What Are You Reading Now?

[Supe]

Jon,

Well, what I was reading was a new thread by a disgruntled member, then it vanished into the ether

Yes, I wonder what happened there as well.

Don.

[Robert]

I happened to wander into the room one evening when a dramatisation of Great Expectations was on TV. As luck would have it, it was the death of Miss Havisham. Not very nice for a 7 or 8 year old. But I think even spookier was when I got my hands on my parents' medical books. All those bloody drawings showing heart and lungs etc. I realised that I had all that inside me, and I couldn't get at it if something went wrong. I lay awake wondering if my heart would stop.

[Wickerman]

Well, what I was reading was a new thread by a disgruntled member, then it vanished into the ether.... (big Brother?)

[Scott Nelson]

The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Its got pictures from the Ted Healey days on down to the feature films in the 1960s. Every two-reeler is chronologically listed. And there's words too.

[Adam Went]

You could do a lot worse than have Great Expectations as your first adult read!

(Couldn't possibly tell you what mine was now......might have been something like "A Night To Remember" by Walter Lord.)

Cheers,
Adam.

[drstrange169]

Speaking of Great Expectations, I understand Brit. TV is currently showing a new adaption with Gillian Armstrong as a very goth looking Miss Havisham.
Has anyone seen it? Is it any good?

[Wickerman]

My favorite is Great expectations. I love it that it's at times tragic and at times incredibly hilarious.

Great Expectations was the first adult full length book I ever read. As a kid, at some point you evolve from short stories & childrens books, well, this was the one. Great Expectations is what I affectionately consider my first book.
Can't for the life of me remember the story or the characters, well, it was about 50 years ago.
Presently I am re-reading the Casebook News Reports and a book on "Sea Peoples".

Regards, Jon S.

[lynn cates]

reading

Hello Maria. Good luck--and keep reading.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

Lynn, I thought that you “could get no satisfaction“ (not even in Ms. Havisham's Satis house, he he).
(Have been working 8 hours non stop on the book manuscript, have just finished writing the introduction, and we're about to bake a second duck & co. for a second Xmas dinner. Which I feel very much entitled to after knocking my ass off for sooo long.)

[lynn cates]

can't get no

Hello Maria. Thanks. Your reply gives me satisfaction.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

Jaggers the formidable lawyer

He he, Lynn. I meant of course the Mr. Jaggers who employed Wemmick.
Probably generational, but not too interested in the Rolling Stones.

Hope you had a nice Xmas. I'm “throwing“ another Xmas dinner party tonight, but first need to go through another 50p. of polishing my book manuscript (which incidentally's what I'm reading now, UGH) and to rewrite parts of the introduction.

[lynn cates]

Squeers

Hello Maria.

"Personally I've always had a foible for Mr. Jaggers."

You mean Sir Mick? (heh-heh)

"Nicholas Nickleby" is a personal favourite. The villain Squeers is without rival.

Cheers.
LC

[Adam Went]

Maria:

I've heard a few people say they don't go much on "The Old Curiousity Shop"....but at the end of the day if you look at Victorian literature in particular, Dickens was always at the forefront in some capacity or another, and was constantly working on something. It seems he didn't lose anything in his older years, his first works were just as good as his last.

"Schindler's List" (originally "Schindler's Ark") also belongs in the very top echelons of the greatest works ever, even if it is based in fact.....what a story.

Cheers,
Adam.

[mariab]

Shakespeare though is certainly more “timeless“ and relatable to us than Dickens.

Some of Dickens I don't even like, like A tale of two cities. This one's too much. My favorite is Great expectations. I love it that it's at times tragic and at times incredibly hilarious. And the characters are amazing: Pip, Magwitch (the one who went Down Under, he he), Joe Gargery. Personally I've always had a faible for Mr. Jaggers. ;-)

[Adam Went]

Back in Shakespeare's time people probably would have been able to read his work as if they were reading the daily paper.....these days the brain does backflips trying to work it out from the first paragraph.

Two names stand above all others in English literature, really. Shakespeare and Dickens. IMO "Oliver Twist" is still one of the greatest works ever.

Cheers,
Adam.