April 10 through May 30 – Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
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All right, clubbers! Today is Day One of our first sync read, which is designed to be stress-free and place the focus on reading together, rather than completing assignments. (Unless that’s your thing.)
It’s also cleverly designed to keep your moderators from tearing out their hair doing research. So it’s about you, and the book. And you.
Are you reading? Weigh in below — chat, leave a link to your post if you wrote something, read quietly if you prefer to keep to yourself but love knowing you’re reading with others, even silently. Weigh in here and say nothing at your blog. Whatever suits your personality.
There is no Mr. Linky below because the point in this feature is to talk together in a central place, and list our blogs if it comes up. (Which is of course welcome.)
Tell us if you’re excited, if you know some background on Hurston you want to share, if you have read the novel before and plan to redip with the group, if you feel sentimental about the read for any reason (maybe the book was a family member’s favorite), if you read it in college and want to try it again on your own, if you’ve never read it and don’t know what it’s about but it’s on your list so you’re reading it. Etc.
We’ll toss up another post on May 7 to see how the read is going, and one more on May 30 for the finish. Subscribe to the comments below to follow the discussion.
(No spoilers please!) – And it’s no pressure here! Feel free to weigh in in a week or nine months, if you like.
– The Club
(2013 Sync Schedule) / Twitter hashtag: #ccsyncread (so we can group chat!)
The Classics Club 
A wondrous word Weds post about this book as well http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/wondrous-words-wednesday.html
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A mid-way-type post about Their Eyes Were Watching Gog
http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/book-beginnings-friday-and-friday-56_20.html
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or even God!!
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I didn’t even know this event was happening, but I’ll definitely be joining in! The book is on my list and I really wanted to read this year.
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“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”
Great start – men and women approach life (and their hopes and dreams) differently. As a woman I responded strongly to the doing part. I’m guessing that Janie is going to be a ‘do-er’ too. I’m not so sure about forgetting the things you don’t want to remember though – I remember pretty much everything and wish I could forget/let go of some stuff!! Most women I know are rememberer’s.
Hopefully a man will jump in here to let us know what he thinks about the men always waiting for their ship to come in rather than going out to get their dreams and wishes.
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So I did not know that there was going to be a read-along for this book! It is on my list, so I may go ahead and put it on my reading docket since there will be a few people reading along, too! I like to be able to discuss what I am reading with others…it helps with the reading experience, especially for classics! =)
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Reblogged this on Zezee's Link and commented:
I’m so excited about this! I get to read one of my fav books and it’s a great opportunity to read a book from my Classics Challenge List.
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I’m so happy to partake in this sync read. I’m re-reading the book. It’s one of my favorites. My copy has a foreward by Edwidge Danticat which I read first. Usually I don’t read the foreword since it gives away the story and influences my reaction to what I read. But since I read this before, I thought it would be good to read the foreword. I like Danticat’s insights on the book and I could totally relate. On chapter 1 now and am loving the poetry in Hurston’s prose.
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I started my copy (I have a lovely hb virago modern classic designer cover edition – I will share a photo on instagram #ccsyncread if you want to see it).
I had never heard of the book before, but I was happy to try something new
My copy has an introduction by Zadie Smith which I read a little of, but too much plot stuff was being revealed, so I stopped and will go back to it at the end.
Loving the story so far.
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I have recently bought this book so I am going to try and join in – will probably read this month.
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Hmm, I might join in for this one, although its not on my challenge list. I remember it was required reading in one of my AP lit courses in high school, but I didn’t read it all, and I can’t remember what it was about. I I can get my hands on a copy I will at least begin! I like that this sync read is so relaxed! Doesn’t make you feel pressured or so far behind you’re hopeless.
So does the discussion just go in these comments, or do we have to fit our points into short twitter posts? I’m so new at this! :-\
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I will definitely be reading along – but I won’t be able to start until the first week of May. I am REALLY looking forward to this book!
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I’m joining in! Haven’t made a post about it yet but will try to do a check-in one along the way. Looking forward to talking with others about the book.
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