Comments on: Current reading

By: kit

kit — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:30:44 +0000

I’ve actually heard of The Awakening. I’ll add it to the list.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:29:14 +0000

I might recommend “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin (1899) – short and sweet, a little trite by modern standards, but very well written. And if you’re extending your time period slightly, try one of my absolute favorites, “The Great Gatsby” (1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald, of course).

By: kit

kit — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Eliot has her fair share of absurdly long sentences; and as to length, remember, I’m the one who made you read me all of Moby Dick as a bedtime story!

Vanity Fair is definitely going on the list.

By: Mair

Mair — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:10:13 +0000

Well – speak of Wharton, of course I must weigh in here with The Master: Henry James**. Never mind that I can no longer read him and when I last tried, I had to wonder what in the hell place my head must have been in when he was my constant companion. I look upon that current inability with sadness. For many years he was the benchmark and touchstone of fiction for me. “The Americans” is deemed the “easiest”. But I also remember really enjoying “The Golden Bowl”. But since it is quite biggish, perhaps you should build up to that gradually. Be prepared for a shocking lack of periods (counterbalanced by a total surplus of commas)!

But for straight-out laugh-out-loud social commentary, nothing beats “Vanity Fair”……I KNEW so many of the people Thackery characterized.

Stay clear of Hardy. Brrrrr…slit your wrists stuff.

** As the story goes, Mrs. Wharton picked Mr. James up at the station in her new car when he came to visit her in Lenox. The car, she remarked, was purchased with proceeds from her latest book. He could only lament that profits from HIS latest book would not be sufficient to purchase the lacquer needed to paint her car.

By: kit

kit — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:02:37 +0000

It’s not totally the wrong period; it’d just stretch the end of it a bit. I’ve wanted to read the Psmith stories for a bit, and may do so before too long.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:56:08 +0000

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle.
I personally enjoy The Picture of Dorian Gray, but opinions differ.

I have now read about 25% of everything PG Wodehouse published. This is the wrong time period for you, but I love him. I had to quit cold turkey because it was interfering with my work. Maybe that’s not a good recommendation.

By: kit

kit — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:23:00 +0000

Oh, of course! When Miranda and I were reading What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew there were a very many allusions to Trollope, and he half-made it onto my list, but you’re absolutely right; now is the time for more Trollope.

By: Geroge

Geroge — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:20:45 +0000

The first thing that comes to mind is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope

But perhaps I can think of some others.