Tag: Meme

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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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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Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – July 2013 Meme

Geoff W

Classics ClubFor July the hosts of The Classics Club have another member submitted question asking “What classic book has changed your view on life, social mores, political views of religion?”

I have to agree with Karen over at BookerTalk that these questions are getting more and more difficult as the year continues and this one in particular is incredibly difficult to answer. So many books have helped to define who I am as a person and very few of them are classics, but I do have two in mind for this monthly meme. My first thought was Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison and there is no question that it opened my eyes, but it didn’t have such a profound impact on my views of the ‘old south’ as the second novel that came to mind: Alice Walker’s The Color Purple.

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Meme, The Classics Club

The Classics Club – June 2013 Meme

Geoff W

Classics ClubFor June the hosts of The Classics Club have another member submitted question asking “What is your favourite opening sentence from a classic novel (and why)?”

For once, I don’t have any real issues with this question; the only problem though is how do I narrow down the great opening lines? I am going to add a self-imposed limit as I have done in the past to keep the focus on The Classics Club and only choose from the 24 books I’ve read so far for the group. This allowed me to revisit my posts and relive some great novels, plus it kept me from choosing some obvious fun and more contemporary classics like The Hobbit or Harry Potter or pretty much anything by Margaret Atwood. The quote I chose I don’t know if it’s my favorite, but it has by far had the most impact on my reading over the past few years:

“You better not tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.”

If you didn’t recognize it, it is from Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. And the first time I read that line I got chills. Even now I get an eerie feeling because I know what’s happening and what happens next, but even without knowing you know it’s not something good.