Death in the Family by James Agee
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders by Robertson Davies
Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
El Filibusterismo by José Rizal
A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov
Herzog by Saul Bellow
Ironweed by William Kennedy
Who Would Have Thought It? by Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton
Voss and the Vivisector by Patrick White
The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton
My House in Umbria by William Trevor
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
Mary Chesnut's Diary by Mary Boykin Chesnut
Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy: I. The Wreath, II. The Wife, III. The Cross by Sigrid Undset
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch