Classics and the Western Canon discussion
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Planning for our post-Plato read
I am new in this group, but I would like to get started reading along with you ladies and gentlemen. Should I just follow along?
Well, seeing that my early summer reading pile is already at capacity, I like the looks of Don Quixote and Bleak House given that I have just begun reading both. :)
If I have a vote yet, I'd vote for Cicero. And again, should I just follow along?
David wrote: "If I have a vote yet, I'd vote for Cicero. And again, should I just follow along?"David -- Vote, when the time comes, if you will also participate in the discussions, at least if what you vote for is selected.
David wrote: "If I have a vote yet, I'd vote for Cicero. And again, should I just follow along?"We have just started reading Plato's Phaedo, soon to be followed by Theaetetus. Please join us in the discussion!
I'm finishing up another book at the moment but will be happy to join in on the Theaetetus discussion. Is it a standalone read or would it be better to have read Phaedo first?
David wrote: "I'm finishing up another book at the moment but will be happy to join in on the Theaetetus discussion. Is it a standalone read or would it be better to have read Phaedo first?"The only requirement for voting is that you join the discussion if your vote wins.
Thaeatetus can be read by itself.
David wrote: "I am new in this group, but I would like to get started reading along with you ladies and gentlemen. Should I just follow along?"No, you shouldn't "just" follow along. You should follow along AND participate! Unless that's what you intended by "follow along." But do let us hear your thoughts on the books. And since we've just started reading Phaedo, and it's available free on the Internet if you don't have a copy handy, you can start following and participating right away?
I would love to follow along and participate. I do, though, have a peeve about catching up in book groups. I feel rushed and I'd much rather enjoy the text along with the group from the beginning. As such, I have downloaded the text for Thaeatetus and look forward to reading it with you all.
I have been wanting to reread "Mansfield Park" along with all the books mentioned or alluded to in the most intellectual of Jane's novels. Did you know it was published 200 years ago this month? And look at this website:http://sarahemsley.com/an-invitation-...
I would love the chance to read "Mansfield Park" with a group. I have read it and hated it... but that was before I really understood how to value a classic. I am a huge Austen fan but detest this one.
Laurele wrote: "I have been wanting to reread "Mansfield Park" along with all the books mentioned or alluded to in the most intellectual of Jane's novels. Did you know it was published 200 years ago this month? An..."I'll go for Austen instead of Cicero. Sounds good to me. Seeing as how it's celebrating it's 200th birthday, why not?
Laurele wrote: "I have been wanting to reread "Mansfield Park" along with all the books mentioned or alluded to in the most intellectual of Jane's novels. Did you know it was published 200 years ago this month? An..."Thanks for that website, Laurele. I read Mansfield Park almost two years ago, but now its plot has blurred together with a couple of the other Austens. I would love to reread this and use this website for reference.
You can't go wrong with Austen, but I'd also like to put in a word for Pilgrim's Progress. It was once the second most popular book in America (next to the Bible), but not much to today's taste. What were our ancestors thinking?
Laurele wrote: "I have been wanting to reread "Mansfield Park" along with all the books mentioned or alluded to in the most intellectual of Jane's novels. Did you know it was published 200 years ago this month? An..."Very interesting website, Laurel, and equally interesting to learn that Mansfield Park was published 200 years ago this month. I've been intrigued by Mansfield Park but unsure whether I "got it" so I think I will re-read it in honor of its anniversary. Thanks for the information.
Evalyn
Laurele wrote: "I have been wanting to reread "Mansfield Park" along with all the books mentioned or alluded to in the most intellectual of Jane's novels. Did you know it was published 200 years ago this month? An..."It is actually being read right now in the unfortunately not very active Women's Classic Literature group, and is the June book for the Should Have Read Classics group. Not that I want to send anybody here to those groups instead of their remaining active here! But if it isn't chosen, there are other options available. (Though I think it's fair to say that this group would read and discuss it with a depth and quality of discussion that isn't always found in other groups.)
Roger wrote: "You can't go wrong with Austen, but I'd also like to put in a word for Pilgrim's Progress. It was once the second most popular book in America (next to the Bible), but not much to today's taste. ..."It certainly is a seminal book in Western thinking. It pervades subsequent literature, both explicitly and implicitly. As you say, not much read today, but there are still frequent references to passages and events from it, and sometimes it's worth reading the original to see where these actually came from and whether they are fairly represented or are badly distorted by the contemporary use of the images.
Everyman wrote: " (Though I think it's fair to say that this group would read and discuss it with a depth and quality of discussion that isn't always found in other groups.) "Yes, I have had the unfortunate experience of diving into a group read with a few other groups, only to find the discussion amounted to little more than "Okay I have finished" and "so have I".
I say unfortunate, and it was, because so much is gained from reading a book for the first time with a group. It adds value, and I was anticipating a good discussion but didn't get one.
This is the best group that I have stumbled across for having incredibly detailed discussions.
Everyman wrote: "Roger wrote: "You can't go wrong with Austen, but I'd also like to put in a word for Pilgrim's Progress. It was once the second most popular book in America (next to the Bible), but not much to to..."I made an attempt to read the book more than 20 years ago, but couldn't get into it. Now, in view of our discussion on virtue, I wonder whether one can make "progress" by reading it, and whether a non-Christian can benefit from it.
Can a non-Hindu benefit from reading the Mahabharata?
There is a "school" of esoteric interpretation of Plato, more or less led by Leo Strauss. As someone who has read and thought a lot about Plato, you might find Strauss of interest. (Strauss was also very interested in, and wrote about, Maimonides.)
Pilgrim's Progress is indeed a wonderful book that an educated person should know. I have been to the Bunyan museum in Bedford and seen copies of it in many different languages. I think of it more as a book for solitary reading than for group reading, but it could work.
That's three votes for Pilgrim's Progress already. I'll join the group read if it gets chosen. Solitary reading didn't work for me, but hopefully I'll "get it" with this group.Laurele, could you recommend an Audible version?
What great choices. I'm sure I won't be disappointed no matter what the selection.
Can anyone comment more on the other choices? I would be curious to know some thoughts before the time comes to cast a vote (though it already seems like a two-horse race).
Nemo wrote: "That's three votes for Pilgrim's Progress already. I'll join the group read if it gets chosen. Solitary reading didn't work for me, but hopefully I'll "get it" with this group.Laurele, could you ..."
Nemo, if you buy this Kindle edition for free http://smile.amazon.com/Pilgrims-Prog...
you can add this Audible reading for under $3.00.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Th...
Whatever you do, don't get a "for the modern reader" variety.
I read Pilgrim's Progress when I was 16 (and read the Bible in the same year). I loved it then and found it amazing, I tried to read it again a few years ago and found it very boring and put it down again.I read Madame Bovary last year. It was fabulous. I was shocked at what so many people thought of her because I loved her.
Cass wrote: "Can anyone comment more on the other choices? I would be curious to know some thoughts before the time comes to cast a vote (though it already seems like a two-horse race)."This response grew, like Topsy, to be much longer than I had initially intended, so I'll break it up into several posts. I haven't had the time to proofread it carefully, so forgive any obvious errors.
It is all just my personal views, and should not in any way be considered an endorsement for or against voting for any of these works. I only hope it, and the comments of others on these works who agree or disagree with me (and those who do either should feel free to say so!) will be helpful in making a wise choice of books to read. Keep in mind also that there are going to be reviews of all these works here on Goodreads.
With that in mind, here goes.
Apuleius, The Golden Ass, also known as the Metamorphoses (but to be distinguished from Ovid's Metamorphoses) -- I haven't read it, but it's been on my radar for many years and I would love to have the chance to. The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) says it is the only Latin novel which survives whole. They say it that "full of narratological cleverness, erotic, humorous, and sensational by turns, it is a remarkable and fascinating work."
Austen, Mansfield Park – not in my opinion Austen’s best work (I reserve that for Emma), but any Austen is a delightful read. There is a great divergence of opinion as to whether Fanny, the heroine, does or doesn’t deserve to be the heroine of a novel. If we read it, you will need to make up your own mind on this.
Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress – a seminal work, as was noted above at one point the second most popular book published. Its impact on later authors is perhaps as significant as the book itself is. Fadiman notes that “it is a remarkable book...It has swayed not only millions of God-fearing plain folk, but sophisticated intellects like Shaw. Its prose is ... muscular, hard as nails, powerfully, even witty....Of all the writers who, listed in this [Lifetime Reading] Plan, had preceded him, Bunyan had never read a line. He merely quietly joined them.”
Cervantes, Don Quixote – has been called by more than one source the greatest novel ever written. Harold Bloom, in his “Western Canon,” says “...he is the only possible peer of Dante and Shakespeare in the Western Canon. One thinks of him in conjunction with Shakespeare and Montaigne because the three of them are wisdom writers; there is no fourth so sane....In one respect, only Cervantes and Shakespeare occupy the highest eminence...” Whether or not he is chosen here (again), he is essential for any educated person to have read, but he is I think much more profitably read in a group than alone.
Installment 2:Cicero, On the Good Life – I haven’t read much Cicero. He was highly regarded as an orator, and was highly influential on, among others, the founders of the United States. The volume On the Good Life by Penguin Classics isn’t a single work, but brings together several of his writings. You can read reviews of it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
Dickens, Bleak House – in my opinion his best work, and both in my mind and according to most critics a contender for the best English novel ever written. Whether or not read with this group, it is one of the “must reads” of any educated person.
Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling – an early English novel, perhaps not considered in the first rank of English novels, but important for its place in the historical development of the novel. The Oxford Companion to English Literature (Drabble) says “Although very long, the novel is highly organized, an was thought by Coleridge to have one of the three great plots of all literature...The book is generally regarded as Fielding’s greatest, and as one of the first and most influential of English novels.”
Flaubert, Madame Bovary – a novel I have started but never gotten far into, so others can say more about it, but it has the reputation of being, as well as a fine novel, risque. At the time of its serial publication it was banned in France, and Flaubert was prosecuted for “offenses against public morals.” (He was acquitted.) Fadiman says “I must admit at once that, while I admire it as an unquestioned masterpiece, I nevertheless find it cold and depressing. That, however, is not the general verdict....Madame Bovary, for all its seeming detachment, seems to me a beautifully organized confession of misanthropy. Whether or not this is true, no one can deny its influence. Most of the later novels that turn on the discrepancy between our ideal lives and the actual gray ones that we live owe much to Flaubert. Madame Bovary is the first Walter Mitty.”
Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding – It’s been nearly fifty years since I read Hume, and I can’t claim to remember many details of what I read then. But I can say that he was one of the major philosophers of the 18th century, who in his earliest works was, in a way, like Socrates, in that, according to Bertrand Russell, “he hoped for vehement attacks, which he would meet with brilliant retorts.” In general, he developed to its logical conclusion the empirical philosophy of Locke and Berkeley. Thomas and Roger will have read him more recently, and can do a better job of making the case, if they choose to, of reading him here.
Installment 3:Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel – Generally celebrated mostly for its bawdy, not to say scatological, elements, the work ( a collection of four linked but separately published books) is far more than that. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th, “Rabelais’s purpose in the four books of his masterpiece was to entertain the cultivated reader at the expense of the follies and exaggerations of his times.” While they may not be the most intellectual challenging work, they are in many parts hilarious and thoroughly entertaining. Astonishingly, Rabelais was a Benedictine monk and priest, as well as a physician, though his ecclesiastical career was somewhat irregular.
Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man – Schiller is an author I have never read and know very little about. It is apparently a series of letters written as, according to Wikipedia, “a philosophical inquiry into what had gone wrong [with the French Revolution], and how to prevent such tragedies in the future. “
Scott, Kenilworth – Scott is not as popular these days as he was when he was considered by many the pre-eminent and most popular British novelist. Kenilworth is a historical novel (though not entirely accurate historically) centering on the secret marriage of Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Kenilworth is not the best known of his novels (Ivanhoe probably takes that place), but it is well worth reading, and those who have not read any Scott should probably do so if only to get an introduction to a writer often considered as the originator of the historical novels, and still a revered figure in Scottish literature.
Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman – I think I can say without reservation, the most bizarre English novel certainly prior to Ulysses, and perhaps ever. I have dipped into it, but never read it in its entirety. Drabble calls it “a slim line of narrative constantly and flagrantly interrupted by exuberant digressions, exploiting the relativity of time in human experience by deliberately disordering the sequences and emphasis of events. Parodying the new “novel” form of his contemporaries, the narrator mocks the absurdity of development in narrative, insisting on beginning at the moment of his own conception, and deliberately providing no consistent plot or conclusion.” It is often considered the first “stream-of-consciousness” novel. I know of nobody who has read it who is neutral about it.
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome – Unfortunately, not all of Tacitus’s work has survived, but what has survived is probably the best source we have for much of the first century A.D., from the death of Augustus in 14 A.D. to the death of Nero in 68 A.D. These were challenging years for the Roman empire, but for those who want a first hand view of this period, Tacitus is it. In addition to “straight” history, he gives us his personal views on Roman politics, society, and life.
Tocqueville, Democracy in America – de Tocqueville, of an aristocratic French family, traveled to America in 1831 on a mission from the French government to the United States (then 24 states) ostensibly to study prisons, but he traveled widely for almost two years, and observed closely. The consequence was his Democracy in America, justly considered one of the finest works of social and political theory. His primary purpose was to help the French people move from an aristocratically based society to a democratic society. He was a strong supporter of liberty, but not of unfettered democracy, warning that one “finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom.” If that sample of his thinking is tempting, the whole is far more so.
Wordsworth, The Prelude – The Prelude is part of a longer work, initially planned when he was in his 20s but still unfinished when he died at 80, showing the development of his poetic mind. It has been called his spiritual autobiography. But it is much more than that. I have read only segments of it, dipping into it here and there over the years, but wherever I dip into it I find passages that are worthy of contemplation and reflection. Wordsworth and his close friend Coleridge were pre-eminent poets of the Romantic movement, and the Prelude shows why.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Shakespeare fans would enjoy Tacitus, his concise and eloquent literary style, the political intrigues and psychological insights.A fitting alternate title for the Annals would be "The Sociopaths of Imperial Rome". Shakespearean villains pale in comparison with this rotten lot.
Laurele wrote: "Whatever you do, don't get a "for the modern reader" variety.."Thanks for the link to the audiobook. I've added it to my wish list. What's wrong with the modern reader variety?
That was wonderful, thank you so much for your notes. I have been doing some wikipedia-ing myself this afternoon, but I think hearing a person say a little comment or two makes such a difference.You have both broadened and narrowed my choices.
(Narrowed, because my long-list went from all over them to about half of them, and broadened, because my vote now has a few more possibilities).
My top choice is Pilgrim's Progress, followed by Mansfield Park, Democracy in America, and Kenilworth.
Everyman wrote: "Installment 2:Dickens, Bleak House – in my opinion his best work, and both in my mind and according to most critics a contender for the best English novel ever written. Whether or not read with this group, it is one of the “must reads” of any educated person.
Although I was previously more active in this great book group, I'll confess to have been more recently a shameless lurker, regularly monitoring the interesting and edifying posts, and feeling guilty that I was unable to commit the time to read the offerings and contribute.
Now that I've thoroughly undermined my standing to make a recommendation, I'll humbly offer support for Dickens' Bleak House. I'm finishing Tale of Two Cities--wonderful, but, as I understand, not in the same class as Dickens' masterpieces. I am dazzled by Dickens' language, humor, and insight into human society and behavior that are on display in Tale of Two Cities. I've always wanted to read Bleak House to get a richer exposure to the depth of Dickens' genius for language, character development, and social commentary than ToTC offers. I'm sure the structure of this great group would help me engage with this essential work and, hopefully, end my shameless lurking and get me contributing again.
Resist the chilling effect of the title--Bleak House--and join me in supporting this Dickens masterpiece!
Although I was previously more active in this great book group, I'll confess to have been more recently a shameless lurker, regularly monitoring the interesting and edifying posts, and feeling guilty that I was unable to commit the time to read the offerings and contribute.Now that I've thoroughly undermined my standing to make a recommendation, I'll humbly offer support for Dickens' Bleak House. I'm finishing Tale of Two Cities--wonderful, but, as I understand, not in the same class as Dickens' masterpieces. I am dazzled by Dickens' language, humor, and insight into human society and behavior that are on display in Tale of Two Cities. I've always wanted to read Bleak House to get a richer exposure to the depth of Dickens' genius for language, character development, and social commentary than ToTC offers. I'm sure the structure of this great group would help me engage with this essential work and, hopefully, end my shameless lurking and get me contributing again.
Resist the chilling effect of the title--Bleak House--and join me in supporting this Dickens masterpiece!
Can I just say that I love this post? I'm moving from recommendation to recommendation and I really want to help you support Dickens but I'm afraid that if I don't stick to my choice I'll end up changing my vote over and over. Good luck though! I'm sure that I'll enjoy anything that we read.
The poll is up. Because there are so many choices, the leaders are likely to be so only by a few votes, so every vote is important!I'm usually don't send out a broadcast message to the whole list, since the vast majority of them don't participate and the vote can be skewed to a book that the active participants don't prefer. But to get the maximum participation of those following the discussion, this time I'll put a post in the active book thread in case people miss this thread.
If you have friends who aren't as active right now but you think could be in future, feel free to invite them to respond, with the understanding that if their book is chosen, they are expected to join the discussion.
The poll for our next read (N.H. Summer, S.H. Winter) is finished. In addition to choosing our next read, the voting provides some information which I have discussed at some length below, for those interested. For those who just want to know what we’re going to read next, the poll results were:
Bleak House: 12 votes, weighted score 18
The Golden Ass: 8 votes, weighted score 17
While Bleak House was the clear winner on votes, The Golden Ass was only 1 point behind on weighted score, and would have been tied if one poster had made four more posts.
So I have made a unilateral, autocratic, dictatorial decision that we will read both. Bleak House first, followed by The Golden Ass.
So, that’s the decision on books, and you can quit reading here if that’s all you care about.
But for Nemo especially [g], and any others interested, here’s my discussion of the vote and the two works.
I have decided, this first time under our new system, to lay out the full vote details (on the two leading books: Don Quixote was far behind in the vote and out of contention). I hope nobody will feel offended by this. That is NOT my intention. And I hope that nobody will feel that their vote wasn’t important, or that their membership in the group is considered less important because they are still early in their posting experience here, because that is not my intention either. Every member who voted is valued and appreciated.
I simply think that there is some interesting information which only emerges from a discussion of the vote. And I note that all this information is freely available to look up; there’s nothing here that is confidential or private information.
The full vote chart is given at the end of this post. The format is: Name, number of books (necessary because there are many duplicate names and this helps identify the right person), number of comments: point score for vote.
The first thing I will say is that both these are very worthy books to read and discuss. Bleak House is on almost every serious reader’s short list for the best novel written in the English language. The Golden Ass is the only Latin work of fiction (and candidate for the earliest novel in Western literature) which has survived intact, and while not a major work within the Western Canon, does show up throughout later literature.
So both books are very much worth the interest of this group, and I thank the voters for both candidates who are ready to discuss these two important books.
Looking at the voting, there is, with a few exceptions, a fairly clear pattern. Bleak House received half its votes from members who have not yet had the opportunity to be active in our discussions. Some of these members may be fairly new to the Western Canon and may be interested in joining in this group’s discussion of an acknowledged masterpiece of English literature. I am delighted to see this interest from less active members, and now that their choice has prevailed, I look forward to welcoming them as they, I hope, become active posters in the discussion of the book they voted in.
Those voting for The Golden Ass, on the other hand, are entirely members with a considerable record of participation in the group. I suspect that at least some of this group will have read Bleak House before, and perhaps discussed it here: it has been read in several groups I am aware of over the years I have been a member of Goodreads (and indeed there is a group which just started reading it last month, although the discussion there is not robust). The members who voted for The Golden Ass may, then, have preferred to tackle something less frequently read, something which may be new to most of them.
These are, of course, just my speculations, but given the voting pattern they seem to make a certain amount of sense to me.
So we have two works ahead of us, one a seminal part of the Canon, the other a book very early in the development of Western literature and, I am told, a highly entertaining read. I look forward eagerly to both.
The details of the voting, then, are:
Bleak House Total votes: 12 Weighted score: 18
Name, #books (for ID), posts in group: points in voting
Hollyinnnv, 397 books, 0: 1
Lisa, 2197 books, 143: 2
Zippy, 347 books, 2: 1
Paula, 301 books, 0: 1
Catherine, 1075 books, 2: 1
Mark, 63 books, 40: 1
Tommi, 91 books, 0: 1
Kristen, 1446 books, 2: 1
Selina, 513 books, 61: 1
Roger, 237 books, 836: 3
Sue, 99 books, 114: 2
Laurele, 1458 books, 1862: 3
The Golden Ass Total votes: 8 Weighted score: 17
Theresa, 228 books, 169: 2
Elizabeth, 210 books, 219: 2
Genni, 272 books, 96: 1
David, 999 books, 63: 1
Cass, 914 books, 152: 2
Lily, 1526 books, 2578: 3
Everyman, 119 books, 5133: 3
Thomas, 244 books, 2110: 3
Well I will give feedback. I voted for the Golden Ass based on the discussion that we had about the books (in this thread I think). I read a couple of descriptions about it that made it sound worth reading.If I had not have followed this thread, then I probably would have voted for Bleak House (or Don Quixote). Actually my first reaction was to not vote at all because I could not decide which I preferred (all were appealing).
I'm glad it is Bleak House because I am not a huge Dickens fan, I find his style laborious and over inclusive. I am hoping that reading with a group such as this, with so many interesting and intuitive points of view, will improve my understanding.Plus, I've never read The Golden Ass, had t heard of it til now and it's always good to try new things.
I joined the group a couple of days ago, voted for Bleak House, and will read it with you guys – so no worries about me being just a silent passerby! I’ve read several works of Dickens but not Bleak House. I do have it in my shelves but it has stayed there all the time, mostly because of its length. Now it’s finally time to tackle the novel.
The Golden Ass sounds intriguing as well. I’ve read quite a lot about it for an obligatory Ancient Greek / Latin literature class, but it wasn’t one of the set texts to be read for the exam. Looking forward to that “novel” as well.
I didn't vote in this poll since I didn't think I would have the time to add another book to my schedule at the time. Also, I'm currently reading both Don Quixote and Bleak House at the moment for other groups, so I would have voted for the Golden Ass. But since the Golden Ass will now be read after Bleak House, I am hoping the timing will work out and I will join the discussion for it.
Everyman wrote: "But for Nemo especially [g], and any others interested, here’s my discussion of the vote and the two works."Many "lurkers" participated in the discussion of your "experiment". It shows how many members care about the group. A testament to the quality of this group and the good job done by the moderators.
I'm not sure you'd want to use the proposed voting system though, since it doesn't seem to effect much changes in the outcome to justify the extra amount of work required.
As for the next group read, I have to admit I'm not terribly thrilled. My literary taste in novels is rather naive: if it hasn't been adapted into a good motion picture, I don't read it. As a result, I haven't read any of Dickens novels.
Nemo wrote: "A My literary taste in novels is rather naive: if it hasn't been adapted into a good motion picture, I don't read it."Bleak House has been made into at least two mini-series by the BBC, both available on DVD. It was a Masterpiece Theater production in 1985, starring Diana Rigg, and was made into a mini-series in 2005. Both run on the order of 7 hours.
I haven't seen either, but my library has the 2005 production, which I have heard is excellent, so I may decide to watch it along with our reading.
Check to see whether your library has it, or can get it for you. That way you'll be fully justified in reading it, since your criteria of a good motion picture is met!
Patrice wrote: "Tale of Two Cities was a movie ;-). It's the only Dickens I've read."Almost every Dickens has been produced by the BBC at some point. Some more than once.
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In addition, I have thought that we should offer ourselves the chance to re-read some of the early classics in this group's history. It was five years ago this summer that our first group selected read, Don Quixote, started discussion, so I've stuck that into the list in case people think it's time to revisit it.
All in all, it should make for an interesting vote.
As usual, I am putting the list up in a post here for pre-voting discussion, including encouragement or discouragement of titles as people are more or less excited by some of the options. In about a week or so I'll put it up for the initial vote (probably needing a runoff). The list is a bit heavy on novels, but also contains some philosophy (if Plato hasn't been enough for the time being!) and history, and even an autobiographical poem.
Is the group in the mood for something simpler and more relaxing for the summer (perhaps Austen, Scott, or Fielding) or is up for tackling something more challenging (perhaps Hume, Schiller, Tacitus, Tocqueville, or Wordsworth)? Something from the past few hundred years, or something from ancient days?
So here's the list, and if there aren't at least a few that you would like to vote for, well, I don't know what to say. [g]
Apuleius, The Golden Ass
Austen, Mansfield Park
Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress
Cervantes, Don Quixote
Cicero, On the Good Life
Dickens, Bleak House
Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling
Flaubert, Madame Bovary
Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel
Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man
Scott, Kenilworth
Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome
Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Wordsworth, The Prelude