2010- What classic are you reading now?

A brand new year! Not to mention a brand new decade! This calls for a brand new thread. So, I've taken the liberty of starting this thread.

I've finally managed to finish reading The Innocence of Father Brown which I had begun last year. My review here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/51714800

Or on my 50 Book Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/80925

I'm going to re-read The Great Gatsby next.

Thanks for starting a new thread, Porua. Three years is a long time, lol.
I'm currently reading Cranford.

You are welcome, mstrust! :-) Yeah, three years IS a long time. It was high time to start a new thread.

Reading Light in August and Les Miserables.

I'm reading the Song of Roland and Bleak House.

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.

Volume 2 of Proust's In Search of Lost Time translated by James Grieve In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower.

I just finished Georges by Alexandre Dumas yesterday. I am currently reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

I just started Wide Sargasso Sea.

I finally, finally, finally finished Herodotus, after about 2 years of on-and-off effort.

My next door stop is The Leaves of Grass. So far, it's been repetition, repetition, repetition, subtle homoerotica, pastoral splendor, repetition, repetition and repetition.

My wife and I just started a joint read of Heart of Darkness.

Ulysses. Wonderful so far (page 100).

>13 KatherineAdelaide:
LOL! "Wonderful so far." Just wait til you get to the Maternity Ward where there are like 20 different comingled literary styles. My head exploded.

Best of luck, to you!

Just finished The Moonstone. I am working on Paradise Lost, The Woman in White and Les Miserables.

I just finished Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

#16 Journey to the Centre of the Earth is one of my childhood favorites. Hope you enjoyed it.

I love your reading so far this year, nee-nee! Isn't Collins great?

I am currently reading Paradise Lost and Fathers and Sons.

Finished reading Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie. My review is here,
http://www.librarything.com/work/29915/reviews/50339813

Now I'm reading The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

>18 atimco: I can't believe that I've never heard of Collins before!!! The Moonstone was SO awesome! It even had a Scooby-Doo like ending! Which made me love it even more. How is Fathers and Sons? Its been on my TBR list for a while.

Fathers and Sons is a bit slow so far. I haven't had much leisure for reading this week, and the time I've had I've spent on Paradise Lost. But things were just heating up when I set it down. The nihilist Bazarov is starting to explain his worldview, and apparently he stirs up the whole household — which is already rather in disarray. I bet { name removed to prevent spoilers } isn't even the father... I have a feeling once I have a good chunk of time to devote to it, I'll down it in a few hours.

nee-nee, I need to get over and look at your library. I've loved Collins since discovering him a few years ago and have enjoyed every book of his that I've read. He wrote a ton of them, too! His female characters (well, really all his characters) are great.

I have got to get at that one. It has always interested me. I'm going to bump it up towards the top of the pile.

I totally agree with you on Collins's characters. They were all so multi-dimensional. Its always wonderful to see female characters that were given as much thought as the male characters. Especially in Victorian authors. My favorite is the butler (?) Betteridge. I loved his thoughts on raising Daughters and the benefits of Robinson Cursoe.

I`ve just finished Rebecca and before that Great expectations. It really struck me how much I`d had to concentrate on the language of Dickens (although enjoying it immensely) when I started Rebecca and the reading felt like gliding on velvet by comparison,a very enjoyable experience!

Reading the makioka sisters by tanizaki. Also, still listening to the audio version of Remembrance of Things Past. I don't think I will be my old self again now that I have read and am still reading proust. sigh.

"The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexander Dumas. It's silly but fun. At least now I know why Tom Sawyer made Jim do all that obnoxious stuff in "Huckleberry Finn".

I have started Le docteur Jivago for the Group Read. Enjoying it a lot so far.

Finally finished reading The Return of the Native. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/work/3036/reviews/54419473

#17: Verne is definitely not my favorite science fiction author, but since I like "classic" sci-fi from that time period I supposed I should read some of his books. Back to Wells and Burroughs now.

I'm currently reading The Professor.

I tabled Leaves of Grass. I got tired of the repetitive lists, repetition, pastoral scenes, repetition, subtle homorerotica, repetition and repetition.

I'm now reading Metamorphoses. So far, it is all about the gods going to 3rd base with Laurel trees, cows, you name it. Ovid and his Greek literary ancestors, must have been smoking some serious Indo.

I'm currently reading Notes From Underground and Emma for school, as well as Scenes from Clerical Life for pleasure. I'm going to be all classicked out (sic)!

Just finished re-reading Far from the Madding Crowd. My review here,

http://www.librarything.com/work/14414/reviews/50320231

I just finished reading The Professor - Charlotte Bronte is one of my favorite authors; both The Professor and Villette were great.
I'm debating whether to read The Republic or The Communist Manifesto next.

I'm rereading A Room of One's Own in meticulous detail (that is, stopping to think about each and every sentence) because I have to write on it, and when I have time I'm also listening to Villette on my iPod.

I just finished Ulysses and I still think it's wonderful...the maternity scene was mind-boggling but in Joyce's hands I just went with it. In understand that it is an acquired taste, but for me this book is a revelation. I am sad today that's it's over and would like to read it again!!

Yes, my head exploded during the 20 different writing styles of the maternity ward.

I even found the fairly accessible last chapter of Ulysses pretty incomprehensible. Perhaps because my brain was in tatters, from the slog. But then I listened to most of the book including the last chapter, on audio. The last chapter turned into a very lucid, internal monologue. No problema.

I'll wait a while before I try it again. A writers' book, and I am not a writer.

Recently finished Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope and am now half way through Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens.

Hoping to start David Copperfield for my Monthly Author Reads group.

I'm about to begin The Way of All Flesh after finishing Lost Horizon.

This week I started The Life and Opinios of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. I've done this before and only finished the first volume. I didn't get it. However, this time, 3 or so years later It makes me chucle and I am surprised about the amount of references to Don Quichote, Shakespeare, Sir John Locke and many other Classic authors.

Started At the Back of the North Wind today.
#39: I started Tristram Shandy last spring. I got through the first 50 pages and gave up.

Finished David Copperfield. The link to my review is,

http://www.librarything.com/review/64274093

DC is my least favorite Dickens as well, though I think I like the characters more than you, Porua! I just couldn't get into Davy for some reason.

38: Susie, what did you think of Lost Horizon?

I recently finished Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, reviewed here. I just love when Big Important Imposing Classics turn out to be accessible and even enjoyable.

I also reread A Little Princess this weekend, a total comfort read for me!

I liked Lost Horizon once the plot got started. The parts when Conway was talking to the head of the lamasery were the most interesting, though I was disappointed with the ending.

# 42 Nah, I don’t really dislike any of the characters in David Copperfield other than Dora. The way she just keeps spouting utterly foolish things is enough to drive any sane person mad! Other than that everyone else was pretty o.k. But I do have a lot to say about many of the other aspects of the story (as I’ve stated in my review).

Lady Chatterley's Lover.

I finally finished The Way of All Flesh after 3-4 weeks, and I'm halfway through Memoirs of Emma Courtney - it's pretty good.

Haven't been able to visit LT in quite some time as I have been rather busy and also been sick with a fever. On the bright side have been re-reading some of my old favorites such as A Tale of Two Cities.

(The link to my review is here, http://www.librarything.com/review/50367899)

Right now I'm about to start Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock.

Finished reading Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock. The book was incredibly short and took me about an hour to finish.

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/55511723

I’m now thinking of starting For The Blood Is The Life And Other Stories, a collection of horror short stories by F. Marion Crawford.

Today I'm going to start reading The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, although it's going to take me a while, as I'm going to read the collection gradually rather than straight through all at once.

I finished Memoirs of Emma Courtney, which was great, and I'm about to start Wollstonecraft's Mary.

I just finished reading Emma and am now starting on Wuthering Heights

I finished Mary and I've started The Jungle.

Finished reading For The Blood Is The Life And Other Stories, a collection of horror tales by F. Marion Crawford. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/54874730

Thinking of starting Plays Pleasant by George Bernard Shaw.

I'm starting Uncle Silas.

I'm listening to Far From the Madding Crowd on audiobook, read by John Lee. It's very good so far.

I'm reading War and Peace and Final Harvest - poems by Emily Dickenson

A word to the wisewoman - or for that matter everyone:

I read Jude the Obscure some years ago and found it very depressing and bleak. So I put of reading more of Mr. Hardy - but maybe not all his novels are so bleak and tragic.....I was thinking of giving Mr. Hardy one more try. Any suggestions?

>56 ctpress: I'm also reading Final Harvest. I feel a Dickinson binge coming on, so I'm also dipping into The Gardens of Emily Dickinson by Judith Farr, which is about more than it sounds. Dickinson was a knowledgeable and experienced gardener and Farr explores the use of gardening metaphors found throughout Dickinson's poetry. I'ts quite interesting.

I'm about two-thirds the way through the The Complete Short Stories Of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition. A little bit hit and miss, but mostly hit.

I read Jude the Obscure some years ago and found it very depressing and bleak. So I put of reading more of Mr. Hardy - but maybe not all his novels are so bleak and tragic.....I was thinking of giving Mr. Hardy one more try. Any suggestions?

The only Hardy I've read is Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I guess it was kinda depressing and bleak too--the poor girl just never gets a break, and the structure of society is against her--but there is something really lovely about it.

# 56 I've read two Hardy novels back to back this year for my Monthly Author Read Group, Far from the Madding Crowd and Return of the Native. One of which, Far from the Madding Crowd, was a re-read.

I think all of Hardy books are a bit sad but latter Hardy books are much sadder than early Hardy. For example, an early Hardy Under the Greenwood Tree is a lot happier. Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure are probably the saddest among the latter Hardy books . But they are two of his most popular books. If you want my opinion, I think Far from the Madding Crowd is a well written book that eventhough a little sad is worth reading. Hope this helps.

Edited to fix typo.

I dropped Uncle Silas and have started The Demon of Sicily.

Message 57 theaelizabet I'm also reading Final Harvest. I feel a Dickinson binge coming on, so I'm also dipping into The Gardens of Emily Dickinson by Judith Farr, which is about more than it sounds.

Very interesting - I didn't know there was so many allusions in her use of different flowers in the poems. More going on than meets the eye - it helps with a little background information - actually I'm also reading another book on Emily Dickinson while reading the Harvest. Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief by Roger Lundin - which explores her faith - or lack of faith in God and the exploration of subjects like death, heaven and eternity in her poems.

Thank you Nickelini and Porua for your input on Hardy. Very helpfull.

I think I will put Far from the Madding Crowd on my to-read-list and try again. He deserves another chance - because I also like his style of writing.

>62 ctpress: ctpress, that book also sounds terribly interesting. There are so many levels to Dickinson's poetry, aren't there?

>64 theaelizabet: theaelizabet - yes, many levels - and even if I can't figure out where she is going with a poem - I enjoy the words, just reading them aloud.

Roger Lundins book is tracking her spiritual journey - but it is as well a very detailed biography of her life. There's a connection between the garden and her faith. Read this today, nr. 112.

Some keep the Sabbath going to the Church —
I keep it, staying at Home —
With a Bobolink for a Chorister —
And an Orchard, for a Dome —

made me smile - although I think the one shouldn't exclude the other :)

# 63 You're welcome! I hope you enjoy Far from the Madding Crowd.

I'm reading The New Atlantis.

Finished re-reading Plays Pleasant by George Bernard Shaw. The link to my review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/57953845

Now reading Flatland.

Re-read Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller just to refresh my memory after seeing some rather negative comments about it here on LT. And I still love it as much as I loved it the first time I read it. The link to my review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/50267683

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/80925

The third installment in the Sea of Fertility, The Temple Of Dawn. A fantastic series of books, they've drawn me in completely so far. I'm just starting this one, hopefully as good as the first two.

I recently finished Greene's relatively short and brilliant The Quiet American.

I just finished A Long Fatal Love Chase and I'm reading The Star Rover.

Wow! The Star Rover. Some very tough sledding there, depressing-reading-wise, but a powerful tale with some very good storytelling.

Reading The Queen of Hearts by Wilkie Collins for my Monthly Author Reads group.

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Next I'm going to read Emma by Jane Austen.

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice. I just finished some of Kipling's short stories (gave up on The Star Rover for now) and Behind a Mask, and I'm starting The Wood Beyond the World.

Just finished The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and starting Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

So since msg 58 I finished Temple Of Dawn (thought it was the worst of the four), then finished off the tetralogy with The Decay Of An Angel. I loved the whole series, well worth it imo.
Since then, I've read Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems, Thousand Cranes and On the Road (original scroll publication, by Penguin classics).
Started The Temple of the Golden Pavilion yesterday. I've been on quite a literary run, I'll probably read some schock after this to recover.

Finished reading The Queen of Hearts by Wilkie Collins for my Monthly Author Reads Group. I loved this excellent collection of short stories! My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/56390989

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/80925

I finished The Wood Beyond the World and started The Queen's Mirror.

I'm still reading A Tale of Two Cities. I first started it in around 1990, and then I tried it again in around 2000, and now in 2010 I'm determined to finish it this time. But it's still taking me months ( a lot of that is because I have other obligations that take up my time).

Although often regarded as one of Dickens' weakest novels, I really enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities.

I'm currently reading another Greene classic, Our Man in Havana.

# 83 I think A Tale of Two Cities is Dickens' at his best. It is one of my all time favorites. I re-read it for the umpteenth time earlier this year and enjoyed it as much as ever! The fact that my review of it was a Hot Review made me twice as happy!

My re-read of The Moonstone is finished. The last time I read this book was about six years ago. I thought my opinion about certain aspects of the book may have changed during this time. But no, I still feel the same way. The link to my review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/58532969

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/80925

I'm starting Wives and Daughters for the group read. 600 pages, here I come!

Wives and Daughters is a wonderful book, jfetting! Just be aware that it is unfinished; Gaskell died before she could write the final few chapters. It's a great pity, but her editor did know where the story was going and wrote up a little précis. It would be a nasty shock to get to the end and not know about the abrupt breaking-off.

I must also recommend the recent BBC miniseries of Wives and Daughters, starring Justine Waddell, Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Tom Hollander, and Francesca Annis, among others. It is one of my very favorite miniseries, and is just so well done in every way. I bet even Porua would like it ;)

I finished Far From the Madding Crowd on audiobook and am writing up my review now. I enjoyed it tolerably, but Hardy will never be a favorite. And I picked up Wilkie Collins' Jezebel's Daughter today for a monthly author read. So far it's better than my last Collins (The Two Destinies), if a bit predictable.

I’ve been reading bits of that great Victorian reference book, Enquire Within Upon Everything just for fun. Although it’s just for fun, I'm getting some very interesting (and funny) insights in to the Victorian life.

I have also started Wives and Daughters for the same group read... looking forward to the long-haul!

I'm reading the second two books in the African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe. While I do think they're respectable novels, they aren't in the same literary level as most other (Nobel) Prize winning authors' works. Is it me at fault (self-educated when it comes to literature), or am I right in thinking Achebe is famous for being one of the first "African" writers in the western world, rather than one of the "best" writers? I get the same feeling with Chimamanga Ngozi Adichie.

I finished Pride and Prejudice and moved on to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, which is better than I expected it to be.

I'm reading Trilby now.

Just finished reading a play by J.M. Barrie (famous for writing Peter Pan), called A Kiss for Cinderella. I liked it. Considering how much I DON’T like romance, this is indeed surprising.

The link to my review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/59081449

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/80925

I'm about half way through All Quiet On The Western Front. Not really all that much to it beyond the obvious, is there?

Finished All Quiet.... well, wasn't THAT a cheery book!
I'm mostly done with a Penguin Great Ideas book on Seneca's On the Shortness Of Life.

All Quiet on the Western Front used to be my favorite gloomy WWI novel. Then I read Johnny Got His Gun. The gloomy factor just got bumped up a notch.

Speaking of cheery, I am currently reading Down and Out in Paris and London. Subject matter (toil, filth, fatigue, hunger, poverty) = 0 stars.

Writing quality = 5 stars.

This is truly a wonderful, somtimes funny memoir. It is far better than any sociology text on the subject. I knew from Burmese Days (another cheery book, of course), that Orwell was a master. But this is even better.

I'm reading Trollope's Framley Parsonage. Love the world of Barsetshire!

Finished reading the play Every Man in His Humor by Ben Johnson last night.

Halfway through reading Little Dorrit. Not enjoying it as much as Great Expectations, but I might change my mind once I get to the end.

For what it's worth, the version I'm reading is the Random House Vintage Classics version, which I'm finding no where near as good as the Penguin Classics editions - I find that the notes found in the penguin editions are useful where terms are no longer in usage and the Penguin typeface is much friendlier to the eye.

# 98 I own the Penguin Popular Classics edition of Little Dorrit. But it doesn’t have any notes. I would have preferred it with notes too. And you are right -the Penguin typeface IS much friendlier to the eye.

I'm reading Before the Count, which has several good 19th century vampire stories and plays.

I just finished Before Adam and I'm halfway through Lord of the Flies.

I'm trying to read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I don't know why but it's taking forever!

I finished East of Eden earlier today. I was very pleasantly surprised - I was not expecting it to be so engaging.

Just finished Alice through the Looking-Glass and What she Found There and starting The Moonstone

I'm reading The Catcher in the Rye.Through the first two days of 'Madman Caulfield'. Pleasant ride.

What am i gonna read next?

Just finished David copperfield, a victorian soap opera. The over the top characters,stories and sub plots had me addicted. I enjoyed all the characters good and bad
but Mr Micawber and his long letters and pathetic
lack of responsibility to his family irritated me to no end. I
also found that crack about jews and bills to be unwarrented. All in all a great read.

These are the classics I have read so far in 2010

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (Project Gutenberg ebook) (finished 1-14-10)

Acres of Diamonds: Our Every-day Opportunities by Russell H. Conwell (Project Gutenberg ebook) (finished 1-16-10)

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne (Mobi) (Kindle Edition ebook) (finished 5-24-10)

The 2nd book, Acres of Diamonds was a great find, and a better read. Look for it on either manybooks.net or gutenberg.org. I highly recommend this book. Acutally, all three of those books can be found at either of the two places.

Don't know what other classics I will read this year. I am on a non-fiction jag lately, but will probably slip some classics in the mix for variety.

Bill Masom

I have always been a voracious reader and have read most of the "official" classics at some point! I am currently working my way through some less famous and/or forgotten authors. At the moment I am reading Sarah Fielding's The Governess, which I believe is the first English-language book written especially for children. Not surprisingly, the lessons taught at the girls' school in question are moral rather than practical! - or at least, the moral ones are the only ones we hear about. It is nice to find Miss Fielding being positive about "light" reading for children, including fairy tales and plays, as long as there is a positive message in the work in question. (Some of today's moralists could learn from her!)

I've started Letters from an American Farmer.

>60 Porua: Porua -

Thanks for recommending Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. I have read it now and I enjoyed it very much. I could recognize Hardys style of writing from the other book, Jude - but I think this was even better.

If Bolworth had shot Gabriel Oak instead of Troy and Bathseba had committed suicide, then it would probably have been accepted as a major literary work together with Jude and Tess. Well, I liked it just as it was.

# 112 You are most welcome, ctpress! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed Far from the Madding Crowd. It is my favourite Thomas Hardy book.

Hey I’m getting thanks for my recommendation from you the same day I got a medal for giving useful Member Recommendations from LT! Guess this is my lucky day! ;-)

#112 Oh, I'm so glad he didn't go that route. No one should be shooting Gabriel Oak.

Just finished The Vicar Of Wakefield, and moving on to Camilla.

Just finished What Maisie Knew by Henry James, and Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Time to leave the 19th century and take a break from anything remotely "classic."

Managed to finish London Lavender by E.V. Lucas in just a day. I liked the book very much. Easily may end up as one of my favourite reads this year.

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/60564932

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/80925

On Beauty. Not particularly impressed. I've listened to some Smith interviews and she comes across as very educated, smart and literate. This novel isn't gripping me on a literary level at all. It has a soap opera feel to it. Quite interesting, and funny, but very middle class, one-for-the-beach type of book I think.

# 118 Don’t mean to be a nitpicker but is On Beauty a classic yet? Maybe a future classic. But still...

Fair enough - I figured the awards it's received counted, but yeah, there's certainly a time consideration involved.

I'm working on both de Laclos's Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Dostoevsky's The Idiot within fiction, as well as Bacon's On Empire in non-fiction.

I'm reading Scenes of Clerical Life right now—early Eliot and not as polished as some of her later works (particularly Middlemarch), but wonderful all the same. She certainly convinced me that I was "unacquainted with the highest possibilities of tea"!

# 113 - Well, keep up the good work :) I enjoyed Hardys writing so much that I have surrendered and begun on Tess of the D'Urbervilles - although I know I have to be prepared for disaster. Tess just lost her baby. The beginning of a long series of calamaties I guess.

I'm half-way through Thomas Mann's Les Buddenbrook. I like the slice of life, but it's missing a common thread and Tony is a bit of a whiny heroine...

Just finished Cranford and starting Madame Bovary.

Grapes of Wrath. Wow, depressing. I don't really 'get' the positive out of this book - everyone says it's a testament to human perserverance etc.. - a lot of the characters DIDN'T perservere, but left the family because they COULDN'T hack it any more. The choices of the rest of the family I just see as begging the question of "what choice did they have?". Plod on, or sit down and die and there were various other characters mentioned who did just that. And most of society in California certainly didn't promote my belief in the inherent goodness of humanity ;)
I much preferred East of Eden.

I am having a huge amount of fun reading The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. About 60 stories to go... really funny, naughty and thought-provoking tales... highly recommended!

I just started reading Buddenbrooks as well, and I'm really enjoying it. I love all the descriptions of food and furniture and clothes and hairstyles.

I'm also starting The Last Chronicle of Barset. It makes me a little sad to be finishing the Barsetshire books, but on the upside this means I get to re-read them.

Proust's Swann's Way. Absolutely loving it.

Read Buddenbooks as well as The Magic Mountain some time back. Fabulous books.

It's been said that Proust, Mann, and Joyce were the greatest writers of the 20th century.

I finished Millenium Hall and I'm reading some of Alcott's "thrillers."

I'm in a classics slump and in the midst of a Pynchon marathon.

If I can plow through AtD, maybe I can then try Buddenbrooks or maybe even Swann's Way.

I've my eye on Tristan Shandy and Gargantua and Pantagruel, as well.

>131 Sandydog1: (Sandydog1)

According to a message on this or some other thread on LT, one needs to have read Tristam Shandy in order to fully appreciate Ulysses. Puzzles me.

I've recently slipped back into a French author period and have read eugenie garant and the black sheep both by Honor de Balzac. Weepy but compelling plots although not as good as some of his other work. I'm just starting therese raquin by Emile Zola.

After reading the above list of LT classic readers, I'm inspired to go back and re-read some of my favorites. Grapes of Wrath was always near the top of my list...I wonder how it will fare with a re-read.

#133 (vivienbrenda)

Grapes of Wrath. What a great book. BTW; a definition of a hangover - "the wrath of grapes"

re 129: bookmonk, I would add Robert Musil to that select group. I have read all three within the last 5 years (Musil right now). If you like the three you listed, try Musil!

>132 bookmonk8888:

Bookmonk, I've read Ulysses -- only once. I couldn't guess how much of that I understood. Of course, some books/chapters were easier to grasp than others. That maternity ward chapter, with something like 21 different writing styles, made my head explode.

I think it was Clifton Fadiman who said that Sterne did foreshadow Joyce's style. Clearly Sterne was ahead of his time, but I can't imagine reading Tristam Shandy would help supplement Joyce.

Fadiman and others have also suggested reading A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man as a warm-up. I understand why that is suggested, but I found it to be a rather inadequate.

Your comment actually gives me encouragement regarding Tristam Shandy. After Joyce and Pynch, I should have few(er) problems. I sometimes have problems with 18th century language, but I will get to it. When I do, I'll take it "low and slow".

We’ve been having a spate of troubled weather lately, kind of stormy and hazy. For some reason it has made me want to re-read Wuthering Heights again. This book never fails to take my breath away.

It gets a lot of bad press on a lot of LT threads. I think Wuthering Heights is an amazing book.

#138 "It gets a lot of bad press on a lot of LT threads.

Does that have something to do with the whole Twilight connection? I know I read it and started recommending it to people long before Stephenie Meyer did.

By the way, I've finished re-reading Wuthering Heights. Reading it remains quite an experience for me. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/58532727

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/94041

I'm not sure how many people here would consider this a classic, but I'm reading and very much enjoying The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Gray. As it was among the best-selling novels of 1915, I suppose we could at least say that it's a classic of the western genre.

I'm reading Stendhal's Le Rouge et le Noir. Enjoying it thus far.

# 139
Oh, I hope not, Porua (shudders...)

Halfway through Cannery Row.

Re-reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time i.e. ISOLT. Poor me! I've relapsed into my Proust addiction -- so common it should be in DSM :-) I'm currently on the second volume. Only about 3,000 pages to go.

Finally managed to drag myself to finish The Prisoner of Zenda. What a stale book! My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/61232139

Or on my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/94041

Re-read Plays Unpleasant by George Bernard Shaw. A very good reading experience, as always. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/62201811

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/94041

I've started on The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal.

I just read (yes, for the first time) two that are not technically classics and are definitely not YA: Night and To Kill a Mockingbird

I finished Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott and The Power of Sympathy this week; started Zastrozzi.

Wow, all this banter about C-list classics. :)

I finally started a "real one", Gargantua and Pantagruel.

A true, bona fide, A-list classic, in spite of all the poop and dick references...

Finished reading Headlong Hall and Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock. It was a fun experience. Thomas Love Peacock is now officially one of my favourite authors. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/62336019

Great review Porua. I was surprised it wasn't more positive!

#152 Well, I do love Thomas Love Peacock’s humour but the rambling and dreary nature of some of his philosophical musings always put me off. Having said that, I must say that some of his observations are laugh out loud funny. Nightmare Abbey is far superior to Headlong Hall. Of course, Headlong Hall has its moments too.

I loved Nightmare Abbey when I originally read it. My review of Nightmare Abbey is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/55511723

Reading The Defense by Nabokov. Easily my favourite by this author. I do seem to like novels about professional game players, Master of Go is another favourite of mine, as is The Player of Games.

Halfway through Of One Blood by Pauline Hopkins - having read the back, I was surprised when I started reading it that the beginning is mostly about spiritualism.

Not sure if this is generally considered a classic, but anyhow, my most recent read (and review) is Rachel Ferguson's 1930s novel The Brontes Went to Woolworths. I'm afraid I didn't like it as much as the majority of LT members seem to have.

Thinking of reading Agee's Death in the Family once I'm done with my current reads....

I'm not sure if this is considered a classic either, but I'm on The Thirty-Nine Steps. After a busy school year, I've finally got back in the pattern of one book every 1-3 days - and band camp starts tomorrow. Oh, well.

Oh, do share your impressions of The Thirty-Nine Steps, once you're finished! That one's pretty high on my list.

158: It was pretty exciting, and there were some humorous parts as well. I read it because I wanted a fast read, and I managed to read it in one evening, a rarity for me now.

I just came back from vacation, and while away I read Balzac's Pere Goriot, which I enjoyed. Sometimes over-written, on the whole the book is a very funny social satire in the guise of a tragedy.

Going to start a short story collection called Tales of Men and Ghosts by Edith Wharton for my Monthly Author Reads Group. I've never read anything by Wharton before. But this book looks promising.

This year I made myself delve into the classics. I had hardly read any, and I got a ton for cheap at a used book store and made myself read 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens.
Yeah, right now I'm quite addicted to classics.
Wilkie Collins is probably a favorite of mine. I can't pick which of his books I like best, but No Name is definitely up there.
Going through 'The Pickwick Papers', but it's slow because I'm so busy this month. But I'm loving it.

I read three less popular works by well known authors over the past two weeks: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, and Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. All were wonderful in their own right. Northanger Abbey was witty and wicked and made me laugh; the writing and vivid characters of Wives and Daughters were striking; but the book that I truly can't stop thinking about is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Any one else have that reaction?

Just finished Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and am moving on to The House of Mirth by Edith
Wharton.

Saw the musical of Les Miserables some years ago, in Dublin, Ireland. It was a fabulous production. Now that your message has reminded me of it, I'll try to get at the book. Thanks.

You're welcome, bookmonk8888. I picked up the book because of a wonderful production of Les Miserables I saw on Broadway quite a few years ago. The book was just as wonderful. I did need to show a little patience with Victor Hugo's digressions into such things as the Battle of Waterloo and the sewer system of Paris, but the digressions did give me useful background information for the story. I also must confess that I just couldn't resist singing parts of the musical score to myself as I got to the corresponding sections of the book. Enjoy.

Just finishing off Virginia Woolf's Orlando, which has been wonderful.

Just finished The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

Great book, loved it.

Bill Masom

I've started The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

Let it Come Down by Paul Bowles. Not sure if it's viewed as a classic or not. I prefer The Sheltering Sky. I got the LoA copy - I think I prefer the Everyman Library over these - cheaper, better paper. I assume they're directed at the same market?

Is that a classic already?

Dead Until Dark isn’t a classic, IMHO.

I don't think so either. I was being cheeky :P

I haven't read Dead Until Dark but the above debate raises the interesting question: What is a classic? And who decides? (Probably consensus.) We do hear the phrase "a modern classic". Uuumh! I think this message is classic :-)

#174 I know you were being cheeky. I was referring to the original comment.

175: I would argue that "modern classic" is an oxymoron; classic itself suggests time is involved. However, the time required to label something as classic is arbitrary.

Who decides what is a classic? There does not seem to be any agreement in that matter, but it does appear to be chalked up to a combination of time, popularity, availability, originality, and substance; perhaps a little propaganda on the side, too.

Finished a re-read of a collection of plays by Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays. An enjoyable and totally worthwhile experience! My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/64273116

#167

I enjoyed that spacey, quirky Orlando much more than those single-day-setting-slogs such as To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway. Yuck!

I've recently been reading Inherent Vice. In a few millenia, Pynchon may be considered classical literature.

Madame Bovary. No vampires so far in this so-called "classic".

>177 Phocion:
Not sure if "modern classic" is an oxymoron. The first definition of classic in Merriam-Webster is: 1 a : serving as a standard of excellence : of recognized value

even though 1 b states:

b : traditional, enduring c : characterized by simple tailored lines in fashion year after year

Then there is the fact that "modern" in all the arts usually date from the late 1800's, giving way to post-modern, and contemporary. "Classical music" is the most confusing of all, since it bundles Elizabethan, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Post-Romantic, Modern, Post-modern, Contemporary.

There is the colloquial use of "classic" as when my ex-wife would say of me "that's classical Jerome"; I preferred to use the word "vintage" when referring to her!

But, perhaps I'm being too pedantic or petty.

Edit: I don't know why the last part has become a link - I did not put brackets on it. And I do not know how to change it.

some sneaky hidden html codes picked up from the cut and paste.

i tried to put in a suggested fix, but i can't get the post to display the special characters. I'll leave it to smarter minds.

>181 bookmonk8888:: bookmonk8888, >182 MrAndrew:: MrAndrew

I'll try to help out here.

bookmonk8888, in your post, right after "tailored lines in fashion year after year ", there're some html codes that's marking the rest of the post as a link.

<a href="" rel="nofollow" target="_top">

Removing that should fix the problem.

While I'm here, might as well list the classics I'm reading. Is there any objection to the following being classics?

The Histories by Herodotus
The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche

Not in the least.

The Mill on the Floss- George Elliot
Vanity Fair- William Makepeace Thackaray

Free Online Courses from Top Universities. Seems to be some excellent material here.

http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

Finished a short story collection called Tales of Men and Ghosts by Edith Wharton. This turned out to be a far more complex read than I had anticipated. It totally lived up to my expectations!

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/59825648

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/94041

#187: That is pretty cool! Do you recommend any in particular?

#189 Actually I've only just discovered it and and thought I'd publicize it on these threads. There are 250 Courses from top Universities available free on this site. I've downloaded one on Contemporary English Lit and one on History but have only listened to a little of them yet.

I've run across the open courseware programs before. I've meant to go through some of them but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'm currently reading Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

I finished it a while back, but George Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life has been wearing on my mind a lot recently, so I sat down and wrote a review of it yesterday. For Eliot fans only, but good stuff, all in all.

I think ChocolateMuse and I are going to start a tandem read of Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White in a couple weeks.

#189 Thank you so much for posting this site it looks very exciting!!!!!

Did i read Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary in the wrong order?

Edited because that wilful Anna Karenina resisted male-dominated touchstoning.

Haha.

I've finished The Moonstone. It's got to be the slowest paced mystery I've ever read.

The House of Mirth is finished. Quite a good read. I'm now starting Dickens' The Pickwick Papers.

I'm half way through the poignant Memoirs of a Geisha, taking light breaks from Proust's heavy (and heady) 4,000+ page masterpiece In Search of Lost Time.

#199 The Pickwick Papers is one of my all time favourites. It's a tad long but so much fun and so satisfyingly good! Hope you enjoy it.

#200 Oh Jerome Memoirs of a Geisha a classic already? Maybe a future classic but you know... :-)

>201 Porua: Oops. While a good novel, I doubt Memoirs of a Geisha will reach the standard of a future classic even though there is a certain amount of arbitrariness in what constitutes a classic.

I read The Pickwick Papers many years ago and still remember the profound effect it had on me. I've read a lot of Dickens. In fact I went through a Dickens infatuation phase.

#202 “...even though there is a certain amount of arbitrariness in what constitutes a classic.”

Yeah that’s true.

I’m reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Now that I consider to be a classic. :-)

I just started Il Filostrato by Giovanni Boccaccio.

I just started Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham. Do we count this as a classic? Certainly has stood a fairly substantial test of time.

I would. I read it years ago. It is typically Maugham with it's simplicity and lucidity of style. And it is a good story. Heterosexual love though Maugham was a closet homosexual. Rather like Proust's approach, who, however,wrote extensively about homosexuality in characters that were obviously not based on himself. But, then, a writer can easily put himself into any of his characters.

#201, #202 Thanks Porua and bookmonk8888 for your comments on Pickwick Papers. September finds me on Chapter XV where Mr. Pickwick has just been introduced to Mrs. Leo Hunter's poem "Ode to an Expiring Frog". I'm truly enjoying Dickens' humor.

#208 You're welcome!

Ode to an Expiring Frog is hilarious without a doubt! I’m laughing now just thinking about it.

Currently in the middle of The Woman in White. Absolutely stunning Victorian sensationalist thriller! Nice Gothic mood too, which is perfect as we start to move into autumn....

208- I absolutely love the humor in the Pickwick Papers, and "Ode to an Expiring Frog" was hilarious!

Finished The Art of War by Sun Tzu. It was a deep and difficult read. Have reviewed it but I’m not sure if I’ve got it all processed yet. May have to update it later.

#211 Nice to meet another fan, jcsoblonde.

Fanny Hill by John Cleland.

Bill Masom

Edited to fix the touchstone

I've recently finished The Count of Monte Cristo,
currently reading Wuthering Heights,
and my next book is The Catcher in the Rye.
I'm very new to the classics but I've loved most of them so far!

I recently finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being which probably isn't old enough to be considered a classic, even though it's on all the must-read lists. Now I'm on to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is definitely old and still in print; therefore, it must be a genuine classic.

#216 Excellent selection of classic books, miss_chievous! I hope you're enjoying Wuthering Heights, one of my all time favourites.

I'm re-reading An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. It was the first "literary" novel that I read as a teenager. I have to say that decades later, I'm enjoying it again.

Also listening to Crime and Punishment in the car. While it's slow, I'm enjoying it. Guess I'm in a classc mood.

I'm re-reading An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. It was the first "literary" novel that I read as a teenager. I have to say that decades later, I'm enjoying it again.

Also listening to Crime and Punishment in the car. While it's slow, I'm enjoying it. Guess I'm in a classc mood.

I'm re-reading An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. It was the first "literary" novel that I read as a teenager. I have to say that decades later, I'm enjoying it again.

Also listening to Crime and Punishment in the car. While it's slow, I'm enjoying it. Guess I'm in a classc mood.

I'm reading Phineas Finn - just can't seem to lay off the Trollope this year.

The New Blazing World and other selected writings by Margaret Cavendish - yay Renaissance utopian feminism!

Recently finished The Woman in White and Wuthering Heights. Reviews coming shortly....

Is this a classic? Armance by Stendhal.

I've never heard of it, but it's old and it's still in print (I trust). Maybe it's a classic in France?

The Love-Letters Of A Portuguese Nun. Wonderful that such a tiny book could be so influential - and that 350 years later, people are still arguing over who wrote it.

I'm enjoying The Moonstone on my new kindle. How did I live so long without having read this before?

I don't suppose Mantissa or White Noise are generally thought of as classics (?), but I would argue that A Man for All Seasons should be. I didn't particularly get anything out of the first two, but I've always loved A Man..., ever since I saw the movie 20 odd years ago. Finally reading the play cemented it in my mind as a favourite.

#228: That was what I thought about The Woman in White. I really want to read The Moonstone now; however, I think it is best to spread out the wonderfulness. :P

#229: I love the movie version of A Man for All Seasons; however, when I read the play last year I thought it was far too concerned with theatrical contrivances that have little to do with the central story. In my opinion, Bolt improved upon his work with the screenplay.

I've finished Pickwick Papers and really enjoyed it - humor, pathos and a happy ending to boot. My next reading of a classic will be either Nicholas Nickleby , a new one for me although I saw the TV version of the play with Roger Rees as Nicholas, or Great Expectations, which would be a reread.

Bleak House on my new Kobo. ♥ project gutenburg.

I'm reading Gargantua and Pantagruel. And reading. And reading...

I'm reading Midsummer's Night Dream....I've decided I should add a little more Shakespeare into my life.

I'm reading Villette after a short break from reading classics

#234 - ditto. I've been trying to remember to read shakespeare for a while now.

I also just started Mr. Roberts. As the movie was a pure classic, I presume the book is too!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Not me, that's the name of the book.

I'm reading The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope.

Reading Shirley by Charlotte Brontë for my Monthly Author Reads group. I've read the first sixty pages and I think I'm going to fall asleep if the story does not pick up soon. For now the narrative is wandering here, there and everywhere. Yawn!

Just finished
The Mill on the Floss- George Elliot.
I was mulling it over for a week. Amazing.

Recently finished Tom Sawyer and Vanity Fair. Started Huckleberry Finn

Finished reading The Love-Letters Of A Portuguese Nun, which didn't take long, and blogging about it, which...took rather longer. (Yes, I did rather get carried away!)

It starts here:

http://acourseofsteadyreading.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/the-love-letters-of-a-por...

I've started Frankenstein.

Finished The Moonstone. The ending for me was a bit ...meh. Not as great as I hoped but still an overall decent read. I'm going to start The Woman in White soon.

245: The rest of the book just doesn't rise to the level of that Indiana Jones/007 movie-style set piece at the beginning.

The Woman in White is wonderful! Enjoy!

245- That was the way I felt about it too. After the thought process and writing style, the ending sorta threw me off. I was like "Yeah? NO...Yeah? Yeah...Huh."
It was still pretty good.
'The Woman in White' is definitely better, wow. Amazing. Collins was a great mystery/thriller writer.
'No Name' is good too.

I read The Woman in White quite some time ago and remember little about it. All I know is that it is definitely better than The Moonstone. I re-read and reviewed the latter earlier this year. Usually I'm fond of a good mystery but there was something about The Moonstone that was not quite right. My favourite Wilkie Collins book is The Queen of Hearts. I read it for the first time this year and it was absolutely delightful. It's my #1 favourite read of this year.

Edited to fix typo.

As this thread has reached 250 posts, I took the liberty of starting a new one. The link to the new thread is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/99923