Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

From the Library Journal, 1915:
Ruby Patience Pegan, 1906, is studying in
the University of Denver.

I found a used book store (the 2nd largest in our state) in our neighboring city. So, of course, I had to browse through it. This is what I left with: Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, My Century by Günter Grass, The Jungle Books, The Rotters' Club by Jonathan Coe, The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, and The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse. They are all books I've wanted to read for a long time but I think I will start with The Rotters' Club since there is a 3rd book in the series that just came out in August. I still need to read the first two!

Wow what a haul Pam! Im rather jealous!

I read Ivanhoe in ninth grade, about a hundred years or so ago, and remember really liking it. I have recently had a hankering to read it again to see if like it as much or better now. I can't read the chunksters anymore - I fall asleep a paragraph in so it takes too long to get through a long book - took me all of 2018 to read War and Peace! - so I ordered the MP3, Ivanhoe read by Michael Page. And while I was ordering, I also purchased Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell, read by David Rintoul, and Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset read by Erin Bennett.

I have managed to listen to all three of them this year (over 70 hours of listening!) and l loved all three. I will follow Michael Page and David Rintoul anywhere as narrators. Erin Bennett, not so much, but what a great story Kristin Lavransdatter is!

Karen
I would find it hard to listen to a Narrator that I did not care for from the get go.

Do you listen to them in the car or?

Lesle wrote: "Well at first I thought Steinbeck himself but the PP put a wrench in things!

For my friends retirement I purchased her a 1969 edition that has this cover b..."

That is the world's best gift! Grapes of Wrath is my all-time favorite book.

I have seen the movie with Henry Fonda. Have the book, have yet to read it. Is on my TBR Pile!

I've recently added two classics to my bookshelf:
David Copperfield in the Barnes and Noble edition which I like.
Dracula in an edition where the foreword is written by Elizabeth Kostova. This is a book for my IRL (In Real Life) book club. It's a reread for me and I'm looking forward to it.

Lesle wrote: "I have seen the movie with Peter Fonda. "

I can tell you are younger than me when you mistakenly refer to Peter instead of Henry. Both Peter and Jane have kids that are actors too. Its probably about time for the 4th generation of Fondas to become actors.

I must have him on my mind since he just recently passed.

You might be right, I have 8 years before SSN retirement (not OPERS, I think I would be 79 for full benefits!), unless I win the lottery I never play! lol

Just added a few great classics to my library: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The War of the Worlds, and The Secret Garden, Utopia. B&N just had a sale on classics, $5 each.

Karima
Some really nice choices.

Bunch of (mostly) sci-fi books.

One of them is Isaac Asimov Fantastic Voyage.

Last week had lunch with a friend in Amsterdam near the second hand book market by the university. It wasn't as full as in high summer but did find a copy of The Old Man and the Sea , Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, Robinson Crusoe. Afterwards to the bookstore and added Breakfast at Tiffany's & Other Voices, Other Rooms: Two Novels and The Door into Summer. Plenty of reading this month :-)

Karima wrote: "Just added a few great classics to my library: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The War of the Worlds, and The Secret Garden, Utopia. B&N just had a sale on classics, $5 each."


Nice list. I'm listening to the Secret Garden now. Had seen the film years ago and been wanting to read the book. Enjoying it so far.

Now that the wet fall weather has arrived, I've exchanged my outdoor biking to indoor rowing. Instead of listening to music I've downloaded a list of classic books (decision inspired by this group haha). First 'book' is The Secret Garden. Does audiobooks count towards the challenges?

Alicia wrote: "Bunch of (mostly) sci-fi books.

One of them is Isaac Asimov Fantastic Voyage."


One of my brother's favourite. I recently added The Door into Summer because it sounded interesting. Have you read any books of Robert A. Heinlein?

Mikiko wrote: "Now that the wet fall weather has arrived, I've exchanged my outdoor biking to indoor rowing. Instead of listening to music I've downloaded a list of classic books (decision inspired by this group ..."

It sure does Mikiko! I love the Secret Garden!

Mikiko - The Door into Summer sounds really interesting plus I haven’t read anything by Heinlein so I added it to my 2020 TBR. Thanks for the recommendation!

Pam wrote: "Mikiko - The Door into Summer sounds really interesting plus I haven’t read anything by Heinlein so I added it to my 2020 TBR. Thanks for the recommendation!"

Always happy to help someone add to their TBR :-)

Lesle wrote: "Karen
I would find it hard to listen to a Narrator that I did not care for from the get go.

Do you listen to them in the car or?"

Yes - I only listen to audio in the car. I get too distracted if I try to listen at home. Or I fall asleep! She wasn't bad - I've listened to bad! - she was just very flat. Once I get used to a narrator I can overlook a lot if the story is good. And I bought the audio so I felt I had to listen to it! :)

Mikiko wrote: "Pam wrote: "Mikiko - The Door into Summer sounds really interesting plus I haven’t read anything by Heinlein so I added it to my 2020 TBR. Thanks for the recommendation!"

Always happy to help some..."

You’ve helped me too, Mikiko - I hadn’t heard of this book but the Amazon preview looks good so it’s on my wish list now. Thank you.

I actually picked it The Door into Summer for the book challenge (sci-fi) because I wanted to read an 'unfamiliar' author to me and this had time travel and a cat which sounded like an interesting combination.

I was at a used book sale this morning and got two books that I have been looking for, L'Écume des jours and Cheaper by the Dozen, for one dollar each.

Thats awesome since Cheaper by the Dozen is on our list for next year!

I was happy to get it. It looks like a fun book.

Received today:
Camilla by Fanny Burney; and,
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.
expecting another dozen or so during the next few weeks.

Nice additions to the library Gilbert!

A tad envious, I have neither of those!
Camilla is on my wish list but will ad Master and Commander!
Thanks for the reminder :)

Gilbert wrote: "Received today:
Camilla by Fanny Burney; and,
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.
expecting another dozen or so during the next few weeks."

Wonderful!
I enjoyed watching the movie years ago and thought about reading the books until I saw that there were about 20 or so in the series. hmmm, a lot of time and money. Though, I think it would be worth it. Especially the beautiful boxed set.
So like Lesle, I'm a bit envious.

Mikiko wrote: "books until I saw that there were about 20 or so in the series."

I saw that too! Wow!

Goodreads lists the publication date of Master and Commander as 1970. Wikipedia lists 1970 as the British publication date and 1969 as the American publication date. So Americans can read it in this group now, but Brits have to wait until January :)

Waiting for C.S. Forester's "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower", then will read this with "Master and Commander" and Frederick Marryat's "Mr. Midshipman Easy". I need a change of pace.

Just received Emile Zola's "The Belly of the Beast", the third of his "Rougon - Macquart" 20 volume series.

Gilbert wrote: "Waiting for C.S. Forester's "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower", then will read this with "Master and Commander" and Frederick Marryat's "Mr. Midshipman Easy". I need a change of pace.

Just received Emile..."

I sense a nautical theme here.

Brian wrote: "Goodreads lists the publication date of Master and Commander as 1970. Wikipedia lists 1970 as the British publication date and 1969 as the American publication date. So Americans can r..."

Its all in the details. Good to know.

John wrote: "Lesle wrote: "For my friends retirement I purchased her a 1969 edition that has this cover but comes with an open ended box, it is in beautiful shape. The e..."

Hi John sorry I had my computer taken the day you replied to me and didn't get a computer to use for a bit (a very old and slow computer) and only found this message today. I've got some ideas, and will look to see if i can decipher it with the help of ye olde internet.

JOHN! It says:

Lakeside On Lake Erie!

Also the first line -

September 1, 1939

is the title of a poem by W. H. Auden


I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism's face
And the international wrong.

Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.

The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
"I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,"
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

Thanks for the poem, Jazzy. 1939 was a big year.

Rosemarie wrote: "Thanks for the poem, Jazzy. 1939 was a big year."

Well, it was the start of World War II.

A couple of years ago I went to Westerplatte and saw the first Polish building bombed by the Germans which was the start of the war. There is an outdoor memorial museum, all very solemn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...

Received last evening:
The Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey; and,
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

Great books, Gilbert!

I got some second-hand Everyman's Pocket Books of short stories by various authors this past week:

Paris Stories
Berlin Stories
Russian Stories
Love Stories
Cat Stories
Horse Stories

I ordered Dog Stories too, but it was out of stock and they refunded my money. :)

Both good choices, Gilbert.

Those look like fun reads, Jazzy.

The whole collection of the Adventures of Tintin. 😊

Happy reading, Piyangie! 👍

Piyangie wrote: "The whole collection of the Adventures of Tintin. 😊"
My favourites!!
Did they include Tintin in the Congo too?
It was missing from my collection so I had to get it elsewhere.

Just received:
Mr Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester;
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell; and,
Valentine by George Sand.
Added to my TBR pile.

Brian or ?

Have any of you read all 3 books in the Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset series? I found the set at our Twig Bookstore. I didn't get the first one as I already have it plus mine was in better shape.

They are good, Lesle.

I have read all three. I know Tracey has read all three and Kathy has read at least two. I think it is important to read the Tiina Nunnally translation, as explained in a Wikipedia article:

"Kristin Lavransdatter was originally translated into English by Charles Archer and J.S. Scott in the 1920s. The choice of archaic and stilted English phrasing ("thee", "I trow", "methinks" etc.), intended to reflect the 14th-century setting of the novel is considered by critics today to cloud Undset's clear prose, rendering it unnecessarily formal and clumsy. In some instances, Archer's choices are deliberate reflections on the original language (for example 'I trow' adopted from the Norwegian 'tror' meaning "to believe"). With this in mind, some may find the translation genuine, rather than needlessly archaic. It was also criticized for expurgations, as some scenes, particularly sexually explicit ones, had been omitted or edited. The quality and difficulty of the translation therefore impeded the adoption of Kristin Lavransdatter into standard literature of the English-speaking world.

A new and complete translation by Tiina Nunnally was released by Penguin Classics in 2005, and is considered by many critics to be the superior of the two, particularly for its clarity, reflective of Undset's "straightforward, almost plain style." For her translation of the third book, Korset (The Cross), Nunnally was awarded the PEN Translation Prize in 2001."

I thought the Nunnally translation was wonderful - very crisp and clear. The idea of the thee's and thou's but especially the expurgations didn't seem attractive to me. However, I think Tracey read the Archer translation and still loved it. I decided that there didn't seem to be much talk about Kristin Lavransdatter as a must-read until the Nunnally translation came out, so I decided that was the one to try.

I had a gig this morning in Gateshead across the river, i do go there often but not to the charity shops, so I got off the bus on the way back to nip in and have a cheeky deeks and got a stack of classics for 50p each! I've already read/owned some but they were in unread condition and would make great gifts, so I got:

A Clockwork Orange (1962) - Anthony Burgess

A Night to Remember (1956) - Walter Lord

A Passage to India (1924) - E.M. Forster

Bonjour Tristesse (1954) - Françoise Sagan

Death In Venice And Other Stories (1912) - Thomas Mann

Franny and Zooey (1961) - J.D. Salinger

Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) - D.H. Lawrence

On the Road (1957) - Jack Kerouac

One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) - Gabriel García Márquez

The Godfather (1969) - Mario Puzo

The Heart of the Matter (1948) - Graham Greene

To the Lighthouse (1927) - Virginia Woolf

What a great list, Jazzy!