Group Read: Pere Goriot by Honore De Balzac - who's in?

January 2009 Group Read: Pere Goriot

Who's in?
Which translation are you reading?
How should we divide up the threads (since there are no chapters)?
About Honore De Balzac?

Honore De Balzac quotes...

Behind every great fortune there is a crime.

First love is a kind of vaccination which saves a man from catching the complaint a second time.

I am a galley slave to pen and ink.

Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.

Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other.

I'm in! My mum has a copy of Pere Goriot, so I shall be borrowing that. It's probably an old Penguin edition.

I recently read about Balzac in Secret Lives of Great Authors and all I remember is that he had a gargantuan appetite. (It was hardly an indepth sort of book, but was an amusing read.)

I'm in but I'm waiting for my copy to come into the library ... how dare the librarians have Christmas! Bah!

I am planning to read the book. If I can't find it at B&N today, I will look on amazon.
--BJ

I'm in! I'm also going to be borrowing my mom's copy - no idea what translation, though. It is one of those Franklin library fancy schmancy binding ones.

Old Goirot, Penguin Classics, tr. Marion Ayton Crawford. Translation first published in 1951.

I'm reading a 1931 copy of the book I found while cataloging my parents books. It's a bit worse for wear but it's the only copy we have. I am not reading a translation since I am French.

I'll be reading a 1946 edition "Published for the Classics Club by W.J. Black". I'm guessing it's the Ellen Marriage translation; however, I have it packed up right now, so I won't know for sure until later.

I have the Old Goirot, Penguin Classics addition, translated Marion Ayton Crawford.
The book is about 300 pages - should we just divide the read into three threads of 100 pages? pages 1 -100, pages 101 to 200 & pages 202 to The End!

This is a 300 page book. Do we have to break it up? I guess I don't care how it gets broken up, if it does. I'll read it through to the end and then participate in the final thoughts section.

Pretty sure I'm in; Old Goirot, Everyman's Library, new series.

I'm in! I have an ancient library copy. Can't wait to start later tonight:)

I ordered my book from B&N.com. I will start reading after I get back in town, if it has arrived.
--BJ

For those who wish to split this up I have found what appears to be the end of the first section. On page 115 of my paperback edition, making it about 1/3 of the way through, these words: "So ends the prologue to this obscure but terrible Parisian tragedy." This follows the little history of Monsieur Goriot given to de Restignac by Monsieur Muret. I expect this was the end of the first installment.

I will keep you posted on any more breaks I find.

Hi, everyone! I'm new to the group. I've been waiting for a new book to start so that I could join in.

Luckily the public library had this. I will be reading the "Great Illustrated Classics" edition, copyright 1954, translated by Jane Minot Sedgewick.

I am in if my request from BookMooch comes through in time.

I'm in! Picked up my book from the library last week. Is there a reading schedule?

Hi chelsye, and welcome shinyone

Most of us are starting in January. I have set up two threads - "first half of book" and "final Review", since the book has no chapters or divisions and is only around 300 pages. My best guess for this group read will be around three weeks (100 pages per week).

You can start anytime - geneg has a head start on us!

I was out of town from Christmas to New Years, am just now getting to this thread, and am anxious to start my first group read.

I have a library copy of the Norton Critical Edition (1994) of Pere Goriot, translated by Burton Raffel. This was recommended by Stbalbach of LT and has 4 Parts:
1 A Private Boardinghouse
2 Entry into High Society
3 Death-Dodger and
4 (redacted: Spoiler-Alert!)

Part 3 may be a convenient split between the two threads, 1st half and final. It begins on p 189 of my copy with: "Two days later, Poiret and Mademoiselle Michonneau were seated on a bench along a deserted lane in the park, enjoying the sunshine and chatting with the man who had seemed suspicious, and rightly so, to Eugene's medical student friend."

Went with Burton Raffel translation and Norton Critical Edition.

Welcome WilfGehlen,

Thanks for your input on the section, I see your translation has the original publishing chapters.
I started the book last night after the fireworks; so far the boarding-house and the mystery of Goriot is very intriguing. Love the writing! Love Paris! Can't wait to read more tonight.

My copy arrived from Amazon this morning. Shall start reading it soon.

I'm reading a translation by Ellen Marriage that translates the title as "Old Goriot" - it makes me realize how difficult translation is - even translating a two word title involves choices about the implications of the word "pere".

My copy is the same as geneg's so I shall be reading up to page 115 which appears to be a natural break.