2018 challenge: Back to the Classics

Well, I am back at last! It's been too long that I've been absent and I have missed it greatly...

I long to write again about the books I'm reading -- but I also miss the challenges.  

(I know that I'm way too late to sign up, but nevertheless I will try to participate - it's too much fun not to...)

The Classics Club: The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells

I'm back in blogosphere after almost two years of an incredible slump in my reading habits (or any habits in fact, but that's another story...).  

I've started again - baby steps -  to read at a regular pace (at least half an hour in the mornings, when all is still quiet) and I am easing my way into the world of book challenges as well. It is for this reason that I wanted to commence my participation with something easy, with a taste of light reading.  

A classic novella fits this bill perfectly, I believe.  The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells, is a well-known specimen and it will serve nicely as my first attempt in the 2015 challenges!

2015 challenge: Back to the Classics

Well, this challenge was also too tempting to resist! After I got the first taste of making lists with intended reading from O, here's another one that whetted my appetite:

Karen is hosting the 2015 Back to Classics challenge, and I'm still cautious and have (only) indicated 7 categories for which I intend to read books - obviously, if all goes well, there will be more:

1. A Classic by a Woman Author: The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
2. A Very Long Classic Novel:   The Moonstone by W. Collins
3. A Classic Novella: The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
4. A Classic with a Person's Name in the Title: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
5. A Humorous or Satirical Classic:Thank you, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
6. A Classic Children's Book: Charlotte's Web by E.B.White
7. A Classic Play: A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

One other category I'm interested in is the Forgotten Classic, and here I want to go through my Persephone catalogue to see which title could entice me...

2015 challenge: Reading England

 It's time I got my blog mojo back, and there is no better way to ease this transition than a challenge!  
The fact that a reading list has been prepared in advance, plus the feeling of actually achieving a goal are beneficial (at least for me):  without further ado, my first challenge for 2015:  Reading England!
Hosted by O at Behold the Stars, the goal is to travel around England by reading novels (English or not) set in the various counties.  O has been kind enough to already provide a list with some of the more known books and which counties they refer to (including some counties I've never heard of...) so this should make my research easy.

I will not be very ambitious though:  I'm going for level 2, meaning 4-6 books.  I figured that it's better to aim low and get there than not.  This is the list with my intended reading:

• The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (Cumbria)
• Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence (Nottinghamshire)
• The Moonstone by W. Collins (Yorkshire)
• Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Essex)
• Thank you, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (Dorset)
• The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells (Sussex)

Here's looking at 2015 with a fresh look!  I'll also be interested in learning about each of the counties I'm visiting, so as to better get into the spirit of the novel describing it.  Double the fun...

The Classics Club - Crime and Punishment, by F. Dostoyevsky

I read Crime and Punishment by F. Dostoyevsky in a readalong organised by  Unputdownables over a period of three months.  This is, in my opinion, the best way to read such a chunk of classic Russian literature - in a rythme that is manageable, with lots of individual perspectives heard on a plot written in a remarkable style and taking place in an era and a society that are mostly foreign to us.  

And yes, Dickens writes about similar circumstances but I find his writing style more "understandable".  Also, the British reality is perhaps nearer my vision of past history in Europe.  In any case, the fact that several people read this at the same time, with different translations (also a great way to learn different aspects of life depending on the translator's sources) and different annotations shedding light to background information, really proved helpful and made such a great book easy to read as well.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O'Farrell

I bought The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell in a book fair for peanuts (I'm not ashamed of my purchasing criteria...).  What a great bargain!  I would never have thought it would prove to be such a good book, and how I would not only enjoy reading it, but thinking about it and about the plot in particular.  You see, I'm always interested in the background work that goes into a book.  I can almost always tell whether an author has carried out serious research for it, which means that this is a subject of interest.  I'm the scholarly type, so obviously I went and researched myself afterwards...

The point in question:  how easy it was up to the early 20th century to have a woman committed to  a psychiatric institution.  

"A man used to be able to admit his daughter or wife to an asylum with just a signature from a GP"

Zoladdiction: The Kill (La Curée)

This is the book I should have started my adventures with Zola.  It's just perfect!  The language, the oh-so-slight cynicism, the neutral description of not-so-neutral circumstances...

I cannot say enough about this book, and I don't intend to.  The superficiality of the nouveau-riches is a well-documented subject, but I have to give the laurels to Zola.  Especially when I read that he himself was penniless when writing this novel, and to get the information he went around the stately houses to witness the pointlessness of what he saw...

In modern terms, this would have been a soap-opera, but with a certain niveau... We are introduced to the family of Eugene Rougon's younger brother, Aristide - and here's the first twist already:  in order not to embarrass Eugene's political ambitions, Aristide is to change his family name to Saccard.  I just can't believe my eyes when I read this.  Our society then is transparent in comparison to this!  (This for some reason brings back to mind the story about Coco Chanel, who "invented" her origins when she became famous...).

The Classics Club: As you like it, by W. Shakespeare

For this month's Let's read Plays, I read As You Like it by Shakespeare. 

A play that was intended as a comedy and which I, of course, did not get -at all.  I think I'll stick to Shakespeare's tragedies from now on...

A complex set of characters parade in this play, all with the same background story:

- siblings ostracising each other for the throne:  Oliver and Orlando, Duke Senior and Duke Frederik

- people assuming different identities: Rosalind a.k.a. Ganymede, Celia a.k.a. Aliena

- people desperate in unfulfilled love 

We find ourselves in France.  The beginning is rather sad, as two brothers, Oliver and Orlando, cannot stand each other, with Oliver, the first son and heir to everything, ostracising Orlando from all aspects of life.  Yet, Oliver cannot succeed:

I know not why, (my soul) hates nothing more than he.  Yet he's gentle; never schooled and yet learned; full of noble device; of all sorts enchantingly beloved/ and indeed, so much in the heart of the world, and espacially of my own people, who best know him, that I am altogether misprised

The dynamics between the two brothers come in stark contrast with two cousins, Rosalind and Celia, who are really like sisters.  A small point here that I didn't feel like they were lovers, something I read in several posts - but maybe that's me... Their fathers, the two brothers. are however exactly like Oliver and Orlando and even worse:  in this case, Duke Frederik has actualy driven Duke Senior away.

There are a lot of pastoral elements in this play that appeal to audiences in the past as well as today.  Unfortunately, not to me.  I would describe the play as a light romantic one, certainly not a comedy and a little bit on the boring side...

There is no elaboration of any of the characters and the Deus ex maquina seems to be the only way out of a difficult situation.  In a sudden whirlwind of events we will find ouselves with two girls who pretend to be boys, and one of these boys will pretend to be a girl... Too much confusion, with plenty of allegories for a good life in the woods, for true love, for superficiality

'Tis true, for those that (Nature) makes fair she scarce makes honest, and those that she makes honest she makes very ill-favouredly

The end is predictable, but even so:  the solution found is beyond plausibility - Frederik repends his sins and reconciles with his brother, all couples are straightened out and an epilogue applies the play to both men and women in the audience.

I just couldn't see Shakespeare's maestry in this play.  There was no wit that could showcase his genious.  It was an average work, a tried-and-tested little play, sure to please the audience.

Not bad, but then again not good.

The Classics Club: Antigone

For this month's Let's read Plays, I read Antigone by Sophocles.  A shortish play that forms part of the Theban plays, together with Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus.  

It is a tragedy, as many of Sophocles' plays, but with a slight twist:  here the main character is a woman, a woman defying the limitations of her gender at the time, a woman ready to accept the consequences of her actions.

Her father is dead, her brothers are dead, and Antigone is now left alone with her sister Ismene.  But while Ismene is the typical fairy creature, Antigone is a boyish creature (she reminded me of Joan of Arc), wishing to go beyond the rights given to her gender.  But her uncle Creon, who is now king, will not allow for this.  She is to marry his son, Antigone's cousin, Haemon and do great things for Thebes.

Antigone, however, has different views.  Her brothers died a vicious death, trying to kill each other for the throne of Thebes.  Creon only buried one of the brothers, Eteocles, leaving the second to rot in the elements - something against the customs of the time.

While this is a compact play, there is a variety of themes across the story:  should the family / moral values supersede those imposed by the establishment in the city? for whatever reasons, Creon has banned the citizens from covering Polynices and has even warned anyone with severe punishment.  Still, Antigone cannot let this deter her from her sacred duty towards her family.  Not only that, she's willing to accept her punishment and she will even go against her sister, who's trying to reason with her.  But therein comes the second theme:  that of blind arrogance.  Both Antigone and Creon believe their side of the story the correct is.  The difference between them is that Creon becomes so consumed with his anger towards the "insubordination" of Antigone, that he orders his guards to keep a close leash on both sisters so that they... behave like women again (*insert slight sneer*).

But the biggest theme must be the curse of the house of Oedipus.  All three of the tragedies are very detailed on the misfortunes that befall on the last remaining members of the family, Antigone and Ismene.  They cannot escape:  ever since the glorious victory of Oedipus and his marriage to Jocasta, disaster has remained in this house, "eating up" its members one by one.    But the play also makes a case for love:  Haemon tries to make Creon see reason and not bury Antigone alive and even hints at a possible suicide if Creon doesn't change his mind.  While by today's standards all this would be considered overwhelming and irrational, it is the purpose of this tragedy to show that humans have limited capabilities, their emotions can be destructive and only the fate dictated by the gods should be their guiding light. The only way to convey this message is to exaggerate and present all the horrible results if humans do not abide.
Even the end reads like a list of lessons learnt:  pride can be damaging, wisdom is welcome, obedience to gods compulsory and most important of all:  there is no purpose in violence...


Also read for the 2013 Back to the Classics challenge

Sophocles' Antigone (in both Greek and English) is available on Project Gutenberg.    
This post will also be published on Project Gutenberg Project.

Modern March: Miss Lonelyhearts

I had long wanted to read Miss Lonelyhearts by N. West.  When Allie offered to host Modern March, I knew this would be a great opportunity to do so.

When I finished it, I was perplexed.  Too many feelings, sometimes contradicting each other, left me wondering at the messages West was trying to get across.  I couldn't say I didn't like it, but reading Miss Lonelyhearts certainly was not easy...

Dealing with religion is never easy.  There's never a universally accepted manner in which to portray one's struggle with moral values and the contrast with modern life.  Combined with a failed society, in the midst of an economic depression, one can feel the despair Miss Lonelyhearts experiences in his daily life.

Miss Lonelyhearts is an advice columnist, receiving lots of letters asking for a ray of hope.  His conviction is that Christ is the answer for their ailments, but Shrike, his boss, thinks otherwise - they need this column to increase newspaper circulation, so art has to be used instead, because art is all about suffering...

The Classics Club: Les liaisons dangereuses

Leave it to Delaisse to organise French February and introduce non-English classic literature that would have taken me ages to discover...

The Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Lactos is a novel published just before the French revolution, about the immorality of the aristocratic classes, and I think I know it more from the various film adaptations than the book itself.

The novel is written in epistolary form, which just so happens to be my favourite.  There is a distance one can take from the events described in the novel, so as not to be completely involved in the highs and lows of the aristocratic life, but on the other hand, one can read what others hear and feel much better (speaking would include more passion and less detail, while describing the same things would be neutral, less emotional...)

We enter the lives of Marquise de Merteuil and Vicompte de Valmont - two members of the high society, bored to death and trying (desperately) to hang on to the power they have against each other.  I read the novel in the original, and I've found it to be an extremely good show of how the French language can be so "correct" and "vulgar" at the same time:  the nuances, the double-entendres give and take from the beginning, and I thoroughly enjoy reading it.

Other characters join in the plot, and slowly I get the real image of what is happening:  this is not a novel about love - it's about power, class hierarchy, fear of attachment and backstabbing whoever stands in the way.  I can sense the tragedy lurking in every corner, waiting to happen.  Still, I cannot feel anger or disgust towards either of the two main characters - they are the product of their society and, as the Marquise herself says, they are self-made, have managed to stand out in society and will, under no circumstance, yield this "advantage" to anyone.  And, while de Lactos was trying to paint the "wickedness" of the aristocracy in vivid colours, I believe it has become a classic because it describes personal feelings (or absence thereof) still found in our society, where we seek to maintain our autonomy to the detriment of close liaisons with people around us.

Another interesting fact about this novel is the date of publication, just before the French Revolution - whether, of course, this novel would have any real influence to the events leading up to the elimination of this unequal lifestyle is to be debated, but I could well imagine the scandal produced, the identification with real people and the discovery of the wall between the servant class/bourgeoisie with the aristocrats just put one more stone towards the final confrontation.

A novel worth reading - in French if you can - more than once, to witness a masterpiece of the limitations of the affairs of the heart...

L'élégance du hérisson (The Elegance of the Hedgehog)

There are books that make me feel good, there are those that intrigue me.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by M. Barbery served both purposes.  It made me feel good about reading as much as I do, feel at ease that there is at least someone out there to share my passion for the more "complex" ideas, and of course it confirmed the notion of judging a book by its cover, in more ways than one...

In the book, we get to meet two diametrically different characters:  Renee, the concierge - a middle-aged, overweight simpleton, ready to shout at everyone in her way; and Paloma, a 12-year old upper-class girl - shallow, ignorant, materialistic.  Is it really like that?  The book gets beyond the surface and explores this elegance of a hedgehog:  rough, picky, dangerous on the outside but so soft, cuddly on the inside. 

The Classics Club: Sophie's World, by J. Gaarder

My second book for the Classics Club's January readathon, Sophie's World by J. Gaarder has had a good effect on me.

I received it as a present in Greek, and I'm glad I read it like this, because the references to ancient Greek texts were left in the original - what a great treat to read some of the great writers of the time and their thoughts! Furthermore, I managed to read this enormous edition (all 610 pages of it) in two half days, which encouraged me to get some more of this kind for 2013.

The plot is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction:  we get to read all the great philosophical concepts and ideas through an letter exchange between a girl, Sophie, and an enigmatic man who introduces a new subject to her with every letter.

The Classics Club: In praise of shadows, by J. Tanizaki

I bought this particular book a while back, but never bothered to open it.  I left it sheltered among many other books that share this fate:  bought because of real interest, even after research, only to remain undiscovered for some time. 

What provoked the sudden re-discovery?  A film called "Le Hérisson" (The Hedgehog).  Great film, based on a great book, but the important point is that it describes a woman with a hidden room full of classic books, with one in plain sight:  In praise of shadows, by J. Tanizaki.  Was my book then considered a classic? 

I had bought it because I liked the subject and the fact that it describes the Japanese approach to it.  Excited to have such a find among my books without intention, I read it during the Classics Club's first readathon on the 5th January 2013.

This is not fiction challenge

This is the year that I'll really get out of my comfort zone - I'll tackle non-fiction (I've always read it, but not to this extent) and I'll have a go at religious texts.

For the first adventure, I'll subscribe to Birgit's This isn't Fiction challenge, and opt for the Kindergarten level (...) - 5 books:

Charles Darwin - On the origin of species

Adam Hochschild:  King Leopold's Ghost

Edmund de Waal:  The Hare with the Amber Eyes

Simon Sebag Montefiore - Jerusalem

Mark Mazower:  Salonica, City of Ghosts

Challenges: My progress in 2012

It's a whole new year!  Start on a clean slate, you say?  Yes, indeed - that is, with regard to my reading challenges.  While I'm very happy with the overall progress in 2012, I can now, without fear, admit that I may have had too much on my plate.  Still, reading so much more intensely has made me more selective about what I want to read and which challenges to subscribe to this year (I hope...)

Without further ado, this is what happened in the last twelve months:

Pin it and Do it Holiday edition: wrap-up post

This is the second Pin it and Do it challenge I participate in, and I have to admit I enjoy it completely!  I get to be increasingly crafty and I ... like it - I really do!

I didn't manage to complete that much this time around, still I'm happy with the progress made:

Petal gift cards

Increasingly, I'm giving vouchers as presents - what with the distance and the timing and the fact that we all have everything we need, I prefer to let the person addressed decide how to best appreciate my small token...

Original from Ellinee

Knitted poncho

Not a bad first try at a knitted poncho, I like the multiple colours that will match anything on casual days. While the design is like this, I'm considering adding fringes...

Original from Lion brand

Fish pie

My first ever attempt at a fish pie is still my favourite!  Original from Jamie Oliver

One pot medley

One of my favourite German winter recipes, this dish includes meat, rice and vegetables - perfect for a chilly day! Original from various German cooking sites, like this one

Pumpkin cookies

The last of the remaining Halloween pumpkin was used for these cookies for Thanksgiving!  Original from My baking addiction

Shrimp and pork wontons

I had planned to cook a number of Asian dishes in December, but it just didn't come to it.  Still, this dish proved to be very successful!  Original from just one cookbook

Melomakarona

A recipe for a typical Greek Christmas cookie, it yielded way too many little ones that were snapped in no time!  Still, the whole preparation phase made me think whether I'll try this again... Original from keeptalkinggreece

Coconut macaroons
To counter all the festive eating, my take on a healthy dessert - these whimsical macaroons!  Original from peanut butter and peppers

And, there are still other craft projects in progress that will not finish by the end of this Pin it and Do it challenge!  Thanks Trish for bringing out the crafter in me, and - when is the next challenge due???

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by M. Kundera

I read the Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera as a teenager, and I was immediately mesmerised by what I regarded as a ground-breaking philosophical essay on human nature...

Almost 30 years later, I am re-reading this book and I am at a loss.  Where is the philosophy I remembered?  why am I bored with what I read? why do I start skipping passages?

This is one of my greatest fears come true:  my outlook on life has changed so dramatically vis-a-vis my teenage years, that one of my "classic" reads is torn to pieces...

The Remains of the Day, by K. Ishiguro

How many times have I not heard a friend talk passionately about the film version of The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - how many times have I not had to listen patiently to the emotional torment this said friend had to go through after watching the film, and thinking about it over and over again?  

Of course, I have not watched the film version.  But I was curious enough to read the book and see for myself whether it would leave such a mark on me as well...

Our man in Havana, by G. Greene

I just love Graham Greene - his books may be considered as "heavy", but the ideas, the plots and the characters he puts on paper are, in my opinion, the equivalent of a genius. 

So how does it feel when such a genius writes a comedy?  a dark comedy, true, still something that is so different from anything he's even written before?  Time to read Our Man in Havana, a book that appears to be so complicated, yet retains so much of its humanity that I'm at a loss for words (or not...)