Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Our book of the month for June is The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa .

I'll be joining in around mid-month. Been wanting to read this for so long.

That's good to hear.
I have read the book twice.

I tried to start this today while the boys were outside playing and me sitting on the porch, just couldnt. So I think maybe later this month too.

This one takes some concentration, until you get into it.

Rosemarie wrote: "This one takes some concentration, until you get into it."

Ah, good to know this, Rosemarie. Then I must start a little later in the month when I've done with some other group reads.

I've started and quite enjoying it. But I feel I need to dig a little bit into the 1860 Revolution to understand the political and social impact a little more.

Piyangie, maybe I will look at the 1860 Revolution up first.
Thank you for letting us know it might be helpful to do so!

This might throw some light on the historical background, Lesle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian...

Thank you for the links, Piyangie. Italian history is complicated because it wasn't a unified country like France, for example.
The fact that Cavour was the first leader of unified Italy explains why so many cities have streets called Cavour.

Piyangie wrote: "This might throw some light on the historical background, Lesle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian......"

Thank you!
I read the first article on lunch and might have to use it as a reference. Will check out the other one when I get home. I brought the book with me but didnt even get to that part.

You are both welcome, Lesle and Rosemarie! I just had a cursory glance through them but will have to read it with more attention and take a few notes before continuing with the reading.

here is my edition, wish it still had the cover but the Hardcover is in really good shape for a 1960.

Archibald Colquhoun (1912–1964) was a leading translator of modern Italian literature into English. He is the Translator for my edition. He has done translations for Italo Calvino.

There is a film version starring Burt Lancaster, from 1963.

Thanks Rosemarie maybe after the read I will look for this. Interesting to see how it compares. And Burt Lancaster wow!

I just started it and I, too, will go back and first look up some historical information. I realised that other than England and France I have not the slightest knowledge of Italian history - shame on me ^^'.

Do not feel bad Gabi. The one article that Piyangie shared I have read twice, took a few notes. I did not know of the struggle.

Lesle wrote: "Do not feel bad Gabi. The one article that Piyangie shared I have read twice, took take a few notes. I did not know of the struggle."

I'm pondering what we learned in school in history classes. They weren't my fav subject (quite the contrary), so I often didn't pay much attention, but I think we never learned anything about the Risorgimento. Now that I've read a bit about the topic I have to look for a good book about Giuseppe Garibaldi. Quite an interesting life there.

Rosemarie wrote: "There is a film version starring Burt Lancaster, from 1963."
Lesle wrote: "Thanks Rosemarie maybe after the read I will look for this. Interesting to see how it compares. And Burt Lancaster wow!"

Just to warn you, Lesle, even though it stars Burt Lancaster, it is in Italian with subtitles.

Oh and me who doesnt speak Italian and hate reading during a movie! I miss all the action!

I'm really enjoying the read. I like the Prince of Salina and his nephew. And most of all, I'm so drawn in by Lampadusa's writing.

Bendicò reminds me of Marmaduke big and loveable.

I really liked the description of the daily prayer room.

The Song of Cicadas "a death rattle from parched Sicily at the end of August vainly awaiting rain." We call them Jar Flies, why I dont even know.

I finished reading. It is a wonderful book. Really enjoyed it. Thank you Lesle and Rosemarie for this selection.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Piyangie.

These were my comments in another GR group on finishing the Leopard:
(view spoiler)[ A few comments on finishing:

1. My memory is that Tancredi was in love with Angelica, more than she was with him. I presume Tancredi had affairs, as Don Fabrizio did, because that was what a strong powerful man in Sicilian culture did. There was also room in Tancredi's passionate heart for a bit of love for Concetta too.
2. I entered the last 2 chapters with trepidation as I don't normally like time jumps, let alone one of 26 years and then 22 years. Yet, I thought Don Fabrizio's death scene was one of the best death bed depictions I've ever read.
3. With the last chapter, I had the additional trepidation that I didn't think I knew the 3 sisters well enough to end the story with them. Yet, again, I greatly enjoyed the chapel/relics/dead dog passages. I had no problem with the emphasis on Conchetta and her relations to her sisters, the Church and Angelica. It was an appropriate ending to the story of the decline of the nobility.
4. At story's end, I had the same wistful feeling I recently experienced reading about the end of the Trotta family and the Austrian/Hungary empire in Joseph Roth's The Radetzky March. The Leopard book and ending were effective.
5. The quality of the last 2 chapters, along with Don Fabrizio's conversation with Chevalley, compensated for the fact that the descriptive prose had my mind often drifting during the first two thirds of the novel, and raised my ultimate rating from 3 to 4 stars. (hide spoiler)]

Some of my thoughts on the book can be found in my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also like to share two instances that really moved me. (view spoiler)[ One is Don Fabriozi's death. I've not come across another where death is so poetically described.

The second is at the very end when Concetta was throwing away the mummified relic of Bendico, she imagines for an instant seeing a leopard with "its right foreleg raised in imprecation". I loved the symbology there. (hide spoiler)]