Reading the Classics discussion

Maybe it's more than he didn't have anything else to write about but wanted to feel that he was communicating with someone, since he's so lonely?

Just finished . It was cute, although certainly not epic literature. Here's my review:

I'd classify this as more of a set of cute quips about life than a book (half of it was pictures, after all) but it's still insightful and full of neat tidbits about the behind-the-scenes life of everyone's favorite Golden Girl. It's an easy read you can do in a short afternoon but full of Betty's acquired knowledge from a well-lived life. Her love for her late husband and all of her animals is obvious and her appreciation for friends encouraging. Message: live life, don't regret the little things and don't ever quit; getting older doesn't mean you stop living!

Alana wrote: "Just finished . It was cute, although certainly not epic literature. Here's my review:

I'd classify this as more of a set of cute quips about life than a book (half of it ..."

Love Betty White.

Got through the audiobook in my car today. Ready to move on from that one...it was a little difficult, both in content, and the way it was written.

Review of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close:
(view spoiler)[This wasn't one of my favorites. I didn't dislike the story exactly, I think the writing just made it very difficult. It was actually easier listening to it on audio so the voice actors could enunciate in the right places and make it more understandable. The problem with this is that a lot of the book is more like artwork with blank pages or photos interspersed throughout. I found myself having to go between the audio and the physical book to really follow what was going on. I found the writing style very difficult because it was all either run-on sentences or dialogue squished into one paragraph in such a way that it was difficult to make out who was speaking. I kept losing my place and having to retrace what was said so I could pick up the thread of the conversation again. Very distracting.

I also disliked feeling forced into liking the grandfather who frankly is immortalized even though his life consists essentially in walking out on his family and then trying to sneak back into their lives to make him feel better about himself.

The only redeeming thing was the last chapter in which (most) everything finally comes together. We see how Oskar's mother has loved him by allowing him to grieve in his own way. We see Oskar begin to finally let go after his quest has ended, though not in the way he expected. And we feel deeply for the fear Oskar's father must have had, yet the obvious bravery in trying to help his family even until the last second. We feel the deepness of the loss on a personal level.

This is a novel you just have to have the taste for. If it's your kind of thing, you'll love it, but if you don't like a disjointed storyline, it may be a difficult read, to the point of becoming more annoying than enjoyable. (hide spoiler)]

I'm reading A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf at the moment.

Aristotle's "Politics". It's a classic too. :)

Rick -
Who's been sidetracked from his reading of "Anna Karenina" by Locke, Kant, Holmes, and Rommen for the past two months.

Currently I'm reading "One Day" by David Nicholls, "Everything is illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer (for school) and a Swedish book "Cirkeln" by Mats Strandberg. And a few others I've started reading but never finished..

Finally done with Atlas Shrugged! Was a good book, but very dry and I would not reread it. It's a good one if you're up for a challenge. Audio was very helpful (on the fastest speed, mind you!)

I'm half way through Around The World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne and I'm loving it. It's a really fun, fast paced book with some very quirky characters.

I've nearly finished Les Liaisons Dangereuses and it is as good or better than the film, i'm really enjoying it and i'm shocked it was written in the 1700's as i find it shocking for today!

About to start the Catcher in the Rye

I'm about to start The Actual by Saul Bellow.

I just finished The boy in the striped pyjama which was not my cup of tea. Now going on in:
- Winter's heart(part 9 of the Wheel of time series) by Robert Jordan
- The Ancestor's tale by Richard Dawkins
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

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

Love that movie! Have on my towering tbr list.

Reading for another group but Im going to start as soon as my houseguests leave next week. I realize everyone else here will be already finished so I"ll have to play catch up cuz my library doesnt carry ANY Wilkie Collins for octobers read!

Hester wrote: "I'm half way through Around The World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne and I'm loving it. It's a really fun, fast paced book with some very quirky characters."

I fell a little bit in love with Phileas Fogg. Is that weird??? lol

... my library doesnt carry ANY Wilkie Collins for octobers read!

You can find The Woman in White on Project Gutenberg or any other online out of copyright book store for free.

I'm reading . Anais Nin is fascinating.

Allie, I had to get The Woman in White through ILL and find the free audio somewhere. I didn't realize it would be that difficult to find. I'm enjoying it so far, though. You might look into an audio for Anna Karenina, too... I really enjoyed it that way, and I think it would have moved very slowly for me if I'd just been reading it.

I'm still slowly making my way through Anna Karenina. I'm flying through East of Eden and A Storm of Swords. All great books! And I'm studying for the LSAT. Very excited for The Woman in White since so many of you have talked it up!

I have to study for one more week and then I can read books and enjoy them! :) But I intend to re-read Utopia and try to like it this time. Plus, I'll be happy to read the October book with you! Too bad I missed Anna Karenina. I have never read Russian authors (except for Nabokov but then again, he wrote in English so... doesn't really count!)

Just finished The Boy in the striped pyjama. Strange and sad book, I didn;t like it.

Today I am going to the library to get my first Tolstoy. Too late for the group read, but anyway. And I hope they have The Woman in White.

If anyone wants The Woman in White for free:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/583

Kelsi wrote: "I'm still slowly making my way through Anna Karenina. I'm flying through East of Eden and A Storm of Swords. All great books! And I'm studying for the LSAT. Very excited for The Woman in White ..."
Hi, Kelsi. I'm getting near the end of Anna Karenina (it seems like it has taken forever!)and I'm also looking forward to The Woman in White

Nelleke wrote: "Just finished The Boy in the striped pyjama. Strange and sad book, I didn;t like it.

Today I am going to the library to get my first Tolstoy. Too late for the group read, but anyway. And I hope th..."

I saw the film before I knew there was a book. I really liked the movie, although it's certainly very dark and sad.

Recently read Sigrid Undset's Gunnar's Daughter.Fine book by the Nobel Prize winner.If you want to known about Vikings this novel is the one to get....

Salutations everyone! I am currently reading 'Crime and Punishment' by Dostoyevsky due to the fact Philip K dick mentioned it in an interview. I am thoroughly enjoying the writing style and find it very accessible to read, although I've only just started part two. This was my first post ever on a good reads blog, so either I'm crossing the Rubicon or I'll ease away slowly, I'm undecided yet whether I like this website or not yet, although the creative writing section sure does look interesting. Anyhow, I digress. The focal point of this post really is HELLO!

I just finished re-reading Utopia (a fairly quick read). I had read it in uni 5 years ago and had disliked it very much. A second read made me change my mind a little: though I can't say it was one of the best books I've ever read (far from it, actually), it was nicely translated and pretty easy to read. The ideas developed there are somehow interesting: we can see that More is way ahead of his times (but far behind ours)and he sounds like a man thirsty for justice. It sure shows that his ideas were not admitted by contemporaries and authorities but I can only admire his courage and express my wonder at such punishment for so small a crime as barely criticizing the state. Apart from all that, I grew a bit tired of paradoxes and unlogical statements: it looks as if this was written and never re-read by the author himself because sometimes one idea doesn't match up with one expressed later... I apologize for my poor level of English and I'd love to express what I thought of the book in smarter ways but I'm French and I read English better than I speak it. Has anyone of you read Utopia?

I intend to read Pollyanna as soon as I get it in my mailbox. Pollyanna was never translated into French so it's not a children's classic we've heard of over here. Can't wait to start!

Okay - I'm now reading . After Anna Karenina, I seem to be on a roll of adultery.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

The Tempest.If you like to read,why not the best writer who ever lived.William Shakespeare!

Hester wrote: " Frankenstein by Mary Shelley."

I love that book.

Hester wrote: " Frankenstein by Mary Shelley."

One of my favorites, too!

Lobstergirl wrote: "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."

Thanks to you, Dolores, and Alana for your posts on this book - there's quite a sale on classics at a Canadian bookstore and I nearly ordered this yesterday - so glad I didn't!

As for me, I'm currently reading 102 Minutes - an account of what was happening inside the twin towers on Sept. 11th.

I still haven't received Pollyanna so I'm starting Dubliners. Not the same thing exactly but never mind! I think I'll enjoy it!

I just started The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition

I was considering nominating this book as a side read as I would love to have a discussion on it, but I am guessing that everyone has already read it a number of times.

Jennifer wrote: "I just started The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition

I was considering nominating this book as a side read as I would love to have a discussion on it, but I am guessing that everyone h..."

I've read it, but it was so long ago that I'd love to read it again. I'd say nominate it anyway. :D

It's been years since I read it, Jennifer. I remember it being a fairly quick read, but it's got some interesting thematic subject material. I haven't read it since junior high (which is an interesting time period to read it anyway, since I was about the same age and could relate to a lot of her inner thoughts) but I'm curious what I would think of it as an adult. It's hard to put a rating on something like that; it was after all a young teenage girl's innermost thoughts that she never intended her immediate family to read, let alone the entire world.

Alana wrote: "it was after all a young teenage girl's innermost thoughts that she never intended her immediate family to read, let alone the entire world. "

Actually we know this is no longer true. I saw Francine Prose give a talk on Cspan about the Diary and how Anne was constantly revising it during her months in hiding. She thought of herself very self-awarely as a writer and hoped the diary would find an audience. Prose's book:

Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife

The foreward to my copy of the Diary of Anne Frank states that while she initially started writing the diary for herself, she began editing her diary in 1944 after a member of the Dutch Government in exile announced that he wanted to collect eye witness accounts after the war.

Apparently there is three versions of Anne Frank's diary, referred to as versions A, B, and C. Version A is the the original text that she wrote strictly for herself. When she determined that she wanted to publish the book in 1944 at the age of fifteen, she went back and began improving upon her original text apparently and adding comments to the initial passages. Version C as I understand it is the version edited by Anne's father.

I am so jealous that you have Cspan Lobstergirl. Did you see this on BookTV?

Alana wrote: "It's been years since I read it, Jennifer. I remember it being a fairly quick read, but it's got some interesting thematic subject material. I haven't read it since junior high (which is an interes..."

Alana,I tried reading this in about grade six I think. I never got past the passages where she started describing the secret annex. I wasn't much for that kind of descriptive writing back then and found the hiding space very difficult to imagine based on her passage. In retrospect, I should have just skipped that part and continued reading. Now I will never know what I would have thought of this diary as an almost teenage girl. As an adult, however, I find myself really enjoying the read. I find Anne quite mature for her age and full of spunk and personality.

Jennifer wrote: "I am so jealous that you have Cspan Lobstergirl. Did you see this on BookTV?"

I watched it online (I don't really have TV, or cable). I'm pretty sure this is the link:

http://www.c-span.org/Events/History-...

I am reading the definitive version too and there are parts in this edition that were edited out of the original version that I would have read as a child. This version is probably a little bit more candid because of that.

Jennifer wrote: "I am reading the definitive version too and there are parts in this edition that were edited out of the original version that I would have read as a child. This version is probably a little bit mor..."

Sounds like I'll have to read that version. It be interesting to see the differences. I know there was a lot of speculation for years about how much editing her father had done, to make family members look better or to keep some of her more personal thoughts hidden. Wasn't the original released some years ago? Or is that the definitive edition we've been talking about?

I believe the original unedited version is referred to as the Critical Edition and this is different from the definitive version. The definitive edition, however, does include some passages about Anne's mother and sexuality that were omitted from the first published version that was edited by her father.

Jennifer wrote: "I believe the original unedited version is referred to as the Critical Edition and this is different from the definitive version. The definitive edition, however, does include some passages about ..."

I would love to read the original unedited version. The only version I ever read was the one I read as a young teen and a few years ago and recently in the past year. I know that version was edited by her father. It would be interesting to read things she actually wrote unedited.

Dolores wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I believe the original unedited version is referred to as the Critical Edition and this is different from the definitive version. The definitive edition, however, does include so..."

That would make an interesting discussion.

Currently working on The Satanic Verses, the Song of Ice and Fire series, and Les Miserables. Also listening to The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm new to the group here, and just by coincidence I finished Anna Karenina recently.

I'm reading and I'm really enjoying it so far.

Thanks Lobstergirl. I just noticed your post and the link. I don't have cable either, which works out well because I prefer reading anyway.