Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
"Junk Drawer"
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Caroline's Classics Challenge 2015
Not sure this is my final selection, I may yet make some changes.
Mod
Very nice list. I've read 1, 4, 9 and both alternates. Love the free classics available on Kindle too, but the lack of page numbers in most of them irritates me. Still you can't beat free.
I like your reasons, I did the same downloading free kindle books, but haven't read many of them. I often forget I even have them!
Mod
Have read 1, 11 and 12. Liked them all. You can also get free classics through http://www.gutenberg.org/ and sometimes tuebl.ca. Tuebl.ca tends to have more of the free current bestsellers than classics.
I think some of the many books on my kindle did come from http://www.gutenberg.org/ but I've never heard of tuebl.ca. Will have to check it out, I just can't resist a free book!
I use tuebl all the time to download epub books to my Overdrive app.
Laurie wrote: "I use tuebl all the time to download epub books to my Overdrive app."Laurie: Tuebl was a lifesaver for me. I just spent the past 2 years living in Fiji as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I read so many books and if I didn't have tuebl not sure what I would have done. Love it.
Mod
I'll be interested to see how you like TLoSH since I plan to read it for the bingo challenge. I think I will read it next month.
Well that was... short. Not what I was expecting, I thought it was going to be a bit scary and it wasn't - at all. And I'm a big coward! I didn't really like it. Well written but a bit of a disappointment.
I knew it was short. That's partly why I picked it. At least I know ahead of time that I won't be scared.
I knew it was short (which is partly why I chose to kick off this challenge with it - ease myself in gently), I just didn't realise quite how short it was and how little actual plot there was. It's one of those stories that I'm sort of familiar with for various reasons despite never having read it before and I just expected there to be more to it than there was. I thought the writing was good, but the actual story disappointing.
I just had the same reaction to Brokeback Mountain. I have never seen the movie and I am not sure how a full length movie was made from such a short story. Lots had to be added in the screenplay.
I have actually noticed that often better movies are made out of short stories than novels.
Finished my second book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Another shorter than expected book and again, very familiar to me before reading, but this one I really enjoyed. Even though I knew what was going on, the story still had me gripped and I didn't want to put it down.
Another shorter than expected book and again, very familiar to me before reading, but this one I really enjoyed. Even though I knew what was going on, the story still had me gripped and I didn't want to put it down.
Caroline, I read Dr Jekyll in 2014. Like you, I kind of knew the basic story, and also like you was surprised how short the actual book was.
Also Caroline, at present I am reading JAusten's Northanger Abbey where the heroine, Catherine Morland is reading (Ha!) the Mysteries of Udolpho.
I agree with your thoughts about both books you've read so far! Good luck with your next one.
Andrea - that's the only reason I added The Mysteries of Udolpho to my challenge. I read Northanger Abbey for the first time in 2014 and it gets mentioned quite a bit so I was curious!
Pink - Thanks, any suggestions as to which book I should go for next? That's my problem with lists, I can never decide in which order to read.
Pink - Thanks, any suggestions as to which book I should go for next? That's my problem with lists, I can never decide in which order to read.
The only other 2 I've read from your list are Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey and I liked them both. They're a bit of a longer read, so it depends what you're in the mood for. I'm planning on reading Lady Chatterley's Lover next month and have The Beautiful and Damned on my TBR as well, so I'd be happy to discuss either of these with you.
I might give Jane Eyre a go. It's one I've been meaning to read for years but the copy I have has such small print I kept putting it off. Now I have it on kindle that's not a problem! Thanks for the suggestions :)
I've read 1, 5, 6, 11 and A-2. I love Jane Eyre and I thoroughly recommend Villette and Shirley if you haven't already read them!
I haven't read Villette or Shirley although I do have a copy of Villette so I should really get around to reading it. Maybe when I've finished this challenge!
If you want a shorter read I'd go with either A room with a view or Black Beauty :-)Great list btw, several I've read, and several on my to-read list :-)
Mod
Finished my third challenge book The Beautiful and Damned. Not sure yet how I feel about it. A bit of a weird one. While reading I veered from liking it to hating it and back again. Several times.
The Beautiful and the Damned is on my list. I'm looking forward to it.
I've got that one on mine too. I've heard interesting things about it.
I'd be interested to hear what you both think of it. For me I think it was a case of too much style, not enough story. There were parts where I'd feel myself becoming immersed in the story and then Fitzgerald would go off at a tangent and jolt me out of it. At times I almost had to force myself to continue with it. I was underwhelmed by 'Gatsby' too. I think Fitzgerald just isn't for me.
April wrote: "The Beautiful and the Damned is on my list. I'm looking forward to it."Not on my challenge list for this group....but on my TBR for this year!
I read the Beautiful and Damned last year. I'd very much enjoyed Gatsby but I felt tBaD covered a lot of the same ground with less success. The characters in Gatsby were pretty unattractive but I was still able to sympathise with them, I don't think Fitzgerald manages to strike the same fine balance with tBaD.
Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. I have also read The Count of Monte Cristo. It is long but very good!
Starting The Time Machine today. Again, it's a story I'm fairly familiar with but haven't ever got around to reading.
It's good. I've a nasty feeling it's the only H.G. Wells I've read. I should probably rectify that.
Finished The Time Machine, another shorter than expected read. Think it took me about 2 hours! I was actually quite surprised by the length of the story as having seen the 1960 (I think) film version, I thought there would be a bit more to the book. It's been a long time since I saw the film though so maybe I'm adding scenes that were never there!
I'm not really a fan of Sci-Fi usually but I did enjoy this - I just wish it had been a bit longer, with a few more visits to different times.
I'm not really a fan of Sci-Fi usually but I did enjoy this - I just wish it had been a bit longer, with a few more visits to different times.
Just finished my fifth challenge book A Room with a View. I had fairly high hopes for this one as the description made it sound a bit Jane Austen-like and I've enjoyed the books I've read by her but I was slightly disappointed. I found the characters - especially Lucy - annoying and the whole situation a little bit ridiculous.
Caroline wrote: "Just finished my fifth challenge book A Room with a View. I had fairly high hopes for this one as the description made it sound a bit Jane Austen-like and I've enjoyed the books I've ..."I read this a couple of years ago, and I agree that it was a little disappointing. Not terrible but just mediocre really.
Mod
Maybe I just expect too much from the classics. I set myself up for disappointment!
Thanks Bob, I'll check that one out. I never write an author off on the basis of one book. I've got A Passage to India on my bookshelf - what did you think of that one?
Thanks Bob, I'll check that one out. I never write an author off on the basis of one book. I've got A Passage to India on my bookshelf - what did you think of that one?
I agree about Forster. I've read Room With a View and Howard's End, I was seriously underwhelmed by both. Paper thin characters and silly plots
Caroline, A Passage to India is the only Forster I've read and I really liked it.
I've been wanting to read A Passage to India. I think I'll use Bingo as an "excuse" to do so.
Finished Agnes Grey last night. Have to admit, I wasn't very impressed. Quite boring and preachy in places and Agnes is not a particularly loveable heroine. Too 'goody-two-shoes' for my liking.
I'm not doing very well with my choices, am I?
I'm not doing very well with my choices, am I?
Caroline,I'm pretty much in the same boat with some of my choices. I'm currently reading Middlemarch and I'm not even averaging a chapter a day since it is so boring to me. I had to set it aside for a while as I read The Age of Innocence since the basic story lines of unhappy couples was too similar to read simultaneously. But I've picked it back up now.
Hopefully for you and me as well, the remainder of our lists will go better.
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Black Beauty (other topics)Mansfield Park (other topics)
The Time Machine (other topics)
Jane Eyre (other topics)
The Mysteries of Udolpho (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert Louis Stevenson (other topics)E.M. Forster (other topics)
1899 and earlier
1. Jane Eyre (1847) Finished 22/11/15
2. The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) Finished 17/9/15
3. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820) Finished 2/1/15
1900-1999
4. Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) Finished 3/6/15
5. The Beautiful and Damned (1922) Finished 19/1/15
6. A Room with a View (1908) Finished 14/3/15
My Wild Card Six
7. Agnes Grey (1847) Finished 11/4/15
8. The Time Machine (1895) Finished 15/2/15
9. Black Beauty (1877) Finished 12/6/15
10. The Haunted Hotel (1878) Finished 28/10/15
11. Mansfield Park (1814) Finished 13/10/15
12. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) Finished 11/1/15
Alternates
A-1. Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891)
A-2. The Count of Monte Cristo (1844)