Tag Archives: Classics

Book Review, Bookish Talk

Read Along: Of Human Bondage – Begins October 1st!

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Of Human Bondage Read Along

Hey there!! Some of you expressed an interest in joining me for a read-along of Of Human Bondage. I’ve never read it, but when I was in the hospital recovering I began to mentally make a list of the books that I’ve always wanted to read and Of Human Bondage was one of them, and some of you so kindly said that you’d join me!

I picked up this version of the book, Vintage ISBN9780593687680, but you can  read any version. Most of them are about 700 pages but we will break it down by chapter so any version will do.

Details:

  • We will take the entire month of October to read it! (10/1-10/31)
  • Each Friday, beginning 10/4, I will post a check-in post.
  • This is a no pressure read along. Read what you can, but I will post a schedule below for those who need one.
  • If anyone is on X/Twitter, I will be using this hashtag #ofhumanbondagereadalong

Suggested Schedule:

Chapters below are numerical and in Roman numerals depending on what version you have it might be helpful. Page counts are listed as well. 

Chapters I-IV / 1-4 (18 pp.)
Chapters V-IX / 5-9  (21 pp.)
Chapters X-XIV /10-14 (20 pp.)
Discuss the above by 10/4 here on the blog. (59 pages total)

Chapters XV-XXI / 15-21 (40 pp.)
Chapters XXII-XXXI / 22-31 (43 pp.)
Chapters XXXII-XXXV /32-35 (30 pp.)
Chapters XXXVI-XXXIX / 36-39 (22 pp.)
Discuss/Read the above by 10/11 (135 pages total)

Chapters XL-LI / 40-51 (82 pp.)
Chapters LII-LIII / 52-53 (13 pp.)
Chapters LIV-LV / 54-55 (12 pp.)
Chapters LVI-LXII / 56-62 (38 pp.)
Chapters LXIII-LXVIII / 63-68 (29 pp.)
Discuss/Read the above by 10/18 (174 pages total)

Chapters LXIX-LXXII / 69-72 (26 pp.)
Chapters LXXIII-LXXVIII / 73-78 (37 pp.)
Chapters LXXIX-LXXXVI / 79-86 (45 pp.)
Chapters LXXXVII-LXXXIX / 87-89 (19 pp.)
Chapters XC-XCVII / 90-97 (49 pp.)
Discuss/Read the above by 10/25 (176 pages total)

Chapters XCVIII-CII / 98-102 (23 pp.)
Chapters CIII-CIX / 103-109 (42 pp,)
Chapters CX-CXI / 110-111 (12 pp.)
Chapters CXII-CXXII / 112-122 (60 pp.)
Discuss/Read by Thursday 10/31! (137 pages total)

Sign-up here!

Book Review

Review: The Catcher in the Rye

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The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye
By J.D. Salinger
Back Bay Books, 9780316450867, Nov 2018, 288pp.

The Short of It:

Read back in high school and re-read today for book club, and it’s just as wonderful as I remembered.

The Rest of It:

The Catcher in the Rye is of course, a classic. Everyone’s heard of it but I’ll tell ya, not everyone will love it. Why? Because Holden Caulfield is a piece of work! Tossed from private school for failing nearly all of his classes, Holden goes on a three day sabbatical from life. Delaying the inevitable, when he has to return home to his family for the holidays and clue them in to the fact that he has once again been kicked out of school.

Holden packs up his belongings, smokes a lot of cigarettes and ponders life as he hits bar after bar, considering his options. He’s underage but wise beyond his years so he goes from place to place making observations and hoping, longingly for people to spend time with him. He makes a few calls. Meets a few friends. Feels a bit homesick for his baby sister Phoebe, but mostly just flits from one interaction to the next, lost.

Holden is ALL of us. That’s what makes this such a good read. His insecurities are balanced by his overblown opinion of himself. Minus the bluster, the fancy hat, the cigarettes and booze and what you have is a teenage boy desperate for love. His loneliness screams at you while turning those pages.

Funny story. When I was pregnant with my first child, the name Holden was a frontrunner. We decided to go with Evan, instead. But after reading this classic again, my son really IS Holden in real life. I highlighted many passages because they could have actually come right out of my son’s mouth. I shared this observation with him and he wasn’t impressed or compelled to read the book. See? He is Holden.

What stays with me after reading this book is Holden’s voice. Salinger creates this living, breathing, sometimes seething Holden. He’s not the most well-liked guy but he can be charming, and often is, when not overcome with  loneliness and doubt.

If you haven’t read this classic, or you read it long ago. I mean, I was 16 the last time I read it, I highly recommend you pick up a copy.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.