Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Here is a list of the books we are reading this year.
Volunteers to lead the discussions are always welcome!

The original language is in brackets.

January:
They Were Found Wanting by Miklós Bánffy (Hungarian)
Or:
The Lady With the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 by Anton Chekhov (Russian)

February:
Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon** (French)

March:
Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company by Multatuli (Dutch)

April:
Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos (Spanish)

May:
Beware of Pity(Impatience of the Heart) by Stefan Zweig(German)

June:
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (Italian) Lesle

July:
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (written in Swedish by a Finnish author)

August:
Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb (Hungarian) Lesle

September:
Villa des Roses by Willem Elsschot (Dutch) Samantha

October:
Tristana by Benito Pérez Galdós(Spanish)

November:
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi(Hungarian)

December:
A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov (Russian)




**you can read another book about Maigret if that book is too hard to find

Rosemarie wrote: "Please list any classics in translation you would be interested in reading next year in this thread.
Claire has a list of suggested books in message 1 of the 2019 planning thread. You can choose b..."

I would like to read The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Her books look interesting though I haven’t read any of them yet.

I second that choice, Trisha. Our public library finally has a copy.

Would anyone be interested in reading any of the Maigret by Georges Simenon?

Anyone else interested in reading Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company by Multatuli?

Hungarian 1937 Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb??

Rosemarie wrote: "Would anyone be interested in reading any of the Maigret by Georges Simenon?"

I've never read any Maigret books so I'd like to read the first book. Or doesn't it matter what order you read the series in?

Great choice, Lesle. That one is on my to-read list already. I second that!

I read them all out of order, Kathy, and it didn't matter all that much. But it's better to start with one of the earlier books in the series if you haven't read any. I have actually never read the first book, so I would be interested in reading that one.

Pietr the Latvian is the first book in the series, so I second that choice, Kathy.

Would anyone be interested in reading They Were Found Wanting by Miklós Bánffy? It is part two of the Transylvanian Trilogy.

I would be. I enjoyed the first of the trilogy. I second They Were Found Wanting.

Rosemarie
Have we read The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa? It is Italian and I think I have it. We either talked about it or read it and I didn't read??

I don’t think we have read it yet. Good suggestion.

Rosemarie wrote: "Would anyone be interested in reading They Were Found Wanting by Miklós Bánffy? It is part two of the Transylvanian Trilogy."

Yes, please, may I have another? You could say that I've Been Found Wanting to read the second volume since reading and enjoying the first volume. I already purchased copies of the 2nd and 3rd volumes. I was going to try and fit the next volume in sometime but it is fairly long and I'd prefer reading it in the group.

Do you think we should read They Were Found Wanting in January?
Then maybe we could read They Were Divided in November or December?

Rosemarie wrote: "Do you think we should read They Were Found Wanting in January?
Then maybe we could read They Were Divided in November or December?"

That's a great plan to me. The Romola Hefty read was planned for January to March so there would be plenty of time for that one too, as I could even wait until later to start that.
It looks like there is another Hungarian novel, Journey by Moonlight being scheduled. We had deferred a Hungarian novel Skylark from 2019 to 2020 as we wanted to include more variety. Claire had a list of some suggested 2020 Classics in Translation in Message 1 of the 2019 Planning Thread. In later messages in that thread, the plan was to read Skylark and also Doña Bárbara in 2020. There was also a nomination and second for A Hero of Our Time as 2020 reads.

Brian wrote: "Rosemarie wrote: "Do you think we should read They Were Found Wanting in January?
Then maybe we could read They Were Divided in November or December?"

That's a great p..."

I like the idea also.

Brian, we may have to rearrange some of the Hefty Reads, but please let Lesle know about Romola since she is looking after the hefty's now. Just let her know that the book has already been selected and supported by three members. Thanks.

Thanks for mentioning the list in the 2019 planning thread, Brian. Claire has organized the books by country, for those of you who are looking for ideas. But feel free to suggest books not on the list as well. Our planning process is flexible and open to new suggestions, especially since there are so many good books to choose from.

Anything by Georges Simenon

Sounds good, Jazzy!

oh yes, despite him being such a wonderfully prolific author, it's hard to get many of his books Rosemarie, so whatever anyone can get would be good.

Also Peeling the Onion - Günter Grass

I think last year or the year before the group read Cheese.
I'd like to suggest another book by that same author. Villa des Roses by Willem Elsschot

These are my suggestions for 2020:

From Claire’s list, Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company by Multatuli (the Netherlands)

Not on Claire’s list:

Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. First published in 1527. (Spain)

Irretrievable by Theodor Fontane. Fontaine. (Germany)

La Femme de Gilles by Madeleine Bourdouxhe. (Belgium)

Lesle wrote: "Rosemarie
Have we read The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa? It is Italian and I think I have it. We either talked about it or read it and I didn't read??"

I’d like to read The Leopard, too.

The Lady With the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 - Anton Chekhov

Paris By Night - Silvain Reiner

Tristana - Benito Pérez Galdós

Impatience of the Heart - Stefan Zweig
My young friend Philip loves this book and has given me a battered copy to borrow and although he's only 23 he's read it several times!

Originally wrote this in the wrong thread, so I'll re-post it here:

I'm very curious about Yukio Mishima, said to be one of Japan's greatest novelists of the 20th century, who followed the old samurai code during his lifetime and famously died by committing formal seppuku.

He wrote e.g. the novel Spring Snow, which I believe is a tragic love story.

Here are some other books transferred from the 2019 planning thread:
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi
Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov
Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
Confusion by Stefan Zweig
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe
The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna
Under the North Star by Väinö Linna
The Betrothed/I promessi sposi by Alessandro Manzoni
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima

Wow, all of those sound amazing!

Are there any you would like to read, Eva.

Yes, particularly Skylark, Dead Souls, Oblomov, Temple of the Golden Pavilion, and The Woman in the Dunes. But I don't know if it's possible to second so many.

Other members had supported Skylark previously, so we can add that to the list now. We will see how members respond to the rest of your suggestions.

We have four Hungarian authors for 2020, which may seem like a lot, but there is a special reason.
Last year a number of us read They Were Counted by Miklós Bánffy and enjoyed the book so much that we wanted to read the second and third book as a group too. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

Did you not like any of the ones i had suggested?

We just need one other person to second them, Jazzy, other than the Stefan Zweig book. He was mentioned more than once. Do you have a back up choice in case that book is hard to find? Jazzy, I just checked and that book is also known as Beware of Pity which is readily available. I am adding it to the list right now.

Are there any seconds for Tristana by Benito Pérez Galdós? We don't have very many Spanish or Italian books on our list.

I am adding Doña Bárbara and A Hero of Our Time, Brian.
Thanks for reminding me.

We have room for one more book, but there is no hurry since we already have eleven.
We are reading a Yukio Mishima book in our Authors/Genres thread, as Literary Fiction genre in December.

Carol wrote: "I’d like to read The Leopard, too...."

I hope we get to read it, I located my book and it has been on my TBR pile since 2016!!

Samantha wrote: "I think last year or the year before the group read Cheese.
I'd like to suggest another book by that same author. Villa des Roses by Willem Elsschot"

I would like that as well Samantha!

Rosemarie wrote: "Are there any seconds for Tristana by Benito Pérez Galdós? We don't have very many Spanish or Italian books on our list."

I'll second Tristana.

Thanks for everyone's input.
We now have 13 books so I have a question for those members who have already read They Were Divided by Miklós Bánffy.
Would like to read the third book of the trilogy in January of 2021?
Or would you rather have a buddy read sometime during 2020?
We will still be reading They Were Found Wanting in January of 2020.

That way we can have room for the last two books nominated and seconded.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Just let me know if you are interested in leading any of the discussions of the books listed in Message 1.

I'm confused - isn't "They were Divided" part 3, and "They Were Counted" is the first part of the trilogy?

Thank you for catching that, Eva! 🥴I will change that right away.

I think it is more appropriate to have They Were Divided as a buddy read sometime later in 2020.

Rosemarie wrote: "Thanks for everyone's input.
We now have 13 books so I have a question for those members who have already read They Were Divided by Miklós Bánffy.
Would like to read..."

Either way works for me, Rosemarie.

That sounds good to me too, Brian. We can choose the month on the buddy read thread in the new year.

That's great, Kathy.

Lesle wrote: "Samantha wrote: "I think last year or the year before the group read Cheese.
I'd like to suggest another book by that same author. Villa des Roses by Willem Elsschot..."

I might be able find this one in interlibrary loan once logged in as staff, but it seems I may have to purchase this one. Already found it for cheap online and may buy soon. Owning a book by a Belgian author, where my father's family came from just a few generations ago, could be cool.