Daddy Long-Legs, by Jean Webster (on Nook)

I read this while Beast was in the hospital last fall, but just remembered I never blogged it here. It's one of the novels in a collection of several dozen "classics" I got for free when I first got the Nook.

The book was written in 1912. It was not great, but very much a product of the time in which it was written, about a college girl, an orphan, who is subsidized in her education, and writes a letter each month to her Daddy Long-Legs to update him on her life. She acts about 12. But it got me through hours of watching Beast sleep, so I guess I'm not too upset.

Dante's Divine Comedy, adapted by Seymour Chwast

This reminds me of a mash-up of Guys & Dolls (the movie) and Sunday School at a particularly gloomy church. It's the whole of the Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. All the characters look straight out of the 40s and 50s. Very odd.

I guess it's good that I read this, since I've never made it past Hell in the actual printed version. Now I can say I know how it all ends. ;-)

Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov

For some reason I had this down as a Must Read from some list or another. So very Russian. So very classic. I like it--maybe someday I'll see it performed.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (on Nook)

Hmm, what to say. Good story. VERY abrupt ending. If you like long lists of fish and flora of the sea, this is a book for you. Definitely dated, which shouldn't be a surprise. Not bad, but rather blah. I read this over the course of two months, breaking in the Nook.

Jane, by April Lindner

When I cataloged this, I knew I had to read it: it's a modern retelling of Jane Eyre. In spite of having reservations towards the beginning of it, by the middle of the book I was firmly pulled in, trying to figure out how Lindner was going to work the original plot out.

Now I need to go find my copy of JE and reread it....

The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer; a retelling by Peter Ackroyd; illustrated by Nick Bantock

I threw this back, not because it wasn't well done, but because I seem to be in a phase of reading brainless books. This required too much work. Too bad: the translation is excellent and readable. I blame myself here, not the book.

The Wild Things, by Dave Eggers

Pretty good reinterpretation of the classic picture book. Not overly heavy-handed, and not my reading of it, but interesting. Eggers certainly can catch the way a young boy sees the world very well.

The Iliad, by Homer (on CD)

Wow, is this thing gory! But listening to it was so much easier than trying to read it; I know I would have gotten hung up on how to pronounce all the names. However, now that I have the general idea of the plot, I can go back and search out some of the more obscure stuff.

Good, really cool.