Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I tried resisting Bingo for a few weeks (to concentrate on my Buffet challenges in 2024), but honestly, who am I kidding? My 2024 Buffet challenge is very structured, so for my Bingo challenge I'll mostly try to let the group reads fill up the slots. But there are a few categories where I'm writing down some ideas right away, either because I know the group reads won't help (e.g. - 21st Century book) or because I predict it might be difficult for me to fill them that way.

  B   I   N   G   O  
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

✅B1: A Classic by a Nobel Laureate or a Pulitzer Prize Winner - The Sound of the Mountain - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅B2: A Classic Book in Translation - The Beauties - March, ⭐️⭐️½
✅B3: A Classic Comedy or Satire - Cotillion - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅B4: A Classic Written Before 1700 - The Comedy of Errors - March, ⭐️⭐️
✅B5: A Classic of Asia or Oceania - The Narrow Road to the Deep North - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️

✅I1: A Classic from our Short Story Group Shelf - The Dead - August, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅I2: A Classic from your Personal Bookshelf - The Lions of Al-Rassan - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅I3: A Classic Historical Fiction - The Grand Sophy - March, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅I4: A Classic Prize-Winning Female Author - Wants - February, ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅I5: A Book Recommended by a Group Member - The Martian - August, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✅N1: A Classic Made into Movie/TV - Slaughterhouse-Five - June, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅N2: A Classic you've been meaning to read - China Court - January, ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅N3: Free Space - The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅N4: A Classic on or about the Sea/Ocean - The Whale Rider - February, ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅N5: A Literature Class Book - Exhalation - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✅G1: A Classic of North or South America - R is for Rocket - January, ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅G2: A 21st Century Potential Classic - The Ten Thousand Doors of January - August, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅G3: A Classic from our Old School Group Shelf - The Moonstone - February, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅G4: A Classic New-to-You Author - "Ours", from Plays by Tom Robertson - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅G5: A Classic Play or Classic Poetry Collection - The Ivory Door - March, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✅O1: A Classic Book you begged, borrowed, or stole - Cat’s Cradle - July, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅O2: A Classic Children's Book - Winter Story - September, ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅O3: Classic found using Literature-map.com - Mariana - April, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅O4: Classic from our New School Shelf - And Then There Were None - June, ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅O5: Classic that Reminds You of Someone - The Story of Peter Pan - August, ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Boy can I relate, Wobbley, and I'm glad you decided not to resist! Have fun, and hope to see you in a Rumer Godden read.

Thanks Kathleen! The board this year just looked like too much fun to resist! :)

It is just too enticing :O)
Have a wonderful reading year!

Thanks so much, Veronique -- you too!

Good luck with your Bingo. I loved All the Light We Cannot See.

Thanks Terry, and thanks for the recommendation!

It's hard to resist BINGO. I hear you!
Good luck.

You are off to a wonderful start with the books you have penciled in, Wobbley. I have a lot of fun watching others fill in the bingo squares.

I am glad to see you had a lapse in will-power!! Welcome Wobbley, lol.

Thanks very much, Klowey, Sara, and Lynn. Yes, it is hard to resist, and honestly, why bother resisting when the challenge is so enjoyable!

Sara, I totally agree -- watching what other readers pick is so much fun, and I get a lot of great ideas that way too!

Wobbley you have some good selections here. If you do read Whale Rider, I would like to know your thoughts about it! . . . Have another good reading year!

Thanks Cynda, I hope I'll really enjoy it. Have a great year too!

I've finally gotten a start on my Bingo board.

N2: China Court: The Hours of a Country House ⭐️⭐️⭐️: About the relationships within a family, and their connection to their family home. With really lovely writing, this was heading towards a 4-star read. But the ending really didn't work for me, and knocked it back by a star. I'll stick with her A Fugue in Time, one of my favourite reads last year.

N4: The Whale Rider ⭐️⭐️⭐️: A Maori chief tries to find the next leader of his people, ignoring his great-granddaughter because he thinks leaders must be male. This was pretty good, but it really hammered its points home. I guess if you think of it as a fable the lack of subtlety is more fitting. I did enjoy it, but I have to say the movie is better, and handles things in a more mature way.

I4: Wants ⭐️⭐️⭐️½: A woman runs into her ex-husband and reflects on her life. A bit of an odd writing style, but it left me with a sad feeling. Pretty effective for such a short story.

G3: The Moonstone ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: I really enjoyed this one! Really engaging, and I was attached to a lot of the main characters, and invested in their happiness. Some sections are pretty funny too.

G1: R is for Rocket ⭐️⭐️⭐️½: A collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. As a collection, this gets 3.5 stars from me, because the quality of the stories varies (as in most collections of short stories). That said, both the title story and "The Sound of Summer Running" were 5-star stories for me, and there were a fair few 4-star or 4.5-star stories as well. A pretty strong collection.

I'm happy to get a few books on the board at last!

Glad you found "Wants" interesting, Wobbley. I have The Little Disturbances of Man on order at my library. It is a book of short stories (I think that is mostly what Grace Paley writes). I'm interested to see what it is like. Watch for my review! ;)

Yes, I'll be interested to hear what you think. I thought "Wants" was quite promising as an introduction to this author, especially for being only a few pages long. She manages to convey quite a lot about the characters.

Progress is progress, and glad you’ve made a dent, Wobbley! I want to read more Godden this year too.

It's only February, Wobbley--you're doing great!

Thanks so much for the encouragement, Lynn and Kathleen! You're right of course; there's still a lot of the year left. :)

I've made some more progress on my Bingo board.

B2: The Beauties ⭐️⭐️½: Two vignettes in which the main character sees a beautiful woman. It was possible to find meaning in it, but I feel like too much of that meaning is supplied by the reader. I would have preferred if it had been written in a more effective way.

B4: The Comedy of Errors ⭐️⭐️: Well, I've learned an important lesson about me and Shakespeare -- I think for me it's meant to be watched; I have a harder time enjoying it when it's silently read from a book.

I3: The Grand Sophy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½: A really fun read about an engaging and very self-possessed young woman who gets everyone around her out of scrapes in hilarious fashion!

G5: The Ivory Door ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: A King decides to find out what's really behind a much feared door in his castle. This play wasn't what I expected. Yes, there is A.A. Milne's trademark humour (even in the stage directions, which the audience will never see!). But it also has something interesting to say about how people think and the choices they make. I'm glad I read it.

Wobbley, I am with you on reading Shakespeare silently. I've also tried listening to plays on audio before which didn't work for me either, but in January I decided to try listening while I read along. It worked so well since I listen to a full cast version and the different voices along wiith audible fight scenes, laughing, groans, singing, etc. have made a huge difference. I'm sure it wouldn't work for everyone, but I have done this with three plays this year and it's been great.

Thanks Laurie, I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone on Shakespeare. It's great that you've found a system that works for you that doesn't require live theater!

Absolutely Wobbley. Shakespeare is a feast for eyes and ears. I cannot read Romeo and Juliet without calling out, "A curse on both your houses!"

It usually helps me if I watch the play or movie before I read (or try to get through!) Shakespeare. I, like you, recently read A Comedy of Errors and have started to watch (but not finished) it on YouTube. It is a play starring Judi Dench. I think it's going to be very good! You might look into that one :)

Thanks Cynda and Terris!

Yeah, Judi Dench is basically spectacular in everything!

Look at all the progress!
The Grand Sophy was a lot of fun :O)

I’ll join in saying Judi Dench is spectacular in everything. I think she’s just released a book on Shakespeare. Ah yes, here Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. Tempting...

Thanks Veronique! Yes, The Grand Sophy was a blast!

That book by Judi Dench looks like it could be a good find -- thanks for that.

Veronique wrote: "Look at all the progress!
The Grand Sophy was a lot of fun :O)

I’ll join in saying Judi Dench is spectacular in everything. I think she’s just released a book on Shakespeare. Ah yes, here..."

I read her And Furthermore which is a little bit older, and I liked it a lot! So I bet this new one will be a good one!

Great -- thanks for the tip!

Sounds like you're figuring out which classic authors are for you, which is important cuz there are so many! And a big thanks to Vero for the Judi Dench tip--will be looking for that one.

Although you gave it 3* The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera looks intriguing. I have never read this author or anything by an author from New Zealand. Thanks. I see how much more there is to read every time I visit your page, or so many of our other friends in the group.

Because of his stature as a writer, I have really wanted to like Anton Chekhov. I have only read a few of his short stories, but unfortunately not found one I would rate 5* yet.

Kathleen wrote: "Sounds like you're figuring out which classic authors are for you, which is important cuz there are so many! And a big thanks to Vero for the Judi Dench tip--will be looking for that one."

Thanks Kathleen. Yes, you're right, there are so many. And I kind of feel like a bad classics reader giving 2 stars to a Shakespeare, haha!

Lynn wrote: "Although you gave it 3* The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera looks intriguing. I have never read this author or anything by an author from New Zealand."

Thanks Lynn. The Whale Rider is actually my second book by this New Zealand author. I preferred the first one I read: Bulibasha: King of the gypsies. I also recommend the New Zealand classic historical fiction novel Season Of The Jew. (I read a number of New Zealand classics before a trip there some years ago.)

Congratulations on your progress, Wobbley. I liked The Whale Rider but the film was even better.

Thanks very much, Sue!

I've been in a bad reading slump throughout May, but I'm trying to combat it in June, and have a few more for my Bingo board:

O3: Mariana ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½: I found this one by looking up Dodie Smith on Literature-map.com (she wrote I Capture the Castle, one of my favourite reads last year). I really enjoyed this coming of age story set between the World Wars. I think it was the writing that really stood out, and also I became attached to the main character. My favourite part was perhaps the depictions of her childhood visits to her grandparents' summer home, which was like a paradise to her as a child. While there were a couple of small things that might have bothered me a bit, because of the writing I was mainly able to just go with it. A good find by the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, and another winner from Persephone Books.

O4: And Then There Were None ⭐️⭐️⭐️: This is probably my favourite Agatha Christie so far (although Agatha Christie isn't really my thing). It kept my interest all the way through, and I didn't guess who the killer was. Nothing special though, just pretty good fare.

N1: Slaughterhouse-Five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: A quirky and disjointed writing style that is somehow effective. He has a way of tackling dark subjects with a light touch. This is a reread for me from many years ago. While not my favourite Vonnegut, I did enjoy it.

A good bunch this time!

I think you might be over your reading slump, Wobbley!! You read some good ones and that "Mariana" sounds interesting. Thanks for the info :)

Glad you enjoyed Mariana, since it is on my bludgeoning TBR. Hopefully the reading slump is well and completely behind you!

Terris wrote: "I think you might be over your reading slump, Wobbley!! You read some good ones and that "Mariana" sounds interesting. Thanks for the info :)"

Thanks Terris, I hope you're right. The end of the reading slump isn't quite as definitive as it sounds, since I actually read the longest of these books (Mariana) before the slump, in April. But I did read the other two this past weekend, and even though they are both shorter novels, all progress is progress! :)

Sara wrote: "Glad you enjoyed Mariana, since it is on my bludgeoning TBR. Hopefully the reading slump is well and completely behind you!"

Thanks Sara. I think you'll really enjoy Mariana. It's one of my favourites this year so far.

Wobbley wrote: "Terris wrote: "I think you might be over your reading slump, Wobbley!! You read some good ones and that "Mariana" sounds interesting. Thanks for the info :)"

Thanks Terris, I hope you're right. Th..."

Just relax, you're doing great! Enjoy your reading :)

Terris wrote: "Just relax, you're doing great! Enjoy your reading :)"

This is excellent advice!

Glad you made it out of the slump and into some good books, Wobbley. I'm interested in Mariana now too!

Kathleen wrote: "Glad you made it out of the slump and into some good books, Wobbley. I'm interested in Mariana now too!"

Thanks Kathleen! Yes, Mariana is well worth trying. It has my hearty recommendation.

Wobbley wrote: "I've been in a bad reading slump throughout May, but I'm trying to combat it in June, and have a few more for my Bingo board:

O3: Mariana ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½: I found this one by looking up [a..."


Mariana does sound good. You said the author is a descendant of Charles Dickens, wow!

I know! I wonder whether she liked that, or whether she felt the pressure of always being compared to him. Her writing is nothing like his. But I enjoyed Mariana as much as any of his books I've read.

I have a few more books to add to my Bingo challenge:

I1: The Dead ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: This was an odd reading experience. I spent the first three-quarters wondering what it was up to. Then there was a twist, and even though I saw the twist coming, I found that the last quarter kept building in emotional strength right up to the last line. In the end, I was really impressed by this one.

I5: The Martian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: An astronaut is stranded on Mars and has to figure out a way to survive until he can be rescued. I kind of love this book. Funny and engaging, with ridiculously likeable characters, and just the right balance of humour, adventure, and geeky science. Just so enjoyable!

G2: The Ten Thousand Doors of January ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: A coming of age story with a touch of fantasy in which a young girl discovers there's a lot more to the world than she thought. This author can really write! She creates so many moments that are just perfectly balanced.

O5: The Story of Peter Pan ⭐️⭐️⭐️½: I'm using this one for the "Classic that reminds you of someone." It was the morning my grandmother died. I'd been there since the previous evening with my uncle and aunt and two cousins. After she died, there was some down time while we waited for other family to arrive from a couple of hours away. I was feeling sad and restless, and I went to her bookshelf and picked up this book. Even though we were all in our late teens, I sat on the couch and spent our waiting time reading this children's book aloud to my cousins. This was not a happy day, but this book has come to represent for me this hard and somehow formative shared experience with my cousins. I don't know to what extent my affection for the book is conflated with nostalgia, but it is affection nonetheless.

What a touching story, Wobbley. I've felt sometimes like we're drawn to just what we need in those kinds of times, and that book sounds perfect to me. Great choice for the prompt! And I too thought The Dead was so impressive.

I also found your story very touching, Wobbley. I have a song tied up in my memories of losing my grandmother. I was also a teenager at the time, so I know what it is to have a memory from long ago firmly connected to words. I hope your cousins all remember the book in that same way.

I wish everything Joyce wrote was as easy to digest as The Dead. I do like his short stories. And, The Martian was quite fun.

As always, impressed with your progress.