Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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Archived Chit Chat & All That
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What Book(s) have you just Bought, Ordered or Taken Delivery Of?
To keep down the size of my Physical TBR Mountain (pushing 200 books at last count!)
I recently bagged a couple of 99p offer Kindles:
Fight Club and The Bell Jar
Oh I love Fight Club excellent read
I think most people do, BAM. As a take-off on contemporary mores and contemporary machismo, I think Fight Club succeeds even better than the star-studded movie.
BAM wrote: "I just finished ordering the last of the books I needed to say I’m finished with the bookshelf (after I read them of course):Things Fall Apart
The Caine Mutiny
Martian Chronicles
The Haunting of..."
That a pretty nice book haul there.
I just bought Rod Serling's Night Gallery. I hope to get to it sometime this summer.
Just arrived today:
Fire and Knowledge: Fiction and Essays by Péter Nádas & Corrupted into Song: The Complete Poems of Alvin Feinman with a forward by Harold Bloom
BAM wrote: "I just finished ordering the last of the books I needed to say I’m finished with the bookshelf (after I read them of course):Things Fall Apart
The Caine Mutiny
Martian Chronicles
The Haunting of..."
Don't be sad, BAM! You've got some great stuff there!
I've been putting off reading Fight Club cos I didn't like the movie, but for 99p I thought what the heck!
Received a Barnes & Noble card for my birthday so I bought this novel I couldn’t find anywhere else and this coloring book:
I cannot wait for the coloring book!
Stuff acquired from my last book sale:A Dictionary of Maqiao by Han Shaogong (!)
Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Vol 1: The Process of Production of Capital by Karl Marx
This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait, 1900 1950 by Jervis Anderson
Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition - David Nirenberg
Doctor Zay - Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
Xala - Ousmane Sembène
The first four were on my to be read list previous to purchase, while the last four were bought for various whimsical reasons. I'm very pleased about having acquired Maqiao, as it's not something I would expect to be lying around in the pop historical fiction section of any sale.
The Maqiao sounds fascinating and it definitely seems an unlikely find in the average bookstore at all. You got a nice mix of books to enjoy.
BAM wrote: "I just finished ordering the last of the books I needed to say I’m finished with the bookshelf...""Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows" and "The Caine Mutiny."
I'm trying to imagine what the title for this shelf could possibly be...
Michele wrote: "BAM wrote: "I just finished ordering the last of the books I needed to say I’m finished with the bookshelf...""Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows" and "The Caine Mutiny."
I'm trying to imagine what the title for this shelf could possibly be... "
nope, I'm stumped! unless the erotic stories involve strawberries...? ;o)
meanwhile, I just took delivery of:
a 1960 Carfax edition hardback of Joyce Cary's Herself Surprised
I ordered Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers by Will Durant, one volume (not to be confused with the multivolume STORY OF CIVILIZATION) and was pleased when a very clean hardcover edition showed up.
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That sounds like a fun way to catalog your books!
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You're right Allen. I got overly excited like a good book-nerd should when I found Hamlet in an old college Norton Lit book, hee hee! And I forgot to mention that my paperback copy of The Remains of the Day is on it's way from Amazon. I'm really excited about that book. A mix of Japanese/English repressed emotion sounds really good to me! LOL, although when you write it out on paper I can't imagine why that sounds so good.
Helen wrote: "ALLEN wrote: "That sounds like a fun way to catalog your books!"You're right Allen. I got overly excited like a good book-nerd should when I found Hamlet in an old college Norton Lit book, hee he..."
Helen, I thought both The Remains of the Day and A Separate Peace were exquisite ... both favorites of mine. My Ántonia was also excellent. You have a good batch of books coming!
I haven't read My Ántonia yet. I want to read the Plains Trilogy in order, but the only one I've read so far is O Pioneers! - I still need to find a copy of the second book. I liked the first book, but not enough to purchase a copy of the second book (I have used copies of the other two).
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Helen wrote: "Aprilleigh if you like Kindle books there are many very inexpensive Willa Cather collections available. I read kindle sometimes, but my eyes can only handle so much. I like to mix ebooks with tradi..."Not generally an ebook fan. I just prefer a physical book I can hold.
Piyangie wrote: "Recently got myself The Scarlet Pimpernel and Our Mutual Friend."Loved The Scarlet Pimpernel - really need to read the sequels one of these days...so many books, so little time :(
Just bought Baby Teeth with a $5 Audible coupon I won.Thinking of buying The Stand with my next credit. Has anyone else listened to the audiobook
ALLEN wrote: "I ordered Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers by Will Durant, one volume (not to be confused with the multivolume STORY O..."I have that huge multivolume set lol Have only read one of them so far (Caesar and Christ), but they look muy impressive on my shelf...
I picked up a books-on-CD of Fay Weldon's Habits of the House from our library deaccession shelf ($1!). Listening to it on the drive to/from work. So far I like it a lot.
I received three books today from Book Depository of the UK, a division of Amazon but frequently cheaper in terms of UK books (and no ship fees!): BORN A CRIME by South African Trevor Noah, and A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH by Eric Newby (which I've read before, and love; in fact its one of my favorite hell-for-leather travel adventures); also his LOVE AND WAR IN THE APPENINES, his WWII story set in Italy, which I have not yet read. Also, the good folk at Barnes and Noble were having a sale: their own versions of the classics for five bucks apiece in pbk! So since it was my birthday this week, I treated myself to both volumes of Sherlock Holmes stories, also THE SCARLET LETTER, THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS and GREAT EXPECTATIONS.
I love the smell of pulpy paper in the morning.
ALLEN wrote: "I love the smell of pulpy paper in the morning."Ha! Yes :)
I received my copy of 1001 books to read this afternoon. I haven't even heard of most of these books. I dont know what to think of this
Most Americans will not be familiar with most of those books, which I think are (mostly) British and (mostly) on the modern side. It's a good tactic for folks like us to skim the list and single out a few that sound interesting to investigate, and see if they might really BE interesting to us. Myself, I prefer shorter lists, between 25 and 100, but ideally fewer than fifty.
Of course, if I wanted a not-too-long list in which practically every book on it is something I've heard of -- there's that PBS list that has been making the rounds. But since the list seems to be aimed as much at recognize-ability by the American public as literary quality, some of the selections strike me as something I refuse to read! I mean, TWILIGHT?
Sounds like this or another site is gearing up for a good round of "What are some great novels you read and ENJOYED, as opposed to merely finishing from a sense of duty?"
(BTW I really liked your review of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.)
Oh thank you, Allen
Just got my version of the classic sci-fi classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Looking forward to reading it.
ALLEN wrote: "Most Americans will not be familiar with most of those books, which I think are (mostly) British and (mostly) on the modern side. ..."Somewhat, yes, especially in the first edition.
In later editions, they edited it to include more non-European, non-American works since they got criticism for being too Euro-centric.
It also has a bunch of books that are in there more for the historical significance than for their literary quality. For instance, Castle of Otranto is on there because it's the first novel in the "gothic" genre style, but, honestly, it's just not a great book. Sure, reading it helps you understand literary history better, but judging it as a book without that context, it's just kind of meh.
It's a fun book/list to peruse, though, even if it has flaws.
Franky wrote: "Just got my version of the classic sci-fi classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers Looking forward to reading it."
I found that one enjoyable Franky!
Melanti I think right now I'm just going to see what I HAVE read in there. I'll worry about what's left later
Ok UPDATE: I have read 93 out of the 1001 books I am supposed to read before I die lol I have some catching up to do. Good news is I own quite a few of them
Melanti, Thanks for the info re the 1001 book list. That's such a huge number I can scarcely get my mind around it. (Does anyone read all of the "Thousand Nights and a Night" or "1001 Nights" as it's also called? Are there even un-expurgated versions sufficient to allow for that?)
Your remark about The Castle of Otranto reminded me of the first-of-its-kind-in-America book Wieland, or, The Transformation which, if read purely for entertainment value and not as the history of its genre, is sadly lacking (IMO).
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Franky, I hope you enjoy THE BODY SNATCHERS, the book's original title. I did. Have you seen any of the movies based on it?
Melanti wrote: "ALLEN wrote: "Most Americans will not be familiar with most of those books, which I think are (mostly) British and (mostly) on the modern side. ..."Somewhat, yes, especially in the first edition...."
Now you all have me curious about what's in that book.
Renee wrote: "Now you all have me curious about what's in that book. ..."It's a fun book. Usually a half page or so per book. A paragraph or two describing the book and its plot, then another paragraph or two on why it should be read - sometimes that's its literary significance, or the way it portrays an era of history, or the way it's influenced pop culture, etc.
As far as the list of books included, you can find that several places.
There's a Goodreads group that has all the books on their bookshelves,
Or you can see it on various list sites, with an easy to check off format.
ALLEN wrote: "Does anyone read all of the "Thousand Nights and a Night" or "1001 Nights" as ..."
Yes, people do. Not me, though. I'm happy with a 2 volume set. One volume with the oldest, original stories, then a second volume with the more popular stories that were added later.
Burton's done a full translation that doesn't cut out all the racy bits. There was another Victorian era translator that did too, but I'd have to check. I don't recall off the top of my head. I think most of the modern translations have been for just a subset of the stories (like the 2 volume set I went with.)
GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL! Oh, my! Not a candidate for the public schools but SO funny . . .
I think I e read the two volume set as well. But it was still long enough But I didn’t realize it was racy!!! Me wanty
Well, racy for the Victorian era when Burton et al. were doing the translating. You might have gotten a more censored translation. But you could also have just gotten a different subset of tales. Some of the more famous ones - Aladdin, Sinbad, etc - aren't as racy as the ones that were in the collection to begin with. So if your volumes focused on the adventure ones, it might have been tamer.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Melanti, but isn't there a connection between these tales and the story of Scheherazade the teller of tales, who became the subject of Rimsky-Korsakov's wonderful 1888 tone poem?
ALLEN wrote: "Correct me if I'm wrong, Melanti, but isn't there a connection between these tales and the story of Scheherazade the teller of tales, who became the subject of Rimsky-Korsakov's wonderful 1888 tone..."Not sure about the tone poem, but the premise of Arabian Nights is that there's a King who is so fearful of being a cheated on that he marries women, sleeps with them for one night, then executes them in the morning so they won't have the opportunity to cheat on him.
Lots of women loose their lives this way until Scheherazade volunteers to marry him. But she gets him to allow her to tell her sister a story when they're done with sex. Once they get to a tense spot in the tale, dawn arrives and she promises her sister to tell her the next bit the following night, if she's allowed to live. The king wants to hear the end too, so he lets her live one more night. Scheherazade finishes, but starts another and gets to another tense spot when dawn arrives. Repeat over and over until he gives in and lets her live. Traditionally, that's after 1,001 nights worth of stories.
The tales that make up the Arabian Nights are the tales that Scheherazade tells her sister. It's worth noting that a LOT of them involve women cheating on their husbands.
There's a good amount of variation between the Arabic manuscripts as to exactly what stories were included. None of them had 1,001 stories. Some of the European translators were so determined to get 1,001 stories, that they collected folktales from around the region, and just tacked them into the Arabian Nights framework. For some of the tales (Including Aladdin and Ali Baba) there's no original Arabic manuscripts. The first known written versions were the translations.
ALLEN wrote: "Does anyone read all of the "Thousand Nights and a Night" or "1001 Nights" as it's also called? Are there even un-expurgated versions sufficient to allow for that?"I read a four volume set. 2341 pages. If that isn't un-expurgated, I don't know what is.
I think the full, unabridged versions run at either 9 or 10 volumes and Burton had another 4 or 5 volumes of supplemental material.It can run up to 10,000 pages long.
Melanti wrote: "I think the full, unabridged versions run at either 9 or 10 volumes and Burton had another 4 or 5 volumes of supplemental material.It can run up to 10,000 pages long."
Many different versions, many different translations - the best of the stories are a lot of fun, but after a great many of them, it got too repetitive for me. For my personal taste, I think they're best sampled rather than reading thousands of pages straight through.
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Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
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Things Fall Apart
The Caine Mutiny
Martian Chronicles
The Haunting of Hill House
Jamaica Inn
The Lottery
Lonesome Dove
A Passage to India
I also bought on Audible:
The Pisces
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
And
Blood Lust
And I bought from the Deal email:
Waiter Rant
Autumn Throne
And now that’s prob my swan song.
Circumstances are such that I must start cutting costs. So no more large purchase days like this.
Now I’m sad