Happy Friday! I’m getting ready to post my review of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I was thinking that August seems like a good month for reading a classic and wondering what I should pick up next. Things seem to slow down in August and it’s a good time to stay indoors. Although as I write this I realize that August isn’t going to slow down for me at all — I’m just assuming it’s slower for most people. My vacation comes in September, and believe me I’m counting down the days.
Anyway, if you’re thinking of picking up something from long ago, I thought I’d highlight a few spots you might want to check out:
- There’s a North and South (Elizabeth Gaskell) Read-Along over at Estella’s Revenge that I’m thinking of joining. I read a good chunk of this book a few years ago and then hit a rough patch when I got the flu. Might be a good time to go back to it.
- The Classics Club has a new site and a new monthly meme! This month’s topic is “What’s your favorite classic?” Can you pick just one? Mine is The Return of the Native, a sentimental favorite. Eustacia Vye gets me every time.
- It’s Austen in August month over at Roof Beam Reader. I only have one Austen book left to read, Mansfield Park, and I’m sort of hesitant to let that one go…
And, not related to classics, I wanted to share that Andi from Estella’s Revenge and Heather from Capricious Reader are launching The Estella Society, which they describe as “a reading playground by book bloggers, for book bloggers.”
Much like Estella’s Revenge E-zine did back in the day, we’ll ask book bloggers to come together to provide the content for this site. We envision feature articles, regular columns, reviews and reactions, original content and syndicated content, read-alongs, readathons, polls, news, humor, and artwork. Your imagination is limitless and we want to know your ideas and have your participation. We urge any and all bloggers to come up with their own dreams to throw into the mix. We also urge you to spread the word (because the Internet is a big place).
The Book Stop 
“I only have one Austen book left to read, Mansfield Park, and I’m sort of hesitant to let that one go…” <– Reminds me of the character Desmond from Lost. He had read every Dickens novel except Our Mutual Friend, which he wanted to wait to read until he was sure it could be the last book he read before he died. Of course, his girlfriend then asked: "How can you be sure of when you're going to die?"
So, okay, that's a bit of a morbid thought – but I totally understand your hesitation! I'm near finished with the works of Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut, two of my favorites, and I'm wondering what I'll do when I have just one book left for either (or both) of them… eek.
There are plenty of authors I’d be proud to say I read all their works. Austen is so good and unfortunately such a limited quantity… Vonnegut and Twain are authors I’d like to read a lot more of.
Looking forward to your Moonstone review since I’m just reading that now for Alice’s readalong (which I’d try to convince you to join, but given you just read it, prob won’t be that much fun for you.) Thanks for the classics links!
Darn, I keep missing readalongs — it would be great if there was a place where they could all be posted. So much nicer reading something with other people. Of course then you also have to keep to someone else’s schedule. Hope you’re enjoying Moonstone! I found it a little slow to get into but it really picks up.
Thanks for the shout out! I saw it earlier but wasn’t able to comment at the time!!! 😀