Lifetime Classics Challenge discussion

Classics Goal for 2016

✔1) Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison, 2-25-16, 3★s
✔2) Middlemarch - George Eliot, 3-18-16, 3★s
✔3) Moby Dick - Herman Melville - 4-16-16, 3★s
✔4) Go Tell It on the Mountain - James Baldwin, 8-17-16, 3★s
✔5) All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque, 1-23-16, 5★s
✔6) The Plague - Albert Camus, 10-17-16, 3★s
7) The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
✔9) Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe, 7-27-16, 3★s
10) Black Boy - Wright
✔11) Silent Spring - Carson, 2-11-16, 4★s
✔12) A Room of One's Own - Woolf, 4/22/16, 3★s
✔13) The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter - McCullers, 3★s, 4-7-16
✔14) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Bronte, 1-19-16, 3★s

Terris wrote: "Classics Goal for 2016

1) Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
2) Middlemarch - Eliot
3) Moby Dick - Melville
4) Go Tell It on the Mountain - James Baldwin
✔5) All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Mari..."

Great list! I loved Things Fall Apart.

✔15) A Streetcar Named Desire - Williams, 2-26-16, 4★s
✔16) The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Wilder, 2-29-16, 3★s

✔17) The Island of Dr. Moreau - Wells, 3-10-16, 3★s

Finished #2 on my list: Middlemarch - Eliot, 3-18-16, 3★s

Starting The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, liking it so far :)

I just finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Not my favorite, but I was glad to mark it off my classics TBR list! ;)
Halfway through Moby-Dick now!

Moby Dick by Herman Melville, 3***s
Finally finished!! Well, this was certainly a long and interesting book! It was very different than I expected, with hundreds of pages of background and history of whaling; information about ships; the geography of whaling; information on many different species of whales; how they are born, hunted and butchered after the killing; the history between Captain Ahab and Moby Dick; and after 132 chapters of this, then there are 3 chapters of the chase of the Pequod going after Moby Dick, and the end. Wow! Just not what I was expecting! But I did learn a lot, if that was information I needed to know ;)

Terris wrote: "
Moby Dick by Herman Melville, 3***s
Finally finished!! Well, this was certainly a long and interesting book! It was very different than I expected, with ..."


Good job, Terri! This is one of those classics I should read but haven't gotten myself to do so.

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, 3***
I'm not a big Virginia Woolf fan, but I enjoyed this one. It is a non-fiction reflection on women's history in the world and in writing. It's hard to explain but it all makes sense and is very readable.

Connie wrote: "Terris wrote: "
Moby Dick by Herman Melville, 3***s
Finally finished!! Well, this was certainly a long and interesting book! It was very different than I ..."

I don't think you need to push yourself too much to try to read it. There are too many good books out there to enjoy first!! ;)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 3***s
This book is very difficult to describe. It is written in 1962 about teenage boys who do brutal, cruel things to people and think nothing of it -- until they get caught. Alex, the narrator, is put into prison and stays for two years. At that point, he is offered the choice to go through treatments (brainwashing) to make him "good." He'll be out of prison within two weeks and never have to go back because he'll want to be "good." And, of course, he is willing to sign anything that says he'll get out of prison. But there is discussion, and questions by some of the characters: Is it right to take away a person's right to be good or bad? What if we all only had the choice of being "good" -- especially if the government is deciding what is "good" and "bad." I don't want to tell the ending so I'll quit there.
My Thoughts: I didn't know anything about this book when I started it. I only got a little way through it and thought I was going to hate it. It has some brutal violence (home break-ins, rape, etc.). But I think some of that is needed to show how bad the boys were, and to show why it would be so much better if "badness" like that didn't exist. In the end, it really made me think, and I'll have to say that I'm really glad I read it, even though I probably wouldn't actually recommend it -- it was a very interesting read!
I would almost have given it four stars, however, it is told with a very strange vocabulary -- there are different words for almost everything (see, hear, crazy, hands, face, etc.). You have to figure out what all the words mean, but you can still tell what's going on. It made it kind of confusing, though I found that it kind of protected me from the brutal violence in some of the scenes.

Finished:
✔18) A Clockwork Orange - Burgess, 5-21-16, 3★s

✔19) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne,
7-18-16, 4★s
What an exciting story written in 1870! I had always heard about Captain Nemo, and now I'm glad to have finally read this book of underwater adventure!

Finished #9 on my list: Things Fall Apart - Achebe, 7-27-16, 3★s


About halfway through Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin. Another one that has been on my list forever!

Nice. By the way, I really like listening to Things Fall Apart. I'm not sure how good it would be if it were in print.

Yes, I also listened & I'm in total agreement. I was also glad it wasn't very long ;)

:-) I haven't been reading many classics lately...I've been trying to read books just for fun and haven't had so much luck with the classics being easy and fun. My goal was 16 and I'm only at 6. I've decided to focus on my Friends' Best of 2015 instead. Those have been fun!

Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin, 8-17-16, 3***s


The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck, 9-15-16, 3***s

I just finished Death in Venice by Thomas Mann and Lady Susan by Jane Austen, and am now reading The Plague by Albert Camus and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Gotta' catch up on my classics reading before the end of the year!!

Wow. You've been a classics monster this year. Look forward to seeing your reviews.

I can't believe it, but the last two years I've read 25 classics each year & hope to do the same this year! So, anyway, I did a short review of Lady Susan, but I don't think I'm reviewing Death in Venice. It was a little strange :/
The Plague is good so far & I've only just started Cat's Cradle. I'm not quite sure what to expect. I've only read Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut. I know his writing is a little different, so I'm prepared for that, at least :)

Yeah, I think I've only read SL5 and maybe cat's cradle by vonnegut...but I'm not in the mood right now for that unusual..
I would like to read 16 (my goal), but it's not looking good. The ones that appeal to me are so long that I just can't quite face them. I'm reading a Flannery O'Connor right now. Interesting characters, but odd story. we'll see how it ends..

Connie wrote: "Yeah, I think I've only read SL5 and maybe cat's cradle by vonnegut...but I'm not in the mood right now for that unusual..
I would like to read 16 (my goal), but it's not looking good. The ones tha..."

Yes, length is a problem for me. So many of the classics that I think I should read are over 500 pages long & I don't always want to put that much time into one book -- and it would have to be really good!!

Exactly...and many aren't THAT good, They aren't necessarily very readable even when they have merit.

Connie wrote: "Exactly...and many aren't THAT good, They aren't necessarily very readable even when they have merit."

You are so right! I feel terrible reading a long, boring book just to mark it off a list -- but some classics are just not very good! Or maybe I just don't understand them :/
;)

Terris wrote: "Connie wrote: "Exactly...and many aren't THAT good, They aren't necessarily very readable even when they have merit."

You are so right! I feel terrible reading a long, boring book just to mark it ..."


Some really are outdated...just not relatable...

Summer by Edith Wharton, 3***s
A sweet, sad story of a young girl in a small town who gets herself into a bad position and then just has to live with it. Nothing unexpected or surprising, really. Just Wharton's beautiful writing to take you through it. I liked it. But I'm not sure that I'd recommend it, unless you're just a big Wharton fan and want to read all that she's written.

I just finished The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham, 4****s,
Goodreads: "Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence is W. Somerset Maugham's ode to the powerful forces behind creative genius." I really enjoyed this.
Also, I listened on LibriVox and the reader, Termin Dyan, was very good!

Terris wrote: "I just finished The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham, 4****s,
Goodreads: "Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence is W. So..."


Cool. Adding it to my list.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 4****s
Such a cute little book of Sara Crewe, whose father, stationed in India, sends her to boarding school in England. When she starts there she has lots of income which satisfies the insecure, jealous matron of the school. However, when things go downhill for Sara's father and his fortune, Sara's daily life takes a landslide downward. However, she is a very mature child and tries to act like she thinks a princess would act, with a fortune or without. And therein lays the story of her reaction to her situation and her encouragement of others. There is also an ongoing search for a mystery child which culminates at the end of the book. I enjoyed this children's book very much, and think it would be a wonderful book to read along with a child and discuss how he/she might react in a similar situation. I highly recommend this book :)

Terris wrote: "A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 4****s
Such a cute little book of Sara Crewe, whose father, stationed in India, sends her to boarding sc..."

I read this about five times as a child and again as an adult. It was a huge part of my childhood thinking: the idea that someone's life could suddenly become so terrible but that difficulties could be overcome and wonderful, nearly magical things could happen too.

Connie wrote: "Terris wrote: "A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 4****s
Such a cute little book of Sara Crewe, whose father, stationed in India, sends her..."

I think it's a very inspiring story, even though all those good things aren't going to happen to everyone. But a good attitude really helps a person get through a lot of difficult experiences in life!

Terris wrote: "Connie wrote: "Terris wrote: "A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 4****s
Such a cute little book of Sara Crewe, whose father, stationed in I..."

When you're a kid, you can believe it could happen. :-)

Yes! :)