Sonja’s Comments (group member since Aug 31, 2011)

Sonja’s comments from the Classics for Beginners group.

We can definitely fix this! Let's have a Moderators Meeting and figure it out :-D

I know Susan dropped out and Emily took care of her month(s)...
Are talking about updating the home screen?? Perhaps we might host a quickie 'How To' for those folks who may not be familiar with the update portion of their months???

Hey Y'all, I am confused... per our little list, Elizabeth did a great job for June/July and then Aug/Sept went to Emily and Danielle. Did I miss something?? *See list below:

March Nomination: January 2 - Emily
March Poll: January 10 - Emily
April Nomination: February 1 -Susan
April Poll: February 10 - Susan
May Nomination: March 1 - Susan
May Poll: March 10 - Susan
June Nomination: April 1 - Elizabeth
June Poll: April 10 - Elizabeth
July Nomination: May 1 - Elizabeth
July Poll: May 10 - Elizabeth
August Nominations: June 1 - Emily
August Polls: June 10 - Emily
September Nominations: July 1- Danielle
September Poll: July 10 - Danielle
October Nominations: August 1 - Danielle
October Poll: August 10 - Danielle
November Nominations: September 1 - Danielle
November Polls: September 10 - Danielle
December Nominations: October 1 - Sonja
December Poll: October 10 - Sonja
January Nominations: November 1 - Sonja
January Poll: November 10 - Sonja

My Nomination: The Opposing Shore by Julien Gracq
Published: 1951 / Pages: 304 / Lead: YES

My Nomination: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Published: 1967 / Pages: 373 / Lead: Yes

Oh my goodness, LIST!!! List, not lust... silly autocorrect 😧

With a group this large, did we not set a year limit of ‘Re-read’ lusting? As in, this book was read four (4) years ago, how many years are we going back with this group and still catagirizing it as an ‘Already Read’ and how much time must pass before we let it list as a ‘Recommendation’? I thought we had coordinated on timeframes and just want to make sure I am on the same page.

Thanks Suki, it was a pleasure and you did a wonderful job!! 🥳 Happy New Year!!

Nope, no luck so I am going to stick with my single story, which is the only version I could get my paws on. Sorry to miss the other stories but there is always the next go-round. 😀

OK, So I missed the part where we were reading story collections... not that it’s an issue as I have always enjoyed a good story. My only problem is finding the book 📖 itself! Emily, you lucky 🍀 dog 🐶!! Not only do you work surrounded by books 📚 but I imagine it’s a joy to come across so many stray books in need of a good home 🏡! Lol ... Alright, I am off to the digital library to find this book!

I read the entire story (book) in one sitting . . . but my book only came with ONE - The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. Were we supposed to be reading a collection of stories? I enjoyed the story and am a fan of Agatha Christie.

I am! I am reading it today and tomorrow for our November read :-) It's funny to me that I have known about this story my entire life but never read the book. Here's to hoping it is as good as I think it should be . . .LOL

☯Emily wrote: "Just a reminder that for long books, which The Brothers Karamazov is, we would extend the time to read to two months, so there would be no need to rush through it. Could even make it th..."

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Paperback, 796 pages / Published 1880

Just so folks know what they are voting on and getting in to :-)

I Nominate:
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
(Paperback, 382 pages) / Published: 1966 / Moderate: Yes, I will

Nicolle wrote: "If anyone has any suggestions for the group let me and the other mods know here.
It can be anything from a new thread, changing an existing one, or the layout, or something completely new."

Nicolle (and the rest of the mods),
I could not find another place to post suggestions for books I'd like to add to our To-Read list so I hope you don't mind my posting them here. Just a few that I would really like to add to the list: 1) Bleak House by Charles Dickens, 2) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, 3) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and a few others but I will keep it to 3 for now (smile).

Just had to add my little comments hear as the re-reading of Slaughterhouse Five has been an adventure for me, to say the least. Recently I have been "listening" to books on CD and/or ipod. For the longest I was such a purist but with 2 hours travel and 10-15 hours day, I HAD to adapt or die. Well, not die really but suffer the loss of my beloved reading time, and that simply would not do.

Sooo . . . I started "listening" to my book at the beginning of February and am SO bothered by the narrator that I CANNOT get through 10 pages without having to listen over and over and over again to the same recitation. I finally gave into my base instincts and tossed the CD book out three weeks later and returned to the library (hallowed ground) and checked out the paper copy.

First, I very much enjoy this book as it was one of the first encounters with Sci-Fi as a child that took like air to lung with me. Second, I found myself caressing the cover, taking extra notice of each turn of the page and fully engaging my imagination with each character and new visualization. THAT is what I was missing with the narrated version. I have found that if the reader is good then the book is THAT much better. But if they are bad . . . then worse for the book it is (awful reading ruins what could potentially be the best book in the world).

As an adult, this book was so much more for me. As a child everything was so NEW that my mind processed as only a child could. Re-reading can either enhance a story or break it down. For me, I felt it enhanced the story as I was better able to process things and really engage with the ideas. Like the story, loved re-reading it and look forward to rediscovering more greats.

Reread A Christmas Carol for this group and thoroughly enjoyed myself, as always (smile). As a girl I first watched a TV version of this story and then went in search of the book. Even back then I felt the book was better than anything TV or a movie could offer me. I loved the story and looked forward to Scrooge getting his comeuppance, that is until he became human to me and I could see the making and breaking of a man and how he could have grown into the super sourpuss that he was. I also loved the togetherness of the family and how much love there was to be had, even with no money or fancy goodies. Good stuff! Liked the book and enjoyed spending time with some of my favorite characters from childhood.