Old Books, New Readers discussion

This thread is classic exclusive what are you reading now? Do you like it or is it giving you a hard time?

If you'd like use the add book author tag (above the comment box) to run up a list of the classics discussed in the topic.

If you get into an in deep discussion please try to remember to use the spoilers tag -(view spoiler)[... (hide spoiler)] the code is listed under (some html ok) above the comment box.

While we may be really familiar with say Shakespeare the rest of us may not know that Russian classic you are reading in too much deal and we don't necessarily want the surprise ruined. :/

I just finished Far from the Madding Crowd and I loved it! I really think we should read something by Thomas Hardy in this group one of these days.

I am reading Great Expectations. I wanted to read it when tge group was reading it but got sidetracked by The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear... and other scheduled books since. I am enjoying it so far, I did not realize that it was humorous!

I am also reading Cold Comfort Farm, I guess that qualifies as a classic, being from 1932. It is quite hunorous as well albeit a bit aloof by far.

Michelle wrote: "I just finished Far from the Madding Crowd and I loved it! I really think we should read something by Thomas Hardy in this group one of these days."

I was thinking of waiting until the the polls end (7/31/16) to thinking of implement a suggestion by another member to do an author review. Thomas Hardy would be a great nomination for this as he has written several books!

I might try to do it earlier but I think it might be easier to wait until everything is settled to start a new feature lol.

I'm reading The First Part of the Delightful History of the Most Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of the Mancha and it's going pretty well, makes me laugh a lot. I never knew that "Mancha" meant stained, or tainted. Which really works in context.

Also playing catchup. I got the wrong version of The Brothers Karamazov back when the group was reading it, so now I have the right version but I'm way behind (obviously). And trying to get through The Grapes of Wrath which I find very well written, but incredibly depressing.

Marta wrote: "I am reading Great Expectations. I wanted to read it when tge group was reading it but got sidetracked by The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear... an..."

Well if it was published as one of the Penguin Classics who am I to argue? :)

I'm actually pretty excited today. I ordered an old copy of Vanity Fair with all the original illustrations in it. I haven't read it before but I figured if I'm going to I might as well do it with those illustrations as the author really wanted them in there and I've read that they don't really appear in modern copies anymore.

Madeline wrote: "I'm reading The First Part of the Delightful History of the Most Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of the Mancha and it's going pretty well, makes me laugh a lot. I never knew that "Manc..."

Neat! Since you are reading old club reads have you considered participating in the 2016 Catch-up reading challenge? :)

Which "wrong" version of the Brothers Karamazov did you get? I read a translation that was a bit more modern before I found about about the Pevear/Volokhonsky team but I haven't re-read it. I took me about a year to get through it the first time...

I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, plus another classic historical work called The Killer Angels. That one is about the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. It is literary in its own way, too, because it focuses on and re-casts the field notes, reports, and letters of the generals and other commanders who made the decisions that created the massive slaughter there.

Jon wrote: "I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, plus another classic historical work called The Killer Angels. That one is about the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. It is literar..."

That sound really interesting. Maybe people will start nominating books like that to the club. Since non-fiction is not off the table and all. :)

Luella wrote: "Madeline wrote: "I'm reading The First Part of the Delightful History of the Most Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of the Mancha and it's going pretty well, makes me laugh a lot. I neve..."

Yes! I just created my challenge. It's called "Madeline Noelle's Catch Up Challenge". "To the Lighthouse" showed up on the "past club picks" list, so I have to go back and edit that out (I forgot that's what we're currently reading this month, so it won't count towards the challenge :) )

I believe it was the Constance Garnett translation, which I was really enjoying, and then I realized the group was reading the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. Oops. I have since compared a few pages though, and they don't seem too incredibly different. Sometimes it's the exact same sentence just in reverse.

Also that's also really cool about the old copy of "Vanity Fair" that you ordered. Congratulations!

I read the Garnett translation of the Brothers Karamazov but the other one is probably better. I have read Dostoyevsky before and found the language much easier so I guess the translation matters!

The Grapes of Wrath is definitely depressing, but brilliant.

I am reading Far From the Madding Crowd right now. I've had the book for a couple years now and I'm just getting around to reading it. I shouldn't have waited so long. such a great book. also reading Don Quixote via audiobook, it is just how I imagined it would be.

Currently reading Zorba the Greek and The Vicar of Wakefield.

I have never heard of The Vicar of Wakefield. What's the one all about?

I am reading the Iliad and the Odyssey. I read them when I was much younger and thought they would make for a fine reread. They are.

Luella wrote: "I have never heard of The Vicar of Wakefield. What's the one all about?"

It's a great novella written by Oliver Goldsmith who also wrote She Stoops to Conquer. I have read that Goldsmith's works were favorites of Charles Dickens. The Vicar of Wakefield is about a minister and his family and their faith, trials and triumphs. So far it has been a very good and uplifting read. You might want to have a good collegiate dictionary handy. Goldsmith's vocabulary is indicative of his era and considerably more ornate than our present day usage.

I am almost finished with Stoker's DRACULA....seeing it as a powerful love story.

John wrote: "I am almost finished with Stoker's DRACULA....seeing it as a powerful love story."

Agreed. The notion of love seen through the eyes of a being like Dracula, and the notion of love seen through the eyes of mortal beings is very different. Or is it?

Have just started The Jungle Books (Rudyard Kipling).

Tim wrote: "Have just started The Jungle Books (Rudyard Kipling)."

Nice I will be reading that soon for a group I'm in. How did you like it?

For Classics I recently finished up The Master and Margarita and I'm currently reading Catch-22 at first it was a bit rough but now in Chapter 8 I'm enjoying it a bit more.

Luella wrote: "Tim wrote: "Have just started The Jungle Books (Rudyard Kipling)."

Nice I will be reading that soon for a group I'm in. How did you like it?

For Classics I recently finished up [book:The Master a..."

I'm about half way through The Jungle Books and at this point I would give it about three out of five stars, maybe just two and a half stars.

Just finished All Quiet on the Western Front, and it affected me so much, I think it might be the best book I have read this year. I also read the The Dhammapada, The Secret Garden and Flowers for Algernon in June.

Marta wrote: "Just finished All Quiet on the Western Front, and it affected me so much, I think it might be the best book I have read this year. I also read the The Dhammapada, [book:..."

All Quiet on the Western Front had the same effect upon me. I was deeply moved by the story and the picture it painted of the madness of war and the one who pays the highest price - the foot soldier.

Tim wrote: "Marta wrote: "Just finished All Quiet on the Western Front, and it affected me so much, I think it might be the best book I have read this year. I also read the [book:The Dhammapada|1..."

Same effect for me too. All Quiet haunts me to this day.

Tim wrote: "Luella wrote: "Tim wrote: "Have just started The Jungle Books (Rudyard Kipling)."

Nice I will be reading that soon for a group I'm in. How did you like it?

For Classics I recently finished up [bo...]"

Hmm I'll keep that in mind. I think the only reason I really wanted to read this one is because as a kid I loved the Just So Stories so I figured I might like the Jungle Book.

Tim wrote: "Marta wrote: "Just finished All Quiet on the Western Front, and it affected me so much, I think it might be the best book I have read this year. I also read the [book:The Dhammapada|1..."

I want to read this one because it was written in German I'm kind of waiting til I have time to do a side by side thing with it as I'd like to attempt it in the original language.

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice right now. It's so funny.

I'm trying to finish up Catch-22 this weekend. I'm still not in love with it. I finished Master and Margarita though. I liked that one.

I just finished up A Study in Scarlet, am about about halfway done with A Farewell to Arms and am almost done with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Also, I'm reading Peter Pan as part of the Catch-Up Challenge.

I am currently reading Hamlet (part of my Catch Up Challenge), as well as The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco, and Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut. My next Vonnegut will be Armageddon in Retrospect. I have not yet determined which of my Catch Up Challenge books is next.

Reading I, Robot now, soon will be starting Moby Dick for the group read. Just finished a few classic short stories, all very good: The Lottery, The Yellow Wallpaper and Desiree's Baby.

Mostly reading non-classics now.

1984

I'm just finishing up East of Eden. What a great book.

Just finished Of Mice and Men. A powerful story of the dismal life faced by so many in Depression-era America, and how the hope to restore the family and homes they once knew is gone.

Starting A Clockwork Orange now. Both of these are part of my Catch Up Challenge.

I'm reading Dracula, the Odyssey, and To Have and Have Not right now. I'm enjoying all three.

Dante's Inferno

John Steinbeck's East of Eden

Robinson Crusoe

Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Slave

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Don Quixote

I'm finishing up Frankenstein and The Odyssey (the latter of which seems to be taking me ages--I'm not fond of verse).

I have already started Anna Karenina (so far, it's rocking my world), and I am about to start Far from the Madding Crowd.

Angie wrote: "I'm finishing up Frankenstein and The Odyssey (the latter of which seems to be taking me ages--I'm not fond of verse).

I have already started Anna Karenina (so far, it's rocking my world), and I ..."
I've read all the books you listed. Anna Karenina in high school. Frankenstein, The Odyssey, and Far From the Madding Crowd in my early 30s. I re-read The Odyssey again a couple years ago. Funny how we all have such varied tastes. I liked The Odyssey enough to read a second time. Frankenstein rocked my world. It's a repeater to me as well. Go figure.

I'm not reading a 'classic' right now, but hope to be reading a new Man Booker winner soon with another GR reading group.

Inherit the Wind, Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee

Paula wrote: Frankenstein rocked my world. It's a repeater to me as well. Go figure.

Oh, I'm loving Frankenstein. I will definitely reread it at some point. The Odyssey grates on me because I'm not a fan of verse.

I just read The Island of Dr. Moreau. Not what I expected, but very interesting, especially the contrast of moral and scientific views from then to now.

Angie wrote: "Paula wrote: Frankenstein rocked my world. It's a repeater to me as well. Go figure.

Oh, I'm loving Frankenstein. I will definitely reread it at some point. The Odyssey grates on me because I'm n..."

The Odyssey made me mad because of that double standard. Or at least that's what I remember from high school. (view spoiler)[Hey baby, I was out there making time with everything that could walk but you, didn't um give in to any of those guys in all those years right? Someone argued that he had to do that to survive and I thought that was a pile of manure. (hide spoiler)]

I am currently reading The Taming of the Shrew as part of my catch up challenge. Still have Clockwork Orange, Galapagos, The Prague Cemetery, and Dune. Plus several more catch up challenge books. Busy busy busy!

I am listening to The Canterbury Tales and reading The Arabian Nights. And starting on Anna Karenina for the group read!

Luella wrote: "Angie wrote: "Paula wrote: Frankenstein rocked my world. It's a repeater to me as well. Go figure.

Oh, I'm loving Frankenstein. I will definitely reread it at some point. The Odyssey grates on me..."

Luella, I highly recommend The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. It is the story from Penelope and her 12 maids' point of view - and it expands on that double standard. Atwood is amazing - she makes a feminist statement if the Odyssey and it is dripping with wit and sharpness.