January ’18 Clubber of the Month

~ The Classics Club

Hello all and welcome to this month’s post honoring Sherry from Ubiquitous Grace. As part of the festivities, Sherry has answered some questions and shared some post with us. For more information or If you have a nomination for future Clubbers of the month, you can nominate them on the clubber page. Nominations for February will be taken until 2/7/2019.

The Interview

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? How long have you been blogging? What made you start a blog in the first place? Favorite authors/genres?

I am a 48-year-old from the Detroit area of Michigan. I have been blogging on and off for the past 15+ years in one form or another. My current blog, Ubiquitous Grace, has only been around since 2015. I blog mostly about homemaking and reading. I started a blog because I want(ed) to interact with people who had similar hobbies and interests.

My favorite authors are Margaret Mitchell, Jane Austen, The Bronte sisters, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Gaskell.

Other than classics, I love historical fiction, Christian fiction, and a good thriller.

Favorite authors in other genres: Janette Oke, Stephen King, Jojo Moyes, Jan Karon, and my current favorite, Kristin Hannah.

2. Tell us a little about your involvement in The Classics Club. When did you join? What made you want to join?

I joined The Classics Club just six months ago. I read about it on another blog and immediately signed up. I have wanted to read more classic novels over the years, but honestly – I needed a push! More motivation to delve into the genre that I’ve loved since I first learned to read.

3. What is your goal for your participation in The Classics Club? How did you come up with your list? What is your favorite part about the club?

My goal is, first, to read more classics. Second, to be more involved with other people who also love this genre and find more bloggers who are also avid readers. My favorite part about the club would have to be the members. I love reading other posts and gain insight into books I have not yet read.

4. How many books have you read so far? What are you currently reading? What books will you be starting soon?

In my first few months of The Classics Club I have only finished 4 classics. However, that’s more than I would have read prior!

Right now I am reading Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse.

After I finish that, I plan to read Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson.

5. Top 3 favorite classic books of all time. Your favorites and Least favorites? Are you looking forward to a particular book on your list?

My #1 favorite classic of all time is Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”. My mom introduced me to the book when I was 16 and I fell in love with the characters and the story. A close #2 would be Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. What’s not to love? I enjoy the language as well as the setting and storyline.

#3 could be Alcott’s “Little Women” or Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” – honestly I am not sure. There are several others that could be tied for third place as well! A few more favorites would be “The Grapes of Wrath”, “The Great Gatsby”, “Wuthering Heights”, “The Secret Garden”, “A Separate Peace”.

Least favorites? I have never enjoyed anything by Hemingway and I was very disappointed in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”.

I am looking forward to several books on my list, including Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar”, “Kristin Lavransdatter” by Sigrid Undset, and “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith.

6. Anything else you’d like to share with Club Members? (It can be a personal story about a book, something else to do with the Club, etc).

When I was about 7 or 8-years-old, my mom bought me these tiny little condensed versions of Edgar Allen Poe, Jack London, and Mark Twain. They were simplified and had black and white pictures and I just LOVED them! When I was old enough, I reached for the full versions of books from these three authors and have loved them ever since.

Sherry’s Classic Club List

Sherry’s review of Island of the Blue Dolphin

Sherry’s Goals for 2019

Yay! Thank you so much to Sherry for participating and congrats again!

23 thoughts on “January ’18 Clubber of the Month”

  1. Nice interview and good to hear what you are up too. We have the follow favourite classic authors in common; Margaret Mitchell, Jane Austen, The Bronte sisters. I also like Thackeray, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy and many more. The Classic club is a good interaction for classic lovers and, in general, for exchanging views on literature.

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  2. How interesting! I hadn’t heard of this group before – found you all from Ubiquitous Grace. I’m an avid reader of whatever is put in front of me (and I review books for a friend’s blog). The classics would be a great way to direct some of my energies 🙂

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    1. I still plan on trying some Hemingway as an older adult. Maybe I will be more understanding of his views? I will look into A Moveable Feast! Thanks!

      Sherry @ Ubiquitous Grace

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      1. If you want to try him again, I’d suggest The Snows of Kilimanjaro (a short story.) It’s magic. Absolute perfection. Then (if you haven’t read it) try A Farewell To Arms, Sherry. I just read it. Again, pure art. Especially the book’s final moments. ❤

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  9. We sound very similar as readers, Sherry! I have the exact same history you describe with Gone with the Wind. Have you read Jane Eyre? Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain? The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton? Since we have such similar tastes, I thought I’d mention a few of my other favorites. 🙂

    I recommend Dynamo Going to Waste: Letters to Allen Edee if you want to read some more on Margaret Mitchell. It’s a collection of her letters from her late teens to early twenties. And a great biography (though slightly slanted in favor of her husband) is Marianne Walker’s Margaret Mitchell & John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone with the Wind. I didn’t recall much to dispute about it, except that Walker describes Mitchell with green eyes (and dark hair, as I recall) as the biography opens, and Mitchell actually had bright blue eyes and auburn hair. And near the end of the book she compares Mitchell’s anxious personality to her husband’s calmer demeanor as if Mitchell was choleric to a negative degree, which I find a rather old-fashioned way to throw a thinking woman under the bus, hey. But generally I love it, and you get a lot of inside story on her world behind the scenes, most drawn from letters Walker cites. Mitchell also write a novella called Lost Laysen in 1916 that was published in full in the nineties. Cheers!! 🙂

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    1. Jane Eyre is another I’ve read multiple times and I just love it so much! I own The House of Mirth but haven’t read it yet. Now I will! Testament of Youth I will search out a copy!

      Also – Thank you for all the information! I actually purchased Lost Laysen a few months ago 🙂 I didn’t know about it before then! I will absolutely check out the others that you mentioned! I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me about them 🙂

      Sherry

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  11. Very interesting interview, Sherry! Your list of books looks great. I’ll be reading Kristin Lavransdatter and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, too. Your childhood memories were fun to read. Those early encounters with certain books are very powerful, aren’t they?

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    1. Thank you! Those two books are ones I’m really looking forward to! Books were so important to me from an early age! I wish that for every child.

      Sherry

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