I have been using Feedly for a while now as a way to put all my favourite bloggers together in one place so that I find their latest posts easily. However during a recent few days off work due to illness, I was going through the lists to tidy things up when I realised that I had somehow lost all my Classic Clubbers.
It took a whole day to rectify this mistake, using the huge list of Classic Clubbers here. Sadly, in the five years since the CC first started many of the blogs listed have changed URL's, been taken over by Chinese shopping sites, have drifted off the blogosphere completely or have simply been inactive for over a couple of years.
However I now think I have found most of you again! I also found a few more new-to-me lovely looking blogs full of lots of delicious classic reviews to enjoy at my leisure.
 |
| Chinese Skirt 1(933) Agnes Noyes Goodsir |
One of the things I spotted in my catch-up phase was a Classics Book Tag completed by Joseph @The Once Lost Wanderer and Ruth @A Great Book Study. They both kindly tagged anyone who felt like joining in.
1. An over-hyped classic you never really liked:
I have to agree with Ruth on this one.
I've tried Wuthering Heights twice but it failed to excite me or impress me in any way shape or form.
Although Kate Bush's version may have doomed the book forever.
How could any book ever live up to this song!
2. Favourite time period to read about:
So many - 18th century Russia & the revolution, 17th century France & the revolution, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian & Edwardian England, Chinese history & the revolution, 18th century India up to & including the Partition era and the Holocaust.
 |
| Reading in Autumn Mountain (Ming Dynasty) Shen Zhou |
3. Favourite fairy tale:
As a child I adored the story of Snow White and Rose Red.
Just seeing the cover of my old edition still gives me goosebumps.
4. What is the most embarrassing classic you have not read?
Given my love of Dickens I'm embarrassed to say that I have yet to read Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.
5. Top five classics you want to read:
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
One of Ours by Willa Cather
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
6. Favourite modern book or series based on a classic:
Bridget Jones' Diary was a lot of fun, although Pride and Prejudice still has top spot in my heart.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is on my TBR pile - it's not so much based on Jane Eyre but more of a response or prequel, however I'm very keen to try it sooner rather than later.
7. Favourite movie version or TV series based on a classic:
Joseph already nominated one of my all time favourites To Kill a Mockingbird, so I will simply add Gweneth Paltrow's Emma which helped me to appreciate the book more & Gone With the Wind.
8. Worst classic to movie adaptation:
That's easy - Watership Down - what were they thinking? Not even Art Garfunkle could save it.
9. Favourite editions you would like to collect more of:
I love my few Folio Society editions and I wish it was easier (ie cheaper) for me to buy more of them and some of the Persephone books too.
I adore my Virago Modern Classic designer covers too.
10. An under-hyped classic:
So Big by Edna Ferber.
I read this Pulitzer prize winning book for a previous spin.
I loved it and was so surprised that it had fallen out of favour and out of print.
I plan to hype it up again every chance I get.
If you'd like to join in, please consider yourself tagged!
To make it easier for you the questions are repeated below for a quick copy and paste.
Simply pop back here with your completed post and leave your URL in the comments so I can visit you in return.
Happy Reading & Happy Weekend!
1. An over-hyped classic you never really liked:
2. Favourite time period to read about:
3. Favourite fairy tale:
4. What is the most embarrassing classic you have not read?
5. Top five classics you want to read:
6. Favourite modern book or series based on a classic:
7. Favourite movie version or TV series based on a classic:
8. Worst classic to movie adaptation:
9. Favourite editions you would like to collect more of:
10. An under-hyped classic:
Great post, I will try to post on the same theme. I just love Wuthering Heights, but I can agree it is not an easy read. Personally, I just can't read Dickens. There is just too much of descriptions outside the story. Although I am tempted to read Great expectations and A Tale of Two Cities. Let's see if I manage one day.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing your post Lisbeth, remember to leave your link here.
DeleteRuth & I had a discussion on her tag about WH - I first tried to read it when I thought it was a romance. I might try again now that I know it's less romance and more a gothic thriller.
PS One of my favourite Dickens is Tale of Two Cities, but I think his most accessible read is Bleak House. David Copperfield is also tremendous.
DeleteLOL! Oh, what I joy to be here. I come from Jillian's post. It's true. I've also noticed those broken url's and was wondering where did all those classic lovers go, but I'm finding them, and it's fun!
DeleteI read WH not long ago. I loved it too. But my personality is exuberant, I'm super emotional, so I felt at home (OK, not so much, it was like I'd be if I went nuts).
I'm going to do this memme, or questions, and post the link back here. It's fun.
Delighted to see you here Silvia. Jillian's blog is a fabulous gateway for like-minded bloggers. I'm super emotional too but it's all on the inside. My exuberance hides (well hidden from most) behind a cool, calm facade. Some people get energy from their strong emotions, but I'm not one of those - they exhaust me. Which I think is what happened with me and WH - all that emotion/madness exhausted me!!
DeleteI hope you do decide to join in the meme - it has been a fun way to catch up with lots of bloggers so far :-)
Well, I've never seen that beautiful (Virago Modern) collection. How lovely.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I really do like Kate Bush, but that video was really...shocking...like WH. : D
DeleteThank goodness video clips have moved on from the artists making up their own dance steps...:-D
DeleteThere are several more books in the VMC designer series but I couldn't find a picture that had all of them. Maybe I'll try to take a photo of mine so I can highlight their prettiness :-)
DeleteSO MANY PEOPLE ARE PICKING WUTHERING HEIGHTS. The poor old dear. We'll have to arrange some sort of celebration of her to make up for the bitterness. (You will add me to your classics club list, right? I started the tag here, eh! Ruth got it from me!) :-) YAY GONE WITH THE WIND. I also want to read Les Mis and Mary Barton.
ReplyDeleteYes, I found your latest blog Jillian and I added it to my list :-)
DeleteI'm happy to try WH again as long as no one tries to convince me that it's a romance!
Jillian's tag is here
I was hoping my inclusion of Kate Bush's video clip might be celebration enough for WH :-D
DeleteAh, thanks for reminding me of So Big. I found a second-hand copy maybe a year ago, but I have yet to read it. I will rectify that soon (I hope).
ReplyDeleteI hope so too - Ferber deserves to be rediscovered :-)
DeleteI added mine,
ReplyDeletehttps://silviacachia.wordpress.com/2017/05/06/classics-book-tag/
Excellent - see you soon :-)
DeleteThat is a beautiful collection indeed, wish I had some of those! And finally someone who appreciates Snow White and Rose Red - I always felt I had to apologise for choosing that one as my favourite, so few people seemed to like it!
ReplyDeleteThe bear, the gnome, the cottage in the woods! What's not to love.
DeleteI once read a book about the psychology of fairy tales, but this one was not covered - I'd love to know what deep dark childhood fear this tale helped us to overcome/face.
I may have a go at this too. As for Wuthering Heights I loved it as a teenager and reading again a few years ago I still loved parts of it such as when Lockwood spent the night in Catherine Earnshaw’s bedroom and in his dream he heard a rattle on the window panes. It still sent shivers down my spine.
ReplyDeleteI think I could enjoy the gothic elements of WH with the right encouragement :-)
DeleteI hope you do join in Margaret, I'd love to see what you select.
What fun! I've copied the questions and will give it a try soon. I'm not a huge fan of WH either, but did enjoy a readalong several years ago... and made new blogging friends, too.
ReplyDeleteThis has been so much fun JoAnn - I've rediscovered so many bloggers that I had 'lost' with my Feedly hiccup & the meme questions have been a lovely way to reconnect.
DeleteI look forward to your choices :-)
I soooooo agree.....Wuthering Heights? Why? Somebody explain to me why is it a classic? I with you on all your selections of time periods and P&P series....can anything be better than that???!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so relieved I'm not the only one with the dislike of Wuthering Heights (and the fact that it is beloved by the characters in Twilight doesn't bode well for it either). I haven't read Edna Ferber but I think she won a Pulitzer prize. I always wanted to read one of her books with my IRL classics book group in Texas, as she's a Texas author, but no one else was interested, sadly. I shall have to move her up on the TBR list.
ReplyDelete