Reading the Classics discussion

Right now I am currently reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I will be starting 1984 with this group as soon as I can get my hands on it. Luckily I read pretty quickly haha.

I read Classics because they are so much a part of our history and pop culture, but so few are familiar with the ORIGINAL. I am just as guilty as anyone else.

I recently finished Tarzan of the Apes.

It was nothing that I expected based on film and modern interpretations. Frankly, Tarzan is a superhero. It was a very fun read (Not what you anticipate from a 1912 print).

I just started The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan and I'm also reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

Cathérine wrote: "@laura haha yeah some of the books on there are definitley dissapointing + i think one day is turning out to be one of them. The help which i just finished is great however! i can definitley recomm..."

The Help is on my to-read list and I am glad you are recommending it because I have heard some say it is not that good.

Dolores wrote: "Cathérine wrote: "@laura haha yeah some of the books on there are definitley dissapointing + i think one day is turning out to be one of them. The help which i just finished is great however! i can..."

I read The Help and it was pretty good.

I just finished "North and South" by Elizabeth Gaskell and have started reading two books, "The Common Law", by Oliver Wendell Holmes, and "The Natural Law", by Heinrich A. Rommen.

I also have two anthology reads that I tend to forget about because I read portions of them in between other books: "Fairy & Folk Tales of Ireland", compiled by W. B. Yeats, and "Peasants and Other Stories", by Anton Chekhov.

I am reading War and Peace, and just finished Kolyma Tales. I started reading War and Peace in March, while I was taking several strenuous college courses (probably not the best time to start a 1500 page book!) so I'm only about 2/3 of the way through it. I almost abandoned it completely about a month ago because I became so engrossed in Kolyma Tales that I couldn't put it down!

Currently and with consistency I'm reading a book concerning current economic affairs entitled "End This Depression Now" by the Nobel-Prize winner Paul Krugman; nearly finished with Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring;" and have been struggling through Dostoevsky's "The Idiot," which I should probably start over, even though I'm roughly five- or six hundred pages into...ugh...

I'm working through my stack from various book groups plus the First Reads I have (and while I voted for Crime and Punishment for August because I haven't read it yet, I'm secretly hoping Anna Karenina wins so I have others to discuss it with and I'll get a chance to catch up!). I have Atlas Shrugged on audio in the house, The Dovekeepers on audio in my car, The Meryl Streep Movie Club for my lunch hour reading and I'm hoping to start and finish Mockingjay before it's due back to the library. Plus I have 1984 to start once I finish the audiobook in the car. I feel like I'm in book heaven! :)

After finishing "The Martian Chronicles," I'm moving on to a different Bradbury book in The Illustrated Man. The writing is so wonderful.

I'm also reading Rip It Up and Start It Again on the U.K./U.S. post-punk music scene in the late 70s and early 80s.

I just recently joined this site and this club and am looking forward to reading a classic along with the group. I recently finished Master and Margarita, which I thought was just great. I'm currently reading the Swedenborg sampler which I find incredibly interesting (just the excepts from Heaven and Hell so far) and skippin around in Emerson's Essays as well.

Michael wrote: "Currently and with consistency I'm reading a book concerning current economic affairs entitled "End This Depression Now" by the Nobel-Prize winner Paul Krugman; nearly finished with Tolkien's "The ..."


I can relate to your comment about "The Idiot" - I never did finish that book after being in several hundred pages. :/

I am reading The Four Gated City by Doris Lessing. It is the fifth book in her series, The Children of Violence. The collection chronicles the generation who lived through WWII in So. Africa and England, and highlights the infatuation and disenchantment with Communism.
I just joined this group and am looking forward to the next Classical discussion.

Right now I'm reading A Clash of Kings, and I hope to start reading either A Confederacy of Dunces, or In Cold Blood.
I also have three books of Viking lore waiting to be read...
Any recommendations?

I just finished Insurgent. I am reading 1984 and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society right now.

Re: The Idiot, I too can relate to it being hard to get through. However, although I struggled a bit to get into it, I ended up loving the book and it is now one of my favorite books. Stick it out--it's worth the trouble (IMHO)!

Quite a well read group! During the school year I read with the high school and university students I tutor, so I am exposed to wonderful literature I might not have gone into otherwise. Now it is summer writing season for me, so I am taking it easy... poetry... a glance through the first Harry Potter again to study mood and pacing and apply this to my own fantasy novels I am writing.

I'm reading Look Back In Anger for the second time. I lost my copy and just got a new (second hand) one yesterday...

Hello all.

I am a multiple reader. Currently on a Wharton fiction kick. I am reading The Age of Innocence now (read two others and a comentary on her works earlier this year).

Go back and forth in Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason.

Andrea wrote: "Kelsi- I am also a huge fan of Larson. I've been struggling to find other books similar to his style. He can't write them fast enough for me. The one you are reading is my favorite of his. I hope y..."I love Larson as well! I think I have read all of his books now. I agree that he needs to write faster. Of his books, I think my favorite was Isaac's Storm. I'm not sure why, but think that it might be that the protagonist in this book was someone I felt I could relate to.

I'm currently wading through Proust In Search of Lost Time-volume 2.

Just joined :)
I am currently reading which is an amazing book.
I had a suggestion: you usually read, as far as I've seen from your bookshelf, a true "classic" classic (Dickens, Austen, Orwell, Alcott...), and I wondered why isn't , , and so on - aren't in there? These are must reads. A true classics.

I'm reading , and I'm enjoying the journey.

I finally started . I generally stick to one book at a time but have a few standing by.

Kris wrote: "I finally started . I generally stick to one book at a time but have a few standing by."

That's what I normally do as well. I read one book at a time, but I usually have a pile close by of what I'm going to read next.

I'm reading Walden now.

Andrew wrote: "I'm reading Walden now."

I've had Walden on my reading list since it was mentioned in "All That Heaven Allows." Is it interesting?

I finished The Monk and Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener this morning. I'll give my eyes a well needed rest until Monday, when a copy of Fahrenheit 451 is delivered by the library van. I feel like I've been waiting forever for that one!

I just started [As I Lay Dying] by William Faulkner, which has been on my TBR list for quite a while.

Susan wrote: "I just started [As I Lay Dying] by William Faulkner, which has been on my TBR list for quite a while."

I really like Faulkner!

I tend to be reading a few books at once to review for my blog, 1776books.net. I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy (I think I may have been the only one on the planet who hasn't read the books yet) and Summerland, by Elin Hilderbrand. Right now, I'm reading 1984, of course, and The Presidents' Club.

It's really encouraging to read through the posts on this thread and realize that so many people are independently choosing to read such fine books in such quantity! Are we here on GR the only ones to do this or are there others too?

Recently finished The Hobbitt for the first time (yes, I'm embarrassed!) I've had all the books forever, have loved the LotR movies, and am looking forward immensely to The Hobbitt movies, but I admit to being a little disappointed in the book. It wasn't difficult to read but didn't captivate me the way I thought it would (as I love fantasy). Now I'm not sure I want to devote the time to reading the trilogy, but we'll see.

I've just finished The Human Factor by Graham Greene and am now into Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer (I was having a bad day last time I went to the library and was in dire need of something light and sweet.) I have East of Eden by my bedside and have finished part one, but am afraid I was not driven to continue reading. I might pick it up again some day. As for The Hunger Games, don't worry about being the only person who hasn't read it, Kelly, it's in my Never to be Read pile together with 50 Shades of Grey.

Kelly wrote: "I tend to be reading a few books at once to review for my blog, 1776books.net. I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy (I think I may have been the only one on the planet who hasn't read the book..."

no you're not. but now that you've read it, it makes me the only one.

Ian wrote: "Just picked up "Norweigian Wood" by Murakami."

Whoah, tell me all about it when you're done. Please!

I recently finished Thomas pynchon's V. and am now currently about a third of the way through Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

I just finished off with Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. This book had been on my to-read list for a long time, but now could i get the time to actually go through it. A classic,to say the least. Anyhow, i desired a change of genre so I have started reading Papillon. This book,translated from the French, is a proclaimed true story of an escaped prisoner,who in the first hand was wrongly accused. The exact authenticity of the work remains unclear. What got my attention for the book is the quote "The reason for the downfall of modern France are mini-skirts and the reading of Papillon". i Hope to enjoy this book as much as i have enjoyed other classics.

Any better suggestions are utmost welcome. :)

Finishing the last 50 or so pages of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Then moving on to read The Shack by WM Paul Young or The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, either one...any suggestions?!?

Janice, there are two of us in the world that haven't (won't) read it!

Anubhav, the movie Papillon was really good, but I had no idea it was a book as well. Let us know if it's any good, please.

Karla wrote: "Finishing the last 50 or so pages of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Then moving on to read The Shack by WM Paul Young or The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, either one...any suggest..."

I have read both and really enjoyed The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was wonderful. I personally did not enjoy The Shack but know others that did.

Kelly wrote: "I tend to be reading a few books at once to review for my blog, 1776books.net. I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy (I think I may have been the only one on the planet who hasn't read the book..."

Nope, although I finally had to jump on the bandwagon too. I have the last one sitting on my shelf but haven't gotten to it because I'm behind on some of my other reads. They are good, although I don't think nearly as good as the hype makes them out to be. I'm certainly enjoying them, though (although I hate to use the word "enjoy" about a series involving children trying to kill each other viciously).

I read Papillon. I liked it thought it was very good. I also saw the movie.

I'm reading The House I Loved by Tatiana De Rosnay. I've only read a couple of chapters - it's ok so far but not great. I'm hoping it gets better.

Denise I've read through the first 50 pages of the book and damn is it good! I can barely put it down.The pace is good and so is the literature. Hope that it turns out to be a perfectly good read!

Thanks, Anubhav. It's going on my list! :)

Danna wrote: "Just joined :)
I am currently reading which is an amazing book.
I had a suggestion: you usually read, as far as I've seen from your bookshelf, a true "classic" classic (..."

I started out the bookshelf with books that were on my own bookshelf, so obviously not every classic made it. Feel free to add any classics I may have missed. Only rule is that they are at least 50 years old. :)

B.B. wrote: "Recently finished The Hobbitt for the first time (yes, I'm embarrassed!) I've had all the books forever, have loved the LotR movies, and am looking forward immensely to The Hobbitt movies, but I ad..."

I am reading The Hobbitt now and plan on tackling the LotR trilogy after too. We should discuss after we both finish! :)

Currently working my way through the Song of Ice and Fire series, reading A Feast For Crows at the moment. Despite all the negative reviews for this book I'm enjoying it even more than the previous one!

Eeshan wrote: "I'm reading , and I'm enjoying the journey."

Hi Eeshan,

I'm glad you mentioned that you are reading "Scaramouche"; I saw it at the bookstore a few weeks ago and intended to add it to my "to-read" list but quickly let it slip my mind. It looks like a good adventure tale along the lines of "The Count of Monte Cristo".