100 Classics and beyond... discussion

If you're currently reading a classic or if you recently read one and want to talk about it, you're welcome to share what you think about it here. Someone may have read it too and it might spark up some discussion!

I've dedicated 2015 to reading classics. I've powered through quite a few this year by supplementing my reading with audiobooks during commute (by the way, audiobooks are so wonderful, I can't recommend them highly enough).

I especially decided to focus on classics that "everybody" has read or that are often assigned in school or talked about, that I had never actually gotten to. So for the first time in 2015 I read To Kill a Mockingbird, Flowers for Algernon, Moby Dick, Cannery Row, and a few others. I have to say that I really do hold the view that classics are considered classics for a reason — all of these books were great, albeit very different. I'm glad I took the time to do it and I want to keep it up in 2016.

Cameron wrote: "I've dedicated 2015 to reading classics. I've powered through quite a few this year by supplementing my reading with audiobooks during commute (by the way, audiobooks are so wonderful, I can't reco..."

Wow, that's wonderful. Don't you feel so accomplished? It's been a great year with regards to books for me too :)
I also read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time in 2015..
I read Othello and Hamlet by Shakespeare (now I know what is up with that skull!), Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Scarlet Letter... all for the first time. With this book club, I plan to read more in 2016. By the end of 2015, I should have read 1984 too.

This month I've read:
Another Country by James Baldwin
Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I just started reading God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell.

John wrote: "This month I've read:
Another Country by James Baldwin
Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Lord of th..."

That's awesome John. I wish I could read that much classics in a month. How did you like them? Which are your favorites?

I personally have read Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and A Christmas Carol (I'm surprised you waited until January for this one!)

:) Thanks for sharing.

This week, I started reading Gone with the Wind, and I got so engrossed with the story that I finished it last night.
It was such a beautiful story... and I still haven't recovered from it.
Has anyone read it and remember it well ?

I haven't read 'Gone With the Wind' but I really want to since I first saw the film (now, i watch it every year on Christmas Eve). I imagine that the book is even better!

Yes, I've read it. I think I remember it well but it's been a few years.

Victoria, yes, admittedly, the movie was a masterpiece, and the book is better (just imagine more scenes to visualize) if you like details (it makes war and history interesting), so I definitely recommend for you to read it!!!! i love having been able to visualize clark gable -i just heard he plays rhett before i read the book- when i was reading the book, and vivien leigh just made the perfect scarlett. she's so beautiful! i'm disappointed in the guy who played Ashley though, because I had such fantasies on how Ashley should look because of the book.

Brianna, how did you like it when you read it ?

I'm currently listening to an audiobook of War and Peace. I've made it to middle-age without reading it before. I like it a lot! I can listen to enough every day to keep the story going, and the narrator is very good. I also have a current book I'm actually reading, much lighter fare, a mystery by Josephine Tey. Looking forward to taking part in future book-of-the-month discussions.
Joanne

Joanne wrote: "I'm currently listening to an audiobook of War and Peace. I've made it to middle-age without reading it before. I like it a lot! I can listen to enough every day to keep the story going,..."

That's great. Which audiobook version are you listening to?
I got about quarter through with the book, and just inadvertently stopped, and it took so long to get back to it, that I just might have to start over again.

Thanks for sharing, and I'm also looking forward to read your future posts!

Peachy - Thanks for your comments. I'm listening to the audiobook narrated by Neville Jason. I have it on my tiny Sansa player, which is much easier than carrying the book around!

Currently, I'm reading so many books, I literally lost count...

Of course, one of these books is The Trial.
Another classic I'm reading right now is Nabokov's Lolita.. interesting memoir-type of setting, and admirable prose.

Recently I also just finished reading The Hobbit - very good during the second half of the book - more action. It made me cry a little, because I forgot the characters who died. VERY SAD. Still love the movies a little bit more, though :)

I read Lolita. I thought it was well written and disturbing but I couldn't put it down.

Starting the trial.

Tina wrote: "I read Lolita. I thought it was well written and disturbing but I couldn't put it down."

Aptly put.

Currently reading Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald is a wonderful writer! His words are like magic. Which classics are you reading?