Category: Classics

Categories
1980s Books in Translation Classics Film

I Served the King of England – Bohumil Hrabal (Book and DVD)

 Translated from the Czech by Paul Wilson

I Served the King of England was the Claire’s choice for Savidge Reads’ and Kimbofo’s book group, but we all agreed that it wasn’t anything special. We were surprised that it featured on the Guardian’s 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, as we felt that it failed to provide anything particularly special or unique.

The book follows the life of Ditie, a short man with big ambitions. Beginning in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, we follow his career as makes his fortune working in hotels. His observations are both bizarre and mildly amusing, but I failed to see the point of them. Ditie’s life is then changed drastically when the communists come to power. I won’t spoil the last part of the book for you, but you can imagine that life during WWII will not be as light and amusing as the first half of the book. The weirdness continues, but it is shadowed with a darker, more threatening atmosphere.

The problem with the book was that it failed to engage me. I was laughing at it, rather than with it and scenes which should have been shocking, failed to affect me. The book just passed me by, without letting me become emotionally involved.  

The ending annoyed me a lot. It came over as very preachy, over explaining the moral message that the author hoped to teach us in writing the book. It was the only time that the book had managed to evoke an emotion in me and I felt patronised and used.

Confused at why this book was so highly regarded I did a little bit of research and discovered that the film had been well received, so decided to order a copy.

The film turned out to be a lot better than the book. The order of everything was changed, so that the shocking war scenes were placed next to the light humour of life in the hotel. This meant that the power of each scene was enhanced. I immediately saw what the author had been trying the achieve, but also why he had failed. Some of the story line was changed (no baby + different ending, for example), but I thought these were all improvements to the story. I would place this in my top 50 films of all time (the book won’t get close!)

I highly recommend the DVD to anyone who likes to watch foreign language films., but the book is nothing special.

Book: stars3h

DVD: stars4h

Categories
Classics

Ulysses, Part I: The Telemachiad, Telemachus

Dovegreyreader is encouraging everyone to join her in tackling Ulysses. I’m afraid that I cannot resist these joint reads, and so have been reading 2 pages a day via DailyLit. I have now completed the first episode: Telemachus.

The pace of this read along is incredibly slow and I am torn between wanting to speed on ahead and keeping level with everyone else taking part. I’ll stick to the two pages a day for now and see how I feel after a few more weeks.

Ulysses hasn’t started off well for me. It isn’t how I imagined it at all. I admit to knowing nothing about it before starting, but for some reason the name Ulysses conjures up images of a strong, brave man heading on a adventurous journey. Perhaps this is what does happen, but I’ve probably got it all wrong!

The book begins with some unappealing men having an animated discussion at the top of a tower. I have no real interest in their lives and wouldn’t continue with this book if it wasn’t a classic I wanted to conquer!

It comes across as a very male book. Do you think Ulysses appeals to men more than women? I have a feeling that I will never bond with these characters, but I hope their lives interest me more as the book goes on.

I am finding it much easier to understand than I thought I would, for some reason I thought Ulysses was written much earlier than it actually was – I told you I knew nothing about it!

Have you read Ulysses? Did you ever bond with the characters?

Do you think I’ll enjoy it more as I get further in to the book?

Categories
Classics Other Quiz

Can you guess the classic from it’s cover? The answers.

Last Saturday I challenged you to guess the classic from the pictures below. All are classics that we know and love, but did you guess which was which?

Here are the answers:

covera

A – Wuthering Heights

 

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coverb

B – The Moonstone

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coverc

C – Bleak House

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coverd

D  War and Peace

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covereE -Pride and Prejudice

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coverf

F – Frankenstein

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..

coverg

G – Treasure Island

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..

 

Congratulations to everyone who guessed a cover correctly – especially Claire who managed to guess Treasure Island!

Categories
Classics Other Quiz

Can you guess the classic from it’s cover?

The pictures below are all covers of classics that we know and love, but can you guess which is which?

You should know all of the books, but the covers get more obscure as you go down the list.

I’ll give you the answers next Friday, and a few clues along the way if no-one can is getting close.

Answers now available here.
It’s just for fun, but GOOD LUCK!

 covera

 

 

 A

 

 

coverb

 

 

B

 

 

 

coverc

 

 

C

 

 

 coverd

 

 

D 

 

 

 covere

 

 

E

 

 

 

coverf

 

 

F 

 

 

  coverg

G

 

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This week all the Weekly Geeks are creating quizzes, so if you’d like to challenge your brain visit the other Weekly Geeks.

Categories
1960s Classics

The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov

 

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Matthew’s raving about The Master and Margarita persuaded me to buy a copy, and I am very pleased I read it, although it has to be the most bizarre book I have ever read!

The book is set primarily in 1930s Moscow and begins with three men arguing over the non-existence of God. Suddenly a stranger appears, and amused by their conversation, asks if they believe in the devil either. The stranger goes on to predict that one of the men, the poet Berlioz, will die, which he does in a shockingly quick and bizarre way.

The others are stunned by his death, but this is only the beginning of the weird events which go on to occur. The stranger claims to be a professor of black magic and he brings with him a six foot tall cat called Behomoth who smokes cigars. The plot gets stranger as it continues, and also alternates between the trial of Yeshua (Jesus) in Jerusalem. It is really hard to summarize the book, as so much happens, but it is packed with action, inventiveness and political/religious satire.

I have to admit that there were many aspects of the book I didn’t like, and I’m sure that a lot of the religion and politics went over my head, but the inventiveness of this book was amazing. There were many parallels with Murakami, and I am also spotting similarities between this book and 2666, which I am currently reading with Steph and Claire.  

Overall, I’m really pleased that I read it, as I think it is an important piece of literature, but I prefer my books to be based slightly closer to reality.

stars4

 

The Master and Margarita website is one of the best website for an individual book I have found. It even contains maps showing where each event occurs. Only take a look if you’ve read the book though, as it is packed with spoilers.

Have you read The Master and Margarita?

What is the weirdest book you have ever read?

Categories
Chunkster Classics Other

Ulysses Read Along

U jj edDovegreyreader is encouraging everyone to join her in tackling Ulysses. I’m afraid that I cannot resist these joint reads, and so have decided to read along.

We are only planning to read two pages a day, which sounds really easy. I have signed up to DailyLit, who send you an email each day with the next installment of the book. I received my first two pages of the book this morning, and was impressed with how quick and easy it was to read them. I think this is a great way to tackle those daunting classics.

Dovegreyreader is going to host a discussion on the 16th of every month.

Do you fancy joining us?

Have you ever read Ulysses?

Am I mad?!