Pick-a-Shelf discussion

October Shelf is classics

What did you read?
Would you recommend it as a 'must-read'?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2 stars

Not for me. I didn't get into the story or enjoy the writing so I just ended up skimming through. I couldn't even tell you what happened (were they really on a boat?). Maybe if i had tried harder i would have enjoyed it. There were some good moments. Maybe i should watch the movie.

Read for bookopoly
I nominate cats

The movie is great, Meg.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
4 stars

Victorian literature is hit and miss for me, but I enjoyed this story. Victorian morality was prevalent but the actual story of a woman's escape from an abusive marriage in a time where divorce was not legal kept me up late at night to finish. I read this book for Victober 2021.

Are people nominating lists from Goodreads lists or are there separate lists for Pick-A-Shelf?

Martha wrote: "...Are people nominating lists from Goodreads lists or are there separate lists for Pick-A-Shelf?"

We nominate from Goodreads' shelves (created by the site with what all the users add to their own shelves).

You can check them by typing:

"https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/" + the name of the shelf (using a "-" if the name has more than one word, as in new-releases, for example).

Shelves are also visible from each book, on the right (click Top Shelves).

The shelf has to have at least 1000 books inside so that there are enough books to choose from.

Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
3.5 stars

It's a bit of stretch to call this a classic, since it was written in my lifetime, but I guess that's getting longer and longer :D. 70 other people have shelved it as classic. It's the first book in a cult fave series so I suppose that's why.
In this graphic novel, the Sandman, a sort of God of dreams is imprisoned, and tries to regain his power. This was a reread, because I wanted to continue the series, but i couldn't remember a single thing from this first volume. I remember being confused last time, and i think i still am, but hopefully more will become clear as i go on with the next instalment. I liked the story but some parts were a bit too gross /gory for me. This is compounded by the fact that I don't particularly like the art style.

Read for Lets Book It and Seriously Serial
I nominate chick lit

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
4 stars

This is the story of Macon Dead Jr known as Milkman, the son of a property developer in the town of Mercy, Michigan. While his mother's position is established by her being the only child of the first black doctor in the town, his father and aunt Pilate have a more shadowy background with roots in Virginia. Macon is pulled in many directions by different family members and his best friend, Guitar, with magic also playing a strong part in his life.

I think 4 stars is the most I would ever give a book with magical realism. In this one, the magical elements started off very much in the background and grew as the book went along, which worked for me. My sympathies shifted from character to character, sometimes for Macon and sometimes against, and this helped to create a sense of many layers to the story.

This book didn't fit any of my Pick-A-Shelf challenges :(

I read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas rounded down to 4 stars

Teetering at 4.5 stars

Evidently I didn't write a review when I reread this four years ago and I am very short on time today. Suffice it to say that this is the third time I have read it. There are many parts of this I love, but since there are a few parts that drag, it's 4 stars for me again. And by drag, I don't mean because if the many words used because this was written as a serial and Dumas was paid by the word, although a fe times that's it, but some scenes are rather boring for me even if they are important to the book as a while. One of the great things about a book this long is that there is plenty to forget so that after four years even though I knew all of the main things, I had forgotten many of the fabulous details.


I nominate Thought Provoking

As You Like It by William Shakespeare, 3 ½ stars.

What can you say when you read Shakespeare? Wonderful as ever, although a little less so than other plays. I had never read this one and I'm glad that I did, I enjoyed it a lot. By the way, this is where the famous lines "All the world's a stage etc." come from, I didn't know that.

I nominate short books.

Karin wrote: "I read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas rounded down to 4 stars

Teetering at 4.5 stars

Evidently I didn't write a review when I reread this four years ago ..."

this is my favourite book of all time i don't think it will ever be surpassed

Well, imagine my surprise today when I finished The Murder on the Links: A Hercule Poirot Mystery to find it listed as a classic! Somehow, that is not how I think of even the older mysteries that I read, although it is a category I would put Agatha Christie as a writer into.

I thought I had read all the mysteries she wrote, but that lady was prolific and I still find a new to me one.

I read this as an ebook from my local library. The back of the book had short notes from Dame Agatha herself about Hercule Poirot's creation and other things. Very interesting.

BTW, the story was a good one..and got 4* from me.

I nominate 20th Century.

I read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Finished: 10/21/21
Rating: 5 stars

I listened to this on audiobook. It was really a fun listen. It was narrated well by Scarlett Johansson.

We all know the basic story from the Disney Classic but this was a bit different from the book. The basics were similar and felt fun to listen to the original inspirations for the movie.

I used in: Bookolopy
I nominate: Gothic

I read The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens ★★★★

I always enjoy Dickens though at times, I get really frustrated at the portrayal of women but otherwise, I do like his prose and his insight into humanity.

I read Mrs Dalloway I had even purchased this.

It really did nothing for me it needs chapters and something to make the narrative more interesting. It was more of a stream of consciousness than a novel

I nominate https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/... Japan
sorry pretty links are beyond me

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers - 3 stars

Fourth instalment in the Lord Peter Wimsey series. I iked the three previous ones better, but this was still a god read. I'm totally in love with Lord Peter Wimsey as a character. The plot is rather simple until half of the book: a man and a woman die almost at the same time, they were brother and sister and there's a matter of the will providing differently to the heirs if the brother should die before or after the sister. After a while the plot thickens and gets rather more interesting. A rather nice read, just not stellar.

Used for Bookopoly and Trim 2020-2021.

I nominate heartwarming.

I read Oliver Twist and gave it 5*. It was such a dreary start of a story that I despaired of making headway, but the story and characters quickly got my interest and I found myself eager to read. Definitely a classic in the real since of the word!

I nominate Victorian Books

I read The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy and gave it 4 stars. It's like an adventure and a Regency romance in one. It's set in 1792 Britain and France.

No nomination :)

I read A Study in Scarlet [24-oct-2021] ★★

This book wasn't more me. I thought Sherlock was a smart but strange man. I liked the first part, but thought the second part was weird. It felt like a totally different story. Some parts of the book were very boring. I won't be continuing the series.

Used for:
Seriously Serial
Let's book it october

I'd like to nominate: winter

LynnB wrote: "I read The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy and gave it 4 stars. It's like an adventure and a Regency romance in one. It's set in 1792 Britain and France...."

Aaah, my first book love 😍

I'm glad you enjoyed it, LynnB, such a romp of a read 😁

Lusie wrote: "I read A Study in Scarlet [24-oct-2021] ★★

This book wasn't more me. I thought Sherlock was a smart but strange man. I liked the first part, but thought the second part was weird. It..."

oh he's definitely strange! I can't remember the whole book -just the mystery really so can't comment on whether first & second parts feel different...

Tien wrote: "Lusie wrote: "I read A Study in Scarlet [24-oct-2021] ★★

This book wasn't more me. I thought Sherlock was a smart but strange man. I liked the first part, but thought the second part..."

They do feel very different. The first part is more focussed on getting to know Sherlock and the mystery, while the second part is more about the background story of the killer

The Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat - 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)

I recently read a review by a GR reader whose tastes are very similar to mine, and she was very impressed by this book, so I decided to give it a try. It's a vampire novel without bloodsucking.

Harriet has just come to Europe from the West Indies, where she had spent 10 years in a convent, much to her chagrin. She's a young, rich lady of 21 and she wants to see the world, meet princes and dukes, and most of all, find new friends. She's passionate and wild and immediately forms strong bonds with all the people she likes. And she inadvertently sucks the life and energy out of them.

(view spoiler)[For the whole book, I hoped against all hope for a happy ending, but Marryat would have none of it. The ending made sense and it was perfect in itself, but I was very sad. (hide spoiler)]

But that's not all there is to it: there's also talk about racism (warning: this book comes across as very racist, but bear in mind it was written in 1897), the role of women in society, superstition. It has many layers if one wants to find them out. If not, you can just enjoy the story and the great writing.

*

Used for Bookopoly and Just Book It. I nominate victorian.

I read Beloved. It's a book I've felt I needed to read for a long time. It was difficult for me, not just because of the atrocities of slavery that were portrayed with such visceral feeling, but also because of the magical-realistic nature of the overarching plot-line. I never did feel like I totally got my head around some aspects of that.

Nevertheless, I had to give it 5 stars. Morrison's beautiful lyrical writing style contrasts so sharply with some of the terrible things the characters described remembering or had to live through during the book. Yet it was down-to-earth as well, not flowery. And the depiction of main characters was compelling, to say the least.

I hadn't realized this was the first of a trilogy. I definitely need to follow up with the others when I can.

Lusie wrote: "I read A Study in Scarlet [24-oct-2021] ★★

This book wasn't more me. I liked the first part, but thought the second part was weird. It felt like a totally different story. Some parts of the book were very boring. I won't be continuing the series.."

I totally agree that this book is weird and boring in the second part! But none of the other Sherlock Holmes books are like this. I think Doyle learned to do better. So if you liked the first part, I hope you might consider reading some others in the series some time ;)

My review of A Study in Scarlet from 2015:
I'm not going to rate this one because the beginning is wonderful - it's the first ever Sherlock Holmes story, so we have the meeting of Holmes and Watson, and their arrangement to share "rooms" - but before the half way point, it goes completely off the rails into a long back story about polygamous Mormons in Utah, and never recovers.

I read The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien. ★★★★


I'm not sure how I missed this book as a child, but I did! I loved the reluctant Bilbo, Gandalf, and all the other characters in the story. We need more heroes in the world like Bilbo!

I nominate strong-women.

I reread Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu which is one of my favorite spooky short stories. Still think it's 5 stars.

I nominate dark academia.