#ClassicsCommunity 2021 Reading Challenge discussion

I'm definitely up for this. I've been meaning to read The Turn of the Screw for ages!

I can’t wait to read this!

im in

I've always wanted to read this! I am in too.

I'll join in. I've wanted to read this book in forever, too. October it is!

I'm in as well. I've read it once before, but would love to do a reread and discuss.

I'm in! :D

Shannon wrote: "October or Spooktober as many call it is the perfect time for this gothic ghost story. Even better timing is the release on Oct. 9th of Netflix Haunting of Bly Manor which is based loosely off of t..."

Hi Shannon. I might read along on this one. It's fairly short so that helps. I've never read any Henry James so IDK what to expect.

I'm currently reading Frankenstein (both the 1st and 3rd editions) and it's so much better to read a classic with other folks to get their insights and inputs. It's more difficult alone.

Shannon wrote: I wish they didn't publish Percy's additions to the book and just kept the manuscript as Mary had written it...."

I'm pretty sure this is contested. The first edition I'm reading is a Norton Critical Edition and I will see what the articles say about that. It's typical that a woman's creation would be credited to a man because after all she is *just* a woman.

I would love to join you, am I too late?

I finished listening to this a few days ago. It is free to Audible members and pretty short. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it all that much reading it, but the narration was fun. I’m excited to discuss it because I’m not a good listener when it comes to novels and I feel like I must have missed details. It seemed like a lot of protecting the kids and looking for clues (I’m trying to be vague here for those still reading). I will probably visit this again!

I’m just about to start this! Hoping to get it done by Halloween seeing as it’s just over 100 pages 🙌🏼

On an impulse I decided to re-read 'The Turn of the Screw' a few days back and I liked it a lot more than I remembered doing the first time - when I admittedly read it far too fast, and without due attention.

I love how the whole thing is shrouded in ambiguities and the way in which we're given a narrative voice which is inseperable from the story. There's a horrible creeping sense of supressed sexuality about the whole thing which is particularly interesting as well - it's hard to place your finger on it, but it's definitely there...

I never got around to reading Turn of the Screw, but I did watch the Netflix series, "Haunting of Bly Manor." So now I'm completely set up to be disappointed if the book doesn't measure up to the show, which of course the book could never do because the two media were created over 120 years apart. Shrug, sigh.

Cedricsmom wrote: "I never got around to reading Turn of the Screw, but I did watch the Netflix series, "Haunting of Bly Manor." So now I'm completely set up to be disappointed if the book doesn't measure up to the s..."

Perhaps look at it this way - the two are completely different experiences, and what you get from James cannot be got from Netflix, and vice versa?

Not having seen the series I would be willing to bet it's greatly different to the book, but that's never stopped adaptions and books being great in their own way before.

I was so disappointed by this book :( I wanted to like it so bad but I found it really boring. However, I have to say that I loved speculating about whether the girl was mad or the ghosts were real. This was definitely not the book for me

I don’t love gothic novels, but I read a few this month. I enjoyed the experience and am glad I did. I really liked the mood they set for the holiday, but I wouldn’t read them for fun the rest of the year for the most part.

I was listening and I am not an audio person (trying to refine the skill) so I feel I missed details on this. Was it a lot of the woman (I’m so tired and it’s been a couple weeks since I finished, so names are not easy for me at the moment) trying to decide if what she was seeing was real, protecting the kids from the specters, and trying to decide if the kids could see them too? Was there a lot more depth to it, or was that the basic gist? Thanks for your input to help me decide if and when I need to pick this up to read instead of listen!