The Content Reader

The Classic Club  has announced another Classic spin. This will take us over Christmas and New Year for the deadline of 30 January 2021. The spin will take place on Sunday 22nd November 2020 , so make sure you update your list. You should read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period. There is a problem with Pages in Blogger so all my pages disappeared. It is said they are working on it, but so far no solution it seems. Therefore I put my updated list in this post. Hope to see you on Sunday and am looking forward to seeing what is awaiting us.  My spin list (updated 19 November 2020, for spin #25 1. The Master and Margarita by Michail Bulgakov 2. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Carter 3. Daisy Miller by Henry James 4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoj  6. The Master and Margarita by Michail Bulgakov 7. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence 8. Child Harold by Lord Byron 9. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton 10. The Grapes of Wrath ...

I read this comedy by Shakespeare as part of a challenge from the Classic Club  in co-operation with Rachel @ Hibernator's Library  -   2019 Year of Shakespeare . The idea is to read a Comedy for Jan - April -  The Taming of the Shrew , a historical drama for May - Aug -  King John  and a Tragedy for Sep - Dec -  Hamlet . At the same time  Hamlette's Soliloquy  announced the February blog party of  We Love Shakespeare Week . Hitting two birds with one stone, I read  The Taming of the Shrew.    I find it very difficult to read Shakespeare, that is maybe why I expose myself to the challenge. On top of it, I promised Hamlette's Soliloquy to write a review of The Taming of the Shrew. So, here we go. The story, in short, is set in Padua, where wealthy Baptista Minola has two marriageable daughters. The older one, Katherine, is vicious and ill-tempered and the young one, Bianca, is beautiful and mild. Bianca has suito...

The Classic Club and Rachel @ Hibernators Library have joined forces in order to read Shakespeare. There are two options here; to read all his plays over a three year period or read one comedy, one tragedy and one history play over the course of a 3-4 month period. A short survey from the Classic Club showed that Rachel's idea is very popular. Rachel will host the first trimester - the comedies. She is aiming for 4 of them, but I think I will have enough struggle to read one.  Erica @ The Broken Spine has offered to co-host the tragedies with Rachel which are planned for September - December. Histories for May - August will also be hosted by Rachel, who is on a look-out for a co-host. You will find all the information under the links above. If this is turning out well, the Classic Club might extent the challenge into 2020 and beyond. My own choices for one of his plays in each category are: Comedy - The Taming of the Shrew History - King John Tragedy - Hamlet Sli...

This is a book that I have had since the mid-90s. It was much talked of when it was published and I don't really know why it has ended up so long on my shelves. It was due to the Classic Club's invitation to DARE reading a book that frightens you, one way or the other, that I grabbed this book. The sub title of the book is An adventure in philosophy , and I was thinking that it would somehow be 'over my head'. It is not...or is it? From the cover a short summary. "One day Sophie comes home from school to find two questions in her mailbox: Who are you? and Where does the world come from? This is the start of Sophie's adventure in philosophy - from the Greeks to Descartes, from Spinoza to Hegel, Mars and Freud - with a mysterious mento who will not reveal his identity. But this is not the only mystery in Sophie's world. Why does she keep receiving postcards addressed to someone called Hilde? Why do Hilde's possessions turn up among her own? Who is ...

The Classic Club  continues to keep us busy, and they are doing it with bravur. While we are enjoying our scary classics for the month of October, here are 13 questions to answer about scary classics. To come in the mood, I am sitting here in my empty flat, lights out, except one at my desk. The corners are getting dark, the shadows are up and soon the autumn darkness will fall upon us. Hoooo! Since I have to go down to the cellar, I think I will do that first before answering the questions! Well, I am back and because the cellar is also the garage it is really well lit! I did not have to worry. Back to the questions. 1. Which classic book has scared you the most? Well, first of all I hardly read scary books in general, less so in classics. However, I found Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu rather scary. Mostly, because the heroine was so helpless, once she figured out the truth about her uncle. She tried to get away, but was blocked everywhere. A sense of being trapped a...

On Readerbuzz I found a post about 50 questions put forward by The Classics Club . They want to know why, how and what you read when it comes to classics.  I am not able to find the questions on the Classic Club web-site, but copied from Readerbuzz. Always a fan of questionnaires I can not resist this one. Here we go. Share a link to your club list . The Classics Club: Fifty Classic(ish) Books I Will Read in the Next Five Years When did you join The Classics Club?   I think I joined in 2014 or 2015 . So far I have read 22 of 50 titles. It seems I did not properly registered, which I have now done!  What are you currently reading?   Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and Shirley by Charlotte Brontë. Both of them hard to get through although I love their other books. What did you just finish reading and what did you think of it?  My latest classic was Richard III by Shakespeare. Not an easy read, but I managed.  What are you reading next? Why?  W...

Time for Classic Spin #15 with the Classic Club. What is the spin? Here is what they say over at the Club. "It's easy. At your blog, before next Friday, March 10th, create a post to list your choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on your Classics Club list. This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books in March & April. (Details follow.) Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favourite author, re-reads, ancients — whatever you choose.) On Friday, we'll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List, by May 1, 2017. We'll check in here in May to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book! Here is my spin list, but it is also available under Challenges 2017 .   1. Portrait of a L...

Believe it or not, but for once I managed to finalise the book for the Classic Club spin , in due time as well. My number one was Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. It has lived a quiet life on my TBR shelves for quite a few years. I love Austen, so there is really no excuse why I have shunned this one. Or is there? I always thought that it was considered one of her best books, without knowing exactly why. After having read it, it will end up as the one I like the least. I thought it was a really boring book, or as Shakespeare put it: "Much ado about nothing!" The heroine was not very likeable, that is Marianne. Elinor, her sister was much more in my taste. In short, Mrs Dashwood becomes a widow, without much money to help her take care of the family. The brother is a total *%()" (you know what I mean), under influence of his terrible wife, and, although he has the means to support them he convinces himself that he has no obligation!?!? Mrs Dashwood is offered a...

Having failed almost completely to finish any of the books on my list (I only finished   La Nausée  by Jean-Paul Sartre), I am still hopeful. Maybe this time. The spin is #15 and here is my list: 1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 2.  The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 3. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 4. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot 5. Light in August by William Faulkner 6. Karin Lavransdotter by Sigrid Undset 7. Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann 8.  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce 9. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence 10. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 11. Richard III by William Shakespeare 12. Travels With My Aunt by Graham Green 13. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 14. The Overcoat and Other Stories by Nikolaj Gogol 15. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh 16. Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams 17. The Taming of a Screw by William Shakespeare 18. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen  19...

This months Spin number with the Classic Club is - #8. Looking at my list I find A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man  by James Joyce! Just to get going. I think at least I am slightly better off than Brona at Brona's Books  who has to tackle Dubliners ! Or do I mistake this title with 'Ulysses'? I certainly do. Just checking my James Joyce book which contains both Dubliners and   A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man they are about 200 pages each. I think I might be able to finish this one until May.

The Classics Club is hosting another spin on March 7.  I will try to be more disciplined, because it seems I have only read one book on my list so far. Some of the books on the list are also part of other challenges I participate in. To hit two birds with one stone will be good for my TBR shelves.  Here is my updated list. 

 1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 2. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 3. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 4. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot 5. Light in August by William Faulkner 6. Karin Lavransdotter by Sigrid Undset 7. Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann 8. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce 9. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence 10. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 11. Richard III by William Shakespeare 12. Travels With My Aunt by Graham Green 13. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 14. The Overcoat and Other Stories by Nikolaj Gogol 15. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waughn 16. Sweet Bird of You...

I will not join a lot of challenges for this year. It seems I am not able to keep up with other reading obligations. And as one fellow blogger said: as soon as you promise to read a book, it seems it is not that attractive! It is better to go to the shelves and grab a book depending on your present mood. The main challenge as always is my TBR shelves. The aim is to lover them. However, I get tempted by the various challenges and they are great fun. I will therefore join one if it is compatible with my overall aim to lower the number of books on my TBR shelves. Paris in July is a must of course. Hosted by Tea and Thyme, it is my favourite challenge of the year. You get to know so much about Paris from participants, finding new reads, places to visit, things to eat etc. Really looking forward to this one. Well, that is in principal all there is to my challenges this year. I anticipate a lot of reading though being part of two book clubs. Furthermore, I am now writing reviews and ar...

I have seen a lot of references to this club, but thought I will wait a while to join. There are so many challenges and sometimes I feel I just read challenge books (which is good of course), but sometimes it is just nice to grab a book you feel like reading for the moment. I am a little bit of a mood reader and tend to go for certain books at certain moments. Now, however, I read in Brona's Books  about the Classic Club spin no. 7 . Sounds interesting and a good way to read a classic book. For more info on the Classic Club go here . The idea is to make a list of 20 classics that you want to read. On Monday 11 August, there will be a chosen number and the book on this number you should read. Fait accompli! No way back. Choosing from what classics I have in my TBR shelves, and not having the same author twice, here is my list of classics: 1. Emma by Jane Austen 2. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 3. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 4. The Angelic Avengers by Isa...