Which classics are you reading now?

[Krystal]

Paula wrote: "This may sound weird, but I finally picked up The Analects by Confucius. I'm even taking notes!"

Sounds good to me, Paula!

[Jon]

I am reading The Portable Dorothy Parker. This is based upon her own selections, plus additional selections that have stood the test of time. It is the edition edited by Marian Meade.

Her writing output is massive, between short stories, poetry, critical essays, and novellas. She apparently wanted to write "the great novel," since she was well known among and hobnobbed with very gifted writers of the 20's and 30's. But she could not succeed with that and had to settle for various shorter pieces published in Vanity Fair, etc

She can be very acidic with her irony, but it works because she applied the same irony to herself. Example: "I know this will come as a shock to you, Mr. Goldwyn, but in all history, which has held billions and billions of human beings, not a single one ever had a happy ending."

Or this one: "Three be the things I shall never attain: envy, content, and sufficient champagne."

She does not seem dated in the slightest. Her comments upon social customs are just as good now as they were 90 years ago.

[Ian]

I just finished Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - It is a 1960's novel based on Jane Eyre and tells the backstory of Mr Rochester's and his wife.

[Tim]

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

[Sarah]

I just started reading "The Old Man and the Sea". I'm enjoying it and expect to finish it rather quickly, but I did pick up a few other classics today that I found at the library. Including the book of the month here, The Scarlett Pimpernel. I admit I have no idea what the book is about or what a "Pimpernel" even is, but I want to be surprised! I did the same with "Slaughterhouse Five" last year and enjoyed that book. I admit I read it because it was mentioned at the beginning of the movie "Footloose" and got nosey when I spotted the actual book one day, so I read it. But most of my time is going to my incredibly thick Dan Simmons novel.

[Amanda]

I just finished The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless and I loved it so much! I was honestly surprised at how fast I got through this 600-page book, and some days I would finish volume after volume. I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves authors like Jane Austen, and I honestly loved this book more than I liked Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre. It was funny and surprisingly relevant! Eliza Haywood has become one of my favorite authors! Please let me know if you decide to read it or if you have read it and would like to discuss it because my friends are getting tired of me raving about this 18th-century book.

[Erânio]

Qual a melhor tradução de Confúcio. Alguém poderia me informar?

[معتز]

paradise lost by john milton

[Tim]

Black Dogs by Ian McEwan

[Danny]

I am nearing towards the end of John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat. I fall asleep every night with my face nuzzled in the fur of one of the Pirate's dogs.

[Tim]

The Sea by John Banville

[Sarah]

I'm almost done with the Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe. I'm finding it to be a very unique and interesting story. I like it enough that I plan to check if my local library has any other books I can get with intra-library loan.

I also started to read Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov. Started it this morning while waiting for my ride to show up. It should be a fun read.

Since I joined this group I've been on the lookout for more old books and have been finding them all over the place. I even found a free copy of Les Miserables. Reading it will have to wait though, as I have other books here I need to read first.

[Sarah]

I finished reading Fantastic Voyage and now I started to read Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. So far I actually like it better than Fantastic Voyage (to my own surprise). Although the introduction at the beginning was a little confusing at times but still very interesting.

Yesterday I stopped by the library and I saw a shelf that had a lot of classic books on it. I still have a few at home I need to read before I go looking for another classic..

[Sarah]

Daniel, did you like Tortilla Flats? I saw that one at the library. I never heard of it before but I did hear of the author before...

[Sf]

The Egyptian

[Danny]

Sarah wrote: "Daniel, did you like Tortilla Flats? I saw that one at the library. I never heard of it before but I did hear of the author before..."

Sarah, Tortilla Flat is an influence to Steinbeck's later novels, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday
which I love. I enjoyed Tortilla Flat immensely. These are stories that make you question ambition for ambition sake through the lives of social deviants. Please read, and start with Cannery Row.

[Katie]

I've been reading the Divergent Series and I love the books

[Sarah]

Thank you, Daniel. I'll look for the first book at the library. I actually found Tortilla Flat in the free library here, so I will hang on to that one for now. I cannot believe how many classic books I'm finding in the free libraries around here.

I read Anthem by Ayn Rand this morning while on the bus and waiting for my appointment. I absolutely loved it! A great story that flowed very smoothly, very interesting and makes you think. Glad I checked it out of the library.

[Sarah]

I don't know if this is counted as a classic but it's from 1939. a Judy Bolton mystery The Midnight Visitor by Margaret Sutton. It's very similar to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew... So far it's about ghosts, a will and a girl named Sally who is very mysterious and has now disappeared.

[Cristhian]

I am reading "War and Peace", already finish the first part and is not even 10% of the book. Is massive!! but I find weirdly rewarding.

[Jazzy]

Schrodingercase wrote: "I am reading "War and Peace", already finish the first part and is not even 10% of the book. Is massive!! but I find weirdly rewarding."

War and Peace is one of the best books ever written! I love it. It's my second favourite book. Don't worry about the length, that's inconsequential. Besides the longer it takes you to read it the more you will remember it and dwell upon it.

[Tim]

The Scarlet Letter

[Toni]

I just finished Of Mice and Men.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

Tonight I will finish The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick

[Shairie]

I'm currently reading Fahrenheit 451. Is it a classic?

[Arshad]

is considered a classic work in the genre, favorably comparing to George Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

[Jon]

Tim wrote: "The Scarlet Letter"

What did you think of it? For me, it is still quite relevant to today's standards and morals. We have toda the same posturing of moral virtue as ever, and it is phony still.

[Shairie]

Arshad wrote: "is considered a classic work in the genre, favorably comparing to George Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World."

Ahhh I see. Does their similarity have to do with being set in a dystopian society?

[Jazzy]

Krystal wrote: "Just finished a modern Aussie classic, Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey



https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

That should go under Non-Classics as it meets neither the criteria for a classic or a modern classic.

A classic stands the test of time. The work is usually considered to be a representation of the period in which it was written, and the work merits lasting recognition. In other words, if the book was published in the recent past, the work is not a classic.

“Modern” is an interesting word. It gets tossed around by cultural commentators, architectural critics, and suspicious traditionalists. Sometimes, it just means “nowadays.” For our purposes here, I’ll define modern as, “Based in a world the reader recognizes as familiar.” So although Moby Dick is certainly a classic, it has a hard time being a modern classic because many of the settings, lifestyles allusions, and even moral codes seem dated to the reader.

A modern classic, then, would have to be a book written after WWI, and probably after WWII. Why? Because those cataclysmic events shifted the way the world sees itself in irreversible ways.

One modern classic is Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. It’s modern—it’s written in a breezy, breathless style, and it’s about cars and ennui and easy morality and vigorous youth. And it’s a classic—it stands the test of time and has a universal appeal.

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-m...

I'm reading
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Road to Calvary - Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Seven Little Australians - Ethel Turner
and
Perchance to Dream - Charles Beaumont (which is a modern classic, all the stories being written following WW2 and prior to Beaumont's death in 1967)

[Reavario]

Just finished To Kill a Mockingbird

[Erin]

Currently reading .Crime and Punishment I found it a bit slow in the beginning but it didn't take too long before I was speeding along.

[Jazzy]

Finished this week:
Seven Little Australians - Ethel Turner

Started & finished today:
The Corsican Brothers - Alexandre Dumas

Still reading:
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Road to Calvary - Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Perchance to Dream - Charles Beaumont

and they're all so ruddy good!

[Tim]

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

[Jan]

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre

[[deleted user]]

Re-reading "Fathers and Sons" written by I.Turgenev, and started today "Eugénie Grandet" of E.Zola

[Marta]

I'm reading "The time machine" by H. G. Wells

[Carrie]

I'm reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

[April]

I have been (slowly) reading Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini and last night I started Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (which I'm about 1/3 of the way through).
Thus far, I am enjoying both of these books.

[Paul]

I am reading The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. His writing is absolute genius!

[Danny]

I'm (slowly) reading Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and other Stories. It is clever how anthologies always have the most famous work at the end. Surprisingly, I always end up enjoying the lesser-known stories more than the big bang--or dud. Mann's somewhat verbose overall but wonderfully descriptive with characters.

[Hunter]

I just finished "East of Eden " By John Steinbeck. It was a great read. Anyone have suggestions on what to start next?

[Danny]

Hunter wrote: "I just finished "East of Eden " By John Steinbeck. It was a great read. Anyone have suggestions on what to start next?"

I've read and loved Tortilla Flats, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, but I have yet to read East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck is one of those literary geniuses that actually lives up to the hype. One day i'll rent a cabin for a weekend to read E.O.E

[Hunter]

It was my last Steinbeck book to read. now onto somthing new. If I can ever decide on what to start.

[Paul]

Hunter: Daniel’s suggestions about which Steinbeck to read next are excellent, but he won the Nobel Prize because he is consistently excellent. I’ve probably read 90% of his work, and, of course, East of Eden and the Grapes of Wrath are the longest and emotionally riveting of his works.
Lots of folks don’t care for Travels with Charlie, but I love it. Another, short novel that is not well known is The Moon Is Down, closely based on actual WW II situations.
But, as I already said, you just can’t go wrong with Steinbeck.

[Paul]

Hunter: Since you are moving on from Steinbeck, I really recommend Carlos Ruiz Zafon starting with The Shadow of the Wind. I am reading his The Angel’s Game right now and it is equally good.
A less often read novel these days is The Financier by Theodore Dreiser and any of Thomas Hardy’s novels are great.

[Nikolai]

Currently near the end of Crime and punishment. Planning to read Brave new world and then A portrait of the artist as a young man. Honestly, I'm quite excited to start reading Joyce, though I doubt I'll get to Ulysses or Finnegans wake anytime soon

[Hunter]

Paul: thanks for the recommendations. I'll check them out.

[Hunter]

Skygear: A brave new would is one of my favorite of all time. I think you will really enjoy it.

[Paul]

Sky gear: Your profile shows that you read some great stuff. Crime and Punishment is yet another example. It is a marvelous book, one of very few I’ve read 3 or more times. It shows the great psychological insights the Russian authors all seemed to possess.
Brave New World is a great companion piece to 1984 which you also read. In college, my professor assigned them as consecutive readings followed by Lord of the Flies. My prof really knew what he was doing!
Good luck with Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man; that one “left me out,” as Mark Twain would say.

[Paul]

I am reading Candide by Voltaire and loving it. I see why it is a classic that has been around and popular for so long!