Should have read classics discussion
What else are you reading?
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Jun 26, 2012 03:47PM
I just started reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. So far I really like it.
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All Forster's novels touch on themes of sexuality and class in various contexts of the time--such as, the British colonial enterprises in India (Passage to India); a homosexual coming of age tale (Maurice); the clash of Italian passion and British reserve with its happy or terrible consequences. (Angels fear to Tread; Room with a View). Howard's End is my perfect Forster novel and Forster's masterpiece. It depicts the relationships that form between people in spite of rigid class, social and familial differences or intellectual outlook. There's feminism, bohemia, capitalism, adultery, the wonderful life of turn of the century England in the city and the town. You'll love the Schlegel sisters and how their unanticipated relationships invigorate a declining society.
Just finished reading War with the Newts by Karel Capek (Must read classic!). Haven't decided on what to read next.
I've finished reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne this morning and now I'm about to start Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner.
Gave up on Sense and Sensibility for the time being. Very slow-paced. Now I started on the Da Vinci Code.
Last week I finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and since then I've been reading Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other stories by Annie Proulx. Close Range should come with a warning: Never read when depressed. I've read two stories so far and it's all doom and gloom. Dystopian novels like Brave New World, 1984 or War With the Newts seem cheery in comparison. By the way, I second Dido's opinion on Karel Capek's War With the Newts: Definitely a must read classic.
I've just finished reading Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner and I'm planning on starting Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich next.
My 10-year-old son breezed through the Chronicles of Narnia this past spring and I figured it was time I finished them as well. Picked up Prince Caspian
and devoured it in less than a day. Now I'm enjoying Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
. It doesn't get any better than C.S. Lewis.
I've finished Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich and now I've started The Lost Daughter by Diane Chamberlain.
I'm reading Pride and Prejudice. My two nieces and sister are going to be reading it with me...we'll see. The language is even more old English than my last read. we.ll see how the group read progresses.
Mod
I've finished reading The Lost Daughter by Diane Chamberlain earlier today and now I'm about 40 pages into Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher.
I've finished reading by Stolen: A Letter to My Captor Lucy Christopher and now I'm a few chapters into Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.
I'm struggling to make progress in The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux. It is certainly not very readable.
Just finished Tess of the D'urbervilles, & have started these 3:1984
Return of the Native
The Tin Drum
Reading The Aeneid, up for discussion starting tomorrow in another group.
I've finished reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith this morning. I try to read at least one classic per month so this month I've decided to read The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.
I am now reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame and it's great! :) love it! way different from the Disney movie.
The stories in Close Range by Annie Proulx are so depressing in their realism that I needed something to cheer me up. I picked up Watership down by Richard Adams and so far I'm loving it.
Mod
[bookcov..."
Watership Down is one of my top 10 books. If you are interested, there is a discussion thread in the group read section. You might have to scroll down a bit, but what a fun book it is. Never thought that rabbits could have such an interesting story.
I'm reading
- a nice Irish historical from the time of the splitting of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Anyone reading this should go back and also read
for the previous history that led to this point. Great for multiple perspectives.
Lisa wrote: "Does anyone else start more than one book at a time? I really have a problem with this. I have 4 books going right now, Jane Eyre, The Name of the Rose, The Handmaid's Tale, and Two for the Dough..."I'm usually reading two at a time, sometimes more. I tend to have my fiction read at my bedside and a non-fiction at my chair to read during a Pirates game. ;-) Right now I have both a huge book of American short stories and Marilynne Robinson's "When I Was A Child I Read Books" at my chair and go back and forth, in between my just posted fiction read.
I've finished reading The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper yesterday. Now I'm reading Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich.
I've already finished Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich, which was a short but hilarious novel, an now I'm about to start reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen.
I just finished McCullough's 1776. It has been sitting on my to read shelf for ages. After reading The Greater Journey that I finished a couple of months ago, I was inspired to finally pick it up. I love McCullough but this was a little harder to get through--not that it isn't as well written--but more of the book, though not all, focuses on the battles themselves and they take a big more cogitation than just reading the entries of journals or letters or the backgrounds of the characters and the geographic areas in which they find themselves.And lately, I've been enamoured with the Fools' Guild Mysteries of Alan Gordon. Almost finished with the third --Death in The Venetian Quarter. Fools in 13th C Constantinople, using their motley to further obscure their investigation of mysterious death.
Lisa wrote: "Zuzana wrote: "The stories in Close Range by Annie Proulx are so depressing in their realism that I needed something to cheer me up. I picked up Watership down by Richard Adams and so far I'm lovin..."Watership Down is terrific. I read it when it first came out and just loved it.
LK wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Does anyone else start more than one book at a time? I really have a problem with this. I have 4 books going right now, Jane Eyre, The Name of the Rose, The Handmaid's Tale, and Two ..."I always have at least four books going--I find that my mood dictates which one to pick up at any given moment. I just finished 1776, am reading a 13th C Constantinople placed mystery, a David Robicheau mystery and short essays by Eisenhower. That isn't as eclectic as some of my selections are at other times. LOL
LK wrote: "I'm reading [bookcover:The Yellow House: A Novel] - a nice Irish historical from the time of the splitting of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Anyone reading this should go back and al..."Ohh, these sound terrific--must add them to my to-read list.
LK wrote: "I'm reading [bookcover:The Yellow House: A Novel] - a nice Irish historical from the time of the splitting of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Anyone reading this should go back and al..."BTW, have you ever read Leon Uris' Trinity? Excellent!
I am reading the following in no specific order:Claudine's House-Collette
Delta of Venus-Anais Nin
Moon Palace-Paul Auster
Return of the Native-Thomas Hardy
The Tin Drum-Gunter Grass
I've finished reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen this morning and now I'm about to start I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
I finished both Claudine's House & Delta of Venus, am more than halfway through Moon Palace, finished Heart of Darkness late last night. I have a bunch of others (3 STACKS worth) to look at, but I'm going to go with a free read this time, LOL...
Lisa wrote: "I am reading the following in no specific order:Claudine's House-Collette
Delta of Venus-Anais Nin
Moon Palace-Paul Auster
Return of the Native-Thomas Hardy
The Tin Drum-Gunter Grass"
Lisa, that's an awesome reading list. I read (PAST AND PRESENT) all authors but not titles. I haven't read Auster;s Moon Palace (I don't know why I continue to read him and his wife, Siri Hursdvet--something about Columbia in the 60s). And Return of the Native. Never read that. I was tuned into TV for Olympics. Hard habit to break. I'll heal my fractured bones reading for the next month.
Lisa wrote: "Does anyone else start more than one book at a time? I really have a problem with this. I have 4 books going right now, Jane Eyre, The Name of the Rose, The Handmaid's Tale, and Two for the Dough..."<>Lisa, this is my first summer of reiirement. I;m reading for pleasure. at last. Besides the discussion group book of the month, I read 3 journals, 3 weekly news magazines, 2 non fiction (history and current affairs) and another novel by NYRB featured author= Frazen, Joyce Carol Oates, Edmund White, etc. And I always manage a Memoir or new or the latest popular pjysics/biol/anthro book. Oh yes and when someone I love dies==Hitchens, Gore Vidal, Tony Judt, Susan Sontag==I start to reread their works.I'm reading Vidals Julien, and the Empire novels and have ticket for the production of "The Best Man"
The way I get to read them all. Jounals/weeklies in bathroom and during commute; History/Science/ in livingroom; and novels during eating in or out.
Took a break from serious reading to re-read several of Ngaio Marsh's mysteries. They are superb; if you don't know her do look her up. Unless, of course, you dislike mysteries generally. But she is one of the most literate mystery writers (along with Dorothy Sayers, Marjorie Allingham, Josephine Tey, Rex Stout, and a few others who were all superb writers who happened to choose the mystery genre for some of their work. Sayers was a genuine scholar, who among other things produced a very good translation of Dante, and Marsh directed several Shakespearean productions.)
Lisa wrote: "Does anyone else start more than one book at a time? "Oh, absolutely. At least four going at any given time, and sometimes considerably more than that. You are far from alone.
Everyman wrote: "Took a break from serious reading to re-read several of Ngaio Marsh's mysteries. They are superb; if you don't know her do look her up. Unless, of course, you dislike mysteries generally. But sh..."New author for me. Thanks.
Mod
Kaila wrote: "I can only read one book at a time. I would get all confused, forget things or even think things happened in one book when they happened in the other."That is a great postmodern theme/plot. This is how you read more than one book at a time: Weeklies & monthlies in the bathroom; history, science, politicals in living room while watching TV; novels whenever you are eating, whether in or out. Memoirs in the bedroom. I tried reading books at work and in court but was discouraged. I'm now officially retired and read whenever the hell I please. I do not have smart phone, ipad, ipod, do not text, twitter or facebook, and I'm considering selling the TV and deLINKEDINing.
By the way, I'm detecting a conspiracy to restrict the distribution of information (formerly communication) to facebook and twitter.
I've finished reading
by Dodie Smith and I've started
by Jane Casey this morning.
I finished the 3rd book in the Maeve Kerrigan series
by Jane Casey last night - I really enjoyed this novel and I can't wait till the next one! Jane Casey is becoming one of my favourite crime authors. This morning, I began reading
by Heather Gudenkauf.
Ellie wrote: "I've finished reading 
by Dodie Smith and I've started 
by Jane Casey this morning."I adored I Capture the Castle when I was younger. A bit sappy, but great fun.
Ran across a reference to Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time of Gifts, got it on ILL, and am enjoying it very much. A very interesting travel/naturalist/philosophical/literary memoir by a fascinating guy who during among many other things during WWII he led a team that kidnapped a German general on Crete (where he had been working as a British army liaison to the resistance there). He just died last year at the age of 96.
I finished reading
by Heather Gudenkauf yesterday - It's a brilliant novel. I couldn't put it down! I honestly couldn't recommend it highly enough. Now I'm about to start the 9th book in the Stephanie Plum series
by Janet Evanovich.
I've finished the 9th book in the Stephanie Plum series (and the best one so far)
by Janet Evanovich. Now I'm reading
by Donald McCaig. It's Gone With the Wind from Rhett Butler's point of view.
I finished
by Donald McCaig earlier today. Basically the storyline of the novel is Gone With the Wind from Rhett Butler's point of view and it was a bit of a disappointment really. Gone With the Wind is one of my favourite novels and I found all the characters in RBP, even the major ones of Rhett and Scarlett, are out of character. There is also a lot of errors that contradict the original, characters dying when they lived in GWTW and vice versa, Melanie knowing about Scarlet being in love with her husband, etc. As a standalone historical fiction novel, Rhett Butler's People is okay but as a complement to Gone With the Wind it sucks! Now I'm about to start
by Diane Chamberlain.
Have started Rookwood by William Harrison Ainsworth. He's not well known today, but was widely read in his day. He was a close friend of Charles Dickens, among other writers of the time. It is considered one of the Newgate Novels, works which drew loosely on the Newgate Calendar (a series of brief biographies of notable criminals, initially of those executed at Newgate, which were published in the 18th and 19th centuries). Rookwood, among other things, includes (and really made famous) the story of Dick Turpin's great ride from London to York. Ainsworth wrote 39 novels, as well as plays and poetry. While by no means great literature, I'm enjoying reading him.
Should have read classics
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