Classics > J Classics

Advantages: The best reading experience ever
Disadvantages: It ends… I will read it again and again and again…

Ulysses by James Joyce For me, James Joyce's Ulysses is not just a novel; it is a complete project. When I first read the book a couple of years ago, I was very apprehensive; I prepared some reference books and articles from the Internet, took a deep breath, and yet was unsure as to whether I would be able to appreciate such a difficult book properly. The novel has the same structure of The Odyssey, and I honestly don't remember which one of the ...
...to take a look at Ulysses for Dummies, which summarizes the books using basic moving pictures <http://home.bway.net/hunger/ch1-ulys.html>. In short, the huge 1040 page novel describes a single day in the life of a young man called Stephen Dedalus, an older man called Leopold Bloom, and ends with the ideas of Bloom's wife, Molly. Well, things are not that simple. Each chapter in Ulysses has a different structure, for instance, one of the chapters ... Read review

Advantages: Creepy and compelling
Disadvantages: Very short

...is told almost entirely from the point of view of one person, so it is impossible to tell exactly how much of what she perceives is real. This is the story of a governess who goes to look after two young children at a remote house in the country. She quickly bonds with the housekeeper and the two angellic children and is happy there. The only things that do bother her are the mysterious death of the previous governess and the fact that the apparently ...
...The master of the house also seems curiously keen to not be bothered with its affairs and doesn't live there. She then begins to see unexplained people and realises that the house is haunted by the previous governess, miss Jessel, and Peter Quint, a notorious man who used to work for the master and died while walking home one night. She is even more scared when she realises that the children are able to see the ghosts too but haven't told anyone. ... Read review

Advantages: An interesting thought provoking read
Disadvantages: ???

This is the first time ive ever read anything by this author, I found the book interesting and enlightening and look forward to reading another. The story is set in Boston and New York during the 1880's. Lawyer Basil Ransom is invited by his cousin Olive Chancellor to come visit, whilst on this visit he accompanies Olive to a womens rights meeting this is where they both see the young Verena Tarrant speaking about womens. Olive is impressed with ...
...between Basil and Olive for the attention of Verena, this left me with a feeling of sadness for Verena having these two fight over her. The description of characters is excellant and Ireally got a sense of who they are. Olive comes across as rigid,passionate and quite selfless on the surface. Verena as a vibrant young woman full of life. Basil came across to me as an extremely sexist and equally determined man, he uses every ability to pull Verena ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent style, evocative descriptive passages, likeable main character
Disadvantages: Fairly predictable plot line, slow in the middle

...businessman, travels to Europe in the hope of broadening his mind, tired of the constant to-and-fro of his commercial life. On meeting an old friend in Paris, he is introduced to the beautiful yet indecipherable Madame de Cintré - and the scene is set for a classic clash between old world and new, as Newman makes it his goal, against the wishes of the proud, haughty family, to wed her. By turns hopeful, inspiring, and downright depressing, we see ...
...air into their lives. A little slow in the middle, as Newman goes back and forth in Paris, but the book is well worth staying with as the pace quickens noticeably towards the end. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable book, containing elements which should appeal to most people. ... Read review

Advantages: It got me wanting more.
Disadvantages: Style requires patience.

...favourite past-time is to browse the shelves of the British Bookshop in Mainz. Occasionally she finds something that suits both our tastes in reading, usually, not. Her first attemtpt at changing (she says "improving") my reading habits was to present me with a book detailing the history of the English language. Authored by an American, it nevertheless gave an ignorant Brit an interesting insight into the development of his own language, from the ...
...and French, ending with the impact of the American pop-culture. I got hooked! After many re-readings, my wife thought she had finally weaned me away from the trash crimis that I enjoy. Now was her chance to introduce me to the classics that she enjoys. My next gifted pearl from the British Bookshop was a second-hand (dirty and dog-eared) paperback edition of "The Awkward Age" by Henry James (another American). Parlour-games and polite conversation ... Read review