Group Check-in #33: March 2019

~ The Classics Club

Hi Clubbers! How’s the reading going?

Tell us about your project — or you! Introduce yourself. Chat.

Tell us what you’ve read, how you’re feeling about your progress, how much you love the classics or the community — any struggles, a favorite read so far. Really, whatever you feel like sharing!

Some people prefer writing an update at their own blog and linking it here in the comments. That’s fine, too.

Feel free to respond to one another in the comments below — ask questions, visit each other, tell us you are new to the club, planning to join the club — etc. This is a meet and greet.

If you’re having trouble with your list and need encouragement, share that! That’s understandable. We want new classics readers to join us, so there’s nothing wrong with arriving to this thread with all of the newness showing!

(Please also note the “check-in” feature here is entirely voluntarily, intended for those who like weighing in with others in the group, and having a periodic place to reflect upon goals for the club. For some this feature would feel like an unwanted intrusion. Silent participation in this group is of course welcome!)

Thanks for all of your enthusiasm about this project!

New? Introduce yourself to the group on Twitter using hashtag #ccintroductions@ourclassicsclub. You can also introduce yourself here at the blog. 🙂

Twitter hashtag for reading check-ins: #ccreadingupdate

Note that if you’re on Twitter, you can also tweet your latest classic book reviews to the group using hashtag #ccbookreviews.

 

38 thoughts on “Group Check-in #33: March 2019”

      1. So far it is a charming series of tales following some of the antics of the boys at Jo’s school. However there hasn’t been the same character development or connection I had from Little Women.

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  2. I’m sixteen books into my second list. This one’s going a bit slower up front compared to the last one, so I’m probably a few books behind schedule, but still loving it. Most recently read Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson and really enjoyed it. I’d like to read the sequel or The Black Arrow from him next, probably later this year.

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    1. Wow, that is good. I am still on my first 50 book list, and I have had it for some years. Lately, it has gone a little bit faster, but sometimes I don’t read so many classics. Lately, I have tried to mix them more frequently with other genres I read.

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      2. I’ve found that I naturally mix classics in to my regular reading now without thinking, thanks largely to this club. I rarely picked up a classic before this.

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      1. I keep my lists as a starting point but edit as I go. I find sticking to a specific list doesn’t work very well for me.

        Also by the time I got to my second list, my reading had really changed quite a bit, so it was full of books I was equally as excited about that weren’t on my radar when I first started.

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  3. I finished my spin number (for the first time-yay me!), after which I’ve read (or listened to) Alexander’s Bridge, and a couple of other non-classics. I’ve yet to write a review of AB….I’ll get down to it someday. I’m currently re-reading Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. So much to ponder over!

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  4. I am rather pleased with myself for once when it comes to my classic list. I have finished four books during the last couple of months. That is; Washington Square and Kristin Lavransdatter for the last spin, and before that Shirley (finally) and The Taming of the Shrew. I usually add new books to the spin list just before the next spin. I will try again to read ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by James Joyce, which is on for another challenge of mine. So far so good for this year.

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    1. It really does feel good when one gets to cross out those titles on a list, right? I’ve been able to cross out three in the last couple of months, and I feel great!:D

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  5. I forgot where to post this:
    Did you get stuck in or gave up on #Donquijote #Donquixote? Join Lory https://emeraldcitybookreview.com/ and Emma @wordsandpeace https://wordsandpeace.com starting the week of March 18. It will be a slow and very manageable readalong, about 1 chapter/day, with a recap with questions and comments once a week, alternated on Lory’s blog and mine. All are welome to join. Follow our blogs to get details when all is ironed out

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  6. I’m almost half way done with War and Peace–starting book 8 today. It is simply wonderful–such a rich collection of fascinating characters, and I’m learning so much about the Russian part in the Napoleonic Wars, plus geography, customs, and all the other aspects of life that make classics and historical fiction my favorites.

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  7. I’ve continued making slow progress on my Lord of the Rings challenge. Other than that, reading has taken a bit of a back burner. I just started DMing a Dungeons and Dragons campaign and am spending way too much time reading up on the rules to figure out what the hell I’m doing!

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      1. No kidding. Sadly, even that’s been on a bit of a back burner for middle grade fiction, family book discussions, and D&D manuals. Not that I mind the D&D manuals.

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  8. I am currently listening to Walden, and “thoreau-ly” enjoying it. I know, too easy… Anyway, I keep thinking he is the father of minimalism, awesome! I actually chose a librivox free recording, and the narrator is very good.
    I’m slowly but surely still going through Don Quijote, a few chapters a week. I’m almost done with book 1.
    As well as a few chapters a week as well with one of my French students for Les Misérables, in French. That’s a reread for me. We just finished volume 1 on Fantine

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  11. Still dipping in and out of Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley for the last spin, the reason being I’ve joined in other reading events for this month—Reading Ireland Month, the Wales Readathon, and March Magics celebrating Terry Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones. Hopefully normal service will be resumed in April…

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      1. Thank you, Lisbeth. I’ve so far found Shirley slow-moving and rather too introspective, in a way that even The Professor didn’t match till near its end, so it sounds as though I’m tending to a similar view. However Mansfield Park I felt was reasonably lively, though its protagonist was not as assertive as Austen’s heroines can often be (within their social constraints, of course). I’ll have a look at your post now, thanks!

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  12. I finally got to finish the book I ended up with in the last spin (well past the deadline I know). I wasn’t sure I would finish it but got there in the end. It was Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith which is one of the oldest books on my list. Not a page turner……

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