Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Another month is almost upon us, share your June reading plans here!

I’ll be reading -

1. The Iliad currently reading
2. A Life in Letters 4 stars
3. Miss Sophie's Diary and Other Stories 2 stars
4. Sanditon 2 stars
5. The Ballad of Reading Gaol 4 stars

My original plans are usually so far off what I do, that I will keep this short.

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Hamlet by Shakespeare
The Grey King by Susan Cooper

Gonna transplant my Quest for Women stuff that I don't have to wait till September to finish up, but now that my challenge hiatus is upon me, I'm going to be focused more on filling out targeted categories than planning out individual works, such as:


Been On My Shelf Forever (oldest 20%)
The Princess Bride - William Goldman (June Group Read) (completed 6/24/19)
Scenes from Village Life - Amos Oz (also Translated) (completed 6/20/19)

Long (600+ pages)
Battle Royale - Koushun Takami (also Been On My Shelf, Translated) (completed 6/5/19)

Lowly Rated (rating < 3.7)
After the Apocalypse - Maureen F. McHugh (also Been On My Shelf) (completed 6/7/19)

In Translation
The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey - Ernesto Che Guevara (also Been On My Shelf) (completed 6/13/19)

None of the Above
Love, an Index - Rebecca Lindenberg (completed 6/25/19)
Dept. of Speculation - Jenny Offill (Currently Reading)

Stay tuned.


Quest for Women

1810s - Original Letters from India - Eliza Fay (library)
1870s - The Woman in Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier by Loreta Janeta Velázquez (also Long, Translated) (completed 6/26/19, Review in Progress)
1939 - Fighting for Life - S. Josephine Baker (library)
1940 - The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead (also for SGRWC) (also Lowly Rated) (completed 6/18/19)

This is an interesting way to organize your reads. I like it! I'll be watching to see what is in each of your categories :)

For now, I'm planning to read:
2001: A Space Odyssey (the complete series)
A Widow for One Year
A Clockwork Orange
Baal
Further Chronicles of Avonlea

Other than planning to get to two of the group reads (listed below), my June reading plans are still all over the place. I've got a couple of titles planned for a reading challenge (also listed below), but I'm still scrambling to finish a few more before the current challenge ends and haven't really had the energy to think about next month much (death in the family kind of threw things awry).

Wide Sargasso Sea
The Princess Bride
Pride
V for Vendetta
Bad Island
Preludes & Nocturnes
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers

Terris wrote: "This is an interesting way to organize your reads. I like it! I'll be watching to see what is in each of your categories :)"

Thanks, Terris. I get paranoid every so often that I'm neglecting one category or another, and I'm definitely lagging in terms of average page count as compared to last year, so this is a good way of speeding up the selection process while keeping things variable enough to be interesting.

My inner rebel is not feeling the challenge categories right now, so I will just list the books I hope to read this month and let the books fall where they may!

Days Without End - Sebastian Barry
The End of the Affair - Graham Greene
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
A Death in the Family - James Agee
Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (I think this is a re-read)
Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
Molly Make Believe - Eleanor Howell Abbott

This is about the rate at which I am reading. Let’s see how I do. I will add more if I make it through these. (I am avoiding Balthazar at the moment, because I am not ready for another Durrell book yet. But I really should get to it in the second quarter of the year if I am going to get through the whole Quartet in 2019.)

I am already reading the first two on the above list, so it is possible they will be finished before the end of May — especially because I am enjoying them both. Days without End is historical fiction about a young man who joins the Army in 1850. I am listening to Collin Firth’s reading of The End of the Affair, and he’s just as great as you might expect him to be. Both are first person narratives, but very different, to say the least!

Daz's June Dozen

group read:
1) Wide Sargasso Sea Rhys, Jean 1966

to humour Lady Slugge (so that she can talk with me about Harry Potter!):
2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Rowling, J. K. 1999

replacement for quarterly-long-read (after dnf-ing Infinite Jest):
3) Life: A User's Manual ("La Vie Mode d'Emploi") Perec, Georges 1978

4x main challenge:
4) Alberta And Jacob Sandel, Cora 1926
5) The Sportswriter Ford, Richard 1986
6) A Hero Of Our Time Lermontov, Mikhail 1840
7) The Castle Kafka, Franz 1926

main challenge reserve (War category):
8) If Not Now, When? Levi, Primo 1982

Old & New Challenge (Group Bookshelf):
9) The Plague Camus, Albert 1947

non-challenge "author more" (sequel to The Twelve Chairs):
10) The Little Golden Calf Ilf & Petrov 1931

carried over from earlier this year:
11) The Killing (fka "Clean Break") White, Lionel 1955

carried over from last year(!):
12) Moravagine Cendrars, Blaise 1926

My May plans went great but most months get waylaid by real life so we'll see if I can stick to June's plan.

The Prince - group read
The Princess Bride - group read
She Would Be King - different group read

Old and New Challenge books
Orientalism
The Fire Next Time
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race

I know this is overly ambitious but I can always dream! ;)

Audio:
The Prince - group read
Daisy Jones & The Six - just for me!
Leonardo da Vinci - been on my shelf too long
The Good Soldier - I just want to read something by Ford Madox Ford
Germinal - Bingo Challenge

Print:
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling - will start on June 1st on Serial Reader with one issue/day (will probably finish in September) - Bingo Challenge
Dodgers - for local book club #1
Sophie's Choice - buddy read with a friend
Orphan Train - re-read for local book club #2
The Caine Mutiny - Bingo Challenge & Old/New Challenge
Educated - for October local book club read but my hold request at the library came in early!!! I'm afraid to let it go, I might not get it back by October :/
There are a couple more but I'm pretty sure I won't get to them, so they'll just roll over into July :)

Terris wrote: "I know this is overly ambitious but I can always dream! ;)

Audio:
The Prince - group read
Daisy Jones & The Six - just for me!
Leonardo da Vinci - been..."

Very ambitious! Good luck and good reading.

How did it get to be June? I finally started the last story in Scenes of Clerical Life, which I have been reading all year. :-/ I have to read these very slowly, so it will be June before I finish, but I will finish!

Others I have started/planned:
O Pioneers!
The Great Railway Bazaar
Border Districts: A Fiction
The Eye of the Story: Selected Essays and Reviews
The Prince
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (I made the mistake of checking out of the library the complete Oscar Wilde so I could read this one, and now I want to read the entire 630 page tome!)

Kathleen wrote: "How did it get to be June? I finally started the last story in Scenes of Clerical Life, which I have been reading all year. :-/ I have to read these very slowly, so it will be June bef..."

My library only had The Ballad of Reading Gaol in The Complete Ocar Wilde also. I'd love to read the whole thing but I'm resisting because I've been having a lot of long wait holds come due. Some day I'll come back to it.

I should be finishing up Origin within the next week, and then I have plans to listen to The Prince and read Wide Sargasso Sea and The Caine Mutiny.

If I get the time, I'll start on Whistling Past the Graveyard and/or Children of Dune.

Have lots of other plans for June so I will probably not have too much time to read

Currently reading
The Edge of the Light
The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford (Womens Century Challenge)
London (Old&New Classics Challenge)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (serial-reader)
Farligt møde (audio)

Planned
Kindred (May group challenge)
Oraklet
Shadow of the Fox (audio)
Trækopfuglens krønike (audio, personal birthyear-challenge)
American Gods (Old&New Classics Challenge)
Three Act Tragedy (Goodreads Summer Challenge)
The Epic of Gilgamesh (July Group Challenge)
The Carnivorous Carnival (audio)
Integration
Frit fald
Ofrenes offer
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (Goodreads Summer Challenge)
A Girl Like That (audio, Goodreads Summer Challenge)
Vinterland
Snaren
Jeg er autist: En kat i en verden af hunde (Goodreads Summer Challenge)
Skam

Well I am fresh out of classics and do not want to buy anymore books until after I move back to STL (I am a physical book purist) and do not want to lug more than I have already. I will read the modern novels I have on hand so I plan to read Against The Day by Thomas Pynchon, Empire Falls by Richard Russo and The Long Walk by Stephen King. I will not be completely without classics because I will also continue working on The Complete Saki by Saki.

Nice list of books Mike.

Ah yes... I love accountability! For June, then, I am planning on:


Finishing:
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) - 2019 Bingo Challenge
The Light Between Oceans (M.L. Stedman) - Local book club read
Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 (Mitchell Zuckoff) - spur of the moment read

Starting:
The Prince (Niccolò Machiavelli) - June Old School Classic group read
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy) - 2019 Bingo Challenge
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (Gail Honeyman) - Local book club read
TBD - Local history book club read

In no particular order:



To Finish (hopefully):
Kolyma Stories by Varlam Shalamov
Lucky Per by Henrik Pontoppidan

To Start (definitely):
Abel and Cain by Gregor von Rezzori
The Hall of Uselessness: Collected Essays by Simon Leys
Corrupted into Song: The Complete Poems of Alvin Feinman
Slight Exaggeration by Adam Zagajewski
Danube by Claudio Magris

And whatever else happens to capture my attention.

I should finish:

1.
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

2.
Nightfall by David Goodis

3.
The 39 Steps by John Buchan

4.
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eleven edited by Jonathan Strahan

5.
Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court by John Wooden and Steve Jamison

I might finish this month:

6.
The Hours by Michael Cunningham

I probably won't finish this month:

7.
Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

8.
The Terror by Dan Simmons

9.
The Innocents Abroad: Or the New Pilgrim's Progress by Mark Twain

10.
The Bloody Crown of Conan by Robert E. Howard

11.
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

12.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2017 edited by John Sandford and Otto Penzler

13.
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

14.
Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling by Jeb Blount

June is Pride Month! Anyone have any relevant reading planned? I need to slip something in myself.

Aubrey wrote: "June is Pride Month! Anyone have any relevant reading planned? I need to slip something in myself."

Have you tried The Swimming-Pool Library? Or Jan Morris's Conundrum?

The Swimming-Pool Library put Alan Hollinghurst on the map. It's also hard to go wrong with just about anything written by Gide, like The Immoralist.

Pride by Jonathan Hill

Also, without a doubt, Totempole by Sanford Friedman and Qiu Miaojin's Notes of a Crocodile and Last Words from Montmartre.

My daily reading habit fell off track last month so, I shall renew my efforts in June.

Epic read: Gne With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (beginning to read)

Library book: Broken Ground - Val McDermid (reading)

Classic read: Hard Times - Charles Dickens (beginning to read)

Autobiography read: My Dear Cassandra - Jane Austen (read)

I have been a total flop this month. I have plodded with each book but still failed to complete my monthly goal. I will try harder in July.

Aubrey wrote: "June is Pride Month! Anyone have any relevant reading planned? I need to slip something in myself."

I have Nightwood on my Women's challenge so I may try to work it in.

Erin wrote: "My daily reading habit fell off track last month so, I shall renew my efforts in June.

Library book: Broken Ground - Val McDermid (read)

Epic read: David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (begin to r..."

I recently noticed My Dear Cassandra : Selections from the Letters of Jane Austen It currently only has 113 ratings, and a very high average.

What an interesting looking book. I look forward to hearing what you think of it! I marked to read as well.

Laurie wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "June is Pride Month! Anyone have any relevant reading planned? I need to slip something in myself."

I have Nightwood on my Women's challenge so I may try to work it in."

This is a great choice, Laurie--one of the most unique books I've ever read.

I'm hoping to take this opportunity to read one or both of these classics: Orlando and Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches.

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Ah yes... I love accountability! For June, then, I am planning on:


Finishing:
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) - 2019 Bingo Challenge
The Light Between Ocean..."</i>




Shirley, is this your first time to read [book:Anne of Green Gables ? My mother had the entire Anne series in hardback published in the 1950s. I looked at them on the shelf for years and years and finally picked them up about ten years ago. I read the first two novels. They were lovely. I think this is a great example of a "children's" book that adults can really enjoy. I hope you liked it.

Buddy Read:
The Caine Mutiny

Group Reads:
The Violent Bear It Away
Giovanni's Room
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Wide Sargasso Sea

Possibly start audio:
Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Pillsonista wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "June is Pride Month! Anyone have any relevant reading planned? I need to slip something in myself."

Have you tried The Swimming-Pool Library? Or author:Jan Morris|1..."

I liked the Morris well enough, my copy of the Hollinghurst got lost in the ether, and my copy of the Gide's in storage. I'm thinking of these out of the ones I have on hand:
Call Me By Your Name - André Aciman
The Night Watch - Sarah Waters
Mauve Desert - Nicole Brossard

We'll see.

Lynn wrote: "Shirley, is this your first time to read Anne of Green Gables? My mother had the entire Anne series in hardback published in the 1950s. I looked at them on the shelf for years and years and finally picked them up about ten years ago. I read the first two novels. They were lovely. I think this is a great example of a "children's" book that adults can really enjoy. I hope you liked it."

I know it's sad, Lynn, but it's true! This is my first time to read Anne of Green Gables. I didn't grow up in the States, so I missed all the American children's stories. I'm trying to remedy that now. A few months ago, I read Little House in the Big Woods (the first in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, I am thoroughly enjoying this innocent sweet tale of Anne Shirley, not realizing that there were other books in the series. I also just bought The Secret of the Old Clock (the first in the Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew series). I'm so glad I'm visiting these classics for the first time. I don't find these stories at all condescending, but rather very uplifting!

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Shirley, is this your first time to read Anne of Green Gables? My mother had the entire Anne series in hardback published in the 1950s. I looked at them on the shelf for ye..."

Oh how fun to have all of these ahead of you!! I read a shelf full of Nancy Drew books when I was a young teen. Nancy was independent, outgoing, and very competent. She was a powerful investigator who was fearless!

Lynn wrote: "Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Oh how fun to have all of these ahead of you!! I read a shelf full of Nancy Drew books when I was a young teen. Nancy was independent, outgoing, and very competent. She was a powerful investigator who was fearless!"

I'm really looking forward to reading this series. I'm thinking that I may have read some of these books translated into French (the heroine was Alice Roy). It'll be fun to see if I recognize Nancy as Alice.

I think it was Nancy Drew that turned me into a reader. I especially loved The Hex Barn. I could just picture Nancy and her friend (was her name Georgia?) racing around in a convertible “roadster” solving mysteries! I would read them in bed with my flashlight — I know it’s a cliche, but I actually did this, and loved it. Or Saturday afternoon with a handful of grapes! Ah, the nostalgia...

Terry wrote: "I think it was Nancy Drew that turned me into a reader. I especially loved The Hex Barn. I could just picture Nancy and her friend (was her name Georgia?) racing around in a convertible “roadster” ..."

Cool. I looked up the characters' names. Yep there is a George

George Fayne. Georgia "George" Fayne is a character in the popular Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. She is one of Nancy's best friends and cousin of Bess Marvin. Her real name is Georgia, although no one calls her that except her parents.

My books were written in the 1930s by Margaret Wirt. There were several ghost writers who went by the name Carolyn Keene.

to start and finish Jacob’s Room and Top Girls

Finish reading and

I am hoping to read
The Girl Below
To Kill a Kingdom
Bare Bones

Over halfway through the month, how’s everyone doing?

My list was short, so the only one I haven’t finished yet is The Iliad. I think I’ll concentrate on my library books after that.

Then as we approach the end of June, I’ll be looking at my challenge lists, to see how far behind I am and what I need to prioritise for the second half of the year! I know I’m good on the women’s challenges and bingo, but not the Old and New Classics challenge or my personal goals.

This month has been terrible for reading. I still have not started my list. I new it was going to be rough because of my job and preparing for my move. My last day at work is the 27th and as long the occupancy permit inspection is completed in time I will be in my new place on the first and I should be able to start actually reading again.

I will start book one of my list today. I believe it will be The Long Walk because that is the shortest and lightest read on my list.

of my declared 12, I have finished 5, 2 are in progress and 5 are yet to be started, so about on track for mid-month...

Daz's June Dozen (full details in Message#9 above)

1) Wide Sargasso Sea - Finished - 3
2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Finished - 4
3) Life: A User's Manual - Finished - 5
4) Alberta And Jacob
5) The Sportswriter - In Progress...
6) A Hero Of Our Time - Finished - 4
7) The Castle - In Progress...
8) If Not Now, When? - Finished - 4
9) The Plague
10) The Little Golden Calf
11) The Killing
12) Moravagine

I've been very slow, three works done rather than the five or six that's normal in a month for me,as I'm still chugging through the far too many 500+ pagers I started at the beginning of this month. I'm hoping to finish off at least one of them this week so I can begin repopulating my currently reading stack with shorter works and make the second half or the month a lot more exciting than the first.

I have finished two books started in May: Days Without End and The End of the Affair. I have read Riders of the Purple Sage. I am currently reading The Princess Bride. I hope to re-read Wide Sargasso Sea. Possibly get to Station Eleven. And that should about do it, although I may start Midnight’s Children.

Since it is now Summer Break I am binge-reading, housecleaning and living like a hermit. What a nice change!

This month I have read:

1. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
2. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
4, The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde (reread)
5. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
6. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
7. Rocannon's World by Ursula le Guin

I am currently on page 397/490 in my version of Jane Eyre. By the time I start Wide Sargasso Sea, I will be (as Jane would say) inexorably prejudiced to Mr. Rochester's side in the matter.


Updated 6/29/2019
8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
9. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
10. Ross Poldark by Winston Graham
11. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
12. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmesby Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
13. Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry by Albert J. Bernstein

I've been quite good so far this month (see message 17), but still have some books to go, mainly the 1300+ page long London - I'm at about 25%

Well I finished Origin and read The Prince and Wide Sargasso Sea so far. About a quarter of the way through The Caine Mutiny so far and loving it! Shouldn't take too long to finish it as long as I find time to read.

Next up is Whistling Past the Graveyard for my in-person book club and I also added Sharp Objects and Big Little Lies to my reading list for this month or next since I recently subscribed to HBO and would like to watch those two series after reading the books.

5 days of month to go...

of my 12:
8 finished
3 in progress
1 might not get to

Daz's June Dozen (full details in Message#9 above)

1) Wide Sargasso Sea - Finished - 3
2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Finished - 4
3) Life: A User's Manual - Finished - 5
4) Alberta And Jacob - In Progress...
5) The Sportswriter - Finished - 3
6) A Hero Of Our Time - Finished - 4
7) The Castle - Finished - 4
8) If Not Now, When? - Finished - 4
9) The Plague - In Progress...
10) The Little Golden Calf - In Progress...
11) The Killing - Finished - 4.5
12) Moravagine - Might Not Get To... :o(

5 days! How are there only 5 days left of June?!

I managed to finish five works in the last ten days and can see myself finishing at least one in the next five, which will leave me at the rather low count of nine this month but with a rather respectable page average. I also finally got through the last few Challenge reads I have on hand, so now it's time to play the waiting game till the work I'm eyeing is returned (hopefully before September).

I'm working on updating my consolidated reading post above: you'll see some works that don't fit under any of my set categories, but I was focusing on the short and hypermodern a while to get my read count up without sucking up potential challenge reads. Hopefully my reading future/July plans will be less frantic.