Vintage Tales discussion

I'm currently reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Not really sure about it yet. I've heard it's a love-hate book, and I'm not sure if I'm going to like it or not yet! Seems really odd.

What is everyone else currently reading?

I'm currently reading Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott. It is pretty good so far. I'm enjoying the sisters and their adventures. Jo's my favorite so far.^_^

Urgh, I'm really not sure if I want to continue Catch-22. I might have a break from it and read something short. I'm not really in the mood for something long tonight!

Hey holly they have the poe short stories online if you want to read any of them. just go to http://www.poestories.com .

Holly, I had to give up on Catch-22. Don't feel bad, haha. I meant to take just one break long enough to read one book, but it's been almost a year. It's not a book for everyone.

I'm on Chapter 2 and I'm just not feeling it... I might read Wuthering Heights instead. Perhaps Im just not in a reading mood tonight

I really tried with that book. I got a little over 100 pages in and just couldn't force myself to read it anymore. Maybe one day I'll pick it back up one day. I've heard that you either really like it or really hate it.

I'm going with Amber and am going to read some Poe short stories. Luckily, I have his complete works on my Kindle!

Maybe I'll pick up Catch-22 tomorrow... I know I'm going to have to abandon it if I don't get it read by the 22nd. My Paradise Lost readalong is just more important!

Awesome Holly! ^_^ Good luck on your Paradise Lost readalong too.

Honestly, I'm slightly scared Amber. It just seems so daunting!

You'll do well Holly. Just read a few chapters at a time. With Little Women, I've only been reading 1-2 chapters a night so far and am only up to page 75 right now. I hope to finish it by the time I get The Child Thief by Brom from my local library's online ebook library through the overdrive software but we'll see what happens. I'm #1 on the holds list so I will probably get it next.

slowly chipping away at War and Peace

I have this really bad habit of reading more than one book at a time. I'm also rubbish at updating what I'm reading on this site - i need to fix that!

Atm I have on the go:
The Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole Sue Townsend (having just reread the first two books for the first time since the 80s - I had forgotten how funny they are)
Box of Red Brocade Catherine Fisher (2nd in her Obsidian Mirror series - YA fantasy)
The Ladies Paradise Émile Zola (I really wish I could read French - this is another writer, other than Hugo, for whom I think something is lost in translation. Finding this book really good so far regardless)
Son of a Witch Gregory Maguire (Wicked is one of my favourite modern books)

I have just finished S. JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst - which I can not sing the praises of highly enough. It's still occupying my time despite all the other books I am currently reading, as I'm still puzzling some of it out!

Next to add the list, once I've finished one or more of the above is probably going to be Brideshead Revisited for a reread - or maybe Pride and Prejudice - or maybe both!

That's a lot of books, Lian! I don't know how you do it! I've heard many good things about S. I might actually read a contemporary, recently-out book for once!

Michael wrote: "slowly chipping away at War and Peace"
I am reading that one. I had to force myself into it for a while, but it's starting to really take off. How are you liking it?

War and Peace sits in 3 volumes in my library, and I just can't bring myself to pick it up! I remember reading the first few pages and finding it interesting though!

It is interesting. There was a pretty long section where I almost completely lost interest and put it down, but I'm happy I didn't. My neighbors think I'm crazy because I was reading it outside and something (I won't say what because I don't want to spoil it) happened and I might have yelled at the book very loudly. They all just looked over like, "Yes, she's lost it. She's completely lost it."

That is slightly worrying, I must admit!

I probably would have said the same thing, haha. I sometimes get a bit too involved in what I'm reading, haha.

Good luck on your reads Lian. :)

what are you reading right now Lissa? just curious.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

Cool Lissa. ^_^

Not on classic - except if you consider Vixen so since it was published in the XIX Century.
I'm in my "mystery mood": She Shoots to Conquer

Is that like a play on 'She Stoops to Conquer'? Which I still haven't read yet...

Currently trying to make my way through the first of 7 volumes of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. Also, just started And the Mountains Echoed.

Elizabeth, that's an amazing goal! You'll definitely have to let us know which are your favourite! I have a similar goal, to read or watch all the Shakespeare plays. Perhaps we could make a challenge thread for it?

Connie, I dread to think how many pages that is!

I am reading Great Expectations and now Wuthering Heights has finally arrived I intend to start that before the end of November too !! ooohhh need to fit in The Other Boleyn Girl before the end of the year for my personal A to Z challenge as it is the last one. :)

I never had a problem reading "War and Peace" (in English!) There were a lot of characters, which is perhaps the main difficulty, but when I read it it was alongside watching an old TV adaptation with Anthony Hopkins as Pierre link here - 20 longish episodes. This was the only thing at the time to crowd out the University Common room, apart from "The Magic Roundabout"! I enjoyed the read; it actually seemed quite soapy. Haven't read it since, but it looks as if that series is available as a DVD set.

Tracey, they sound like a great collection of books to read! Oddly, I just can't get into Wuthering Heights. Perhaps I'm just not in the right mood for it!

Jean, what do you mean by 'soapy'? Did it lather and smell sweet? :D I really want to read it, it just seems so daunting...

LOL Holly! And I'm sure that is a dreadfully unfair comparison. But I was the only female there (it was my boyfriend's university and in those days Oxford was single-sex) so even more interesting perhaps that a series of that nature should appeal so much to youngish lads.

OK - shoot me down somebody. Do you think it would happen now (if TV programmes weren't so easy to access I mean) or not?

LOL - I love it Elizabeth. You first enjoyed "Wuthering Heights" as an "overly romantic preadolescent girl"? Well now who would have thought it?! I'm just glad I didn't come out with that gem! With what people know about my attitude to the book I think I might have to prepare to be lynched...

I think your Shakespeare list is very impressive! Several there that I haven't read yet :)

I'm currently reading Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton.

Started Mrs. Dalloway: I'm actually "listening" to it read by an italian actress who's really good. I'm liking it a lot, probably also thanks to her reading!

Laura, I love that book! Virginia Woolf has a pure talent at writing in stream of consciousness...

I hope you enjoy it!

I have Mrs Dalloway and The Waves on my shelf waiting patiently. I read To the lighthouse and I loved it.

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility at the moment, along with The Cuckoos Calling (Because JKR... I must), The Stockholm Octavo and The Rathbones and they are all amazing :) x you should all try them (especially The Stockholm Octavo)

Gabriella wrote: "I'm reading Sense and Sensibility at the moment, along with The Cuckoos Calling (Because JKR... I must), The Stockholm Octavo and The Rathbones and they are all amazing :) x you should all try them..."

Did you like Rowling's last novel? I did.

I started In Cold Blood by Truman Capote last night. I'm only about 30 pages in, but Capote's writing is amazing. It's not nearly as rigid as I think I imagined it would be considering most of the information is from interviews and police reports.

Lissa wrote: "I started In Cold Blood by Truman Capote last night. I'm only about 30 pages in, but Capote's writing is amazing. It's not nearly as rigid as I think I imagined it wo..."

Loved it when I read at the beginning of this year!

Laura, yep! I loved it, if you're talking about the Casual Vacancy. I'm not done with the Cuckoos Calling yet, but I really enjoy it so far - it's so different from Harry Potter and the Casual Vacancy, but I really enjoy crime novels, so I suppose there's a bit of that too. :)

Gabriella wrote: "Laura, yep! I loved it, if you're talking about the Casual Vacancy. I'm not done with the Cuckoos Calling yet, but I really enjoy it so far - it's so different from Harry Potter and the Casual Vaca..."

I liked them both Gabriella! Of course Harry Potter remains Harry Potter, but I sincerely think that she writes really well.

I'm halfway through Little Women and have now started on The Child Thiefby Brom which is a dark version of Peter Pan. It's pretty good so far.

Currently reading Inferno by Dan Brown. Fast paced, like his other books.

In a "mystery period". just finished Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell and half way through How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams. Listening to Mrs. Dalloway to change a bit of scenary...

Laura, you'll have to let me know how you find Mrs Dalloway. It's a fabulous novel!

I've just started reading The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. I've only just read the first chapter, but I already love it ^^

Awesome Josefien. I got that one on my tablet and hope to read it later

Well, if you do. Let me know what you think of it! :)

Thanks and I will. Am reading the rest of Little Women and the Child Thief first.