84 replies to this topic

[Galactus]

So the three books we're reading currently are:

1. Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary
2. Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment
3. Guy de Mapassaunts "The pearl of fat" (I think,no idea hat the english title is) a short story.

I've always thought C&P was too long. Yeah, feel free to hate me for it. I just never had the "WOW!" experience with C&P  The concept is interesing enough, but it just goes on and on and on.

Mmme. Bovary was fairly dull, unpleasant characters and just not very interesting either stylistically or in content. Ripe for interpretations though.

The Fat Pearl was... something. There's all sorts of nuances of power and such that makes it kind of interesting to analyze though. Very unpleasant though.

[sologdin]

i told my wife that she can annakarenina all she wants, but no madamebovarying.

[Lummel]

So your prepared to be Mr Karenin but not Charles Bovary?  Karenin is pretty grey too - although he does get a serious case of religion eventually.

[Galactus]

sologdin, on 12 April 2012 - 01:16 PM, said:

i told my wife that she can annakarenina all she wants, but no madamebovarying.

You'll be fine as long as you don't give her the power to take loans in your name.

[Darth Arya]

The Mayor Of Casterbridge is one of my favourite classics.

[Myshkin]

Galactus, on 12 April 2012 - 12:22 PM, said:

I've always thought C&P was too long. Yeah, feel free to hate me for it. I just never had the "WOW!" experience with C&P  The concept is interesing enough, but it just goes on and on and on.

How dare you criticize my boy Big D?

sologdin, on 12 April 2012 - 01:16 PM, said:

i told my wife that she can annakarenina all she wants, but no madamebovarying.

Well then, just keep her away from trains would be my advice.

[Alytha]

Ahh...classics...

I don't know why, but pretty much every novel written by a woman before 1900 puts me straight to sleep. Bronte, Austen, Eliot, etc...I just can't deal with those. I've never read Jane Eyre, but from all I've heard, I prefer the Thursday Next version.

Dickens is mostly ok, a bit stereotypical after a couple of novels. Or maybe that's just our modern look on it, based on what has happened since.

Loved Jude The Obscure. It didn't seem to fit in with the period much.

I am also the only person I know who likes Heart of Darkness (although I admit it's not an easy read)

[Lyanna Stark]

Galactus, on 12 April 2012 - 12:22 PM, said:

The Fat Pearl was... something. There's all sorts of nuances of power and such that makes it kind of interesting to analyze though. Very unpleasant though.

Guy de Maupassaunt is such an excellent writer. He manages to convey so much with so few words. I haven't read this one in ages, but it still stands out as really special. What language did you read it in btw?

Can't make myself to read Madame Bovary though. I tried several times, but it's just....repelling me somehow.

[Lummel]

Katherine Of House Sith, on 12 April 2012 - 04:43 PM, said:

The Mayor Of Casterbridge is one of my favourite classics.

I find it a bit underwhelming, particularly for a book in which a man sells his wife so he can drink some more,  I'm more of a return of the native, Tess and Jude fan, well fan is the wrong word, bit too grim for fanship, admirer maybe.

Alytha, on 13 April 2012 - 04:32 AM, said:

Ahh...classics...
I am also the only person I know who likes Heart of Darkness (although I admit it's not an easy read)

I like Heart of Darkness, but then you don't know me so there you go!  Try Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth it's a droll little book written by a woman before 1900.

Lyanna Stark, on 13 April 2012 - 07:45 AM, said:

Can't make myself to read Madame Bovary though. I tried several times, but it's just....repelling me somehow.

Your husband also doesn't want you to read it, it might give you 'ideas'.

Edited by Lummel, 13 April 2012 - 07:52 AM.

[Alytha]

Just remembered a fun little book I read at uni: Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock. It's basically a contemporary parody of all those terrible romantic/gothic horror stories, and pretty hilarious.

[sologdin]

find it a bit underwhelming

can't stand hardy.  isn't MoC the retelling of the David-Saul dispute in Samuel?


power to take loans in your name.

exactly the point.  screw whom you want, &c., but keep my credit clean.

[Lummel]

saul - david dispute is that the one were david is 'friends' with jonathan?  Any how you can't stand Hardy **splutter, shocked gasp** you're not into rural depression and disapointment, the grinding inescapable failures that people will make of each others lives because of their fixed and narrow minded ideas?  How can you not like that?

[Darth Arya]

Lummel, on 13 April 2012 - 07:52 AM, said:

I find it a bit underwhelming, particularly for a book in which a man sells his wife so he can drink some more,  I'm more of a return of the native, Tess and Jude fan, well fan is the wrong word, bit too grim for fanship, admirer maybe.

It comes down to personal preference really, Tess Of The D'urbervilles and Mayor Of Casterbridge were both on my English Lit list when I was at school and I remember prefering Henchard as a character even though he was very flawed.
I think it's safe to say none of Hardys work is particularly happy though

[Galactus]

Lyanna Stark, on 13 April 2012 - 07:45 AM, said:

Guy de Maupassaunt is such an excellent writer. He manages to convey so much with so few words. I haven't read this one in ages, but it still stands out as really special. What language did you read it in btw?

Can't make myself to read Madame Bovary though. I tried several times, but it's just....repelling me somehow.

Swedish. And yeah, it's definitely a very, very well-written novella.

[Ylva]

The Storm Queen, on 20 March 2012 - 02:34 PM, said:

Btw, has anybody read disgrace by Coetzee yet?  How did you like it?

I just ordered it, so it should be here on Monday - I'm very much looking forward to it. (And I'll let you know what I think once I'm done.

Regarding the Brontes....I kinda liked Jane Eyre (though I liked her more on the second read than on the first), and Heathcliff realy annoyed the heck out of me. One thing I don't get is why no one seems to be reading/talking about Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which a) is an incredible great book in itself, and treats topics that are still really, really important (addressing things like the way kids should be raised (i.e. should boys be raised different from girls (or vice versa)) and domestic violence (physical, but mostly mental)).

I had the same experience with Frankenstein as Landed Knight. The book was really good, especially all the undercurrents of nature vs. nurture, the absence of the female, etc.
The same thing happened with  Oliver Twist, which I didn't want to read because you essentially know the story anyway (I do like Dickens in general and especially A Tale of Two Cities), and then I realized that it really was a pretty good book.

I have to say, I liked Anna Karenina more than Madame Bovary  just because I was able to relate to Anna, but Emma just drove me nuts. Also, the other characters in Anna Karenina are great which made the books even better. (I also really enjoyed War and Peace). Tess of the D'Urbervilles is somewhere in between the two, I guess....(might have to re-read that again).
Has anyone here read Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane. That's kinda the German take on that story. It's on my shelf, but I haven't gotten round to it yet.

[Myshkin]

Galactus, on 12 April 2012 - 12:22 PM, said:

I've always thought C&P was too long. Yeah, feel free to hate me for it. I just never had the "WOW!" experience with C&P  The concept is interesing enough, but it just goes on and on and on.

Now that I've spent my rage, it occurs to me to ask what language you read it in, and if English, which translation.

[Reposado]

The Lost Direwolf, on 20 March 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

, extremely romantic (sometimes even too much for its own good) story with breathtaking descriptions of nature and a really interesting and nuanced message.

and this is why i hated frankenstein, the monster is so whiny. they were right to want to kill him, just for the wrong reasons.

and i i didn't think it was that nuanced. i thought you were clubbed in the head over and over again.

it's not the story that pop culture would cause you to believe, but imo, it's not good either

[Galactus]

Currently in swedish "90's-ism" (well, scandinavian, since we're reading Ibsen too) Benedictsson, Strindberg, Ibsen, as well as some poetry.

[Maia]

Galactus, on 12 April 2012 - 12:22 PM, said:

I've always thought C&P was too long.

And too overwrought. But then, a lot of Dostoyevsky's work is... Frankly, I vastly prefer "The Devils" or whatever it is called in translation to C&P.

Quote

Mmme. Bovary was fairly dull, unpleasant characters and just not very interesting either stylistically or in content.

Indeed. I never understood it's classic status. I mean, sure, at the time it must have been daring, but now?

Galactus, on 24 April 2012 - 06:39 PM, said:

Currently in swedish "90's-ism" (well, scandinavian, since we're reading Ibsen too) Benedictsson, Strindberg, Ibsen, as well as some poetry.

What are you reading by Ibsen? I used to love him as a kid, but my memory of his work has become pretty muddled. I guess, a re-read is in order.

[Lyanna Stark]

Galactus, on 24 April 2012 - 06:39 PM, said:

Currently in swedish "90's-ism" (well, scandinavian, since we're reading Ibsen too) Benedictsson, Strindberg, Ibsen, as well as some poetry.

My goodness, reading both Strindberg and Benedictsson must be like a complete clash of ideas. Benedictsson who lamented being less than a person since she was a woman, and Strindberg who hated women. I always found Strindberg's writing so terribad I could not even read "Röda Rummet" in comic format. Sod him. Bleah.

Benedictsson I vaguely remember thinking positive thoughts about, but it's too long ago for me to really be able to say why. Ibsen I feel strangely neutral about, maybe because he is often mentioned in the same time period as Strindberg, and to me Strindberg is like a red rag to a bull.

What poetry are you reading?

Edited by Lyanna Stark, 25 April 2012 - 03:44 AM.