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Book Club Discussion for August 2024 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-08-02 20:07:06
Imported:
2026-06
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Dear Book Club Readers ---

You had another incredible reading month in July, and it would be lovely to hear about the books you're enjoying this month.

Your comments in these Book Club Discussion threads continue to reveal your deep love of great literature, and we would love to hear about how your reading is treating you at the moment.

So, tell us what your August is looking like.

What are you reading at the moment?

Let us know anything that's on your mind, your literary loves, and anything you wish to share or sharpen your thoughts about.

  • Author details

  • Seasonal reads

  • Areas to explore

  • Your current Big Read

  • Complementary art forms

  • Questions about literature

  • Favourite lines and passages

  • Things you're finding difficult

  • Rewarding literary rabbit holes

  • Musings, notes, and marginalia

  • Things you want to recommend

  • Resonant character descriptions

  • General life updates (we're interested)

This is the place to put anything bookish you like, and get other readers weighing in on your thoughts!

Our wonderful Book Club community continues to be a literary oasis thanks to your thoughtful appreciations of the Great Books.

Reading through the recent book discussion threads, one can see what a truly special group of literature lovers we have here:

So thank you so much for being a part of the family, and I hope your month is filled with exciting bookish adventures.

Happy reading!

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Comments

Cherian Philipose

I read one of the Belkin Tales of Pushkin. It is called 'The Shot.' It is about duelling and the translation is by P and V. Brilliant tale.

Breen Greer

I’ve had a great week of reading, finishing two books I’ve spent considerable time on. First, Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. I found it to be much more overt in its irony and humor than The Scarlet Letter, and on first impression after reading it, I understand why it was more well regarded than SL upon first publication. It has a richer surface, while SL bears more lasting fruit. That’s my initial impression, we’ll see how the book resonates after the passage of some time. And just last night I finished one of Ben’s personal favorites—The Pickwick Papers. While at times it felt wandering or meandering and unsure of its purpose, Dickens really locked in in the back half, and what started as a lighthearted, picaresque romp through the English countryside developed into a moving story of friendship and loyalty and the overcoming of obstinate pride. So many great characters—I love Mr. Winkle and Bob Sawyer, and Mr. Pickwick himself of course, but the Wellers, Sam and his father Tony, might just be my new favorite Dickens characters. Lovely book, and one I don’t think I would have gravitated toward without Ben’s influence, so thank you deeply and dearly.

Anne Maguire

Hi everyone, I’m a newbie to the book club, and just finding my feet. I’m retired and read 120-150 books a year but barely remember them. It splits about 50/50 fiction and non fiction and the fiction tends to be ‘trash’… I do love a crime novel… I’m conscious I want more out of my reading. I love Harold Bloom and have used his output as a framework and I’ve read Mortimer Adler many years ago. I’ve ordered a fresh copy of Adler to scribble in. I’m so jealous of Benjamin’s great books collection 😍😍 Anyway I won’t be reading Infinite Jest as too far behind but I hope to read along with the next one. I love Shakespeare and went to The Globe every year for 10/12 years two or three times. Saw some great plays and some not so great… so I’m starting my book club journey with Hamlet. Any hints or tips on finding my way around much appreciated or ideas on how to tackle the reading or if anyone wants to be my accountability partner… I’m not stopping the crime and lesfic reading but I need to focus my energies better as there are so many GREAT books out there. I love Woolf, Dickens, and Borges but haven’t read their entire outputs…

Sean

In addition to IJ, reading Zolas Therese Raquin. It’s a taut little novel so far and really like it. I think I’ll try to read a Zola on my next trip to Paris in March.

Rachel Brown
>>146259999

Welcome Anne! Like you I won’t give up my mystery/thrillers and some current reads - they are like enjoyable palate cleansers! The advice I’ll give is just follow your heart as to what to read. Benjamin has such an amazing back catalogue in addition to the current schedule. I’ve read a few this year from the schedule but had to put down IJ. Instead, I’m reading Anna Karenina and it is amazing. These monthly wrap up posts always end up with me adding more to my list of books to read. I’ve always been a voracious reader but like you found that many didn’t stick - the slow reading, enjoying a book over time has been such an amazing reading change for me.

Anna

Hello everyone! I find myself being really drawn to short stories, this past month. I've been enjoying Kafka and just finished reading "The Metamorphosis" and "A Hunger Artist" as part of our short story appreciation. Novels, on the other hand, I find myself in a slump. I've picked up a few novels but am having a hard time getting into them ("Infinite Jest" included...I may pick it up again in the future, but cannot dedicate the proper time and attention necessary to really get into this novel). I did start "The Trial" last night and hope to finish it soon. I've also been reading through Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul's Letter to the Romans.

Mary Beth Barrett

I just joined and am finishing up East of Eden. I had a real prejudice against Steinbeck in general that I'm sure was born somewhere in my feminist upbringing but to my wonderful surprise I love him. So grateful to have Ben's deeper dive for this book. I am really appreciating Stienbeck as a writer and East of Eden as the amazing book it is. Glad to be a part of this wonderful community

Steven McVicar

William Faulkner and William Shakespeare are completely dominating my year. Can't seem to finish a Faulkner novel without going right back to the start and reading it again. I did manage to squeeze in Pride and Prejudice and I loved it. What an absolute smash hit!

Paul Fincher

After a very busy May-July at work that really hampered my reading schedule I am finally able to return to it. Finished reading The Aeneid last week which wrapped up the Trojan War trilogy and I hope to prepare me some for The Inferno coming up in a couple of months. Just finished Metamorphosis at the time this posting and plan to read the other two Kafka short stories this weekend. Have about 200 pages left in Genji that I plan to finish this month. Working in the essays of Montaigne where I can.

Jennifer Tanko

I finished The Brothers Karamazov on Sunday, the day before teachers (me) went back to school in my district. I loved it, I found the P&V translation really engaging and I failed at “slow reading” it (although I did a lot of note taking and scribbling in margins). I found some of the content about loving actively and the sequences with children really emotional and personally meaningful, as teaching can feel like a burden and a struggle sometimes. I’m really glad I timed this novel for when I did, it’s helped me focus as I prepare my classroom. I also read an excerpt of The Iliad for a reading group I’m in. Up next is some popcorn material for a social book club I’m in…then, my TBR pile needs to be halved before I can buy any new books. Eyeing East of Eden, The Castle, or It Can’t Happen Here, but it will really depend on my future mood! Happy reading, all! I’m glad I found these lectures. They really added to my processing and enjoyment of TBK.

Phil
>>147135037

Jennifer, It’s all about Father Zosima! I re-read his speeches and homilies endlessly. By the way I just finished The Castle and wow what a tour de force into the uncanny and comical! I recommend a fantastic BBC radio drama of the castle here. https://archive.org/details/FranzKafkaBBCr4/04+The+Castle+Episode+1.mp3 . It captures the story so incredibly well. I’m on a high from this book right now. It sucked me in right from the beginning. Enjoy. Also, what translation of the Iliad was it?

Philip Ryan
>>146542185

If short stories hit your soft spot, you can't go wrong with Alice Munro. Try her, if you haven't already...

Philip Ryan

I'm just finishing up Les Misérables, which I enjoyed immensely. No need to go into more detail for this group, but it's always good to have the Hard-Core Literature back catalog to refer to. Ben is always a great guide. My other big read I've just finished is Nostromo by Joseph Conrad. This is a novel that Harold Bloom includes in his list of those to be "read and "re-read." I have to say, however, that Conrad has always proven to be a slog for me, and this was no exception. Even Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim were significant personal challenges. It took real will power to finish each of them. Perhaps it's the Henry James influence, who is another author that I have all but given up on. (Note how many times James has men putting their hands in their pockets when he is dissatisfied with them.)

Caroline Princehouse
>>146160971

Breen , Welcome. i'm a newbie too .. after rereads of both Hawthorne's that put me onto this new "hardcore" track. . Not since high school English, in Yakima. WA, junior year (1964) had I picked up those first American novels and I was giddy with the language and literary Hawthorne. Exquisite. A first trip to Boston last year and a stay at the Old Customs House (now a gorgeous Marriott Pulse), possibly a motivator to re-read Hawthorne. Never before much of a re-reader, now I want to re -read all the great books. I guess we will.