Category: The Classics Club

Books, The Classics Club

Book 172: Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Geoff W

[For less fan-boy love and more response check out my August 2013 response here.]

Swoon. That’s my review, that’s it. I have nothing more to say. And that has nothing to do with Mr. Darcy, okay well maybe a little, but not as much as you’d think. And just to provide you with fair warning, this isn’t so much a review or response as it is a fan-boy “I love you Jane Austen” post. So read on if you like, you’ve been warned!

I’m not sure how many times I’ve read Pride and Prejudice, but I definitely feel like I should read it more often! I planned this re-read to coincide with the 200th Anniversary and I’m glad I did because it had been far too long! It also counted as one of my re-reads for The Classics Club. Hopefully the next time I re-read this novel I will be able to write about the characters or the story and have less fan-boy love, but I honestly doubt it, I mean look at all the crazy spinoffs I read even though they can never approach the original!

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2013 Challenges, Books, Quotes, The Classics Club

Book 170: The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

Geoff W

WARNING and APOLOGY: this post starts with a rather long tangent about literature, art and people. (Sorry! Probably should be two posts, but I’m lazy.) If you don’t really want to read it (but you should there are a few great quotes) skip to after the third block quote. And to get it out-of-the-way, The Picture of Dorian Gray is the January read for my books into movies book group at the local library and conveniently appears on my Mount TBR (extended) list and my Classics Club list!

Now for my tangent, I’ve noticed as I read a wider variety of literature that the authors I’m drawn to have a lot to say about books, reading and writing. I have a lot of respect for authors who are able to reflect on writing, books, and literature within their own books and stories. In his forward to The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde writes the below quote.

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” (4)

And I can’t help but appreciate how incredibly insightful and powerful this is. Imagine if all the people threatened by books, who’ve burned books, who attempt to ban books, and those who just refuse to read certain books actually understood this. I love this quote so much it’s my new email signature and I’ve added it to the great book quotes on my sidebar (only the third)!

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Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – January 2013 Meme

Geoff W

For January the hosts of The Classics Club have asked a relatively simple question, What is the best book you’ve read so far for The Classics Club—and why?, which I’ve already answered here (Go, Anne Brontë! Go!). So I will be doing part two, Or, if you prefer, what is your least favorite read so far for the club, and why?

My first thoughts were that I really wished there were a simple answer, like that I had a burning passionate hate against one book, but I don’t really. As with most books, I have found something to enjoy and something that’s not quite how I would like it. However, the more I thought about it, one did come to mind. You might think it’s Dickens, who I feel needed a good editor – TOO much in the middles, or you might think it was one of the Russians, but no not them either. It was the lovely local Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables.

I mean, I said it in the first sentence of my response to the book: “Very long review short: I didn’t like this book.” You can go there to read my response if you’re actually interested in it. Just suffice to say I had issues with just about everything in the book and I definitely don’t remember The Scarlett Letter being that difficult and I read that in high school – when I HATED reading anything I didn’t want to read.

Hopefully there aren’t many more than can knock this out of the bottom slot, because if there are it is going to be a long four-and-a-half more years to go in my conquest of (some of) the Classics.

Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – December 2012 Meme

Geoff W

This might be my shortest post ever!

For the month of December the hosts of The Classics Club have asked us to share your favorite memory of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. have you ever read it? If not, will you? Why should others read it rather than relying on the film adaptations?

Well, as I said short and simple. I haven’t read it and I don’t know if I ever will. Dickens’ and I have a rocky relationship after A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. I’m not necessarily opposed to reading it, but I don’t know if I’ll go out of my way to read it.

I will say that I LOVED The Muppet Christmas Carol from the early 1990s. I was the right age for it and I thought it was amazingly wonderful. Maybe I’ll watch that this year and it’ll inspire me to go and read the original.

2012 Challenges, Books, The Classics Club

Book 158: Lysistrata/The Acharnians/The Clouds – Aristophanes

Geoff W

Aristophanes - Lysistrata and Other PlaysShort and sweet. I’m finished!

I am done with all of my challenges for 2012! Upon completion of this book I wrapped up the Back to the Classics Challenge, so keep an eye out for the wrap up post on Thursday; this book also counts for the Classics Club.

I originally chose Lysistrata as my “Classic Play” for the Back to the Classics Challenge, but when I realized how short it was I felt guilty so found this version of the play accompanied by The Acharnians and The Clouds. I had a vague idea of Lysistrata‘s themes and story and I’m glad I read it. The other two I’m pretty sure I could’ve done without. It has been so long since I read an Ancient Greek play that these really were a struggle and although I’m glad I read them, I will not go out of my way at all in the near future to read anymore Ancient Greek works.

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