Reading the Classics discussion

It's time to decide what we are going to read for December. As winter and the holidays approach, I find that I just want to curl up with a good book. For the last month of this crazy insane year, choose a book that makes you feel comfy, makes you think of home, or just makes you feel happy. Let's end 2020 on a happy note and read something that makes us happy!

One nomination per person please. Nominations close on November 14, and polls run November 15-21.

The first thing that popped into my head when you described the parameters for the December read (makes you feel comfy, makes you think of home, makes you happy) was Alcott's Little Women. I would put forward Tolstoy's Resurrection, but it probably qualifies as a doorstopper!

I don't know if this would be considered a classic, but I was thinking "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding" by Agatha Christie.

i just picked up a copy of Trollopes christmas stories. Its called something .like christmas at thomson hall.

I looked for classic Christmas stories, and turned up a whole bunch of them, but they all tend to be 40-130pp long, which doesn't really work for a Monthly Read.

So my nomination will be Hemingway's 'A Farewell to Arms'. I've never read it and always wanted to, and Papa's literary economy would be a nice change of pace after the Dreiser, even 2 months on :)

We don't seem to be getting a lot of nominations. Perhaps the theme is too difficult? I just wanted people to nominate a book that makes them happy. It doesn't have to be about the holidays or Christmas at all. Maybe instead just a book you enjoy or think you would enjoy reading.

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote?

A Hero of our Time by Mikhail Lermontov.

How about “Pnin” by Nabokov

Although it doesn't remind me of home, "Dr.Zhivago" would be a wonderful book for a cold winter night.

I think some humour would be nice. I'm new to this group--I think Three Men In a Boat and the sequel, Three Men On The Bummel would be funny. To paraphrase Hawking, "Life would be funny if it weren't tragic". To laugh on a situation is a better than to grieve and mope about it.

How about
'Flaubert's Parrot'
by Julian Barnes

L wrote: "How about
'Flaubert's Parrot'
by Julian Barnes"

Hey L - I'm actually interested in reading this and have been for some time, but it's a **little** young for this group. For consideration a book has to be at least 50 years old, so the cutoff date of first publication is 1970 at present. Please feel free to make an alternative nomination!

Thanks Brian.

How about Bulgakov A Dog's Heart
I've read it and thought it was hilarious. As I read it recently I did not do the academic take on it with notes and any attempt to decipher all the satire. Still I got a lot of it which made the reading quite enjoyable.

That meets the age test. It's a little short, but as a nomination I think that's a fine first go. Usually noms for the monthly read are for books a little longer, but maybe we could use a break in December. Let's see!

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut. He always makes me laugh.

H G Wells, The Time Machine.

Oscar Wilde ; The Canterville Ghost.

Sorry about not putting up the poll yesterday. I just put it up. We have quite a few short novels,
- Christmas at Thomson Hall
- A Hero of Our Time
- Pnin
- A Dog's Heart
- The Canterville Ghost
If any of the above wins the polls, we will also read the nxt highest one in the polls. Each of these is about 150 pages, so that would make about 300 pages for both for the month.
If another book wins, it will be the only read for December.

Also, Erika, A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote seems like a wonderful story for December. But since it is only 48 pages long, I will put it up as one of our Weekend Shorts for December.

So please head over and vote for our December Group Read. https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Thank you!

Great idea! I didn't realize how short it was!

Question - I see that the Dr. Zhivago that is tagged in the voting is only 77 pages and the book I have is 550+. Is this a different version?

I wondered about that. I looked and the link is to a
" Nancy Stanley (Retold by)" someone has written a synopsis or their take on Dr. Zhivago. This is not the original as written by Boris Pasternak.

Good I'm glad I wasn't the only one 😊

I wonder if people voting for Dr Zhivago realize how long the book actually is.

Okay, this is my mistake. Dr. Zhivago is over 500 pages. This will not count as a shorter read if it wins. I will send an email to update.

The December read will, indeed, be Boris Pasternak's Dr Zhivago.

This is a long selection, and we will adopt some guidelines going forward to determine whether a selected reading is to be a 1 month read, a 2 month read, or a Doorstopper (3+). For Zhivago, we will adopt a 2-month reading schedule, so this will be our selection into January.

Please acquire or borrow a copy. If you are a Kindle reader, as I am, this is the edition I suggest:
https://tinyurl.com/y4v9lyly

Also this FREE CourseHero Reading Guide companion for the book:
https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Dr-Zhi...

As Zhivago was published in 1957, it does not exist legally in the public domain. There is a cheaper Kindle edition ($2.99), but it gets poor reviews for formatting. There is also a Kobo edition which you will find by searching. As per usual, your good old library is probably the best bet for a free copy.

There is a new folder set up for Dr Zhivago, and I will drop a reading schedule into it shortly.

I am glad to see that we will have two months to read Zhivago. When I thought we just had December, I was going to pass. The book is a challenge to follow.

I just bought the kindle version you suggest. I also checked out Wikipedia. There is large diagram of all the relationships that is interesting. Also, there are summaries if each chapter. I am sure I will be using both.

L_Gail wrote: "I am glad to see that we will have two months to read Zhivago. When I thought we just had December, I was going to pass. The book is a challenge to follow.

I just bought the kindle version you su..."

I just added a link above to a free CourseHero reading guide, which you will also find quite useful.