Classic literature
One of the quotes of the day on my personalized Google page today came from Mark Twain: "A classic", he is attributed as saying, "is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read."
Funny you should say that, Mark, on two counts:
1. I've never read any of your books, recognized classics though they are. One day I might. I want to have read them, but... well, you know.
2. Today, 1 February, marks the day I am supposed to start reading another classic, Don Quixote, along with Karen, Candy Minx, and Red, so we can all debate it and stuff. Trouble is, I sort of lost a week last month, and I thought it was still around 22 January. I still have quite a lot of The Road to read. I'm trying to catch up, but it might take a day or two...
Funny you should say that, Mark, on two counts:
1. I've never read any of your books, recognized classics though they are. One day I might. I want to have read them, but... well, you know.
2. Today, 1 February, marks the day I am supposed to start reading another classic, Don Quixote, along with Karen, Candy Minx, and Red, so we can all debate it and stuff. Trouble is, I sort of lost a week last month, and I thought it was still around 22 January. I still have quite a lot of The Road to read. I'm trying to catch up, but it might take a day or two...
Labels: classic literature, don quixote, mark twain
permalink posted by * (asterisk) at 6:16 PM
10 Comments:
You should come to Edinburgh. We're giving away classic novels free of charge.
Stevenson novels given away free
Mark Twain's pretty fun to read, not too difficult or anything and there's the adventure stuff in Huck Finn..
Love Don Quixote.
Hate the classic, Grapes of Wrath, the most boring book in existance. but that is a personal thing, lots love it.
I have been fighting that loss of days thing for the entire month, kinda freaking out that it's Feb and I've deadlines to meet and rent to pay and not enough done and not enough money for rent!
No worries *A. Just start it whenever you can. I'm nowhere near being done with Collapse but I'm going to have to put it aside as it's getting a bit tedious. I'll give you some warning though before I put up my summary of the first few chapters.
I had the same quote from Twain this morning. I remembered that I enjoyed Huckleberry Finn but not Tom Sawyer. However, I couldn't tell you the difference between the two now as it's been so long since I had read them.
There's many a "classic" I've yet to read. He is not one of them.
My parents went through a phase (which coincided with some publisher putting out classics in a range you could buy every two weeks or something) of buying quite a few classics. Dickens. Twain. There was Frankenstein and Stoker's Dracula. A Christmas Carol. My sister read the Huckleberry Finn book and that was it. They used to be proudly displayed in the lounge so that our guests may think we were a well read family. Except no one read them. My dad went through a major clear out when my mom died and the books were removed from the shelves. We found them languishing in a box, untouched. Unread.
i wish i could do this little reading club thing with you guys, but i just started Les Miserables and i just don't think i could handle to epic classics at the same time.
but i am excited to hear what all of you have to say about it (as long as you don't give away too much ;)
I enjoyed Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, but it's a long time since I read them.
You are right, not all classics are particularly enjoyable reads. I have never got more than halfway through Wuthering Heights, and as for The French Lieutenant's, I'd rather clean out 100 overflowing litter trays than tackle that again.
I have read everything i can to avoid Innocents Abroad. It started off well enough, but I think that enough time has passed that it's hard for me to relate to. Hence a classic.
I've read most of the Russian classics, and I like them a lot because they are so fucking gloomy. Better than goth music. But I'd rather have Pisko's claws on my hands than any of the Brontees' books, or Moby Dick.
I LOVED Don quixote when I read it at uni. I laughed my head off quite a few times (does that help?).
Just need to neutralise ldbug's comment. Grapes of Wrath is amazing.
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