Weekend Reads: Book Market and American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Hi, readers! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a book review so I wanted to keep you updated on what my recent reading activities have been.

I like to read multiple books at a time because I find that what I want to read often changes with my mood. Can anyone else relate? Does it bother you to read multiple books at a time or do you prefer to have options?

I’m currently reading three different books with American Pastoral by Philip Roth getting most of the reading time. I am hoping to finish this one up this weekend. When I first started reading this book I fell in love with the writing style. Philip Roth’s sentences are so rich and beautiful. I felt like this would be a book I would love after only reading the first few paragraphs. I still think the writing is really beautiful, but I think the story is kind of moving a bit too slowly for me at the moment. I am looking forward to talking more about this book in an upcoming review so I will save the rest of my thoughts for that post.

I started reading Middlemarch by George Eliot on my kindle a few weeks ago. I talked about my experience reading this book on my kindle in a previous post. I had to stop reading it at about 11% in because I felt like I was just missing too much by reading it on my kindle. When I put it aside, I ordered the Penguin English Library edition of Middlemarch and that arrived in the post on Tuesday! Such a pretty cover! I am looking forward to getting back into that book in the weeks to come.

 

I always also like to keep at least one book going on my kindle so that I can read at night-time without needing to have a lamp on. I started The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch the other night. I’m not very far into this book yet so I don’t really know what to think of it at this point, but I know it’s an extremely popular fantasy series so I am looking forward to discovering what makes it so great.

On Sunday mornings my city has a second-hand book market so I am hoping that the weather will be nice enough to go and enjoy it this Sunday. After that, I am planning on heading to the park with my picnic blanket and spending some time enjoying my weekend reads! I’ll post an update next week if I find any great books at the book market.

Happy weekend reading, everyone!

What are you planning to read this weekend?

 

Book Talk: How Do You Read a Classic?

Ah, the classics. Those notoriously difficult yet revered books. Today I want to share a bit about my experience with reading classics and learn about others’ experiences as well.

As part of my summer goals, I wanted to try and read a few more classics. I read a lot of books on my kindle because I can loan them from my library for free with just a click of a button. The kindle is so handy because I can take it everywhere very easily and lighting is never an issue because of its built-in screen light.

For anyone who’s read a classic, you know that it’s certainly convenient to not have to lug around a book the size of, let’s say, Anna Karenina for example. I also like that you can just hold your finger down on a word in the text and a definition will pop up. That is really a useful function when reading a classic.

A few weeks ago I started reading Middlemarch by George Eliot on my kindle. I got about 11% into the book and then decided that I would not read the rest on my kindle. At times, reading this book on the kindle was pretty convenient. I was able to easily look up some words that I wasn’t familiar with, but I found that the negatives started to outweigh the positives.

George Eliot wrote Middlemarch in 1872 and although the dictionary function does bring up Wikipedia articles, the information you can access on the kindle is nowhere near the extent of the information that comes with a good edition of a classic.

Additionally, I noticed that I have higher expectations when reading a classic. I’ve heard many people call Middlemarch a masterpiece and that influences the way I approach such a book. I felt like I was just missing so much by reading the book in kindle format. I ended up ordering the Penguin English Library edition of Middlemarch last week and am currently waiting for it to arrive in the post.

What is your experience with reading classics?

Do you prefer reading on your e-reader or having a physical book?

Do you have any favorite editions of classics?