Classics
Meeting summary Sept. 21/07
Madame Bovary by Flaubert Pat
My Antonia by Willa Cather Frances
All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque Rhian
Ivanhoe by Scott Rhian
Snows of Kilimanjaro by Hemingway Lisa
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn Kathryn
The Red Pony by Steinbeck Linda
Northanger Abbey by Austen Ada
A lively and interesting meeting. Once again we are all urged (pleaded with) to post brief summaries of our books on the blog. Just add as a comment to this post.
The next meeting will be Friday, Nov. 2. Theme is Southern (as in southern United States) fiction. Place to be announced. We are also planning a genrestudy lite for Christmas, probably on a Sunday at Kathryn's place. By lite, I mean maybe very short seasonal readings, ditties, jokes, songs, puppet shows, etc. rather than book discussions. Something like what we did a couple of years ago.
Also Pat offered her place for our first 2008 meeting so she can show off her new kitchen.
Labels: Classics
posted by Kathryn at 3:16 PM
3 Comments:
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
I've always wanted to read this book because it sounded interesting and exciting. But I was pretty disappointed. Perhaps Emma Bovary was a tragic figure to some but I found her intolerable. This really made it impossible for me to enjoy the story. I had no sympathy for her and her actions made me more and more exasperated. yes, Frances, I just wanted to smack her! It is possible that the novel lost in the translation but I didn't find it all that well written either. But at least I get to cross it off my list of Books I Should Read
My Antonia by Willa Cather
A beautifully written story told by Jim Burden, a fictional friend created by the author, who presents the story as his memoir about growing up on the Nebraska frontier. Lots of vivid descriptions of the landscape using metaphors and similes. Apparently, many aspects of the story are autobiographical. Cather moved to Nebraska in 1883.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn
This is the story of one prisoner in a Stalinist labor camp in 1951.
I read this on the picket line, thinking to remind myself that at least I was in a better position than poor old Ivan.
I liked it for the intensity of living that Solzhenitsyn conveys. Despite horrendous cold, lack of food and cruel prison routines, Ivan manages to maintain his dignity and build a meaningful existence for himself.
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