Old Books, New Readers discussion

The old thread was getting very long. Please feel to introduce yourself or re-introduce yourself here if it's been a while. :)

So glad you could join us!! We have a lot of things going on at the moment. :) Feel free to vote in our current polls, we are trying to pick a book for next month and figure out a few things we want to do with the club plus there is the past group reads re-reads challenge. :)

Dig in and help with "To the Lighthouse" if you can.

Hi to all. My name is John. I am excited to be here....it "feels" like a nice place to be.

Welcome John! I hope you enjoy our group! We are currently wrapping up "To the Lighthouse" and will be starting "Tender is the Night" very soon.

We also have a few challenges and other things going on. :)

Thank you Luella and Matt for the warm welcome....confirms my initial sense of community.

John wrote: "Woolf And The Water


Virginia mostly wanted
a room of her own
a place that would make order
of the voices in her head

The headaches that pounded
through her heart to the core
were sometimes relie..."

John, although I liked your poem a lot, I have to ask you to post your writings in these folders below. There is one exclusive for poems...

Poems:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Creative writings:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Hi folks! And hi Luella I recognize you from 21st century :) My name is Dianne and I am a 38 year old investment management attorney with two little girls , 4 and 7. I have always been a huge reader and especially love classics! I am pretty excited that Moby Dick appears to be the July winner so I will probably start with you guys on that read. Hmmm in my non reading spare time I like running, crossfit and yoga and recently picked up guitar. Looking forward to reading with you all!

Hey, Don! Make yourself at home! :)

Hi, Dianne! Welcome to the group! We look forward to your participation! :)

Dianne wrote: "Hi folks! And hi Luella I recognize you from 21st century :) My name is Dianne and I am a 38 year old investment management attorney with two little girls , 4 and 7. I have always been a huge reade..."

Hi Dianne! Yea, I have been doing a lot of work over there lately. Lol. Once it's all pretty and organized I'm looking forward to catching up on the reads there. :) I feel like I almost have that list memorized by now!

don wrote: "hi'
my name is Don Presnell
and I am proud to be a member
of this group. I will try to be more active
and attentive to this groups discussions
and reading lists. I look forward to making friends
..."

Hey Don,

That's awesome you want to be more active! We are currently reading Tender is the Night and I must admit I haven't been to attentive to it but I will be this weekend finally!

If you haven't been here for a while you might want to check out our catch up challenge as well. :) (You might like it too Dianne!)

Dear all - my name's Tim, I'm from Switzerland and enjoy reading as much German and English classics as I can get hold of. Right now I'm into The Picture of Dorian Grey (which you've already been through) and will try to catch up on the next ones coming up in this lovely group!

Tim wrote: "Dear all - my name's Tim, I'm from Switzerland and enjoy reading as much German and English classics as I can get hold of. Right now I'm into The Picture of Dorian Grey (which you've already been t..."

Hi, Tim! Make yourself at home here! :)

I loved this book! When you finish, you can post your opinion in this link, if you want:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Tim wrote: "Dear all - my name's Tim, I'm from Switzerland and enjoy reading as much German and English classics as I can get hold of. Right now I'm into The Picture of Dorian Grey (which you've already been t..."

If you check out the comments on the link that Rose gave you, please contribute what you can. I commented a lot on the book, but I do not have the experience of reading all that much European literature. So your background in both English and German literature should be very helpful.

Hi, Im megan. I have been a growing reader for the last few years. I am 21 and never started reading till late teens which means i completely skipped the classics. This is why I am joining this group! Feel free to befriend me etc.

Hi Megan.....welcome to you!!

Megan wrote: "Hi, Im megan. I have been a growing reader for the last few years. I am 21 and never started reading till late teens which means i completely skipped the classics. This is why I am joining this gro..."

Awesome! I hope you like our little club. We are finishing up Tender is the Night currently and will be doing a two month read of Moby Dick soon. We are also doing a catch up challenge if interested. :)

I'm looking forward to reading Moby Dick. It's one of those books everyone references to me assuming I have read, at least now I will understand them haha.

Luella wrote: "Megan wrote: "Hi, Im megan. I have been a growing reader for the last few years. I am 21 and never started reading till late teens which means i completely skipped the classics. This is why I am jo..."

The catch up challenge looks good too, but I'm not sure i understand it. So I look through the old books that have been read but they have to ba before May is that right?

Megan wrote: "Luella wrote: "Megan wrote: "Hi, Im megan. I have been a growing reader for the last few years. I am 21 and never started reading till late teens which means i completely skipped the classics. This..."

Yes :)

Megan wrote: "Luella wrote: "Megan wrote: "Hi, Im megan. I have been a growing reader for the last few years. I am 21 and never started reading till late teens which means i completely skipped the classics. This..."

Hi, Megan! Welcome aboard!

And, about the Catch Up Challenge, I made a list of all the books read by the group! :)

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hi, all. I'm Angie, and I'm glad to have found the group. I;m not great at introductions, so I'll just say hi and wave, :)

Welcome! I hope you enjoy the group.

Hi Angie.....waving back. Welcome!

Hello everybody! My name is Claire, and I've lurked in the shadows of the forums for a while now but only just decided to introduce myself.

Welcome Angie and Claire!

Looking forward to your participation! :)

Hello- I'm Jenny. Hoping to get a few more classics under my belt and thought this may help with motivation. :)

Jenny wrote: "Hello- I'm Jenny. Hoping to get a few more classics under my belt and thought this may help with motivation. :)"

Welcome Jenny I hope you liked our group. We are currently wrapping up Moby Dick but the discussion will be featured still on the page and open on another heading after that. :)

Also check out our Catch up Challenge if you are interested.

thanks luella! the catch up list is great!

Hello, All!

I'm Dan; 61 and semi-retired in Albuquerque, NM. Grew up in southern NM and lived in places from the West Coast to the East Coast and several in between for thirty-five years or so before settling here about thirteen years ago.

I'm an Acquisitions Editor for a small publisher. I get mostly the suspense/thriller and horror manuscripts with the occasional sci-fi, fantasy, or historical fiction thrown into the mix. To occupy my free time, I've recently started a self-directed course of study to expand my knowledge and experience base beyond that required to get a graduate degree in English.

My two favorite books are The Brothers K and House of Leaves.

I'm always open to chatting about books and to making new friends, so feel free to contact or add me.

Dan wrote: "Hello, All!..."

Dan, welcome to the group! Please join our discussions!

Are you studying to get a degree in English? That sounds awesome!

Hi! My name is Samantha and I'm from Columbus, Ohio. I've always been an avid reader-- I remember getting Winnie the Pooh books from the library and having my grandma read them to me before I could read very well.

I joined because the other book devoted to classics that I belonged to -- Classics Without all the Class-- is closing and I wanted to fill that void. I enjoy classics but they aren't always the easiest to read so it is nice to have a group to guide my reading and to push me to try out new books.

Samantha wrote: "Hi! My name is Samantha and I'm from Columbus, Ohio. I've always been an avid reader-- I remember getting Winnie the Pooh books from the library and having my grandma read them to me before I could..."

That's too bad the group is closing. :( I hope we are a good surrogate home for you. :)

If you'd like you could also try the catch-up challenge we have going on. :) We are also offering Buddy Reads. :)

Hello everyone, I'm T and I joined this group, (which was exactly what I was looking for), over a year ago but just after I found it I got enrolled at two different universities and my time for reading anything other than schoolbooks got severely limited. I'm still studying, and working, but this year I'm only taking four courses/semester and not six, so hopefully I'll have some time to join you guys and read some classics! I don't know many people who share my love for them so it'll be fun to try and participate in some discussions and exchange some thoughts.

This seems like a great place, and I'm sure it'll be fun to get to know you guys. :)

Hi Teresa, welcome to the group! Life can be busy but it is great that you find the time to read. The group reads a variety of books, and you can also join the Catch Up Challenge if you would like to read some of the earlier selections. Have fun!

Reading more of the classics would be all I do if there weren't so many great books being published all the time. Goodness! I joined your group tonight because it came up when I was searching for a group which reads 'banned' books. Next week is "banned books week" and it amazes me how many of the old and new classics have been somehow fingered. I'll be reading "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon as a way of participating. It will be the second time I've read it. It became a favorite immediately.

As for your list, I've read 35 of the 49 and am looking forward to beginning with you in October. My mother had a copy of Kon-Tiki and encouraged me to read it, but I never did get around to it. I live in the Midwest, USA. Happy to be a part of the group and hope I can keep up with you all.

Welcome to the group Paula and happy reading.

Welcome to the group Teresa and happy reading.

Paula, I am in the Midwest, too! I know what you mean about new books and old books. There are so many old books to read but new ones keep coming out! I tend to alternate :) Welcome to the group!

Paula wrote: "Reading more of the classics would be all I do if there weren't so many great books being published all the time. Goodness! I joined your group tonight because it came up when I was searching for a..."

It's funny to see what was banned and now seems so mild and barely controversial

Marta wrote: "Paula, I am in the Midwest, too! I know what you mean about new books and old books. There are so many old books to read but new ones keep coming out! I tend to alternate :) Welcome to the group!"

I alternate too. Mainly bc the classics, although i love most of them,, can b very sad and sometimes "work" to follow.

hey there everybody, I'm Jeremy. I tend to bounce all over the place with my reading. I enjoy classics, murder mysteries, and thrillers. I love an adventure too, one of my favorites is Jack Londons Call Of The Wild. I'm 27 and in the great state of Maryland. I'm married and have 2 daughters 5 and 6. I'm definitely looking forward to reading and discussing some of the greats with all of you.

Welcome, I loved the call of the wild too. Enjoy our group

Welcome everyone!

Hi everyone! My name's Jay from Arizona. I've loved reading classics since I was a little kid, and I'm glad to be apart of a group that reads and discusses them altogether. I hope to meet many people here!

Jay wrote: "Hi everyone! My name's Jay from Arizona. I've loved reading classics since I was a little kid, and I'm glad to be apart of a group that reads and discusses them altogether. I hope to meet many peop..."

I'm also an Arizonan, as a California-refugee. Welcome!

Hello everyone! I am Karin and live in Belgium. I adore reading and do it as much as I can. Currently I am trying to read all the books of "the BBC's top 100 books everyone should read" which contains mostly classics. I also love fantasy and crime novels. I'm a bit (very) shy so participating in a discussion will be a challenge for me, but I love books and this group seems a safe place so I hope I will overcome the shyness and make some friends.

Karin wrote: "Hello everyone! I am Karin and live in Belgium. I adore reading and do it as much as I can. Currently I am trying to read all the books of "the BBC's top 100 books everyone should read" which conta..."

I see you have a strong interest in art. Does that background give you any insights into the literature you like to read? I ask because the best literature seems to me to be very rich in images, reflections, analogues (of interior and exterior emotional states), and even actual pictures, portraits, landscapes or busts. And of course there is re-telling of existing mirror myths (like the Narcissus myth in The Picture of Dorian Gray).

Jon wrote: "Karin wrote: "Hello everyone! I am Karin and live in Belgium. I adore reading and do it as much as I can. Currently I am trying to read all the books of "the BBC's top 100 books everyone should rea..."

Hi Jon, Yes I have a great interest in art. I've studied art history in college. In literature I like it when authors vividly describe the world especially environments different than I live in. And as an art-lover I like fiction with art history as a theme or nonfiction about art. I haven't read The Picture of Dorian Gray yet, would you recommend it?