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smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

Had a hankering to read a classic this holiday as well as other lighter reads and so have just started Mansfield Park - Jane Austen. Anyone else doing the same?

tui · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 3317 Location: New Zealand

I love Jane Austin and reread them or parts of them each year. My favourite is Pride and Prejudice but i read Mansfield Park last year.
i was into Dickens for a while but haven't read any recently. Probably cause the print is so small in the copies I own!

whoa there pickle · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:15 pm Post subject:

I keep meaning to read more classics but when it comes down to it I always pick up something else.
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smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

Yes her tone of voice is just so wonderful isn't it? I like it more now I am older - I don't think I really got her before.

I like Dickens too Tui.

smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

Love Wuthering Heights and the Brontes.

whoa there pickle · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:52 pm Post subject:

The first time I tried to read Wuthering Heights I hated it and gave up after a few chapters. The second time was a few years later and I loved it!
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smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

I think its always worth giving some books another go. I didn't like To the Lighthouse -Virginia Woolfe when I first read it but now I'm older I do.

On the other hand, I have tried Portrait of a Lady -Henry James a couple of times and not managed to read it.

bevevans22 · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:27 pm Post subject:

I read Wuthering Heights once every year. First read it when doing A level English back in the day and still love it.

Will be reading The Secret Garden and The Jungle Book over the hols - haven't read them for ages - loved them when I was young!
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redredrobin · Joined: 01 Nov 2008 Posts: 1336

I found Henry James hard going and gave up. I've read and re-read lots of Jane Austen, especially Emma and Northanger Abbey (mainly because it is set in Bath). It's a long time since I read Wuthering Heights - I read it as an angsty teen so loved it! Can't be doing with Jane Eyre simply because it was an exam text! Surprised myself when I managed to read Les Liaisons Dangereuse (in English) and really got into it - it's about such horrible people!

smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who has struggled with Henry James! I love Jayne Eyre. One of my favourite books in my collection is an old bound copy of this where she is writing under the name of Currer Bell.

tui · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 3317 Location: New Zealand

i bought a Henry James book. I think it is called the golden bowl but i haven't started reading it. It has been on the shelf for at least 2 years.
I love Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights but haven't read them for a few years.

magpie nic · Joined: 26 Oct 2008 Posts: 7483 Location: Tyneside

I really like Jane Eyre as well, don't really read the classics but know I should. Have a few on my bookshelves, but always choose something else.
I think of mice and men and to kill a mockingbird should count as classics- I read them often!

smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

Fantastic books those magpie - you have excellent taste!

wicked witch · Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:51 pm Post subject:

I love reading Anthony Trollope in the summer holidays. I love his observations on the ways that people behave.
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tui · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 3317 Location: New Zealand

After reading Mr Pip i was inspired to read Great Expectations but haven't yet. I don't own a copy though i have several other .Dickens. Other people must have had the same idea as there is never a copy in the old book shops i have looked in.

smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

Mr Pip was a good read I thought, though literally shocking in parts. Have you ever read Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys, based on the mad woman in the attic from Jane Eyre?

magpie nic · Joined: 26 Oct 2008 Posts: 7483 Location: Tyneside

I will look out for that SH, sounds interesting. Read Mr Pip and it was certainly shocking!

catz240 · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:47 pm Post subject:

Got Nintendo DS lite for birthday and purchased 100 Classic Books for it. Haven't had time to start reading any yet. Hopefully this holiday when I am sitting outside the caravan - hopefully in the sunshine!
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greyengine · Joined: 27 Oct 2008 Posts: 1761

I love Jane Austen, but like others have never got on with Henry James. Not a big Dickens fan either, but have read quite a bit of Anthony Trollope and used to love Thomas Hardy when I was younger.
I also thought Mr Pip was a good read, and read Wide Sargasso Sea a few years ago - very poignant.

smallholder · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 7356

Have finished Mansfield Park and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a bit moralising at the end though - I think Austen overdoes her 'message' there. No way could I be as passive as Fanny Price, the 'heroine' !