My Favourite & Best Classics

When the Classics Club originally asked this question in August 2012, I waffled on a bit about my love for all things Jane Austen, but eventually I came to the conclusion that my favourite classic of all time was Persuasion by Jane Austen.

Eight years later, it is hard to top this.

Persuasion is a story that bears repeated readings, never gets tired, constantly provides solace and comfort and still amazes me every time with its exquisite writing and plotting. Oh! and the dramatic irony, the social satire that cuts deep but sweet like a cake knife, the on point dialogue and the so, so satisfying relationship arcs. And if by some weird quirk of fate this is not quite the right thing for my mood, then one of Austen's other books will be for sure! She delights me at every turn, every page, every book. Austen is the only author that I have read so consistently and so often throughout my adult life. 

However in the eight years since I last answered this Classic Club question, I've read so many more classic titles and authors, from a far more diverse range of genres, regions and cultures. None of them have had the pleasure of multiple rereads, like my Austens. But some of the titles listed below are classics I do plan on rereading one day. 

My Best of Classics List

In Translation:

• French - Germinal by Emile Zola
• Russian - Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
• I have read many more foreign classics, from all around the world, but these are the two books I really want to reread and delve into deeper...so far! 
• Both these books packed an emotional punch that still reverberates years later. They are both set in radical, rapidly changing times - times that the authors also lived through. The personal, the facts and the fiction are interwoven into a seamless, satisfying, epic whole.

Short Stories:

• Katherine Mansfield - I'm still making my way through her short stories. Each and every one is like peeling an onion in reverse. Each story adds another layer of understanding and insight into Mansfield's mind and heart.

Australian:

• The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by (Ethel) Henry Handel Richardson - how on earth this book is not required reading for anyone serious in their English studies at high school, is beyond me. Yes, all three volumes together are HUGE, but the insights into colonial Australia, wrapped up as they are, in the story of Richardson's own childhood, are exceptional.

English:

• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - this list is for the books discovered by me in the last eight years. If I was to include an all-time reading list, then Jane Eyre, David Copperfield and Middlemarch would also have to be listed here.

American:

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - Janie has an astounding voice. She keeps whispering my name hoping to tempt me back into her world again soon.
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville - the effort required to read this book is worth it if you have the time and patience to do so.

Sci-fi:

• Absolutely anything by John Wyndham. Yes, I'm pretty tame when it comes to sci-fi. 

Fantasy:

• My recent reread of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J R R Tolkien only confirmed how magnificent these books are. For pure escapism, detailed world building and characters to love (and hate), they are hard to bet.

Biography:

• Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. If you haven't read this extraordinary account of WWI yet, you really should stop everything and source a copy now.

Children's:

• I've loved Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians my whole life, but only recently have I explored her other young fiction titles. The Wonder Child and In the Mists of the Mountains have been the stand-out titles so far.

Ancient World:

• Herodotus' The Histories - what a wonderful old gossip he was! One day I will write a post about my own history with Herodotus....

Honourable Mentions: (For those classics from my pre-blogging days that couldn't quite beat out Jane Austen):

• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery
• Diary of Young Girl by Anne Frank
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Dangerous Liaison by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
• Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
• The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy

Each and everyone of these stories is now a part of my story.

They helped to form my view of the world.

They have given me a sense of belonging and connection and fellowship.

They have satisfied my soul and slaked my cravings.

They have asked impossible questions and answered many more.

They have taken me out of myself, to another place, another time, another possibility.

They have inspired me to do better, be better, live life more fully, deeply, kindly and whole-heartedly. 

They have given me hope in dark times, lifted me up when I was down and been a friend to lean on when I thought I was all alone.

I'm sure there are sub-categories and genres that I've over-looked (like modern-day classics), but for now, these are my favourite and best classics.

What is a Classic?

Originally published on the 28th August 2012, this post about classic books has been revised and updated for the latest Classics Club discussion on this topic.

I've been mulling over 'What is a classic?' ever since I spotted The Classics Club blog for the first time a couple of months ago.

I've put off compiling my classics club list because I kept getting befuddled over what books to include and what not to include. 

There are as many ways to define 'Classic' as there are to classify it - Ancient, Classical, English, French, Russian, German, Chinese, American, African-American, Australian, Japanese, Renaissance, Western, Eastern, fairytale, children's, modern, award winning, Victorian, biography, poetry and non-fiction just to name a few! 

Originally, 'classic' probably referred to works of literature from Ancient Greece and Rome. To read a 'classic' you had to know Latin & Linear B! 'Classic' seemed to be a term devised by scholars and other learned folk to talk about something old and venerable and difficult for the average person to access. 

However, once upon a time these classic texts from Ancient Greece, Egypt, Persia, Crete and Rome were modern stories. Once upon a time these 'classics' were examples of contemporary literature.

These, once contemporary, now 'classic' books spoke to the people of that time about the issues that affected them and informed their daily lives.

Their daily lives, according to the stories, may have been full of interfering gods, despotic leaders and war, yet personal relationships, the environment and how to live a good life were just as important then as they are now. 

The 'classic' world was also a world of men. It was their intellect, humour and physical prowess that was celebrated and prized. It was the male experience that was valued and worthy of being written down & preserved. 

 

I find that Ancient Classic texts often feel haunted by the untold number of stories that have been lost ignored or unrecorded. The stories told by the women and children, the slaves and the uneducated from this time are all but lost to us forever. 

Moving further forward to a time when women did write and publish stories, they were often considered unworthy of attention by the men who ruled the publishing and literary world. These authors are now being rediscovered as our way of viewing the world and our history has widened and diversified.

All the books we now consider to be 'classics' were once modern and contemporary. Were these books considered classic at the time? Probably not. They may have been highly regarded, respected and lauded, but would they speak to future generations? Would they pass the test of time? 

Historical fiction is a special case. They are not only stories that seek to bring to light a time gone by, but they do so through the lens of the time the author was writing it. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy is a perfect example of historical fiction revised and reinterpreted through modern eyes. She not only tells us about the world of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell, as it was, as it might have been, but we also feel the modernness of the writing style and the ideas about history, documentation and the great unsaid/unknown. Dare I say that these books will be considered classics by future generations?

 

Classics are great stories, grand stories, epic stories that have lasted through the generations. They have stood the test of time. They have staying power and longevity because they not only speak to the audience of the time, but they also have the ability to speak to people from all times. Their themes are universal AND personal. These stories are reborn as 'classics' with each each new generation they speak to.  

How do some of our more famous authors describe a classic? 

Mark Twain:  "Classic. A book which people praise and don't read." 

Stephen Leacock: "The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to the same class as primitive machinery and primitive music and primitive medicine." 

Jane Austen: "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." 

Cliff Fadiman: "When you reread a classic, you do not see more than you did before; you see more in you than there was before."   

Edith Wharton: "A classic is classic not because it conforms to structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never heard). It is classic because of a certain eternal and impressionable freshness."

Italo Calvino: "A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." 

Amy Lowell: "In literature, read the oldest. The classics are always modern." 

Lawrence Clark Powell: "What makes a book great, a so-called classic, is its quality of always being modern, of its author, though he be long dead, continuing to speak to each generation."

 

There you go! 

I knew if I looked long enough, I would find someone who had already said what I was trying to say, only better!   

There are any number of 'classics' that were unknown, ignored or not respected during their time, but which grew to be important later on. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville is one of the most obvious choices for this award. 

I also wonder which of the books that we're reading and blogging about today will be the classics of the future? 

In my classics club lists, I have defined 'modern classic' as a book written more than 25 years ago but after WW2.

I wonder which contemporary books (written since 1987 - or now, 1995 as the case may be eight years later) will turn up on Classics Club book lists in 50 years time? 

My thoughts: 

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 

Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel 

Lincoln in The Bardo by George Saunders 

What do you think?

Classic Club Memes Are Back!

Over the years I have participated in many of the Classics Club events, including the monthly meme. The Club has decided to revisit some of the memes to allow newer members to have their say and for older ones to contemplate the classics journey they've been on over the past 6 years or so.

In May we revisited the very first meme question 'What is your favourite classic book? Why?' and for June we have been invited to mingle and highlight another Classics Clubber on our blog.

Reading – Auguste Renoir (1890-1895)

In the interest of efficiency and economy I will combine both memes in the one post.

Mostly, though, it's because my favourite classic has not changed since I first answered this meme in 2012  - Persuasion is my all-time favourite classic, and probably always will be. However several new-to-me classics have been added to my favourites list, since 2012, thanks to the Classics Club.

A pure delight was discovering Their Eyes Were Watching God thanks to a CC sync reading experience in 2013. I haven't had a chance to reread it yet, but I really, really want to and I still find myself thinking about Janie on a regular basis.

There is a readalong of Testament of Youth currently underway out there in blogger-land which I was very tempted to join in simply to experience, once again, the bittersweet pleasure of this classic memoir about WWI.

A surprise addition to my favourites list was Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Once considered by me as my least liked Austen, it has now catapulted it's way into my top 4.

I was first alerted to Wallace Stegner thanks to a TV book show here in Australia that read and raved about Crossing to Safety. Although not really a classic since it was only published in 1987, it does, however, fit into my idea of a modern day classic. Four years later I read Angle of Repose with doubts and many reservations thanks to the controversy surrounding the provenance of the story. But you cannot deny an amazing story about an amazing woman. Mary Foote/Susan Ward has stayed with me all this time and I now believe this is a book that is worthy of a reread.

Beauty is a Sleeping Cat hosted an Angela Carter's reading week four years ago. I read through the short stories in The Bloody Chamber. I became a little (okay a LOT) obsessed and I'm curious to see if her stories will have the same affect on me with a reread.

Thanks to Fanda and her annual Zoladdiction Month in April I discovered the joys of Emile Zola. I've now read four books out of his Rougon-Macquart series. The rest are on my TBR pile (I hope that Fanda plans to host her Zoladdiction for another 17 yrs!)

Adam @Roof Beam Reader informed me many years ago that Wilkie Collins wrote many more books than just his famous ones The Woman in White & The Moonstone. I've been slowly working my way through his back list ever since. What an amazing writer of the human condition.

Thanks to various CCspin books and readalongs I have also 'discovered' Willa Cather, Elizabeth Gaskell, Victor Hugo and just this week, Angela Thirkell.

I cannot imagine a time when Persuasion or Jane Austen will ever be toppled from its top perch in my heart but I'm happy to spend the rest of my reading life looking for contenders.

Now on to the June question.

Books By the Cup is a recent discovery of mine and I'm still making my way through her older reviews with great delight. You can find her Classics Club list here. But it's her Instagram page that I adore - she obviously has a beautiful set of classic books that go together nicely with her tea set!

My favourite post to date is The Age of Innocence where she discusses what Newland might have learnt if he had actually read his copy of Middlemarch.

If that wasn't enough to impress, then her love of Austen that shone through in her Sense & Sensibility review was the clincher!

Breaking News

Overnight our Classics Club world has changed.

After six years, our wonderful, long-standing moderators have decided to hang up their collective hats. A call has now gone out for new moderators to continue to run the club. If you think you have something to offer the classics community then please consider applying for a role.

I'm sure we will always read the classics with or without a club, but as this post has highlighted, the classics club has the ability to bring together readers, bloggers and classic authors in a way that may not happen otherwise.

Personally, I have discovered so many new-to-me classics thanks to the club. I would hate to lose this wonderful resource and the sense of community that surrounds it.

A huge thank you to Adam, Melissa, Sarah and Allie for holding the fort for so long in and around their own major life changes and bravo to Jillian and Heather for starting the classics club ball rolling.

Although I have been blogging for nine years, I really only got serious about it, seven years ago. Discovering the Classics Club not long after that made a huge difference in the way I understood blogging. Finding a community that I felt comfortable hanging with changed my attitude to what I was doing and encouraged me to keep on trying.

Viva la Classics Club!

Classics Club February Meme

It's been a while since I participated in a Classics Club meme question. Mostly because I answered them first time around but also a little bit due to the fact that my life is busier now than last time around.

However, I have a lovely lazy quiet weekend ahead of me and I've been tempted into talking about the classics I'm reading this month.

February has been all about Louisa May Alcott and Little Women and Good Wives thanks to Suey, Kami and Jenni hosting a readalong this month.

I thoroughly enjoyed dipping back into these childhood favourites...so much so, that I plan to continue on and reread Little Men and Jo's Boys throughout March. If anyone would like to join me in reading these two lesser known Alcott's, please let me know in the comments below.

Although these four books are not on my official Classics Club list, they are on my Womens Classic Literature Challenge list.

Reading the Little Women books as an adult proved to be an interesting experience thanks to some knowledge about Alcott's life that I had picked up along the way.
As a child I didn't appreciate that she wrote these books based loosely on her family situation or that Alcott's family lived a life that was a little unusual to those of mainstream America.

This reread made me curious to know more...which leads me to the third book I hope to read during March - Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louise May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2008. 
Louisa May Alcott is known universally. Yet during Louisa's youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson—an eminent teacher and a friend of Emerson and Thoreau. He desired perfection, for the world and from his family. Louisa challenged him with her mercurial moods and yearnings for money and fame. The other prize she deeply coveted—her father's understanding—seemed hardest to win. This story of Bronson and Louisa's tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters.

These are not the only classics I plan to read in March.
Heavenali is hosting her wonderful #Woolfalong all year. I knew I didn't want to start with the 'toughies' Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse, so I've been waiting for phase two to kick in.

The Voyage Out was her very first novel published in 1915 and I like the idea of starting at the beginning. Given that her writing has been described as experimental and full of 'intense lyricism and stylistic virtuosity' (thanks wikipedia) I think reading her books in order will allow me to develop my understanding of her in the same way as she developed her unique style.

In The Voyage Out, one of Woolf's wittiest, socially satirical novels, Rachel Vinrace embarks for South America on her father's ship, and is launched on a course of self-discovery in a modern version of the mythic voyage. Lorna Sage's Introduction and Explanatory Notes offer guidance to the reader new to Woolf, and illuminate Woolf's presence, not identifiable in the heroine, but in the social satire, lyricism and patterning of consciousness in one woman's rite of passage.

If all goes well I will jump into Night and Day (1919) and Jacob's Room (1922) in April, especially since my Wordsworth edition has them conveniently published in the same book.

Virginia Woolf’s second novel, Night and Day (1919), portrays the gradual changes in a society, the patterns and conventions of which are slowly disintegrating; where the representatives of the younger generation struggle to forge their own way, for ‘... life has to be faced: to be rejected; then accepted on new terms with rapture’. Woolf begins to experiment with the novel form while demonstrating her affection for the literature of the past.

Jacob’s Room (1922), Woolf’s third novel, marks the bold affirmation of her own voice and search for a new form to express her view that ‘the human soul … orientates itself afresh every now & then. It is doing so now. No one can see it whole therefore.’ Jacob’s life is presented in subtle, delicate and tantalising glimpses, the novel’s gaps and silences are as replete with meaning as the wicker armchair creaking in the empty room.

Do you have any classic reads on your radar this month?

What Is Your Favourite Classic Period

The Classics Club hosts a monthly meme question.

This month the question comes from Dale and is "What is your favourite classic period and why?"

It's hard for me to pin down a favourite period as I've been known to become obsessed about quite a few literary periods over the years!

I've had Russian obsessions, flings with the French (esp Revolutionary France) and a re-occurring love affair with the 1920's jazz age & art deco. I've been tempted by the Ancient Greeks, mesmerised by turn of the century New York and comforted by the 1800's family saga. I'm forever obsessed with Holocaust & slavery literature (& many other war classics) as I try to understand man's inhumanity to man.

I have several authors I fall back on in times of need - Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, L.M. Montgomery, Edith Wharton, Harper Lee & John Wyndham, Charlotte Bronte to name a few.

There are oodles of authors that I remember fondly & hope to read again or read more of their works soon - Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, John Galsworthy, George Sand, Boris Pasternak, Barbara Pym, Richard Yates, Henry James, F Scott Fitzgerald, Evelyn Waugh, Thomas Hardy, E.M. Forster, Emile Zola, Charles Dickens, Nancy Mitford, A.S. Byatt, Salman Rushdie, Alice Walker & Wallace Stegner.

I'd love to explore more Australian classics and I love to revisit childhood classics.

But one favourite period??

By pure force of numbers the winner of the favourite label would have to be 1800's England.

I've read and re-read so many authors from this period that I feel right at home in austere drawing rooms, horse drawn carriages & crinoline petticoats!

There is a familiarity in the lives of the characters. I can see the connections from them to me. Their world is threaded to mine by a series of historical leaps. I can imagine myself in their lives. I can feel myself embedded in the story in a way that is not so easy with other periods of time.

The other classical periods fascinate me because of their distance and exoticness.
Their differences are intriguing and alien and unknown. I strive to understand. I am curious, bewildered and amazed. I love the challenges and the new understandings and the leaps of faith required in these others periods.

But after travelling far and wide there is nothing more comforting than finally sleeping in your own bed & eating a home cooked meal!

I am at home in the 1800's. I return there for comfort & ease. When my mind is too busy, my heart too full & my soul needs soothing I return to the tried and true.

Do you have a favourite period of literature that you feel at home in?

Lost in Translations

My Classics Club spin #4 is The Brothers Karamazov.

I have the Constance Garnett translation on my epad and a Penguin Classic book with David McDuff's translation.

The matter of translation seems to have stalled my start.

The Brothers K is such a chunkster, I don't want to read the 'wrong' translation after all!

When one starts to research the matter of translations, it is easy to get caught up in "original materials restored", "the rhythms, tone, precision, and poetry of the original", "cross-checked references" and "Russified English".

But, of course, the whole thing is really quite simple in the end.

You read the version - the translation - that works for you.

So to help me work out which translation will work best for me - I give you Constance & David below with the first paragraph of chapter one.


Constance Garnett's translation:

ALEXEY Fyodorovitch Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, a landowner well known in our district in his own day, and still remembered among us owing to his gloomy and tragic death, which happened thirteen years ago, and which I shall describe in its proper place. For the present I will only say that this “landowner” — for so we used to call him, although he hardly spent a day of his life on his own estate — was a strange type, yet one pretty frequently to be met with, a type abject and vicious and at the same time senseless. But he was one of those senseless persons who are very well capable of looking after their worldly affairs, and, apparently, after nothing else. Fyodor Pavlovitch, for instance, began with next to nothing; his estate was of the smallest; he ran to dine at other men’s tables, and fastened on them as a toady, yet at his death it appeared that he had a hundred thousand roubles in hard cash. At the same time, he was all his life one of the most senseless, fantastical fellows in the whole district. I repeat, it was not stupidity — the majority of these fantastical fellows are shrewd and intelligent enough — but just senselessness, and a peculiar national form of it.

David McDuff's Translation:

ALEXEY Fyodorovitch Karamazov was the third son of a landowner in our district, Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, so noted in his time (and even now still recollected among us) for his tragic and fishy death, which occurred just thirteen years ago and which I shall report in its proper context. All I shall say now about this 'land-owner' (as he was called among us, though for most of his life he hardly ever lived on his estate at all) is that he was a strange type, one that is, however, rather often encountered, namely the type of man who is not only empty and depraved but also muddle-headed - belonging, though to the class of muddle-headed men who are perfectly well able to handle their little affairs, and, it would seem, these alone. Fyodor Pavlovitch, for instance, began with practically nothing, was a landowner of the very least important category, went trotting around other people's dinner tables, aspired to the rank of sponge, but at the moment of his decease turned out to possess something to the tune of one hundred thousand roubles in ready money. And yet at the same time he had persisted all his life in being one of the most muddle-headed madcaps in the whole district. I repeat: here there was no question of stupidity; the bulk of these madcaps are really quite sharp and clever - but plain muddle-headedness, and, moreover, of a peculiar, national variety.


Muddle-headed madcap or abject, vicious & senseless?

Gloomy & tragic or tragic & fishy?

Toady or sponge?

Certainly with the McDuff translation I'm more likely to view Alexey in a sympathetic light. While Garnett is clearly telling me I shouldn't like him at all, no way, not now, not ever!

At this point I'm leaning towards McDuff.

If any of you out there in blogger land have another translation of The Brothers K to hand and you'd like to share the first paragraph of chapter one with us, then please do, in the comments below, and, let us know what is your preferred translation (I'm already writing like Dostoyevsky after only one chapter. Poor Mr Books could be in for a very tiresome and madcap Christmas!)

The Classics Club December Meme

In your status line, list author and title of ten books that have "stayed with you."

Don't think too much or spend too much time. Tag ten friends including me so I can see your list. 

This little book list challenge is doing the rounds on facebook with my friends.

When I first saw it, I thought it linked in nicely with this month's Classic Club meme: 

What is your favorite classic book? If you already answered this question in August 2012, great! 

Tell us what you picked then, and if your answer has changed in the last year and a half. 

If you are new since that meme, what is your favorite classic as of today? 

(Yes, you can of course list multiple books.)

I don't want to be confined by whether something is a classic or not. So here's my list quickly - off the top of head - with no thought of classic status:


1. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

2. Persuasion by Jane Austen

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

4. A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor

5. The Histories by Herodotus

6. Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth by Gitta Sereny

7. Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie

8. A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

9. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

10. Little Women by L. M. Alcott


Even as I get to the end of this list, I can think of another 5, 10, 20 books that could be just as list-worthy as the above - To Kill A Mockingbird, Cloudstreet, The Stand, Reading the Holocaust, Anne Frank's Diary, Romeo and Juliet....

But these were the first 10 books that came to my mind immediately, without any hesitation, today.

A Suitable Boy was published in 1993, which means it still falls short by 5 years of my self-imposed timeline for what is a modern classic. I got around to reading it in 2004, but I still think about the characters, particularly Lata, on a regular basis. I wonder what she is up to & how things are panning out for her. And I wish that Seth would finish A Suitable Girl sooner rather than later!

I loved this book with a passion and felt connected to the characters and the place in a way that surprised me at the time. Whether this story holds up to a re-read or continues to speak to readers in the future is still unknown.

I first heard about Patrick Leigh Fermor thanks to a newspaper article about 10 years ago highlighting the best in travel writing. PLF won hands down in the reviewers mind and his description of A Time of Gifts left me desperate to track down the book.

PLF walked across Europe when he was 18. The time was Dec 1933 and Hitler had just come to power in Germany. His 2 year walk took him through a Europe on the verge of great change. He slept in barns, monasteries and castles. He met gypsies and landed gentry.

It's an extraordinary adventure, not always easy to read or believe sometimes! But PLF takes you along with him all the way. You feel like you're walking alongside him; you see what he sees as he gives you glimpses into his incredible mind.


I studied Ancient History for my HSC many, many years ago. Herodotus was one of our texts. We only needed to read a few sections relevant to our course, but I was so enthralled by my first experience with ancient writing that I read the entire book through. At the end of the year I couldn't bear the idea of parting with it, so I bought my own copy...and read it again!

Herodotus not only opened up a whole new world of literature and study for me, but it was also my first attempt at grappling with revisionism, the unreliability of historical sources and the search for truth & accuracy.

Albert Speer was recommended to me by a friend who knew I had an obsession with trying to understand the Holocaust. As it turns out, Sereny's interviews with Speer also played into my search for truth & historical accuracy. Her gentle, insistent probing into what Speer actually knew and was involved in during the war was like watching water drip onto a stone. She slowly, slowly wore away at Speer. Question by question.

It was an incredible build up of tension and trust. A psychological drama that delved into the heart of good and evil, responsibility, truth and integrity.

I went through an E.M. Forster phase in my late teens/early twenties. I adored A Room With a View for its proper English mannerisms, its romance with Italy and for Lucy's struggle with what society and family expect her to do and be against what she actually wants to do and be. The perfect book, in fact, to read when you are 19 & trying to be true to your own ideals!

An Age of Innocence was my first foray into Wharton territory. The writing made me swoon; the time & place fascinated me and I was once again caught up in a story searching for personal truth, integrity and ideals.

As for Little Women, I'm not sure what I could say that would be new, fresh or different from everyone else's responses to this classic tale about childhood and family. It's certainly one of my childhood favourites. It's still a comfort read for me today.

I was also one of four girls. I wanted to be like Jo (but was probably more like Meg!) However, Jo did give me her love of travelling, reading, writing and teaching. Little Women also inspired me to be a better person every time I read it.

The main thing this exercise has highlighted is that my core set of favourites has remained fairly stable over the years. The order may ebb and flow depending on my mood on the day, but my search for truth, integrity & authenticity is obviously a life-long obsession!

2-in-1 Classics Club Meme...because I can!

Life has been a little crazy recently and I've just realised that I missed answering the Classics Club October meme...

We want you to mingle. Go to our member list and select a fellow classics clubber you’d like to feature on your blog. This can be someone who is active within the Classics Club, someone quiet who inspires with his/her posts, someone new to the club or scarce whom you’d like the club to meet. S/he can be a friend of yours, or someone you’ve never met. Tell readers why you value this club member. Highlight at least one post from his/her blog.

...during the actual month of October!

So I went over to check out the November meme question...

A meme rewind: Pick a classic someone else in the club has read from our big review list. Link to their review and offer a quote from their post describing their reaction to the book. What about their post makes you excited to read that classic in particular?

...so that I could watch that one sail by too :-)

But then I had an ah-ha moment.

The review that has got me excited about reading a book I probably wouldn't normally go for and one of my favourite bloggers happen to be one and the same!

So without any further ado...I give you The Girl Booker.

The Girl Booker is a personal friend. She is someone I admire a lot.

I love hearing her views of the world. She makes me laugh and she makes me think.

Her particular views on books, music, TV etc are always fascinating and entertaining. Her voice rings loud and clear through every review.
I love her enthusiasm and honesty and authenticity.

I also cherish our semi-regular afternoon tea catch-ups :-)

GB's reviews regularly lead me towards new authors & new titles. Thanks to her reviews I will often pick up a previously dismissed (by me) author and find a new love.

In this case, the author is Australian Christos Tsiolkas and the book is Barracuda.  Here is GB's laugh out loud opener that had me hooked...

Here is my review of Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas: Wow. Fucking wow. Fucking AMAZING.

The End.

And here is the same review again, in a few more words:

....

And this is the link to the rest of The Girl Booker's review of Barracuda.

The Girl Booker has recently changed jobs.
She finds it difficult to blog as often as she used to.

She is a member of the Classics Club, but hasn't had a lot of time to get involved yet.

I'm hoping by highlighting her blog today that you take the time to visit an amazing Aussie blogger and that your interest will prompt GB to write more blogs :-)

Classics Club September Meme

I'm a little excited.

This month over at The Classics Club they have selected my question for the September meme.

"Rereading a favourite classic at different stages of your life gives you different insights with each reading. Is there one classic you’ve read several times that also tells a story about you?"

I've reread books all my life. As a child I didn't own many books, so rereading was the only way to feed my need to read daily. Rereading nurtures something deep within my soul. My choice of reread reflects what's going on for me at the time.

When I was young I was drawn to books about adult-free children. I loved the freedom, the independence and the resourcefulness these books portrayed.
(I guess I'm not the only one as there is a whole section of children's books devoted to this theme.)

Early on my favourite reread was a slim early chapter book called Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink. Two young girls, shipwrecked on an island, with 4 babies and toddlers to care for.

I then moved onto The Magic Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton. Although these children were not orphaned or lost, they went into the forest, made new, strange friends and had adventures in strange lands with unpredictable consequences that they had to deal with.

My next big passion was The Secret Island. Another Enid Blyton with all my classic themes. Orphans, runaways, isolated islands and clever, resourceful children surviving by themselves. The only problem I ever had with this book was the toileting issue. Where did they go to the bathroom? Blyton never mentioned this basic need once. It was only a small island - if they just pooped all over the place randomly, then they would have had some unpleasant walking along in barefoot experiences!

During my late primary years, I discovered my mothers Louisa May Alcott collection and I found reread nirvana. I read the four books so many times in the hope that somehow Jo March's character would rub off on me!


A kind aunt then gave me the first two Trixie Belden books for my tenth birthday. By my 14th birthday I had collected the entire 36 books then in print (another 3 came out later). I reread the entire series several times, but certain books (the ones with a little bit of romance!) got a heavier workout. My needs were changing!

My teens were less about rereads and more about discovery. I scoured second hand bookshops for cheap books and trade-in deals. I devoured lots of romances and light historical fiction dressed up as romance. None of these books warranted a reread. Thankfully I had some good English teachers who lead me towards adult classics and modern literature, so that when I finally emerged from my romance phase I had some ideas on what to turn to next.

The big one, of course, was Jane Austen. Yes, romance is a big part of the Austen oeuvre, but rereading highlights the humour, the clever construction of plot & the sparkling dialogue. I also have oodles of older posts detailing why and how many times I've reread my Austen's.

Curiously my need to be stranded on a desert island returned as an adult as I devoured end-of-the-world drama's. I reread Stephen King's The Stand, Jean Hegland's Into the Forest & John Wyndham's Day of the Trifids several times.

But whenever I need inspiration, the only book to turn to was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

About 7 years ago I planned a major move. I decided that I had to cull some of my books. It involved lots of hard decisions and lots of quick rereads. I was surprised and disappointed to see that quite a few books that had moved me to tears, to laughter and filled me with joy in my twenties, just didn't cut the mustard in my late thirties. The lessons had been learnt, the message received, I didn't need them any longer. Which made the packing much easier than I had thought!

But ever since then I've been thinking about the reasons why we reread books.

For me it's a matter of survival and sometimes a need for comfort.

What is it for you?

Classics Club Catch-up

Except for my new-found love affair with Their Eyes Were Watching God, I haven't been focused on classics at all the past couple of months.

But I see a few clever clubbers have combined the April and May memes in one post. Great idea!

It's a chilly, overcast autumnal evening here, I'm trying hard not to develop a head cold and a night thinking cosy thoughts about books is just what the doctor ordered!

April - “Who is hands-down the best literary hero, in your opinion? Likewise, who is the best heroine?”

May - "Tell us about the classic book(s) you’re reading this month. You can post about what you’re looking forward to reading in May, or post thoughts-in-progress on your current read(s)."

I suspect the easiest way for me to answer April's question is with a list and sub-categories as I cannot settle on a hands-down winner!

Best Literary Parent Hero/ine: Atticus Finch and Marmee March (I feel like a better person just imagining them as my parents - enough said.)

Best Literary Romantic Hero/ine: Mr Knightley (he loves Emma unreservedly. He guides her to reflect on her behaviour and allows her to make mistakes and learn from them. He is gentle, forgiving and honourable.)

Jane Eyre and Elinor Dashwood (they both have strong inner compasses, they make tough decisions for honourable reasons, they curb their strong emotions in public and they hold out for a true love they can respect and trust.)

Best Literary Children's Hero/ine: Huck Finn and Anne Shirley (for staying true to themselves at all times.)

Best Literary Action Hero/ine: Frodo Baggins (for continuing on against all hope, in the face of unbelievable danger and with little chance of success.) 

Lisbeth Salander (you may dispute her literary credentials, but it is impossible to deny her kick-ass attitude, her strength and determination.)

Best Literary Animal Hero/ine: Hazel from Watership Down (for shouldering the role of leader in times of trouble with intelligence, sensitivity and strength.)

Lassie (for loyalty and for always finding her way home!)

As for the May meme (insert a shoulder shrug here) "I don't know".

I don't plan my reading.

The only exceptions are holidays where I try to find a book or two set in the country or area that I'm visiting.

Usually my reading flows from the mood I'm in as I finish one book and move to the next.

If I've just finished something 'heavy', I might choose something 'lighter' next. Sometimes it's because of a review I've read or a suggestion from a friend.
Sometimes I get hooked on a genre or theme and read several things at once about France, the holocaust, New York, WW1 etc. Sometimes I feel compelled to read something specific for work (a new release or an award winning book so I can discuss it with customers).
Sometimes I need a comfort read and sometimes I want to be challenged.

If this cold develops, I suspect some comfort in the shape of Maisie Dobbs will be required to see me through.

Jane Austen

When I first read this month's meme question for the Classics Club I felt that it was almost too obvious to bother to answer.

"Do you love Jane Austen or want to “dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone”? (Phrase borrowed from Mark Twain).

1. Why? (for either answer)?
2. Favourite and/or least favourite Austen novel?"

I love Jane Austen, always have, and probably always will (the link will take you to my earlier CC post that featured my Austen-love).

Therefore, not much else to say that would be of interest or relevant really. Short post. March meme answered!

However, over the past couple of weeks we have been close to overwhelmed by family drama's.

Each night I lay in bed trying to sleep, but found myself exhausted from endless discussions, decisions and heightened emotions. My usual recourse during times of trouble is reading. I can always count on books to keep me sane, to provide a respite from the day and to calm my mind so I can sleep well enough most nights.

But last week nothing worked.

As per usual, I had several books on the go.
I had a couple of non-fiction choices, a teen read, a meditation book and book 3 of 1Q84 to tempt me. But there was simply too much going on. I couldn't focus on any of them. The words swam in front of my eyes. Nothing sank in. Nothing could make a dent on the day's dramas.

By the third night I was beginning to feel desperate. I needed solace. I needed comfort. I needed the literary equivalent of chicken soup, sweetened tea and grandma's crocheted blanket.

I needed Jane and I needed her quick!

And not just any Jane, only Pride and Prejudice would do.

Pride and Prejudice has been my constant companion since I was 16. I've read it and watched the 1980's BBC production so many times I am almost word perfect.

From the opening lines..."It is a truth universally acknowledged..." I knew I had chosen wisely. Calm washed over me. A smile found its way to my lips and by the time my husband came to bed I was happily quoting sections out loud for his amusement and my gratification.

Jane had worked her magic on both us.

Rereading such a favourite allows me the pleasure of anticipation. I know what is coming and I revel in the set-up. Each word is so carefully placed and considered by Austen, it's a delight to see her craftmenship. Each comment and scene is arranged to perfection.

Every rereading allows me to relish the story anew.

I particularly love Darcy's letter to Lizzy in the middle of the book and how Austen uses it turn everything that has gone before on its head.

I love the fuss and bother of Elizabeth's return to Longbourn with Jane. Lydia's noisy carriage trip, the drama of the militia leaving for Brighton, Lizzy finally have the time to tell Jane of Darcy's proposal and the truth about Wickham. Lots of long sentences and paragraphs, full of hustle and bustle, until Lizzy finally finds the time to observe how Jane is really doing....and.... "Jane was not happy".

Those four short, simple words after so much kerfluffle just stopped me in my tracks.

Every time I reread P & P I see something with new eyes or something speaks to me about my own situation. "Jane was not happy" was the gut-wrenching truth from this rereading.

Knowing that a happy ending was coming Jane's way, made this truth bearable.

Like Jane, we all go through the bad times, tough times, sad times, difficult times. They do not last forever and happiness can be just around the corner if we wait and have the right disposition to grab it wholeheartedly when it eventually arrives.

Jane Austen is like my best friend, a big sister.

If Jane were alive today, I would hug her.

Readathon ends...

I have to say that today has been a thoroughly enjoyable day.

A day completely devoted to books and reading. Not as much reading as I would have liked, but I spent a lot of time thinking about reading!

It has been a long time since I spent a whole day reading and curiously I found it difficult to stay focused for more than an hour or 2. I was distracted by my husband, housework, blogging, the news and I kept dozing off (much to my husband's amusement)!

I think that choice of book is important. You need a book that sweeps you up, carries you away and becomes an unputdownable.

The Beautiful and Damned was not one of those books, so perhaps that's why I struggled with focus.

1. What book(s) did you read during the event? The Beautiful and Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald
2. What book(s) did you finish? I completed 213 pages of 364
3. What did you like about our event? I loved the community feel. I enjoyed knowing that there was a group of like-minded readers from all over the world reading a classic at the same time as me, checking blogs, facebooking, twittering and Instagramming their progress. I enjoyed visiting other blogs and seeing what else people were up to. I appreciated that there was no pressure to read all day or to read a certain number of books or pages. The readathon also gave me a reason to devote a whole day to reading.
4. Do you have suggestions for future Readathons through The Classics Club?  I'm in a weary happy glow of book love right now :-) Perhaps, when I'm less tired, I might have some thoughts about quicker ways of keeping track of everyone's progress. Given that we're all connected because of blogging it's logical to use that as the main tool. But it can be a slow process and distracting! I also had the same problem when I checked into facebook and Instagram, so perhaps the problem was me after all!!
5. Would you participate in future Readathons? Definitely - I loved it! Thank you to all the lovely folk at the Classics Club for organising and running their first ever Readathon. I hope you found the experience as worthwhile, enjoyable and rewarding as I did.

Happy Reading and Good Night.

Readathon begins....

I finally settled on 2 books for the Classics Club Readathon
                           - The Beautiful and Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald (1 because I love the cover and (2) because I recently finished Hemingway's A Moveable Feast and the chapters on Fitzgerald were the most fascinating).
                           - A Good School by Richard Yates (because it was slim!) 

In Sydney the start time is midnight Sunday 6th January.

I know I wont be able to stay up much past midnight...so I ran a bubble bath and started on TBAD a couple of hours ago. The intro (which I only scanned quickly in case it gave away the story) suggested that TBAD was not one of Fitzgerald's best. So my expectations are not high for Anthony or Fitzgerald.

Now I'm just waiting for midnight with a cuppa and the 2 books in hand to see what happens next!

Perhaps it will be like NYE? Waiting, waiting, waiting for nothing much to happen...or waiting with anticipation for the most spectacular fireworks display ever!

While I'm waiting I will answer the questions posted by Allie at the Starting Post.

1. Snacks and Beverages of Choice: Tea, coffee and later on tonight Bailey's on ice!
2. Where are you reading from today? I'm reading at home - multiple locations (bed, lounge, back yard, front verandah, bath tub).
3. What are your goals for the Readathon? see above
4. What book(s) are you planning on reading? see above
5. Are you excited? VERY!!!!!

UPDATE #1

8:30am Sunday 6th EST Australia (4:30 pm Saturday 5th EST USA).
I managed to stay awake for an extra hour last night to read some of your early starting posts. In bed I read another chapter before my eyes got too heavy to continue. Page 24/364

"It was a girl in a red negligé, silk surely, drying her hair by the still hot sun of late afternoon".

"The elevated, half a quiet block away, sounded a rumble of drums - and should he lean from his window he could see the train, like an angry eagle, breasting the dark curve at the corner."

I'm now ensconced in front of my computer with my muesli and a cup of Buddha's tears jasmine tea unfurling gracefully. I'm catching up on posts before heading to our local pool to do my morning laps. Today I will take The Beautiful and Damned with me to read as I dry off.

I'm looking forward to a full day of reading.

UPDATE #2

12pm EST Australia (8pm EST USA).
Lots of distractions so far, but I've been thinking about reading all day!

The pool was delicious - it's a 30°C day - the perfect summer's day in fact.

I got distracted by Instagram when I took a photo of my book at the pool...there is now a #classicsclubreadathon tag if anyone else would like to add photos of where they are reading today.

Now I'm back home; the housework is done; the house is quiet...it could be time to get serious about this book.

""Let's walk up the Plaza and have an egg-nog," suggested Anthony. "Do you good. Air'll get the rotten nicotine out of your lungs. Come on - I'll let you talk about your book all the way."'

UPDATE #3

9pm EST Australia (5am EST USA)
Chances are the only ones still awake are those of us in the Southern Hemisphere!

I finally got some solid reading time in this afternoon, but sadly the local news has grabbed my attention tonight. Horrific fires are ravaging Tasmania right now. Hundreds of homes lost, people missing, whole communities devastated. The downside of summers in Australia.

The Beautiful and Damned has been a bit hard to get into - too long in the build up to the wedding I think. But things seem to be racing along now...I may even finish it by midnight!

""A classic," suggested Anthony, "is a successful book that has survived the reaction of the next period or generation. Then it's safe, like a style in architecture or furniture. It's acquired a picturesque dignity to take the place ot its fashion..."''

"'He says unloved women have no biographies - they have histories."" (I was interested to come across this one as it is quoted in the Chanel bio I recently read).