Deborah Does The Classics

[Deb]

I managed to tear myself briefly away from Narnia to read a classic sci fi My Name Is LegionRoger Zelazny
review; https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And to start Persuasion by Jane Austen a long overdue re-read

[Deb]

Finished Persuasion by Jane Austen
which was even better than I remembered
review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and started Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

which I remember having quite an iffy opinion about. Wonder how it will bear up this time.

[Deb]

Two more done!
Persuasion by Jane Austen
which was so delightful it did not feel like a challenge. 5*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Gulliver's Travels byJonathan Swift
3*, glad I read it but I am still trying to decide exactly what I think of it as a whole.

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

[Kathryn]

Did you see the GC library is going to be contacting anyone with existing reservations that are available (did you have anything on hold, Deborah???), and then a click and collect service from July 11?!! Doesn't look like you can currently reserve books yet :-(

[Deb]

Kathryn wrote: "Did you see the GC library is going to be contacting anyone with existing reservations that are available (did you have anything on hold, Deborah???), and then a click and collect service from July..."

No I can't reserve anything. I had three on reserve just before the library closed and the word on the ground then was that they would just be canceled. I am not too upset, because I like being COVID19-free but I would like to finish the Narnias. I am rationing my two remaining ones now.

[Kathryn]

Can you check your account online to see if your reservations are still valid?

[Deb]

Kathryn wrote: "Can you check your account online to see if your reservations are still valid?"

I guess I could, once I hear that the service is restored, I might. This week I found out some of the returns are open and drove around in circles for a while trying to return books. That was interesting.

[Deb]

A couple more from my list:
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
5*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Deb]

Having got into the American literature groove so well with To Kill a Mockingbird I thought I would keep going back through time on the same continent to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

I knew I wanted to read 'a Mark Twain' this year because of how influential he has been, but I stuck on which one: I was always under the impression that Tom Sawyer was considered a more influential work that Huckleberry Finn, but I remembered liking Huck Finn much better. Finding it on a sale table resolved the issue, but it turns out that it was considered a better work than Tom Sawyer after all!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Deb]

Just finished by Jules Verne

One of the undisputed classics of science-fiction and subterranean fiction. It was not what I expected.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sarah]

Deborah wrote: "I was always under the impression that Tom Sawyer was considered a more influential work that Huckleberry Finn..."

My understanding is that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is considered more a children's book, and that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sort-of sequel, but the more literary of the two, and aimed at adult readers.
I'm also hoping to read "A Twain" this year. I'm planning on Huckleberry Finn for Banned Books Week (22-28 September) for the Popsugar Challenge, so will hopefully get to Tom Sawyer before that!
Well done on the Jules Verne!

[Deb]

Sarah wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I was always under the impression that Tom Sawyer was considered a more influential work that Huckleberry Finn..."

My understanding is that [book:The Adventures of Tom Sawyer|24583..."

Well, Tom Sawyer is a more childish character for sure. I really think you can enjoy Huck Finn without having read Tom Sawyer, I really did.

[Sarah]

Deborah wrote: "I really think you can enjoy Huck Finn without having read Tom Sawyer, I really did"

Thanks for the recommendation, Deborah - I won't feel like I have to bust a gut to read Tom Sawyer first, after all (although I own copies of both books, so probably should just read them!).

[Deb]

Sarah wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I really think you can enjoy Huck Finn without having read Tom Sawyer, I really did"

Thanks for the recommendation, Deborah - I won't feel like I have to bust a gut to read Tom Saw..."

It is not obligatory. If you find yourself not enjoying it, you can definitely read Huck Finn on it's own. I might give Tom Sawyer another go one day, but it is not too high on my to-do list.

[Deb]

One more from this list!

The 39 Steps by John Buchan which I listened to on the drive to Townsville as an audiobook. The narrator, Frederick Davidson was a top notch choice for the book.

The 39 Steps is considered a classic because it was one of the fist, if not the first in the spy-thriller genera. Having been written just before WWI it was really interesting as a prototype and as a fun novel both.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4*

[Deb]

Finished by Randolph Stow

Wow! just... wow I was completely blown away by this one!

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

[Janelle]

I’ve never read him either, something else for my TBR pile!

[Deb]

Janelle wrote: "I’ve never read him either, something else for my TBR pile!"

You are welcome ;)

[Deb]

Re-read The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

And have had time to get thoroughly annoyed at how difficult it is to get the correct title. Great book though, a shame that the author was never as enthusiastic about it as the rest of the world was and is.

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

[Deb]

The Fall of the House of Usher/The Pit & the Pendulum/Other Tales of Mystery & Imaginationby Edgar Allan Poe

Finished an audiobook, very well narrated by William Roberts, of these classic stories and poems.

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

[Deb]

Wow what a one star stinker The Bridge On The River Kwaiby Pierre Boulle ended up being.

This book has been described as a classic war novel, it is 'known' to everyone whether they have read it or not. Many people loved it, or at least rated it highly. Though I do suspect that some of them merely saw the movie and just think they read it....


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

[Deb]

After the pain of he Bridge, I felt I owed myself a treat so I dived fully into The Lord Of The Rings.

I have finished the first two and am nearly through the third, 10 stars out of 5 because as always I love these books!

Review for the two towers; https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Deb]

one more! I finished Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

A four star read!

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

[Deb]

I very much fear that The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is absolutely not for me. A DNF at page 203 (or thereabouts) 1*

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

[Deb]

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

meh. 3* and now I know

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

[Deb]

Just finished Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Fine book! four stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Deb]

The Trial and Death of Socrates (Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo by Plato

Definitely a five star

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

[Deb]

My first attempt at The Iliad by Homer was not a success:

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

[Deb]

Too more crossed off my list:
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier which was a delightful 4*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
which was a worthy re-read
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Deb]

Two more for my list:
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Which concludes my reading of the Narnia series this year.

And the spectacular Evalina, or The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World by Frances Burney

An unexpectedly delightful read: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Deb]

One more for this challenge, the amazing Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Five stars with no hesitation!
review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Deb]

One more down for this challenge!
I just finished 1984: Ninteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

I am very glad I embarked on this challenge, or I might not have got around to re-reading this one for years and it was so very worth reading!

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

[Deb]

One more excellent 4* read for this years challenge an OMG there are only two more months of it left, I have not done nearly as well as I planned to :(

Dracula by Bram Stoker
was a marvelous read, or rather listen, which I am so glad I got to.

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

[Deb]

One more for the classics pile

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Was a 4* read for me, but I found it way more dark and much less of a 'love story' than it is popularly thought of.


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

[Deb]

One more for my list; somehow I had never before read the classic
by Ethel Turner

3* with an acknowledgment that I would have loved it a lot more if I had read it as a child.

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

[Deb]

As December begins, I think its time to review my year challenge and see how I did: It looks like I have read 55 off my list of 'classics' (one on my list is actually a compendium of three books) I am now working through the travesty that is the famous Frankenstein.

If I manage to fitting four more in December I will have read 60 of 'the classics' in 2020 and that sounds like a very pleasing result.

[MaryG2E]

Deborah wrote: "As December begins, I think its time to review my year challenge and see how I did: It looks like I have read 55 off my list of 'classics' (one on my list is actually a compendium of three books) I..."

That's a great result Deborah. I know your initial goal at the start of the year was 100 classics, but knocking off 60 of them is a very satisfying achievement.

[Deb]

MaryG2E wrote: "Deborah wrote: "As December begins, I think its time to review my year challenge and see how I did: It looks like I have read 55 off my list of 'classics' (one on my list is actually a compendium o..."

Yes, I knew 100 was an unobtainable goal really. Too many of the classics are long or difficult to read. There are a few I am sad I did not get to, but there were some great surprises there too. Overall I am pretty happy with my reading year.

[Deb]

I finished Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
It was an annoying, 1* read for me, I did not care for it at all and I do not believe that many people who like this 'story' can possibly have read the whole thing as adults.

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

[Deb]

One more, a long time favourite;
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Always five stars...

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

[Deb]

And I am hovering on the verge of declaring Ulysses byJames Joyce a DNF. It just seems like such a pointless reading experience. I did plan to make it at least to page 200, but I am wondering if I can even be bothered.

[Deb]

I am not so much finished, as finished with James Joyce 's Ulysses I made it to page 141 before I decided that life was too short for this experience. Maybe it is more true to say that this meaningless narrative finished ME.

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

[Kathryn]

Deborah wrote: "I am not so much finished, as finished with James Joyce 's Ulysses I made it to page 141 before I decided that life was too short for this experience. Maybe it is more t..."

I think you've done well to make it that far, Deborah!! I haven't considered reading it, and from your review, I won't be thinking it about it anytime soon!

[Deb]

Kathryn wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I am not so much finished, as finished with James Joyce 's Ulysses I made it to page 141 before I decided that life was too short for this experience. Ma..."

Thanks - I would not recommend it to you. I am pleased I read/attempted it because, well, now I know.

It feels a bit like so many other 'prize winner' novels that a literary critic, or a prize board love and I can only guess it is because they have never seen this particular tactic used before. Only, sometimes there is a really good reason why no one does something!

[Kathryn]

Deborah wrote: "Kathryn wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I am not so much finished, as finished with James Joyce 's Ulysses I made it to page 141 before I decided that life was too short for thi..."

Mmmm, I often don't enjoy the prize winners - I'm obviously not on the same page as the judges!!

[Deb]

One more, probably the last, for this challenge

Miss Harriet and Other Stories by Guy de Maupassant

A brilliant little, 5* collection.

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