The 50 Book Challenge :: Spring Classics Edition!
 

So what's everyone's favorite classic novel?

Do you guys tend to read certain books once the weather gets warm?

Does 1984 qualify as a classic, or is it still too new yet? It's only about 20 years newer than Gatsby, so maybe not? Anyway, that's my favorite. :)

I'm not sure that my reading choices change with the weather. But I do tend to associate a book with whatever season it was when I read it, and if I get lucky, the book will take place primarily in the season that I'm actually living. Reading The Golden Compass in winter was very nice, as much of it takes place in a snowy tundra. :lol:

There aren't really any classic novels which come to mind that I could label as my favourite. Indeed I am not sure if I have even read very many, if any, at all. o.o

I can't think of any particular books I like to read in spring.

I do read a lot once the weather gets warmer, though. I think it's mostly because this is the time of year everyone has their yard sales. There are always tons of cheap books for sale.

This time of the year is also awesome here in Palmerston North too. Not for people having yard sales, but rather because it is around now that the Red Cross has their annual book fair. There are normally so many books which I want and they are around $2 each! Well the books I typically want cost that much. It is this upcoming Friday to Sunday and there will be over 60,000 books. :P

Yard sales are the best! During the summer, the library in Woodstock actually hosts a big library sale every other weekend. I make it a point to visit it at least a few times. You can walk out of there with huge bags full of books for only a few dollars. And they have an amazing selection! So many of the residents work in publishing or the art industry, so they'll donate their old reviewer copies of new novels or even signed editions. I can't wait until it starts up again this year, I can usually get enough books there to keep me going all year long.

Ooh, that sounds so cool, Knerd! :eager: I wonder if my local library will be having any sales soon. Actually, I hope not, their selection needs broadening, not narrowing. :lol:

You never know! My area has a bunch of library sales during the summer, mostly to raise money for the libraries. They always seem to have boxes full of books that they can't use for some reason or another. I'm sure that some are just too old or in bad condition, or they're duplicates.

Maybe if you get that library internship, you could even ask the higher ups about hosting one!

Knerd - Not a bad idea!

I couldn't find anything on their website about any upcoming sales, but I'll ask the next time I go in. Maybe they're thinking of doing one but don't have a date set or something. :)

Hey everyone!!

The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books! I kind of geeked out a bit when I saw all the Daisy and Gatsby named clothing in the event store... it was ridiculous.

Other favorite classics include: Crime and Punishment, Don Quixote (mostly in Spanish), Lord of the Flies, pretty much anything Carroll or Shakespeare...

That sounds awesome, Knerd. The libraries in my are don't seem to do big sales like that. Sometimes they'll have a cart of two of books for sale, but there hardly ever anything I would read.

There is an indoor flea market that goes on every friday, though. There's usually a decent selection of books there as well.

I usually aim for 50 books. Last year I hit that goal right on the nose, but this year I think that I'll be reading quite a bit more. My new Kindle is a big motivator. :lol:

Yeah, it's flea market season around here too! I actually missed out on a big one this weekend because I'm not living with my parents anymore, but hopefully I'll hear about some good ones in my area. It's just a matter of keeping your ears open, you never know when a good sale will pop up somewhere.

Aw! That's a pain, I think it's happened to all of us at some point. I guess there's always a reason why a book was donated. :lol:

My to-read list is down to 135 right now, and I promised myself not to reread anything until I shorter my list a little. haha :P

But I have to say The Bell Jar (Plath) and The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood) are my two favorite books. Orwell is good and all, but sometimes I like those classic female writers.

My favorite romance is a three-way tie between Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. I keep trying to pick a single favorite, but I just can't decide. Each has something very wonderful about them that just keeps me unable to pick.

My favorite overall novel is The Count of Monte Cristo. I've just finished it for the... fifth or sixth time.

I don't really read by the season... If a book is entirely holiday themed (like, say, a book about Christmas), I try to read it within a month or so of the holiday, but otherwise I don't bother to keep up with it. :x

re: Gatsby
I haven't read this yet. I wonder if Project Gutenburg has it. If so, I'll toss it on my Kobo.

re: What I'm reading now.
I'm reading Alice in Wonderland (about 50% through it, according to Kobo). I'll probably read Through the Looking Glass after that.

I'm also reading an old restaurant review book that I found on Project Gutenberg. It seems to have been written between the two World Wars. I can't find a copyright in the file (apart from the 2000-something one for the PG edition, I think) so I'm basing that off of what they're discussing.

So far I've read an interesting anecdote about an extremely rich Spanish gentleman who entertained himself by pouring wax on the clothes of his famous/beautiful female guests to ruin them and then pay for their replacement. And the Spanish guy asked the restaurant owner how much it would cost if he just burned down the restaurant and the owner replied, "two or three millions" so the Spanish guy got up and was about to start lighting the curtain on fire when the owner managed to stop him. o_o;

It just solidified for me that it was worth the time to read if it had any more anecdotes like that!

Great Gatsby was not one of my favorites but I read it for school.
I recently read 1984 and... it's hard to explain. I didn't like the plot. I can't say that I liked the book so much as appreciated what it was for and what it meant. I'm glad I read it and I can discuss it like any other great work, but I wouldn't read it again any time soon if I had a choice.

Feedbooks definitely has The Great Gatsby. I downloaded it to put on my Kindle. :)

I keep typing Gatsy. I don't know what one of those is or why it would be Great.

You know, I'm not a big fan of the Great Gatsby. I can appreciate it for it's place in literary history and the delicate way it's written, but it's not a novel that I can sit down and truly enjoy reading. I feel that way about that whole era of writing: The Lost Generation is a bit tough to empathize with unless you've experienced the same sort of dissatisfaction personally.

I've been looking for a lot of Margaret Atwood lately. I loved the Handmaid's Tale for what it was. Margaret Atwood puts beautiful detail about the most wonderful things in her books and I find it helps balance the tragedy that often wells up.
Also, she's seventy-three and Tweets like a teenager. A very well read, incredibly wise teenager. Maybe not like a teenager then...

Yay! I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes Atwood. My friend had to read the book in high school, and I usually read the same with her, just so we had something to talk about. She thought it was boring, but once you get use to the style, it's fun.

Uh oh, somehow I missed this before! :o

Isn't Project Gutenburg great? I've found so many collections of folk tales and mythology on there. I've always thought of myself as a whiz in Classic and Norse mythology, but some of these new collections just baffle me. Not to mention all the Sumerian, Japanese, and Hindu collections on there. It's perfect bedtime reading and I'm so glad that I can finally enjoy it with a Kindle.


re Atwood: I've got a love/hate relationship with her. She's an amazing writer and has created some of the best feminist works in the 20th century. Not to mention that she's an awesome person on her own (I follow her twitter too :lol:). I've always admired the way that she can create fully dimensional characters who age realistically. There aren't many authors out there who are comfortable putting a spotlight on older women.

But I do have to disagree with a lot of her gender lines. I wouldn't have such an issue with the way she portrayed men if it was done in only a few works or if it seemed to have some sort of positive justification. But especially in works like The Handmaid's Tale, there's such a huge underlying fear and violence related to male characters. It's tough to stomach when that sort of emotion is present in 99% of her work. I can't hate her for it, but I can't really love her for it either.