Hello-hello-hello, it’s time for another Boopdate!

So, what have you been reading? Any classics lately? Well, let me tell you what I have been reading… It’s been a triple dose of classics… one finished, one DNF and one in progress.

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse: I am sure majority of people have read Steppenwolf? It’s one of those titles I always knew I had to read but kept pushing into the uncertain future. I am finally glad to say that I have read it, and I like it. Loved it, actually. What a portrayal of man’s existential crisis. It’s also one of those books that gets super trippy super suddenly and that trippy factor is probably one of those things that will split the readership. Anyway. There is so much that could be said about this book. It’s a look at society and it’s values; it’s a look at ‘beauty in the eye of the beholder’ regarding culture at large – Mozart versus jazz music, hey!; it’s a battle in between the highly educated, committed intelligence versus the life is meant for fun and ignorance is bliss; it’s the ‘where do I fit into all this’ and if I feel like I don’t fit, then what is the point of life, but sometimes we forget that we outselves starve ourselves of life’s beauty, of all that it has to give and sometimes we just need to give new things a chance to bring the sparkle back into our eyes. Yeah. Firmly, one of my favourite titles, Steppenwolf. I vow to read this again in the future to grasp more, to read in between the lines. This is brainfood! Goodreads Link

Emma by Jane Austen: my, oh my. Austen fans, alight your torches, I DNFd this one! In no way is my experience with this title a reflector of it’s worth. I’m a worthless zero when it comes to critiquing classics. But, I can still have an opition, right? Oh, the book is worth a lot and surely defines the times of the old, as well as sits snug with the rest of the notable classics. I have a confession to make. I saw the movie. The very new, fresh movie and it was good and it got me intrigued and thirsting for more depth around the characters. See, I couldn’t for the life of me understand how Mr Kinghtley, a seemingly very respectable and level-headed man, could fall in love with Emma so. Surely it wasn’t just because of her beauty and high standing… because, Emma for me was absolutely intolerable. And I know, she wasn’t really mean, but just… eh, still, her popularity had gone to her head. Anyway. In the book, whilst I was determined to keep going, I got tired very quickly of the father’s moaning about how marriage of one of the other is such a dreadful event; and all these descriptions of visitations and society gossip just- bleh. Thus, it is with sadness, I will miss the depths of the relationship in between Emma and Mr Knightley. Have you read it? Tell me more? Goodreads Link

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas: A good 20 years ago, we had this tattered copy of the book (in Estonian, of course); the pages were so-so soft with age and yellowed. And at that young age, with nothing much else occupying my time, I read that copy and I remember I liked it a lot. Granted, I read a lot back then and the curious mind just sponged every word in every book up and made alphabet soup so I don’t remember much else of it. I am giving this another read now and it’s one of those that you read and read and read and you feel a long time has passed, but the book has only moved forward by 1 or 2 percent. It’s a tome, folks 🙂 The absolutely good thing is, it’s totally readable and fast paced and interesting and I am loving this. Ahem, I am only 18% in! By the way, I had initially got a copy via Overdrive but the library no longer has it in collection and my loan was expiring, so I got a free copy off Project Gutenberg. This is a revenge story. Revenge stories are always nail-bitingly intriguing. Our hero Edmond Dantes has quite a list of folks! I can’t wait to get to the part where he will start his own personal dishing our of karma… Goodreads Link

So, that’s that folks! I am kind of wanting to start another book whilst I read Dumas, but I am unsure as to what to start… hmm, I might just go to my stack of unread physical books, close my eyes and see what falls under my hand. Watch this space 🙂

What are you reading? Have you read any of the above 3 titles? What did you think?