Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
Archived Chit Chat & All That
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What Are You Reading Now?
Cozy_Pug wrote: "Dave wrote: "I have finished the last of Trollope’s “The Chronicles of Barsetshire”, The Last Chronicle of Barset and will begin the first of Trollope’s Pallister novels, [book:Can Yo..."In my opinion Trollope takes care of his readers and you will be pleased.
I have finished Dracula by Bram Stoker. The most terrifying reading experience of my life. This fulfills the requirement to read an epistolary novel.
Today I finished listening to The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy and started reading The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter: The Original and Authorized Edition Illustrated
I gave Mother's Day Murder 5 stars. I attempted two books, DNFed them. One of the two was Answers in the Attic, by Kathi Daley. I now am reading Le deuxième sexe, I the quarterly read for this group. I am also reading a French middle grade book. It has so much maturity and is devoid of the dream like aesthetic of exciting and fast paced and secretive books that are more popular.
I finished Tolstoy's novella which argues for moral purity through abstinence 
The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading the French psychological thriller, which I understand inspired a movie by some fellow named Hitchcock
Vertigo by Boileau-Narcejac
I finished Hannah Arendt’s The Life of the Mind as part of my personal challenges. Deep philosophical discussion.
I am going to read a cosy called Strawberry Cream Murder, then a middle grade book, Greenglass House.
Finished
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir [5/5] review still reading an awful pulpy espionage adventure thing
Story Without a Name which i suspect i'm giving 1-star... maybe 2.
I finished The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Not my cup of tea, but a 27 hour audiobook that proves once again that I can get through most anything with patience and determination.
I'm on the homestretch of three good ones: The The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Underworld by Don DeLillo and The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy. I'll probably rate Monte Cristo four stars and Underworld four or five. Unsure of what rating for Kreutzer as yet.
Reading LOST AT SEA by Patrick Dillon. Similar to, but not the same as, THE PERFECT STORM.
I started Watershed by Mark Barr, a personal challenge book, and Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck.I was interested to learn that Steinbeck’s book is on the list of most banned books in the US. I promptly Googled the list and was pleased to see I had already read several and added several others to my wishlist.
I have finished The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: The History of a Civilisation from 3000 BC to Cleopatra
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by W. Bruce Cameron"I love that book so much!! Very, very good. If you like dog books another one I liked - a contemporary - was Finding Gobi: The True Story of a Little Dog and an Incredible Journey.
Oh, one more animal book The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Still reading Greenglass House. It is better than many books to which I gave 5 stars, but curiously I am for now unable to think it as a 5 star read. The last third of the book is becoming tedious and boring, despite a major revelation. Though I have not fully ascertained as to my suspicion, I really think that I have cracked one of the major surprises in the book. It was obvious but maybe it is so because this is a middle grade book. I hope to look back fondly on this book in the future.
I am reading Patience & Sarah with my G1000 Groupit is so good that I am already boring everybody I know with recommendations without even having finished it yet!
At least you have an excuse for being boring, most people don't get that far.
I'm about to finish reading Black Beauty.
I am reading Means of Ascent, and I like it better than The Path to Power so far. Will update as I go along, with this one but also others.
I'm currently reading "Shiver" by Allie Reynolds and "Balance" by Lucia Franco, because my latest literary fascination are books which mention the Olympics/sports. What about y'all? :)
I have started rereading and listening to “Remembrance of Things Past”. The Scott Moncrieff translation in the Bauer Classics edition in print and the Naxos Audiobooks read by Neville Jason.After numerous attempts earlier in life, audiobooks gave me access to what has become the great literary love of my life. I spent the first half of 2014 reading/listening with a small group here on Goodreads. I found it confusing but amazing and, at times hilarious. When I finished in July, I posted that, while I had come to enjoy it and found it marvelous and funny, I still did not understand why is was so often cited as the greatest novel in the world. A woman in New York who was well-steeped in all things Proust, replied to my post to “immediately go back and begin again.” I did and the scales dropped from my eyes and I was amazed at the literary treasure that was revealed.
The key is to “live” the first half of narrator’s life by reading it the first time, and then go back and realize that you cannot appreciate the text until you are remembering the life of the narrator as he relates it in the text from a point in time years after the book ends. All the “nonsensical, free floating memories” are mixed together in the narrative and time, events, people and places seem jumbled, until you go back are re-remember them as the narrator relates them. Then wherever the narrator goes in time and space, the reader can realize “this will happen in Volume 3 or that is a memory from Volume 5.
When I sorted all this out, I marveled that, while Proust wanted to get the book published and be well-reviewed, he seems to have been indifferent that so few would bother to read a story 3747 pages long, much less figure out the key to understanding was to read it again for the first time.
But there are readers who reread it again and again as they age.
Dave wrote: "I have started rereading and listening to “Remembrance of Things Past”. The Scott Moncrieff translation in the Bauer Classics edition in print and the Naxos Audiobooks read by Neville Jason.After..."
Dave, this is a great tip. Thank you for sharing!
Dave wrote: "I have started rereading and listening to “Remembrance of Things Past”. The Scott Moncrieff translation in the Bauer Classics edition in print and the Naxos Audiobooks read by Neville Jason.After..."
Thanks Dave, It took me twelve years to read. I will have to reread it. You remind me of my favorite quote by Nabokov "Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader."
Kevin wrote: "Dave wrote: "I have started rereading and listening to “Remembrance of Things Past”. The Scott Moncrieff translation in the Bauer Classics edition in print and the Naxos Audiobooks read by Neville ..."An excellent quote Kevin, and true to my own experience with Proust and other books. Did Nabukov write that in one of his books? I love reading books about books and reading. Never mind, I answered my own question here: https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/0...
Lectures on Literature The opening lecture, “Good Readers and Good Writers” is excellent. Nabokov’s lecture on Proust’s book is good. I did not read the whole, maybe another day. But the key for me on Proust, is when he writes “ One thing should be firmly impressed upon your minds: the work is not an autobiography; the narrator is not Proust the person, and the characters never existed except in the author’s mind. Let us not, therefore, go into the author’s life. It is of no importance in the present case and would only cloud the issue, especially as the narrator and the author do resemble each other in various ways and move in much the same environment.”There are a bunch of folks that focus on linking the book to Proust’s life, discussing translation issues, etc. My second reading, in the latter half of 2014, was supplemented by reading biographies of Proust, and books about Proust’s book that I ordered from all over the world.
Although I never read what Nabokov had to say, he would have saved me a lot of time. I gave all those biographies and commentaries to my public library when I came to the same conclusion Nabukov mentions above in 2015.
Dave wrote: "Nabokov’s lecture on Proust’s book in Lectures on Literature is good, Particularly when he states “ One thing should be firmly impressed upon your minds: the work is not an autobiograph..."Great quote! Trust a fine mouche to trust Nabokov :)
Luffy wrote: "Dave wrote: "Nabokov’s lecture on Proust’s book in Lectures on Literature is good, Particularly when he states “ One thing should be firmly impressed upon your minds: the work is not an...";) “ “Our imagination flies -- we are its shadow on the earth.”
Well, it seems like we might have a few Nabokov fans here, including me. I am reading his "Lectures on Ulysses", but it is slow going transcribing the manuscript.
Kevin wrote: "Well, it seems like we might have a few Nabokov fans here, including me. I am reading his "Lectures on Ulysses", but it is slow going transcribing the manuscript."Well, a fan of his fiction, I have totally overlooked his role as a teacher of literature. Something to look forward to. Thanks Kevin!
Kevin wrote: "Well, it seems like we might have a few Nabokov fans here, including me. I am reading his "Lectures on Ulysses", but it is slow going transcribing the manuscript."I’m not sure what you are transcribing, but Lectures on Literature has a lecture on Ulysses by Joyce.
I have started The Farthest Shore by Leguin, the third in the Earthsea series and a challenge book in another Group.
Dave wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Well, it seems like we might have a few Nabokov fans here, including me. I am reading his "Lectures on Ulysses", but it is slow going transcribing the manuscript."I’m not sure what ..."
Dave wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Well, it seems like we might have a few Nabokov fans here, including me. I am reading his "Lectures on Ulysses", but it is slow going transcribing the manuscript."
Well, a fan of his..."
The book I am transcribing is called "Lectures on Ulysses" it is a hardbound book with photocopies of Nabokov's handwritten lectures with crossed out sections, diagrams, etc. Only 500 copies were printed. Bruccoli Clark Publishers. I can't remember where or when I got it. The section about Ulysses in "Lectures on Literature" is based on these lectures.
Kevin wrote: "Dave wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Well, it seems like we might have a few Nabokov fans here, including me. I am reading his "Lectures on Ulysses", but it is slow going transcribing the manuscript."I have not yet read Ulysses.
I have started The Farthest Shore by LeGuin, the third in the EarthSea series and a challenge book in another group.
I have started Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. This is a Baker’s dozen Challenge #4 book, number 8, a translated book.
CASTLES OF STEEL, the sequel to DREADNOUGHT; i.e., the great WWI battleships.
Reading The Space Opera Megapack: 20 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Tales and Wolves of the Calla
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I love those Sci Fi Megapacks. They are so much fun.
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
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I'm reading The Last Chronicle of Barset right now! I plan to start the Palliser series probably in June. I've loved the Barset series so, so much - I'm sad it's ending but wow, so far Trollope is ending the series really well.