You see it all started like this. My friend Julie joined GoodReads, I joined GoodReads and then my friend Michelle was on GoodReads. Michelle is really the instigator of all this as she is the one who first joined the group Reading the Chunksters. Doesn't that just sounds marvelously dreadful? The first book I'm reading with this group is Vanity Fair, and while I will devote this week to Vanity Fair, the rest of the time this book will be in the background of my reading to be commented on again many months from now. I bought the book for the Nook, but the cord is still missing--looks like I may have to buy another one, ugh--I didn't really want to buy another copy and found it on Project Gutenberg. God Bless Those People.
Truth be told...I have a lot of "Chunksters" in my possession...books I bought with every intention of reading and finishing, coming out on the otherside a better person. I own War and Peace (I was going to Scotland for the summer and thought that it would be a great book to read in my 'spare' time...silly me), Daniel Deronda (given to me for free when PBS was doing this thing where you read the book and then watched the Masterpiece Theatre version, my friend had joined a group and this group gave away free copies of the books--sadly this group no longer exist), Tristam Shandy (a college professor talked about this so much that I thought I should read it), Tom Jones (picked up at a yard-sale) to name a few...all somewhat read, all unfinished, all collecting dust on the various shelves on which they live.
To be fair to myself, I have read all of Ayn Rands works including the behemoths The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Two books I recommend to anyone, two books I tout convincingly enough that many of my students have read the books and we get to have delicious conversations about selfishness vs. altruist intent. Some have even competed for the college scholarships by writing essays. I've also read Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary. Stephanie can read BIG books! Yes, she can. Just, not all the time...
So, I'm going into this Vanity Fair blind...I will not watch the movie (although I hear it has Jonathan Rhys Meyer) until I finish the book and I have no idea what it is about, honestly. Anyway...I hope at the end of all this I come out a better person...and, I hope that I'll be able to give Mr. Thackeray some praise.
I've read the first chapter, I'm well on my way!
Here's our reading schedule if you'd like to join in on the challenge.
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| My friend Michelle made the fancy reading schedule poster. Isn't it nice? |
Every year I say I'm going to read one of the "classic chunksters." War and Peace, Bleak House, Ulysses, etc. I've been saying this for several years and to date, I've only read one: Anna Karenina. I'll start on one and then so many other more interesting, and thinner, books will be calling my name and it never works out between me and the chunkster. Then we have the awkward, "It's not you, it's me" conversation and I promise I'll come back to it in a couple of weeks when we both know that's not true. Hopefully, Vanity Fair will work out better for you! I'm looking forward to seeing what you think!
ReplyDeletehilarious! and, i totally agree. after i wrote this post, i looked at all the thick books i have a thought that about what you remarked and had a good laugh.
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