Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
Archived Chit Chat & All That
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Brina wrote: "So nice that after being offline for 2 days that I come back on to see 26 different topics to catch up on. I was busy with holiday prep but I did manage to read A Streetcar Named Desire."I was thinking of you and your holiday time when I saw it on the calendar yesterday. Hope you got all your preparations done! And I hope you liked "Streetcar..." I really liked it!
Terri, holidays last for two days and sometimes three if they go directly into the sabbath. It was lovely but tiring. I enjoyed Streetcar but too tired to write a comprehensive review until tomorrow b
Hayley wrote: "I'm going to do it if I have time. I read The Bluest Eye recently, but not this week, so that kinda counts, doesn't it? I am still hard at work reading books that represent all of the fifty states...."Really enjoyed that book, A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler Hayley. Hope you do too! :)
The Bluest Eye just won a poll for a different group I am in so I will probably be reading it soon too.
Since this is "Chit Chat":I must be on a winning streak! In the last few months I have received four books in the mail through "give-aways" that I have entered. Two paperbacks, one hardback, and one audio book. I thought I was doing pretty well this those! I mostly donate them to my library after I read & review them, so we're all winners!
Well, recently LibraryThing sent me a notification that I was chosen as an Early Reviewer to read and review Dear Mr. M by Herman Koch and Why the Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture by Rosanne Welch. And today on Read It Forward I got notification that "I'm a winner"! and will receive Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood! I'm feeling really lucky and excited!
Terris wrote: "Since this is "Chit Chat":I must be on a winning streak! In the last few months I have received four books in the mail through "give-aways" that I have entered. Two paperbacks, one hardback, and o..."
That's wonderful Terris! You should feel lucky and excited! :)
Terris wrote: "Since this is "Chit Chat":I must be on a winning streak! In the last few months I have received four books in the mail through "give-aways" that I have entered. Two paperbacks, one hardback, and o..."
That's pretty amazing Terris! Wow!!! Enjoy your winnings!
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I must be on a winning streak! In the last few months I have received four books in the mail through "give-aways" that I have entered. Two paperbacks, one hardback, and o..."
Sweet! What fun to get free books!
Just received my old school and new school books I ordered in the mail today (Far from the maddening crowd and In Cold Blood). Very excited for November reads. Nothing like opening a package of books :)
Terris wrote: "Since this is "Chit Chat":I must be on a winning streak! In the last few months I have received four books in the mail through "give-aways" that I have entered. Two paperbacks, one hardback, and o..."
WOW, you are on a roll!
Terris wrote: "Since this is "Chit Chat":I must be on a winning streak! In the last few months I have received four books in the mail through "give-aways" that I have entered. Two paperbacks, one hardback, and o..."
Wow that really is a winning streak. Congrats!
Nina wrote: "Just received my old school and new school books I ordered in the mail today (Far from the maddening crowd and In Cold Blood). Very excited for November reads. Nothing like opening a package of boo..."I absolutely agree Nina! Nothing like it! :)
OK, update. I liked The Bluest Eye, but found it depressing. I also liked A Spool of Blue Thread. I didn't quite get into either of these as much as I thought I would.
Loretta wrote: "Nina wrote: "Just received my old school and new school books I ordered in the mail today (Far from the maddening crowd and In Cold Blood). Very excited for November reads. Nothing like opening a p..." In Cold Blood would almost surely be at your local library and Far From the Maddening(Madding) Crowd would be free on gutenberg.org Just saying, both good ways to not pay for classics. The Gutenberg Project, which is the owner of gutenberg.org, has digitalized a bunch of classics for free reading.
Hayley wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Nina wrote: "Just received my old school and new school books I ordered in the mail today (Far from the maddening crowd and In Cold Blood). Very excited for November reads. Nothing ..."I don't use devices to read books. I either go to the library or to Barnes & Noble if the libraries that I frequent don't have what I want. I'm a collector of real books, some that are antiques. Nothing brings me greater joy than my books! :)
Oh well, I would rather devide my books between being a cause of joy and worry ... I have about a thousand of them (quite a lot of them being antiques, maybe about three hundred for children and young readers, and the rest just what came along) and live in a flat of only thirty qm. :S
There are piles of books in every corner, my nightstand is covered in twenty cm of books, I even sleep on them: started piling under the bed when I ran out of space ... :D
Loretta wrote: "Hayley wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Nina wrote: "Just received my old school and new school books I ordered in the mail today (Far from the maddening crowd and In Cold Blood). Very excited for November ..."Plus, I don't know about your library, but our classics section is VERY small. I have started using another library in the town I work and it is bigger and has more. But still not everything I have looked for is there. :(
I read most things on my ereader. Then if i really like something i'll buy a nice hardcopy :) .If the book isn't out of copyright i'll occasionally resort to a physical library if i can't find it on the OpenLibrary.
The library system here is pretty good, all the 26 libraries in Dublin city are linked so you can have books moved from any library to any other for free.
I'll admit that I don't get much pleasure reading digital books. I have a kindle and it is useful but the kindle books I own are normally self published books where the paperback is about £13 for a 150 page book and the kindle copy is 99p or something like that.Or if it comes on daily deal or kindle first. Even then I'm reluctant to read it on kindle. I recently got The Unbroken Line of the Moon on 'kindle first' deal. I love the look of this book and I got it FREE as I am on amazon prime. However I didn't read it straight away because urgh...kindle. Now it is for sale for £8.99 in physical form and I am seriously thinking about buying it. That is how reluctant I am to read on kindle.
My reading format depends on where I can source books. If it's out of copyright and I don't own a copy, then I'll use kindle or project Gutenberg and read on my phone. Otherwise it's the library for me, which also has interloans from other branches in the county and eBooks. When I can't source my books from any of these locations I buy a physical copy, which is rare, but sometimes happens with new books, though I often just wait for the library to get them. I prefer to read physical books and often buy cheap second hand copies by my favourite authors, but otherwise I try to save my money. I still have approx 150 unread books on my shelf from when I was buying books, as this number hasn't gone down much due to all the library books I borrow!
Wreade1872 wrote: "I read most things on my ereader. Then if i really like something i'll buy a nice hardcopy :)"anything I can get free (most Old School) I read first electronically
so far I have followed up by buying a book on only 3 occasions: The History of Mr. Polly, The Trial and Nostromo
I save my book-buying money for New School!
I used to be strictly physical books. Then I tried audio CDs. Now I've added Overdrive. Here's the deal: I love books in all forms and I now have so many free kindle books it's ridiculous. The more free books I can find the better. You tube has a lot of audiobooks too. @Darren, The Trial is really good and very unique. You can find it in film form on YouTube. It has a different ending but Orson Wells directed it and it's a work of film art IMO. That book and film showed me what "Kafkaesque " means!
I do have certain authors I prefer in print, but I like the price and convenience of ebooks better.Built in dictionaries, wikipedia look-ups, translations, automatic syncing between audio and print, etc. Ebooks have me spoiled.
But also, being able to realize that you don't have anything you're in the mood to read, and 5 minutes of browsing later having a new book already - that's wonderful.
I used to stockpile print books. I always dreaded running out of something good to read, and thought that if I didn't buy it then, I might be gone when I came back and I ended up with a LOT of books that I just ended up loosing interest in before I got around to reading them.
It took me a LONG time to get out of that "Must buy everything before it's too late!" mindset.
Sherry wrote: "I used to be strictly physical books. Then I tried audio CDs. Now I've added Overdrive. Here's the deal: I love books in all forms and I now have so many free kindle books it's ridiculous. The more..."Oh I completely forgot about audiobooks! I tend to listen to long and winding Victorian novels. It started with fantastic narrations of Middlemarch and Austen's books and I've kind of carried on since then.
Wreade1872 wrote: "I read most things on my ereader. Then if i really like something i'll buy a nice hardcopy :) .If the book isn't out of copyright i'll occasionally resort to a physical library if i can't find it ..."
me too.. if i really like a free (or on loan from library) book i buy the paperback version.. i love actual books too..but nowadays i mostly read ebooks.. more convenient...
But also, being able to realize that you don't have anything you're in the mood to read, and 5 minutes of browsing later having a new book already - that's wonderful. you are so right
I only read hard copies of books. I'm on my phone enough so I don't want books to be there as well. Plus on my sabbath and holidays I am unplugged so I would have to wait a whole day to read something I was in the middle of. For me it's nicest to kick back with a book.
MKay wrote: "Plus, I don't know about your library, but our classics section is VERY small."I find it interesting that you HAVE a classics section. In our libraries the classics are just mixed with everything else. Only some genres are separated in bigger libraries (mysteries, horror, scifi and fantacy in mine, IIRC).
Pink wrote: "Oh I completely forgot about audiobooks! I tend to listen to long and winding Victorian novels. It started with fantastic narrations of Middlemarch and Austen's books and I've kind of carried on since then....."
I very much agree that many Victorian era novels often have wonderfully narrated audio versions available. I don't listen to audiobooks very often, but I do occasionally buy the versions that go along with Austen, Brontë, etc. They are a pleasure to listen to and always seem to enhance the story.
I very much agree that many Victorian era novels often have wonderfully narrated audio versions available. I don't listen to audiobooks very often, but I do occasionally buy the versions that go along with Austen, Brontë, etc. They are a pleasure to listen to and always seem to enhance the story.
Tytti wrote: "MKay wrote: "Plus, I don't know about your library, but our classics section is VERY small."I find it interesting that you HAVE a classics section. In our libraries the classics are just mixed wi..."
I probably need to see if some of the classics are mixed with other books. The classics section is about 2 foot wide. LOL
In the library of the town I work in they are mixed with all other books.
Sherry wrote: "I now have so many free kindle books it's ridiculous.."I'm with you there. I have two Kindles (an original and a later one) and a Nook, and all of them are loaded with free books, most from Gutenberg, some from library downloads. I have the complete Harvard Five Foot Shelf, and complete collected works of several dozen authors. More free books than I'll be able to read in the rest of my life, but just knowing they're there ready for me when I'm ready for them warms my heart. (I also, of course, have a regular book library in excess of 10,000 volumes; when we built our retirement home we built in a two-story library. And still the rest of the house is filled with bookshelves (some photos are on my profile page).
Everyman wrote: "I also, of course, have a regular book library in excess of 10,000 volumes..."I love that sentence, of course you have a regular library in your house! Wonderful photos and what a treat to have in your home.
Everyman wrote: "(some photos are on my profile page). ..."Oh, I'm jealous!
Everyman wrote: "Sherry wrote: "I now have so many free kindle books it's ridiculous.."I'm with you there. I have two Kindles (an original and a later one) and a Nook, and all of them are loaded with free books, ..."
Wow! That's amazing!
Everyman wrote: "Sherry wrote: "I now have so many free kindle books it's ridiculous.."I'm with you there. I have two Kindles (an original and a later one) and a Nook, and all of them are loaded with free books, ..."
I think I just shed a little tear Everyman! :)
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TCM will be showing "The Innocents" on Saturday evening. 7 central time 8 eastern. It's a nice spooky movie based on the book The Turn of the Screw. It's a good one
Sherry wrote: "TCM will be showing "The Innocents" on Saturday evening. 7 central time 8 eastern. It's a nice spooky movie based on the book The Turn of the Screw. It's a good one"
Thanks Sherry! I can't catch it this time, but will watch for it in the future. I just saw that Truman Capote wrote the screenplay--interesting.
Kathleen wrote: "Sherry wrote: "TCM will be showing "The Innocents" on Saturday evening. 7 central time 8 eastern. It's a nice spooky movie based on the book The Turn of the Screw. It's a good one"
T..."
I didn't know that! It's a really good movie.
Sherry wrote: "TCM will be showing "The Innocents" on Saturday evening. 7 central time 8 eastern. It's a nice spooky movie based on the book The Turn of the Screw. It's a good one"
Thanks so much Sherry! I love TCM, and have never seen that movie. I haven't read the book, but it's short so I have time before I watch the movie.
You're very welcome Renee! I hope you like it!
@Everyman: 10 000 books is pretty awsome!That definitely makes my own collection (just a tenth of it) pale a lot ... :D
I noticed some empty space at the bottom of some of your shelves ... I guess your collection is still growing. ;)
Lilly wrote: "I noticed some empty space at the bottom of some of your shelves ... I guess your collection is still growing. ;) ."And will keep growing until the day I pass on to the great library in the sky, where every book ever written will be mine to read, and I will have an eternity of time to read them all.
Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but I noticed Amazon US has a special edition of Frankenstein for free. It claims to be the original 1818 version with illustrations and audio links. Seeing as it is a group read this month, it would be a good chance for people to snag a copy. Don't know how long it will remain free. Here is the link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUCSX2I/
Niles, thank you! The illustrations are done by George Du Maurier, Daphne's father. It's wonderful!
I was just looking at the goodreads challenge numbers131 million pledged
30.5 million completed
77 days left.
so i don't think there's much chance of users getting near the target this year :) .
I have to wonder whether its many people being overly optimistic or whether its just one person who pledged to read like 90 million or something :P .
Wreade1872 wrote: "I have to wonder whether its just one person who pledged to read like 90 million or something :P "That's pretty hilarious to contemplate. I am in a group that is dedicated to reading challenges and one lady put her goal at 2,000 books. I wondered what planet she lives on that this was a remotely realistic goal unless she reads tons of children's books. Which is absolutely okay to do, but I don't think most of us set our goal with that in mind.
Haha, I like the idea of that one optimist person setting a goal of 90 million books...maybe I'll consider it for next year ;)
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
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I hope you like Anne Tyler's newest book. I've read all of hers. I just love her writing!