Charles Dickens Wrap-up '14

Jan 7, 2015

I'll blame my tardiness on an unrelenting bug I picked up somewhere in Edinburgh which has followed me home and has let loose its fury! I've got some energy back today, but am continuing to breeze through tissue boxes and cough drops like nobodys business. 

BUT- Scotland was great! We had such a fun time and saw a lot. Maybe some more pictures will show up on here. The photo above was taken on a hike we did near Holyrood Park in Edinburgh on New Years Day. You can see the city below. This was not the summit... my phone died before we got there and I hadn't brought my real camera because it was raining and I didn't want to get it wet. Which was wise because everything else got wet. Like through all the layers. Sterling even had little ponds at the bottom of his shoes. 

Oh the wind!!! 

You could actually lean into the wind and not fall over. Running with the wind on the open areas was like getting running lessons from a gazelle- more distance with less effort! It helped with the upward climb because the wind was at our backs. 

As for Dickens....

I enjoyed reading A Christmas Carol. 

I like how Charles Dickens builds himself into his stories... he has not only put the story on paper, but his persona as a storyteller is there with the audience as they read it.

"The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in spirit at your elbow."

"If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooge's nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too."

December '14 Charles Dickens

Happy December!

Well last month was so much fun, let's do it again! Charles was an international literary celebrity of his time (and ours!) With almost 80 different books/stories, he made $1.5million in today's currency. Yowza! (www.biography.com)

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
The Pickwick Papers
David Copperfield

***

I think it's pretty convenient that it's December and a Christmas Carol is one of our options! I purchased a collection of Dickens's Christmas stories and A Christmas Carol is one of them. Nothing like getting in the Christmas spirit!

What are you reading?

Mark Twain Wrap-up '14

Guess what we woke up to this morning? SNOW! A whole inch of it:) It has remained below freezing all day today but there has been no further precipitation.

I felt especially badly for the girl at Fairways whose till was right in front front of the open set of double doors. I also felt badly after I asked her, concerned, if she had had a nasty fall (resulting in what I thought was a telltale bruise on one side of her face), and nope, it was a birthmark!

The Ring of Brodgar in the Orkney Islands- way,way North Scotland! Photo courtesy of Monica L.

How did you enjoy reading Mark Twain? 

I really enjoyed reading Tom Sawyer. I found it to be a nice, short, light read. There was a nice combination of adventurousness, fearlessness and innocence in Tom and his friends. The adults in this book were an important part of the storyline but I'm glad the reader gets to stay in Tom's world and gets to know the town, school, streets, vacant lots, forests, graveyards, etc, from his point of view.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!!!

November '14 Mark Twain

Today's the day our book club officially begins!

MARK TWAIN

The Mysterious Stranger

Tom Sawyer

Huckleberry Finn

The Prince and the Pauper

***

I just finished reading the first two chapters of Tom Sawyer... and can't wait to keep reading! The whitewashing fence story made me laugh:) Unfortunately I need to do some laundry first! 

Someone had a good thought... that if we cannot find or have already read the four titles that are provided under the month's author, we can read another of their novels, or simply find another classic that was written around that time period. Why not?! That way we can sneak some Jane Austen in there! 

What are you reading? 

We have a few others that have expressed interest in joining us:)

Auntie Bev

Connor

Evan

Chelsea

PS- The photo was taken from the Astoria Column in Astoria, Oregon! Send me some pictures from your albums and I will use them each month! 

Old classics book club reading list

***We are rather excited that there are others that want to join us in our quest to read a bunch of the classics! So far our troop contains:

Marie

Shanna

Monica

Naomi

Samantha

*** Here is the list of books. I know at least a couple on the list have already raided thrift stores and found quite a few!***Every four months, we are taking a cheat month where we can read whatever we want... or not read at all I suppose! So in 2015, that will be March and August.

Author’s Game

A. Mark Twain: The Mysterious Stranger, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The
Prince and the Pauper
2. Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield
3. William Makepeace Thackeray: Pendennis, Henry Esmond, Vanity Fair, The Virginians
4. Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped, Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, A Child’s Garden of Verses
5. William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest
6. James Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans, The Spy, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer
7. Washington Irving: Tales of a Traveler, Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy
Hollow, The Alhambra
8. Nathaniel Hawthorne: House of the Seven Gables, The Wonder Book, Twice-Told Tales, The Scarlet Letter
9. Henry W. Longfellow: The Village Blacksmith, Evangeline, Courtship of Miles Standish, Song of Hiawatha
10. Sir Walter Scott: The Talisman, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, The Lady of the Lake
J. Alfred, Lord Tennyson: The Brook, Crossing the Bar, Idylls of the King, Charge of the Light Brigade
Q. Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, An Old-Fashioned Girl, Eight Cousins, Little Men
K. Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven, Annabel Lee, Fall of the House of Usher, Gold Bug

Have a good day wherever you are:)

Old classics book club!

       I have this card game, and it hangs out at Mom and Dad's where it is rarely played! It made a comeback at Thanksgiving this year. The game uses well known authors such as Louisa May Alcott, Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Alfred Tennyson, etc. - a different author for each number (Ace through King), and is played like Go Fish. (We say "go to the library" because it seems more fitting!) Therefore, each author is represented by four of their greatest works, one for hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs. 

Of all the 52 different books, I have only read 6! Little Women, Little Men, The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Hamlet. 

       Mom and I have decided to form our own little informal book club! We'll try to read a different book each month, and use the deck of cards as a guide. 

       We will start in November with Mark Twain, and choose between The Mysterious Stranger, Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, and Huckleberry Finn. We've decided we don't need to read the same book! I will choose whatever is in at the library! The following month we'll read something by Charles Dickens as he is the #2 card!

       We are not too big into discussing themes and irony, satire and character development... so won't have monthly meetings or a discussion forum or anthing, but will just use the comments on my blog to keep in touch regarding the status of our reading!

       We invite you, my faithful readers, to join us! What about you, Karmen? No pressure!

       Hope you had a good day wherever you are:) 

Happy hippos

So you feel in the mood to be serenaded to? This is for you!!! 

Just look at those pearly whites!

Music sure does soothe the soul.

Have a good day wherever you are!

xo

Shanna