Friday, March 7, 2014

Mini-reviews - Classics Club Special

I joined Classics Club in February 2013, and uploaded my list of a 100 classic books I hope to read. A year and one month has passed and I figured it's a good idea to see how I've been doing in that front.
 
I've read 21 books out of my 100! Which I'm perfectly happy with. So far I have written about 16 books. I was very firm about my classic books, meaning that I was willing to mini-review other books, but wanted to make a separate post for all my classics. However, I am going to type a mini-review edition of five classics that I have, and have had for quite a bit, on my shelf.  
 
 
C_Club #17 - The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera - 5/5
I read this book last year, and it's one of my all time favourite. The first time I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being was in high school, and now, after the re-read, I love it even more. That book also started my slight obsession with Prague, which finally culminated last summer, when I got to visit this marvellous city for the first time (there's a scene in the beginning of the book where one of the main characters, Tereza, walks around in Prague with a copy of Anna Karenina casually under her arm; I find both characters, Tereza and Anna, equally intriguing). I wrote a little bit about why I love this book in my TOP5 Best Books 2013 post.
 
C_Club #18 - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - 4/5
Fortunately or unfortunately, this was not my first Gaskell novel - I read and enjoyed Cranford back in December. So it's safe to say I expected to like North and South, and I did. Taking a peek into life in an industrialist town was interesting, and I liked that Margaret Hale was not portrayed as some stiff upper class person unable to think change. John Thornton is, I think, one of the better male protagonists, he did have some hilarious lines -- "I am a man. I claim the right of expressing my feelings."
 
C_Club #19 - Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol - 4/5
A man named Chichikov goes around in Russia and attempts to buy dead souls. This is a heavy criticism on Russian politics and Russian people, but its told in a surprisingly humorous manner (trust me, I was more than ready to face some more angst of tortured Russian souls). Especially Chichikov's meetings with people he sees in the countryside are very funny.
A fun fact: in Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief, we meet gogols. Since I read these two books close to another, it was not exactly difficult to draw instant connection. Gogols are entities that can be cloned and transferred between bodies, so they are kind of dead souls. I proper book-geeked out, because book nerds love such pointless tidbits.  
 


C_Club #20 - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 4/5
Another very solid book from Kingsolver, I am quite sure I will read her other books too (I read and rather enjoyed Flight Behavior last May). Nathan Price takes his wife and four daughters to a Baptist mission to Belgian Congo in 1959. The book is highly thought provoking (who has the right to assume that things, which we believe in and which suit us, work the same way for everyone else?) and I liked it because I learned so much about this time period in Africa, which I was not aware of before - perks of historical fiction. The book is told through five different POVs, which I always like; in this case all the voices were very different and distinguishable. The reason why I didn't give The Poisonwood Bible maximum points is that the characters at times felt too stretched out, exaggerated - for example Rachel was totally believable as your typical door-slamming can't-see-further-from-my-own-tip-of-nose teenager, but I found it hard to believe that even at the age of 40, pretty much nothing had changed in her attitudes. But maybe there are such people in this world...
One thing I cannot stop thinking about is the translation of this book. I know it has been translated into many foreign languages, and one of the characters Adah speaks a lot in palindromes - how do you translate a palindrome so that neither its meaning nor its shape changes? It's impossible! I am so curious. My guess is they probably made up different palindromes with as similar meaning as possible.

C_Club #21 - Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut - 2/5
I didn't like this book. *sad face* I just didn't like it. I can sense its huge literary merit and the importance of the ideas it carries but I just didn't connect with Vonnegut's writing at all. Which is a shame - I so wanted to like his stuff.
 
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Guys! I'm almost caught up with all my reviews - don't remember when that last happened. Now I only have John Green's The Fault in Our Stars to write about, and that's gonna be a toughie :p, and also Packing for Mars by Mary Roach for year 2014 TBR Challenge.

PS. The Women's Prize (Bailey's Prize this year) longlist was just announced last night - have you already seen it? Click me. Exicing stuff. I'll make a post on Women's Prize and write how the last year's project went for me.

22 comments:

  1. What?? You were in Prague and you didn't tell me?? OK, I'm not sure we were acquainted last summer (were we?), but if you decide to do this again, you HAVE to tell me! I'm a good guide :)
    Slaughterhouse 5 is crap and Gaskell is nice and I'm looking forward to reading North and South!
    21 out of 100 is a really nice job! Good luck with your further classic reading!

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    1. I think we were like freshly acquainted last summer and I'm pretty sure this topic even came up (I wrote some blog posts as well on the trip). But I don't remember that well either :)

      Thanks, I'll definitely continue with my classics list until the victorious end.

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  2. Damn, well done you!! That is a lot of books! I didn't like Slaughterhouse Five either, if it makes you feel any better. I suspected I wouldn't, and indeed I didn't. The writing didn't do it for me, and honestly, the plot didn't either. :/

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    1. It does make me feel a bit better knowing that other people didn't enjoy Slaughterhouse Fine just like I didn't - otherwise it would be a bit weird to be the only one not to "get" the big literature :)

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  3. I'd love to read more Kingsolver too, and I might need to check out your 5-star book The Unbearable Lightness of Being :)

    I am so on the fence about reading The Fault in Our Stars and just read a 2 star review recently that got a ton of people coming out of the woodworks saying things like "I'm so glad I'm not the only one who didn't love this book" so I'd say don't worry too much :)

    ALSO, I clicked through to the women's prize longlist and discovered I actually have 3 of the books! I often think I don't read enough award-winners (or nominees) and was so happy to see 3 books I'm really looking forward to reading on the list :)

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    1. Which books do you have from Women's Prize longlist, Christine? I have 2 on my Kindle, The Goldfinch and Burial Rites. But there's so many on the list I want to read!

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    2. I have Burial Rites as well. Also Americanah and The Luminaries -- that last one is going to take a bit of commitment, but I think I sounds really good. Probably will start with Burial Rites though. I've been browsing the prize's archives and was both happy & a bit surprised to realize I actually have read a few long-listed books over the years without even realizing it :)

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    3. I'm willing to admit that I am scared of The Luminaries, although it does sound really intriguing! I would recommend Burial Rites, it's well written and fairly short. I think very different books can be found among the Women's Prize winners, which is why I like this prize and why I follow it. :)

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  4. 21/100 books in a YEAR!? That's amazingly impressive. I started a similar thing in 2011 and I'm only reading my 30th book as we speak, three years later!

    http://www.bookinginheels.com/2011/11/project-fill-in-gaps.html

    I got through the easier classics fairly early on, but now I find myself not really trying too hard to read the others. I mean, I DO read them but more by luck than design! :)

    I didn't know that much about The Unbearable Lightness of Being until I read this - I'd heard of it, but nothing more. Now I think I'm going to pop over to Amazon and add it to my wishlist, so thanks for that!

    I didn't like Slaughterhouse 5 much either, don't worry (it was on my list too actually!). I really WANTED to like it and I tried so hard... but no.

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    1. I think the great thing about classics club list is that it's your own choice and your own pace to read. I was probably also quite excited at first when I started (tbh I didn't think I'd read that much already), but this will slow down now because I've turned back to genre fiction more lately :)

      It's a good point though, I think either consciously or subconsciously I too have been picking the easier reads so far and then in the end will probably be War and Peace, Moby Dick and other such books in the list.

      We have identical experience with Slaughterhouse Five then. I don't know if you have thought of trying some other Vonnegut - I am doubtful, though I too want to like him so much.

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  5. Great progress on your list so far, Riv!
    I really loved Poisonwood Bible. I read The Lacuna when it was short-listed for the Orange Prize and found it to be a bit of a disappointment by comparison.

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    1. Thanks, Sam!
      Oh, too bad Lacuna was not as good. I was thinking of trying Prodigal Summer and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle next, but I have no idea how good or not good these will be.

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  6. Well done :)

    Glad you like Unbearable Lightness of Being - it's on my list and I've not read it - I'm slightly nervous of it! I might go and have a look when I go to bed :)

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    1. Thanks! I saw you read The Unbearable Lightness and I'm so happy - it's such a good book but for some reason I don't see many people reading it.

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    2. Well, I have to be honest - I really did not like it to begin with, and I only persevered because it was on one of my lists, but I ended up really liking it! Glad you reviewed it or I would have left it for ages! :)

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    3. I think it is the kind of book one needs to get into, or read a bit, to appreciate, otherwise yes, I admit, it can leave kind of a weird impression.

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  7. Impressive! You should be really proud of your progress. I haven't read of the books you reviewed, but I'm intrigued by Dead Souls. I've been thinking of switching out Crime and Punishment from my list for another book since I think War and Peace will be the big Russian book I read this year.

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    1. Thank you! I'm wondering how it happened that I never got to Crime and Punishment either since I'm positive it was in our high school reading list... it must have been a choice between a few books, and likely I didn't choose this one. I'm pretty sure Dead Souls is easier going than C&P, although they both tackle serious subjects.

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  8. Love the mini reviews. And I totally get what you mean about the Vonnegut. I didn't like that book either. I tried, but...

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    1. Thanks! Yep, same here - I tried really hard, but didn't like it.

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  9. Thanks for being honest with your review of Slaughterhouse Five. I think what's interesting about books in general is that everybody really reads differently. Slaughterhouse 5 is one of my favorites, but I can see exactly what you are saying as well that it just didn't speak to you. I didn't like The Unbearable Lightness at all :/

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    1. We are all so different and it's cool when people can see behind others' reasoning even if they have different opinion :) I love Unbearable Lightness, but I can totally see how this is not the book for many people.

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Leave a comment if you feel like it - it warms my little bookish heart. :)