What We Are Reading - Classics

In 2008, we had a thread for books published before 1960, so I thought we should start one up for 2009 as well. Looking forward to seeing all the old books our group is reading in the coming year!

I know for sure I'll be reading Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie, published in 1923.

I'm getting nostalgic for some of my old children's books in the attic that I haven't read now for at least 20 years, like Little Women and Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, Anne of Green Gables,
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Mother Carey's Chickens,and some of the series I have from the teens and 20s. And if I get those books down from the attic to read, I'll be able to catalog those boxes of books at the same time!! I'll be sure to add them here when the time comes!

ETA touchstones.

Edited to say: probably none! I found out that Dharma Bums isn't technically the sequel to On the Road.

I'll probably be posting here occasionally, since I'm working on the 100 Banned Books list in chronological order, and so far I'm only up into the 1800's somewhere!

That would be a good challange, scaifea.

cal8769: It's been interesting so far, and I've read a lot of books that I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

In 2008 I completed Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series, so for 2009 I plan to start the Pallisers series, i.e. Can You Forgive Her?. I also have some his stand-alone novels - Orley Farm and The American Senator.

I'll probably also attempt another Dickens (Dombey and Son) and Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson, plus some more Thomas Hardy, Charlotte Bronte, etc.

I read A Christmas Carol just before Christmas. It's part of my 999 challenge but I'm not counting it in my 75 for 2009.

I've just finished Brave New World which I loved and can't believe it took me so long to get around to reading. My reading tends to be more contemporary than this and I was impressed with how modern this seemed. It will probably be the oldest book I read all year though.

I just finished up A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. I thought it very interesting reading once I got over the rather archaic English.

Oops, I just noticed that my next one up is a classic (copyright 1946) as well - Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.

I recently finished Whitman's Leaves of Grass. I think I'll lay off poetry for awhile after that, except, of course, for what I have to read for the mythology class I'm teaching the semester (but *that* kind of poetry I actually like - Hesiod, Homer, Ovid, Vergil,...).

alcottacre: I (vaguely) remember reading A Journal of the Plague Year for a class I took in college on the Black Death - one of the coolest classes I've ever taken.

A Journal of the Plague Year was one of my favorites in college. I was also studying several Middle English works at the time, so the language of Plague Year was a treat.

I looove classics, so this will be a thread for me to star! Currently I am reading Persuasion, and then I might tackle Emma and Mansfield Park, the other Austen's that I have not yet read :)

just finished Winesburg, Ohio

Not sure whether to put this in fantasy or classics! I just started The Tain, a new translation of the Irish pre-Christian epic Tain Bo Cuailnge, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley. It's the story of the war between the kingdoms of Ulster and Connacht with lots of epic hero type stuff, trickery in the bedroom, and a bit of magic. I'm only a little way in, but so far it's pretty good!

The touchstone here is really wonky. The one I'm reading is the new translation by Ciaran Carson

DrNeutron, that sounds wonderful! I love epics, so I will have to look for this one :)

I'm reading The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton. I am really enjoying it. Undine, the main character, is a horrible person. I can't wait to see what awful thing she does next. I should have it finished in a day or so.

I read a lot of classics, so this is a great thread for me.

Long on my TBR list - I finally picked up The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Someone described it as ponderous and out of touch for today's readers - not so. I find it captivating, well-written, with wonderfully developed characters whose overt behaviors and inner dialogues make them ever so interesting. Best of all - when you stumble onto a book (it is actually a series of novels with two interludes) you really like and it is over 800 pages, ensuring a lengthy good read.

I am currently reading The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

#21: One of my all-time favorites! I hope you like it.

I am currently reading Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury which fits both here since it was copyrighted 1946 and in science fiction due to the subject matter.

i'm a few chapters into Germinal by Émile Zola

I am currently reading Innocent's Abroad by Mark Twain. :)

I've nearly finished listening to Wuthering Heights. Its a good way for me to manage to 'read' classics as I struggle to actually sit down and read them.

Stasia, will get back to you once I finish the book.

Lunacat, Wuthering Heights is a very good book, supposed to be the best romantic novel ever written, I am not much into romantic novels, but couldn't help liking this one.

I'm slowly making my way through War and Peace right now, as well as Little Women. Obviously, I will be finishing Little Women first.

Decided to try Lady Chatterley's Lover, on a recommendation from by best friend.

I'm currently reading Selected Tales and Sketches by Nathaniel Hawthorne for American Romantic Lit class. We only have some of the stories assigned, but I will probably read them all, as I really enjoy Hawthorne. Also finished Selected Tales by Edgar Allan Poe for the same class.

This year I'd like to read more classics on my own, as opposed to for class. We shall see, I suppose!

I'm now taking up Far From the Madding Crowd.

Besides participating in the group reads of War and Peace and Don Quixote that are beginning on the 15th, I am also reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which has been highly recommended here on LT.

#29: I am a big Hawthorne fan as well - one of my favorite stories by him is Rappacini's Daughter (sp?). I do not know if it will be in the book you have or not, but if you get a chance to read it, give it a try.

Stasia, I am actually about to start reading "Rappacini's Daughter" tonight for tomorrow's class. My prof said it was his favorite, too, so now I am doubly expecting great things. My favorites of the ones we've read so far are "The Minister's Black Veil" and "Roger Malvin's Burial."

#32: I am going to have to look for a book of Hawthorne's short stories. The only one that has stuck with me is my favorite. Of course, I read them 32 or so years ago and that may have something to do with it :)

>33 alcottacre: I'd definitely recommend picking them up. So far I'm enjoying them immensely--- about twice as much as I enjoyed Edgar Allan Poe, although Poe is an "easier" read. The edition I have, Selected Tales and Sketches seems to be pretty good, it's the Penguin Classics version. My only real problem with it is that they don't print the title of the story at the top of the page, which makes it very confusing when you're trying to find your place--- I'm constantly having to flip back to the table of contents!

#34: I can see how flipping back and forth would be a problem, lol. It would also slowly drive me nuts! (or nuttier, depending on your point of view)

I enjoy vintage mysteries. I'm just starting H.C. Bailey's Call Mr. Fortune (c1921) tonight.

#36: Cool beans! I like those, too. I bought a book from the old Detective Book Club that was published during WWII that had a note in it apologizing for the thinness of the paper caused by wartime rationing.

#37 I have a book or two with that apology in it, too.

#38: Yet another part of history - amazing what can be found in books.

#39 absolutely - and one of the reasons I love older second hand books...

I'm currently working my way through Nicholas Nickleby, which I'm finding very amusing, not least because I saw it adapted for the theatre a couple of years ago and they really amped up Nicholas' almost hyperactive naivety, so I have a very strong image in my mind as I'm reading it. It's probably going to take a while to get through though!

Not sure if this one is considered "classic" or not. I am reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I am really enjoying it. I am anxious to learn what the disaster was. Hopefully the book will tell me.

#41: For this thread, we are stipulating only that 'classics' be published prior to 1960, a very loose definition of classic to be sure. I have Oryx and Crake home from the library - I have never read anything by Atwood before and am anxious to see what I think of it.

I am currently reading the first volume of a 2-volume set of plays and poetry by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. This first volume has his first 4 plays in it: The Rivals, St. Patrick's Day: or, the Scheming Lieutenant, The Duenna, and A Trip to Scarborough.

I have laughed aloud at some of the lines in the plays. Very good fun, especially The Rivals, which of course, contains Mrs. Malaprop ('the pineapple of politeness' forsooth!)

>42 alcottacre:: I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at a character in a play as at Mrs. Malaprop. It's one of the few plays that I've read many times.

#43: I must tell you that I was laughing out loud quite often while reading those plays. The Rivals was my favorite, hands down, though. What a hoot!

I've just started reading The Confessions of St. Augustine (as a classicist, I thought it was about time I did), although I have to admit that I'm not really expecting to enjoy it much.

The Rivals is one of my favorite plays too. If you liked it you will likely enjoy The Rover by Aphra Behn.

#46: Thanks for the recommendation. I will see if I can get my hands on a copy.

Oooh, The Rivals sounds like something to add to my plays list for the 999 challenge!

#48: Do not blame me if you are chortling out loud and your family is giving you the 'fish eye'. Have a good time with it, flissp!

#47 -- Theatre majors generally have to read this play at some point, so it is in a lot of anthologies. Mine is in The Bedford Introduction to Drama. There are a lot of good plays in there actually. Now that I think about it, I believe The Country Wife by William Wycherley is in there too. That is hilarious as well.

#49 I love the idea of the 'fish eye'!

Being a person who is very bad at not expressing her emotions, I have grown immune to people giving me funny looks on the train etc by now, fortunately! :)

#50 - I shall investigate!

I LOVE The Rover - Aphra Behn is phenomenal! Did you know that she was the first woman to make a living as a writer? The Country Wife is good as well, and so is The Man of Mode by George Etherege.

#51: The edition of the play that I was reading came in a 2-volume set. It was fun because the original play casts were included (Mr. Smith playing Captain Jack Absolute, no first names for the actors) and also had a lot of reference material for each play, including both introductions and bibliographies. If you cannot track down the book jmaloney spoke of, perhaps you can find this edition instead - it was edited by R. Crompton Rhodes.

I read & enjoyed Cold Comfort Farm

I just finished The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac last night. Published in 1958, it comes in just under the wire for this thread. I wanted to see a few other opinions about it -- guess I could try the touchstone, couldn't I? {grin}

It was a lot like On the Road, which I read last year -- I just love the guy's wry style of writing. Reading his works feels like conversing with a friend. His abrupt changes in tone can work well, too -- one example from The Dharma Bums is when he's rhapsodizing over a blue hummingbird and then says he's afraid it's going to poke him with its hatpin-like beak.

I wonder if Gary Snyder was upset about Kerouac's often-unflattering stories about him? I guess wikipedia can answer that one!

I am currently reading The Plague - Albert Camus

#56 - I read The Plague last year. I'm curious to know what you think of it. I didn't think it was pleasant to read, but profound, and it has stuck in my brain since.

>54 MarianV:, I love Cold Comfort Farm! It's one of my all-time favorites.

I've just started Cold Comfort Farm! There must be something in the air...

#57 In the WWII vintage books have you noticed that the poor quality of the paper makes them tan (age) and become brittle faster than books bound before the rationing?

I have shifted to When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie (published 1932).

I started another midcentury "classic" yesterday: Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. If nothing goes wrong (i.e., a copout ending or inserting too much personal pov) this is going to be my favorite V so far!

I've begun War and Peace but er...it was putting me to sleep so I came here instead. Oh the shame.

Megi

Player Piano is the first book I guess written by Kurt Vonnegut and I quite liked it, my favourite book however continues to be Cat's Cradle

Even though we own Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five, I've read neither! I'll have to remedy that this year.

Before starting Player Piano my far-and-away favorite Vonnegut was Welcome to the Monkey House. Breakfast of Champions had many great moments. I wasn't so enthralled with Sirens of Titan or Hocus Pocus -- even though, of course, both had terrific snippets: the harmoniums! "rented a tent"!

I'm listening to Northanger Abbey but can't say that I'm enthralled. Mostly, I'm bored of it!! But I'll battle through to the bitter end.

>65 lunacat:: I'm getting discouraged about Northanger Abbey from all the comments I hear. I'm reading two Austens a year until done with them. Last year Pride and Prejudice and Emma; this year Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion; next year were to be Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey. Hmmmmm.

#66 I hear where you're coming from, I'm discouraged as well. If it wasn't an audiobook I would have given up long ago but I figure I'm nearly half way there. Its never a good sign when I'm thinking more about what I dreamt last night and less about paying attention to the book. On the others I have listened to, this hasn't happened.

>65 lunacat:, 67 lunacat ~ who is the reader? I listened to Elizabeth Klett's (LibriVox) reading of Northanger last year and enjoyed it. I'm wondering if its the reader or the book itself that is boring?

I am currently reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I am really enjoying it so far.

#69 fantasia: The Secret Garden is one of my all-time favorite books ever - I really glad you're liking it!

ETA that I've recently started reading Little Women for the first time (to my embarrassment).

Ooooh, maybe a reread of The Secret Garden is in order this year... I think I was 9 the last time I read it!

I am also going to read A Little Princess by her as well. I believe I was quite young as well when me and my mom read these together. So to read these again brings back childhood memories.. I am also going to read Little Women sometime this year.

Fantasia, I received my copy of The Annotated Secret Garden from Amazon yesterday and started it immediately. Amazon is selling the hardcover, originally $35, for $7. I bought one for me and one for my sister. I already have 2 or 3 copies, but never the annotated one. I'm right at the point where Mary found the key and the gate.

A Little Princess I read even more obsessively than The Secret Garden well into my 20's and reread every decade at least. I love that book. If you haven't read it for a long time, you probably don't remember it that well. Be sure and come back to share your reactions.

I read Louisa May for my first two books this year, Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom. I have to get in the attic and get my box of my children's books down to catalog (and reread) soon!

That's so cool, Roni! I am about where she hears the crying in the corridors. I have watched A Little Princess movie so I know kinda what happens but not really what happens in the book. I will come back as soon as I finish The Secret Garden and A Little Princess they are together in one big book so I can read them, basically at the same time. I have not read any of Louisa May Alcott's that I recall but I don't really know. My mom might have read them to me and I just don't remember. I really do like the movie they made out of Little Women. So this year I have decided to read it.

>73 ronincats:, Roni, that's awesome! *runs over to Amazon to get $7 annotated The Secret Garden*

...

In response to all the Northanger Abbey talk, I didn't like it when I first read it, but now that I've read The Mysteries of Udolpho and other gothic fiction, I find it hilarious. IMO, It's Austen's funniest book.

...

I'm currently reading Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe.

Don't get me started on what the movies do with A Little Princess, Fantasia. After you read it, come back and I'll give you my rant on it!

That's one of the reasons I mentioned it, Marcia. I didn't even realize there WAS an annotated version until someone mentioned it on a LT thread, and then to find it at such a bargain (as I certainly wouldn't have paid $35 for it)--I just had to share, because I was certain there would be others interested in it.

Yes, Roni, you are an angel! It should be getting here in the next week or so. *rubs hands in delight*

I finished Nicholas Nickleby quite recently..and currently reading Tolstoy's Resurrection

#75 allthesedarnbooks: I completely agree that Northanger Abbey really needs to be read in context of the gothic novels it's affectionately taking the mick out of... I'd still say that along with Mansfield Park, it's my least favourite (sorry Tad - I like them all, but I think you've read the best ones first, Persuasion is the one I truly love above all), but it definitely improved on me with the rereading.

Actually allthesedarnbooks, have you read her juvenilia? Love and Friendship is also very funny (although a lot less subtle).

#72 etc - I loved A Little Princess when I was small - I reread it obsessively, along with Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff! I'm dropping by my parents tonight, I may have to go and root it out again...

Edited to improve my vulgar language ;) and to add #78 applebook1 - I'm currently reading Nicholas Nickleby - I'm enjoying it, but not as much as either Bleak House or Edwin Drood what were your thoughts? ...actually, I should go and check out your thread...

#67 digifish_books

The reader is Jill Balcon (or something like that). It came in a box set of penguin classics so I'm working my way through them.

I have to admit having a dislike of 'gothic' writing so maybe thats why I'm not getting Northanger Abbey.

#16 Hey Deebee, I read Winesburg, Ohio over the summer. It doesn't seem to be on too many reading lists. What brought you to it? And.......what did you think of it?

Well, have yet to choose a classic to read, BUT i am very positive about one i will not read-namely Wuthering Heights! Read it @ 12 & even then could see that Kathy & Heathcliff were both totally off their rockers & absolutely deserved one another, but instead they chose to make all those around them miseralble. Later when the mini-series of THe Thorn Birds was on TV it felt like deja vu all over again-another disfunctional pair who could not just make up their questionable minds about anything! Maybe i use the wrong criteria when i judge books
i. e. 'Are these people i would like to know?' If the answer is 'no' then i do not like the book. This tends to explain why i hated 'Seinfeld' on TV (which my late husband watched religiously) cuz i thought that all 4 of the characters were people i would have hated on first meeting if i had met them in real life!
I know that most if not all books have unlikable & even detestable characters in them but they usually have some very likable/even lovable characters so it's just when the main characters are total boneheads that it feels like a waste of reading time to read about them. IMHO. 8^)

Little Women the unabridged version has been on my to do list for a few years so this year I'm finally going to read it and thanks to ya'll, I've had to add The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Wuthering Heights.

I already have Black Beauty and Jane Eyre on my to read list of classics this year so I'm excited to add more.

I'm also planning to reread Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn as I read them in 10th grade when I had to and didn't get nearly enough out of them.

I'm also going to attempt all of the Anne of Green Gables books as well as the entire Little House on the Prairie series. I didn't read either as a child and feel deprived.

I think I'll also probably have to read more of Louisa May Alcott's books since my mother did as a girl and I haven't.

I'd also like to get ambitious and try to read Pride and Prejudice and/or Sense and Sensibility this year as well. I've already got one book over 1000 pages on my list and I really do want to achieve 75 books so I'm not sure how well so many really long classics will work out.

Has anyone ever attempted Dante's Inferno?

*edited for spelling errors*

I second the question about Dante's Inferno.

I have a copy as one of those leatherbound libraries of classics that I got one book at a time, but have always felt daunted by the task of reading it.

#83 TOM & 82 VAYNE

Nice list--you will be reading a lot of really good classics--the only one I've never read are the Little House series and the only one I didn't love--when I read it at twelve and reread it for a book group when I was married and a mother--was Wuthering Heights. Dysfunctional is puting mildly, Vayne!

I LOVE Dante's Inferno. There are many great translations out there--get one with good notes! One of my favirites is by John Ciardi which has now been reprinted. His translation I found really easy to "go with the flow" because the poetry was so well done without being difficult to scan.

A few months ago I picked up Longfellow's translation with wonderful Dore illustrations on a remandered table at B&N. I haven't read it yeat, just dip-ped into it a little--but it is beautiful!

Good luck with Dante--I hope you enjoy it!

Ok, books published before 1960... read this year:
The Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard and The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Barbara und die Schlacht von Waterloo by Georgette Heyer, Billy Budd by Herman Melville and The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope.
Got to love project gutenberg...

I *love* the Dore illustrations for Dante. He did Don Quixote, Orlando Furioso and others that I'm forgetting now too. The Inferno is on my list for this year somewhere too.

Yesterday I started reading The Golden Ass by Apuleius. I've read bits of it before in Latin, but never the whole thing (I'm reading it in English this time round).

>79 flissp:, flissp, no I've never read her juvenilia, but am adding Love and Friendship to my list as we speak! Northanger Abbey is not my favorite Austen; but it's probably the one I consider funniest of the ones I've read. If that makes sense?

>83 TheOnlyMe: & 84, I read The Inferno last year and loved it. It can be difficult if you're trying to do it in a short amount of time (like a lot of classics, I found it to be pretty intense as far as time commitment goes), but it's so beautiful and once you've read it you'll start to realize how many great books, movies, etc. that you've loved all your life owed a ton to Dante. I actually really want to read Purgatorio and Paradiso this year.

I am reading, and enjoying, Lost Horizon. I recommend it to those who enjoy reading books written a while ago. This is quite full of English colonial descriptions.

#88- it seems a couple have read Dante's Inferno and loved it but that perhaps its about finding the right edition? My brother has a copy but its rather old and just looking at the pages is daunting.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which edition to attempt and where one might find it?

Classics alert! You guys MADE me do it! I got the box of childhood classics out of the attic today and entered all 30, all published between 1925 and 1955. Includes the first two Bobbsey twins, lots of Louisa May Alcott, some of the Five Little Peppers and Pollyanna books, several Spyri books, Gulliver's Travels (edited for young readers), and Swiss Family Robinson, and some Janet Lambert books, among others. Also Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. Anyone else remember those shiny-covered Whitman editions of classics that made books so affordable in the 50's? Now guess what I feel like doing...

>90 TheOnlyMe: (and >83 TheOnlyMe: and >84 LisaCurcio:): I read the Sinclair parallel-text translation (OUP) as a chunk of the Inferno was my set text for my foreign-lit paper at uni. I think it's meant to be a fairly faithful 'literal' translation, but you do miss the music of the poetry (I didn't because I had to read and memorise that too....).

If you're looking for a verse translation, lots of very good things have been said about Kirkpatrick's recent new translations for Penguin Classics. I picked up a copy of the Inferno with the intention of reading it in Florence last summer (pretentious? moi?) but never quite got round to it. Still mean to though (full disclosure: Kirkpatrick taught one of my Italian classes at uni so I was already warmly disposed to the translation before I read the reviews).

If you want a nice introduction to Dante to ease you in gently, there is a fantastic Penguin Classics Dante in English, an anthology of translations of bits of Dante by all sorts of people over the years. About a fifth of the book is actually a very thorough and readable introduction to Dante's writing; there's also a useful historical note to set it in context (second disclosure: I was also taught by both the editors of this book too!! But I would say it was great even if I hadn't been - I do think that writing about Dante with wit and humour is a valuable service to the general reader that may be a bit daunted at the prospect).

The Penguin Classics eds should be widely available. Good things have also been said about Dorothy Sayers' translation, which was the previous Penguin Classics standard before the new Kirkpatrick versions.

Loved those Illustrated Classics comic books when i was a kid-absolutely wore out my copy of Girl of the Golden West. I was horse crazy & also totally convinced that i'd been born 100 years too late (1940 instead of 1840). Read all i could get my hands on about horses & the old west w/the glaring exception of Zane Grey tried a couple of his but they just din't click w/me. My fave western of course being The Virginian. Read all of the books about horses by Paul Brown including Patchwork, a Pony. My mother read Black Beauty to me & my bro when i was 6 or 7 & of course i read it when i got older many times. 8^)

I'll keep an eye out for Kirkpatrick's translation and Dante in English. I'm sure both will turn up eventually in the used book stores as the penguin and signet classics are common at the local college for texts and rarely bought back so they find themselves to tag sales and the book barn.

#93- You made me giggle by mentioning Zane Grey. My aunt and uncle bought a camp in the adirondacks in upstate New York 2 years ago and the thing about those old camps is that you inherit basically everything when you buy them. My aunt now has 2, yes TWO complete sets of 2 separate copyright dates of Zane Grey novels. There is a full set in one of the upstairs bedrooms and another in the guide house. Because of that, the name Zane Grey just makes me giggle. So, thanks for the laugh!

Also, I don't think I've ever met a little girl that wasn't horse crazy at some point. We're genetically predisposed to be in our pre-tween/tween years.

Edited for spelling and a typo.

>91 ronincats: - Ronincats - Oh, The Bobbsey Twins. And the Five Little Peppers. This makes me want to go dig through my parents' closets and see if I can find our old copies!

>90 TheOnlyMe:, I read the Norton Critical edition (as it was for class & we ended up using some of the essays), which is a verse translation by Michael Palma. I haven't read any other translations, but I was pretty impressed with this one, and I found the footnotes were pretty helpful, too.

>91 ronincats:, Roni, I envy you! I had several boxes of old Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Five Little Peppers, etc. that I had just brought up from my cleaning out my grandmother's house, but unfortunately right after I moved them here, we had a huge flood in June of 2006 and they were all lost forever.

Oh, what a tragedy, Marcia! Those truly can never be replaced.

I've just spent a couple of hours reading Rilla of the Lighthouse by Grace May North. Not to be confused with great literature, this 1926 book is still a satisfying read. Rilla is brought up on a small New England island by her grandfather, the lighthouse keeper. Because her mother ran off with and married a city guy, a poor artist fellow, he won't let her go off the island when the city folk are up during the summer. But when a convalescent young man is beached on the island, and nearly comes to harm because Rilla is afraid to tell her grandfather, he has a change of heart and lets go of his hate of city folk. When he is killed during a storm that smashes the lighthouse, Rilla's "Uncle Lem" sends her to boarding school where she makes some friends and learns not only to read and speak correctly, but to write. When her grandfather's other close friend returns from Ireland, he tells Rilla of her grandfather's confidence to him that her father never knew she lived through her birth that killed her mother, and that her grandfather left him an address that would reach her father.

Bare bones. Perhaps silly and surely sentimental, but simply told, and bringing me to tears at least 4 times during the book. This book was at my grandmother's when I was a child and I devoured it during our annual visits--wore the front cover off of it! I left out all the twists and turns--that would spoil the fun. A very satisfying read. I believe that North wrote a number of what would now be considered YA books for girls. OH, I just found a copy WITH a cover on eBay for $9.99--definitely worth it to me! What luck!

>98 ronincats:, Roni, Rilla of the Lighthouse sounds right up my alley! I'll have to see if I can find a copy of it somewhere. Rilla of Ingleside, coincidentally, was always one of my favorite of the Anne of Green Gables books, and I've often thought that I might name one of my future children (or, knowing me, pets) Rilla.

I've got that one too, Marcia, but in those nice Bantam Starfire paperback editions where they republished all of L.M. Montgomery's books in the mid to late 80s. I just picked up the whole lot then, to replace falling apart older books. The lighthouse Rilla was short for Muriel--don't know if that's true of Rilla Blythe, but they are both 15 at the start of the books.

man I'm dying to read the Anne of Green Gables series. I wish I could justify the money necessary to buy a boxed set but I'll just have to wait until the Book Barn opens for the summer and go piece together the series from what they have but who knows, maybe I'll get lucky.

In the mean time, its, a future classic. The Harry Potter and Stephanie Plum series LoL

Can anyone provide a list or a links to lists for the complete collections of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series and the Anne of Green Gables series?

Also, does anyone know the titles of the books written by Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder as well as any reviews or thoughts and opinions on them? I know she only wrote a few but I'm eager to read them as well.

When in doubt, always check out Wikipedia. They have a complete list of the Anne series under the name Anne of Green Gables. Look under Laura Ingalls Wilder for the information on the Little House series. www.wikipedia.org

Here are the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in order

Little House in the Big Woods
Farmer Boy
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
These Happy Golden Years
On the Way Home
The First Four Years
West From Home

Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne's House of Dreams
Anne of Ingleside
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside

And don't forget the Emily books:
Emily of New Moon
Emily Climbs
Emily's Quest

and the stand-alones:
The Blue Castle
A Tangled Web
Jane of Lantern Hill
Mistress Pat
Pat of Silver Bush
Magic for Marigold

And thanks, because now I've got them off the shelves, I'll put them in my library--hadn't done that shelf yet!

Thanks for listing them fantasia and ronincats! and I'm glad I could be of service ronin.

If I JUST read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and the ones you listed ronin, that's 28 of my 75! Add that to the Harry Potter series of 7 plus 3 additional books by J.K. Rowlings... that's 38! and I don't know how many are in Janet Evanovich's series about Stephanie Plum...

Ok, it seems that a few series will take care of my whole reading list. I best get crackin!

* sorry for going a little off topic. that just struck me and I was flabbergasted.

#100 ronincats

I think Rilla Blythe was named for Marilla, the woman who reared Anne from the time she was about 9 or 10 years old. (It's been a while since I read the series and I'm not at home to check for sure--)

#100 and #106 - You are right, MusicMom, Rilla is short for Marilla, though Anne's daughter's first name was actually Bertha, and Marilla was her middle name. She hated that her family called her Rilla, when Bertha was a much more elegant name LOL. Rilla of Ingleside is one of my favourite of the Anne books too - I love LMM, and reread her novels every other year or so! It might be time to take them out again!

With one eye on the TV (tennis and/or cricket) I've started Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope. It is the first book in the Palliser series.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose wrote under her married name of Rose Wilder Lane. I have an old copy of Let the hurricane roar This appeared on TV as The Young Pioneers. She also wrote a book about her mother. Wikipedia should have her books listed, or Books in Print (tho they may be out of print).

A large part of My 75 list is classic, this year I'm going to sit down and read Vanity Fair, The Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, Sons and Lovers, Far From The Madding Crowd,Middlemarch, The Moonstone and Mansfield Park not in this order and I'm also going to re-read Pride and Prejudice, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Great Expectations, A Midsummer Night's Dream (the next book I will finish), Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet. There are more but I cant find the list I wrote down! This should keep me busy!

#101 ff I'm surprised at all you LT'ers referring to Wikipedia for the series information----LibraryThing is my go-to site for that kind of thing...shouldn't it be yours?? If you go to the works page for Little House on the Prairie, you will see under "Common Knowledge" that it is listed as Original Little House Series No. 2; if you click on that link it will give you all the books in the series, in order. The same is true of the Anne of Green Gables books, and the Stephanie Plum series. If you do an author search here on Rose Wilder Lane, you'll find all her books listed.

I lost track of everyone above who wants to read Dante. So Theonlyme, LisaCurcio, and anyone else, we have a group over on the 999challenge who are planning to read The Inferno for Lent! Ash Wednesday is Feb 25th, so we'll start then. I've been debating about whether to start a new group, or just do a thread, (we actually have one started a thread here).

I have two different translations, one by Mandlebaum with the Italian on one side of the page and English on the left. Then I have the Great Books of the Western World version (sorry = not in the same room with the book), and I just got a fantastic audio book with the Robert Pinsky translation read by George Guidall. I listened to the first canto the other nite...it is fabulous. so I am planning to read and then listen -- I love to listen to poetry readings and this one is great. If you'd like to join our group, please leave me a note on my profile. I'm gathering links to several online lists of study questions for us to look at. I don't feel qualified to lead the discussion, but I am comfortable shepherding the group as we all chime in. I think I will be motivated to finish this if I at least have others doing it with me. So far there are nine of us and we look forward to seeing you there.

$111- I'm VERY new to LT, not just this group so I don't know all the features so please don't hold that against me. I only just figured out how to add authors to my favorites as well as how to edit tags and add reviews.

#112- I'm not planning to read Dante's Inferno until this summer, if I do. I'm still not sure about that and I have such a list going. I want to get through 10 presidential biographies/autobiographies this year as well as the Anne of Green Gables series, Little House on the Prairie series, the Stephanie Plum series, the Harry Potter series as well as reread The Mists of Avalon, finish 100 great essays, and either Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility.

This is a VERY daunting challenge for me but I'm willing to try. I really should get my brother on LT. I want him to get through all his classics this year that he's been collecting and not reading.

I have a question about this group though. At the beginning it says books published before 1960, but do you mean written before 1960 because, technically, the Little House on the Prairie book I found in my juvenile fiction collection today was published in 1996... or perhaps printed is the right word? Also, I have a list of newly discovered works from my lit professor from last semester that were written before a certain date but not published until after the author's death.

Sorry for that but I'm huge on technicalities. Not sure why LoL The OCD perhaps?

edited for touchstones

Shall we say, FIRST published prior to 1960? I believe that's the intent. Now the second case is more interesting, where they were written but not published until much later. What does everyone think?

#114

This is a suggestion--I'm not the "classics police"--but I think a classic is a book that has stood the test of time and is still considered good literature 50 years later. (Or, a classic in a genre--such as golden age mysteries; not necessarily great literature but still appreciated for what they are in the genre.) A book that was written before 1960 but not available to read until more recently I think has not yet stood the "test of time." imho

Well, ronincats, I'm sort of confused on the whole term of "classic" in this case as there are many many books written before 1960 that are by no means "classics" in the generally accepted definition. Dime store novels were written prior to 1960 but I doubt anyone would consider them must reads nor having stood the test of time. Then there are books written after 1960 that IMO are true classics. Perhaps modern classics. Maybe we need a thread for that? Harry Potter books are already being considered modern classics. Many consider Mists of Avalon to be a modern classic. Tuesdays with Maury comes to mind as well as a whole host of others.

Another thread idea I had that I'd value the opinion of in here would be a Cult Favorites thread. Not really classics but great reads. Slaughter House 5 comes to mind.

Anyway, I've just joined 999 challenge and dedicated a whole section to classics. I'll be frequenting this thread a lot.

Happy reading!

TOM

edited for touchstones and sorry for going a bit off topic

#116 TOM

A lot of the 999 threads have classics as a category. Why don't you check some of them out to get an idea of what others are calling classics. Since not one will arrest you for what you choose to call a classic, you really only have to suit yourself. I tend to put the "classic date" earlier than 1960--but I'm older so that stuff doesn't seem that old to me. However, I considerTo Kill a Mockingbird definitely a classic--and that was published around that time--so I'm not very consistent, am I. You can be the judge of what you think is classic. Just have a justification ready if someone questions you! ;-) (Because I want to! will work)

#117 - ^_^ because I want to is a perfect answer for everything LoL I suppose I just like to debate and question everything. It gets me in trouble a lot. I to consider To Kill a Mockingbird a classic, as well as A Raisin in the Sun. I read both in 10th grade. The original movies of both are pretty good too. I don't much care for Sean "Puffy" Combs remake though. I also consider Death of a Salesman to be a classic, although its a play and some people don't consider plays to be literature.

TOM--no criticism meant in 111--I hope you didn't take it that way. I was actually chuckling to myself over the irony of people (not just you) on a book-lover's specialty site referring to a general knowledge site for information on books!

#119 - I tried to go back and do as you suggested and found it extremely complicated actually. I found that many authors didn't have complete lists for their works or even no lists at all since it all has to be filled in by users.

I think I'm going to try and stick to publishing house websites and author websites for such information. In all seriousness, there is a LOT of misinformation on this website. I find it kind of sad actually.

#118 TOM

The discussions are what makes LT so special--and as TadAD says, they are even more interesting if we don't always agree! I've found most people in the groups I post to like to discuss and are willing to "agree to disagree" amiably.

Plays not literature?! One word--SHAKESPEARE?! And thank you for reminding me--I own a copy of Death of a Salesman and have never read it. It would be a great quick read for my classics category so I can get one done in January! Why? Because I want to! :-)

I'm also going to look for a copy of A Raisin in the Sun--I've never read that, either! Shame on me. And I haven't seen the movie, although I know the basic story line.

Thanks for the nudges! (And I also debate and question everything. Another thing I like about LT--they don't mind! It drives my husband crazy!)

ETA If you want information about fiction books try www.fantasticfiction.co.uk. It's great for order of series book, what coming out soon from your favorite author, book summaries, etc. Just put that address into Google and it will take you right there.

#119: LOL! I do that all the time (forget to look right under my nose, so to speak, for book info) - thanks for reminding me that I don't need to go anywhere but here!

#121 - Glad I could be of help. ^_^ I read Death of a Salesman this past semester. One of the few pieces I actually did read for that class. (I'm horrible) I must say, the footnotes came in handy.

I'm reading Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Enjoying the Teddy so far.

I finished The Secret Garden today. I liked this book immensely and my review is on my thread if anyone cares to go and see it. :)

Catey

#120 Interesting observation Amanda...I've been on the site for over 3 years, and I have not noticed the "misinformation" you mention. There is certainly an occasional glitch somewhere, and sometimes works are wrongly attributed to an author with a similar name...but in my experience someone usually jumps on these errors almost immediately, and they get sorted out.

#126 - I suppose what would be better of me to say is there is some misinformation ranging from misspelled author's names to incorrect book titles. Misspelled words for something you are copying tick me off. (personal pet peeve) What annoys me more I guess is, for example, the number of Laura Ingalls Wilder listings there are that are blank. I don't see why all the blank ones can't be deleted. I honestly don't have the patience to go through a dozen or more files to find what I'm looking for when two clicks and some words has all the info I need.

I also noticed, while attempting to find works by Anne Bronte, she was often listed with Emily, as if they were the same person.

Personally, I just hope that improvements come in the future to make certain aspects of this site a bit more easy. Maybe its my generation, but I like things very easy to navigate, otherwise I get frustrated and go elsewhere.

Currently I have two tabs open. I have library thing open and I have B&N open as this site doesn't link to book descriptions that are found on the book jackets and since so many books aren't reviewed by the people that own them, I have to go in search of descriptions.

This is definitely a work in conjunction with site for me but maybe that's just me.

And I apologize for the massive off topic nature of this post so in conclusion, I'll bring it back into topic...

I was able to find a complete set of hard cover Anne of Green Gables books via my Aunt. Apparently she's had them since she was a girl and since she only has sons and her other niece has no interest in reading, they are coming to me! I might have to wait until summer to get them, but its still exciting. ^_^

Now THAT is something to celebrate! I have the complete Anne set in paperback, but one of the older hardback sets is really special! Congrats!

#127 TOM

What a wonderful aunt you have. That will be a real treasure. I have them all in Trade PB which I bought about 20 years ago but hard cover will last so much longer.

I've been walking around all day with a big ol' smile on my face for no reason at all according to others but I know its because of books. ^_^ I love them even the more because I'm remembering seeing them on the shelf at the cabin when I was younger... too little to read them but touching them. They have gold lettering on the spine. The corners are worn from being read and handled so much but that makes them so much more special.

I'm altering my 999 challenge because of them. A whole category entitled Lucy Maud Montgomery. I can't remember how many books are in the series which is what brought me to this thread since I know its posted above. ^_^ I know its at least 8 and I know she wrote many more stories so the category suits.

Just checked, 8 in the Anne series but I also know there are two Chronicles of Avonlea and she wrote a number of short stories so, category complete!

I also dedicated a whole category to Little House on the Prarie since there are 9 books if I remember correctly although I entitled the category Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I'm so excited! This year will be the year of series. ^_^

I loved the Little House on the Prairie books. I must have read them a dozen or so times by now.

With Moore At Corunna by G. A. Henty, published 1898.
To quote a friend of mine: "Bumper books for boys, and Hurray for the Empire!" Which is true. But it also includes a decent account of the troop movements and battles of the first year of the Peninsular War. The title is misleading, we reach Corunna halfway through and go on till after Wellsley retakes Oporto. Has good maps of Rolica and Vimiero. But strays into the realm of fantasy at times: the 16-year-old ensign ends up being a Colonel of 2,500 men after nine months of service... my friend again: "So very Jingo!"

Currently reading The Secret Garden

I am starting both The Iliad and The Poems and Plays of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Volume 2 today. After the fun I had with Volume 1 of Sheridan, I am really looking forward to volume 2. As for The Iliad, I have never read it before, so not quite sure what to expect!

#134 - I loved The Iliad so much I named my golden retriever after Hector! Out of the two, I preferred it over The Odyssey, but that's just me, I think most people prefer the other, but I loved the story of the Trojan War.

#135: I have the Lattimore translation, so I will see how that goes. I will probably read The Odyssey after I finish up The Iliad. I freely admit that I am more familiar with the storyline of The Odyssey than that of the other, which is why I started with The Iliad first.

Just finished what must be at least my 20th reread of Doctor Faustus for a course that I'm teaching.

#136 - the thing I loved about The Iliad was the poignancy of the character of Hector and his family and their end. He was so noble and honorable. He loved his wife and son, yet had to do what he had to do for duty to this country. I much preferred him over the egomaniac spoiled brat Achilles.

#137: I have not read Marlowe's version of the Faust story, only the Goethe one. Do they differ greatly, Cariola?

Don't get me started on The Iliad (occupational hazard)! Suffice it to say that I'm always excited when someone new reads it for the first time. Happy reading, alcottacre - if you want to discuss when your finished, count me in!

#139 Well, I swear I posted a reply, but I don't see it here now. Funny, I was talking to a student after class today about the same question. Since Marlowe's work is a play, and a somewhat heavy-handed morality play at that, it's shorter and less complex, and there's no Gretchen character (just Helen of Troy, who doesn't even speak).

#141: Thanks for the info, Deborah.

Mr. Rowl by D. K: Broster, publ. 1924
A charming tale about a French prisoner of war in England (napoleonic time). About honour and the consequence of lies. With a happy end, of course.

I like that you consider anything pre-1960 to be classic. That will help me in adding some to this list. I've already read Invasion of the Body Snatchers this year.

I'm reading a book called Magnitude 8 about earthquakes, and it mentioned Candide as one the works written (at least partially) in response to the great Lisbon earthquake. So, I've ordered Candide (along with the Cliff Notes to get me going on it), and look forward to reading it.

I just finished reading an old favorite to my son tonight - Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

On Horsemanship by Xenophon.
Anyone who has anything to do with horses should read this. Written 2400 years ago, and if you stick to this advice on buying, raising and training horses you can not go wrong.

>146 aquascum:: I read On Horsemanship for one of those alphabet challenges several years ago, and you're right, it was excellent!

I am currently reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, which was highly recommended by The Tortoise.

I'll be looking for your comments on Tenant--that's a 999 challenge book for me that I hope to get to in April. (Also, because TT recommended it!)

edited for speling

I just finished Sense and Sensibility and I'm working on Les Miserables and The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton.

Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, 19th August 1807 to 7th March 1809
One just has to admire him...

Just finished The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola. An incredible novel painting the scene of Paris in the last third of the nineteenth century, during the Second Empire and just after the building of Les Halles. If you have an interest in modern French history, read this book. Zola knew the city intimately, and crafted his work incorporating his knowledge and his political perspective.

#151: Have you read Wellington by Elizabeth Longford or Wellington at Waterloo by Jac Weller? If not, you might want to give them a try. They are both well worth the effort.

I am going to read Lost Laysen by Margaret Mitchell tonight. I freely admit that I picked it up because of all the other stuff included in the book, letters, pictures, etc. Thanks to DFed for the recommendation.

Picking up another Willa Cather book, Song of the Lark. I love Cather's prose.

An example of Cather's prose: "The air was a tender blue-grey, like the colour on the doves that flew in out of the white dove-house on the post in the Kohlers' garden. The sand hills looked dim and sleepy. The tamarisk hedge was full of snow, like a foam of blossoms drifted over it."

I am also reading The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens with alaskabookworm.

ETA: Charles Dickens does not have Touchstones? For shame, Library Thing!

#155 alcottacre - re Charles Dickens touchstone - bizarre, isn't it!?! Strangely enough, if you just use "Dickens", you can get to him...

Beginning Carson McCullers' Member of the Wedding - many think this more outstanding than her The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. We shall see.

#156: That is very weird.

@153 Yes, I read The Years of the Sword and a few other works about Wellington. I'm reading the Dispatches to see what he actually said himself. But I agree, a good background knowledge is necessary to know what his talking about. Unless he is writing a direct report, he does not mention all necessary background to his notes and orders.

Reading Sandition by Jane Austen Liking it so far. This is her last complete novel, I think. I get the feeling that it may not have actually been complete before she died.

#160 jmaloney17 - sadly, I'm afraid she didn't finish it - it's very frustrating!

#161 flissp -- Ahhhh, I see. Now I understand. The copy I have was completed by someone else. I don't know if I like that or not.

#162 jmaloney17 - I'll be very interested in whether you think it works - I normally steer well clear of sequels to books I love written by other authors (had my fingers burnt badly), but finishing things off is a different story - sometimes I need to know what happens!

Starting Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope today.

I read Sandition years ago and loved it! (the version finished by someone else) My reading muscles weren't very developed then, so it would be interesting to see what I think of it now...

Do we know exactly who it was that finished it, by the way?

after finishing Tolstoy's Resurrection..reading Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country

I just finished Sandition. The first 11 chapters are by Jane Austen, the rest are by "Another Lady." The other lady finished the book in 1975. The only thing I found out about the other lady was that she is British. I liked it was a good, happy ending.

#167

The touchstone is wrong--here is the correct one. Sandition

It sounds like we wouldn't want to not find the one you are talking about! :-)

Hmmm, I may have to investigate that then, thanks for the update jmaloney17!

Discovered late last night that Sandition is also called Charlotte. I have a copy of each. I may have to read the other one to see if it is any different.

I just started For Whom the Bell Tolls last night for my local Book Club. I'm only three pages in, but they have been rather dull pages. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that it will pick up. I read Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea a couple summers ago, and was unimpressed, but I've heard that book isn't really reflective of his other writing. We shall see...

Sandition is one of the few Austen works I haven't read, yet. It is now on "the list". :-)

I feel similarly about Hemingway's writing and I confess I have never been overwhelmed with Faulkner either - though I have read a fair selection of both.

I sometimes ask myself - could I, would I recognize literary greatness if I didn't know these authors and that they are considered giants, their works deemed crucial for a well read bibliophile, an essential part of the Western canon? Does anyone ever wonder if you took some sort of mythical "blind tasting" of writing with authors and works unknown (totally impractical and unworkable idea of course!) - would you finger Trollope and Flaubert, would you immediately acknowledge Chekov and Bellow and Irving as seminal authors or would you pass them by and end up choosing someone who writes for Harlequin Romances as a classic author?

That is an exaggeration, of course - some works are so obviously brilliant and beautiful that you know their quality right away - but I do wonder if, without reputation and our education, we would recognize or dismiss literary greatness.

Der Goldene Esel. Metamorphosen by Apuleius
Fun! Written in the tales within tales style, the phantastic and amusing story of a young man turned into a donkey.

Oh, and I have to confess that I am not impressed by Hemingway either...

I am starting The Annotated Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Lots of interesting info in it so far.

>172 orangeena:: well said, orangeena! I reckon Chekhov would definitely make the cut. Not so sure elsewhere... but then, I'd be voting Emily Bronte out of the canon as I still just don't get Wuthering Heights. sorry.

>172 orangeena:, 175 - Chiming in on the discussion - and would literary greatness have the same set of qualifications if we didn't acknowledge these authors? So many authors are considered great because they build upon, or work contrary to, the greatness of those that have come before them. If, for example, we were to erase Jane Austen from the lists of literary "greats" (what a crazy thought!) then would the literary world value Charlotte and Emily Bronte? Jane Eyre was written partly in reaction to Austen's works. Charlotte Bronte felt that Pride and Prejudice was mundane, and wrote that it was "...a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but... no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck." The Bronte's filled their works with passionate characters, and helped popularize the idea of the Byronic Hero. If no Bronte sisters, who else would we be missing in our traditional canon? Would "literature" have the same definition - it there something inherent in us that can identify great works, or is literary value judged based on its own history?

Sorry for the rant - I think Orangeena raised some really interesting thoughts, and in case you haven't all noticed, I can get a bit carried away some time....

@ #174

I just finished reading a great 1940's edition of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" with my 6yr old (he did most of the reading, in truth). I'd forgotten how much I loved the Oz books and hope to reread them this year.

#178: I do not think I ever read the Oz books as a child even though I have watched the film numerous times, so this is a first read for me. I am going to try and read the entire series.

#179:

The Marvelous Land of Oz (http://www.literature.org/authors/baum-l-frank/the-marvelous-land-of-oz/ ) and Ozma of Oz ( http://www.literature.org/authors/baum-l-frank/ozma-of-oz/ ) were always my favorites. My son was surprised at the differences between The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the movie!

Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, to 8th August 1809
So very interesting... Oporto and Talavera.

I started a re-read of The Secret Garden this week. Loving it (again!) so far and the edition I found has a lovely intro by Lois Lowry too.

I am reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

I thought I had read this one before too. I haven't.

I am currently reading The Haunted Bookshop, the sequel to Parnassus on Wheels, which I loved last year.

Recently started Dickens' Great Expectations. Never had much success getting into Dickens. We shall see.

Good luck with GE, Caty. So far that one is my least favorite of all of Dickens' works.

No, no!! We LOVE Great Expectations, (doesn't us, Pip?)

4pawz (and anyone else who wants to join in)--What's your favorite Dickens? Mine is a tie between Little Dorrit and David Copperfield.

Re Dickens

So far my favorite is Bleak House which I read about 18 years ago and plan to reread soon. I've read about 8 or 9 of his novels so i have a ways to go before I can make a definitive decision. :-)

My favorite Dickens is definitely David Copperfield! That's a rainy day book for me to curl up in bed with. I haven't read all of Dickens, though. Hopefully I'll be reading Bleak House this summer for the group read, yes?

#190: Yes, we are doing a group read of Bleak House come June.

re: Dickens

So far..I like all the Dickens that I've read..
but if I had to choose..it's Hard Times so far.. (Bleak House comes pretty close..)

For a long time it was David Copperfield, but a few years ago it changed to Our Mutual Friend.
Concerning Great Expectations, my problem with it is Miss Havisham - she's really creepy and she totally freaked me out when I had to read it in high school.

BUT, reading Great Expectations makes Jasper Ffords's use of Miss Havisham's character in Lost in a Good Book absolutely priceless. But read the first in the series first, The Eyre Affair.

Stasia

What group is doing Bleak House?--I planed to read a Dickens this year and with this one I'd consider a reread, it has been so long.

#195: Carolyn, we are doing it here in the 75 Books Challenge group, just like we are doing War and Peace and Don Quixote. We plan to start June 15th.

I finished Jane Eyre and am on to Middlemarch by George Eliot.

#197 jmaloney17

Those are 2 of my all time favorite books! Hope you are enjoying them. :-)

I did like Jane Eyre. I really like Middlemarch so far. I am just starting "Book 2." I forgot to bring my book with me to work today. I don't know how I will survive lunch without it.

I just finished To Kill a Mockingbird. What a book! I should have read it years ago!

Oh my! I just finished (rereading) To Kill a Mockingbird this morning. Certainly worth the read, but I'm left feeling a bit forlorn.

#197 jmaloney

"I don't know how I will survive lunch without it."

Wow! Can I identify with that feeling! Being "stuck" anywhere without a book can cause great anxiety! :-D

#200 cal8769

"I should have read it years ago!"

Maybe--but then you wouldn't have had the great pleasure of reading for the first time now! :-)

I hope you are a "re-reader". I reread that book about every other year! It doesn't get "old" for me.

I don't reread much, only books that really speak to me. This was one that did!

I read somewhere years ago that To Kill a Mockingbird was mentioned most often as "the book that has influenced me more than any other" when readers were asked.

I don't know if that would still be the case for the post-baby boom generation, but I can say it would be my answer.

#200: I read it for the first time last year and had pretty much the same reaction, cal.

I read it for the first time this year, I loved it!

On another note, I will be starting Untold Glory (no touchstone) by Cothburn O'Neal tonight.

Currently reading Mariana by Monica Dickens, great-granddaughter of Charles.

Reading (and laughing a ton at) Three Men in A Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)!

Just finished my first book by Wodehouse, that crazy old chump. Was not crazy about it and all that sort of thing. Wasn't it Shakespeare or some other smart chap that said to give everything a second chance - what?

*big grin*

endless Bertie Wooster impersonations, here I come!!

I read my first Wodehouse book last month as well. And in January I read my first Lord Peter Wimsey novel by Dorothy Sayers. Lord Peter and Bertie Wooster had many of the same expressions! I liked both books but did get tired of the ...what? at the end of so many sentences!

Angela

I don't know which Lord Peter you read, but if it was the first one, they get better as Sayers finds her "stride."

If you like the Wodehouse you will probably like most of them. Just don't read too many in a row--like too many sweets, you will get a"tummy ache!" :-)

...starting Emma tonight! I have some cheesecake in the fridge from yesterday, which I will proceed to put on a plate, bring it in bed with me and eat with a big red spoon while I read Austen :D

Oh, dear, Eliza, you are simply TOO decadent!! (Don't mind me, I"m just jealous. ;-))

I just finished Beowulf tonight, and I'm off to start The Divine Comedy.

>214 ronincats: Why thank you, thank you. *Bows*
haha :)

Sagen des Klassischen Altertums Gustav Schwab
You really need a Who-is-Who to keep track of all the deities, half-deities, humans and others mentioned here, but it's worth the effort. And it made me realise just how old some plot elements are... *grins*

So far this year i have: the red room by August Strindberg, 1879
Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 1954 and finaly
The Gras is Singing by Doris Lessing, 1950

I have two more "oldies" on my soon to be read list but il get back to you on those.

Lord of the Flies is really good!

Abenteuer der Silvesternacht by ETA Hoffmann, Phantastik, written wonderfully vivid... see flames dancing on goblets, watch eternal beauties stealing mirror images, smell the sweet scent of bitter almonds, hear the swish of heavy red robes...

I just read my first Sherlock Holmes novel - The Hound of the Baskervilles. I've had the book on my shelf for probably twelve or so years now, and I finally got around to reading it. I should have picked it up sooner - it was delightful!

#222: Hound is my favorite of the Holmes books (I love the film version with Basil Rathbone, too). Glad you finally got around to it, Luxx!

I read Cyrano De Bergerac last week on the Kindle. Not what I was expecting, since my expectations were based on cheap adaptations. Some very good descriptions of Cyrano and interesting how it turns out.

lauranav, have you seen the (French) film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac with Gérard Depardieu? It's a wonderful film and Depardieu is fantastic as Cyrano - I was in floods of tears by the end!

Ah, I'll have to look for that, I can imagine he could do a good job with that role.

Tonight I finished Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I found it very interesting, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting. And it was extremely difficult to read out loud.

>225 flissp:: I second the recommendation of Cyrano with Gerard! It's fantastic, definitely worth looking for.

The American Senator by Anthony Trollope
Follows a handful of characters through the hunting season in an english town. Game are: foxes, pheasants, rabbits and bachelors. And in the middle of it an American Senator is observing (and commenting) british behaviour. I had some good laughs...

I am currently reading Germinal by Emile Zola. I am about halfway through and it is an excellent book.

I just started Brideshead Revisited today. I'm hoping I will enjoy it--don't know much about it. There are some huge gaps in my "well read life" that LT is pointing out to me and helping me fill! ;-)

Currently reading Island by Aldous Huxley.

I have finished the vastly disappointing Island and am now on to Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb and his sister Mary Lamb.

Reading The Warden by Anthony Trollope. I want to finish his 6 books on Barset this year.

>234 jmaloney17: The Barset books are among my favourites, jm17.

>233 alcottacre: Ooo, I haven't read that (Tales from Shakespeare in years! I should really take a look at that again.

#236: Luxx, I had never read it before and was pleasantly surprised.

235-Digifish-I am enjoying The Warden so far. From what I understand it is the inferior of the 6 books. I feel very sorry for the Warden so far. I think he needs a big hug.

I am currently reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte, a book I have never read before. I love Jane Eyre, though.

#231 MusicMom41, I read Brideshead Revisited earlier this year and enjoyed it very much. Hope you are too!

#239 - I am a fan of Villette, and plan on getting around to The Professor at some point this year. I'm saving most of my gothic/Victorian reads for the summer, though, when I won't have pesky grading to get in the way.

Right now I'm reading Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain. Awhile back I went on a Twain kick and bought a number of books I hadn't heard of before, and I've been slowly working through them.

I'll be interested to read what you think about Villette, Stasia - in about a day or so, I would think - as I bought a copy not so long ago.

#242: I have put aside Villette for the moment, Charlotte, in favor of The Angel's Game, so it will probably be a couple of days (I know, terrible of me, but there you have it). However, what I have read of Villette thus far is very good.

#243: OK, I was a good girl and finished Villette (a library book) and am so glad I did - it goes on my list of memorable reads for this year! And to think that I was not even aware that Charlotte Bronte had written anything other than Jane Eyre, which I also love.

So now, having finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which left a decidedly bad taste in my mouth, I am off to read more Willa Cather - One of Ours, which won her the Pulitzer.

I am adding Bleak House to the group reads I am doing and am presently nose deep in Trollope's Framley Parsonage.

I am in the middle of Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope. It is the book that comes after Framley Parsonage. I hope to have it finished in a few days. Alcottacre--I am glad you are liking Framley Parsonage.

#246: How is Small House at Allington? It is next up for me.

It is a little slower, but good. It is about a young woman jilted by her lover. I am about half way through. It covers different occupations. Two of the main character are clerks in the government. One of them is in the income tax office. I can't remember where the other is.

#247: Thanks for the additional info!

I'm reading (and studying for my exams) Shakespeare's As You Like It and Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton. I've never been a fan of Shakespeare, mostly because I read him at too young an age, but I must say I'm enjoying the experience.

I don't usually read so many older books, I'm more a fan of what you'd call "modern classics" (or postmodern) ...so it's a nice change of pace from my usual reads!

Eliza, are you enjoying Mary Barton? When I read it, it took a couple of chapters to get into, but then I loved it (although I still prefer Wives and Daughters and North and South) - it's so ridiculously dramatic though, I always wonder why noone's filmed it yet...

If I can ever get through Henry James' own introduction, I'll be reading Wings of the Dove.

I've read him before, but am reminded anew how to use 200 words when 20 would do!

#252 Did you ever try to read The Ambassadors? OMG. Put me right off Henry James for 35+ years. I'm slowly coming round to thinking I might give him another try someday. If I live long enough. We'll see.

The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer

I'm back in the peninsula. This book follows Cpt. Smith of the 95th from the siege of Badajoz all the way through to Waterloo. I quite enjoyed this one, there are a lot of colourful details and very likeable (real!) characters. And it has action!Wellington, which makes a change from the aloof ice-general he is oftern portraied as.

Quote:
"He was so astonished, he said, by the spectacle of Lord Wellington and Marshal Beresford hacking their way through the mêlée with their drawn swords, that he doubted whether he could have collected his wits sufficiently to give the order to fire.
‘And how they came there, I know no more than my old mare!’ Kincaid told Harry, much later.
‘Old Hookey, and Beresford, and the two guns, and all the beautiful Staff, took refuge behind my picket. Old Hookey didn’t look more than half-pleased, I can tell you. But it was a pleasure to hear Alten swearing. I wish I understood German.’"

(251) flissp - I am enjoying Mary Barton...although I must say there is a certain *thing* that all Victorian novels tend to have in common that makes me go "oh, here we go again". I am being rather vague, aren't I? I don't know what it is, but it feels like they were all, (Victorian writers) in a way, brothers in sisters, much more than writers of our time are. Like if you take two random writers today chances are they'll be writing about totally different things, in a totally different style from one another. But during the Victorian period...I don't know... it's like they all took the same Creative Writing course - with the same teacher! :))

I am enjoying it, though!

'Journal of a Regimental Officer during the Recent Campaign in Portugal and Spain' by Anon (probably Peter Hawker)

Journal of a Light Dragoon officer, covering the retake of Oporto and the battle of Talavera. Written in a sightly detached style, not giving away much thoughts or emotions, concentrating more on sights and observations. Good read.

I finished The Small House at Allington and have started on The Last Chronicle of Barset.

Just started reading Vanity Fair

Started Lady Chatterley's Lover the other day.

Oh, I liked that. It made me realise that whoever cast Sean Bean/Sharpe as Mellors in that TV production was a genius. And the love scenes are so cute. I went 'awwww' a lot.

I just finished Ourika by Claire De Duras. http://www.librarything.com/work/295740
I was impressed by the very short yet powerful book.

I just finished The Odyssey by Homer.
Next up - Metamorphoses by Ovid - due back to the library soon so I better get cracking.

And, I'm holding off because my TBR is already large enough, but I've made note to dive into Trollope sometime soon.

Kéraban the Inflexible by Jules Verne
The story of a surprising journey around the Black Sea. The group of travellers is made up of Turks and Dutch and the trip is occasioned by one character's inflexibility. The German title has 'Starrkopf' insted of 'Inflexible', which my dictionary translated as 'Bulldog', the French original 'le-têtu'... you begin to see what kind of problems the travellers will face...
Funny, surprising and interesting read.

I have been pleasantly surprised by Jules Verne. I never really thought about him before, but bought several of his books for my son. We read Journey to the Centre of the Earth earlier this year, and are halfway through Around the World in 80 Days. While I have been enjoying the latter more, I found myself very comfortable with his style and look forward to our chapter-a-night.

I am always intrigued about differences in taste. I just tried Around the World in 80 Days but ended up skimming large swathes. I couldn't get on the with the slim characters, especially Mr Fogg and for some reason the whole British empire thing really annoyed me. This book was chosen as part of a push to get kids to read and I was horrified by thought, relieved to know your son enjoyed it! I shouldn't jump to conclusions :-)

>265 clfisha: - To be fair, though, my son is just a toddler and probably doesn't know one book from another at this point. ;) I've enjoyed it as a kind of "Victorian-lite" introduction to 19th-century lit, but it'll be a few years yet before Brooks can tell me what he thinks.

ah ok! :) At least there was the positive sign of no crying!

Reading Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Just finished The Picture of Dorian Gray - very cool story, but I'm not a big fan of Wilde's style.

I finished Dorian Gray a couple of weeks ago. Interesting, but can't say I loved it.
Am reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome - enjoying it!

I read The Picture of Dorian Gray a few years ago and while I wasn't wild about it, I did find it interesting.

I read Around the World in 80 Days earlier this summer. I don't think I ever read it unabridged when I was younger. I tried very hard to keep Jackie Chan out of mind when I read it. Since my memories of the story were from an abridged version I just accepted the lack of character development. I did remember the ending, so I was a bit impatient to just get to the point near the end.

This week I read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier - it was in the YA section of my library and I probably would have enjoyed it much better when I was a YA myself. But at my current age, I just wanted to kick the heroine in the rear and tell her to get over herself. The development of the character of Rebecca was well done and now I understand the references to it in other books.

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Christianaudio.com has a free book every month and this month it is The Divine Comedy by Dante! I do much better with fiction in audio books than I do nonfiction (I'm never where I can take notes).

lauranav: I *highly* recommend the 1940 Hitchcock film version of Rebecca - it's one of my favorite movies of all time - even if you didn't love the book, the movie is pretty amazing, imho.

Is there a new thread and I missed it? It's been very quiet here...

The autobiography and services of Sir James McGrigor by Sir James McGrigor

India, Egypt, Red Sea, Walcheren, Portugal, Spain, France... all the interesting diseases!

I'm reading The Moonstone which has been getting a lot of mentions lately. I'm having to keep putting it aside for other reading though as I have some deadlines to meet.

Still reading War and Peace with the group, and Bleak House. Almost done!

I need to re-read The Woman in White and The Moonstone. So many on this challenge have read them lately and I'm jealous! I really enjoyed them when I was in high school and I'm curious to see what I would think now.

Finished The Aeneid last week. This week I'm restarting Les Miserables. I'm doing a group read so maybe I'll actually finish it this time.

I also am dipping into The Canterbury Tales

I just finished Frankenstein for about the 10th time (I was teaching it again). Ditto for The Merchant of Venice.

I read The House of Seven Gables and The Moonstone in October--both excellent.

#275 Angela, I read both The Woman in White and The Moonstone in high school, also, and remember really enjoying them. I reread Woman in White last year ( it was about the 4th time I'd read it) and I still like it a lot--it was my favorite the first time I read them. This year I reread The Moonstone for the first time. I remembered almost nothing about it except that I had liked it--and now I think this one is even better than WiW. I'll be interested what you think when you finish both of them!

Well, Carolyn, maybe I'll have to make The Moonstone the first book I read on the Kindle!! :)

I distinctly remember reading The Woman in White in high school, however, on further reflection, I think I read The Moonstone in the last 3 or 4 years. Unfortunately I don't remember much except that the stone was stolen and I was baffled as to who had done it. Perhaps when I start reading it will all spring back to my mind. I'm re-reading Dracula right now via DailyLit.com, and I'm getting impatient because I'm starting to remember what happens right before it actually does! I'm enjoying it though. My brain is just getting ahead of the reading...

My son gave me an annotated of Dracula for Christmas last year but I am putting off reading it for a while for just that reason. I read it in 2007 and it is still too fresh in my mind for a reread just yet. I think maybe I'll do it next October.

I'm reading The Claverings by Anthony Trollope and listening to Vanity Fair on audiobook.

#276 - is that the 1010 group read of Les miserables? I'm hoping to join in next year, as I've been wanting to read this for a while, but need to finish this year's 999 challenge first.

#282 - yep, the 1010 group read. Les Miserables was supposed to be one of my 999 reads but after vol 1 I put it down and didn't get back to it. Good luck with the 999 and hope to see you on the group read threads soon.

Laura

Mr. Midshipman Easy by Captain Marryat

The adventures of an argumantative midshipman, quite enjoyable.

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

Charming parody of the traditional ghost story and a satire of the American way of life.

One thing that I found very odd is that a 15-year old girl is referred to as 'little girl' or 'little child'. Is anyone else bothered by this?

Started my annual re-read of LOTR...

...must admit that I skipped the introduction and the prolouge (because I am not a pervy hobbit fancier and it's just boring) this time...

I am currently reading A Lady of Quality by Frances Hodgson Burnett which was originally published in 1896.