Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Chapter-a-Day Read-along, whether you read all four books or limited yourself to one, two or three of them. In this post I’ll share a few of my reflections on the year, and I would love to know your thoughts about the experience. I invite you to leave a comment on this post to share what reading a chapter a day was like for you. First of all, while I still love Don Quixote, I am not sure that reading...
We’re only two days away from the War and Peace Chapter-a-Day Read-along, and I hope you’re as excited as I am. Please tell your friends and family that they can still sign up by visiting the announcement post. As we get ready to start our journey I thought I’d share a few things to help us prepare. First of all, Cary, one of our fellow readers, has created a calendar that can be imported into your favorite calendar app. Thank you, Cary! The calendar comes in two formats,...
This is the official sign-up post for the 2020 War and Peace Chapter-a-Day Read-along. You’re invited to join me in spending the first year of the new decade reading one of the truly monumental literary achievements of the world, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to be intimidated by how long the book is because we’ll be reading it in little bites, a chapter a day, savoring the experience and making it a part of daily life for...
We are a week away from beginning our final chapter-a-day book of the year, The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. We end our reading of Lilith next Saturday, October 19, and begin The Old Curiosity Shop on Sunday, October 20. From Don Quixote to The Count of Monte Cristo to Lilith, we’ve gone from Spain to France to the region of the seven dimensions, and we’re going to end our year in England. There’s something about reading Dickens in the twilight of the year, as leaves are falling and logs...
Our read-along of The Count of Monte Cristo is almost done, so it’s time to get ready for our next book, Lilith, by George MacDonald. Lilith is going to be quite a change from Dumas’ tale of revenge, so it may take a little adjustment of one’s reading mindset. Not only is Lilith a fantasy story, but it’s also quite dark, dense, and deep. It has been called “a long parabolic narrative heavily laden with Victorian Christian symbolism,” so get ready for some allegorical writing. Lilith is our shortest read-along of...
Tomorrow we begin the Chapter-a-Day Read-along of The Count of Monte Cristo! To those of you who have been reading Don Quixote with us, congratulations on finishing one of the greatest novels of all time (the greatest, if you ask me!). I will post my thoughts on my experience tomorrow, if I get the chance. To those of you who didn’t find Don Quixote to your taste but are back for the Count, thank you for returning. I hope your experience with Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece will be more positive. And...
Our reading of Don Quixote is coming to an end and it’s time to prepare for our next chapter-a-day book, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. We’ll be starting chapter 1 on Thursday, May 9, so if you don’t have your book yet, get it soon. I’ll be reading what I’ve heard is the best English translation, the Penguin Classics Kindle Edition translated by Robin Buss. Whichever version you read, be sure to get an unabridged version that has 117 chapters. The novel is also available...
If you missed the excellent first episode of the new Les Misérables miniseries, you can now watch it for free online. I was very impressed with the production, especially the scope of the opening scene at Waterloo. I have been telling my students for years that if I were ever put in charge of directing a Les Mis movie I would begin with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, then transition to Fantine giving birth to Cosette, then finally move to Jean Valjean’s release from prison. I think...
Welcome to the Prologue to Don Quixote, the beginning of the 2019 Chapter-a-Day Read-along! In order to read exactly 365 chapters this year, I am counting the prologue to Part 1 as a chapter (and will do so again at the beginning of Part 2), so we won’t start the actual story until tomorrow, January 2. Though the story hasn’t begun yet, you can already get a sense of Cervantes’ humor as he worries about how his book will be received and frets that it will not contain enough...
After one of my most productive reading years ever in 2017, 2018 was a bit of a dip for me. I had to abandon most of my reading challenges because any free time I had was taken up by principal certification classes and getting used to my new role as an elementary school principal. Still, I was able to read quite a few books this year, and here are the details, with stats according to Goodreads: I read 38 books, consisting of 12,182 number of pages. Not a...
Congratulations on reading one of the great works of world literature! Whether you finished Les Misérables early, on time, or not yet, thank you for participating. I hope the read-along was as enriching for you as it was for me. (If you liked the experience of reading classic literature in one chapter a day, please consider joining the 2019 Chapter-a-Day Read-along.) You now know some of the most memorable characters in literature: Jean Valjean. Fantine. Cosette. Javert. The Thenardiers. Eponine. Gavroche. Marius. The Friends of the ABC. My hope...
I finished Little Women five months ago, but am only now getting around to writing this review. I have to admit that my memory of reading the book has faded into a vague sense of enjoyment with few details about what I liked or disliked. That may have nothing to do with the book, since I have been quite busy since then. However, I remember thinking that while the book was pleasant, I enjoyed it less than The Secret Garden but more than She: A History of Adventure, which were the last two...
Aubrey/Maturin Read-along 2021-2024
Classics Club #32: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevesky
January 20, 2020
Classics Club #21: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
December 28, 2018
Classics Club #20: She by H. Rider Haggard
May 17, 2018
Notes from the Upside Down by Guy Adams
April 4, 2018
Cries from the Earth by Terry C. Johnston
March 20, 2018
Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
A New Home for the Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
November 28, 2024
Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
Announcing the 2019 Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
December 26, 2018
