Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Let this serve as my introduction to the group. I'm a pediatrician and I read to keep myself sane.
This is my planned 2015 challenge:

Old School:
1. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville 3 Jan 2015
2. King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard 2 Jan 2015
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 24 Feb 2015

New School:
4. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (Currently reading)
5. I, Claudius by Robert Graves 21 Jan 2015
6. American Gods by Neil Gaiman 7 March 2015

Pick 6:
7. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri 8 Jan 2015
8. Euphoria by Lily King 11 Jan 2015
9. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 5 Jan 2015
10. Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe 25 Mar 2015
11. The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
12. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin 31 Jan 2015

Alternates:
1. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak 3 May 2015
2. The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O'Brian 8 March 2015

You have some goodies! I did hate Moby Dick but Don Quixote was fun. I'm on my phone and need to look again so there will be a second post. :)

I've wanted to read Gravity's Rainbow and I have The Left Hand is Darkness starting at me and waiting. Definitely this year. Doctor Zhivago is on my challenge and American Gods is loads of fun and an amazing book! Good stuff.

Sarah wrote: "I've wanted to read Gravity's Rainbow and I have The Left Hand is Darkness starting at me and waiting. Definitely this year. Doctor Zhivago is on my challenge and American Gods is loads of fun and ..."

I think Moby-Dick may indeed be a slog (and this won't be my first attempt), but it is supposed to be a challenge... I've only heard good things about Don Quixote and American Gods - hopefully they will help motivate me through M-D. Anything you'd substitute?

Very interesting choices, I´m looking forward to hearing what you think about them!

I must admit that I've only read The Left Hand of Darkness from your list. But it's a very good book and I recommend that you read it.

Have you seen the mini-series I, Claudius? It's excellent. I highly recco.

I honestly couldn't get through Moby Dick. Maybe I should try again. As for substitutions, it's hard to say. The only one that comes to mind, simply because I want to read it, is Light in August by William Faulkner. It's really hard to replace a book. I was very firm on my entire list and I don't think I would have replaced anything. There are quite a few of us reading Catch 22.

I'll be curious to see your opinions as you go through these. I'm not familiar with some of them.

Oh what an interesting looking list. I have read none of them, but Don Quixote is one I'll be tackling next year as well.

I read Catch-22 earlier this year. Just loaned my copy of The House of God (The medical industry equivalent) and may re-read it when it returns.

I just realized that the ones I suggested are all New School. They were at the front of my mind. Old school is more difficult and I tend to go with Dickens, like A Tale of Two Cities or Bleak House. The thing is, I don't know if it's worth changing it out. Reading Moby Dick seems like a huge accomplishment and it's definitely a challenge.

I read Moby Dick.It was my first ever classic and I hated it.It had too many digressions.

Don Quixote is on my shelf.It looks promising.

Gravity Rainbow and I Claudius look very daunting.I wonder if I'll ever read them one day.

On the other hand,I really want to read Interpreter of Maladies and Arrow of God.By the way,shouldn't we read Achebe's books in order? I know Things Fall Apart,No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God form a sort of trilogy.

And The Left Hand of Darkness is good I think.LeGuin was recently among the favourites to win the Nobel Prize.

Finally,I might read Doctor Zhivago one day.The fact that it is about romance is what is keeping me away from it.

While they are only weakly connected, you should certainly read them in order, or at least start with Things Fall Apart as it is the clearest masterpiece (it was one off my favorites this year)
I'm a little worried about Gravity's Rainbow, as it does look daunting.

Kent wrote: "While they are only weakly connected, you should certainly read them in order, or at least start with Things Fall Apart as it is the clearest masterpiece (it was one off my favorites this year)
I'm..."
Yep,I read Things Fall Apart and simply adored it.I was just telling you lest you were unaware of the trilogy! ;)

I've read one Pynchon book back before I knew he was daunting. It annoyed me but that's because it was about the 70's, free love, and a lot of getting high while he was a P.I. supposedly investigating something. The character was so unfocused that he bugged me. The book, however, was not that difficult. I bet will be fun. And you'll have bragging rights for finishing it. :)

I liked the Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series back in high school. I've had his Shadowmarch series sitting on my bookshelf for years, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I told myself I'd finally read it this year but somehow I doubt I can finish all 3,000 pages in 3 days.

Love American Gods too.

King Soloman's Mines is a quick, fun adventure book, though, so hopefully it'll balance out some of the longer books.

I just started "King Solomon's mines" (litaraly just started it) and am enjoying it. Anything by Neil Gaiman is amaizing.
And Left hand of darkness has been on my shelf for ages!

Welcome Kent, I'm glad to learn you are in the health care business and not the bank robbing business. Your photo tends to lean both ways. I agree with several other posts, your list is outstanding. I have read three Moby-Dick, The Poisonwood Bible, and Doctor Zhivago. I hate to be negative, but include me in the list of people who did not like Moby-Dick. Some of the best lines ever written come from that book and if it had been edited down to about 300 pages rather than 600+ it would have been great. I enjoyed Kingsolver's writing better than the book, it is still an intriguing read. As for Doctor Zhivago, if you have seen and liked the movie I am sure you will love the book.

Several others on your list are on my TBR. I became a fan of Neil Gaiman earlier this year reading Neverwhere, American Gods is defiantly a book I hope to get to soon. Gravity's Rainbow, I, Claudius, and King Solomon's Mines are all books I could start tomorrow.

One question if you have an answer. The Left Hand of Darkness is book #4 of a series. I have heard good things about this book but have always wondered, to enjoy it do I have to start at book number one of the series?

Enjoy your challenge and again welcome.

I remember seeing a post by le Guin saying that her Hainish cycle novels are connected only by being set in the same universe, and are otherwise stand alone (it may actually have been somewhere else on this site). I have read one, The Dispossessed, already and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Good list. I have only read The Poisonwood Bible. Really good book.

Kent wrote: "I remember seeing a post by le Guin saying that her Hainish cycle novels are connected only by being set in the same universe, and are otherwise stand alone (it may actually have been somewhere els..."

Thanks for the information. That moves it from a book "I would like to read, but probably never will" to a "I want to read this book someday" So many books and never enough time.

The Dispossessed is number 5 so that probably means there isn't a loss of meaning if you don't read them in order. I'm about to read numbers 1-3, which are really all short stories. If I get to it soon I'll let you guys know if it's important. I really doubt it. One of my groups has read 4-6 but skipped 1-3.

Great choices. I'm going to tackle Gravity's Rainbow one of these days.

Sarah wrote: "You have some goodies! I did hate Moby Dick but Don Quixote was fun. I'm on my phone and need to look again so there will be a second post. :)"

Any suggestions on a translation for Don Quixote?

The Penguin Classics one. Of the people that had whatever Barnes & Noble has, all of us seem to have struggled. The Penguin one seems to have been considerably easier and more fun.

I'm reading Don Quixote too (not yet, but soon) though I have the Wordsworth Classics edition. Not sure if it's the same as either the Penguin or Barnes and Noble editions, or completely different. It's confusing choosing translations for these old books!

It will be different to the Penguin one. Penguin translations are generally pretty good, although they can sometimes be more workmanlike than inspired. They would usually be my first choice if I was reading something in a language I don't read.

It took nearly all of February, but I finally finished Don Quixote. It was fun, and I enjoyed the commentary on authorship in the 2nd book a lot.

So... Gravity's Rainbow might be the end of me...
American Gods, however, is off to a great start - I'm really going to enjoy this.
So while I'm aware adding Euphoria was something of a stretch, it has been the best thing I've read so far on the list.
Don Quixote was also great, just kept on going rather longer than I'd have liked.
I took a break from my list to read The Narrow Road to the Deep North this week - which you should be adding to your list of books to read right now if you haven't already!

Kainzow wrote: "I read Moby Dick.It was my first ever classic and I hated it.It had too many digressions.

Don Quixote is on my shelf.It looks promising.

Gravity Rainbow and I Claudius look very daunting.I wonder..."

I have to agree about MD. I wanted to like that book, but at least, unlike previous attempts, I managed to finish it.

Definately get to Don Quixote, really fun and just endlessly surprising given the time for which it was written.

I, Claudius was also interesting and worth reading, although I'm not so sure I'll get around to the sequel anytime in the foreseeable future.

Ursula K. Le Guin is great, and The Left Hand of Darkness did not disappoint. I still think The Dispossessed and A Wizard of Earthsea are her best, however.

You're doing amazingly well!

I have an unrelated question. Did Quixote have anything in it about either an echo or the Narcissus myth? These seem to be colliding in my head and I can't remember why.

Sarah wrote: "You're doing amazingly well!

I have an unrelated question. Did Quixote have anything in it about either an echo or the Narcissus myth? These seem to be colliding in my head and I can't remember why."

Don Quixote compares Dulcinea to Echo in chapter 26.

You are so awesome! Not to get over enthusiastic or anything. This has been really bugging me. Thanks!

Just finished American Gods. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I didn't quite feel like it made 5 stars, may be 4.5. Working nights so I don't think I'll head back into Gravity's Rainbow just yet... (maybe I'm just scared of it...)

Kent wrote: "Just finished American Gods. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I didn't quite feel like it made 5 stars, may be 4.5. Working nights so I don't think I'll head back into [book:Gravity's Rainb..."

I would really like to read American Gods with one of my groups right now, but I don't think I have the time. Maybe I'll try to fit in a few pages a day and see how that goes. Glad to see that you enjoyed it.

I'm glad you liked American Gods. That's a fun one. I'm actually rereading this year as well.

Just finished Arrow of God. I really enjoyed this book. I felt it was a lot more moving than the second in the trilogy, but not quite as impactful as Things Fall Apart. This may be the most approachable book though. I wish it was twice as long though, I could have enjoyed the story for quite a while longer.

I would like to read the second and third books in that trilogy eventually, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. You are getting close to completing your challenge already! :-)

It seems I have picked a poor translation for Doctor Zhivago. This is really disappointing. I should have done my homework better. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010...

I thought there was only one available these days?

Interesting article, Kent, and good to know. I plan on reading DZ very soon and I will keep this in mind when buying my book.

Yeah Sarah, it looks like you would have to track down a copy of the older edition to read the one suggested by the article (H&H) as I can only find V&P translation in print.

Interesting. Usually P&V's translations are really highly regarded. And this is a relatively recent translation, too, so you can't blame it on them being inexperienced.

That's good to know, I'll make a note of which translation to read when I get to it.

I was going tho borrow it from the library but I'm not sure what they have. Thanks for the info.

Just checked my library and they have the H&H translation so I will read their copy.

Some further research for those of you wanting to listen to an audiobook. So only the V&P translation is available as an audiobook in the US, however you can still get an H&H translation (read by Philip Madoc) if you live in say the UK or Australia. Now I was about 60% through the V&P translation and have to decide to go back and start over again or not...

Are you enjoying the V&P translation? If so, I'd stick with it at 60% through. I think I'd only swap now if I really wasn't liking it.

I backed up and switched translations. H&H really is better. I finished H&H today

Good to know that you agreed with the article. I'll definitely make sure I read the H&H version.