Café Quito: 'pub' thread for general discussions Showing 1,101-1,150 of 1,427

[David]

Paul wrote: "Cpngrarulations!!"

Those tequila slammers can be fierce :)

[Lee]

Lovely news! And lovely name!

[Cindy]

Wonderful news!!!!

[LindaJ^]

Grandmothers -- saviors and spoilers of grandchildren! Congratulations Wendy! I'm going traditional and toasting with bubbles, although cava rather than champagne! Penelope offers great possibilities for nicknames -- Pen, Penny, Lope, and probably others.

[Debra]

How exciting, Wendy! Congratulations!

[WndyJW]

Thank you everyone!

[Henk]

Congratulations! 🎉

[Alwynne]

WndyJW wrote: "If this was a real pub and not a virtual pub I would be buying a round of shots for everyone to celebrate the news of my youngest son and his partner being pregnant. I am over the moon."

Congratulations Wendy, that's lovely 😁

[Sonia]

Congratulations Wendy what joyful news.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

That’s great news

[Marc]

Congrats and thanks for sharing the happy news!

[Jen]

Fantastic news Wendy, I’m thrilled for you all

[Stephen]

Congratulations Wendy

[WndyJW]

Thank you!

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Yet another top 100 books list. I am only on 38...

https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/20...

[Roman Clodia]

70 for me, but I grew up obsessed with Penguin Classics.

[Robert]

44

[WndyJW]

I love lists. 24 that I am positive I read and 2 or 3 more I think I did, but wouldn’t claim them as I’m not sure.

[Alwynne]

77 but I read a number of them at school/uni.

[David]

Only 27 for me and tbh I’m surprised it’s that high.

[LindaJ^]

51 for me

[Emmeline]

Alwynne and RC you guys are machines. 54 for me. I'm counting Moby-Dick which I'm reading now, but not the book I'll be reading with book club later this month.

[David]

What are your thoughts on Moby-Dick, Emily?

[Emmeline]

Someone described it as "transcendental boredom but good for you." It's sort of like that. But with some genuinely great scenes here and there.

[Roman Clodia]

I was amazed that I loved Moby Dick as much as I did - 5-stars after assuming for years that it wouldn't be for me.

[David]

I adore Moby-Dick. But I also understand people who don’t.

[Emmeline]

To be clear, I'm also really enjoying it (looking up, that's probably not clear from what I said). :-D I'm only a third in though!

[Robert]

I think it’s one of the greatest novels ever - ahead of it’s time

[Blaine]

53, not counting film adaptations.

Loved the first several chapters of Moby Dick and would have been happy to miss the lessons on whale anatomy. Afterwards there were a few wonderful sections but for me it rarely reached the sustained heights of the portion from the beginning through Ahab’s appearance.

[Alwynne]

Emily wrote: "Someone described it as "transcendental boredom but good for you." It's sort of like that. But with some genuinely great scenes here and there."

Sounds very similar to my own response, didn't help that I was rooting for the whale.

[Kathleen]

54

Like Wendy, I’m sure I read a few more, but only counted definite ones. I used to love the orange spines of the Penguin classics. The Dartmouth bookstore, decades ago, used to shelve them together.

I remember buying, and reading, the Penguin Classics of War and Peace which was in two volumes.

The The Secret History keeps showing up on these lists. I disliked that book.

[Blaine]

Also not a Tartt fan and somewhat mystified by her following.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Some entertaining comments in the Twitter responses - I was not the only one to single out Ayn Rand as an "I will never read", and the list was chosen by a public vote, which accounts for its lack of consistency and some of its "why is that a classic" choices. Also some supporters of Secret History, which I quite enjoyed at the time but would probably dislike more if I reread it.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

As for Moby-Dick, it is what it is - some parts are great, others tedious but still well worth the effort overall.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I think about 40 on the “definite” method

I recall quite enjoying Secret History but it seems very oddly out of place on this list - as do most of the few relatively recent books.

Go Between is a favourite of mine although more for the film as it’s filmed in locations I know very well

[Alwynne]

I've read the Ayn Rand, she's not bad as a commercial writer but the ideas are just daft, weird to think she's now being touted as a philosopher in various circles.

[Roman Clodia]

Me too, if only to see how crazy her ideas are.

[Paul]

I strolled down the list and noted the usual issues with lists of this type. Apparently the vast majority of great novels were written in English, apart from mainly the 19th century Russians who appear more than once. Who knew?

[Debra]

34 for me, plus a number of partial reads

[Debra]

It would be fun to come up with our own M&G top 100 classics.

[Joy D]

67 definites

I liked Moby Dick at the time I read it, but not sure I'd enjoy it as much now. I could have done without the details of the whaling industry.

I've read Ayn Rand when I was young, before I realized her ideas were a bit "out there."

I liked The Secret History but didn't love it. Donna Tartt is hit or miss with me.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Now there's an idea Debra. Not sure how we would structure it but we could do something like the end of year polls, but allowing more nominations per person - maybe different people could focus on different periods or countries, but in the end we would need some sort of voting process...

[Cindy]

64 for me. I quite like this list, it's surprisingly broad and a bit eclectic. It made me want to take on some of the ones I've missed. For the record, I am a fan of Moby Dick and of The Secret History (although less so of Tartt's other novels).

I like Debra's idea too. It would be contentious to be sure!

[David]

I second (or third) the idea of a M&G classics list. That's a fantastic idea.

[WndyJW]

I just saw that I did read Atlas Shrugged. My review said she could have saved herself the bother of writing a novel and just wrote an essay. I see too that I was insensitive about her depression and suicidal thoughts.

So I guess 25 for certain. I’m impressed by everyone who read 60 or more!

I like the idea of a M&G top 100, it would be more diverse than this list.

[Robert]

I think Debra’s idea is great. I have to admit that I’m a bit tired of seeing the usual suspects in these lists and I’m sure we’d do something fresh, I mean how come Barbara Comyns or Sylvia Townsend Warner never show up on classics lists when their work is equally monumental?

[Tracy]

91 of the list for me. Even though I love a lot of the books on the list, I’d really love to see newer options.

Maybe we should have lists be broken down by book length, or by indie presses, just to be different.

And I know I read Atlas Shrugged. That’s sooooo many hours of my life I’ll never get back.

[Alwynne]

Robert wrote: "I think Debra’s idea is great. I have to admit that I’m a bit tired of seeing the usual suspects in these lists and I’m sure we’d do something fresh, I mean how come Barbara Comyns or Sylvia Townse..."

I know, think that's why I've read so many, a lot were on reading lists for standard texts to have read. And others crop up all the time on classic book lists.

[Alwynne]

Unrelated but how come GR has reverted to old-style book pages? I prefer them as noticed with new ones can't tell if I've already 'liked' a review or not, and also can't work out how to get it to show the actual review so I can check. As I tend to 'like' friends' reviews when I post a review of the same book been finding that a pain as have to go to each individual profile to see their original review!

Have they given up on the new design?

[WndyJW]

No Comyns, Townsend Warner, Hilary Mantel, Alice Walker. Was Ishiguro on the list? Why 3 Austens, but no Vasily Grossman? These lists are just for fun, of course.