Reading the Classics discussion

Notre-Dame of Paris.

Good for you, Nathania. The Three Musketeers (and the other 4 novels that follow) is one of my favourite books of all time - I'd LOVE to be able to get the group to read it, but I fear it's too much fun ;)

Still on Little Dorritt ...

The Complete Stories of Truman Capote

I'm reading the Sun also Rises

Almost done with Little Dorrit...

Finishing up the Introduction to Heart of Darkness and the Congo Diary. You have to leave the Intro to last because it contains spoilers.

I recently started The Woman in White and love it so far. Not quite 100 pages in. I'm also about half way done with The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, but, in typical Hugo style, it does seem to drag a little bit in the boring parts and the fun parts seem to go by too quickly. Still, I love it so far.

Just re-read Katherine Paterson's Jacob Have I Loved, a Newbery winner I've been craving for a while. Still excellent. :D

Janet wrote: "After this I've got 2 Inspector Morse books to read by Colin Dexter."

I'm reading through all the Morse books. I think I might have 4-5 left.

I'm halfway through From the Terrace by John O'Hara. 981 pages...

Ijust got done with The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

New to the group and reading Lolita

Janet wrote: "The Woman in White is on my list about 2 books down the line.

I am about 12% into Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Supposed to be one of the earliest detec..."

I loved Bleak House! I could not put it down for the last three hundred pages or so. Definitely my favorite novel by Dickens and probably in my top five favorite novels overall.

I am reading outer dark

The Charterhouse of Parma. It is so boring....I'm lucky if I get through 10 pages per day. I will finish though, if it takes me the REST OF MY NATURAL LIFE.

i'm reading fahrenheit 451 :)

I'm just a few pages into 'To a Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf on recommendation by a GR member. The style and language are different from anything I've ever read before. Perhaps this is why I'm struggling to understand it. I reread a few pages and understood a little better, I think! I do hope that it becomes clearer as I don't want to give up on it. Thankful for the recommendation as I don't like to get stuck in a rut with reading the same types of books; always my default position.

Just started Wuthering Heights.

Samantha wrote: "Just started Wuthering Heights."

It's a great book, Samantha! I loved it! :-)

Nearly finished Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. loving the last part.

Masha wrote: "Samantha wrote: "Just started Wuthering Heights."

It's a great book, Samantha! I loved it! :-)"

I am enjoying it so far :)

Hi all. I've been in the group for a few months but have been quiet. I've enjoyed reading the discussions.

I'm reading Les Miserables for the Reading the Chunksters group. I recently finished Nicholas Nickleby for my IRL book club. On my own I'm reading Americanah and enjoying it very much.

My current non-fiction books are Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole and Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.

Started I, Claudius this week and am enjoying it muchly. It's slow going, though, because I want to have my teenagers read it with me so I keep stopping to look up things or write down notes!

Still haven't finished Fitzgerald's translation of The Aeneid -- I keep reading books I own instead of getting back to the library. May have to buy the thing to get it done!

I finished Oliver Twist yesterday and am reading Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and wow this lady can write.

I finished reading 1984 a couple of days ago, now I'm reading The Iliad. I just joined this group last week.

I'm reading Gravity's Rainbow

Sheryl wrote: "Started I, Claudius this week and am enjoying it muchly. It's slow going, though, because I want to have my teenagers read it with me so I keep stopping to look up things or write down notes!

I'm currently reading that
too. It is one of my first steps into Roman history and I really like it. It's well written and not nearly as annoying as other history fiction I read.

I debating on to build a fire or the happy prince to read next?
what do people think of these books?

The Happy Prince is beautiful, but WILL make you cry.

Actually, I was thinking of The Little Prince - but it doesn't matter, the Oscar Wilde stories will make you cry too (especially, for me, The Selfish Giant)

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

thanks for the imput

Regarding I, Claudius, Henry said:

It's well written and not nearly as annoying as other history fiction I read.

It is much better written than I expected. Going on the bits of the TV series I saw back in the day, I guess I expected it to have more of a "best seller" prose style, which I hate. Which maybe set my sights pretty low, but so far I think Graves' prose is lovely.

I read Genevieve Foster's Augustus Ceasar's World recently, which is an excellent history for older elementary or Jr. High kids; she was apparently not the Tacitus/rumor monger fan Graves was and it's hilarious to compare the two versions of the same events.

I'm currently about 25% through Flaubert's, "Bouvard and Pecuchet" and it's great. Like if Rabelais had written Waiting for Godot.

Currently reading Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South again. Watched the 2004 BBC series last weekend and thought I should take it up again. It's been a few years since I've last read it, but it is as beautiful as I remember.

Renate wrote: "Currently reading Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South again. Watched the 2004 BBC series last weekend and thought I should take it up again. It's been a few years since I've last read it, but it is a..."
My favorite novel. You learn more in every re-read. There are so many inter-woven subjects, and the character develop can be subtle to grasp the first time around. So much is going on without direct narrative explanation or dialogue between the main characters. You have to be alert to every act and blush to see what's really going on.

Renate wrote: "Currently reading Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South again. Watched the 2004 BBC series last weekend and thought I should take it up again. It's been a few years since I've last read it, but it is a..." Amazing book! One of my favorites. It keeps getting better with every new read. I love the romantic story between Margaret and John, but I also adore the social background of the book: Industrial revolution, strikes, South Vs North, employers Vs workers. I just wish there were a little less deaths in the book, but…oh well we can’t have it all! :)

Elsa wrote: "I love the romantic story between Margaret and John, but I also adore the social background of the book: Industrial revolution, strikes, South Vs North, employers Vs workers."

Yes, this novel has it all! You can learn so much from it. I think history-education should make more use of literature ;)

Trudy wrote: "You learn more in every re-read. There are so many inter-woven subjects, and the character develop can be subtle to grasp the first time around."

I absolutely agree! It's one of the things I love most about reading books in general.

build a fire

I have just begun 'Barchester Towers' by Trollope on a GR member's recommendation. Having watched 'Barchester Chronicles' as a TV series I was looking forward to this book. Trollope's writing is delicious!

I have now added 'Barnaby Rudge' by Dickens for the Pickwickian Club.

The Skin

Dracula, Jude the Obscure, Martin Chuzzlewit and the 'not Victorian' Don Quixote. Also Wodehouse's Summer Lightning.

I'm just read The Old Jest which I would recommend to anyone. It was a bit hard to find but was well worth the effort. A wonderful small book by one of the great Irish authors.

I'm also reading Dante's Inferno, but its a modern translation so it is a bit dry, although the story is engrossing nonetheless.

I finished Waterland by Graham Swift today and started Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I've been wanting to read for quite a long time.

Jessica said:
I'm also reading Dante's Inferno, but its a modern translation so it is a bit dry, although the story is engrossing nonetheless.

Which translation did you read, Jessica? I just finished Robert Fitzgerald's Aeneid, which I enjoyed considerable, and I'm hoping to get to Dante sometime this year as well, but haven't picked a translator yet.

Currently reading I, Claudius, which is entertaining thus far (I'm four or five chapters in).

Sheryl wrote: "Jessica said:
I'm also reading Dante's Inferno, but its a modern translation so it is a bit dry, although the story is engrossing nonetheless.

Which translation did you read, Jessica? I just fini..."

It's Dante's Inferno: In Modern English by Dante (obviously) and Douglas Neff. I thought I would try the straight up version first and then see if I could get through Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation. I love Longfellow poems and his version has some wonderful reviews.

I really enjoyed I, Claudius. I remember following it up by reading Suetonius' Twelve Emperors which made a nice contrast.

Renate wrote: "Elsa wrote: "I love the romantic story between Margaret and John, but I also adore the social background of the book: Industrial revolution, strikes, South Vs North, employers Vs workers."

Yes, th..."

This book has a tremendously well-rounded appeal. I even persuaded my 15 year old to read it last summer (he resisted my suggestion of Jane Eyre - too much romance.) Once I persuaded him it was about History he dived right into it without complaint. I even saw a quote from the book on his computer later.

We read Silas Marner when we discussed the Industrial Revolution in school, but I think this book is an even better exposure to the time.

Jessica wrote: "Renate wrote: "Elsa wrote: "I love the romantic story between Margaret and John, but I also adore the social background of the book: Industrial revolution, strikes, South Vs North, employers Vs wor..."

Silas Marner? I don't recall the Industrial Revolution even being a part of the plot, themes, or characters' lives.
North and South deftly combines an intelligent look at the social and economic turmoil of the advancing Industrial Age, while at the same time telling a poignant love story. It's my favorite romance AND my favorite voice of hope for civilization from a Victorian author. :)

Trudy wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Renate wrote: "Elsa wrote: "I love the romantic story between Margaret and John, but I also adore the social background of the book: Industrial revolution, strikes, South Vs North, ..."

You're right it's not about the Industrial Revolution, but it was the book we read as a lead in to that whole evolution of British industry, i.e. the destruction of the rural cottage industry. So in my mind the two are inevitably linked.