Not So Great Expectations

[Sashoy]

I tried on my own but failed, I'd like to read it with you also!

[Holly]

Great Sashoy, the more the merrier!

[Ken]

One of my all time favorite book quotes is actually from the end of LotF.... I won't quote it now or it might spoil things for any of you who are going to be first time readers :)

[Holly]

I don't really remember much about it so this will be like the first time for me.

[Chatterjak]

Well I guess it would be interesting to see how differently I see it now, it's been on my mental 'to re-read' list for a while! I always hated the over-analysing & tearing apart of literature at school, but really enjoy comparing notes now. I'm already committed to a couple of buddy-reads, but if I can manage to squeeze them all in, then I'm in too! We shall see what difference 24 years make!!

[Ken]

Chatter.... You should have time.... I won't be ready for a couple weeks anyway. I need to finish up Oliver Twist and Jane Eyre first.

[Iulia]

Sometimes you need a background in order to "enjoy" or at least understand a book. This being said, you can't read The Great Gatsby without some understanding of the American Dream in the Roaring Twenties. I was lucky to read it just when I was into that period... and at that time I was very passionate about black and white movies from that time... Maybe it helped.

[Iulia]

I liked Little Women, now I'm reading An Old Fashioned Girl. The beginning was not brilliant, but I might like it. L M Alcott is one of those authors who believes in kindness and simplicity and I am fond of her for that. Though I understand why some might not be into it.

I liked (less or more) all Jane Austen books (I still have to read Mansfield Park), but Persuasion was too boring for me at that time. And I've struggled with Pride and Prejudice too, but my second attempt was a happy one. :) I daresay I might like it because I've read it after seeing the movie. I (almost) always do so, I find that it is more enjoyable.

[Marla]

I just finished Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and besides the cool creatures, ho hum! There wasn't much plot, it was just a description of their underwater adventures. It was amazing that he thought of some scientific or futuristic machines that are now commonplace.

I chose this book for a challenge, but I confess, I confused Jules Verne with H.G. Wells who I do like. I also like Edgar Rice Burroughs, so this may be my one and only Jules Verne.

[Ken]

For Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Mysterious Island were both better, IMHO.

[Marla]

Kenneth wrote: "For Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Mysterious Island were both better, IMHO."

Thanks Kenneth, maybe I won't write him off completely.

[Squire]

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is probably my least favorte "classic." I had been assigned to read the book 7 times in various high school/college classes and I never made it completely through. By the time I met up with the Shepfordsons and Grangerfords and I would have had it.

A coherent structure to the book is non-existent; the character of Huck is more indecipherable than Hamlet; it never occured to anybody that if they crossed the Mississippi instead of sailing down it, Jim would be a free man.

Twain began the book:

"Person's attempting to find a motive in the narrative will be prosecuted; persons attemnpting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."

He wasn't kidding. Motivations, Moral and Plot aren't here. I've looked!

This book, more than any other "required reading" book, forced a serious Cliff Notes habit upon for a long time (I've been in rehab for it since 1988).

I finally DID read it in its entirety in 2007 and am convinced the impression I had of the book back in 1978 when I first failed to get through it was correct.

But, it was the first volume of Easton Press' "100 Greatest Books Ever Written" (which acctually has 137 titles its complete inventory), so it's on my bookshelf.

[Ken]

100 Greatest is up to 137 now? Last I checked it was 125. Sheesh. They need to change the title of the series lol

[Squire]

That was based on the list they sent me in 2007 and then the list they sent me in 2010. Bome books fall off the list and get replace by others. But I think 125 is the number they try top keep on the list an any one time.

[Ken]

I think I'm up to about 65 or so, so far.

[Squire]

I got 32 and then cancelled the contract. Of course, I can restart it at anytime.

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

"Brave New World," "The Great Gatsby," and "Heart of Darkness" were all Classics I was disappointed in. I had expected much more from them, and was left wanting.

[Ken]

Loved Brave New World. I have to agree with you on the other two though.

[Kirsten]

Margaret wrote: ""Brave New World," "The Great Gatsby," and "Heart of Darkness" were all Classics I was disappointed in. I had expected much more from them, and was left wanting."

I haven't read GG, but HOD and BNW are two of my favorite books.

[Kirsten]

I recently finished Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut as part of the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die challenge. I enjoyed them, but I really didn't think they were "you must read this" level of books.

[Holls]

I've just finished Moby Dick. Never again! I've never skimmed so many sequential chapters in my life.

I thought I saw it in this group as one of the monthly reads a while back so thought I'd give it a go, but now the only mentions I can find of it are people talking about how it's not really much fun.

[Rainey]

I have always wanted to read this so dowloaded a really good audio version.

[Tim]

I actually enjoyed MOBY DICK, but came to think of it as almost two distinct books.

The part that I believe most people would enjoy is the the story of Ismael, Ahab, and the whale; but Melville intersperses the story with dryer technical chapters on the history and techniques of whaling.

This did not bother me, I thought that it added to my understanding of the story; but I can see why someone might want to find a condensed version that excludes these chapters to simply follow the narrative of the story (though I think they work together very well and would change the dynamics of the novel completely).

Verena wrote: "Moby Dick, though very promising in the beginning I quit when Melville started to explain the seven types of whales.

The Great Gatsby, I just wasn't into the story. Maybe I'll try again some othe..."

[Rory]

Margaret wrote: ""Brave New World," "The Great Gatsby," and "Heart of Darkness" were all Classics I was disappointed in. I had expected much more from them, and was left wanting."

I especially thought The Great Gatsby was incredibly overrated, I actually didn't mind the story (which I thought was just fine) but after reading it, despite the reputation of a classic status, I came to quickly realise there's been many other books I've read which have been done better.

[Paige]

Brave new world. I love dystopian novels but didn't really enjoy the novel. 1984 on the other hand i enjoyed the whole way through. It took me a while to get into wuthering heights but I ended up enjoying that , though I do feel it's overrated.