shadowkat: (Grieving)
shadowkat ([personal profile] shadowkat) wrote2020-10-28 10:41 pm
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Day #2 of the 30 Day Book Challenge

Day #2 of the 30 Day Book Challenge.

Prompt: A classic romance

Ponders.

The Thorn Birds by Colleen MCullough.

Because I'm in that sort of mood.

Also I like this quote.

“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain… Or so says the legend.”
― Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds
cjlasky7: (Default)

[personal profile] cjlasky7 2020-10-29 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
This looks like a job for the Bronte sisters! Let's go with Cathy and Heathcliff on Wuthering Heights.
cactuswatcher: (Default)

[personal profile] cactuswatcher 2020-10-29 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
CJL is right. I'll go with Mrs. Graham and the Tenant of Wild Fellhall.
cjlasky7: (Default)

[personal profile] cjlasky7 2020-10-29 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh! Acton Bell deep cut! Nice.
cactuswatcher: (Default)

[personal profile] cactuswatcher 2020-10-29 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
I had a friend who wrote her master's thesis on the book, or I probably wouldn't have thought to read it. I didn't tell my friend I'd done it, but referred to her as Mrs. Graham out of the blue, one day. She was shocked, but in a good way!
wendelah1: Scully reading From Outer Space (From Outer Space)

[personal profile] wendelah1 2020-10-31 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
When I was a kid, I read a lot. (I mean a lot.) By the time I was 11 or 12, I'd read everything I was interested in from the children's section in our local library and had begun reading in the adult section. In order to check out certain books, I needed parental permission, which my mother was happy to provide. (Her approach to parenting was to do more or less the opposite of my conservative, Christian, church-three-times-a-week-and-twice-on-Sunday grandparents.) Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor is one of "those books." When it was first published in 1944, it was literally banned in Boston. After seeing The Guardian's glowing review, I'm going to reread it, assuming I can find a copy. Major spoilers in the review, in case you're thinking of trying it.
kaisa: (Default)

[personal profile] kaisa 2020-11-03 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Romance? Hmmm.

I guess Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

I don't read much romances, but this one I have at home, too.

You mention The Thorn Birds -- I read it for the first time a couple of years ago because I was bored at our summerhouse and the book happened to be there. I was surprised that it has become so popular, I thought the main "love story" was kind of icky because essentially a grown up man chooses a small child and grooms her to be his, and nothing in this book is even hinting that there is something wrong with it. 😮
(deleted comment)
kaisa: (Default)

[personal profile] kaisa 2020-11-03 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, it is racist. And as such it is a good window to the way people back then thought about the world. I suppose grooming children has been acceptable in the past as well, if that's what you mean. Child marriages are still legal in some parts of the world, although mostly not in the western countries.
kaisa: (Default)

[personal profile] kaisa 2020-11-03 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Also I apologise if I offended you, that was not my intention.