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Orwell's 1984...about 4 years ago. Sad, isn't it?

I retired last October and reading some classics was one of the things I promised myself to do. To date I have read 16 and have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. I have never enjoyed reading as much as I have these past few months.

mikesx50 wrote:I retired last October and reading some classics was one of the things I promised myself to do. To date I have read 16 and have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. I have never enjoyed reading as much as I have these past few months.

I'm jealous! (Good for you!!!!)

I read Fahrenheit 451, The Animal Farm and Jane Eyre as part of my English curriculum a few weeks ago (lucky me, I got to choose which books to read) - made me realize I should read more classics.

RebekaV wrote:I read Fahrenheit 451, The Animal Farm and Jane Eyre as part of my English curriculum a few weeks ago (lucky me, I got to choose which books to read) - made me realize I should read more classics.

I just LOVE Jane Eyre!!!!!

Do you? That's great to hear! It has been my favourite book since I was 9 years old!!! I have watched most of the movie adaptations as well and even got the soundtrack of the musical. I'm a bit obsessed with it, really. I reread it every year.

RebekaV wrote:Do you? That's great to hear! It has been my favourite book since I was 9 years old!!! I have watched most of the movie adaptations as well and even got the soundtrack of the musical. I'm a bit obsessed with it, really. I reread it every year.

There's a musical for Jane Eyre? I had no idea!

Yes, there is. It was played on Broadway in 2000. James Barbour played Rochester and Marla Schaffer was Jane. The composer is Paul Gordon. Unfortunately I could only find the soundtrack, not the video version, but it's quite good. There is also a very good website for all the Jane Eyre adaptations made (including movies, plays, musicals and books written based on JE) if you're interested. I can't post links yet, because I haven't been a member long enough, but if you google The Enthusiast's Guide to Jane Eyre you should be able to find it - it's the first hit and there's eyreguide written in the link.

I am reading thru Plato's Republic.

I did not pick it up of my own accord. I got it off a list of books that, according to someone, I need to be familiar with in order to be moderately well-educated. So as to provide an educated parent for my kids.

Of course, the Republic is brilliant in many ways. There are lots of ideas in it that we have all espoused at one time or another, and that have long been in the air of our culture, so there are many "So that's where that came from!" moments. And to think that Plato (or maybe Socrates) was the first person to articulate this stuff ... genius, right there.

Having said, there are also some shockingly bad ideas in it. Plato's ideal society would have no families, kids raised in institutions, and almost no private property. All this would supposedly get rid of human conflict, because people can't get possessive over "their" kids or "their" property. The naivete of this takes my breath away.

I guess a philosopher from 1,000 years ago might be forgiven for recommending this stuff. But by now ... it's been tried, and the cure is worse than the disease.

OK, lecture over.

H0LD0Nthere wrote:I am reading thru Plato's Republic.

I did not pick it up of my own accord. I got it off a list of books that, according to someone, I need to be familiar with in order to be moderately well-educated. So as to provide an educated parent for my kids.

Of course, the Republic is brilliant in many ways. There are lots of ideas in it that we have all espoused at one time or another, and that have long been in the air of our culture, so there are many "So that's where that came from!" moments. And to think that Plato (or maybe Socrates) was the first person to articulate this stuff ... genius, right there.

Having said, there are also some shockingly bad ideas in it. Plato's ideal society would have no families, kids raised in institutions, and almost no private property. All this would supposedly get rid of human conflict, because people can't get possessive over "their" kids or "their" property. The naivete of this takes my breath away.

I guess a philosopher from 1,000 years ago might be forgiven for recommending this stuff. But by now ... it's been tried, and the cure is worse than the disease.

OK, lecture over.

I don't ever remember reading this back in the day. No families? Yikes! And he was considered a great philosopher???

I read an abridged version of The Secret Garden with a Japanese student who was studying English. It was cute, but we had just finished reading some horror book that we were both into a lot more, so we agreed that The Secret Garden wasn't that exciting.

ALynnPowers wrote:I read an abridged version of The Secret Garden with a Japanese student who was studying English. It was cute, but we had just finished reading some horror book that we were both into a lot more, so we agreed that The Secret Garden wasn't that exciting.

I have read the unabridged version of it and loved it. I think the abridged versions are less good than the full versions.

-- August 30th, 2014, 5:40 pm --

I have read many classics in my early youth, but not recently.

I finished rereading A Tale of Two Cities just a few days ago, and before that I read Horrid Mysteries by Carl Grosse. I'm waiting for The Orphan of the Rhine to come through from the library; I'm on a bit of a Gothic horror kick.

Currently in the middle of Plato's Symposium and plan on reading The Republic after ^.^ I'm also at the end of The Hunchback of Notre Dame - I don't know if that counts as a classic, but I love it!

Evergreen22 wrote:Currently in the middle of Plato's Symposium and plan on reading The Republic after ^.^ I'm also at the end of The Hunchback of Notre Dame - I don't know if that counts as a classic, but I love it!

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is most certainly a classic. I have read it a long time ago and loved it.