Category: Classics Club

Read-Along: The House of Spirits

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House

My book for the Classics Club Spin #9 is The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende, and as with the last Spin, I’m doing a read-along.  You don’t have to be a member of the Classics Club, but if you are, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your list!  Below is the chapter breakdown that will take us all the way to May 15th.  Each week, I’ll do a recap, and at the end I’ll do an overall review of the book.  If you’d like to join me, please add yourself to the linky!

  • April 6th – 12th: Chapters 1 and 2
  • Apr. 13th – 19th: Chapters 3, 4, and 5
  • Apr. 20th – 26th: Chapters 6 and 7
  • Apr. 27th – May 3rd: Chapters 8 and 9
  • May 4th – 10th: Chapters 10, 11, and 12
  • May 11th – 15th: Chapter 13 to the end of the book

The Classics Club Spin #9: Drum Roll Please….

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The Classics Spin is a “lottery” game in which each participant makes a list of 20 books from their Classics Club reading list, and the book that corresponds with the randomly chosen number on that list is the one that has to be read by a certain date.  In this Spin, the number is 2, and the book has to be read by May 15th.  Below is my Spin list, with a link to Goodreads for the book I’ll be reading.  As with the last Spin, I’m going to do a read-along.  For now, if you’d like to join in, leave a comment, and I’ll get a linky up before the end of the week, along with all the details of the read-along.

1. Albee, Edward: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. Allende, Isabel: The House of the Spirits
3. Barrie, J.M.: Peter Pan
4. Baum, L. Frank: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
5. Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
6. Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front
7. Smith, Betty: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
8. Fitzgerald, F. Scott: Tender is the Night
9. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden
10. Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Tarzan of the Apes
11. Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland
12. Yeats, William Butler: Irish Faerie Tales
13. Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
14. Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine
15. Heller, Joseph: Catch-22
16. Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
17. Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
18. Crane, Stephen: Red Badge of Courage
19. de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: The Little Prince
20. Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club

The Classics Club Spin #9

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The Classics Spin is a “lottery” game in which each participant makes a list of 20 books from their Classics Club reading list, and the book that corresponds with the randomly chosen number on that list is the one that has to be read by a certain date.  In this Spin, the number will be chosen on April 6th, and the book has to be read by May 15th.  Below is my list.  I’ll post which book I’ll be reading after the 6th, and, as with the last Spin, I might do a read-along.

1. Albee, Edward: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. Allende, Isabel: The House of the Spirits
3. Barrie, J.M.: Peter Pan
4. Baum, L. Frank: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
5. Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
6. Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front
7. Smith, Betty: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
8. Fitzgerald, F. Scott: Tender is the Night
9. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden
10. Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Tarzan of the Apes
11. Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland
12. Yeats, William Butler: Irish Faerie Tales
13. Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
14. Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine
15. Heller, Joseph: Catch-22
16. Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
17. Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
18. Crane, Stephen: Red Badge of Courage
19. de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: The Little Prince
20. Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club

Wednesday’s Words #1: Little Women

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Wednesday’s Words is the replacement for Thursday’s Quotables.

Little Women

I haven’t read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott since I was very young.  I forgot just how much I loved it, and OH, THE FEELS!  SO MANY FEELS!  In fact, I forgot most of the book, so it doesn’t really feel like a re-read for me.  The reason I’m re-reading it at this particular time is because I’m participating in the Dusting Off the Shelves read-a-thon, and Little Women happened to be the ebook that I’ve owned the longest but never read.  It was my very first ebook when I bought my Nook back in 2010, and I never opened it.  I always meant to, but you know how it is.  I got distracted by other books.  So, in celebration of rediscovering a classic from my childhood, here are my favorite quotes:

“There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.”

This line is so heartbreakingly beautiful I don’t have any other words.

“Meg’s high-heeled slippers were dreadfully tight, and hurt her, though she would not own it; and Jo’s nineteen hair-pins all seemed stuck straight into her head, which was not exactly comfortable; but, dear me, let us be elegant or die.”

I think all women, and probably some men, have done this at one time or another.  At least I know I have, especially when I was younger.

“I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.”

I love Jo!  I’m pretty sure she was my favorite of the girls when I was a kid as well.

“Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex, as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.”

I don’t have a scribbling suit, or a room of my own (my desk is in the corner of the living room), and I’m not writing a novel, but I do go to a cafe with my notebook and sit for hours writing as if I have to get the words out of me or I’ll die.  I started doing that during my teenage years, and though I stopped writing for a long time, I quickly went back to old habits when I started up again.  Some of my favorite writers do the same thing, and knowing that makes me feel more a part of a community of sorts.

Classics Club: Ivanhoe

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Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott was my book for the Classics Club Spin #8.  I chose to do a read-along, and all the recaps can be found below.  Though the read-along is over, feel free to bookmark the recaps and/or leave comments as you read the book.  Each recap contains some trivia and the spoilers are marked.

First of all, I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this book about 95% of the time.  It’s full of action, adventure, romance, knights, King Richard and Prince John, and Robin Hood and his Merry Men.  It has a wide variety of characters including some I loved to hate and one or two that I was a little ashamed to love, and a couple that provided the comedy relief.  What’s not to love, especially if you’re a Fantasy genre addict like me?!

Then there’s that 5% that I didn’t enjoy so much.  There are parts that get ridiculously slow and the characters get long-winded.  Some of the conflicts get resolved a bit too easily, making the last few chapters a bit anti-climactic.  There’s also the racism that was prevalent during not only the times in which the story is placed but during the times in which the author wrote as well.  Now, I don’t believe in removing those uncomfortable parts from media in order to comply with a much more modern view of the world, but that doesn’t mean I like or agree with them.  I believe it’s important to keep the horrible stuff because 1) taking it out doesn’t mean it never existed, 2) we need to be able to know and understand our history, no matter how ugly, and 3) we need to be able to see how far we’ve come since those times.

While Ivanhoe didn’t make my Through the Magic Door list, because of that 5% I didn’t like, overall, it’s a great read.  I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Romance era fiction, classic Fantasy, or classic literature in general.

Classics Club: Villette

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Villette1.52.qxd

Villette by Charlotte Brontë wasn’t the easiest book to read, and I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Jane Eyre.  I liked it, but I frequently read several chapters while wondering where the story was going.  The first 3 chapters didn’t seem to be leading anywhere, especially since this is supposed to be the narrator’s story.  There was also a chapter towards the end in which she rambles on seemingly aimlessly about religion.  Many of the other characters annoyed me at one point or another throughout the book, and I think that’s why it took so long for me to read it.  I frequently put it aside to read other books after only a chapter because one of the characters, usually M. Paul or Ginevra Fanshawe, made me wish Lucy would let them have a piece of her mind.  I was able to relate to Lucy though, especially when she first arrives in London, and I was sincerely hoping that her story would end happily.  I wasn’t disappointed, but if anyone had asked me at anytime till well past the halfway point what I thought would bring about that happy ending, I wouldn’t have guessed correctly.

Ivanhoe Read-Along

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Ivanhoe

For the Classics Club Spin #8, I’m reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, and I’d like you to read-along with me.  We’ll start on the 24th of Nov., which is the same day that Book Week Scotland starts, and we’ll finish on the 4th of Jan, 2015.  I’ll do another announcement post on the 24th, a progress/discussion post every Sunday, and a review post on Jan. 5th.  Don’t worry if you get a little behind at any point during the read-along.  I know this time of the year can get crazy, which is why this is a 6 week read-along, instead of a month.  Below is the chapter break down:

  • Mon. 24th Nov. – Sun. 30th Nov.: Chapters 1 – 7
  • Mon. 1st Dec. – Sun. 7th Dec.: Chapters 8 – 16
  • Mon. 8th Dec. – Sun. 14th Dec.: Chapters 17 – 25
  • Mon. 15th Dec. – Sun. 21st Dec.: Chapters 26 – 31
  • Mon. 22nd Dec. – Sun. 28th Dec.: Chapters 32 – 38
  • Mon. 29th Dec. – Sun. 4th Jan.: Chapters 39 – 44

If you’d like to participate, create a blog post, and then sign up through the linky below, or comment with your Tweet or Facebook post.  You don’t have to be a member of the Classics Club to participate, but if you are, leave a comment with a link to your Classics Club list.  Happy reading!

The Classics Club Spin #8: And the Winner is…

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#13

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Ivanhoe

I’ll be doing a read-along, starting Monday Nov. 24th, which coincides with the beginning of Book Week Scotland.  The read-along will run through Jan. 4th, for a total of 6 weeks, which will hopefully make the reading more manageable than if I were to confine it to a month.  I’ll be announcing the read-along tomorrow, with all the details and a sign-up.

The Classics Club Survey

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50 Club Questions: 

  1. Share a link to your club list. The Classics Club
  2. When did you join The Classics Club?  August, 2014.  How many titles have you read for the club? 1
  3. What are you currently reading? Villette by Charlotte Brontë
  4. What have you read and what did you think of it? Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.  My thoughts on it are here.
  5. What are you reading next? Why? Whichever book matches up with the Spin number on my Spin List.
  6. Best book you’ve read so far with the club, and why? Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.  It’s the only one I’ve read so far.
  7. Book you most anticipate on your club list? Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  8. Book on your club list you’ve been avoiding, if any? Why? One Thousand and One Nights, but only because I read seasonally, and I consider it to be a Summer book.
  9. First classic you ever read? Hmmm….that’s difficult, since I was very young.  I think Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, if that would be considered a Classic.  If not, then Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.
  10. Toughest classic you ever read? “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
  11. Classic that inspired you? or scared you? made you cry? made you angry?  Les Misérables by Victor Hugo for all of the above.
  12. Longest classic you’ve read?  Les Misérables.  Longest classic left on your club list?  The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.
  13. Oldest classic you’ve read? “Romeo and Juliet”.  Oldest classic left on your club list? One Thousand and One Nights.
  14. Favorite biography about a classic author you’ve read — or, the biography on a classic author you most want to read, if any?  I’ve never cared enough about the biographies of authors, beyond looking up facts for research or my own random curiosity, so I’ve never read, nor plan to read, a biography about a classic author.
  15. Which classic do you think EVERYONE should read? Why?  None, because I don’t believe that there’s any book that’s for absolutely everyone, and if everyone reads the same book(s), then everyone is thinking along the same lines.  I hate those lists of books that “everyone must read before they die”.  Why should I read those books?  Because they happen to be the most read, or the most popular, or because some arbitrary group of snobs said I won’t have a proper education if I don’t read them? There are several books on those lists that I despised to the point of throwing them at the wall, and the only thing I learned from them was that I shouldn’t follow those lists. 
  16. Favorite edition of a classic you own, if any?  My beautiful Barnes & Noble hardcover edition of Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales that my boyfriend got me for my Birthday.
  17. Favorite movie adaption of a classic? “Phantom of the Opera”
  18. Classic which hasn’t been adapted yet (that you know of) which you very much wish would be adapted to film.  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.  If this has been adapted, please let me know!
  19. Least favorite classic? Why? Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.  I’ve been forced to read and write essays about this book for two different English courses.  Once was more than enough (See my response to #15).
  20. Name five authors you haven’t read yet whom you cannot wait to read. Alexandre Dumas, J.M. Barrie, Mary Shelley, Herman Melville, and Marcel Proust.
  21. Which title by one of the five you’ve listed above most excites you and why? Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.  I love Children’s Fantasy, and I’ve seen so many adaptions of Peter Pan, that I should have read it years ago.
  22. Have you read a classic you disliked on first read that you tried again and respected, appreciated, or even ended up loving?  No.
  23. Which classic character can’t you get out of your head?  Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  24. Which classic character most reminds you of yourself? Anne from Anne of Green Gables, at least while I was growing up.
  25. Which classic character do you most wish you could be like? I have no idea.  Most of my favorite characters are my favorites because I can relate to them and I feel that I’m already like them.  My other favorites are the ones I love to hate, and I would never want to be like them.
  26. Which classic character reminds you of your best friend?  I have yet to find my best friend in a classic character.  I’m not sure I will, but if I do, she’ll be the first to know.
  27. If a sudden announcement was made that 500 more pages had been discovered after the original “THE END” on a classic title you read and loved, which title would you most want to keep reading? Or, would you avoid the augmented manuscript in favor of the original? Why?  The Hobbit, in the hopes that Bilbo would have a few more adventures.
  28. Favorite children’s classic? The Hobbit
  29. Who recommended your first classic? I have no idea how I got started reading Little House in the Big Woods, but Anne of Green Gables was on a “Battle of the Books” competition list when I was in the 5th grade.
  30. Whose advice do you always take when it comes to literature. (Recommends the right editions, suggests great titles, etc.)  No one for “always”, but I almost always listen to my best friend when she recommends or lends me books.
  31. Favorite memory with a classic? When my Grandmother bought me my own hardcover copy of Anne of Green Gables and the next 2 books in the series and wrote a little note to me inside the cover.
  32. Classic author you’ve read the most works by? L.M. Montgomery
  33. Classic author who has the most works on your club list? No one.  I deliberately chose only one book per author for my list.
  34. Classic author you own the most books by? Charlotte Brontë.  Sadly, I no longer have my L.M. Montgomery books.
  35. Classic title(s) that didn’t make it to your club list that you wish you’d included? Any of Charles Perrault’s books, since I love fairy tales, and I’d like to read his versions that were later adapted for Grimm’s Fairy Tales.  I would also love to be able to read them in the original French.
  36. If you could explore one author’s literary career from first publication to last — meaning you have never read this author and want to explore him or her by reading what s/he wrote in order of publication — who would you explore? H.P. Lovecraft.
  37. How many rereads are on your club list? 2. Which are you most looking forward to?  The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  38. Has there been a classic title you simply could not finish? Not yet, but there are a couple that I’ve come very close to not finishing.
  39. Has there been a classic title you expected to dislike and ended up loving? No.
  40. Three things you’re looking forward to next year in classic literature?  1) The Classics Club’s Spins, 2) The Classics Club’s themed months, 3) finishing as many of the books on my list as possible.
  41. Classics you are DEFINITELY GOING TO MAKE HAPPEN next year? The Trial by Franz Kafka, One Thousand and One Nights, A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, White Fang by Jack London, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
  42. Classics you are NOT GOING TO MAKE HAPPEN next year? The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, and The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende.
  43. Favorite thing about being a member of the Classics Club?  It provides the extra motivation I sometimes need to read classic literature instead of always reading books that are just coming out.
  44. List four fellow clubbers whose blogs you frequent. 1) Reading Rambo, 2) I’m Lost in Books 3) Book Clutter 4) Unputdownables
  45. Favorite post you’ve read by a fellow clubber? Nothing stands out in my mind as a favorite post, but I love I’m Lost in Books’ Blogger Shout-Outs posts.  I’ve found a lot of great blogs, challenges, and giveaways from them.
  46. If you’ve ever participated in a read-along on a classic, tell about the experience? I haven’t done this yet, but I’ve wanted to.  I’m also considering hosting my own read-along.
  47. If you could appeal for a read-along with others for any classic title, which title would you name? Why?  Any book by Marcel Proust because I’ve heard they’re difficult and I think reading them as a group would be easier.
  48. How long have you been reading classic literature? Since I was 9 or 10, so almost 25 years.
  49. Share up to five posts you’ve written that tell a bit about your reading story. Reviews, journal entries, posts on novels you loved or didn’t love, lists, etc. 1) Through the Magic Door, 2) Thursday’s Quotables #1 and #2, 3) Library Story Time, and 4) Reviews.
  50. Question you wish was on this questionnaire? (Ask and answer it!)  I can’t think of any questions.  So, it’s your turn, Reader: Whether or not you’re a member of the Classics Club, how would you answer these questions?  Pick one or more, and leave them in the comments!

 

The Classics Club Spin #8: My Spin List

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The Classics Club is doing another Spin.  Even though I said I wouldn’t do any challenges this month, this will be my first Spin, and since I’ve got until Jan. 5th to complete one book, I decided to participate.  Part of the challenge is to choose five of my Classics Club books I’m hesitant to read, five I can’t wait to read, five I’m neutral about, and five free choice.  The problem with that is I didn’t put any books on my Classics Club list that I knew I wouldn’t want to read.  So, instead, I chose five books that I think are lengthy/dense and/or difficult for the modern reader.  Those are in bold.  The five I can’t wait to read are italicized, and the five neutral books are in regular text.  The five underlined books are my free choices.  I’ve either read them many years ago, started them but never finished, or I already own them and it’s a matter of convenience.

  1. Kafka, Franz: The Trial
  2. London, Jack: White Fang
  3. Melville, Herman: Moby Dick
  4. Bronte, Anne: Agnes Grey
  5. Tolstoy, Leo: Anna Karenina
  6. Dickens, Charles: Oliver Twist
  7. Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
  8. Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  9. Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
  10. Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine
  11. Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland
  12. Yeats, William Butler: Irish Faerie Tales
  13. Scott, Sir Walter: Ivanhoe
  14. Flaubert, Gustav: Madame Bovary
  15. Nabokov, Vladimir: Lolita
  16. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden
  17. Proust, Marcel: Swann’s Way
  18. Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
  19. Gogol, Nikolay: Dead Souls
  20. Verne, Jules: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Once the Spin number is announced (Monday, Nov. 10th), I’ll post which book I’ll be reading.  Depending on which book it is, I might create a read-along for those of you who would like to read it too.

Are you in the Classics Club?  If so, are you participating in the Spin?