Wishes, requests for July

[Guest ii]

Yes, that is unfortunate. I wonder what sort of brain-bubble made me think WWII was the cut-off used for this. I guess it was one of those incidences where you thought one thing, said the other, and didn't really spot the mistake as it was all correct in your head. So once again, I apologize for the confusion.

Edited April 13, 2009 by ii
typo

[Freewheeling Andy]

Yeah. Given that I'm one of the people who strongly argues that modernism defines a different form to the classic novel, I think it would be slightly unfair of me to want Hasek and Kafka and Bulgakov should be in the classic reading circle. Going to pre-1914, I think the "Eastern European" would be much more narrowed down to Russian.

 

Another regional one, that might be more popular, would be American, or even American adventure, books. Stuff like White Fang by Jack London, Moby Dick (of course) or perhaps better Billy Budd by Herman Melville, some Mark Twain (if we're steering clear of Moby Dick, steer clear of the obvious Twain, too, and go for something like A Tramp Abroad or A Connecticut Yankee...), if you're feeling brave you could include some Henry James or Thoreau. Or maybe slightly less heavy with The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane.

[Kell]

Another regional one, that might be more popular, would be American, or even American adventure, books. Stuff like White Fang by Jack London, Moby Dick (of course) or perhaps better Billy Budd by Herman Melville, some Mark Twain (if we're steering clear of Moby Dick, steer clear of the obvious Twain, too, and go for something like A Tramp Abroad or A Connecticut Yankee...), if you're feeling brave you could include some Henry James or Thoreau. Or maybe slightly less heavy with The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane.

I'd be well chuffed to see an American Adventure Classics poll. Or ANY adventure-ish type ones - they can be such fun to read - real page-turners!

[Freewheeling Andy]

Of course, the risk with going for something too adventure/page-turner-ish in a reading circle group is that, even if the book is easy to read and fun, quite a lot of adventure books don't actually have a lot to discuss outside the literal stuff of the plot.

[Kell]

Depends which books I suppose - with the Huck and Tom books you have attitudes to slevery in the South, with The Three Musketeers you have political intrigue, religious corruption with the unscrupulous Richlieu, comradeship of those in service - all sorts of great discussion points. Actually I'd love to do the Musketeers...

[Fionen]

*pushes Asian historical fiction into the ring* I read The Good Earth in high school and loved it. Unfortunately it doesn't make the deadline. Are there any good Asian classics? o_O

[Seiichi]

*pushes Asian historical fiction into the ring* I read The Good Earth in high school and loved it. Unfortunately it doesn't make the deadline. Are there any good Asian classics? o_O

There are a few, but I don't think they make good books for discussion.

[Jue xxx]

The difference between a book which is classy, great, high quality, etc, and a classic, is surely easy to understand.

 

A book which is defined as a classic, broadly, is one which has stood the test of time, apart from anything else. But also, traditionally, it's a book in the classic style - one which isn't too modernist.

 

Anyway, as we're allowed a cut-off of 1939 rather than 1900, say, I'd like to suggest a Russian, or maybe even Eastern European, month.

 

Personal choice would be

 

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (which everyone should read)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (ditto, although it was on the nominations list not long ago, so perhaps a different Tolstoy)

The Good Soldier Schweijk by Jaroslav Hasek (The other great anti-war comedy)

Some Dostoyevsky, perhaps Crime and Punishment

Perhaps some Kafka, like The Castle or The Trial

You could even have some Conrad, if you were so inclined.

 

I was going to suggest War and Peace too! I would also like to read Anna Karenina, so if either of those made the short list I would vote for them. (The last time War and Peace was nominated I was just a forum lurker and not a registered member, so I couldn't vote for it.)