“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ― C.S. Lewis
Owned and Unread Project
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Sunday, January 4, 2015
Classic Link-Up Post: Forgotten Classic
Please link your reviews for your Forgotten Classic here. This is only for the Forgotten Classic category. This could be a lesser-known work by a famous author, or a classic that nobody reads any more. If you look on Goodreads, this book will most likely have less than 1000 ratings. This is your chance to read one of those obscure books from the Modern Library 100 Best Novels or 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. Books published by Virago Modern Classics, Persephone, and NYRB Classics often fall into this category.
If you do not have a blog, or somewhere public on the internet where you post book reviews, please write your mini-review/thoughts in the comments section. If you like, you can include the name of your blog and/or the title of the book in your link, like this: "Karen K. @ Books and Chocolate (The Blue Castle)."
Just uploaded my review of Someone at a Distance, my second Dorothy Whipple. The pages just flew!
ReplyDeleteGreat choice -- one of my favorite Persephones!
ReplyDeleteThe system swollowed my comment - second try!
ReplyDeleteI just added the link to my contribution to the Forgotten Classic section. I reckon that not many except some aficionados will ever have heard of the "Autumn and Winter Sonatas" by Ramón del Valle-Inclán... outside the Spanish-speaking world that is. Later this year I'll come up with an English Forgotten Classic as well.
Mine is definitely a new favorite!
ReplyDeleteHi! When I entered this challenge I was in debate with myself about a forgotten classic. I wanted to read "Stoner" but with its upswing in popularity you didn't allow it. Instead I entered with the forgotten classic being Gogol's "Dead Souls". I have started reading it, but now I read that a forgotten classic has less than 1000 ratings on Goodreads. At the moment Dead Souls has 1100 ratings. Does it still count as a forgotten classic? I would love to hear your opinion. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI just checked Goodreads and found about 34,000 ratings for Dead Souls, so I would not call that a Forgotten Classic. However, it could still count as a 19th Century Classic, Classic in Translation (if you don't speak Russian) and Humorous or Satirical Classic. Have you considered counting it for one of these categories?
DeleteThe Forgotten Classic is really meant for obscure or lesser-read books, to hopefully re-introduce them to readers, and maybe even re-popularize them -- just like Stoner had a resurgence in popularity!
Obviously I've looked at reviews and not ratings - my bad. I will definitely consider it now to change Dead Souls to another category, or just find something else entirely.
DeleteThank you for your answer!
hi Karen, I just added an Australian classic that I thought would qualify but looking at some of comments above, I'm not sure now. It has 1216 ratings at Good Reads. Should I find something else or is that ok?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1954212.I_Can_Jump_Puddles#other_reviews
Sure, that sounds like a great choice!
DeleteConsidering that Grazia Deledda has won the Nobel Prize of Literature, it's almost a shame that her book After the Divorce only has 37 ratings on Goodreads. Too bad I didn't enjoy the book more than I did...
ReplyDeleteI changed my book (right now I can't remember which one I had in the first place), but Irène Némirovsky's "David Golder" has less than 1000 ratings :-)
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of checking the ratings on GOODREADS until now!
ReplyDelete"The Happy Foreigner" by Enid Bagnold has 23 + 8 reviews;
"Autumn and Winter Sonatas" by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán has exactly 1 rating in the English edition (probably mine!), while there are 145 + 2 reviews for the Spanish original.
I just linked Dona Perfecta by Galdos, after a "false start" reading a different book initially.
ReplyDeleteChildren of the Covered Wagon appears to be a forgotten classic on Goodreads, which is disappointing. I think every school age child should read it.
ReplyDeleteChildren of the Covered Wagon should be on every child's reading list. Unfortunately, it had a very low rating on Goodreads :(
ReplyDeleteI suppose classics like Susan Glaspell's "Fidelity" get forgotten because we automatically think that a book published in 1924 is unlikely to be relevant today. Thank you Persephone Books for enabling me to read this feminist jewel.
ReplyDeleteFinished the challenge with "The Man Who Was Thursday"! What a great forgotten classic.
ReplyDelete