Classics Club Spin #19!

#ccspin

I wasn't going to participate in this event, but then I saw Karen of BookerTalk 

had posted her listing for the Classics Club Spin #19, and I just couldn't resist! 

After all, we do have until the end of January 2019 to read this one! 

I have had mixed results in the past and haven't always finished these books,

but that doesn't mean I should try again, does it? Of course not... :)

Unlike Karen, I still have oodles of books left on my list. In fact, I need to revise my listing. Perhaps that will be an end-of-year task! 

12-3-18 UPDATE: The spin was #1 so I will be reading
      Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin!
                           Now to make that fit a category for both                              the ATY 2019 and PopSugar 2019 challenges on Goodreads!

Here are my 20 books for this spin:

1) Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
       I loved Go Tell It on the Mountain and want to read this one! I own it, too! :)
2) At Fault by Kate Chopin
3) The Hours by Micheal Cunningham
      I truly know nothing about this one, but so many have recommended it and I have 
      read several references to it lately. Added bonus: picked up a copy in the Half Price 
      Books clearance section for $2!
4) The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
5) The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
      Really feel the need to read one of her books! So many bloggers reference her work!
6) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
      Have yet to read one of his novels. (I know, I know...) :)
7) The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
     Yeah, I know. Unbelievable that some English/literature teacher in my past never 
     got to this one, but I am very curious.
8) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
      Can. Not. Wait! I felt drawn to this book and shouldn't delay reading it any longer!!
9) Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter
10) A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
11) Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
12) Mary Ann by Daphne du Maurier
13) Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
      I finally read Rebecca for the RIP challenge this year and loved it!
14)  A Separate Peace by John Knowles*
      Read this at age 15, loved it, and am anxious to see how I feel about it now, some 
      40+ years later! :)
15) The Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter 
       First read when I was 13. I loved it then and am anxious to see how it resonates 
       for me now.
16) An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
       Read it at 13 and LOVED it! So dramatic! So romantic! So tragic! So sad! Wonder how 
       it will resonate for me now, some almost 47 years later. I am betting much the 
       same. Though I'm sure there are many similarly-themed movies and books, I thought 
       Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) was a well-done similarly-themed movie. Neither           of these works is uplifting in the least, but accurate, in my opinion. 
17) ...And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
       OMG! I absolutely loved this book when I read it at age 20! The characters were 
       living and breathing right alongside me! Definitely one to revisit!
18) The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov
       Read it for college and was rather lost. Oh, I aced the exam, but hope I can truly 
       understand it this time around, many many years later! (Sometimes life experience 
       really helps with that!)
19) Micah Clarke by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
20) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
     Feel I should read it so I can understand the references made to it.

So here I go with another spin challenge!

Tomorrow I will know which of these 20 I will be reading and reviewing 

by the end of January 2019!

Plus, as a bonus I did notice that I have read quite a few of the classics on my original list and simply need to complete and post reviews for them! YAY!

How about you? 

Which classic do you wish to read or re-read?

Have you read any of these I have listed?

Happy reading!

--Lynn

Complex yet subtle--just as people are!

Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

This book won the Booker Prize in 1987 and 
was a rather unique reading experience for me.

I cannot recall exactly how I became interested in this book, 
but am glad I did!

Although the writing appeared to be a bit fragmented initially, within the first 10 pages or so it began to gel for me and flow along beautifully. I am counting this as a Classics Club read--it is almost 30 years since its release and I believe it is a unique and lasting literary contribution. 

I love Claudia's 'stream of consciousness' (seemingly random) thoughts at the beginning of the book. 

My readers know the story, of course. They know the general tendency. They know how it goes. I shall omit the narrative. What I shall do is flesh it out; give it life and colour, add the screams and the rhetoric. Oh, I shan't spare them a thing. (2)

Admittedly, at this point I was wondering about this particular reading experience and what I should expect! :) I felt as if Lively was preparing me for a unique experience. And I was right! She very much did exactly that. 

In contemplating writing the history of the world, Claudia wonders...

...shall it or shall it not be linear history? I've always thought a kaleidoscopic view might be an interesting heresy. Shake the tube and see what comes out. Chronology irritates me. There is no chronology inside my head. I am composed of a myriad Claudias who spin and mix and part like sparks of sunlight on water. There is no sequence, everything happens at once. (2)

I could not help but concur with her description. Memories, or our own individual 'history' certainly does not emerge into our conscience mind in linear fashion. We have memories here and there and all over the map...and sometimes all at once. I love "like sparks of sunlight on water," which is a perfect analogy, in my opinion. 

So, after the first two pages I am rather clued in that (1) this may well not be a 'typical read,' and (2) I think this is going to be an enjoyable 'ride'! And so it was... :)

Claudia's 'history of the world' would be
  Self-centred? Probably. Aren't we all? Why is it a term of accusation? That is what it was when I was a child. I was considered difficult. Impossible, indeed, was the word sometimes used. I didn't think I was impossible at all; it was mother and nurse who were impossible,...with their terror of all that was inviting about the natural world -- high trees and deeper water and the texture of wet grass on bare feet, the allure of mud and snow and fire. I was always ached -- burned -- to go higher and faster and further. They admonished; I disobeyed. 
   Gordon, too. My brother Gordon. We were birds of a feather.(2)
Perhaps one huge reason I was able to relate to this book is that much like Claudia, I also was raised in virtual isolation. My mother and I lived with my grandmother on her 180-acre farm, and trust me, I knew every square inch of that property, intimately! I loved nothing more than to explore the land with my faithful canine companion in tow--Beauty, my collie. (I just realized I have absolutely no pictures of her and that makes me very sad...) This isolation also accounts for much of Claudia's very independent personality as an adult, as well as the relationship with her brother, which, when in their teens (when hormones are rampant), extends beyond 'socially-acceptable' boundaries. Admittedly, this is the first time I felt I could 'understand' an incestuous bond. These two people did sincerely 'love' each other in all aspects implied by that one word; theirs was an intimate relationship to remain unmatched with any other individual in their separate lives.

...when you and I talk about history we don't mean what actually happened, do we?...We mean the tidying up of this into books, the concentration of the benign historical eye upon years and places and persons. History unravels; circumstances, following their natural inclination, prefer to remain ravelled. 
  So, since my story is also theirs, they, too must speak -- Mother, Gordon, Jasper... Except that of course I have the last word. The historian's privilege. (6)
Ah, I so love this passage! Isn't it the truth?!? We humans love to believe we can 'unravel' that which remains 'ravelled' when left in its natural state--and any of our retelling is always very 'self-centred' in the fact that our own personal experiences, opinions, and attitudes skew any 'telling' or 'memories' to include our own viewpoint and perspective. Though it is typically unconsciously done, this fact of life has been proven repeatedly in research studies. It has been proven to me with my own friends and family--rarely do any two of us have the same interpretation of shared memories. This variability amazes me! There truly is very little 'objective recollection' of events when told by a human being. 

Claudia was not necessarily what one might call a 'sentimental' soul, especially when it comes to her daughter, Lisa:
  Children are infinitely credulous. My Lisa was a dull child, but even so she came up with things that pleased and startled me. "Are there dragons?' she asked. I said that there were not. 'Have there ever been?' I said all the evidence was to the contrary. 'But if there is a word dragon,' she said, 'then once there must have been dragons.' 
  Precisely. The power of language. Preserving the ephemeral; giving form to dreams, permanence to sparks of sunlight. (9)
I would say Claudia was a 'realistic parent;' not romanticizing a child just because it happens to be her own daughter. I guess I could relate as I believe myself to think in much the same terms about my own children and grandchildren. We are all just human! Not one of us is perfect or without faults. :)

In describing her partner, 
...In my head, Jasper is fragmented: there are many Jaspers, disordered, without chronology. As there are many Gordons, many Claudias. 
I was fascinated by Claudia's descriptions of Gordon and Jasper--one a much more 'intimate' relationship than would be expected (or necessarily acceptable) for siblings, and the other much less so for 'life partners.' 
It should be clear by now how [Jasper] fits into the scheme of things. Lover to begin with, sparring partner always, father of my child; our lives sometimes fusing, sometimes straying apart, always connected. I loved him once, but cannot remember how that felt. (51)
I could better understand her relationship with Jasper after reading about her relationship with the one true love of her life (next to Gordon), Tom. From his diary, received by Claudia from Tom's sister:
  We all talk about 'after the war' but it is almost an incantation -- a protective device...One
  thinks about it, one day-dreams, makes plans...one conjures up a place stripped of 
  imperfections...which never existed and never will. So one shoves that out of the way and 
  summons up more wholesome stuff like hot meals, clean sheets, drink and sex. All those 
  things one took for granted a bare three years ago which now take on almost holy 
  significance. Which seems at times to be what we are fighting for. 
  I never told [Claudia] the other story, in which she stars, in which she is always the 
  heroine -- a romanticised story full of cliche images in which I am telling her all the 
  things there has not been enough time for, in which we are doing all the things there has 
  not been enough time for, in which this damn thing is suspended and we are living 
  happily ever after, world without end, amen. To such indulgences have I sunk. (200)
Though I have never fought in a war or come close to it, this seems such a perfect description...

Although Lively's writing style wasn't generally as smooth as I typically appreciate, it was powerful, and reflective of the protagonist's personality--just as I would expect Claudia to tell us her story. Though presented in 'kaleidoscope' fashion, the text flowed for me, leaving strong impressions and emotional reactions as I would hope for and appreciate. Claudia led a very fulfilled and independent life for the most part, especially for the time in which this is set. Females were not yet expected to be or even acceptable as such independent adults as was Claudia! 
The teachers all disliked me. 'I'm afraid,' wrote someone on a school report, 'that Claudia's intelligence may well prove a stumbling-block unless she learns how to control her enthusiasms and channel her talents.' Of course, intelligence is always a disadvantage. (22)
Ooohhhh...I feel as if this is no longer true. At least I would hope not. I was quite a nerd in high school--a student who truly loved to learn (as I still do!) and it does make some people a bit uncomfortable. This also helps explain why I abhor 'gossip' and other inane conversational topics! :) Once a nerd always a nerd, I guess!

I found Moon Tiger to be engaging and enlightening! Perhaps I could relate so well to Claudia because she and I apparently share some personality characteristics. Also, she lived out one of my vocational fantasies, that of a traveling correspondent/journalist. I'm sure my perceptions of this lifestyle are romanticized, but I just think it would be amazing to be acquainted with so many worldwide sites and cultures! 

Have you read this one or any other books written by Penelope Lively? 

I agree with the Daily Telegraph's review: "A complex tapestry of great subtlety."

I was very pleasantly surprised and delighted with this book and author!
Here is a Guardian interview with the author.

I marked her 2007 release, Consequences, as the next one to read.

I am anxious to discover whether this same writing style pervades all her books 

or is more specific to Claudia telling her own story, if that makes sense! :)

Gone With the Wind Read-Along Check-In #3

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Chapters 21-30

In which the Civil War comes to Atlanta, Rhett declares his love while simultaneously abandoning Scarlett to travel through the Yankee and Confederate armies to get home to Tara...if there is anything left of Tara...for everywhere she looks there are only blackened foundations with chimneys still standing. This section begins with Melanie in labor and Scarlett, Prissy, and Wade the only four people left living in Missy Pittypat's house on the north side of Atlanta. Poor little Wade. He was a brave little soul, though he was petrified--and no wonder, it's not as if Scarlett ever tried to really talk with him or demonstrate love for him. He was definitely left to his own devices by his "biological mother," for that is really the only claim Scarlett had to him. After sending Prissy on fruitless missions to bring Mrs. Meade, Dr. Meade, etc., Scarlett finally leaves Melanie to search for Dr. Meade herself and upon finding him discovers there is no way he will abandon the thousands of wounded in Atlanta: 
  Scarlett began to shake and her eyes burned with tears of fright. The doctor wasn't coming with her. Melanie would die and she had wished that she would die. The doctor wasn't coming. 
..."Child, I'll try. I can't promise you. But I'll try. When we get these men tended to. The Yankees are coming and the troops are moving out of town. I don't know what they'll do with the wounded. There aren't any trains. The Macon line has been captured... But I'll try. Run along now. Don't bother me. There's nothing much to bringing a baby. Just tie up the cord...." (253)
When Melanie learns the Yankees are coming she tells Scarlett,
  "Oh, Scarlett, you mustn't stay here. You must go and take Wade."
  What Melanie said was no more than Scarlett had been thinking but hearing it put into words infuriated her, shamed her as if her secret cowardice was written plainly in her face.
  "Don't be a goose. I'm not afraid. You know I won't leave you." 
  "You might as well. I'm going to die." (257)
If you've never given birth this last statement of Melanie's might sound overly-dramatic, however, for someone predicted to have a difficult time of labor and delivery, I'm sure that could be exactly her belief at that moment! That first time can definitely be daunting! Under the best of circumstances... And let it be known that Scarlett's apparent devotion at this point in time stemmed strictly from her promise to Ashley--she was determined to keep Melanie and their baby alive if at all possible so she would not let him down. She still loved him. 

I have always loved Rhett, probably just as much for his onneriness in honesty than anything else! :) Once the baby is born, Prissy is finally able to track him down, asking him to bring a horse and wagon to transport them all to Tara...away from Atlanta that is now alit by the Confederates' own hands, to avoid the Yankees getting more ammunition, arms, and supplies when they rolled into town... Rhett finally arrives with a horse that looks to be taking it's last breath and steps and a very small old beat-up nearly broken down wagon with leaning wheels:
  "Good evening, he said," in his drawling voice, as he removed his hat with a sweeping gesture. "Fine weather we're having. I hear you're going to take a trip." 
  "If you make any jokes, I shall never speak to you again," she said with quivering voice.
  "Don't tell me you are frightened!" He pretended to be surprised and smiled in a way that made her long to push him backwards down the steep steps. 
  "Yes, I am! I'm frightened to death and if you had the sense God gave a goat, you'd be frightened too. But we haven't got time to talk. We must get out of here." (263-64)
Now is when Scarlett finally breaks down and admits she just wants to go home, to her mother, and she will, even if she must walk every step of the way. As she yells this and cries into Rhetts chest:
...His hands caressed her tumbled hair gently, soothingly, and his voice was gentle too. So gentle, so quiet, so devoid of mockery, it did not seem Rhett Butler's voice at all but the voice of some kind strong stranger she smelled of brandy and tobacco and horses, comforting smells because they reminded her of Gerald.
  "There, there, darling,' he said softly. "Don't cry. You shall go home, my brave little girl. You shall go home. Don't cry." (264)
Rhett finally gets them packed into the wagon (including Charles' sword and pistol, at Melanie's whispered request) and takes off, but not before laughing at Scarlett when she wants to rush back to "lock the door." :) They must either go through or circumvent Atlanta and out the south side--they literally make a dash through the fire at one point. Though I'm sure the special effects in this movie are amateurish compared to what is done now with the aid of computers, etc, I still remember this as one of the most suspenseful and frightening movie scenes ever...of course, I was only 13 when I watched this movie the first time, and on a large theater screen! Once they're beyond what was Atlanta, Rhett stops the wagon and discusses with her the various routes that are blocked:
  Good. Maybe you can get past Rough and Ready all right. General Steve Lee was there during the afternoon covering the retreat. Maybe the Yankees aren't there yet. Maybe you can get through there, if Steve Lee's men don't pick up your horse."
  "I-I can get through?"
  "Yes, you." His voice was rough. 
  "But Rhett-- You-- Aren't you going to take us?"
  "No. I'm leaving you here."
  She looked around wildly, at the livid sky behind them, at the dark trees on either hand hemming them in like a prison wall, at the frightened figures in the back of the wagon--and finally at him. Had she gone crazy? Was she not hearing right? 
  He was grinning now. She could just see his white teeth in the faint light and the old mockery was back in his eyes. 
  "Leaving us? Where--where are you going?"
  "I am going, dear girl, with the army." 
  "Rhett, you are joking?"
  She grabbed his arm and felt her tears of fright splash down on her wrist. He raised her hand and kissed it airily.
  "Selfish to the end, aren't you, my dear? Thinking only of your own precious hide and not of the gallant Confederacy. Think how our troops will be heartened by my eleventh-hour appearance." There was a malicious tenderness in his voice.
  "Oh, Rhett," she wailed, how can you do this to me? Why are you leaving me?"
  "Why?" he laughed jauntily. "Because, perhaps, of the betraying sentimentality that lurks in all of us Southerners. Perhaps--perhaps because I am ashamed. Who knows?" 
  "Ashamed? You should die of shame. To desert us here, alone, helpless--"
  "Dear Scarlett! You aren't helpless. Anyone as selfish and determined as you are is never helpless. God help the Yankees if they should get you."  
At which, he jumps from the wagon and lifts her out with him...

"'I could not love thee, Dear, so much, loved I not Honour more,' That's a pat speech, isn't it? Certainly better than anything I can think up myself, at the present moment. For I do love you, Scarlett, in spite of what I said that night on the porch last month."
  His drawl was caressing and his hands slid up her bare arms, warm strong hands. "I love you, Scarlett, because we are so much alike, renegades, both of us, dear, and selfish rascals. Neither of us cares a rap if the whole world goes to pot, so long as we are safe and comfortable."
  Then his arms went around her waist and shoulders and she felt the hard muscles of his thighs against her body and the buttons of his coat pressing into her breast. A warm tide of feeling, bewildering, frightening, swept over her, carrying out of her mind the time and place and circumstances. She felt as limp as a rag doll, warm, weak and helpless, and his supporting arms were so pleasant.
  "You don't want to change your mind about what I said last month?" (271-272)
As she is enjoying him kissing her, she hears
  "Muvver! Wade Fwightened!" (272)
And she sees the wagon and "cold sanity" returns to her in a flash--the realities of her situation and
  "Oh, you cad!" she cried....and drew back her arm and slapped him across the mouth with all the force she had left.
..."Go on! Go on now! I want you to hurry. I don't want to ever see you again. I hope a cannon ball lands right on you. I hope it  blows you to a million pieces. I hope--"
  "Never mind the rest. I follow your general idea. When I'm dead on the altar of my country. I hope your conscience hurts you."  (273)
For me, this summarizes the romance between Rhett and Scarlett completely. The first time I read this book, it was at this point that I assumed they would never end up together. Two people that selfish...that could never work, could it?

Then we complete the long arduous journey through the bleak countryside as Wade, Prissy, Melanie and her baby, and Scarlett travel back to Tara: 
  There was death in the air....They had not seen a living human being or animal since the night before. Dead men and dead horses, yes, and dead mules, lying by the road, swollen, covered with flies, but nothing alive. No far-off cattle lowed, no birds sang, no wind waves the trees. Only the tired plop-plop of the horse's feet and the weak wailing of Melanie's baby broke the stillness. (277)
If you've ever lived in the country or spent much time there, you know what she means, there is always noise--crickets, frogs, birds, fluttering leaves... Where Mitchell before described the lush green landscape with fields flush with billowing cotton plants, we now experience the destruction left behind by occupation. And when Scarlett finally makes it to Tara, she is overjoyed to see the homestead still standing. Her father is alive though non-responsive for the most part and unable to believe her mother is gone, still waiting for her to come to the supper table, etc. Her dear mother, Ellen, passed away just the day before, yelling her first and only true love's name. Both of her sisters are still extremely ill, but appear to be recovering. Mammy, Pork, and Dilcey are the only three slaves who didn't run away when the Yankees came to Tara. Fortunately, Dilcey has a young baby and is able to wet-nurse Beau, Melanie and Ashley's son. There is virtually no food anywhere for anyone. It is in discussion with Pork, the houseman, that Mitchell allows Scarlett to espouse the typical Southern prejudicial beliefs. As she quizzes Pork about the sweet potato hills and Gerald's buried corn whisky, he realizes he'd forgotten about both of these and she thinks,
  How stupid negroes were! They never thought of anything unless they were told. And the Yankees wanted to free them. (285) 
You can almost hear her Tsk! Tsk! at the end of that thought... This is historically correct, being the prevailing opinion amongst the overwhelming majority of 'Southern whites,' and among many of the 'Northern whites,' at the time. 

That first night at Tara Scarlett drinks corn whiskey:

  She did not know she was drunk, drunk with fatigue and whisky. She only knew she had left her tired body and floated somewhere above it where there was no pain and no weariness and her brain saw things with an inhuman clarity.
  She was seeing things with new eyes for, somewhere along the long road to Tara, she had left her girlhood behind her. She was no longer plastic clay, yielding imprint to each new experience. The clay had hardened, some time in this indeterminate day which had lasted a thousand years. Tonight was the last time she would ever be ministered to as a child. She was a woman now and youth was gone. (294)
And this is the turning point, when Scarlett uses her determined stubbornness to save them all from starvation. 

Scarlett walks miles that first day to Twelve Oaks to scavenge in the gardens where there are only slave cabins left standing and no people living. As she looks at the ashes of the grand house, 
  "I won't think of it now. I can't stand it now. I'll think of it later,"...turning her eyes away.  
  (298)

And it is in one of the gardens by the slave cabins that she finally finds a row of radishes and eats until she retches uncontrollably. Once she recovers enough to stand up, she fills her basket with vegetables and walks in the direction of Tara and stated those famous lines,
  As God is my witness, as God is my witness, the Yankees aren't going to lick me. I'm going to live through this, and when it's over, I'm never going to be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks. If I have to steal or kill--as God is my witness, I'm never going to be hungry again." (300)
This was portrayed much more dramatically in the movie--it is a great scene!

  Scarlett reigned supreme at Tara now and, like others suddenly elevated to authority, all the bullying instinct in her nature rose to the surface. It was not that she was basiclaly unkind. It was because she was frightened and unsure of herself that she was harsh lest others learn her inadequacies and refuse her authority. (302)
I don't know who was more shocked, Carreen and Suellen or Mammy and Pork, by Scarlett's expectations that each and every person pitch in and do whatever needed to be done: splitting wood, making beds, hauling water buckets, picking cotton, scavenging for vegetables... She saves them all from certain starvation by killing a Yankee soldier with Charles' pistol and gains quite a bounty of cash and gold from his pockets. It is the first time that Scarlett sees any similarity between herself and Melanie. As Melanie stands on the stairway landing, taking in the scene of the dead soldier and Charles' smoking pistol in Scarlett's hand:
  In the silence her eyes met Scarlett's. There was a glow of grim pride in her usually gentle face, approbation and a fierce joy in her smile that equaled the fiery tumult in Scarlett's own bosom.
  "Why--why--she's like me! She understands how I feel!" thought Scarlett in that long moment. "She'd have done the same thing!" (308)

One of the neighbors rides up and warns them the Yankees are coming--again! They had used Tara as a base of operation the first time, hence, sparing it. At the last minute, with Beau in her arms and Wade clinging to her skirt, she decides to stay with the house, and inform them they will have to burn it down over her head, just as Gerald had done when they arrived the first time. And, although they ripped up the furniture and took whatever they could find, they didn't burn the house, nor did they discover any of the others who were hiding in the swamp with food, hogs, the horse and cattle. 

Uncle Peter arrives from Atlanta with a letter to Melanie informing her that he is coming home! However, he is most likely on foot, so they don't expect him for weeks or maybe months...and thus began the constant string of displaced soldiers arriving singly, in pairs, or small groups on their way through, asking for food and rest, and they accommodated all of them, with Mammy making sure they washed well with lye soap as their clothes soaked in a lye solution. She was determined that none of the lice would remain at Tara after these carriers were gone! Mammy is ever the practical one! One of these soldiers, Will, was particularly ill after a year in a Yankee prison; they nursed him to health and he stayed on to help, as repayment to them. Then one day a sole soldier is walking down the long lane toward the house and all of a sudden Melanie recognizes this one and 
  Down the graveled path she flew, skimming lightly as a bird, her faded skirts streaming behind her, her arms outstretched. As Scarlett prepares to launch herself forward to do the same,
...Will's hand closed upon her skirt. 
  "Don't spoil it," he said quietly.
  "Turn me loose, you fool! Turn me loose! It's Ashley!"
  He did not relax his grip.
  "After all, he's her husband, ain't he?" Will asked calmly, and looking down at him in a confusion of joy and impotent fury, Scarlett saw in the quiet depths of his eyes understanding and pity." (362)

I do believe this is my favorite part of this book. It establishes Rhett's love for Scarlett and her status as a true hero in many ways, though her heart hardens even more in most ways even as she toils ceaselessly to save them all, and Ashley and Beau both live. Scarlett realizes the value of the land and Tara itself as an entity that can shelter and feed them, as well as create a living for them...

What are your thoughts about Scarlett and the others in this part of the story? I was always baffled by Rhett's sudden "change of heart" regarding the army--it never quite made sense to me, except he was born and raised an elite Southerner... I think it took as long to compose this post as it did to read this section! I wanted to tell it all to you!! Mitchell's writing is absolutely enthralling, although she covers much territory with concise wordsmanship!

I am getting very anxious to finish the book and watch the movie! 

Becoming an "official" Classics Club member!

The Classics Club  is an organization I admire. These folks are voluntarily running a website/group to encourage the reading of "classic literature"! While I don't believe any one list of "classics" to be all-inclusive or to be "must-reads" for every reader out there, I myself, would appreciate a broader exposure to and understanding of classical literary works. 
Why? 

Because it does increase my comprehension when others reference these works, as well as demonstrating for me the evolution of human culture and society through published works.

Although I have already sneaked in and participated in several Classics Club Spin events, I recently noticed the website had been revamped and is, in my opinion, organized in a much more user-friendly format with regard to membership, etc., than in the past. While exploring this new world, I discovered I was not listed as a member! :(  What?!? :)

It was then that I realized I had overlooked the qualifying criteria for membership and had never submitted an original LONG list of classics I wish to read. Said list must include a minimum of 50 titles and I had listed only 20, so here is my original/expanded listing of classical works I wish to read within the next 5 years, by September 2020. It numbers well over 100 and is just a rambling list including some (at times nonsensical to all others but myself) commentary. I vow to create and post a well-organized commentary-free listing in the near future. :)

Trust me--this is just one small portion of the classics I would like to read! But really...how long will I live?!? ;) An asterisk (*) denotes books I own. 

Free Choice:

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin*
       I loved Go Tell It on the Mountain and want to read this one! I own it, too! :)
The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study by W.E.B. Du Bois
      Have always said I wanted to read something he'd written. I admire his 
      accomplishments with regard to the NAACP, etc.
Man's Search for Meaning by Victor E. Frankl
      So many have mentioned that this is a "must-read" book and there are so many    
      references to it. And...it will be my technical Spin read #10! 
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
       Uhm... I raised three sons so this should be interesting? ;)
Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
       See above comment regarding Little Men... 
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
       The spirit that emanated from this woman was all-encompassing. I was lucky enough to
       see her speak live twice and each time my own soul-spirit literally soared. I had 
       goosebumps. Each person who ever stood in the same room with this woman had to 
       have been spiritually raised to higher levels...and I am not referring to a "religious" 
       experience--her soul definitely vibrated at a higher energy level than most, or at least 
       higher than my own soul at that point in time! 
At Fault by Kate Chopin
The Awakening by Kate Chopin*
       Have never read anything this woman wrote! Yikes! And she was in St. Louis, Missouri! 
       Kinda my 'stompin' ground,' as they say! After reading she is considered a feminist 
       forerunner of the likes of Zelda Fitzgerald, well...I need to read her!

Books I rather dread, but for whatever reason wish to read:

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
      I feel as if I really should read this if I haven't yet...
The Hours by Micheal Cunningham*
      I truly know nothing about this one, but so many have recommended it and I have read 
      several references to it lately. Added bonus: picked up a copy in the Half Price Books 
      clearance section for $2!
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair*
      I'm sure this is going to gross me out, but I think we all need to read it...
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe*
      So many references that I feel I need to have at least read it.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
      Loved The Grapes of Wrath, but have never been attracted to this one, though I feel I 
      should read it. It is referred to so often and by so many!! And is loved by many readers 
      whose opinion I value! 
Watership Down by Richard Adams
      Don't know why I dread it...it just sounds BORING!! ;)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
      Can't help it. I read this title and my immediate thought is "Huh?" But I'm brave...
The Frogs by Aristophanes
       Perhaps only so I can say I've read something written by Aristophanes? I have 
       absolutely no idea what to expect other than it is supposedly a comedic play. Oh, and it 
       is short! :)
The Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper
       This consists of 5 different novels: The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The 
       Pathfinder, The Pioneers, The Prairie. Although I did read The Last of the Mohicans for 
       a correspondence course almost 20 years ago, I feel as if I got almost nothing out of it 
       except that I do recall it grossed me out in places. However, I feel the need to know this 
       series intimately as someone born and raised in the U.S.
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
       Just because...it's by Conrad. It must be informative!
Divine Comedy by Dante
Hell by Dante
       Only because I feel I should read them, even if it may well be a struggle to get through!
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
       Though I am very interested, I feel this will be BORING! :(
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens 
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
       Confession: I have NEVER read a Charles Dickens book. Further confession: This 
       stems from the fact my mother felt he was the best writer ever and was always trying to 
       push me to read him. (My mother and I were two very different and basically 
       incompatible people in this lifetime.) Hence, I have done my utmost to avoid the man 
       and his writings. Honestly, at almost 60 years of age I believe it is long past the time 
       when I should drop it and just get on with it--READ HIM!! :) Though I feel it will be 
       depressing to do so. 
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
       Starting reading this about 10 years ago. No go! Perhaps I should create a read-along 
       and include some research in postings to help myself get through it this time? It's a 
       thought... I really would like to do that, but it would have to come AFTER the Laura 
       Ingalls Wilder Read-Along I have planned! :)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
       This is one that even my mother couldn't get through. I will, however, give it a try. :)

Those books about which I am relatively neutral:
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
      Really feel the need to read one of her books! So many bloggers reference her work!
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway*
      Have yet to read one of his novels. (I know, I know...) :)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier*
      Just keep seeing references to this one all over the place and am definitely curious! 
      And I own a copy now!
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
       Loved An American Tragedy when I read it at the age of 15. 
The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter*
       Fascinated by the concept.
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
My Antonia by Willa Cather
One of Ours by Willa Cather
       Yes, there is a theme among the 4 books listed above. I have. NEVER. Read. Anything 
       written by. Willa Cather! Shameful, I know... I will remedy that! 
Animal Farm by George Orwell
       I reread this last year, but want to reread again and fully review. Also will 
       compare/contrast with The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips in the very near 
       future.
Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
       Have not read this one and definitely should! 
Meditations on a First Philosophy by Rene Descartes
       I love philosophy. I really should at least give this a try!        

Those I cannot wait to read:
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison*
     Feel I should read it so I can understand the references made to it.
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
     Loved the movie and would like to read the book, which is virtually always better, 
     in my opinion!
The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
     Love Hughes, and want to read what he had to say...
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
     Love his short stories and this will be the first full-length novel of his for me to have 
     read. (The Last Tycoon doesn't count, since it was unfinished.)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger*
     Yeah, I know. Unbelievable that some English/literature teacher in my past never 
     got to this one, but I am very curious.
The Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery (8 books)
      Okay, I will not "officially" cheat on this master listing, since I just completed reading and
      reviewing this series as part of Reeder Reads' Green Gables Read-Along! But I am 
      listing it as #51 because if you have never read it, you should! Montgomery's writing is 
      nothing less than amazing to me!! Definitely timeless. :) Great for future rereads!
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin*
      I actually read and reviewed this as my Classics Club Spin #8! Haven't read it yet? You 
      really should... :) Definitely one I would willingly reread in the future. 
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe*
      Can. Not. Wait! I felt drawn to this book and shouldn't delay reading it any longer!!
Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
Laddie: A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton-Porter
The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter 
A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter
       Yes, there is a definite theme with the above 5 books! My former mother-in-law 
       ADORED anything written by Gene Stratton-Porter AND the woman lived and wrote 
       about the geographic region close to where I lived as a youngster! And...I was my own 
       naturalist! So many reasons to read this author. And if I like these, I'll probably add the 
       rest of her publications to this list! 
Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
       Another oversight in my reading that needs to be rectified--sooner rather than later!
The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
       I will use the Goodreads listing of 11 books for this series and am planning to launch a
       read-along to start January 2016 on my blog, Smoke & Mirrors--one book per month 
       through November 2016. Why do this? I loved the TV show as a child and have been 
       enthralled by the thought of all these books that I feel I would also love. Time to "just do 
       it"! The list: Little House in the Big Woods; Little House on the Prairie; Farmer Boy; On 
       the Banks of Plum Creek; By the Shores of Silver Lake; The Long Winter; Little Town 
       on the Prairie; These Happy Golden Years; The First Four Years; On the Way Home: 
       The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894; West From 
       Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915.
A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
       I firmly believe every person in the U.S. categorizing themselves as "white"/Caucasian 
       should be required to read books to enlighten them on the various horrors inflicted 
       upon "non-white" folks by the "whites." In my opinion, white man is the worst animal 
       ever to live on this planet, annihilating indigenous human beings and destroying the 
       planet, all in the name of greed, or, as the anglo-centered history books like to phrase 
       it, "progress." (Sorry, stepping down off the soapbox now...)
Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
       I have a whole thick book of Sherlock Holmes stories by Doyle in the olde English. I 
       have owned it for many years and really really really need to read it. Even just one 
       every now and then. I love mysteries and loved the Sherlock Holmes TV series. And just
       learned (Thank you, Wikipedia!) he published 7 historical fiction novels that are 
       considered to be among his best-written publications, so those are now on the list, too!
Micah Clarke by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
The Firm of Girdlestone by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
The White Company by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
The Great Shadow by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
The Refugees  by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
Rodney Stone by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
Uncle Bernac by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
The Tragedy of the Korosko by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Nigel by Sir Ignatius Arthur Conan Doyle
       Confession: I LOVE using Doyle's full name, I mean Sir Arthur Conan Doyle isn't nearly
       as official-sounding, is it! Plus Ignatius makes it sound ANCIENT to me! :)
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
Mary Ann by Daphne du Maurier
       Historical fiction based upon her great-great-grandmother, mistress of Frederick 
       Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, the "Grand Old Duke of York" of the nursery 
       rhyme, son of King George III and brother of the later King George IV. Fascinating! 

Those I cannot wait to reread:

 A Separate Peace by John Knowles*
      Read this at age 15, loved it, and am anxious to see how I feel about it now, some 
      44 years later! :)
 The Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter 
       First read when I was 13. I loved it then and am anxious to see how it resonates 
       for me now.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
       Actually reread this as Classics Club Spin #7! Love love love this book!!!
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
       Loved it at 12. Wonder how it will read for me now? 
And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
       OMG! I absolutely loved this book when I read it at age 20! The characters were living 
       and breathing right alongside me! Definitely one to revisit!
Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov
       Read it for college and was rather lost. Oh, I aced the exam, but hope I can truly 
       understand it this time around, many many years later! (Sometimes life experience 
       really helps with that!)
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
       Isn't this the one with the rats scene? I hated this book when I first read it at age 14! It 
       scared me. I wonder about now? I want to see...
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
       Haven't read this since I was very young and really, all three families of my 11 
       grandchildren need a copy, too! 
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
       Read it at 13 and LOVED it! So dramatic! So romantic! So tragic! So sad! Wonder how 
       it will resonate for me now, some almost 47 years later. I am betting much the same. 
       Though I'm sure there are many similarly-themed movies and books, I thought Woody 
       Allen's Match Point (2005) was a well-done similarly-themed movie. Neither of these 
       works is uplifting in the least, but accurate, in my opinion. 

Those I will NEVER reread: (!!!!)
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
       Read and reviewed for the Classics Club spin #6. Glad I read it. I got her message loud 
       and clear. But really...it could have been written better with many many many less 
       words and much much much less repetition!! In my humble opinion, at least! :)
My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
       No more Jeeves for me! One was enough! Well, almost too much! Just not my cuppa 
       tea! 
The Stranger by Albert Camus
       I read this for the Classics Club Spin #5, just after I'd first discovered The Classics Club! 
       Glad I read it. I got it. No need to revisit.