Which classics are you reading now?

[Dmreichle]

I just finished Great Expectations. I really enjoyed it!

[Marta]

Dmreichle wrote: "I just finished Great Expectations. I really enjoyed it!"
It is a great one. I enjoyed it, too, read it last year.

[Paula]

Jim wrote: "Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Jim"
I hope you enjoy it. I had only heard of it and then found it at a used book sale. Was really pleased with the story. Well told, in my opinion.

[Hannah]

Finally reading The Fellowship of the Ring!

[Marta]

Hannah wrote: "Finally reading The Fellowship of the Ring!"

Is this your first time? It is really fun. All modern high fantasy comes from Tolkien.

[Jon]

Marta wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Finally reading The Fellowship of the Ring!"......Is this your first time? It is really fun. All modern high fantasy comes from Tolkien."

High fantasy has a long distinguished career. I gather L. Frank Baum developed the concept with the Oz series of stories, and there is an older writer of romances named Morris whom I do not know.

[Hannah]

Marta, this is my first time! I can't believe it's taken me so long!

Jon, while some of the authors you mentioned did write well-known fantasy before Tolkien and inspire others after them (including Tolkien himself), I think his lyrical style have shaped more of the genre's current style overall and especially in epic fantasy series.

[Jon]

Hannah wrote: "Marta, this is my first time! I can't believe it's taken me so long! Jon, while some of the authors you mentioned did write well-known fantasy before Tolkien and inspire others after them (includi..."

Agreed. Tolkien got me in trouble in high school because I was constantly reading the Hobbit series and many other Tolkien stories, all to the detriment of the books I was assigned to read!

[Paula]

Jon wrote: "I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, plus another classic historical work called The Killer Angels. That one is about the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. It is literar..."

I acquired a taste for reading history novels (esp. WW1 and American Civil War) many years ago. I had a great experience when I challenged myself to read all the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, of which "The Killer Angels" is one. I thought it so well done that I recognize the author's name when I see it. That doesn't happen unless the book impresses me in a good way.

[Tim]

Currently reading, Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

[Jon]

Paula wrote: "Jon wrote: "I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, plus another classic historical work called The Killer Angels. That one is about the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. I..."

I think the movie "Gettysburg" was based upon the book "The Killer Angels." I have not seen the movie, but I wonder if you have seen it. I ask because you seem to have an eye for film production values.

[Paula]

Jon wrote: "Paula wrote: "Jon wrote: "I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, plus another classic historical work called The Killer Angels. That one is about the battle of Gettysburg during the America..."

Yes, I did see it and thanks for asking. That seems so long ago. Yes, it was based on Michael Shaara's novel. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for actor Jeff Daniels and he played a role in it. Matter of fact, Daniels is a musician and songwriter who makes semi-regular appearances at Tibbitt's Opera House in Coldwater MI just south of where I live. He'll be there next with his son, Ben and his band, in November. I believe Daniels also has a home in Chelsea MI.
Yes, Jon, I "seem to have an eye for" film production values. I have a film and television production degree. I had to learn to behave myself if watching television or movies with friends. They don't appreciate it when I constantly point out the soundtrack, creative camera angles, lighting, and editing. If I get obnoxious here in the group, please "kindly" let me know. LOL

[Jim]

Good evening!

Reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), which I started on 10 September 2017. An amazing story with engaging characters subtly (and not subtly) connected, it was first published in serial form between 1875 and 1877. Having read Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes, I gained insight into the life and times of the period in which Anna Karenina is set. Tolstoy's morality play is a lot slower of a read than the straight-weird Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart & Other Writings, which I had finished immediately prior to starting Anna Karenina.

Jim

[Aurora]

Currently reading Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë

[Tim]

Currently reading The Overcoat and Other Short Stories by Nikolai Gogol.

[Linda R,]

Aurora wrote: "Currently reading Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë"

Oh that was an intense read for me. How are you liking it so far?

[Tim]

Currently reading, Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery and enjoying it.

[Aurora]

Linda R, wrote: "Aurora wrote: "Currently reading Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë"

Oh that was an intense read for me. How are you liking it so far?"

For me it was a hard and heavy reading too!

[Tim]

Aurora wrote: "Linda R, wrote: "Aurora wrote: "Currently reading Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë"

Oh that was an intense read for me. How are you liking it so far?"

For me it was a hard and heavy reading too!"

I was glad when I finished it. There was not a single character in the whole novel that I liked.

[Linda R,]

Tim wrote: "Aurora wrote: "Linda R, wrote: "Aurora wrote: "Currently reading Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë"

I was glad when I finished it. There was not a single character in the whole novel that I liked. ..."

Agree with you. It is painful to read.

[Tim]

Currently reading, Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francois Rabelais

[Jim]

Linda R, wrote: "Tim wrote: "Aurora wrote: "Linda R, wrote: "Aurora wrote: "Currently reading Wuthering heights by Emily Brontë"

I was glad when I finished it. There was not a single character in the whole novel t..."

Just finished it. Great story with a marvelous sense of place, but the characters deserved to be autopsied while still alive.

Jim

[Aiden (The Book Scourge)]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

[Linda R,]

I'm reading through Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan. The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classic Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded . At present I'm reading David Copperfield.David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's very character driven.

[Tim]

Currently reading, Under the Net, by Iris Murdoch and liking it so far.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

I just DNFd Walden. Now I am starting Uncle Tom's Cabin. After that comes Madam Bovary.

[Aurora]

Currently reading Otello by Shakespeare

[Linda R,]

Aurora wrote: "Currently reading Otello by Shakespeare"

The play or the opera? I enjoy reading Shakespeare's play and have set a goal of reading them all soon. Have you seen the Laurence Fishburne movie? It is available online and is a nice cap to reading the play.

[Aurora]

I'm reading the play, I read yet 4 plays and I'm loving Shakespeare every time more! Which plays did you read?

[Linda R,]

Aurora wrote: "I'm reading the play, I read yet 4 plays and I'm loving Shakespeare every time more! Which plays did you read?"

I've read 13 so far. Hamlet is my favorite but Othello is right up there near the top. Beware of enbroidered hankerchiefs,

[Aurora]

So much! I must read all as soon as possible!!

[Marta]

I need to read more Shakespeare as well. I have read maybe five... Twelfth Night is on my list because I need to read a book set around a holiday that is not Christmas. Please tell me it is not Christmas!

[Paula]

Marta wrote: "I need to read more Shakespeare as well. I have read maybe five... Twelfth Night is on my list because I need to read a book set around a holiday that is not Christmas. Please tell me it is not Chr..."

I'm in a Goodreads group called Shakespeare Fans and we just read Twelfth Night. I began reading it on the day of the solar eclipse. (Not on purpose; I just dragged it along with me to the restaurant.)

[Marta]

Paula wrote: "Marta wrote: "I need to read more Shakespeare as well. I have read maybe five... Twelfth Night is on my list because I need to read a book set around a holiday that is not Christmas. Please tell me..."

That's awesome!

[Linda R,]

Stirred by this thread I have started reading my 14th play, Comedy of Errors. A gem little read.

[Tim]

The Awakening, by Kate Chopin

[Marta]

Linda R, wrote: "Stirred by this thread I have started reading my 14th play, Comedy of Errors. A gem little read."
Glad we could inspire you!

[Linda R,]

While continuing my journey through Shakespeare - I'm on my 20th play, Measure for Measure - I've started the George Eliot novel Middlemarch. I'm 5 chapters into it so far and it is great writing although I expect it to take some time before I get really engrossed. I've read it said that George Eliot is perhaps the best English Victorian novelist. I'm willing to believe it.

[Brenda]

I'm reading RUTH by Elizabeth Gaskell. Also am thinking of SILAS MARNER, simply because I can't remember anything of reading it in high school.

[Mutyala]

I’m reading Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen

[Linda R,]

Brenda wrote: "I'm reading RUTH by Elizabeth Gaskell. Also am thinking of SILAS MARNER, simply because I can't remember anything of reading it in high school."

Silas Marner is on my tbr list also. I read the first chapter and it looks good.

[Linda R,]

Mutyala wrote: "I’m reading Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen"

How are you liking it? It is one of my favorite English novels.

[Paula]

Linda R, wrote: "Brenda wrote: "I'm reading RUTH by Elizabeth Gaskell. Also am thinking of SILAS MARNER, simply because I can't remember anything of reading it in high school."

Silas Marner is on my tbr list also...."

My father made so many negative comments about having to read Silas Marner in high school that I decided I'd see just what was up. I loved it.

[Brenda]

I was thinking of MIDDLEMARCH again (read it once years ago and I remember nothing of it) but SILAS MARNER is shorter. But I got diverted and am now reading THREE HOUSES by Angela Thirkell. She is the granddaughter of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, and spent a good deal of her childhood visiting her grandfather at his various houses.

[Jim]

Currently reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

[Angie]

The 42nd Parallel by John dos Passos

[Tim]

The New Testament in Modern English, J. B. Phillips, translator

[Tim]

Paula wrote: "Linda R, wrote: "Brenda wrote: "I'm reading RUTH by Elizabeth Gaskell. Also am thinking of SILAS MARNER, simply because I can't remember anything of reading it in high school."

Silas Marner is on ..."

I read Silas Marner in high school (circa 1970). It remains one of my top ten favorite classic fiction novels. I also greatly enjoyed Adam Bede which I read this year.

[Brenda]

There's a reason why Eliot is one of the great British novelists; I just haven't gotten a grip on her work yet.

[Linda R,]

Tim wrote: I read Silas Marner in high school (circa 1970). It remains one of my top ten favorite classic fiction novels. I also greatly enjoyed Adam Bede which I read this year



I just finished reading Middlemarch and am working on a review. I am looking forward to more George Eliot. But my next book, long on my list is The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Middlemarch (1870's) is approximately 100 years older than Werther (1774) and it is interesting to see how much literature changed in Europe between the two.