Wow weekends get away from me, just quickly posting this weeks #BookSnapSunday. I really didn’t know what I would post today but Bronte came home with a copy of David Copperfield. Bronte and her friends have a; ‘books we have lied about reading’ book club going and David Copperfield is her current choice.
#BookSnapSunday is a weekly bookish Instagram meme hosted here at Gum trees and Galaxies.com, if you would like to join in please feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments below. All you have to do is post an image of a book. Happy reading!
Dickens is a great author for dipping back into, especially on cold winter nights, he is definitely a bit of a comfort read. Two of my favourites are Bleak House and Great Expectations, what is your favourite Dickens? To be honest I have not read David Copperfield since high school and even then I remember skimming through so I might re-along with Bron on this one ( or maybe download a free audio book of it from librivox).
Loved the idea of a books we have lied about reading bookgroup. I think I have implied I have read more of the Russian greats than I actually have, who has time for Tolstoy? Are there any books you have fibbed about reading?
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One author I profess to have read is Ernest Hemingway – too old and blokey for me 🙂
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I really enjoyed Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. It’s the only Hemingway I have read so far, and I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it, but it was surprisingly quite engaging.
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I remember my parents liked the film version with Spencer Tracy.
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I didn’t know there was a film. It’s quite a short book, I wouldn’t have thought there would be enough for a film. Might be worth following it up. Thanks!
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And it is a short read. I also quite liked the Spencer Tracey film.
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Sounds like I will definitely have to chase it up.
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He certainly is blokey, I didn’t mind For Whom the Bell Tolls although it isn’t an easy read with the style censorship kind of demanded.
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War and Peace is definitely quite a brick – have done it once, not sure if I have the time to do it again. The bookclub sounds like a fun idea, but I don’t think I have ever fibbed about reading a book, at least not outrightly.
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Yep it certainly is a brick, I think I have sort of hinted I may have read more of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky than I have actually finished apparently it is a thing to not be entirely honest about what you have read, I am not really surprised I guess since some of the younger generation do not seem to be big readers of the classics.
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The classics can be a more challenging read. This semester I’m actually doing “How to Read the Classics” and Great Expectations is on the reading list. It will be interesting to see if my approach to the classics changes as a result.
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I hope you enjoy that unit and Great Expectations is an easy read and it does have the oh so memorable Miss Havisham and some interesting references to Australia and convicts.
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Great idea for a book club. There are a certain number of books I know ABOUT, but haven’t actually read. Maybe some day. Some are SFF, others mainstream (I am never going to tackle The Goldfinch) or classics I now think I’m too old for (like Moby Dick). I used to be an omnivorous reader, but with the chronic illness comes limitations on energy: I use mine to write, because if I read with it, I lose days of writing.
When I finish the mainstream trilogy (1.5 to go), I think I’ll just read for months.
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Time is precious and there is a lot to be said for not wasting it on books we don’t enjoy. I have to confess I have never read Moby Dick but it is one I feel I should read. I did read the Goldfinch I was interested in the art angle and it was a very pacey read. Good luck with the writing, may your days be productive.
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Define ‘very pacey read.’ I’m thinking more of the complaints about the plotting that I’ve read. Of things that didn’t make sense, of the ambiguous ending (IIRC – can’t promise that I do without going to look).
I often think I need to mine some of the comment streams of some of these books to see whether I can figure out how to offer readers a tightly plotted trilogy.
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Lots of staggering from one suspenseful moment to another and it does get a bit wearing after awhile, although I finished it no problem and could see why it had sold so well. I don’t mind a bit of ambiguity in endings it gives you something to ponder.
To many cliff hangers and you risk switching off the reader sometimes but good writing and good characterisation will usually keep me going with any book, it does not have to be a thrill a minute.
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I have read Moby Dick and I found it to be rather a slog. It took forever to actually get to the whale chase. These days I am far less willing to waste time on books I don’t enjoy, unless it’s required reading.
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Yes life is short and we should definitely not be wasting time on books we don’t enjoy. I have to confess Moby Dick does feel like one of those books I should have read and maybe one day I will give it a go but I am not in a hurry to read it at the moment.
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The first Dickens I read was David Copperfield when I was about 11 years old. Even though it was quite a depressing read through most of it, at the time my home life was very challenging and I remember gaining some sort of solace from reading about his own suffering. I didn’t feel so alone. It had a huge impact on me. I remember it being a well-used very old paperback I’d bought for 10c at a dusty old shop at the end of my street. That shop was my Aladdin’s Cave! My family didn’t have use of a car for various reasons, so my escape into other worlds was mainly done through literature. I think it’s special how a particular book can impact your life at crucial times and stay with you forever. I love that aspect of books, movies, and music…the individual differences in response. It’s magic. Thanks for taking me back in time by reminding me of Dickens! It’s been a while. 🙂
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That is so true, I remember picking up Wuthering Heights when I was about 11 and the psychological honesty of that book really hit me when some of the adults around me were more than a bit dysfunctional. There is a great line in Alan Bennett’s History Boys about how you sometimes read something and it is like a hand has reached out from the page and taken yours and you know you are not alone, it really sums up what reading the right book at the right time can give you.
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