CLASSICS KLATCH TITLES

2007

Madame Bovary by Flaubert

Crime and Punnishment by Dostoevsky

The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

Great Expectations by Dickens

2008

The Bostonians by James

Ailice in Wonderland by Carroll

Emma by Austen

The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn by Twain

The Moonstone by Collins

The Time Machine by Wells

Frankenstein by Shelley

Don Quixote by Cervantes

2009

Therese Raquin by Zola

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Fathers and Sons by Turgenev

The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne

Bleak House by Dickens

A Doll's House by Ibsen

Dracula by Stoker

Kidnapped by Stevenson

2010

Last of the Mohicans by Cooper

Awakening by Chopin

Mary Barton by Gaskell

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

King Lear by Shakespeare

The Duel by Chekov

Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde

2011

House of Mirth by Wharton

Hard Times by Dickens

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Middlemarch by George Elliot

Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe

2012

Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

CLASSICS KLATCH 2012

Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

Honore de Balzac's story of of a father's devotion to his daughters at any cost is our selection for this coming week. Goriot's story intersects with other inhabitants of a Parisian boarding house in this very complex social and moral drama.

• Classic Book review (alert: last paragraph a spoiler)
• Discussion Questions
• Bio and Historical Background
• Wikipedia Background Material
• Character List Cliff Notes
• Pere Goriot/ King Lear Connection
• Reader Reviews
• Movies/ imdb
• Library Thing Blog

_________________________________________________________________________
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

We look at "Phantom of the Opera" the book and its film and stage adaptations. We found the mystery of how "Eric" became the phantom  varied in each interpretation. We agreed the book took to long to wrap up, and considered that might be because it was written as magazine installments. Did the dramatic interpreations do justice to the book, or outdo it?

• Review
• Teen Review
• Book history
• Gaston Leroux Bio
• Trivia Book vs. Play
• Story Based on Facts/Myths?
• Images from the Paris Opera house

_________________________________________________________________________

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Joesph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" was the inspriation for the film, "Apocalypse Now."

We  discussed Conrad's belief that we all had darkness in us that could emerge under certain circumstances. The historic backdrop of the the plunder of Africa's treasures and massacre of its people was compared to current events in that country's history.

• REVIEW "THE INDEPENDENT"
• BACKGROUND
• CHARACTER ANALYSIS .
• AUTHOR/CONTEXT
• READING GROUP GUIDE
• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND "WIKIPEDIA"
• 'HEART OF DARKNESS"/"APOCALYPSE NOW" SPARKNOTES

 _________________________________________________________________________

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

This week we'll revisit Dickens and see how it stacks up against other Dickens novels we've read. The "Old Curiosity Shop" has a wide range of characters, including the sweet heroine, Little Nell, who's loved by everyone she meets, except for the villainous Quilp and his cronies. Warning. Most of the reviews contain spoilers.

• Online Literature review etc.
• Wikipedia Background etc.
• Irreverent Review
• Discussion Questions
• Map of Nell's Journey
• Masterpiece Theater Video
• Little Nell Top 10 Character Lists
• Top 10 Dickens Characters
• Quotes