Julie ~ "Lucky" 2013 ~ Booklist

[julie]

I found a list of books yesterday that say they are Classic books you've never heard of . That made me curious to see what those books were ,and if I had ever heard of any of them . How about you ?

 

The Monk – MG Lewis (1796)

 

Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell (1853

 

The Water Babies – Charles Kingsley  (1863)

 

The House by the Medlar Tree – Giovanni Verga (1881)

 

Against the Grain – Joris-Karl Huysmans (1884)

 

Effi Briest – Theodor Fontane (1895)

 

Le Grand Meaulnes – Alain-Fournier (1913)

 

The Charwoman’s daughter – James Stephens (1912)

 

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressel (1914) 

 

Locus Solus – Raymond Roussel (1914)

 

Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley (1921)

 

The Last Days of Mankind – Karl Kraus 

 

The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings 

 

Confessions of Zeno – Italo Svevo (1923)

 

One, None and a Hundred Thousand – Luigi Pirandello (1926)

 

Blindness – Henry Green (1926)

 

Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Doblin (1929)

 

A Day Off – Storm Jameson (1933)

 

The Man Without Qualities – Robert Musil (1933)

 

Independent People – Halldor Laxness (1934)

 

Hopscotch – Julio Cortazar (1963)

 

Out of the above, I found 7 in free kindle copies ,so I'll load them up and see what I think of those . A few weren't in English ,so I couldn't read them. Another, Le Grand Meaulnes ,actually sounds so good I bought it for my kindle (it was available in English) .Something about it reminds me of The Go-Between ,so if it is even remotely that good, it was well worth buying ..  I ended up with 8 total from the above list. It makes me wonder why they became classics and why no one has ever heard of them .  I guess maybe I'll find out something about the ones I found.

 

How about you ? Are you familiar with any ,have you read them ,and what did you think ?

[ian]

I've only heard of two - The Water Babies & The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, but I haven't read either. If most are free on KIndle, then I imagine I will add them in to my TBR pile

 

Thanks for sharing!

[chesilbeach]

The Monk – MG Lewis (1796) 

Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell (1853

The Water Babies – Charles Kingsley  (1863)

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressel (1914) 

Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley (1921)

The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings

 

I've heard of these on your list, Julie, and read both Cranford and The Water Babies. I read Cranford after watching the television adaptation of it a few years ago, but found that because I'd seen the television version and it was so close to the original book, I was a bit bored by it. The Water Babies is a chidren's book, and there was a film version of it in the late 70s when I was a kid, but I remember hating both the book and the film!

[bobblybear]

I've also heard of The Water Babies. My parents had a copy when I was a child but I have never read it.

[pontalba]

I've only heard of a few on the list.....Cranford, The Man Without Qualities, and Berlin Alexanderplatz.  Haven't read any though. 

Thanks for the tip re free Kindle versions!  Will def look into it.

[Athena]

Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell (1853

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressel (1914) 

x

I've heard of these two. Cranford is on my TBR (I have an edition that also includes a short story), The Ragged Trousered Philantropists is on my wishlist.

[julie]

Today I thought I'd list a few "One-Hit Wonders " .. authors who only wrote one novel :

 

Emily Bronte  -Wuthering Heights

 

Harper Lee --To Kill a Mockingbird

 

Oscar Wilde--Picture of Dorian Grey

 

Margaret Mitchell -Gone with the Wind

 

J D Salinger-Catcher in the Rye

 

Sylvia Plath -The Bell Jar (Suicide )

 

Anna Sewell --Black Beauty

 

John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces (Suicide )

 

Boris Pasternak - Dr. Zhivago

 

Ross Lockridge Jr- Raintree County  (Suicide)

 

Some of these authors wrote short stories plays, etc but never another novel .

 

Some died before their book was published, while others seemed to only have one story to tell and once it was told, they were done .

 

It makes you wonder if any of them would have written another novel, would it have become as big a success ,or if their one book made enough of an impact to leave a lasting legacy from the author ,for many generations to come .

[Kidsmum]

 Kidsmum

Yep, Thomas Berger has a "gift of gab " with his writing , at least the books I mentioned. I haven't read any of his others. Was the movie funny in parts ? The boy who told the story was sure funny .

 

Yes i do remember it being funny, Dustin Hoffmann played the lead role 

[Athena]

Nice list . I own a lot of the books from it. I'm currently reading Black Beauty, I hope to be finishing it today. I'm really enjoying it so far (I'm about half way through I think).

[Devi]

I love the little list idea you have

 

I have heard of most of those books in the latest one, but only own two.

[julie]

Today ,let's pay a visit to Dr. Seuss .

 

I'm sure some or maybe all of you have heard that Dr Seuss got  challenged to try to write a book using 50 words or less . Not being one to back down, he agreed ,and succeeded ,by writing his now famous "Green Eggs & Ham " .

 

I never knew who made this challenge until now. It was his editor at Random House, Bennet Cerf .

Bennet is on tons of youtube videos on an old tv show from the 50's called What's My Line .

 

 The list of words he used is below. Exactly 50 .

 

 a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

 

 

It'd be interesting to know if he made the word list first, then built the story around it ,or he made up the story, trying to keep the words down to 50 .

[chesilbeach]

Another interesting post, Julie!

When I was a child, I don't remember seeing any Dr. Seuss books in the library or the bookshops, so I wonder if he wasn't very popular in the UK at the time, and the upshot of that is, that I've never read a Dr. Seuss book. I think the first time I became aware of his books was in the film Home Alone where they show a clip of an animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas on the television in the background. I had no idea there were only 50 words in Green Eggs and Ham either, and I can imagine it must have been quite a challenge to write!

Edited August 4, 2013 by chesilbeach

[julie]

Claire

That does seem unusual that you weren't familiar with the Dr Seuss books as a child, but it could be that they weren't as available there as here back in those days .

I looked to see which book he got published first and it was "And to Think I saw It on Mulberry Street.(1937) It was rejected 27 times before it was finally published . I guess the moral of that story is to never give up .

The Cat in the Hat was next, and was written due to the fact that Dr Seuss thought our school readers were boring ( Dick & Jane ) ,and they definitely were . He thought having a more FUN type book with easy words would encourage more kids to read .

You oughta take a gander through a few of the Seuss books sometime if you're in the library. They are such cute books. I read them to my grandson so many times when he was young that we wore the covers off them .

Edited August 4, 2013 by julie

[chesilbeach]

My god daughter is about the right age, so I think I'll have a sneaky peak at her bookshelves and see if she's got any of them, and if not, then I think I know what to get her for Christmas, and obviously will have to test read them first to make sure they're suitable!

[julie]

Claire

That sounds like a wonderful idea.  I'm sure with you as her godmother, she will grow up loving books . Dr. Seuss would be a great author to try . I can't imagine anyone not liking his books. They are all really cute stories and very funny . 

[poppyshake]

I didn't read them either Claire .. they just weren't readily available here (or perhaps I was blinded by Enid ) It's filtered through though .. mostly through films etc. I love The Grinch Who Stole Christmas .. from the film I mean but they do use the rhymes throughout and that makes it extra quirky. I know there's a Dr Seuss book that's specifically for graduates isn't there?

 

Very interesting though Julie .. and it's not too late to start reading them I'm sure

[julie]

Miss Poppy

Nope, never too late to read any book . I don't know of any adult Dr. Seuss books. I did see one that was listed as a graduation gift, called Oh ,the Places You'll Go --but I think it's a little kid's book ,too . I guess the title would be a good one to give for a graduate , and maybe a nice remembrance of a younger time in their lives ,since I'd say there are very few kids over here that haven't been raised with Dr. Seuss books . Even if they aren't readers at home , they'd have them in the classroom and school libraries .

 

Yes, the Grinch is a good one ,definitely . It's been on as a cartoon Christmas special for many years ,then they made the one with real people ... I think Jim Carey may have been the Grinch, but I'm not sure. I'm not a movie watcher ,but have seen the Cat in the Hat movie approximately 13,000 times when my grandson was small. He loved that and Monsters, Inc .... also Shrek, which I think might be the neatest movie idea I've ever seen .  I love the donkey and the ginderbread man -- OH NO, NOT MY GUMDROPS !!!!

 

FUNNY ...

[Kidsmum]

Miss Poppy

Nope, never too late to read any book . I don't know of any adult Dr. Seuss books. I did see one that was listed as a graduation gift, called Oh ,the Places You'll Go --but I think it's a little kid's book ,too . I guess the title would be a good one to give for a graduate 

 

Woohoo!!! Thanks Julie i checked this out on Amazon & the book is a perfect gift for my eldest daughter who graduates this year 

[julie]

Kidsmum

That's great, I'm glad you found it . I hope your daughter likes it .

[julie]

Today ,let's talk about weird books. Our library has a few of them ,as I'm sure everyone's does . Here are a few that have caught my attention :

 

Raising Earthworms for Fun and Profit .

 

I Still Miss My Man But My Aim is Getting Better

 

Are You Hungry Tonight ? ( An ELVIS inspired cookbook) .

 

 

Here are a few other odd ones I've found online :

 

Still Stripping After 25 Years . --

I don't know about you folks, but I wouldn't strip in the first place. I'm thinking if your body is like MOST people's , things tend to SAG and gravity takes its toll. So , when you get to the point where your "Chestular Area" can be tucked into your belt , it's probably time to look for other employment .

 

 

How to Live With an Idiot --

Quite a catchy title ,one I'd probably take a gander at . It's gotta have something funny in it to have a title like that . My question is, why would you WANT to live with one if you KNEW they were an idiot ? Why not live alone and read something a little more entertaining, like   Making a Fully Working Ventriloquists Dummy .  ( At least that idiot wouldn't talk back to you, unless YOU made him )

 

 

If you are looking for a new hobby :

 

Lumber Jack Songs with Yodel Arrangements

 

How to Make Your Own Shoes

 

Crafting With Cat Hair 

 

 

And if you have a hankering for an edible treat :

 

Innards and Other Variety Meat

 

The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook

 

 

 

 

And don't forget :

 

Anybody Can Be Cool... But Awesome Takes Practice   

   

 

*Yes, folks these are all REAL books .

[Chrissy]

Some of those have wonderful titles, that make you ponder not only the person who wrote it in the first place, but the person who wants to read them....Crafting with cat hair? Wow, that conjures up so many images of tabby cat coloured scarfs, tortoiseshell coloured mittens etc

[Kidsmum]

I like the sound of Anybody Can Be Cool..... but i'm thinking the person who wrote Crafting With Cat Hair has way too much time on their hands 

[Devi]

I just pictured people running around chasing cats trying to get the hair with a title like Crafting with Cat Hair.

[Janet]

When I was a child I regularly borrowed One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr Seuss from our library.  I think I probably took out Green Eggs and Ham and a few others too, but I don't remember those so well.

 

I watched The Cat in the Hat at the cinema when my children were younger - I didn't care for it much  - it was like how I imagine the affects of hallucinogenic drugs to be!   I have never seen The Grinch (I have a bit of an aversion to Jim Carrey).   Is it good?

[poppyshake]

Miss Poppy

Nope, never too late to read any book . I don't know of any adult Dr. Seuss books. I did see one that was listed as a graduation gift, called Oh ,the Places You'll Go --but I think it's a little kid's book ,too . I guess the title would be a good one to give for a graduate , and maybe a nice remembrance of a younger time in their lives ,since I'd say there are very few kids over here that haven't been raised with Dr. Seuss books . Even if they aren't readers at home , they'd have them in the classroom and school libraries .

Yes, that's the one I meant I'm always reading that kids in America never leave for college etc without it.

Yes, the Grinch is a good one ,definitely . It's been on as a cartoon Christmas special for many years ,then they made the one with real people ... I think Jim Carey may have been the Grinch, but I'm not sure. I'm not a movie watcher ,but have seen the Cat in the Hat movie approximately 13,000 times when my grandson was small. He loved that and Monsters, Inc .... also Shrek, which I think might be the neatest movie idea I've ever seen . I love the donkey and the ginderbread man -- OH NO, NOT MY GUMDROPS !!!!

 

FUNNY ...

I've only seen the Jim Carey 'Grinch' and it's hilarious .. really I didn't know I even liked Jim Carey until then  Love 'Monsters Inc' and 'Shrek' too .. my fave bit with the gingerbread man is when he loses a leg and comes over all Tiny Tim ... saying 'God bless us every one' .. maybe it's right at the end I'm not sure now .. makes me laugh anyway.