Favorite Classic Book?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

hmm. I think it was an easy read. Took me only several days. Of course I did with a superb translation. Except if you'd read it in French, then...

Not in French, no...

Try reading 1400+ pages in half an hour each morning, and about the same each night, if I didn't fall asleep first. Took me about 3 weeks .

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by orlok

Now that really messes with the 100 book in 2011 challenge. Just like The Count of Monte Cristo did when I read it earlier in the year - really hammered my average (1400+ pages).

Yea, it does slow you down, but the effort for some books is worth it. One I couldn't finish was Les Miserables. It's longer than War and Peace. There was one chapter devoted entirely to the battle of Waterloo. It was 75 pages long in hardback with miniscule text. The only relation to the story was a couple who were robbing corpses of money, jewlery etc in the aftermath of the battle. It would turn out to be Cossete's adopted family that Jan Valjan rescued her from. I said I had enough and put it down. Someday, maybe I'll try again.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Yea, it does slow you down, but the effort for some books is worth it. One I couldn't finish was Les Miserables. It's longer than War and Peace. There was one chapter devoted entirely to the battle of Waterloo. It was 75 pages long in hardback with miniscule text. The only relation to the story was a couple who were robbing corpses of money, jewlery etc in the aftermath of the battle. It would turn out to be Cossete's adopted family that Jan Valjan rescued her from. I said I had enough and put it down. Someday, maybe I'll try again.

Les Miserables has been sitting on my shelf, staring at me for years. You just made sure that is where it will stay for a couple of years longer. There are too many books I am keen on reading for me to waste time.

[wandalynn]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I'm currently rereading War and Peace. This will be the third time. I just love the book.

Halfway through the book for the first time and it's just so engrossing. I'm reading an older translation (Maude) and am thinking about rereading it in a more modern version.
Any suggestions? (English, btw) Thanks

[wandalynn]

Originally Posted by issybird

Heh. Duly noted and accommodated in the poll.

Got a slot for Alcott?

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by wandalynn

Halfway through the book for the first time and it's just so engrossing. I'm reading an older translation (Maude) and am thinking about rereading it in a more modern version.
Any suggestions? (English, btw) Thanks

Yea, I'm reading a very recent translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhnonsky. It's a Kindle book for 8.99. The extra money is worth it. It has a little more footnoted French, but Kindle will go to it and return where you left off. The amount of French is actually making a point in War and Peace. Mostly in Anna Pavlovna's soirees. There are also historical footnotes of interest explaining certain aspects of the war and daily life of the time that I haven't seen in other translations. Again Kindle will navigate to the footnote and return you where you left off. Well worth the 8.99! I highly recommend it.

Just checked this edition can also be had in paperback.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by wandalynn

Got a slot for Alcott?

You recall to me a question I've had: do girls read Alcott anymore? I read and reread those books, but I suspect that the language and the setting are too antiquated for today's ten-year old. Not that they weren't antiquated when I read them, but it didn't seem to faze kids then as much.

My favorites were An Old-Fashioned Girl and Jack and Jill, and not the Little Women trilogy--or Little Women alone (make that Little Women plus Good Wives for the British), since Little Men and Jo's Boys weren't very good. I think this holds up; if nothing else, it's hard to forgive Jo for turning down Laurie and taking Professor Bhaer. Staying single, as her doppelganger did, would have been preferable.

[cearbhallain]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

hmm. I think it was an easy read. Took me only several days. Of course I did with a superb translation. Except if you'd read it in French, then...

I wish I could read in French. I know from experience that a good translation of Dumas makes *all* *the* *difference*. Now if I could only remember which translation of CoMC I read in high school...The best Three Musketeers was the one my mom had from college (back in the early 60's). My daughter has run off with it, so I can't tell anyone which one it was now. I'll give everyone this tip though: If you're not laughing by the third page, get a different one. The Three Musketeers is hilarious, which fact serves to offset the tragedy of the story.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by orlok

Not in French, no...

Try reading 1400+ pages in half an hour each morning, and about the same each night, if I didn't fall asleep first. Took me about 3 weeks .

ah, I see.

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Yea, it does slow you down, but the effort for some books is worth it. One I couldn't finish was Les Miserables. It's longer than War and Peace. There was one chapter devoted entirely to the battle of Waterloo. It was 75 pages long in hardback with miniscule text. The only relation to the story was a couple who were robbing corpses of money, jewlery etc in the aftermath of the battle. It would turn out to be Cossete's adopted family that Jan Valjan rescued her from. I said I had enough and put it down. Someday, maybe I'll try again.

whoo hoo, you couldn't put up with the Waterloo battle but had finished the whole first volume without complaining?? I mean the long, long, loooooong part about Bishop Myriel, while he didn't play any important role in the story? That was a long time ago, and I can only guess - that irrelevant part was like some hundred pages to me. The MOST boring stuff I've ever encountered. Apart from War and Peace...

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Les Miserables has been sitting on my shelf, staring at me for years. You just made sure that is where it will stay for a couple of years longer. There are too many books I am keen on reading for me to waste time.

It's more interesting than you give it credit for. I assure you. That is, if you survive some first hundred pages without going to MobileRead and blame me for my recommendation... It took me 2 years to push myself through all the boring things at the beginning - you know the style the French folks liked to write in those days: wordy descriptions and irrelevant details. I still remember going to a secondhand bookstore, picked up the Les Misérables - it came in 4 old, thick, dusty and fuzzy books. The lines were faded and I had to guess in many places.

Originally Posted by cearbhallain

I'll give everyone this tip though: If you're not laughing by the third page, get a different one. The Three Musketeers is hilarious, which fact serves to offset the tragedy of the story.

that explains why I didn't enjoy The 3 Musketeers! I thought, "Duh, this bores me to death!" and wondered why people kept reading it!

[lestatar]

Dante's Inferno

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

The Art Of War

[cearbhallain]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

that explains why I didn't enjoy The 3 Musketeers! I thought, "Duh, this bores me to death!" and wondered why people kept reading it!

I just found this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...ar-422125.html

I may have to check out this new translation.

[ScalyFreak]

Another fan of the Count of Monte Cristo here. I've read it countless times (ugh, bad pun) and never tire of it. Nothing grabs my undivided attention and admiration like thorough revenge. It's appeals to my inner Klingon.

And I'm going to have to try and fine a good translation of The Three Musketeers. Suggestions are welcome.

[wellreadfred]

Hi all

My favorite classic would be Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I have re-read it over and over through the years.

peace & happy reading,

[ficbot]

short stories- Sherlock Holmes series
novel- Wuthering Heights
poetry- Palgrave's Golden Treasury anthology

And I don't know that I would re-read it, but Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens made a huge impression on me. It's a timeless story of a guy who thinks he's All That while the universe tries to humble him into noticing that he maybe isn't.

[miguel1626]

Moby Dick. Still one of the best books about madness.