Category Archives: Classics Club Challenge

“War & Peace” by Leo Tolstoy (1869) – whatever am I going to do with myself now?

Posted on February 8, 2016 by

All good things, so so sadly, must come to an eventual end. It’s been a roller coaster of a ride trying to gallop alongside the heinously cropped 6-hour adaptation of this epic novel, and I almost came out of the saddle … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books on the Big Screen, Classics Club Challenge | Tagged , | 23 Comments

“Lady Chatterley’s lover” by D.H. Lawrence (1928) – taking the John Thomas, sorry, the mickey – and welcome to “Whoar”, oops “War & Peace”

Posted on January 10, 2016 by

Back in the autumn, the BBC revisited Lady Chatterley and strapping Oliver Mellors, and after watching the rose-tinted version with a certain sense of bafflement, was tickled to pick up the battered (complete and unexpurgated) copy on the shelf and … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books on the Big Screen, Classics Club Challenge | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Classics Club Challenge – taking a gamble

Posted on December 7, 2015 by

This is rather like Russian roulette with none of the blood and guts. While for some all this avid list-compiling would no doubt be like having teeth pulled, it is of course totally up my persnickety compulsive alley. Having embarked upon … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics Club Challenge | Tagged | 15 Comments

“Cider with Rosie” by Laurie Lee (1959) – poetry in motion

Posted on November 30, 2015 by

Nothing whatsoever to do with “Under Milk Wood”, in fact couldn’t be a more innocent portrayal of youth in many ways – and there’s nothing even remotely as flamboyant about this man’s somewhat idyllic childhood in a remote village set in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Classics Club Challenge, Non-fiction | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

“Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome (1889) – messing about on the river

Posted on November 11, 2015 by

The subtitle of this witty ditty is “To Say Nothing of the Dog” – and who’d have thought that prime suspect Montgomery the fox terrier with attitude was the only character of the batch to be a figment of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Classics Club Challenge | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

“The Go-Between” by L. P. Hartley (1953) – between the devil and the deep blue

Posted on October 4, 2015 by

The BBC has a lot to answer for. All those carefully and lovingly prepared piles of books to be read in a certain order keep getting re-arranged, as not a week seems to go by without another new adaptation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books on the Big Screen, Classics Club Challenge | Tagged , , | 21 Comments

“The Classics Club” Five Year Challenge – taking the bull by the horns

Posted on August 18, 2015 by

It’s altogether too tempting to be led off the straight and narrow by all these exciting new novels that just keep appearing and calling for attention. In the meanwhile, am embarrassed to tot up the countless tomes that have gone down in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics Club Challenge | Tagged , , , , | 35 Comments