****What We Are Reading - Classics

We use a very loose term for 'classics' here in the group - anything with an original publication date prior to 1960. If you enjoy reading older books, here is the place for you!

I *just* started Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier this morning, well, I've read about 1.5 pp but it's on its way! I read this when I was a teen, so many decades later, it's time again. I have a nice Virago copy, too.

The Group Reads - Literature will be starting Dr. Zhivago...um, today! come join us! http://www.librarything.com/groups/groupreadsliterature

I'm trying to read Emma for the third time - hopefully third time's the charm!

Sadly, I tried Emma for the second time in November and couldn't stick to it : (. But I did give it to my daughter; it was a copy I bought back in the 1970's when I was at university - she is a serious Austen fan and collects copies of her books. So I don't feel so bad about not reading it....

In the middle of Humbolt's Gift (I'm starting to think I'm not a big Bellow fan) and at the beginning of The Emerald City of Oz (I didn't see a children's lit thread, so I hope it's okay to post this one here!).

ETA: Almost forgot to list 1001 Arabian Nights! Very very long, but *loving* it so far.

I finished, reviewed, and enjoyed reading E.M. Forster's A Passage to India for my first book of 2010. Coincidentally, this just happens to be the anniversary of Mr. Forster's birthday. As always, my review can be found on the book's page or my Profile page.

>2 dihiba:: Ah, Rebecca is such a treat. One of my favorite all-time books and I found that it holds up well to re-reading. At least for me.

I'm reading Rebecca too, for the first time.

I am reading Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time, and I already think they both are written quite well, especially The Picture of Dorian Gray. I really enjoy it so far,

Started Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four this afternoon! Finished A Study in Scarlet and loved it so much I had to keep reading...!

>10 dk_phoenix:: I am embarrassed to say I have not read anything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but after seeing the over-the-top "Sherlock Holmes" movie today, I want to experience the real Sherlock Holmes.

I read Rebecca for the first time last year. Very interesting book.

The Sherlock Holmes stories are a must read for everyone!

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan is up for me. I recommended it for our book club that meets 1/31.

I may also join the Doctor Zhivago read. Funny story about Doctor Zhivago, my parents went to see the movie as a date soon after they were married (obviously, I heard this story many years later, I wasn't there). Mom was crying so much after the movie that Dad wouldn't walk on the same side of the street with her. (It took 21 years for the divorce.)
Dad's only comment about the movie was that the walk through the snow was 2 hours long all by itself.

I'm starting on The Conjure Woman and also hope to finish up the The Time Machine soon after.

I'll be starting Moll Flanders a little later on today - mostly because I re-ordered my TBR bookshelves yesterday and I didn't want to put this back on the floor again (which is the only place where it will fit).

#14 Fourpawz2: I've read Moll Flanders in the recent past and really liked it - hope you enjoy it!

I hope to be starting Sense and Sensibility within a few days. It's the last of Austen's six major novels that I have left to read so I promised myself I would read it in January :)

And of course, I'm still in the middle of Lolita and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Currently I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and I've joined the group read for Anna Karinina and I have The Count of Monte Cristo towards the top of my TBR pile.

One of my goals this year is to read more classics so hopefully this trend will continue through the rest of the year.

I just started The Jungle - so far, it's quite good.

#15 - I read A Journal of the Plague Year last winter and loved it. Just hope that I don't let the Alex Kingston version of Moll interfere - I understand that there is a huge difference between the Masterpiece Theatre version of the book and the real thing.

I hope to finish Les Miserables soon, and I am also reading Within a Budding Grove by Proust.

I'm reading Cranford and enjoying my first Gaskell.

>18 porch_reader:: The Jungle was one of my favorite reads of '09 so I really hope you enjoy it!

Oooh, I remember reading The Jungle as a teenager just because I heard there was a Lithuanian character... and I remember how it reinforced my guilty feelings of being so incredibly spoiled, compared to my parents and their parents...

I'm trying to start on the classics early on to get the New Year off to a good start, so this morning I started Persuasion by Jane Austen. I'd actually got Northanger Abbey down on my 1010 list but since my sister bought me Persuasion on DVD this Christmas (the Sally Hawkins/Rupert Penry-Jones version) I've got to read it, haven't I?!

Finished Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier this morning before the sun was really up - what a wonderful read! Highly recommend, and now I'm on the hunt for a copy of Hitchcock's movie version.

I just finished Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame -- enjoyed it though in my humble assessment, it can't hold a candle to Les Miserables.

>23 Milda-TX:: I definitely stopped complaining about my job so much after I read that book. I do menial tasks in a library and honestly, I no longer mind spending a few hours dusting and shelving and organizing the books. I even get to listen to my iPod while I do my job so I have nothing to complain about.

#10 I read The Sign of Four just before the new year. I preferred A Study in Scarlet but that seems to be the minority view. I have more Sherlock Holmes in the TBR and will probably get to it later in the year.

#26 I loved The Hunchback of Notre Dame - although I also loved Les Miserables more.

I'm currently reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray for the group read as well as finishing off Trollope's Framley Parsonage. I also need to finish off Dostoevsky's The Double and get started on Herodotus's Histories.

I am reading several books at the moment, Miss Buncle by D.E. Stevenson among them. It was first published in 1937.

#24 Ah elliepotten, Persausion is my favourite Jane Austen (and probably in my top 5 books) - I hope you enjoy it. I'll pre-warn you that the Sally Hawkins/Rupert Penry-Jones TV version doesn't bear a whole lot of relation to the book...

#16, 17 ...and The Count of Monte Cristo is another favourite (although I've only read it the once, due to its length!) - enjoy!

...still struggling with Wuthering Heights myself, but I swear I'm going to finish it this time...

#30: I finished Wuthering Heights (once) and now I never have to read it again, lol. As you might have surmised, I did not care for it.

I really need to read Persuasion, it just hasn't come up on my list yet. In fact, the only Jane Austen I've read is Sense and Sensibility. I liked it, not sure why I haven't read more.

I love The Count of Monte Cristo so I always recommend it to people.

I struggled through Wuthering Heights last year - it is pretty depressing and I wanted to shake some of those people.
I would recommend Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. They should be read in order and it starts with The Eyre Affair (so it helps to have read Jane Eyre) but the third book in the series, The Well of Lost Plots has this great scene about anger management sessions in Wuthering Heights. It was way funnier having actually read WH.

#31 & 32 Good to know I'm not alone with Wuthering Heights! Still determined to finish it though...

#32 lauranav Yep, read all the Thursday Next series as they came out - very much enjoyed them, but I do think that The Eyre Affair is easily the best...

If you enjoyed Sense and Sensibility, I heartily recommend Persausion! ;)

Oh dear, I LOVE Wuthering Heights. Maybe it's because when it comes to books I'm such an 'easy' girl - I fall in love with dashing heroes at a drop of the hat!

Persuasion has turned out to be just wonderful. Not once have I thought 'I wonder when I'll finish this...' or done that 'evaluating how many pages are left' thing I do so often. For some reason I always skimmed over it on my shelves, and now it might just be my favourite Austen so far! Just Northanger and Emma to go...

Oh, and flissp (30) - that's why I read the book first! I think I'm watching it less for 'Persuasion' than for 'Rupert Penry-Jones in uniform', let's be honest here... there I go with that 'dashing hero' complex again! ;-)

#34 I've yet to make it a significant distance through Wuthering Heights, so it may improve on me, you never know...

"I'm such an 'easy' girl - I fall in love with dashing heroes at a drop of the hat!", "Rupert Penry-Jones in uniform...", *chortle* ;o) (and a confession that I didn't mind the film for similar reasons - but I did have to keep telling myself that it wasn't really Persuasion and that it was just a random costume drama...

Actually, there is an older BBC version that is very much more faithful (in fact there are alterations, but they were from her earlier edits of the book) - Simon Russell Beale as Charles is just brilliant (as always) - it's a lovely film (if you stop it before the cheesy last scene ;))

Am so glad you loved Persuasion it's a book that makes me very happy. May have to go and read it again now, despite my resolve to read no more Austen until I've finished Wuthering Heights and The Picture of Dorian Gray!

People have very mixed feelings about Northanger Abbey - you do have to bear in mind that it satirises the Gothic novels that were popular at that time - personally, I got a lot more from it the second time round that I read it - probably because I'd read a couple (of Gothic novels) by that point.

I think I like the idea of Wuthering Heights better than the actual book. Every time I read it I remember that there aren't any characters in it that I find appealing.

I enjoyed Cranford so much and now I'm reading Wide Sargasso Sea and still working my way through What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew.

flissp - I watched the DVD last night, right after I finished the novel (which I NEVER normally do because so often it ruins both for me), and I actually didn't think it was bad as an adaptation. A few things had been tweaked or moved around, but everything I hoped for was there. I also liked how it really brought out the stupidity of Anne's family and the utter heartbreak she was feeling faced with Captain Wentworth again. It was so moving!

I think after my next read I might have to head back into another classic, maybe a Gaskell or Dickens...

I'm also not a fan of Wuthering Heights and like fourpawz2, I just didn't like any of the characters.

Currently making a tentative start on Les Miserables, I will be reading this very slowly to begin with as I have a lot of other reading on the go.

I completely forgot to mention that I am in a once-a-month reading-out-loud group working our way through The Canterbury Tales, at the moment. We had read The Odyssey in the Fagles translation in years past, which was marvelously satisfying. Chaucer isn't quite so rich, but the times and attitudes are very interesting. Today was 'The Wife of Bath's Tale', especially good.

#40 Your reading out loud group sounds wonderful!

I am starting Moby-Dick, which is my big goal for the year. I have been wanting to read this forever. Also planning to read Dr. Zhivago and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
--BJ

I am currently reading Salvation by Sholem Asch, originally published in 1934. This book was recommended in Writer's Choice, a book that I will be referring to often for this year's reading.

I just finished Wuthering Heights a few weeks ago, and it held my attention better than I had expected. I agree that likable characters are hard to find in that book, but I did like the storyteller, Nelly, and little Catherine and the one she married (the name escapes me right now)

I hated Wuthering Heights, but then I read it when I was about 16. The further I get into the Brontë biography I'm reading now, the more I am reluctantly coming to accept I may have to re-read it this year. Sigh.

#44 - You certainly do have to read it Rachael - and if you read Wuthering Heights, I will read a Bronte book of your choice, since WH is the only one I have ever been able to get though!

#45 Now that's some promise!

#38 Ah, maybe I'm being harsh on the ITV film - I should probably give it another go - it's just that Persuasion is one of my favourite books (top 5 definitely) and I've read it many, many times, so even the slightest twitch makes me cringe. I think I just felt that none of the characters were quite right. I'll give it another chance ;)

Elizabeth Gaskell is another favourite author of mine - have you read Wives and Daughters or North and South? These two would those that I've enjoyed the most, followed by Cranford (and related short stories) and Mary Barton. I'm saving up both Ruth and Sylvia's Lovers for when I feel brave enough - some of her short stories are extremely distressing and I suspect these two could be too (thinking Lois the Witch here - oh dear)!

I'm getting the impression that Wuthering Heights may just be a love/hate book? Still yet to make any further progress - am allowing myself to be distracted by Dorian Gray (as it's a group read)...

#38 and 46: I read Wives and Daughters and really liked it. I am planning on reading North and South later this year. As much as I loved Wives and Daughters, I think I might like North and South more. I think this mostly because Wives and Daughters is unfinished. I liked Cranford too. It is a very pleasent story. I have not read any of the short stories. Do you recommend any in particular?

#47 I know what you mean about the unfinished thing - my edition tells you what will happen next - and, of course, she was very close to finishing when she died, but it's still just incredibly frustrating! I fluctuate between which I like the best - I'll probably have a re-read of Wives and Daughters soon.

Re the short stories, despite it's depressing nature, I did enjoy reading Lois the Witch. Cousin Phillis is another slightly mournful story that was still a good read. Lizzie Leigh I did not enjoy particularly - it's just a little too preachy. The short stories I've enjoyed the most are those that are related to Cranford - so The Cage at Cranford, My Lady Ludlow and Mr Harrison's Confessions - they have the same leisurely, affectionate feel to them. Hope that helps!

I'm new to Gaskell, having just recently read Cranford last week, but now I need to find Lois the Witch. The period of the Salem witch trials is a fascinating time in American history to me.

Thanks Fliss. I will look for the Cranford stories. I really like Cranford, so they might be the best to start with.

I haven't read any Gaskell yet. I did see some of Cranford on the BBC and found it delightful, and totally fell in love with North and South when that was on (normally I prefer to read, then watch, but - Richard Armitage, need I say more?). It was such a rich adaptation, beautiful music, wonderful costumes, fantastic acting and very evocative of the industrial towns of England. It's on my 1010 list for this year and I have a feeling 'in my bones' I may end up reading it within the next few weeks...

Oh and Fliss - hope you like Dorian Gray - it's one my favourite books EVER. So much so that I actually forked out for one of those Bill Amberg leather-bound Penguin Classics to caress lovingly... :-)

I loved Their Eyes Were Watching God, which I finished and reviewed yesterday. Don't be put off by the dialect. It was a little challenging at the beginning, but it ended up being one of the things that made the book come alive for me.

Re: Cranford...I am so excited to see the new stories about this magical village on PBS. I'm saving them up on my DVR so I can spend a day with these delightful people.

I've been slowly chipping away at classics listed in the 1001 Books list. I've come to realize that the public school system has failed me in the literature department by not making me read more...and since I passed the AP Lit exam with a 4, I don't have to take any college lit classes, either. Therefore, I've taken it upon myself to get in some classic reading.

I finished Lady Chatterley's Lover and Invisible Man in December. For this month, I'm finishing up Madame Bovary, and can hopefully squeeze in Frankenstein before February.

I've started Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini. It is a fascinating book. I see why Orson Scott Card said it was better than The Scarlet Pimpernel, although I do love the Pimpernel too.
Scaramouche is a bit more dark and cynical about the forces behind and results of the French Revolution.

Currently listening to Animal Farm which I do not think I have ever read before.

>51 elliepotten:: "Richard Armitage, need I say more?"

Nope. That alone makes it purchase-worthy :P

#51 & 56 Oh yes, I love the Richard Armitage North and South - I'm afraid (shock, horror), I even prefer it to the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice!! ;o)

Ellie, I do hope you enjoy the book - I think you will! Am enjoying Dorian Gray so far, although as I'm reading it during my lunch breaks, I'm not getting into it as much as I might have hoped - I think I'll probably finish it off properly this weekend.

Oh yes Fliss - John Thornton knocked even Mr Darcy clean out of the water... I'm looking forward to seeing the movie take on Dorian Gray - it looks pretty wild, but I'm going into it as being completely separate from the book so hopefully I'll really enjoy it.

I'm going to make a start on Rebecca tonight. My first read of it!

Oh, I do hope you enjoy it! I put it off for ever such a long time, and it turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read (why does that so often turn out to be the case?). It was so exciting, I could hardly bear to leave it alone for five minutes!

I'm copying Jess and also reading Rebecca for the first time and it's wonderful so far!

I just finished reading (Rebecca) last week and literally couldn`t put it down even with severe eye strain threatening! It`s the first book read in ages that frequently had me exclaiming out loud .......an embarrassment on the bus at times! ((Du Maurier)) said it was a study in jealousy but it`s so much more aswell. It flowed so beautifully....a joy to read but also painful and thought provoking. I`m following it with her autobiography (Myself when young)

It's been many years since I've read Rebecca but remembering it still gives that sort of haunted feeling. Such great writing. You might want to follow with Jamaica Inn.

63# thanks for the suggestion I do like the sound of Jamaica Inn as well.

It has me totally gripped so far I really really wish I had time to read at the minute im so busy cant wait for this week to be over!

Jess I read Jamaica Inn last year and really liked it- I can hunt you up the review I did for it on my thread if you likes :)

...and another great Daphne du Maurier is The Birds... (yes, it is the basis for the film...)

Oh yeah that would be great thanks Rach link me up ;)

66# When I saw the title I did wonder about the film! Brilliant will add that one to the list too.

I am currently reading The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima. It was originally published in Japan in 1954 and here in the US in 1956.

I'm finally reading North and South, after a huge wave of pro-Gaskell encouragement over on my thread...

Woo!

Not only that, but my copy of Dorian Gray on DVD finally arrived yesterday. I was hoping so much that it would do the novel justice (it's my favourite book) and hit 'play' with some trepidation, but all I can say is: W-O-W. It's the best film I've seen in years: intoxicating, sensual, chilling, beautiful costumes, wonderful music... Not only that, but since we're not in Wilde's day any more, Dorian's corruption and descent into hell could be shown in all its depravity, instead of merely hinted at, and that portrait.... jeez, it gave me the shivers. I spent the last half hour peeping out from behind the corner of my blanket! Powerful stuff.

Finished Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene and loved it. Also finished the Newbery winner The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth. Totally different, but great.

I finished Wide Sargasso Sea today. I wish I'd liked it more as I loved Jane Eyre, but I'm glad I read it.

For my selection from Writer's Choice for this week, I am reading a novel published anonymously in 1880, Democracy. It was not discovered until after his death that the book was written by Henry Adams.

As I was scanning my library for a new book to start, my girlfriend chimed in and said she´d choose for me; she chose Ovid´s The Metamorphoses. It´s an enjoyable read so far. Most of my reading of Greco-roman mythology has been through Edith Hamilton´s Mythology, and I am excited to revisit all of these stories through Ovid.

The extended, narrative poem style is interesting, and I like the way one story flows into the next. It reminds me a lot of Arabian Nights, actually, the way that stories end and give birth to other stories. It's a cool book.

#75: I remember much preferring Ovid to Virgil when I read Metamorphoses and The Aenied back to back some 25 years ago. I wonder if the same would hold true today . . .

started Woman in White today

77- OOOH! Good one! :) Hope you like it.

tackling Voltaire's Candide.

pbadeer- Love Candide. I picked it up knowing nothing about the story and just assumed it would be a drama. I was very surprised at how funny it was (I think I had a very good translation too).

I never could get into Candide. The fact that I read it as a set text at uni probably explains that. Must try it again sometime.

Meanwhile, I've just started Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love and am thoroughly enjoying it so far.

I'm reading Madame Bovery by Gustave Flaubert. Getting into the story and I kind of like it.

#82 boekenwijs: Speaking of assigned texts, Madame Bovary was one of those assigned that I really loved - hope you enjoy it!

Agree. Madame Bovary is one of those books that always stays in your mind. Very traumatic and moving story though.

Not a classic, but closely related - The Magicians and Mrs Quent is a cross between Pride and Prejudice and historical fantasy. I'm about 1/3 of the way through and it's pretty good so far.

Oh, Candide was one of my favourite books of last year - hilarious! CatyM, definitely worth another go, I reckon... The Pursuit of Love is wonderful too... ...as is Madame Bovery...

...still working on Wuthering Heights myself, but not getting far - it keeps being put down in favour of other things...

Aaah, more to add to the wishlist! I need to obtain and read Candide and Madame Bovary and The Magicians and Mrs Quent also sounds really intriguing.

I really liked Wuthering Heights too but I haven't read it for a while. But there seem to be too many unread books on my shelves for rereads...

Just finished Light in August by William Faulkner--highly recommended--and I am reading a lot of Greek myths for my art history group.

Have started The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens, I am having a 'Dickens year', where I plan to read his novels I hadn't read yet. After this one 7 more !!

I'm reading Notre-Dame de Paris to celebrate my first year of learning French. It's pretty good, I like the story and am amused by Hugo's intense passion for medieval architecture. Sometimes I find myself going to the dictionary a lot, but it's cool to see the vocabulary that I end up learning as I read different authors...In this case, words related to church architecture and about a hundred different ways to say "scoundrel" in French. I just finished reading a long interlude about the church and then a description of the city of Paris and its architecture in the 1400's, and am ready to get back to the main story...

I just finished Mrs Dalloway by Virginia woolf and I`m still reeling from the experience...I loved it although I gave up trying to follow the exact meaning of it all and just let it wash over me! Some of the most evocative descriptions of London on a sultry June day/evening that you could ever hope to read. Wonderful stuff.

After reading all the squees about North and South over on Ellie's thread I decided I had to read it so I am. I'm liking it so far although I have to confess to a slight blond moment when I read the footnote that said that Milton-northern was an imaginary town *facepalm* I had actually thought that it was a real place but I just wasn't sure where it was :S Oh dear how silly of me

Not really Rach - I mean, it really could have been a real town, there are so many old industrial places like it up here! I didn't really think too much about it or I would probably have done the same thing - and I didn't have footnotes to set me straight! :-)

I started The Count of Monte Cristo, ostensibly for the group read, though I have to say that I really don't think I'm going to be able to stick to 15 chapters a month when it gets going!

I am currently reading Giovanni's Room, which was originally published in 1956 (that came as a surprise to me!)

Finished Tom Sawyer yesterday; now on to Huck Finn! I had no idea that I actually liked Twain.

I just started Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski.

I've decided I'm going to try and squeeze in a Persephone and a Virago Modern Classics reread each month - most of these were published before 1960 although there are some more recent VMCs.

So far I've read

Noel Streatfeild, Saplings published 1945 - Persephone

Monica Dickens, Mariana published 1940 - Persephone

and I'm now reading

Rachel Ferguson, Our Spoons Came from Woolworths - Virago Modern Classics, introduction by A S Byatt

I know here Little Boy Lost has been reprinted by Persephone, though I like the sound of another of her books they reprint, To Bed with Grand Music, more - that might be one I look for next time I go to their shop.

I am currently reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell for one of my April TIOLI challenges.

I started Tristram Shandy yesterday. I hope it wasn't a mistake. I am halfway through book one and so far I have no idea what it is about. I am hoping for some more action on the next 500 pages!

Am a little more than a quarter of the way through The Scarlet Letter and am surprised that I am actually liking it. Did not care for the first bit concerning The Custom House, but where I am now is quite good.

#101: That is one of my all-time favorite books, Charlotte. I hope you end up liking it.

I got the book Cheri and the Last of Cheri from my library. Can't wait to get started!

I started The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky today.

I am reading Walden by Henry D. Thoreau for the May TIOLI.

#103 I'll be interested in what you think of Cheri - I own it, but haven't got to it yet as I was a bit meh about Gigi...

I'm about to start The Magician by Somerset Maugham

#104 I found that a tough book, but ultimately rewarding. Some very deep thoughts about goodness, and about what it means to be Russian at a time when the cultural tension between Russia and Europe was high.

I'm reading Le Horla, by Guy de Maupassant, from 1887. It's a collection of short stories and I'm really enjoying it.

I am currently reading The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.

Just started Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dalloway is in my top 5 all time favourites. Also has one of my all time favourite quotes:
"She would not say of any one in the world now that they were this or were that."

This morning I've read the scrap of a novel which Jane Austen had written and left unfinished before her death - The Watsons which was included at the end of a memoir of the author written by her nephew James Austen-Leigh. I may read Lady Susan which is also included in the volume later today.

I am starting both To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.

I've gone back to Anna Karenina after abandoning it for months... not on purpose, it just got lost amidst other reads. I'm determined to finish it before moving on to something else!

I am reading High Rising and Wild Strawberries both by Angela Thirkell as well as The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I started reading a short story by Dostoyevski called White Nights. Unfortunately, work keeps interfering with my reading and haven't been able to get too far- on any book.
I keep wanting to re-read Karamazov, as well as a couple others from Dostoyesvki because they are such powerful, moral works.

#116: I hate when work interferes with reading!

As far as Dostoevsky goes, I read The Idiot earlier this year and really liked it, so was anxious to read another of his.

@116: Though it's fuzzy in my mind, I remember really, really enjoying White Nights when I read it a number of years ago. I believe at the time it was my favorite Dostoyevsky short story. I hope you like it!

Just starting a reread of Emma by Jane Austen. A reread of The Three Musketeers might be called for afterwards (these are perhaps my two favorite books of all time :P )

I'm nearly done with Conversazione in Sicilia, by Elio Vittorini. It's a lovely book, I first read it when I was 18 or 19 and I am glad to read it again, it still moves me.