Reading the Classics discussion
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Hello, everyone!I'm Amle (pronounced Am-Lee)
I'm a 36 year old Swedish woman, living in France. I love music, mainly the writing of it and singing, I study languages for fun, I read a lot, and I dabble in writing stories.
At the moment I mostly read fantasy and classics, and I take great pleasure in re-reading books I love.
I've been a part of this group since... I have no idea but I think it was around 2016 when the activity stopped. But I always hoped we would get back to reading together again eventually.
Good Morning! My name is Janet. I retired and my husband and I moved from New Hampshire to Washington State with our two cats in 2010. My husband passed away a month ago so now my cat Frank and I are on our own. I joined the group in 2012. I am trying to complete the BBC Top 100 and Top 200 lists which include many classics. I also enjoy goodreads groups because of the many reading challenges that I like to participate in.
Hi, my name is Natalia and i'm 18 years old! I'm from Brazil (ugh) and have loved reading since I can remember. I fell for classics last year after I read Dracula, which is now my favorite book ever. I've joined this group only a month ago, so I'm getting the hang of it lol.I live with my parents, my sister and two dogs. I'm on my last year of high school and thinking about majoring at economics (or maybe history or english, still not sure).
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I'm Amle (pronounced Am-Lee)
I'm a 36 year old Swedish woman, living in France. I love music, mainly the writing of it and singing, I study languages for fun, I read a lot, and I ..."
Hello Amle,
I have seen your comments a lot. Thank you for adding to our discussions! What languages do you know? I've always thought it would be fun to study languages. I know some Spanish from college, and my husband speaks Portuguese from spending some time in Brazil. But I've always wanted to learn Italian.
I'm so glad that you stuck with the group despite the inactivity. Thank you!
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Hi Janet,
I'm so sorry about your husband. My father died back in April, so my mother is also going through that too.
That's so great that you have been with the group since 2012, basically since the group began. Sorry about the inactivity, but I am so glad you have stuck with us.
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Hello Natalia,
That is wonderful that someone so young has an interest in classic literature. I hope you continue to have a passion for reading through your whole life!
And welcome to the group!
Jenn wrote: "Amle wrote: "Hello, everyone!I'm Amle (pronounced Am-Lee)
I'm a 36 year old Swedish woman, living in France. I love music, mainly the writing of it and singing, I study languages for fun, I read ..."
Thank you so much Jenn for getting the group up and running again!
One of the best things about finding a great story is being able to share it with someone and talk about it.
The group conversations are great so far and I try to participate as much as I can. It's a little frustrating when I can't get my hands on the books we're going to read. I'm really looking forward to ALL the new reading plans and it'll help a lot to have some more time to order classics that aren't in the public domain. Great ideas!
As for languages, I'm fluent in Swedish, English, and French. I "fake" a decent German and Spanish while talking, although I'm not that good at writing in either. And I have very recently started learning Italian and Japanese - which I absolutely love.
You should definitely try learning Italian, such a beautiful language.
Jenn wrote: "Janet wrote: "Good Morning! My name is Janet. I retired and my husband and I moved from New Hampshire to Washington State with our two cats in 2010. My husband passed away a month ago so now my cat..."Jenn - I'm sorry to hear about your father. I hope your mother is doing alright. It is not an easy adjustment.
Hello Classic readers, so happy this group is back. It was the first group I joined after logging my books as a new goodreads user, back around 2012 maybe. I was a public librarian back then, retired in 2018, and relocated from Northern Virginia to Central Florida. I stay active, bike riding, substitute teaching, and playing at Disney. Reading has always been my solace, escape, and source for human understanding. I read every genre, and especially enjoy lush language that immerses me in a time and place outside of my own lived experience. Forgive me if my comments are few or too late. I am a slow reader and rely on the public library for ebooks or regular books.
Jerilyn wrote: "Hello Classic readers, so happy this group is back. It was the first group I joined after logging my books as a new goodreads user, back around 2012 maybe. I was a public librarian back then, retir..."I just want to say thank you, librarians are my super heroes. Books are magical pathways to different worlds, emotions, and greater understanding.
I will always have a special place in my heart for my childhood library and the people working there who let me sit and read for hours and helped me find whatever odd book I was currently looking for.
Hello - Laura from Maryland (USA) here. Mom of 2, working from home currently while my 2nd grader is in virtual school and my 3 year old goes to day care part time. I'm not sure how long I've been a member of this group but I haven't been active in some time. I love the classics, Jane Austen and the Brontes in particular, and have recently purchased a very intimidating copy of War and Peace to tackle before the year ends (hopefully).
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Hi Laura! I am also a stay at home mom and my youngest is 3! Jane Austen and the Brontes are wonderful and among my favorites. I have been meaning to tackle War and Peace myself for some time, but keep putting it off. Perhaps we should make it one of our large Doorstopper Reads for next year!
Hello my name is Erika and I live in Rochester NY. I've only been with this group a month!I have been a physical therapist for 25 years and I'm now taking my time staying at home with my kids as they navigate through hybrid virtual learning. I have a 12-year-old daughter as well as a 10-year-old daughter.
I love reading all kinds of genres but classics ❤️❤️❤️
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I'm willing to try W&P. I've always wanted to, but was turned off to the idea when I read Anna Karenina, convinced all the way through it that it just had to get better... how could everyone be so WRONG! It never did. AK is TERRIBLE (my opinion, of course). At one point it takes a character something like 60 pages to die. He'll almost expire, but WAIT! He muddles through for another couple chapters, then he's dying again, but WAIT! Etc etc ad infinitum...
That's when I lost my enthusiasm for the idea of W&P. Word of warning tho: it's more of a 6-month read than 3 :)
I am Alan. Since we have another Alan active in this group, just remember me as the one with cats in my profile picture. I am 65, living with my wife in Demopolis ("the City of the People"), Alabama. I currently serve in a juridical position in The United Methodist Church; prior to going into the ministry I practiced law for 13 years; and prior to law school I worked for a state historic preservation agency in Florida.I got hooked on the classics as a child, initially though the adventure stories of Robert Louis Stevenson. In junior high I was introduced to Shakespeare via Macbeth and Julius Caesar, and to Dickens via A Tale of Two Cities. I fell in love with both. In high school, I discovered George Eliot, John Steinbeck, and the great Russian writers of the nineteenth century, especially Tolstoy, Turgenev and Dostoyevsky. Yes, I was the nerdy kid who had The Brothers Karamazov tucked under his arm through the first semester of my junior year in high school.
I still read voraciously from many genres and traditions; but I still love classical literature, however we might define it.
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Hi everyone! I'm Kristine from Norway. I've just recently rediscovered GoodReads and I'm so happy that this group is up and running :)
I became a member ages ago when I did my bachelor in English Literature. Sadly I've not kept up with my reading the last couple of years, so it's great to participate in the monthly reads to keep the motivation.
I'll mostly be listening to the books on Storytell, as I'm a single mom with a full-time job, and I'll be able to listen at work.
Looking forward to getting to know you all better!
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After days of trying to reconstruct I have a library of about 1000 books. My library two weeks ago was about 2000 books.
This is a suggestion to everyone - ŷ cannot restore your account. Go to MyBooks, at the bottom left, click on export-import. The top selection should be a button to export your library to a .csv file. Do THIS ! Rename and save this file in your keep folder.
This only saves your books, not people you follow or are friends with or Challenge pages. You could go to these pages and just print those pages, best into a PDF file if you can.
Just saying. Losing 5 plus years of books, ratings, reviews is not fun.
Hi! My name is Michael and while I’m originally from the USA I now reside in Tokyo. I’ve always been a voracious reader and joined this group several years ago. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to keep up with this group because my former job was a systems engineer. I recently retired and now I can spend time reading.
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I am retired and it is so wonderful to be able to "Read at Will"!
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Welcome, Michael! The group actually fell dormant from about 2016 until recently, when Jenn revived it, so you haven't missed much yet. Glad to have you aboard.
Guten Abend! Bonsoir!My name is Christian and I am from Germany. I am happy to be part of this interesting group. I work in IT and develop machine-learning chatbot systems.
I love the connection between language and technology, although I must say that an algorithm can never reproduce the beauty and language of classical literature.
I look forward to interesting discussions.
Best regards
Christian
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Welcome, Darshana. I wish I'd had an appreciation for literature when I was your age!
Hi all! I’ve been wanting to join a book club/group to discuss literature but lacked the time due to graduate studies, work, and kids. I am in the last semester of my studies so I’m hoping to be able to commit to a group like this. I love reading and usually lack the discipline to stick to just one so this will be great to hold me accountable. I also teach 8th grade honors English in a public school in Louisiana. Since I didn’t originally go to school for English literature I’m always trying to increase my exposure and knowledge. Thanks for putting this together! ❤️
Welcome to all our new classic lovers!!!
Just checking in to say I am in love with the calendar!
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Very happy you're finding it helpful!
Hi! My name is Jenny. I have been wanting to read more classics for a while and hope this will get me on that route. I am married to my college sweetheart- going on 24 years this month.
We have two adult daughters. One lives out of state now and the other returned home to finish college after the spring shut down at her out of state school. I teach kindergarten and love it’s energy. My passion is teaching kids to read and love it as much as I do.
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I am married to my college sweetheart- going on 24 years this month.
We have t..."
Welcome to the group, Jenny!
My name is Malorie and I joined in 2013, not sure how old the group is though. I'm a firefighter and I have a really sweet 8 year old boy. I didn't read any classics last year and i want ti read some this year.
Hi, everyone! I am Lorri from Minnesota and joined this group late in 2020. I have been reading classics since I was 12 years old and still have many TBR. My favorite classics were written in the 19th century and my least favorites are modernism and postmodernism works.I have an ambitious classic and nonclassic TBR for this year and will not be rereading Don Quixote with the group, but hope to join in future group-reads and discussions.
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Welcome Malorie and Lorri! Happy to have you both join in!
Hello everyone, I have been on this board awhile but, now would like to become active. I am excited to start reading the classics and meet other like-minded individuals.
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I have been on this board awhile but, now would like to become active. I am excited to start reading the classics and meet other like-minded individuals."
Welcome, Elizabeth! Please jump in and join us for our read of Don Quixote, by Cervantes. Review the materials already posted. You will find notes on translations, a reading schedule, and a linked reading guide to assist you.
Hello! My name is Tina, and I joined the group a long time ago (I don't even remember when, but probably just after I first got on ŷ in 2009). I've been dormant for quite a while, though! The classics are still my favorite go-to genre of literature but lately, I've been reading more travel biographies, history, some young adult lit (I'm the librarian for my school library, so I need to review books I put on the shelves for students), and general fiction. I currently have a stack of 6 or more books on my nightstand (not to mention the stack on my Kindle I've started and not finished), of various genres. Yet I always come back to the classics. I recently read Frankenstein with a high school student I tutor.
I look forward to joining you in discussions of the next book you read!
Hi! My name is Maria, i'm a 23 year old danish girl, with a big love for books.I just joined the group in hope of sharing my love for classical literature with likeminded people. As i only have 1-2 friends i can talk classics with irl.
I am having my second sabbatical year after having graduated at the danish STX gymnasium and are now figuring out if i want to study English to become a teacher in English (and either psychology, greek mythology or art) or if i want to get a pedagogue degree to work with children. Right now i favor to study English.
I tend to mostly read classics, historical fiction or generel adult books. But i'm hoping to read a little more YA and fantasy. My reading goal this year is at least 100 books.
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Hello! This group has become so active after a long dormancy! I enjoyed some of our winter discussions, then took a break when several library holds arrived from my “want to read� list. There are so many discussions going that it’s hard to find the one I am looking for to join you again. Where is the CS Lewis group read? I understand you have begun discussing The Magician’s Nephew? Coincidentally my 6-yr old ( really!) grandson started that yesterday, and I usually join in his chapter reads, as reading aloud helps his comprehension at this age. It’s funny, he will read through on his own, read ahead of me, etc, yet if I offer to read parts he has already finished he is fully engaged as if it was the first read. He gets the overall story arc, but misses so much without adult support.
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July is a good month to back up your ŷ library. Go to “My Books�, at the bottom left find import export, click and at the top of the page is the option to export your library.
Hello Fellow readers I am Nidhi. I love classics so I am glad i found this group . Currently i am reading Don Quixote , I have already read Robinson Crusoe which i liked a lot. I hope we read many great classics as a group.
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I'm glad you found our group of Classics Readers.
Things are very slow at the moment. We are in the process of re-inventing ourselves.
The original leader of the group is not involved anymore. The member who kept things running well over the last year had to step back due to other demands on his time.
I am still a co-moderator but I have very limited control over the machinery of the Group Pages.
All the latest posts have been going to this folder, "New Moderator" folder and primarily "What are You Reading" folder.
For the time being the "What are You Reading" is probably the best place to post. We are using that folder to talk about what we are currently reading and also the possibility of organizing a new Group Read. Group Reads are over for the time being. We may just continue casual discussions about Classic Books. Our number of active readers is small.
Welcome again. Linda
(If I could make a folder for the latest discussions, I would do it but I either I can't or don't know how.)
Thanks Linda. This has been a common problem in many groups recently but things will get sort out. Some groups are without moderaters , non functional , we are waiting, not quitting.
One of the non functional groups I am talking about is functioning now, members contacted GR support. But it took lots of effort. Now it has six moderaters.
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I think we are in Semi-waiting mode. We are talking for having an occasional read with informal discussion to keep things going.
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The active group is small now. There are probably about a dozen people who follow the discussions.
We don't have an active leader at the moment.
I am still a moderator and able to make some changes to the group architecture.
We were very active this last year, but with so few members, we have gotten a little burned out.
We are discussing having more casual reads at a slower pace.
The most active folder is the 'What I'm Reading" folder, always a good place to discuss books that members are reading.
Let's make this fun! Comment below with a little bit about yourself and how long you have been part of this group. It'll be fun to see how many are still here from the group's early years, as well as how many are new since our recent awakening.
I'll start! My name is Jennifer and I am a stay at home mom of 4 kids, three girls and a little boy, ages 10, 8, 6, and 3. I have my degree in English, and I am hoping to go back to work teaching high school English when all my kids are in school. I have been with this group from the beginning. My mom and I started this group in 2012, just the two of us, because we both love classic literature. We never knew the group would grow as fast as it did! Within a matter of months, we hit over 1,000 members. That was pretty exciting! After a few years, both of our lives got very busy, and sadly we let the group go. I'm back now, and fully committed to keeping this group alive and thriving!
Well, that's me. Now it's your turn!