New to Group-- reading Sister Carrie

I'm really enjoying Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, but every sentence is a labyrinth of participial phrases. I plan to try diagramming some just for fun. I'm not convinced his grammar is legal.

Does this group ever select books to read/discuss together? Just wondering-- I'm getting frustrated with my book club.

--debbie

Haven't read any Dreiser, though I think I've got AMERICAN TRAGEDY somewhere down in the basement of doom.

Sorry...but I'm sure there will be some bright cookie here who's written a doctoral thesis on early 20th century American realism or some such thing...

There are many groups that do group reads, so far this is not one of them. Try this for classic literature such as Sister Carrie. This is another group that reads books together. Many in this group belong to the second group. This particular group "Literary Snobs" started in the science fiction groups and has spread out into a discussion of everything. Sister Carrie may not get a lot of discussion (I read it several years ago and enjoyed it, but due to a misspent youth I don't remember much of the details except that it ended badly.), but it and its ilk is more than welcome here, after all, if a person can't wade through participial phrases they wouldn't have much of a claim to snobbery, now would they.

Instant friendship awaits the fans of Celine, Marquis de Sade, Pound, and a slew of SF writers and series such as Warhammer 40K.

Being snobs, ownership of a Dan Brown, while not a total disqualifier for participation, will make your comments suspect. So, like any other group of snobs we do have our standards.

Welcome aboard!

If you're interested in a group read of The Master and Margarita (now through Nov.), Les Miserables (Dec.-Feb.), Infinite Jest (Mar.-May '10), or Swann's Way and In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower (maybe more, starts June-ish '10), check out this group:
Le Salon Litteraire

There may also be a group read of The Brothers Karamazov there in the distant future.

I really like Sister Carrie, but I taught it for so many years (to high schoolers) that I'm too tired of it to welcome a discussion of any length.

But a great book despite its main character being polemically constructed and mostly unbelievable.

I was going to also say something about liking Dreiser despite his prose, but when I said something similar about Steinbeck recently, I made people unhappy. . . .

Thank you. Les Miserables and Swann's Way are in my TBR pile. My current book group seems to veer away from older books.

"But a great book despite its main character being polemically constructed and mostly unbelievable."

Mutually exclusive? Let's be nice to old Ted, he done good work.

"But a great book despite its main character being polemically constructed and mostly unbelievable."

I would also level that same charge against the fictions of DAF Sade