Posted on 12/06/2010 1:08:16 PM PST by Borges
Oprah Winfrey has chosen a pair of Charles Dickens classics, "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Great Expectations," as the latest selections for her popular book club.
Winfrey said on Monday's episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" she has never read Dickens before. She said, "It's the best of times, readers," and called the books timeless classics.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Actually, this was on my booklist last year, and I’m getting through it now. I’ve read quite a bit, but we never did Dickens in my English classes, and I wanted to fill a hole.
Enjoying it so far. Prefer Tolstoy and Dostoyevski though.
“I doubt most of Oprah’s audience would get very far through them though.”
Hear!Hear! You win the statement of the day!
“Killin’ Whitey”
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Harpoonin’ Honky.
How did she get through high school without reading Dickens?
“I’ve read quite a bit, but we never did Dickens in my English classes, and I wanted to fill a hole.”
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Nor did I.
We were too busy reading liberal fave, POS downers like “Catcher in the Rye”, and other “daring” and “edgy” crapola.
I haven't read all of that but liked the part about Puritan coffee houses where the Puritans would gather and talk through their noses. But I doubt many of her readers would make it through that work--too much information.
I had Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
Although I am thankful I got read Brave New World and Solzhenitsyn.
What is Turgenev like? I’ve not read him.
Post of the Day.
Yes, educated opinions. Just like an M.D. is paid to have an opinion about medical care.
ATOTC doesn’t even read like any of his other books. It’s humorless. Comparing to something like ‘Bleak House’ really makes it pale.
‘Catcher in the Rye’ is wonderful and pops on lists of favorite conservative novels.
I read A Tale of Two Cities in high school and loved it. My son just read Great Expectations last year in high school and hated it. However,I think it is just not his type of book. Too much romance.
I find it interesting for the picture of gives of Russia at that time, which resembles many other countries trying to come to grips with the modern world. The plot isn't very dramatic--the main interest is in the characters. It's pretty short as Russian novels go.
I've also read War and Peace by Tolstoy, which I hope to get around to reading again some day, and The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. Maybe I'll try to read the latter again.
Even Captain Kirk liked Tale of Two Cities (Hallmark makes a b’day card with a quote from the movie from the scene where Spock gives Kirk the book.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Bozr9Gs_M
You and I will have to disagree.
BTW, my opinion is educated. LOL!
As long as we’re discussing Dickens, put in my vote for “Our Mutual Friend.” As long as you skip over the bits where Dickens goes on and on and on about the Poor Law, it’s got everything a modern audience would love: obsessive love, murderous assaults, true love, a murder mystery, dodgy financial doings, etc.
Bleak House doesn’t lend itself to humor either but still manages to be dynamic and indelible with complex character interrelationships.
In the fifties, Tale of Two Cities was required reading for HS sophomores.
What the hell was Doprah doing when she was 15 years old?
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