Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Had placed a request at the bookstore for some books. Got those yesterday :D (and some other good ones from my list, I found 😅)

A little apprehensive about reading Lolita at the moment, but want to explore Nabokov's other writing.
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Vladimir Nabokov

The Luzhin Defense by Vladimir Nabokov

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

Herzog by Saul Bellow

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky

O Hóspede de Drácula by Bram Stoker
O Rio Triste by Fernando Namora
A Casa de Matriona seguindo de Incidente na Estação de Kotchetovka by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A Literatura e o Mal by Georges Bataille
Não Posso Nem Quero by Lydia Davis

Kushagri wrote: "Had placed a request at the bookstore for some books. Got those yesterday :D (and some other good ones from my list, I found 😅)

A little apprehensive about reading Lolita at the moment, but want t..."

Lolita is fantastic.

I jus found a used copy of The Snail on the Slope by the Soviet sci-fi writing team Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, originally published in 1972. This will be my 4th book by the Strugatskys. I really have to stop buying books and start reading them!

Pam wrote: "I jus found a used copy of The Snail on the Slope by the Soviet sci-fi writing team Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, originally published in 1972. This will be my 4th book by the Strugatskys. I really ..."

I suspect that's a resolution we all make (and break), Pam!

And, 1 month later, I just bought another 5 books (but only $2/each), one of which is a classic I plan to read for the Latin American Buddy Read. That book is Green Mansions by Anglo-Argentinian author William Henry Hudson (aka Guillermo Enrique Hudson). Since it’s set in Venezuela, I may wait until our Venezuela-designated month to read it.

One of our local bookstores is having an Indie Bookstore celebration (with giveaway, specials, and a 50% off sidewalk sale) on Fri/Sat. I recently sold back a bunch of books so I have store credit to spend! I’ve got my eye on a few items and will be there tomorrow when they open! I’m hoping to win one of the giveaways. 🍀 📚

I brought Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The myth of Sisyphus and other essays by Albert Camus at a used bookstore.
And then I got Frankenstein by Mary Shellley at BnN. It was cheap for 10$ so I was like why not

2 Finnish editions of Tintin.

I had to order them from Helsinki. Ive been trying off and on to learn Finnish but running down Finnish books is difficult. Which is odd considering the literary contributions of Finnish.

My latest library additions:

Book shop visit!
Memoirs Of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald

Another Country by James Baldwin

In Search of Lost Time Modern Library paperback set! :)

Kushagri wrote: "Book shop visit!
Memoirs Of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

Austerlitz by [author:W.G...."

Some great buys there, Kushagri.

Thank you so much, John!

I picked up a used copy of Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann. I want to finish The Magic Mountain, though, before starting this one.

Great buy, Pam! Both are on my TBR as well!

On the occasion of Bloomsday, bought a copy of Penguin Modern Classics Students’ Annotated Edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses

Kushagri wrote: "On the occasion of Bloomsday, bought a copy of Penguin Modern Classics Students’ Annotated Edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses"

Very apt, Kushagri. I keep planning to spend Bloomsday in Dublin, but haven't made it yet. Maybe next year.

John wrote: "Kushagri wrote: "On the occasion of Bloomsday, bought a copy of Penguin Modern Classics Students’ Annotated Edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses"

Very apt, Kushagri. I keep planning to spend Bloomsday..."

Thank you so much, John! Oh, it'll be so fun to spend it in Dublin. Hope you get to do it next year!

I went to my library book sale last weekend and bought a whole bunch of classics that they had! I was undecided on whether I wanted to get any Charles Dickens since I feel like I struggle with him, but maybe next month when the library has another sale, I'll get some of his books.

This month though, I walked away with a gold mine of classics. Or at least I feel that I did.

1. The Three Theban Plays: Antigone / Oedipus the King / Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles
2. Aeschylus I: Oresteia, Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers & The Eumenides by Aeschylus
3, Euripides V by Euripides

The last comprises three plays: Electra, The Phoenician Women, and The Bacchae. I already have an Oxford World Classics edition that includes Electra as part of the tragedies, but I am interested in giving this edition's translation a read as well since it's translated by a woman (Emily Townsend Vermeule). Mostly I got it because of The Phoenician Women and The Bacchae, though.

4. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
5. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
6. The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins

This last one is the book that I was most excited to find at the book sale. It's an old vintage edition that was published in 1908... and I am absolutely terrified to touch it. It's got illustrated book plates, if that's what they are called? The artwork is in black and white, but it is gorgeous... I want to give this one a read, but I am scared that I am going to end up breaking the book somehow.

There were more books that I got, but that's all the classics I got! My sister found a vintage edition of Middlemarch by George Eliot, but she's hidden it away on her bookcase somewhere since she caught me sniffing the pages.

ETA: I forgot to say that I also found a copy of I, Claudius by Robert Graves... but I'm not sure if many people consider this a classic even though it's Robert Graves???

Tiffany wrote: "I went to my library book sale last weekend and bought a whole bunch of classics that they had! I was undecided on whether I wanted to get any Charles Dickens since I feel like I struggle with him,..."

Great buys, Tiffany!

Also I do think I, Claudius is a Classic. Or even if it may not be, I really enjoyed it. It was a really interesting read.

Luís wrote: " "

Happy reading! Good buys!

Kushagri wrote: "Luís wrote: " "

Happy reading! Good buys!"

Thank you, Kushagri! I should think so.

Kushagri wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "I went to my library book sale last weekend and bought a whole bunch of classics that they had! I was undecided on whether I wanted to get any Charles Dickens since I feel like I st..."

I am definitely excited to sit down with these books. Though, my shelves are definitely not excited to have more books. Have you read any of the books I've mentioned. I forgot to include one. I also got The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. Not sure if I am going to like this one since I can't even finish Middlemarch, but maybe I will like the book if I get over my prejudice and sit down with it.

I went to a charity shop today which had several hardbacks from The Great Writers Library, I got 'Kim' by Rudyard Kipling for only £3.50

Tiffany wrote: "Kushagri wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "I went to my library book sale last weekend and bought a whole bunch of classics that they had! I was undecided on whether I wanted to get any Charles Dickens since..."

Same! At this point my book shelves look at me imploringly. I used to arrange my shelves but now after each purchase and bookstore visit it’s chaos.
I have the Signet Classics edition of complete plays of Sophocles and Euripides. I have read some plays from these. I have read I, Claudius and currently reading (though paused for a while) Claudius the God by Robert Graves. I don’t have the others though I have a bunch of different titles by Wilkie Collins. I have read Moonstone and Woman in White. Really enjoy his work!

Oh wow! Nice! I am yet to read a George Eliot book!

My latest acquisition of an actual book was purchased on our recent holiday in Ireland. At a used bookstore in Limerick I bought a vintage version of Bless This House by Norah Lofts for one euro.

I picked up a used copy of My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. My mom loved the show The Durrells in Corfu, which was based on the book. I only watched 1 episode but have been meaning to read the book.

Great pick, Pam! I really enjoyed the first book in the Corfu trilogy. It’s humorous and gentle! The show I am yet to watch. My friend also has been recommending that to me ardently!

The "Bookshop" in Wigtown is the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland, and I try to visit it at least a couple of times a year (it's about 100 miles from Glasgow to Wigtown). The owner has also written a series of very funny books about being a bookshop owner - I highly recommend them, although they wouldn't qualify for any of our threads.

But I notice on their website they have a book club called The Random Book Club, the details are -

THE RANDOM BOOK CLUB
Are you sitting uncomfortably? It’s time to leave your literary comfort zone and join the Random Book Club. Sit back and enjoy a book, hand-picked entirely at random from the shelves of Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop, delivered with a dull thud, right to your door.

Sign up and we’ll send you a book once a month from our shop, the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland. And with an element of surprise; you won’t have any idea what it’s going to be until it arrives. Or even if it will arrive at all.

Every book you receive will be selected by the owner of The Bookshop, Shaun Bythell. Books will be a mixture of fiction and non-fiction; paperback and hardback. And, of course, you get to keep the books.

No matter where you are in the world you can treat yourself to a year’s subscription to the RBC starting from just £69, or gift a subscription to a fellow book lover.

The Random Book Club is currently fully subscribed. More subscriptions will be made available on the 1st August 2023.

It appeals to me - what do others think?

I think it’d be worth trying for a year. I’ll have to check how much it costs for someone in the U.S.

I was running around to different library branches last week dropping off flyers for a bluegrass concert that I was helping promote. So, of course, while at the libraries, I had to peruse the shelves and I wound up buying a few books including The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories. I don't think they are all classics but I know that some are. I'm looking forward to reading a few stories! I am not very familiar with Italian authors, with just a few exceptions.

I picked up The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor at the library on the free cart!

(not this edition)

Pam wrote: "I picked up The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor at the library on the free cart!"

That’s a score!

Wow! That is great! I'm planning on going to our local library sale this weekend so I'm sure I find something interesting there.

Also, I did find Radio Voices by Michele Hilmes at a very nice thrift store. It's about American radio broadcasting and the people behind the voices. Looks very interesting!

recently i brought
war and peace
crime and punishment
anna karenina
the oddesssy
moby dick
mrs dalloway
if you have opinions on any of these books please let me know i need motivation to read them! x

megan
I highly recommend this one Anna Karenina I read it almost 3 years ago and it still lingers.

"The story is beautifully written, rich and complex in morals."

I'm thinking of reading Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron, but it gives me pause because I hated Sophie's Choice, the book and the movie.

Lesle wrote: "megan
I highly recommend this one Anna Karenina I read it almost 3 years ago and it still lingers.

"The story is beautifully written, rich and complex in morals.""

I have a different version of Anna Karenina, but I did love reading it.

"The seeds of time" by John Wyndham. Stories written in his "logical fantasy" genre, but essentially science fiction.

~Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
~Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
~Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Just recently received:
The Mysteries of London, Vol. I; and,
The Mysteries of London, Vol. II Unabridged & Illustrated , both by George W.M. Reynolds

I've been reading Patrick Stewart's memoirs, Making It So: A Memoir and learned that he was in a couple of BBC adaptions in the 70's before his more famous roles in Dune and Star Trek. One is North and South, which I read last year. Second hand DVDs are en route.

The other is called "I, Claudius" and is based on the Robert Graves' novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God. I've been meaning to read these for years so I went ahead and bought them both and will hunt down the DVDs once I have.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Secret History
White Nights (although it's still on it's way to my house)