Haley's Classics List for 2015

[Haley]

Before 1899:
King Solomon's Mines 5/18/15
Cranford 1/23/15
Madame Bovary 6/24/15

1900-1999
This Side of Paradise
Catch-22
The Bell Jar

Wild card 6
Love in the Time of Cholera 1/12/15
Foundation 2/28/15
The Mists of Avalon 5/14/15
Fight Club
The Hound of the Baskervilles 2/13/15
Magician: Apprentice, Volume 1 2/6/15

Alternates:
The Other Boleyn Girl 3/19/2015
A Passage to India

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I have Cranford and Catch-22 on my challenge list. I am comfortable with Cranford, I've enjoyed Elizabeth Gaskell's writing to date. Catch-22 not so sure of, I've heard it can be difficult. I guess we'll both see about that. I'll be interested in anything you have to say about A Passage to India, Madame Bovary, and Foundation. Good luck on your challenge.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

You've got several on your list that I'd like to read.

[Katerina]

I read Mists of Avalon many years ago. It and Mary Stewart's series have always been my favorite retellings of the King Arthur tale.

[Sarah]

I'm looking at Bovary and Catch 22 as well. :)

[Haley]

Bob wrote: "I have Cranford and Catch-22 on my challenge list. I am comfortable with Cranford, I've enjoyed Elizabeth Gaskell's writing to date. Catch-22 not so sure of, I've heard it can be difficult. I gu..."

I started Catch 22 a couple years ago and was enjoying it, but it does get hard to read at times. I ended up putting it down and forgot to pick it back up haha. Hopefully, it grabs me a bit more this time. I'm no longer in grad school so I've had more time to actually enjoy my books lately.

[Haley]

Iris wrote: "I read Mists of Avalon many years ago. It and Mary Stewart's series have always been my favorite retellings of the King Arthur tale."

It looks really good. I'm almost positive I will love it.

[Glenna]

Madame Bovary and The Count of Monte Cristo both very good reads. I look forward to see what you think of them. I have also read on your list Love in the Time of Cholera and Alias Grace. I actually prefer Alias Grace over The Handmaids Tale.

[Haley]

Glenna wrote: "Madame Bovary and The Count of Monte Cristo both very good reads. I look forward to see what you think of them. I have also read on your list Love in the Time of Cholera and Alias Grace. I actua..."

I've read The Handmaids Tale and thought it was really interesting and thought-provoking. I hope to enjoy Alias Grace as well. I will let you know what I think.

[Sandy]

Love in the Times of Cholera is one of my favorite books. Also really liked Alias Grace. Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, have yet to read Stone Mattress, her new book.

Read A Passage to India last year and enjoyed it also. Loved the movie, Mrs. Moore!

[Haley]

Just finished Foundation last week and loved it. I thought I would though because I love scifi. It was definitely different than I thought because it spans hundreds of years and really seems more like multiple short stories rather than one novel, but they were all interesting stories with great plot twists.

I've really enjoyed all the books on my list so far with the scifi and fantasy books being my favorite (like always) can't wait to read the rest.

[Melanti]

Haley wrote: "...really seems more like multiple short stories rather than one novel, but they were all interesting stories with great plot twists...."

Yep! The chapters were originally published as separate short stories over the span of a couple years, then they were collected and published together as a novel. There's actually a term for it - a "fix-up novel."

The practice was pretty common in sci-fi/fantasy from the fifties through the eighties or so.

[Haley]

That makes sense. I've read others like that too, but since this book has been praised so much I had expected it to be more like one detailed story per book in the series. I'm glad it wasn't though. This was more interesting and gave me a better feel of the whole universe they were living in.

[Melanti]

Since the premise behind this particular book/series is that you can predict the future, the short story format works really well - it lets you jump ahead decades or centuries to see how they're applying psychohistory.

I guess you could have done the same with a huge series of novels, but there's really no need since the stories are more about the idea than about the people involved or the individual plots. At least that's my interpretation about a lot of the sci-fi of this era.