This is fun—there are SO MANY “Classics” I haven’t read (I did read The Bell Jar though!), and, honestly, I don’t entirely regret avoiding the big “c” Classics/Canon—although there’s no shame in building your own canon. On the app front, is there a reason you chose Storygraph over Fable? I’ve spent forever and a day trying to find alternatives to Goodreads and finally settled on Fable and find the interface to be the most pleasant of the bunch. Plus it’s built for reading groups, a first-class feature, whereas it feels hacked on in Storygraph…just a humble suggestion.
There are a lot of Classics out there, and I would be impossible in a lifetime to read them all. I'm reading the Classics right now, such as Homer and Goethe. I'm glad that you're interested in such books as well.
I’m going to out myself as a Plath superfan and have read The Bell Jar a truly disturbing amount of times but I am SO EXCITED to read along and hear what people’s responses are to it fresh! The last time I got to hear people chat about Plath was in college so this feels *like* new! It’s like getting to know an old friend all over again!
Oh, good, that makes me so happy!! I re-read Persuasion last year along with a few people who were reading it for the first time and it was such a fun time for that exact reason.
How fun! I have been doing a personal challenge myself of classics this year. I was finding I had so many classics on my shelf that I was buying with the intention to read, but they were always being over shadowed by newer shiner titles. The challenge started to just get through the backlog of classics on my shelf that I already owned; and I had to do it because I said I would and I had an audience to bear witness! The years almost over and I have LOVED it. I read one classic a month and it has been so much fun. While I’m not going to make it an explicit challenge next year, I am going to keep reading a classic a month in the future. It has made me such a better reader & forced me to read and think about concepts that perhaps have fallen out of writing favour. In November I am reading Crime and Punishment. It’s taken me all year to build up to courage bc it intimidates me but I am actually excited to go for it.
The best classic I’ve read so far this year is East of Eden - I loved it and I can’t believe it sat on my shelf unread for so many years!
Oh, I love that!! November's a great month to read C&M, actually -- the dreariness (complimentary) will accompany the book. And totally agreed re East of Eden!! I read it a few years ago after dragging my feet about it for far too long.
So I’ve heard! I look forward to complimentary dreariness. E of E was just so damn good - it’s nice to know we all seemed to drag our feet before reading it and subsequently loving it lol. I look forward to seeing what books are picked for this club - and hopefully I’ll join in at some point! I have read Bell Jar before but I hope you enjoy it xx
I didn’t want to embarrass you at the time for your mistake but I fear I agree - Jail is an adequate punishment for such a crime (joke absolutely intentional)
I freely admit that I'm obviously An Old because I'm still fighting with the app, it won't let me sync my whole Goodreads account but I'll persevere and victory will be mine in the end! Hope you're having more luck with it Clara
It's lieu you knew I bought The Bell Jar ayears ago because I'm supposed to... but never actually read it. I love the idea of a classics book club. Hating rereading The Catcher in the Rye and recounting each chapter in great detailed in my group chat was the best thing 2019 me ever did.
I love this idea! I have been doing some of the same reading this year; right now I'm a little over halfway through Moby Dick. I know there's no way to make a live chat time work for everyone, but unfortunately for me, I'm in Europe so 8-9 EST is the middle of the night for me. I'm also on Storygraph so excited to see more groups using it!
When I tell you that my mom had to remind me EYE am also in europe and 8-9pm est is the middle of the night for me, as well. 🫠 I’ll keep it for oct 30 but in all likelihood change it for the last live discussion.
The Bell Jar was one of the first “classics” I read recently trying to go through my own list of should-have-already-reads and it ruined me for everything else — The Bell Jar is undoubtedly one of the best books I’ve ever read. Super excited for this 🩵🩵🩵
Great choice - a serious book, but my high school take-away was one particularly honest-hilarious passage:
“I stared at Buddy while he unzipped his chino pants and took them off and laid them on a chair and then took off his underpants that were made of something like nylon fishnet.
“They’re cool,” he explained, “and my mother says they wash easily.”
Then he just stood there in front of me and I kept on staring at him. The only thing I could think of was turkey neck and turkey gizzards and I felt very depressed. Buddy seemed hurt I didn’t say anything.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
For better or worse, that stayed burned in my brain! Still laughing -
I’m so excited you’re doing this via Storygraph!!! It’s so much better than Goodreads, imho. Not being owned by Bezos is a big plus.
It'll be ~fun~ to learn a new platform for the nth time! x
This is fun—there are SO MANY “Classics” I haven’t read (I did read The Bell Jar though!), and, honestly, I don’t entirely regret avoiding the big “c” Classics/Canon—although there’s no shame in building your own canon. On the app front, is there a reason you chose Storygraph over Fable? I’ve spent forever and a day trying to find alternatives to Goodreads and finally settled on Fable and find the interface to be the most pleasant of the bunch. Plus it’s built for reading groups, a first-class feature, whereas it feels hacked on in Storygraph…just a humble suggestion.
There are a lot of Classics out there, and I would be impossible in a lifetime to read them all. I'm reading the Classics right now, such as Homer and Goethe. I'm glad that you're interested in such books as well.
Ha hopefully you’ll like it once you start. It’s pretty intuitive. And you can import your Goodreads data if you like it and want to keep using it.
I’m going to out myself as a Plath superfan and have read The Bell Jar a truly disturbing amount of times but I am SO EXCITED to read along and hear what people’s responses are to it fresh! The last time I got to hear people chat about Plath was in college so this feels *like* new! It’s like getting to know an old friend all over again!
Oh, good, that makes me so happy!! I re-read Persuasion last year along with a few people who were reading it for the first time and it was such a fun time for that exact reason.
I am so excited ! I’ve long been embarrassed about the classics I haven’t read and relieved I am far from alone in this.
Obsessed that we're all embarrassed about this!!
Here's a great quote from Mark Twain regarding the Classics,
"A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” ― Mark Twain
How fun! I have been doing a personal challenge myself of classics this year. I was finding I had so many classics on my shelf that I was buying with the intention to read, but they were always being over shadowed by newer shiner titles. The challenge started to just get through the backlog of classics on my shelf that I already owned; and I had to do it because I said I would and I had an audience to bear witness! The years almost over and I have LOVED it. I read one classic a month and it has been so much fun. While I’m not going to make it an explicit challenge next year, I am going to keep reading a classic a month in the future. It has made me such a better reader & forced me to read and think about concepts that perhaps have fallen out of writing favour. In November I am reading Crime and Punishment. It’s taken me all year to build up to courage bc it intimidates me but I am actually excited to go for it.
The best classic I’ve read so far this year is East of Eden - I loved it and I can’t believe it sat on my shelf unread for so many years!
Oh, I love that!! November's a great month to read C&M, actually -- the dreariness (complimentary) will accompany the book. And totally agreed re East of Eden!! I read it a few years ago after dragging my feet about it for far too long.
So I’ve heard! I look forward to complimentary dreariness. E of E was just so damn good - it’s nice to know we all seemed to drag our feet before reading it and subsequently loving it lol. I look forward to seeing what books are picked for this club - and hopefully I’ll join in at some point! I have read Bell Jar before but I hope you enjoy it xx
(Realizing a week later that I wrote out C&M instead of C&P … Jail for me, I fear)
I didn’t want to embarrass you at the time for your mistake but I fear I agree - Jail is an adequate punishment for such a crime (joke absolutely intentional)
Definitely joining...as soon as I get around to downloading and then hopefully understanding the Storygraph app 😅
yay! and I’m on desktop for storygraph ! i’m generally reluctant to download new apps lol
I freely admit that I'm obviously An Old because I'm still fighting with the app, it won't let me sync my whole Goodreads account but I'll persevere and victory will be mine in the end! Hope you're having more luck with it Clara
There is a way to email the story graph people if you are having trouble linking you good reads account. I emailed them, and they were a great help.
Thank you Jacki! I'll do that if I can't make it work which right now is quite likely lol
It's lieu you knew I bought The Bell Jar ayears ago because I'm supposed to... but never actually read it. I love the idea of a classics book club. Hating rereading The Catcher in the Rye and recounting each chapter in great detailed in my group chat was the best thing 2019 me ever did.
hahah I'm shockingly one of the few people who still likes Catcher in the Rye!
catching up here! I definitely support the AK re-read, and hope a Jane Austen novel makes the list at some point 🤞
I cannot wait!!!!
I love this idea! I have been doing some of the same reading this year; right now I'm a little over halfway through Moby Dick. I know there's no way to make a live chat time work for everyone, but unfortunately for me, I'm in Europe so 8-9 EST is the middle of the night for me. I'm also on Storygraph so excited to see more groups using it!
When I tell you that my mom had to remind me EYE am also in europe and 8-9pm est is the middle of the night for me, as well. 🫠 I’ll keep it for oct 30 but in all likelihood change it for the last live discussion.
omg i’m joining
Yesssss 🤗🤗🤗
I'm obsessed with this!!!!!!
ahh thank you Aja!! I'm so excited about it!
The Bell Jar was one of the first “classics” I read recently trying to go through my own list of should-have-already-reads and it ruined me for everything else — The Bell Jar is undoubtedly one of the best books I’ve ever read. Super excited for this 🩵🩵🩵
Oh I love that!!
Great choice - a serious book, but my high school take-away was one particularly honest-hilarious passage:
“I stared at Buddy while he unzipped his chino pants and took them off and laid them on a chair and then took off his underpants that were made of something like nylon fishnet.
“They’re cool,” he explained, “and my mother says they wash easily.”
Then he just stood there in front of me and I kept on staring at him. The only thing I could think of was turkey neck and turkey gizzards and I felt very depressed. Buddy seemed hurt I didn’t say anything.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
For better or worse, that stayed burned in my brain! Still laughing -
ooh, could we put James Baldwin on the list for future picks? I just read Giovanni's Room for the first time this year and I have THOUGHTS.
Yes!! I've only read Go Tell It on the Mountain and been meaning to read Giovanni's Room for ages.
Thanks for using my idea Clara!
of course, thank you for sharing it!
Love love love that you are doing this because there are so many classics I also missed reading. Can't wait!
Me either!