Reading the Classics discussion

I've finished reading The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper yesterday. Now I'm reading Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich.

I've already finished Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich, which was a short but hilarious novel, an now I'm about to start reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen.

I've just started reading A Room With A View and it is lovely, reminds me very much of the film which i've always loved.

Dolores wrote: "Julie wrote: "I am about to start a new book for the " reading the classics" . I am torn between Anna Karenina or 1984. Two totally different books! Besides the "eny meenie minie moe" method. H..."

yes your probally right... :)

I'm reading Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar, a fictional account of Rahab, a prostitute, in the Old Testament. She betrays her people, the Canaanites, to save the Hebrews because she believes their God is the one true God. She ends up marrying one of them and being named in the lineage of Jesus. Very interesting to read about some of the background to the story and what the different people may have been thinking.

i'm going to read a tale of two cities but i'm not sure, i'd like an opinion and can you tell me what kind of book is it?

I've just started reading Magnificent Obsession and have to admit that I'm having a rough time of it. The writing is nice, but apparently the action is going on right in front of my eyes, and I'm completely missing it! Everything is just alluded to and it's getting really frustrating. What a strange style.

I am trying very hard to read A Tale of Two Cities before classes start.. Last book of the summer :(

I'm going to read Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller. I'm also reading Grimms Fairy Tales.

I'm reading David Copperfield at the moment and it is amazing, i think i will be very sad when i finally finish it!

I just started South Wind. Apparently it's one of those old classics most people have never heard of.

Sophie, I started David Copperfield a couple days ago and am really enjoying it as well!

Before that, I read This I Believe, which I can't recommend enough, it's inspirational and so positive! Also read The Help - which I mostly enjoyed until I researched the author, who seems to lack respect for her subject(s). I'm mixed on this one; it's a page turner - interesting story, but she really fed into some stereotypes.

In summer I read a lot of the Virago Modern Classics, so I've just finished Molly Keane's Good Behaviour, which was marvelous. A sharp, bitter, rather dark novel that exposes the often despicable thoughts/actions which are masked by the characters' veneer of "good behavior". I'm about to dive into A Pin to See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse (great-niece of Alfred, Lord Tennyson).

Laura- Just finished David Copperfield last night, what an awesome book, one of my favorites. I've just started Nicholas Nickelby but i'm finding it harder to get into.

Sophie wrote: "Laura- Just finished David Copperfield last night, what an awesome book, one of my favorites. I've just started Nicholas Nickelby but i'm finding it harder to get into."

Glad you liked it so much, Sophie :) I have Nicholas Nickleby but haven't yet read it, thanks for the heads up! Have you read Little Dorrit? I ask because that one disappointed me. Loved, love, loved Bleak House and Great Expectations, though.

While I've liked most of the Dickens novels I've read, getting through Little Dorrit was a struggle for me; I've also started Nickleby a couple of times but couldn't get into it for some reason. Maybe next time around.

Leseratte wrote: "While I've liked most of the Dickens novels I've read, getting through Little Dorrit was a struggle for me; I've also started Nickleby a couple of times but couldn't get into it for some reason. "

Good to know I'm not alone on this! I was especially looking forward to reading Little Dorrit after a co-worker raved how it's her favorite...thought maybe I was missing something.

Laura- I'm glad to say i've persevered with Nickelby and am really into the book now, it is great. I have not read Little Dorrit yet, it is sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read as i bought it a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad you say that Bleak House is good, i also have that book but not read it yet, hopefully it will be the next Dickens book i read. :)

Sophie, that's great news, that it picks up :) I'll keep that in mind when I start it!

I hope you enjoy Bleak House, it's one of my favorite books.

Ellie wrote: "I've already finished Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich, which was a short but hilarious novel, an now I'm about to start reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen."

LOVED The Girl Who Chased the Moon! Hope you do too!

I've just finished Crime and Punishment this weekend and now I'm reading Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. Although I've just read a few pages so far I'm finding it very interesting.

I just started Sputnik Sweetheart and so far it has been quite interesting.

Hello, my name is Joe and I am new to the group. I am currently reading "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky. I have a question about the characters. If anyone is familiar with the story and the supporting characters and would be willing to clear up my confusion I would appreciate the help. It is pertaining to Marmeladov, his daughter Sonya, and his wife Katerina Ivanovna.
Thank You...

Raphael wrote: "I've just finished Crime and Punishment this weekend and now I'm reading Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. Although I've just read a few pages so far I'm finding it very interesting."

How ironic, Raphael, I had just posted about "Crime and Punishment" and now I see you've just finished it. What did you think? Do we know who Sonya's mother is?

Joe wrote: "Hello, my name is Joe and I am new to the group. I am currently reading "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky. I have a question about the characters. If anyone is familiar with the story and the su..."

Hi Joe! Welcome to the group (although I'm also new here, haha)
Well, what's exactly your confusion?

See ya.

Hey Raphael, Katerina is Marmeladov's wife...and they have a daughter, 18 yr. old daughter Sonya, and Katerina has three young children from a previous marriage. That is how I understand it and it just does not equate...unless Katerina is not Sonya's mother.

Hi, only now I saw your last message :).
Yeah, I found it interesting, but I was expecting more. In my opinion, the best thing about this book is the deep psychological analyses of the characters provided by the author.

Regarding Sonya's mother, I think it's really not directly mentioned in the book.

See ya!

Yes, Katerina is Sonya's stepmother.

Ok, yes, for some reason, reading a character list prior, I thought I read that Sonya was their daughter...
Thanks Raphael,

Just finished "The Cellist of Sarajevo". I thought it was a very moving story and brought me to tears by the end. I'm now going to start "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller." Also reading "the Complete Grimms Fairy Tales" and about to reread "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" for another group I'm in.

Chris wrote: "Kary wrote: "I'm reading Anna Karenina...a very long one."

Hah, tell me about it! Just started "Les Miserables" today, good luck with Tolstoy! ^^"

Hi Chris!, I left you a comment on your profile page ;)I hated Anna Karenina...Tolstoy is superb, but those characters ... ugh! too much drama.

Katy wrote: "Chris wrote: "Kary wrote: "I'm reading Anna Karenina...a very long one."

Hah, tell me about it! Just started "Les Miserables" today, good luck with Tolstoy! ^^"

Anna Karenina is one of my all tim..."

Hi Katy, keep on reading Les Miserables, it gets better (I'm in love wih it) xx

Is anyone else going back and reading some of the previous group reads? I want to get to Lolita when I have a chance, although my book stack is pretty full right now.

I'm reading Oliver Twist and am really enjoying it. I've owned it for years but never read it because i thought it would be the same plot as the musical but it isn't which i'm pleased about. Next i hope to read Anna Karenina, i should have read it ages ago for my group read but keep putting it off because it is just so long.

I am currently reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Somehow I managed to get through 19 years of school without every reading it!

just finished Janet Evanovich #17 for some funny, laugh out loud reading since Anna Karenina is so long - needed to lighten up for a bit!

I just started The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Which is a classic. Of business history.

I just finished , a memoir by a woman with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. She uses illustrations from her life to show that OCD is not just being super clean or organized (in fact, she is the opposite), but instead feeling a compulsive need to check to make sure things have or have not happened, especially that it hasn't harmed someone. It's very interesting and informative, if you've ever been curious about this particular disorder.

I'm reading

The House of The Scorpion, a Wrinkle in Time, and Mockingjay.

Robinson Crusoe.

How are you liking Robinson Crusoe? I just read it a couple of months ago. I liked it but it was kind of boring in places, especially when he's describing what he's making and setting up his house and stuff.

The Collected John Carter of Mars: A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars and Gedichte

Robinson Crusoe is regarded as perhaps the first real novel written in English (Don Quixote is probably the first European novel) and as such has a very different structure to any modern novels. You have to bear this in mind when reading it.

Pride and Prejudice

Alana wrote: "How are you liking Robinson Crusoe? I just read it a couple of months ago. I liked it but it was kind of boring in places, especially when he's describing what he's making and setting up his house ..."

I'm only on p. 60. I'm not bored yet, but it could certainly happen.

Washington Square,By Henry James.Made into a fine film.Called The Heiress,with Olivia de Haviland,Montgomery Clift and Ralph Richardson,1949.

I finished The Poisonwood Bible today. Wow! I'll admit, I was not enjoying it at all the first 100 pages or so, but I got more and more into it as the book went on. The ideas are so relevant and deep. We Americans like to hide behind our politics and pretend we bring only good to the world, yet our history is really quite different. The culture in Africa is incredible, if vastly different from "Western." I would give it 4.5 stars (I'll probably round up to 5 since 4.5 isn't an option).

My review of Poisonwood Bible. Contains spoilers!

(view spoiler)[This is the most turnaround I have experienced with a book in a long time. I struggled through the first 100 pages or so, not relating with the characters and finding some of the narration style monotonous or downright confusing. I read further, however, and began to see the personalities and themes begin to emerge and became engrossed with how on earth this misfit family was going to make it through their time in Africa. By the end, I was thoroughly engaged in the life and death struggle, the individual development and reactions to change and difficulty and how each one chose to respond to great tragedy and personal growth.

The narration style is a little different and it takes some adjustment to each voice as it changes, but after the first few changes, each voice becomes distinct and I became refreshed as each girl's perspective gave new light to what was going on. Adah sees everything as straightforward and makes no bones about the flaws in the world. Rachel refuses to see ANYTHING, wanting nothing to mar her view and focuses all her thoughts inward. Ruth May adapts and adapts beautifully, becoming the first to make a connection with the local children, even if their view of her game is very different. Leah struggles throughout the book but arguably grows the most in her understanding of the world as a whole and the similar natures of the people in it, becoming culturally diverse and willing to see evil in all its hidden forms, and beauty in the unexpected places. Orleanna's journey from pacified, downtrodden wife to woman with many gifts and help to offer is perhaps not as full of understanding as Leah's, but may be more profound because of the dramatic shape her transformation had to take.

The themes of life and death are obvious, the political tension and subversion are heartbreaking, the need to understand one another powerful. Nathan never understands anything beyond his own twisted mind while Leah and Ruth May adapt to their new world and the people in it. Orleanna's fear cripples her until the final breaking point after which she is finally able to break free and save her daughters, especially the one who was physically crippled to begin with. Rachel never grows out of her teenage "it's all about me" mindset, setting her up for failure in marriage and a constant fear of losing what she has gained. Leah, however, knowing how quickly personal possessions can be taken away, does not bother to fret over what she can lose because she does not have much to begin with, but instead fights hard to save those she loves. Adah allows her body and mind over time to correct themselves and become not so jaded and twisted but to take her honest appraisal of the world and apply it to understanding biology in a way someone else could not.

Images of the parrot Methuselah as the Congo, released too early before he is ready to care for himself and perishing as a result, are a powerful illustration of a course guided unnaturally, doomed to failure. Rachel's insistence on her mirror and focusing on the niceties of home shows her callousness and that of the American public as a whole. The different nature of farming in Africa shows a side of survival and fellowship with the land that most Americans can only wonder at. Even the use of the names of books of the Bible is interesting and guides the story along in a way of reminding us of the good and bad accomplished by missionary work in the "dark continent." Nathan's approach is hard hearted and severe, while Mr. Fowles understands the culture and heart of the native population in a way that makes it easier for him to connect to them as people, not just savages. He is able to reject many of his preconceived notions about the world and adopt new ideas. He is the bright side of Christianity, while Nathan is the overzealous, unseeing side reminiscent of the Pharisees in that same Bible.

There is much more in these pages, too much to relay here. I highly recommend this book. Push your way through the first few sections and I think you will find your mind opened in ways you did not anticipate. It will force you to view the world differently, if you choose to see it, unlike Rachel. (hide spoiler)]

Alana wrote: "How are you liking Robinson Crusoe? I just read it a couple of months ago. I liked it but it was kind of boring in places, especially when he's describing what he's making and setting up his house ..."

I just finished reading Robinson Crusoe and I liked it too. I didn't find that it was boring in those places as much as it sometimes seemed that he repeated parts of his story when he started his diary and began again to tell things all over. It seemed to me he was always describing where he was living and how he made everything.

Yes, I just started the diary portion and noticed he was retelling all the things he had just explained. Not sure I get the point of that.