Old Books, New Readers discussion

2016 Catch-up Challenge

Since I am already doing two challenges with a 93 book commitment fir the year, I will only commit to books I already scheduled to read. If I get to the others, good, but I don't want to overcommit.

I will not be reading in order.

✔️. 1. Great Expectations - completed May 28 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Treasure Island
✔️ 4. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ 5. The Secret Garden - completed June 18th ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. Frankenstein

I want to read these as well but might not get to them this year:
7. Dracula
8. A Christmas Carol
✔️ 9. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
10. Brave New World

Finished Great Expectations in May, almost done with The Secret Garden. Progress!

Marta wrote: "Finished Great Expectations in May, almost done with The Secret Garden. Progress!"

How did you like Great Expectations?

Jon wrote: "How did you like Great Expectations?"

Overall I liked it, especially the ending where Pip learns compassion and redeems himself through caring for someone. Great characters and lots of humor, too. I did have a stretch in the middle that I found difficult to get through - the story was dragging and Pip was an insufferable selfish bastard. I am glad I read it, but I don't think I will be reading a lot of Dickens.

Finished The Secret Garden last night. Charming children's story but a bit too long.

Marta wrote: "Jon wrote: "How did you like Great Expectations?"

Overall I liked it, especially the ending where Pip learns compassion and redeems himself through caring for someone. Great characters and lots of..."

I have never been a Dickens fan myself, but Great Expectations seems to be his best work, and I liked it a great deal. My main complaint with him is that he likes to caricature his own characters through ridiculous, over-sized conduct. Given that, I admire Dickens' commitment to social and political change. And he knows how to weave a great yarn.

My plan does not seem to work the way I imagined. I was making good progress but October and November brought reader's fatigue. I very much enjoyed Huckleberry Finn.

I think Anna Karenina will take up mu classics bandwidth for the rest of the year. But I will definitely get to Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein and Treasure Island next year.

Marta wrote: "My plan does not seem to work the way I imagined. I was making good progress but October and November brought reader's fatigue. I very much enjoyed Huckleberry Finn...."

Huckleberry Finn is a great one, to my mind at least. Chapter 31, titled "You Can't Pray a Lie," is one of the great scenes in all literature. All Huck has to do is write a note to Miss Watson saying where Jim can be found, and sending that note will give Huck the peace of mind to know he did the right thing.
Except.....he knows it is the wrong thing to do to his close friend who rescued him many times on the river as they both escaped. So the so-called "right" thing to do is very much the worst thing to do, and Huck knows he will be forever embracing the devil if he leaves Jim in peace. His next statement is a magnificent declaration of humility, courage, and honor: "It was a close place....I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: "All right then, I'll go to hell," and tore it up.

There is no other scene in literature that I know of that captures the evil of slavery and what doing the "right" thing really means. Just beautiful.

Oh yes, that scene was masterful. Huck is such an awesome character. He is a child and he struggles with what he is told to be the right thing and with what he feels to be the right thing. This is all through the book. I listened to it on audio (my first full audio book) and the narrator was so much fun - he did all the different voices and accents, it added a lot to hear it!

I really did not do so well on this - I hit a terrible reading slump in October-November. But those books are high priority for next year!

Marta wrote: "I really did not do so well on this - I hit a terrible reading slump in October-November. But those books are high priority for next year!"

I understand. I have a slight chance to finish my reading target before the end of the month. But we'll see.

I have commited to two reading challenges this year totalling 93 books, and I finished both, so I am happy. This came in the middle of the year and I was already overcommitted. In 2017 I am doing only one exclusive challenge (i.e. no books count for any other challenges), so I can do smaller ones like this that can use some of tge same books. So I intend to carry on!

This is just a reminder for myself of the books from the list that I have not yet read:

4. The Cask of Amontillado
9. A Christmas Carol
12. Emma
14. Kidnapped (David Balfour, #1)
16. For Whom the Bell Tolls
17. Sense and Sensibility
18. Dracula
19. Candide - I had to read in school but I don't remember
21. The Woman in White
23. Around the World in Eighty Days (Extraordinary Voyages, #11)
25. Peter Pan
26. Brave New World
29. Frankenstein
31. At the Mountains of Madness
32. Pride and Prejudice
35. Treasure Island
36. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3) - partially read
42. Mansfield Park
44. A Clockwork Orange - read but might re-read
- Kontiki
- Tender is the Night

Total: 21

I had a much smaller BOTM list, so it will be easy for me to start the new year with the 2017 Catch Up Challenge. But expanding that list will be tough, since I have read a number of them already (but years before now). Further, I have a sizable "want to read" list too.

I am working on that expansion list now.