Reading List Completists discussion

Discuss the July 2020 Completist Selection here

I love that this vote was so tight! I'm looking forward to my first Edith Wharton book and if there's interest, I'm up to reading The Joyluck Club as well. :)

Eileen wrote: "I love that this vote was so tight! I'm looking forward to my first Edith Wharton book and if there's interest, I'm up to reading The Joyluck Club as well. :)"

Here is the Buddy Reads Folder - if you want me to start up a topic for it, I can. I had put it on hold just in case it won, so I will definitely be reading it in July.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Starts today!

I absolutely love Edith Wharton! I don't know if I will reread this, but I'll try to stop by and chime in. I've read The Age of Innocence at least five times!

Is anyone planning to watch the movie, too?

Moonlight Reader wrote: "I absolutely love Edith Wharton! I don't know if I will reread this, but I'll try to stop by and chime in. I've read The Age of Innocence at least five times!

Is anyone planning to wa..."

I will be listening to the audiobook once I finish the ones I am working on.

I did not know that there is a movie, but it does not surprise me. Seems like every classic has one.

Glad to hear you enjoy her work so much - I hope I do, too!

Matthew wrote: "Moonlight Reader wrote: "I absolutely love Edith Wharton! I don't know if I will reread this, but I'll try to stop by and chime in. I've read The Age of Innocence at least five times!
..."

It was a huge budget movie - Daniel Day Lewis as Newland Archer, Michelle Pfieffer as Countess Olenska and Winona Ryder as May Welland, directed by Scorsese. It's quite good, actually. Very elegant and poignant and gorgeously filmed. I would recommend reading the book first (of course), but then track down the movie.

This is making remember how much I love Wharton.

Just started yesterday. Easy to follow, but lots of characters and relationships - that is where I will have to focus my efforts on keeping track!

Also, very interesting how paranoid they are about (view spoiler)[ being seen in public with a foreign girl. I don't remember hearing about paranoia like this in other stories I have read. Maybe I just haven't read enough stories set in late 1800s New York upper class society (hide spoiler)]

Matthew wrote: "Just started yesterday. Easy to follow, but lots of characters and relationships - that is where I will have to focus my efforts on keeping track!

Also, very interesting how paranoid they are abou..."

(view spoiler)[Madame Olenska isn't just foreign, she is immoral. She's left her abusive husband and fled with his secretary, which makes her a social outcast. Contact with her could potentially taint an innocent young girl like May in the eyes of society, rendering her unmarriageable, which makes her dangerous. (hide spoiler)]

Wharton was deeply enmeshed in the society she writes about albeit 30 or so years later - she came from a very prominent old New York family. Legend has it that the expression "keeping up with the Joneses" comes from her family - her maiden name was Edith Newbold Jones.

Moonlight Reader wrote: "Matthew wrote: "Just started yesterday. Easy to follow, but lots of characters and relationships - that is where I will have to focus my efforts on keeping track!

Also, very interesting how parano..."

Regarding your spoiler, I am starting to understand that a bit more with (view spoiler)[the divorce proceedings (hide spoiler)]. However, that is all pretty much par for the course in modern society!

I'm still on hold for this book, but am hoping it will come in soon!

Am I supposed to (view spoiler)[find Archer to be kind of pathetic (hide spoiler)]? Because so far I do!

Okay, I have my book! But I want to finish Clockwork Orange first, which is a real mind trip!

I am almost done and all I keep doing is (view spoiler)[shaking my head and the actions of Archer. Then, when he finds out why he can't just run away - BOOM! Take that Archer! But, then I feel bad for his wife and future kid that they have this guy in their lives who doesn't care about anything but running off to Europe with some other woman. Sometimes I can sympathize with characters finding forbidden love, but I do not sympathize with Archer. (hide spoiler)]

Matthew wrote: "I am almost done and all I keep doing is [spoilers removed]"

I'll be curious to hear what you think of it at the end. (view spoiler)[I'm not sure you are supposed to exactly feel sorry for Newland Archer - I think you are just supposed to feel empathy for the three of them, May, Ellen & Newland. You'll see more by the end, but essentially they are all trapped in this extremely oppressive, repressive and superficial society where the cultural demands both make no sense and serve no purpose, and everyone's life is completely stunted by them. (hide spoiler)]

Once you finish reading, you might be interested in my review, which is over on my blog. Link.

It spoils the end, though, so don't read it before you finish the book.

Moonlight Reader wrote: "Once you finish reading, you might be interested in my review, which is over on my blog. Link.

It spoils the end, though, so don't read it before you finish the book."

Thanks - I will check it out! I only had about 20 minutes left at the end of my lunchtime walk today, so I should finish soon.

I liked this one a lot more than I expected I would - a pleasant surprise!

Click here for my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Matthew wrote: "I liked this one a lot more than I expected I would - a pleasant surprise!

Click here for my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Another Wharton convert - we will take over the world someday!

She has two other "old New York" novels - The House of Mirth and The Custom of the Country. They are both fantastic. I couldn't pick a favorite if you tried to make me.

Cool, I really enjoyed this one! I wasn't so sure because classics + Victorian Era just felt boring to me, lol. But it was really well written and crafted and I enjoyed it. But oh, that ending. Ouch! Thanks for whoever recommended this one!

Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Moonlight Reader wrote: "Another Wharton convert - we will take over the world someday!"

Indeed! It does make me interested to check out her other works. So glad I liked the writing and presentation.

Rumor has it the movie is on Netflix. Gonna have to check it out!

Eileen wrote: "Cool, I really enjoyed this one! I wasn't so sure because classics + Victorian Era just felt boring to me, lol. But it was really well written and crafted and I enjoyed it. But oh, that ending. Ouc..."

Yay! Another person who enjoyed!

Actually, I just went through our reading lists looking for female authors and came across this one for the poll. I am so glad that I did! :)

Glad to see you all enjoyed it so much! I'll be starting the audiobook today. Did not know either that there was a movie adaption. I always like to compare those! Indeed, after reading first of course

Jessica wrote: "Glad to see you all enjoyed it so much! I'll be starting the audiobook today. Did not know either that there was a movie adaption. I always like to compare those! Indeed, after reading first of course"

Awesome - I hope you enjoy, too!

I liked it and this morning I watched the movie (available on netflix here in Europe) and I loved the movie! I always like to watch movie adaptions with book still fresh in my mind so I can appreciated the choice in script more. It's fun to notice which parts of the dialogues are take ad verbum from the books and where they for some reason chose to make changes... I love that they didn't they change the ending form romance sake.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...