Beyond Jane Austin

[Zooey]

I’m surprised that you never read A Tale of Two Cities in school. It seems like just about everyone is forced to read that one! My parents were, and so was I. I actually liked it, though. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

I was forced to, but I didn’t do it anyway…I was home sick with the flu around that time, & we had a dandy local show in Rochester called “Movie Matinee Classics”, which really did have classics, & one of those flu days, Tale of Two Cities was on. I watched it, & learned enough to pass as having read it.
At that point in my life, I was so happy reading 19th Century Russian novels, that I had no time for anything else…I have caught up with a lot of other writers, but I still have the same distaste for Dickens that I had 40 years ago!!
To me, he always makes me want to quote him:

[SIGN] “Bah! Humbug!!”[/SIGN]

 

[lak611]

I was forced to, but I didn’t do it anyway…I was home sick with the flu around that time, & we had a dandy local show in Rochester called “Movie Matinee Classics”, which really did have classics, & one of those flu days, Tale of Two Cities was on. I watched it, & learned enough to pass as having read it.
At that point in my life, I was so happy reading 19th Century Russian novels, that I had no time for anything else…I have caught up with a lot of other writers, but I still have the same distaste for Dickens that I had 40 years ago!!
To me, he always makes me want to quote him:

[SIGN] “Bah! Humbug!!”[/SIGN]

I have the same distaste for Thomas Hardy that you have for Charles Dickens. Tess of the D’urbervilles** was the worst book I was forced to read in school.

 

[LilyM]

I was forced to, but I didn’t do it anyway…I was home sick with the flu around that time, & we had a dandy local show in Rochester called “Movie Matinee Classics”, which really did have classics, & one of those flu days, Tale of Two Cities was on. I watched it, & learned enough to pass as having read it.
At that point in my life, I was so happy reading 19th Century Russian novels, that I had no time for anything else…I have caught up with a lot of other writers, but I still have the same distaste for Dickens that I had 40 years ago!!
To me, he always makes me want to quote him:

[SIGN] “Bah! Humbug!!”[/SIGN]

So you’re a fan of Anna Karenina? There’s something about it that resonates with my naturally pessimistic Eastern European soul

 

[lak611]

So you’re a fan of Anna Karenina? There’s something about it that resonates with my naturally pessimistic Eastern European soul

That’s one of my favourites, as is War and Peace.**

 

[puzzleannie]

since I gave away most of my books when we started RVing, now that I am in a house and rebuilding, carefully and slowly, my library, I am collecting hardcover and good paper editions of classics. Daughters are getting me Oxford edition of Jane, one for each birthday-Christmas (bless 'em). I just picked up some minor works by Dostoyevsky which I have never read. I have read Dickens, but other than a good volume of Christmas Carol, won’t buy any. been there done that where he is concerned, but Jane I can read over and over, and I can’t say that about her contemporaries.

 

[deb1]

I was forced to, but I didn’t do it anyway…I was home sick with the flu around that time, & we had a dandy local show in Rochester called “Movie Matinee Classics”, which really did have classics, & one of those flu days, Tale of Two Cities was on. I watched it, & learned enough to pass as having read it.
At that point in my life, I was so happy reading 19th Century Russian novels, that I had no time for anything else…I have caught up with a lot of other writers, but I still have the same distaste for Dickens that I had 40 years ago!!
To me, he always makes me want to quote him:

[sign] “Bah! Humbug!!”[/sign]

Despite being a huge fan of Dickens myself, I can understand some people’s dislike. He has an unusual writing style that can be difficult for modern readers.

I love the Russian authors also! Somehow Tolstoy made his females seem alive and have depth. Anna Karenia is one of my favorite novels.

I like Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment also. THere is a scene in the book in which the young girl prostitutes herself to get money to feed her little siblings. WHen she comes home she lays the money on the table and then sits on the bed, covering her head with her shawl and crying. The stepmother sits on the bed and cries with her. THere is something about that scene that always chokes me up.

As far as books that I don’t like. I really, really detest Madame Bovary? Ugh. I hate this novel.