Top Ten Tuesday: The Classics edition

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Favorite Heroines (or heroes, if you prefer!) but I am going to go off topic this week...again. I am currently listening to Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, so I thought that I would share classics I have read. I know that I should have read many more, but oh well. No guilt allowed right!

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne - Listening to this now!

Les Miserable by Victor Hugo - What a massive undertaking this was!

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - I read this last year for Cook the Books and thoroughly enjoyed it!

East of Eden by John Steinbeck -   There's several books on this list that I read thanks to Oprah's book club!

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald - I read this back in high school and then read it again 10 years ago.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - This was another Oprah read. I did end up going on to read and enjoy a number of his books.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen  - Still the only Austen I have ever read - Shocking I know!

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - I read this after reading Mr Pip!

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - I did think about putting up the cover of the DVD of the BBC series as the picture here (hello Richard Armitage) but I restrained myself!

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - I really enjoyed this! Another Oprah read!

What's your favourite classic?

Six Degrees of Separation: The Bass Rock to A Desperate Fortune

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

The starting point this month is The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld which is a book I have heard of before, but haven't read. 

My first connection is to another author I haven't read yet, Evie Dunmore. She writes historical romances and has a series titled the League of Extraordinary Women which I have heard good things about. This is the first book in that series. I'll get to them one day. Maybe.

This time I am going to link surnames to Helen Dunmore and her book, The Greatcoat. I think I borrowed this from the library a few times but I never did quite get to reading it. I have read other books by her though.

The window on that cover made me think of The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket. Many years ago an America friend from Oprahs Book Club sent me several of the Lemony Snicket books. Unfortunately she passed at a very young age. So sad.

One of the first books I read as part of that groups was One Hundred Years of  Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

My next link is to Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, for the only reason that she is another South American author.

And because I never miss an opportunity to link to a Susanna Kearsley book so for my final link I have chosen A Desperate Fortune.

I feel like I have jumped a bit all over the place this month. Next month we start with Eat, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss.

Six Degrees of Separation: From Redhead by the Side of the Road to One Hundred Years of Solitude

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

I missed last months Six Degrees which was a shame, but I am back this month with a list that contains at least one tenuous link! See if you can spot it.

The starting point this month is Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler, an author who I have  never read, although I am sure I should have! I did think about doing books with red in the title but I have a feeling I have done that before, if not in Six Degrees, definitely in a Top Ten Tuesday post, so I took a different direction.

The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell (Trixie Belden mysteries book 1) - My first thought related to the word redhead and that kind of inevitably lead to me to think about my first red headed book crush - Jim from the Trixie Belden books!

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - Jim was not my only red headed literary crush. There was also James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser from the Outlander series. This book, the third in the main series, is probably my favourite. Maybe it is something about a variation of the name James, and not the redhead, but I don't think so.

The Red Scarf/Under a Blood Red Sky by Kate Furnivall - When I checked my handy dandy spreadsheet which list the books I have read since  2004, the author directly above Diana Gabaldon alphabetically is Kate Furnival. I kept on thinking about the red scarf as the link too. This book is set in 1930s Russia, specifically in a Siberian prison camp.

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte - Also set in Russia, but this time during WWII, this was one of my favourite books from last year

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - An obvious connection here, from a book where most of the action takes place at Tolstoy's house  to a book written by the man.

One Hundred  Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez- I originally read Anna Karenina as part of Oprah's Book Club back in the 90s.  This was the first book that I ever  read with the book club! I am not sure I would've read either without my fellow readers and the fun that we had in the forums. I am still online friends with a lot of those people now!

Did you spot the very tenuous link?

Next month the starting point is Phosphorence by Julia Baird, which is going to be interesting to find a connection to. Better get my thinking cap on early for that one!

New Oprah Bookclub Pick

A while ago I used to read along with the Oprah Book Club, and used to have some amazing discussions on her boards! These days, I am not as involved but I do keep an eye out to see what book it is that she is promoting. Yesterday she announced a new pick - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. I did really enjoy it when she was picking classics, books that I would never necessarily pick up and read myself, but this is the debut book from this author, and was only originally published a couple of months ago.

I have heard of it before, but not much. Anyone read it? Anyone going to read it?

So Oprah has a new book out

So Oprah announced a new book club pick on Wednesday's show, and for the first time since she restarted the book club, I have absolutely NO interest in reading it! There have been some that I haven't been completely over the moon about reading but there was still a little enthusiasm. The book she chose was A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle - apparently a self help book. I don't know. It seems that she has plenty of opportunities to push self help books without having it as her book club selection as well.

What's going on?

I am contemplating not one, not two but three rereads! Now I know that there are a lot of people out there who do lots of rereads, but I am not one of them. So far this year I haven't reread any books, and in all of last year I only reread one book, and that was a book that I had originally read in high school.

So what's prompted this?

Well, the girls over a Book Binge started it! Their Hero of the Month for October is the delicious Cam Quinn from Sea Swept by Nora Roberts. This was the first book by Nora Roberts that I read, and I just absolutely loved it! I ended up reading all four books in the Chesapeake Bay series in the space of about two weeks. As much as I really liked the other Quinn boys, it was Cam who captured my heart! And despite the fact that I still have a gazillion other Nora books that I haven't read yet, I am thinking that it won't hurt to have a little visit with Cam! Anna is a very lucky girl!

The second book that I am contemplating rereading is Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Oprah has just chosen it as her next book club pick. I was originally introduced to Marquez through the Oprah book club when she chose One Hundred Years of Solitude a few years ago. Since then, every now and again, I read another book by this author. He is an author that I probably would never have chosen to read by myself, but I did love Love in the Time of Cholera. I am thinking about rereading this one, and maybe it's time to try a new Marquez.

The third book is His Majesty's Dragon(Temeraire) by Naomi Novik. One of the groups that I am a member of has this book scheduled as their book of the month for January. Discussion starts January 10, and I am thinking that, since I enjoyed it so much the first time, I might need to reacquaint myself with the book before discussion starts. Such a chore! In the meantime, I am hoping to receive Empire of Ivory sometime in the next couple of weeks!

By the way, have you been to visit Sybil's blog today? Her guest blogger is one of my fave historical romance authors...Lisa Kleypas. There's some really fun posts, and a couple of scrummy excerpts. I hope Mine Till Midnight gets here soon!

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier

"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set." —Sidney Poitier

In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measure—as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.

Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters...and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life.

Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates to who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition.

Here is Poitier's own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limits—his own and the world's. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.

My journey toward blogging pretty much started with joining Oprah's Book Club, and that is where I originally 'met' Kailana, and so it is somewhat apt that we do a joint review of this book, which was an Oprah pick earlier this year. Kailana's thoughts are in black and mine are in blue. It took a while for me to read this book because I am not really of the generation which was a big Sidney Poitier fan, so I read it because I have read most of the Oprah books over the years. It was also fitting to finally buddy review an Oprah book with Marg.

I will start off by saying that Sidney Poitier stars in one of my favourite movies ever, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner....yes, the original version, not the Ashton Kutcher version, but other than the fact that he was generally regarded as one of the major Hollywood stars during the 60s I didn't really know all that much about him. I had heard of Sidney Poitier before, but I have never seen any of his movies before. One of these days I will have to because I have of course heard of his movies before. Most of my knowledge of him comes from my grandmother and mother who both were happy to see me reading his memoir.

In some ways this book wasn't actually what I expected. I think I expected more of a traditional autobiography following a chronological order, but instead this book was more a series of reflections on some of the issues that people face in life. One of the major focuses of the book was racism, and the discrimination that Poitier faced throughout his career, and also the opposition that he faced as a man who was seen to be typecast as a good guy, and not necessarily someone who fought against the racist Hollywood system. I thought it was interesting to hear what Poitier went through to get where he is. It is really an amazing story, even if we know that it would have had to been hard considering the time that he grew up in. Growing up in a white, middle-class home, it is always helpful to see other sides of the picture and to know what other people had to get through to become the people that they are today.

Along the way there was also reflections on the current generation of kids who need everything now, particularly material goods, and on near death experiences that he had.

In terms of the writing style, there were occasions throughout this book where I could just hear the voice of Sidney Poitier, with his distinct accent, coming through on the pages. It wasn't however consistent, and there were definitely other times when that voice was indistinct. I was interested to see how he sees the society today, though. We are from very different generations and from different societies, so it is always interesting to see what society is like from a different point of view. I do think that I would have liked this book more if I really knew who Poitier is, because while I have heard him talk, it is not enough that I heard his accent in my head while reading it. I did reflect on how he talks about his education and how he went for years with little education and yet was able to write such a reflective book.

After reading books like this, I am reminded that I really should read more non fiction....one of these days! I have actually been reading a reasonable amount of non-fiction lately, so this just adds to the ranks.

Marg's Rating 4/5
Kailana's Rating 3.5/5

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

A searing, post apocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

I'm pretty sure that I have mentioned here before that I used to be a regular over in the Oprah book clubs, and I know several people who are now bloggers from those groups. Reading with those groups gave me a much greater understanding of books like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Now when a new Oprah book is announced I add it to my TBR list, with the intention of joining in on the discussions on the boards. With the announcement of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I did get around to reading it, but I never did really get around to discussing on the boards.

Reading this book wasn't easy. Given the whole post apocalyptic setting, the environment is bleak, the story itself is bleak, the language is sparse. Despite the fact that it is never clear what happened to the world, it is clear that it was an event that affected both men and the natural world.

A man and his young son are travelling the road, trying to walk to the coast where they hope to find something different. There is very little interaction between the pair and other humans, mainly because it is difficult to trust anyone. There are gangs of armed people who will pretty much kill anyone they find...in some cases as a way to provide food. The man is always very wary whenever there are signs of humans, even if the person is travelling by themselves, always teaching his young son that you have to be careful who you trust.

The man tells the boy that he is carrying the light and that they are the good guys, and the young boy struggles to understand how they can be carrying the light when they are guilty of many of the things that the father says the bad people do.

As they travel along the road, close to suffering starvation, the father despairs of how to provide for his son, especially as they both suffer illness. Each time they come to a town or isolated home, a search is done through the houses and shops to see what others who have been there before them may have left behind, luckily stumbling on a couple of caches of food that help sustain them.

Upon reaching the coast though...they basically find nothing, and they will have to keep travelling.

It is a bleak story, full of griminess and at times hopelessness, but it is definitely well written, and I can definitely see why the book won the Pulitzer. The relationship between the father and the son is complex, but also compelling in its depth and closeness.

I am not sure that reading this book has inspired me to go and read more by McCarthy, although I am sure I will get to him again eventually!


Rating 4/5

Other Bloggers Thoughts:

My Own Little Reading Room
The Inside Cover
Things Mean A Lot
In Search of Giants
Books and Needlepoint