Modern Mommies discussion
About Books
>
Shea's 2009 Book Challenge-7 Classics
date
newest »
newest »
East of Eden was such a wonderful book! I hope to read PaP myself this year.Maybe we'll luck out and be reading it at the same time...
I finished reading Pride and Prejudice on 3/2/2009. I really enjoyed it. I have to admit that every time I came across the word "thither" I thought of Meg Ryan's character in "You've Got Mail" saying that it was her favorite book and how she "got lost in the language. Words like 'thither.'"
I'm currently reading Emma and I was a little sorry that I hadn't started with PaP as I'm a little more familiar with it but I've really come to enjoy Emma a great deal and I'm looking forward to PaP now! You've Got mail was one of my favorite movies! Whenever it's on I have to stop what I'm doing and watch it.
Tonight I finished Sense and Sensibility. Having read Pride and Prejudice not too long ago it was easier to get through the language this time. There are fewer characters in S&S so it was easier to follow but I liked the story of P&P more. I read it for our Pages and Popcorn group and we watched the movie on Wednesday. I was only about 30 pages from the end but couldn't manage to finish before we watched the movie. The movie was well done and we all enjoyed it.
I did finish Sense and Sensibility the day after we watched the movie. For our next Pages and Popcorn we are reading "The Secret Garden." My friends all said they wanted something easier to read than S&S and since it was summer I thought light reading would be good. All the books I gave them to choose from this time were either children or young adult books. I think "The Secret Garden" could count as a classic but that is taking the easy way out. As an aside, I cannot find my copy of Gone With the Wind and it is making me crazy.
Oh Shea I hate not being able to find a book I know I own! It drives me bonkers!
It is making me even more crazy because it is a copy that my "Uncle" sent to me. He sent me books all the time as I was growing up. It is an edition from the 1950s and is contained in a box. My "Uncle" Al has since passed away so every book he ever gave me is even more sacred, especially all my Shel Silverstein.
We watched the theatrical release of the Secret Garden which was good but then I also saw the Hallmark Hall of Fame version which I think was better. I think I enjoyed watching the movies more than reading the book (shocking I know) but in the book there is a lot of descriptions about the plants in the garden and how they are growing and it tended to drag on. I am more interested in characters than plants although many would argue that the garden is a character in the novel. Now if I am going to finish my classics I better get to it. There are only 3 months left in the year and I am way behind.
After perusing my book shelf I have decided it is time to read "Great Expectations." I would have chosen Gone With the Wind but I still can't find it---ugghhh!
Just barely into "Great Expectations" and already disturbed by how horribly Pip is treated. I hope it gets better.
Still trudging through Great Expectations. My copy of the latest Outlander novel "An Echo in the Bone" is on it's way from Amazon. I know I will REALLY want to read it when it arrives but have told myself I must finish Great Expectations first. Perhaps that will be the motivation I need.
Whew...finally finished Great Expectations on 11/18/2009. I would love to read my Outlander book but now have a library discussion book "The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" to finish by 12/2/2009. After that I have checked out East of Eden to keep on going with the classics. I am doubting I will finish this challenge but I will try.
Shea, good for you! Dickens is one author I've yet to tackle. I imagine him to be very wordy and a little dry though I know from the reviews that isn't terribly accurate.East of Eden is one of my faves by Steinbeck. I hope you enjoy. I've read 13 classics so far this year but only 3 of the ones I had earmarked for the 7 classics in a year challenge. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a failure or a success but at least I've enjoyed myself and read some wonderful books.I have the new book by Gabaldon, (a signed copy, yay!) but haven't picked it up to read yet. Hopefully by next month though....
Just started East of Eden today and was hooked by chapter 3. I am hoping I can get through it quickly so that I can still manage to complete this challenge. The library group is reading Rebecca for January so I am going to count that as a classic as well.
I finished East of Eden so now my classics stand as:1. Sense and Sensibility
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Great Expectations
4. East of Eden
5. The Secret Garden
and I hope to finish Rebecca before 1/1/2010 but I won't make my goal of 7 unless I let myself count the 4 "Little House" books I have read as my 7th classic. I will push Emma to 2010 along with Gone With The Wind. In 2010 I would also like to read Persuasion. I found little time for classics between my monthly library discussion and my Pages and Popcorn group.
How did you like EoE? It's one of my faves. You read some wonderful and challenging books for your challenge.
I really liked East of Eden. It was nice to read a "classic" when you can actually see why it is a classic. It could almost have been two books, one about the Hamiltons and one about the Trasks. I got very interested in the Hamiltons and then once Sam died that part of the story rapidly dropped off and I missed them.
I really loved the opening to that book. It was pure poetry, even the dirt was a descriptive thing of beauty.I think Steinbeck could write just about anything and it would be a marvel. Sam was a wonderful character and I had such a soft spot for Caleb and his struggle with whether he was a good and decent person.
I feel the same about Caleb. I ended the book hoping he is able to forgive himself for Aron's and his father's deaths and have a happy life.
Fell asleep last night before I could finish so I missed squeezing in Rebecca by one day. I finished it tonight. I LOVED Rebecca. There were so many things I enjoyed I don't know where to begin. I liked that it was told in the first person and the narrator had wandering thoughts and anxieties like a real person. She played out possible scenarios in her head, usually the worst case, and then had to wait, like everyone else, to see how things were going to turn out. She had fantasies, where real life never measured up, and had to deal with that too. The narrator was someone I could relate to because I have also fallen victim to the stories I tell myself. I appreciated du Maurier's very descriptive prose about Manderley. I love old buildings, especially houses, and often feel they have life and personality of their own. In addition to all this, in the middle of the drama and suspense, there is humor. Beatrice's theory that Rebecca must have been murdered by Communists made me laugh out loud. Perhaps that wasn't as funny when the book was written.Now on to 2010. I will start Gone With the Wind tonight.
I loved how she evolved and matured as the plot of the book progressed. One of my favorite reads of 2009!
2. East of Eden
3. Emma
4. Great Expectations
5. TBD
6. TBD
7. TBD