Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Collecting Dust January 2014 Challenge

This is a monthly challenge for those readers who have had books forever on their TBR list.

This challenge will help you get those books finally read.

If you wish to participate then from your TBR bookshelf list 5-10 books that you would like to read for the month of January. The next member who comments will pick two choices from your list. You are only obligated to read 1 of those books, but you may choose to read both. Once you read it, let us know and you may add your review or link to your review!

RULES:
1) If you would like to participate, please sign up by December 28th, 2013.

2) Choose 2 books from the person's list that commented before you. I will choose books for the last person that posts on December 28th.

3) Each participant will have the entire month to read their book(s), post their rating and review. And tell us what you think of your book in this thread.

Let's have fun reducing our TBR piles.

1) The Alchemist
2) The Rent Collector
3) The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
4) Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
5) Flowers for Algernon

Kathy I choose for you and

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Cindy I choose for you Flowers for Algernon and The Book Thief (just read it on my daughter's recommendation)

1) Dombey and Son - Charles Dickens
2) A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen
3) Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
4) Brothers Karamasov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
5) Rabbit Redux - John Updike

Cindy I choose from your list and .

I will be reading these 5 books in January,

Hi Miriam,

For you I choose The Trial, by Franz Kafka

and

Speak, Memory, by Vladimir Nabokov

Some selections from my TBR list are:

1. Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl

2. The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro

3. Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

4. The Garden Party and Other Stories, by Katherine Mansfield

5. The Heart of Mid-Lothian, by Walter Scott

Daisy, I choose for you The Remains of the Day and Anne of Green Gables. One of my friends just gave 5-stars to The Remains of the Day. I picked Anne of Green Gables because it is also on my to-read list. Hope you enjoy these.

Here are the five oldest books on my to-read list:
1) Anne of Green Gables
2) Total Truth
3) The Lost Garden
4) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and
5) Flashforward

@Iris, thank you! I've been wanting to read The Remains of the Day for a number of years so it's good to hear your friend gave it 5 stars. Now, of the two, I'm not sure which one to read. Perhaps both of them if I have time. If you end up reading Anne of Green Gables maybe we could compare notes. :)

@Miriam, I chose The Trial for you because once, when I went through a Kafka phase, I remember liking this book even if I don't remember much (which means I will read it again). I chose Speak, Memory simply because it looks so interesting. (Another one to read?)

Iris, I choose for you Anne of Green Gables and Flashforward.

Here is my list.
1)Einstein: His Life and Universe
2)The Aeneid
3)Ulysses
4)The Republic
5)Love in the Time of Cholera

Daisy wrote: "@Iris, thank you! I've been wanting to read The Remains of the Day for a number of years so it's good to hear your friend gave it 5 stars. Now, of the two, I'm not sure which one to re..."

Daisy, I am looking forward to reading the Trial for I have never read it before, I am reading The Castle by Franz Kafka and really like his writing style so far. Speak, Memory should be interesting, for I have heard it is one of Vladimir Nabokov's master pieces and I already am a huge fan of his work. It will be interesting to see what we both think of them.

Wow, this thread has generated a whole list of other books for me to read!

Anyone willing to choose the book for Brian to read and continue the challenge? This will be open until December 28th and then we can all start reading.

Brian, I choose for you Love in the Time of Cholera and The Republic.

My books are:

1. 1984 by George Orwell

2. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

4. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

5. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Tullia, I choose 1984 and The Count of Monte Cristo for you.

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my all time favorites. I hope you enjoy it!

1. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

2. The Odyssey by Homer

3. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville

4. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

5. The Shining by Stephen King

*These are the 5 oldest that I currently have in my possession.

Shawn, great way to choose! I choose for you:

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Vonnegut
The Shining, by King

Here are five physical books (that have spent many too many months, already) in the tbr pile on the shelf in my bedroom, currently ;-) :

1. The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton
2. Oh, Waiter! One Order of Crow!: Inside the Strangest Presidential Election Finish in American History, by Jeff Greenfield
3. The Time in Between, by Maria Duenas
4. Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay
5. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford

I choose for you The Forgotten Garden and Sarah's Key.

Books on my shelf that I haven't gotten around to reading yet:

1. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
2. The Bone People by Keri Hulme
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
4. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Kat I will pick The Thirteenth Tale and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I found them both to be goodreads.

Books on my list I intend to start the New Year with.

1. A Cry of Angels by Jeff Fields
2. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
3. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
5. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Maggie, To Kill a Mockingbird is my all-time favorite. Brian, if I may make a suggestion, I got through Ulysses by kind of "surfing" it. I don't mean skimming, but if I hit a part I couldn't make head nor tails of, I just let myself ride on the words until I came to a section easier for me to get hold of.

Proust is the one I can't quite make it through. Lovely, though.

Shelley, http://dustbowlstory.wordpress.com

Bob I pick for you Cannery Row and The Thin Man.

Here are the ones I am interested in:

1.The Scarlet Letter
2.Horns
3.Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen
4.The Terror
5.Blaze

Nikki - I pick for you The Scarlet Letter and Blaze.
Here are mine:

1. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
2. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
3. The God of Small Things by Arundahti Roy
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Emily I choose 2666 and The Hotel New Hampshire for you to read in January.

Cindy, thanks for choosing for me. I am going to read The Alchemist for my January Collecting Dust read. I'll let you know how I like it.

I like the idea of this challenge, I hope we continue it in February too.

Kat wrote: "I like the idea of this challenge, I hope we continue it in February too."

Me too. And, btw, love the books you chose for me. I'm still deciding which one to read, keep going back and forth ^_^

Yes , My plan here is a new challenge each month to work on your TBR shelf

Kathy wrote: "My plan here is a new challenge each month to work on your TBR shelf."

I like this challenge too. Super! :)

Each month I plan a little tweak to the challenge. Hope it keeps us all motivated.

Kathy how do you want the rating and review posted?

Just give your review here, rather than a link. I think that would work best to keep the thread going. And be sure to tell us what book you read. Thanks

Thank Kathy, I couldn't do a link anyway.

My review of The Thin Man 4 Stars

This story has a great who dun it at the end and was written with eighty year old wit and humor, which escaped me a little. Many of the names (Studsy my favorite) and much of the slang is quite entertaining. The story takes place during depression and prohibition, which may explain the copious amounts of alcohol consumed by the characters. The expression two handed drinker comes to mind reading this book. My only complaint is that there are a great many sentences that stop short at mid thought. Sometimes the speaker was interrupted and sometimes the speaker stopped one thought and started another, it through me off.

Readers of this book need to take the political incorrectness, mostly between the sexes with a grain of salt. Remember this was written eighty years ago. There is a strong bias that men in general and our hero (Nick Charles) in particular are superior to the weaker minded and emotionally challenged female. A case in point, after Nick suffers a slight gunshot wound his wife (Nora Charles) wants him stay in bed and rest. Nick quietly and calmly tells Nora how foolish she is to think something as minor as a gunshot wound should stop a man from doing his duty and solving the case. After all it’s nothing that a drink can’t fix, make that a double.

You sold me, Bob. I added it to my tbr shelf :-)

Finished The Alchemist.
Before I read it, I didn't realize what this book was about. It had just been recommended to me by a friend.
It is Coehlo's philosophy of life described in a novel.
He uses the scriptures of the Old & New Testaments in a beautiful testimony of his own.

Kathy wrote: "Finished The Alchemist.
Before I read it, I didn't realize what this book was about. It had just been recommended to me by a friend.
It is Coehlo's philosophy of life described in a nove..."

I wonder about this, doesn't really sound like my kind of a book... I bought the book in haste when looking for a short one before my trip to Portugal to take with me (couldn't find one actually set there). Never had the time to read it, though.

Tytti wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Finished The Alchemist.
Before I read it, I didn't realize what this book was about. It had just been recommended to me by a friend.
It is Coehlo's philosophy of life descr..."

The story is secondary, I think.

Kathy wrote: "The story is secondary, I think."

Maybe I should read is soon so I could give the copy to someone else or to release it "into the wild". :-)

If you have read The Bible, then you will recognize many of his characters and teachings.

Kathy wrote: "If you have read The Bible, then you will recognize many of his characters and teachings."

No, I haven't and won't. Of course I know some but have probably forgotten most what I learned in school. (Yes, religion is one of the subjects in schools.)

Bob wrote: "This was written eighty years ago."

It never occurred to me to read The Thin Man and I've seen the movies many times and enjoy them. I've added it to my list.

I just finished Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery.

This is a happy feel-good book and it worked its charm on me. The story is dappled throughout with descriptions of nature surrounding Avonlea (the place of Anne's abode) and these descriptions are like paintings on canvas. It is an enchanting read.

A happy book is always perfect for January.

It's surprising to now learn how popular is this book. I've just been learning a little more. For example, I read on Wiki that "'Anne' is revered as "an icon" in Japan." And, that Prince Edward Island is a tourist destination for fans of the novels, which isn't surprising.

There have been plays, television shows and movies based on these books.

Where have I been?

Daisy wrote: "It's surprising to now learn how popular is this book."

I think you can "blame" the 1980s series with Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie for that. It probably wouldn't be that well-known without it.

Tytti wrote: "1980s series with Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie."

Yeah, never heard of it. But then there have been long periods in my life when I have not owned a television (by choice). I think this may have been one of them. lol

It's been shown so many times here so almost everyone has seen it. Girls at least.

Next month it might be difficult to read two choices but this month I read both books chosen. I just finished:

The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro

This narrative grabbed my heart and held tight all the way through. It was a portrayal of the fragility, vulnerability and benevolence of humans in the course of their interactions with others and all that entails including misunderstandings, fear and diffidence. Well, and perhaps not a little unkindness.

I fear these threads may add to my tbr, rather than reduce them :-p

Great work, Daisy! I haven't started mine yet.

Thanks, Daisy. I think I'll add that to my TBR list too!

I finished both books selected for me by Nikki

My review of Cannery Row 4 Stars

I found this book to be an excellent read, but I find myself troubled in trying to review it. I found the story somewhat disjointed. By that I mean I didn’t see a beginning, middle, or an ending. It’s almost like a collection of short stories most being relevant to life on Cannery Row. Imagine an anthropologist traveling from the future back in time, stopping to observe life on Cannery Row, studying a group of people whose only commonality to each other is that of living and working on Cannery Row. He observes these peoples activities without knowing their personal details. He knows nothing about their parents, their childhood, and their education. He’s simply observing life and actions for a limited time period.

Two notable exceptions occur to this static observation one when Mack and the boys take up the task of gathering frogs for Doc to purchase. Now this trip has little to do with life on Cannery Row, other than the boys trying to secure funding for a party that does occur on the Row. Their trip touches on what I feel is one of the themes of the book and that is loneliness. When Mack and the boys come into contact with a farmer and his dog, it does not take much effort on Mack’s part to talk themselves into the farmer’s good graces. During the visit the farmer relates his loneliness by tell the boys that his wife is a politician and is rarely at home. I noticed that loneliness was expressed several times in this book including a description of a hard working gopher (that’s right a gopher) who has everything needed for a successful life except a mate.

The other trip that takes us away from Cannery Row is Doc’s trip to La Jolla. It’s there that he knows of a special tide pool that will allow him to find the Octopi that he needs to fill a customer’s order. Doc owns the Western Biological a supplier of animals for research and other study. During this trip we learn some additional information about Doc. Doc starts his trip alone and when he gets bored he picks up a hitchhiker. When this hitchhiker becomes bothersome we get our first peek at Doc’s temper and learn that he is no stranger to violence if violence is required. During Doc’s visit at the tide pool he finds the body of a dead woman. This is another theme that is common in this book here we are presented with our third death. This one is different than the first two in that we don’t know how this woman died. We are presented with the body of a woman that even in death Doc describes as being incredibly beautiful. This puzzles me. Death can rarely if ever be described as beautiful.

A planned first party to honor Doc ends in disaster. After a while another party is planned for Doc, this one will be for his birthday. This party is supposed to be a surprise for Doc, but as more and more Cannery Row residence get involved Doc learns of the party. Doc decides to act surprised but takes the precaution of party proofing his house by moving his valuables and breakables to safe areas. He also stocks up on food for the party knowing that no one will think to bring any (he was right). The party is a great success people get drunk, they eat, and they dance, and they fight. Windows and doors are broken and a good time is had by all. The next day we find Doc waking up alone. He mildly surveys the damage and starts to clean up, alone. At the end of the day our story ends with Doc sitting on his bed listening to music, alone.

Steinbeck gives Cannery Row with it’s surrounding sights and sounds a vivid description. You feel that you are looking at a picture instead of reading words. Steinbeck then fills Cannery Row with a host of intriguing characters possessing all manner of human qualities. Mack and the boys are a rough group. They drink too much and work too little, yet exhaust themselves caring for a sick puppy. Dora is described as a heavy set, orange haired, tough minded business woman, who owns the local house of ill repute. Her tough exterior can’t hide some people knowing that it’s her who quietly provides help to the sick and hungry. Lee Chong owns the local grocery and like Dora puts up the rough front of the tough business man, but he too is a sucker for a hard luck story and gives credit to patrons who may never pay it back. These characters are all lower class working poor who all seem to possess the third theme of the story and that is compassion.

So here I am at the end and as I said at the beginning I am at a loss as to how to properly describe and review this book. If the author simply wanted to tell a good story he succeeded. I enjoyed every minute of my time reading this book. If the authors goal was to make his reader think about hidden symbolism and the human condition again he succeeded. I may have missed it but I'm thinking.

Bob
I appreciate the time you put into your reviews. They are worthwhile reading. Thanks.

Kat wrote: "I choose for you The Forgotten Garden and Sarah's Key.
..."

I have just finished The Forgotten Garden this afternoon, and I thank you for selecting it and thus impelling me to finally read it. It literally HAS been collecting dust on my nightstand for just under two years, when I bought this one for myself, and sent Kate Morton's first one, The House At Riverton to my daughter who was then in her senior year of undergrad, with the plan to read hers when I finished mine ;-).

I don't have Bob's gift for writing, nor the knack for reviewing in general, so I'll just say, I don't know why in the heck I waited so long to read it. It was delightful, and I really enjoyed immersing myself in it. I needed a good, refreshing read!

I don't think I'll have time to read Sarah's Key by the end of the month, since I'm still working on this month's revisit the shelf read, Doctor Zhivago, and haven't yet cracked this month's contemporary classic, The Beautiful and Damned.

I recently finished my pick of the month Slaughterhouse-Five. It was not my first by Vonnegut, but could possibly be my favorite. I found this one to be similar to the others I've read.

I really love how he can take serious issues and talk about them with a level of humor. At the end of the day, I felt like this was one of the rare books that I wish I could start all over again for the first time. I was a little sad that it was over.

On a completely side note, this challenge finally gave me a reason to get around to reading Slaughterhouse-Five. It has been on my TBR list since I joined Goodreads. It was my oldest "to be read" book. So thank you for motivating me to read it!

You're motivating me to move that one up my the list, Shawn ^_^. Nice review.

Not sure if you like fan fiction, but if you do, the world created in your book has been 'opened up' to be explored by other writers in Amazon's Kindle Worlds program. I was just yesterday reading about a book Hugh Howey wrote, set in Kurt Vonnegut's world - Peace in Amber: The World of Kurt Vonnegut.