The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Eileen, the first Dune was fantastic! I read the next two, which were fortunately short and thought the second was just okay and the third was a mess! They were also disappointing in other ways.
I agree with your husband.

Christine wrote: "Finished The Pearl by John Steinbeck and found my copy of East of Eden by the same author. I bought this book years ago when Oprah had it as her bookclub pick. Time to tackle it 10-20 pages at a ti..."

I was thinking about reading East of Eden this month too. It's going to be one of my 2019 challenges for medium sized books, so knowing you are reading it will give me that extra incentive!

Rosemarie wrote: "Eileen, the first Dune was fantastic! I read the next two, which were fortunately short and thought the second was just okay and the third was a mess! They were also disappointing in other ways.
I agree with your husband."

I don't feel so bad about not having the rest of the series on my TBR shelf then!

Eileen wrote: "Rosemarie wrote: "Eileen, the first Dune was fantastic! I read the next two, which were fortunately short and thought the second was just okay and the third was a mess! They were also disappointing..."

I do have them on my TBR but may skip them….

I read Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather. It seemed less interesting than some of her other books, but suddenly it changed completely. I think she just spent too long setting up the background, so I’m glad I persevered with it.

I also read The Last Dream of the Old Oak by Hans Christian Andersen which has beautiful descriptions. It’s only a short story, but I recommend it - it would be good for next month’s Christmas theme.

I read A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor by Truman Capote.
I have read A Christmas Memory a number of times.

I finally got around to listening to Camilla because of recommendations from you guys last month and I thought it was very good. Very creepy.

I am glad you enjoyed the stories you read, Trisha. I haven't heard of the Cather story, but I have read the Andersen story. I really like fairy tales.

Eileen, I never thought that I would like a creepy story, but now I do. I need to put that on my list.

It's a well-done audio drama, I think! But I'm also partial to David Tennant, who voices the doctor, lol.

David Tennant 🥰😻

I just finished rereading Le Barbier de Seville by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. It is a funny play.

Rosemarie wrote: "David Tennant 🥰😻"

Yes!!! 🥰😻🥰😻🥰😻

I'm going to start reading The Master and Margarita tomorrow to get another Russian Lit under my belt! I'm making some progress in Don Quixote and am about the 1/4 mark!

Rosemarie wrote: "I just finished rereading Le Barbier de Seville by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. It is a funny play."

Does that have anything to do with the opera?

The opera was based on this play.

So interesting! May have to check it out some day, although I don't usually like reading plays.

I read a collection of short stories: Lords of the Housetops: Thirteen Cat Tales by Balzac, Poe, Twain and others. Quite a mixture of styles - some very clever stories, some just adequate but also one that I thoroughly disliked due to cruelty.

Sonia wrote: "I have started Crime and Punishment. It's heavy, but hopefully worth the concentration in the end."

I was in a really weird mood when I read Crime and Punishment several years ago and though I know it's supposed to be very serious the main character just made me laugh my head off. He was so over the top in his paranoia that I couldn't take it seriously. Perhaps it was the translation I read? I LOVE Dostoevsky (Brothers Karamazov is my favorite) and I liked this one. But I still look at it as a comedy.

I have problems. :P

Alicia, Brothers Karamazov is my favourite too.

I just finished The Man of Feeling by Henry MacKenzie. It was written in 1771 and reminded me slightly of The Sorrows of Young Werther, since the main character was very emotional. It was an odd read.

I read A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy, one of his books that I hadn’t read before. It started very slowly but gradually improved. It was ok though I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of his other books.

I read the short story The Glamour Of The Snow by Algernon Blackwood. I thought it was one of the best of his stories that I have read as his descriptions created a beautiful setting for a clever story.

That was the first Blackwood story I read, Trisha--and I was converted.

Rosemarie wrote: "That was the first Blackwood story I read, Trisha--and I was converted."

Interesting! I can’t remember which I read first. He wrote such a variety, some stories that are wonderful but a few that I haven’t enjoyed at all. I never know what to expect when I start reading his work.

I finished New Grub Street by George Gissing. It wasn't a cheerful work but it was worth reading since it is an excellent example of 19th century realism.

Rosemarie wrote: "I finished New Grub Street by George Gissing. It wasn't a cheerful work but it was worth reading since it is an excellent example of 19th century realism."

Thank you for the recommendation, Rosemarie. I hadn’t noticed this on the Guardian list. The preview looks interesting so I just downloaded a copy.

It's a long book but worth reading. The mood is halfway between George Eliot and Thomas Hardy, leaning more to Hardy. The setting is London.

I read The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon today. It was interesting though fairly repetitive.

I read The Listener by Algernon Blackwood. Beautifully written with a great atmosphere, I almost gave this 5 stars. But I was disappointed by the reason given at the end for all that had happened, it was a real let-down.

I am reading the Algernon Blackwood collection called The Listener And Other Stories and have read four of the stories so far, including The Willows, which was really eerie.

I read The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. I enjoyed it.

That's my favourite Sherlock Holmes novel, Trisha.

Oh I love that Sherlock Holmes novel too!

I'm not doing that well with this month's genre, or at least I'm moving very slowly through the classics. I just finished my third one, If Beale Street Could Talk, which is my first book by Baldwin. But it won't be my last. It was very gripping and I think I need to check out some more of his books. I'm just over 1/3 of the way through Don Quixote and 13% of the way through the Master and the Margarita. I'm still hoping to finish Don Quixote by the end of the month but not sure if that will happen.

Don Quixote is a long one!

Ruth wrote: "The great thing about genres chosen is it gets us out of the box we tend to stay in. Classics are hard, hard."

I agree, Ruth. Eileen, you chose some difficult books that have slowed you down this month. I’m struggling to get through “Lucky Jim”, it’s very repetitive & feels endless. Yesterday I gave up & read something else to relieve the boredom!

Trisha, I gave up on Lucky Jim after two or three chapters, since I didn't think it was funny, and I couldn't relate to any of the characters.

My second classic for the month is The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. It is a fun read so far.

Eileen...good luck on finishing Don Quixote. It is slow going, but worth it.

I like The Moonstone. I have read it twice so far, but I am sure I will read it again.

Ruth wrote: "The great thing about genres chosen is it gets us out of the box we tend to stay in. Classics are hard, hard."

I totally agree. I discovered this group about a year ago and in that time I've read many books that I never thought I would and some of them even made it on my favorites list!

That's good to hear, Eileen! The same thing happened to me when I joined goodreads. I tried new genres and authors and found some new favourites. And also lots of like minded readers who enjoy talking about books.

Trisha wrote: "Eileen, you chose some difficult books that have slowed you down this month. I’m struggling to get through “Lucky Jim”, it’s very repetitive & feels endless. Yesterday I gave up & read something else to relieve the boredom!"

Don Quixote can be interesting and passages of it are definitely engrossing. But he goes on a lot of tangents that mean I need to regroup fairly often. I'm glad I'm making my way through the book but it's definitely taking me awhile! Besides that one I have one more longish (600+ pages) book I want to at least get started this month (Once and Future King) but that one will hopefully be easier for me--I remember liking it a lot as a kid. But I have a number of NetGalley and BookSiren ARCs I've been wanting to get through this month as well so that has slowed down my progress through the classics. But they do break up the long books nicely for me.

Taking a break from classics for a moment and re-reading Drums of Autumn probably just for today since I've probably read it 5 times already. It's JUST outside classics but I need a break from those for a bit. Give me a good old fashioned time travelling Scottish love story any day.

I take a break from 19th century novels occasionally. Sometimes I am just not in the mood for a Victorian novel.

Finished The Outsiders - this is one that I've heard about for sometime but never read. I thought it was pretty good.

I read Outsiders when I was really young (didn't see the movie, but my older sister did, so I read the book). I remember crying a lot, lol. But I liked it!

It was very sad - I don't think I've seen the movie but may have to find it on Netflix.

I didn't know that! That makes it even cooler!

There are a lot of famous young actors at the beginning of their careers in the movie version-Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise.

Yeah, but I was the biggest fan of C. Thomas Howell, who didn't really make it big, at least not like the others.