Category: Classics Club

Classics Club: The Joy Luck Club

Published on by Rachelle

Joy

  • Author: Amy Tan

I bought The Joy Luck Club years ago at a used bookstore, but it took joining the Classics Club for me to finally get around to reading it.  Doing a read-along certainly didn’t hurt either.

I think this book is perfect for read-alongs, book clubs, and college courses because it should be read a little chunk at a time and discussed in detail.  There are so many emotions and ideas to process throughout the stories of the four mothers and daughters that I think trying to read the book quickly wouldn’t allow the time and space needed to dig in deep.  I also think anyone reading this book should be prepared to want to learn more about China’s history and culture.  What little I already knew was not enough, and The Joy Luck Club prodded me to go in search of that knowledge.

What makes this book one of the top pieces of literary fiction is even when you think Chinese culture is so very different that no one but the Chinese could possibly understand, the struggles that occur between mothers and daughters is relatable no matter where you come from in the world.  Am I an expert on Chinese familial relationships?  Not a chance.  Did I see my mother and myself in those pages?  All the time.  Amy Tan somehow combines uncomfortable unfamiliarity with the feeling of looking in a mirror.  She even has the characters experience this same interchange of emotions as they find themselves realizing how different and yet how similar they are to each other.  She also turns myth into reality and vice versa.  Somehow she manages all this within the structure of a mahjong game.  At the end of every chapter, I would pause for a moment to let what I had read sink in and allow myself to feel astounded.  For once, I can safely say that this is a book everyone should read.

The Classics Club: Frankenstein

Published on by Rachelle

Frankenstein

  • Author: Mary Shelley

I’ve meant to read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for years, and I’ve had the Barnes and Noble’s Classics ebook edition for nearly as long as I’ve owned my Nook.  The story is also included in a horror classics anthology I own, titled Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror.  Since the Boyfriend and I are currently sharing my Nook, I shifted back and forth between the two editions.

My reason for finally getting around to reading Frankenstein was my recent introduction to the show “Penny Dreadful.”  It’s full of characters and references from Gothic and Victorian Horror stories.  While it’s not necessary to enjoy the show, I wanted to be able to recognize and get a better understanding of all those seemingly minor but very important details as well as know where the original stories differ from how they’re portrayed in the show.  Since, the first season includes Dr. Frankenstein and his monster as part of the storyline, I thought it was about time to read one of the most well-known classic Gothic tales.  I’m glad I did.

As with much of Gothic Horror, Frankenstein is more about what it means to be human in a world where Science seems to be constantly redefining humanity.  While Shelley doesn’t go quite as far into the realm of Existentialism as Robert Louis Stevenson does in his story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (written more than half a century later) the beginnings of the philosophy can be seen in her work.  It’s also obvious that Shelley was heavily influenced by the Romantics, my other favorite literary period, and concerned with the route that Science and Industry were taking in the name of “Progress.”  We’re still dealing with these questions and concerns today, almost 200 years later.  Just how relevant Frankenstein still is can be seen in the long list of adaptations and re-tellings of the story that exist, and I highly recommend reading it.

Classics Club: Mary Poppins

Published on by Rachelle

Mary Poppins

  • Author: P.L. Travers

I checked out the audiobook edition from my university’s library.  I had wanted to read Mary Poppins for years.  I thought it would become a new favorite since I loved the Disney adaptation so much.  What happened is that my belief in Disney’s inability to stick to the original story has been reaffirmed.  Mary Poppins is not the sweetheart she is portrayed to be by Julie Andrews.  She’s often cranky, taciturn, extremely vain, and sometimes downright mean to the children in her care.

Mary Poppins isn’t the only character that gave me pause.  There is a scene where a mother and owner of a bakery literally breaks off her fingers to give to Jane and Micheal’s younger siblings to chew.  While it turns out her fingers are a different baked good each time, I couldn’t get over the creepiness of it.  She’s also emotionally abusive towards her two daughters and I’m not sure how her screaming at them about every little thing was supposed to be amusing.

Each chapter of the book brought a new level of bizarre to my ears.  I was repeatedly shocked that this was, and still is, considered to be one of the best children’s stories of all time.  While it certainly wasn’t the worst book I’ve read, I won’t be bothering to read any more of the series.  I’ll stick with the Disney film, thank you.

The Joy Luck Club Read-Along

Published on by Rachelle

Joy

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is one of those Classic books that technically isn’t a Classic since it was published in 1989.  However, it was on the list of suggested books for the Classics Club, so I’m assuming it counts.  I added it to my Classics Club list because it’s a book I always meant to read.  Despite it sitting on one bookshelf after another as I moved from place to place, I never got around to it.  That changes starting Monday, September 7th.  Since I’ve been told The Joy Luck Club is one of the essential books for diversifying one’s reading life, I’m inviting all of you to join me.

Below is the schedule.  As I’ve already said, we’re starting on September 7th.  We’ll be ending Friday, October 23rd, and each Saturday I’ll post a recap (with clearly marked spoilers for those who get a little behind).  We’ll be averaging 47 pages per week.  I’ll post a final review of the book on Saturday, October 24th.

  • Sep. 7th – 12th: Chapters “The Joy Luck Club” and “Scar”
  • Sep. 13th – 19th: Chapters “The Red Candle” and “The Moon Lady”
  • Sep. 20th – 26th” Chapters “Rules of the Game”, “The Voice from the Wall”, and “Half and Half”
  • Sep. 27th – Oct. 3rd: Chapters “Two Kinds” and “Rice Husband”
  • Oct. 4th – 10th: Chapters “Four Directions”, “Without the Wood”, and “Best Quality”
  • Oct. 11th – 17th: Chapters “Magpies” and “Waiting Between the Trees”
  • Oct. 18th – 23rd: Chapters “Double Face” and “A Pair of Tickets”

If you’d like to join in, sign up through the linky with your blog, Twitter, Goodreads, etc.  The sign up will close at the end of the 2nd week, Saturday, September 19th.

 

 

The Classics Club Spin: And the Winner Is…

Published on by Rachelle

classicsclub

The Classics Club Spin number is 5!  Below is my list of the twenty books I chose from my Classics Club List for this Spin.  I apparently tempted fate a little too much by mentioning I had deliberately put off reading The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. However, when I opened the digital copy I have I realized two things: It’s incomplete, and it’s an unreadable combination of scanned original pages and digitized text.

I couldn’t think of any other way of fairly picking another book from the list, so I asked the Boyfriend to choose a number between 1 and 20.  He said 19, which means I’m reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.  I’ve got until October 23rd to finish it, which shouldn’t be a problem.

I will be doing a read-along, but it won’t start until Monday, September 7th.  If you would like to join me, leave a comment.  I’ll make an official post with a link up next week.

  1. Albee, Edward: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  2. Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
  3. Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front
  4. Smith, Betty: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
  5. Boccaccio, Giovanni: The Decameron
  6. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden
  7. Proust, Marcel: Swann’s Way
  8. Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland
  9. Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
  10. Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine
  11. Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
  12. Heller, Joseph: Catch-22
  13. Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
  14. Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
  15. Crane, Stephen: Red Badge of Courage
  16. Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  17. de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: The Little Prince
  18. Defoe, Daniel: Moll Flanders
  19. Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club
  20. Swift, Jonathon: Gulliver’s Travels

The Classics Club Spin #10: My Spin List

Published on by Rachelle

classicsclub

The Classics Club is doing another Spin!  Below is my list of twenty books I haven’t yet read taken from my Classics Club List.  I chose books that I already own, and that feel at least sort of like Autumn to me (though I can’t explain why because I’ve never read these books). Some of them are lengthy and more difficult reads, some of them are short and should be easy to get through, and some of them I’ve deliberately put off (I’m looking at you Decameron).  On Monday, a number will be chosen, and I’ll be reading the corresponding book.  Depending on which book it is, I may or may not do a read-along.

  1. Albee, Edward: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  2. Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
  3. Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front
  4. Smith, Betty: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
  5. Boccaccio, Giovanni: The Decameron
  6. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden
  7. Proust, Marcel: Swann’s Way
  8. Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland
  9. Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
  10. Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine
  11. Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
  12. Heller, Joseph: Catch-22
  13. Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
  14. Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
  15. Crane, Stephen: Red Badge of Courage
  16. Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  17. de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: The Little Prince
  18. Defoe, Daniel: Moll Flanders
  19. Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club
  20. Swift, Jonathon: Gulliver’s Travels

Classics Club: Around the World in Eighty Days

Published on by Rachelle

80

  • Author: Jules Verne

This was one of the free books given away by audiobooks.com during Audiobook Month.

I’m glad I listened to the audiobook rather than experience Around the World in Eighty Days in any other format.  I don’t think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much as I did.  Jim Dale did a fantastic job of providing distinct voices for every character no matter how small a part they play in the story.  Also, with every new location that Phileas Fogg and his servant, Passepartout, come to, music from that place plays briefly in the background.

The only drawback to this book is some of the language and viewpoints on different cultures and races, which was at times full of stereotyping and at other times glossed over the very brutal history of colonization.  However, considering when this book was written (1873), I can’t really blame Jules Verne for keeping with how Europeans believed anyone that wasn’t European to be and overlooked the personal and political atrocities caused by Imperialism.

Overall, this book was well written, fun, and entertaining enough to keep me happy during my commute.  As far as Classic Literature goes, it’s a new favorite, and one I recommend to anyone who wants to read more of the Classics.

#COYER Scavenger Hunt #29: Read a book with no magical or futuristic elements.

Classics Club: The House of Spirits

Published on by Rachelle

House

Author: Isabel Allende

The House of Spirits had been sitting on my TBR shelf for several years.  I never had to read it while I was in school, and I bought it at a used bookstore during a time when I was actively collecting the kinds of books that it seemed everyone had read or at least popped up on the top 10, 50, 100 lists of books that must be read by everyone.  I’ve already discussed my opinion on those lists before, so I’m not going to repeat myself, but this is one of those books that reinforces that opinion.

For those of you who followed the Read-Along, you already know I didn’t care for this book.  The read-along is the only reason why I bothered to stick with it.  Otherwise, I would have quit in the first week.  In a way, I’m glad that I didn’t because otherwise, the only reason I would have had for labeling this a DNF was the magical realism, and I wouldn’t have discovered just how biased this book is.  Not liking a book for that reason is considerably better than not liking it just because of my personal reading preferences.

“The coup gave them a chance to put into practice what they had learned in their barracks: blind obedience, the use of arms, and other skills that soldiers can master once they silence the scruples of their hearts.” (emphasis is mine)

This quote made me angrier than at any other time while reading this book.  Allende needs to check herself and her bias.  As a Veteran, I can say with absolute certainty that the obedience of soldiers is not blind, nor do they “silence the scruples of their hearts” in order to be good soldiers.  This quote makes the military out to be full of uncaring automatons, and that’s flat out not true.

She is also naive if she believes that a Fascist military dictatorship is worse than a Marxist style of government.  There has yet to be a Communist regime in the world that didn’t end up being a violent dictatorship that trampled all over people’s human rights.  I understand that this story is a retelling of Chile’s history, but throughout the whole book the implication is that Socialists are better than everyone else.  Look up the factual history about Che Guevara and how many people he executed without trial and then tell me a particular political ideology makes people infallible.  I also understand that there is a slight difference between Socialism and Communism when put into practice, though both are based on the ideology of Karl Marx, but this book doesn’t really seem to distinguish the two, and the terms “Socialist”, “Marxist”, and “Communist” are used interchangeably. The whole thing comes off as propaganda for an ideology that history has shown isn’t viable and is so far Left that it ends up meeting and shaking hands with its opposite.

I’ve read and enjoyed other books by Isabel Allende, but it’s going to be a long time before I read another.  This was her very first book, and when it was published in the United States means that, technically, it’s not a Classic, but it also makes me think that is why it became so popular, so quickly, and began to be taught in schools (though not any of the schools I attended).  US foreign policy towards Latin America at the time took a stance of supporting anti-Communist governments no matter how horrible they were in regards to human rights, and many people were, understandably, outraged by that.  This book and quite a few movies called attention to just how horrible a dictatorship can be.  If it weren’t for the quote about soldiers and the obvious bias in favor of Socialism/Communism/Marxism, I probably would have enjoyed this book a bit more, despite the magical realism.

The House of Spirits Read-Along: Final Recap

Published on by Rachelle

House

Below is the chapter breakdown, with links to all the previous recaps.  I’ll do an overall review of the book tomorrow.

This final recap is for Chapters 13 and 14 and the Epilogue.  If you’re a little behind, that’s ok!  I’ll clearly mark any spoilers.

This week’s chapters put everything that happened previously into perspective; however, a handful of sentences in Chapter 13 made me so angry that I almost didn’t finish the book.

*Spoilers* A military coup takes place, and once they’ve seized power, they decide not to let it go.  Jaime is killed along with other supporters of the government, and from that point forward, people are regularly arrested and tortured.  Esteban helps Blanca and Pedro Tercero flee to Canada after he becomes disillusioned by the new regime.  The military eventually arrests Alba for associating with Miguel and helping people on the government blacklists to escape the country. She is tortured and raped by Colonel Esteban García, the son of Esteban Trueba’s and Pancha Garcia’s illegitimate son, and his men.  Alba decides she wants to die but changes her mind when she’s visited by Clara’s spirit.  Esteban gets Alba freed with the help of Miguel and Tránsito Soto, and after helping Alba write their memoir, he dies.  Alba explains that she will not seek revenge on Esteban Garcia and his men in the hopes of ending the cycle of hate. *End Spoilers*

I’m still too angry to discuss exactly why I feel that way as well as all the other problems I have with this book, so I will leave that for tomorrow’s review, in which I will also include the quote that angered me so much.  Suffice it to say that I’m glad I’m done with this book, and since it’s a physical copy, I can now put it in my book box to be sent to the used bookstore, the funds of which will go towards The Outlandish Companion, Vol. 2 by Diana Gabaldon when it comes out this October.  I can also cross it off my Classics Club list and add it to several of the challenges I’m participating in this year.  Silver lining.

What did you think of these final chapters?  All comments about the book are welcome, but please mark any spoilers.

Classics Club: Little Women

Published on by Rachelle

Little Women

  • Author: Louisa May Alcott

I purchased this book.

The first time I read Little Women, I was just a child.  Over the years, I forgot most of the story, but there were a few distinct scenes that have always stayed with me.  My favorite of the sisters is Jo, but Beth stole my heart.  I think she steals everyone’s heart.  I was surprised at how emotional I got, considering I already knew what was going to happen.  I suppose that with excellent writing, it doesn’t matter if you already know the story.  A great story will elicit a response no matter how many times you read it.

The only issue I took with the story was some of the motherly advice that emphasized striving towards a type of perfection that kept women stuck in the narrow roles handed down to them from a society that didn’t consider them to be equal human beings.  My forgiveness of that comes from an understanding of the times in which Louisa May Alcott was writing, and I think it’s a fair representation of American women living during that time.

One piece of advice that I didn’t have a problem with, though at first I was ready to rage, was to Mary concerning her marriage after she complained to her mother that John was spending all his time away from home as if he was no longer interested in spending time with her.  My initial thought was that it was going to be the type of advice that placed all of the fault on Mary and demanded she do everything on her own, or accused her of not being the perfect mother and wife by not being able to handle it all.  Instead, the advice was that she should stop putting every bit of her time and energy into the children and keeping herself shut up in the house trying to do everything and allow for some help so that she would have more time to give to her husband as well as to herself.  After I got to the end of that reasonable guidance, I thought it was something that any mother with two infants could appreciate, if they know of someone who is willing to help.  That’s not always the case, of course, especially today.

Overall, Little Women is a good story for girls and women of all ages, especially if it is read side by side with a book on women’s history.