Tag: Classics

Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – October 2013 Meme

Geoff W

Classics ClubFor October the hosts have created a fascinating connective tool for this month: “We want you to mingle. Go to our member list and select a fellow classics clubber you’d like to feature on your blog. This can be someone who is active within the Classics Club, someone quiet who inspires with his/her posts, someone new to the club or scarce whom you’d like the club to meet. S/he can be a friend of yours, or someone you’ve never met. Tell readers why you value this club member. Highlight at least one post from his/her blog.”

However, I am going to cheat and go for one of the easier answers: Heather at Between the Covers! Although she might want to murder me because she’s in the process of transitioning her blog to wordpress.org from wordpress.com and there are a few technical issues at the moment. And I mean it’s sort of cheating as I’m pretty sure she is one of the hosts of the club, but oh well!

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2013 Challenges, Books, Quotes, The Classics Club

Book 236: No Name – Wilkie Collins

Geoff W

Unlike Dickens, I could read Wilkie Collins ALL DAY. There are those of you out there that will find this shocking, but it’s the truth. This is the first novel I’ve read by Collins and I am VERY glad I added it to my Classics Club list! In addition it counted as a bonus book for my Tea & Books reading challenge coming in at just over 750 pages (according to Goodreads).

If you’ve followed this blog for a while you are aware, and often horrified, of my intense dislike of Dickens’ works (or at least the few I read). It’s not even that I don’t like his stories, characters or style, it’s that I don’t like the lengths of his ‘novels.’ As Dickens works were serialized I think he dragged out too many things and didn’t make them as action packed or as concise as they could’ve been. Whereas Dickens really could have used an editor, Collins took advantage of the serialization (IN DICKENS’ MAGAZINE!) and created an amazing work of fiction.

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Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – September 2013 Meme

Geoff W

Classics ClubFor September the hosts of The Classics Club have another member question: “Rereading a favourite classic at different stages of your life gives you different insights with each reading. Is there one classic you’ve read several times that also tells a story about you?”

I’m not sure if there is a specific classic I’ve re-read that tells me a story about me. I feel that any book I re-read more than once says a lot about who I am. I’ve probably re-read the Harry Potter series the most frequently, closely followed by Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. When it comes to Classics I’ve re-read Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice numerous times. I commented on someone’s blog that a lot of it has to do with the physical copy of the book as well. I’ve been carrying around the same copy of Pride and Prejudice for years and although I’ve lost my first copy of Wuthering Heights I’ve replaced it with two beautiful older editions here and here.

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Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – August 2013 Meme

Geoff W

Classics ClubFor August the hosts of The Classics Club have another member question: “Do you read forwards/notes that precede many Classics? Does it help you or hurt you in your enjoyment/understanding of the work?”

As I’m sure you’re aware, if you’ve already answered this question, I do read the forwards and notes for Classics. In the past I did not read them, mostly because they only provided an unwanted delay before I could get to the story, but as part of The Classics Club I decided to make an effort to read the texts in a bit more educational way rather than just for the great stories that they are.

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Book Group, Books

Book 219: Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Geoff W

It will not be a surprise to those of you who have followed this blog for sometime that I was able to maneuver a second read of Jane Austen into my calendar this year. It just happened to be the same I read back in January. If you really want a laugh, go read my fan-boy love letter to Austen for that response here. I’ve tried to rein it in a bit for this response, but let’s face it that’s not really going to happen.

As I said back in January, very little can be added to the conversation that hasn’t been said. But EVERY single re-read brings something different to light. For instance this time the one scene that particularly stood out to me was when Lydia and her friends made a young male character dress in drag. I mean really? Weren’t they all prim and proper back then? It just made me laugh at the whimsical way in which Austen described it and everyone partook of the action.

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