Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

I got the first one in the series. The faint smell of cigarette smoke reminds me of my grandmother who used to read these.

Chad wrote: "I got the first one in the series. The faint smell of cigarette smoke reminds me of my grandmother who used to read these."

The memories and feelings stirred by the sight, smell, and feel of books is one of the main reasons why - for so many of us - ebooks will never totally replace physical books.

I have a pile of books I need to take to my closest bookstore--they'll give me 10 percent of the original value if they want them--and take a gander. There is probably something there I'd like, and that way I could tell my husband I reduced my number of books....

As Heresias by the Belge writer Raoul Vaneigem

Just received:
Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome

I went back to the great little local used bookstore today and got another local history book and two of those great Library of America editions. One Ann Petry and one Henry Adams. I also got about a dozen $1.00 paperbacks. Because why not? Never read, like new copies of Emma, East of Eden, Moby Dick, The Wretched of the Earth, a few P. D. James, etc. Some are copies for me but I send them to my nephews.

What a nice shopping day Chad!

I got two books for my birthday: Flyte and Reactions: An Illustrated Exploration of Elements, Molecules, and Change in the Universe.

Audrey wrote: "I got two books for my birthday: Flyte and Reactions: An Illustrated Exploration of Elements, Molecules, and Change in the Universe."

Happy Birthday!

I've bought by Virginia Woolf and by Eugene O'Neill.

Audrey wrote: "I got two books for my birthday: Flyte and Reactions: An Illustrated Exploration of Elements, Molecules, and Change in the Universe."

Books are great presents!
Happy Birthday Audrey!

I enjoy Virginia Woolf. Great purchase Luis!

Lesle wrote: "I enjoy Virginia Woolf. Great purchase Luis!"

I agree! One of my favourite writers.

Just received: Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland;
] by Mikhail Bulgakov; and, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I love the Jean-Christophe books.

I received and

I've recently purchased an ebook collection of the poems, in German, of Ludwig Uhland for a very good price.

I did something that I shouldn’t have done. I went to a library book sale ($5/bag) and came home with 2 bags with 55 books! 16 are for my grandson and 3 for my dad. Of the remaining 36, 16 are classics and include: The Dwarf by Par Lagerkvist, Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, the New York Stories of Edith Wharton, Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell, To Have and Have Not by Hemingway, Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm, Kim by Kipling, Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac, A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes, the House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, Rabbit, Run by John Updike, The Seafarers by Nevil Shute, Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and an unusual miniature hardback book with pen and ink drawings - An Amateur Peasant Girl by Pushkin. Now, my problem is that I’m out of bookshelf space so I will have to get creative!

That's quite a haul, Pam. I'll bet it was great fun!

Pam wrote: "I did something that I shouldn’t have done. I went to a library book sale ($5/bag) and came home with 2 bags with 55 books! 16 are for my grandson and 3 for my dad. Of the remaining 36, 16 are clas..."

Wow! There's an honest bunch of books!

Pam, looks like you had great fun!

I received a few of those lovely Penguin Deluxe Editions. Swann's Way
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
The Master and Margarita
Extravagant for me.

Chad wrote: "I received a few of those lovely Penguin Deluxe Editions. Swann's Way
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
The Master and Margarita
Extravagant for me."

The Master and Margarita is special! Does your copy have extensive notes? I would recommend getting them it yours doesn't. They are not essential but do increase one's appreciation. They are quite simply terribly interesting!

I enjoyed Dubliners so much this month that it's motivated me to re-read Ulysses. So I've treated myself to the new The Cambridge Centenary Ulysses: The 1922 Text with Essays and Notes. But it's a monster of a book - I'll have to read it sitting at my desk!

I found some used Latin American classics and one non-classic (6 different authors!) yesterday:

The Lost Steps by Alejo Carpentier
Collected Stories by Gabriel García Márquez
Captain Pantoja and the Special Service by Mario Vargas Llosa
The Alienist and Other Stories of Nineteenth-Century Brazil by Machado de Assis
The Violent Land by Jorge Amado
Happy Families: Stories by Carlos Fuentes (Well, not a classic YET! Published in 2006)

I also picked up 2 dual language books: Spanish Stories: A Dual-Language Book and Nine Centuries of Spanish Literature: A Dual-Language Book. There is some poetry in the 2nd book which I will probably read some for the December poetry read.
This really has to be the end of my book acquisition, until I free up some space!

Well. no sooner did I say no more books than I went to Bookman's, a HUGE used bookstore (plus other media) in Phoenix. I picked up 3 classics- Oblamov by Ivan Goncharov and 2 by Daphne du Maurier - Julius and The King's General and 1 non-classic, but about an author of classics, Kafka, part narrative and part illustrated by Comic artist Robert Crumb.

I love Robert Crumb’s illustrations. I recall a documentary years ago about him and his very interesting family, I think is was simply called “Crumb”. I probably watched it in my teens or early twenties so it could be absolute garbage that I remember as being very good for whatever reason. Either way, I like his illustrations. Sounds like an interesting book, Pam.

Chad - if you are referring to the 1995 movie about Crumb, I remember watching that also! Crumb is the artist who made the Keep on Truckin’ image, which some of us remember from the ‘70s. I think the book will be great! After reading “The Metamorphosis” recently, I was wondering how an artist would depict Gregor Samsa as a giant bug. I pictured him less grotesque as a beetle with the bright blue spot on his back, rather than a disgusting cock roach!

I just realized that with my bag of books purchase, I have another classic which I thought was contemporary. It is “I Am a Cat” (part 1 - first 3 chapters) by Natsume Soseki, published in 1905 in Japanese. The English edition was published in 1972. I read 2 Japanese books this year featuring cats and really enjoyed both which is why I picked up this one. I think it might be my first read of the new year. 🐈

I received Pleasures and Days by Marcel Proust today in time to start it tonight. Luis recommended it and it also slots into my AND list. It will serve as a warm up to joining the buddy read of In Search of Lost Time next year.

Mike wrote: "I received Pleasures and Days by Marcel Proust today in time to start it tonight. Luis recommended it and it also slots into my AND list. It will serve as a warm up ..."

That's a great read, Mike!

Pam wrote: "Chad - if you are referring to the 1995 movie about Crumb, I remember watching that also! Crumb is the artist who made the Keep on Truckin’ image, which some of us remember from the ‘70s. I think t..."

Yes, that must be it. I recall it being very interesting. He’s an interesting man with a great talent.

I got a box set of Jane Austen's works. They are the Arcturus Publishing editions that I collect. I already had a few of her works but I decided to get a box set to get the books I was missing. The collection contains six of Austen's works:

Sense and Sensibility
Pride & Prejudice
Mansfield Park
Emma
Northanger Abbey
Persuasion

I also got the James Bond box set. I always wanted to read the books when I found out the films were inspired by a book series, but never got around to picking up any of the books until I discovered that there was a box set of them. They don't include all of the books but I think I'll be busy with the ones I have and if I love them, then I'll get the missing books in other editions.

Just received in time for the full-year read the six-book set of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.

Do you want to hear a funny story about Proust and In Search of Lost Time? One time when I was in Paris I thought I might buy the entire series at an antikvariat, So I asked them if the books actually were very good. This is a stupid question to put to a French person--ALL French say it is magnificent! French paople are very proud of their culture and authors. Anyhow, before I bought the whole French set common sense returned and I decided to read one first. Smart move.

That's the first time I've ever came across the term "antikvariat", Chrissie - I had to go look it up!

John, oops, sometimes I forget what language a word belongs in. I meant a secondhand book store. Antikvariat is the Swedish word for that......... Sorry.

No problem Chrissie - as I was looking it up I had great fun looking at photos of some amazing secondhand book stores.

Sandy wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Do you want to hear a funny story about Proust and In Search of Lost Time? One time when I was in Paris I thought I might buy the entire series at an antikvariat, So I..."

Of that series I read the first two of the four and then stopped. I gave both the two I read three stars. Good books, but not so super that I wanted to keep going.

Sandy, glad to help.

I just received this book in the post today Don Quixote I'm a bit intimidated by it due to the fact it's so old, long, and also translated but I'm hoping to read it next year and fingers crossed understand and even like it.

Lisa M wrote: "I just received this book in the post today Don Quixote I'm a bit intimidated by it due to the fact it's so old, long, and also translated but I'm hopin..."

Lisa here is an interesting thread with just your kind of thoughts!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I received a pile of (used) Louis L'Amour paperbacks today. I really like his style of western writing and they are such quick reads.

Illuminations by Walter Benjamin.

Apart from the fact that we'll be reading Benjamin in next year's German Authors buddy read, this book feels like a nice transition from 2022 to 2023, as it contains essays from him on Leskov and Baudelaire and on Proust and Kafka, - with a 60-page introduction by Hannah Arendt.

Lisa M wrote: "I just received this book in the post today Don Quixote I'm a bit intimidated by it due to the fact it's so old, long, and also translated but I'm hopin..."

That vintage edition is beautiful! I am going to see if I can find a copy myself, but I already have an Oxford Classics edition, and I haven't read it... yet.

Tiffany wrote: "That vintage edition is beautiful! I am going to see if I can find a copy myself, but I already have an Oxford Classics edition, and I haven't read it... yet."

Yes! Vintage really do know how to make classics inexpensive and attractive. I knew I wanted this edition because it was translated by Edith Grossman or the black spine Penguin edition because it was translated by Rutherford. I happened to come across this one first! If I really like it I will probably buy the Rutherford version too at some point.

I bought used copies of 2 Aldous Huxley books- Antic Hay and After the Fireworks.

I've received an enormous bunch of books this Christmas. Among them, À Espera dos Bárbaros by J.M. Coetzee

Discovered a fantastic second hand bookshop while on holiday last week and picked up quite a few books in great condition. The classics I got were:
Hawaii by James A. Michener pub 1952. I read his first book Tales of the South Pacific pub 1947 last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson pub 1972
The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym pub. 1978 - not quite a classic yet but my goal is to read all of Pym's works and I think this one may have been written years before it was published.

Lisa M wrote: "The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym pub. 1978 - not quite a classic yet but my goal is to read all of Pym's works and I think this one may have been written years before it was published...."

What a wonderful find! We are reading Pym in April hope to find you joining in.

I've been busy ordering my planned reads and they turned up today. The Sagas of Icelanders is easily the most impressive. It has rough cut edges, thick pages and is a long book. It's a meaty tome for reading such legends.

I also received The Complete Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which I intend to read throughout the year. I love The Rime of the Ancient Mariner but have read little else of Coleridge.

I've been working on collecting The Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library greedily getting two volumes, Japanese Tales and Norwegian Folktales. These are fun to dip into when I have a spare few and to share with the children.