Please link your reviews for your Classic Published Before 1800 here. This is only for the Classic Published Before 1800 category. All books in this category must have been published before the year 1800. Plays and epic poems are acceptable for 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 (Candide)."
Just finished The Vicar of Wakefield...not a favorite! But not a waste of time either...
ReplyDeleteI was dreading reading a pre-1800 novel but actually the Vicar of Wakefield was quite amusing. After the endless slog through Evelina and Betsy Thoughtless I was expecting more of the same, but for the most part it was an enjoyable read which is quite welcome at this moment of political turmoil.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little hesitant about that category also, I'm pretty sure it will be the last one I complete. But I'll be reading Jane Austen's early work, so I'm hopeful. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.
DeleteRead Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake. Had never read all these poems at once as a whole book before.
ReplyDeleteNow I know why Fanny Hill was banned for so many years!!!
ReplyDeleteNow I know why Fanny Hill was banned for so many years!!
ReplyDeleteI read Candide by Voltaire (published in 1759). It was definitely an eye-opener of the mores of the times. As it is a satire, I was thankful the edition I read included footnotes of explanation. This book was on my "I'll read this book some day" list, so I'm glad I finally read it.
ReplyDeleteI have to read the edition you read! I chose Candide for this as well, but the Penguin Classics version I read did NOT have any footnotes. I was bit confused.
DeleteOops...I finished this one a while ago, but forgot to post my link for Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. (didn't love it)
ReplyDeleteCandide by Voltaire - Candide grows up in a house where tutor/philosopher Pangloss claims that all is for the best because God has ordained things as they are. This is Voltaire's answer to the age old question - IF God is good, then why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there suffering? The answer usually given is that God gave humans free will. Candide has a long series of misadventures and late in the book meets Martin, another philosopher who claims all in NOT for the best since man is evil. Interesting to note that those presumed dead in this book are NOT always dead and do reappear. The farmer at the very end of the book seems to have figured things out despite NOT being a noted, educated philosopher.
ReplyDeleteJust finished the Odyssey. Glad I reread it. Definitely got more out of it than I did as a freshman in high school.
ReplyDeleteFinished Robinson Crusoe back in August and just remembered to post about it. Whoops!
ReplyDeleteI read The Merchant of Venice and then saw the play performed. The performance completely changed my mind about the play!
ReplyDeleteJust added 'The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.' One more to go.
ReplyDeleteI read Don Quixote.
ReplyDeleteJust in the nick of time - I finished The Oresteia by Aeschylus. WHEW!
ReplyDeleteI finished Gulliver's Travels a few weeks ago. I was surprised at how much I liked it!
ReplyDeleteI read Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot.
ReplyDeleteI read Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. I really enjoyed the first part in the country and maybe lost track/interest more when he moved to London -- I just found the former a lot funnier. I was intimidated by the length, but glad I stuck it out.
ReplyDeleteAnd it gave me one of my favorite lines of 2017: "What then remains to complete the tragedy but a murder or two and a few moral sentences."