I am so excited to begin the group read of Clarissa with all of you who will be reading this hefty tome with me and JoAnn throughout 2012! Some of you are on the other side of the dateline and might have already started reading. I will confess that I "peeked" ahead of time and have already read a few of the letters. I think we are in for a treat!
I have discovered that it is handy to have a dictionary nearby while you read. There are some words completely foreign to me, some words that I thought I knew but really didn't(!), and other words that just needed those nuanced meanings pointed out for a richer reading of the text. For instance, I know that the word "approbation" means "approval," but in the context of Clarissa it often means a formal or official approval and there can be serious consequences without that formal endorsement.
Where to leave links to your Clarissa posts:
JoAnn and I will take turns hosting a place for you to link to your Clarissa posts. Please do not feel obligated to write posts, but I know everyone would love it if you do. I'll be hosting at the end of January. You can find the reading "schedule" and where to link each month on either of the Clarissa pages (here and here).
The conversation about #Clarissa never ends on Twitter:
You can find me on Twitter as @MsTerriB and you can find JoAnn as @lakesidemusing. Use the hashtag #Clarissa to more easily pick up any conversation threads.
Again, don't feel obligated to write if you don't want to. Write and discuss as much or as little as you want. The point really is to read this novel, and any conversation is icing on the cake.
Happy reading!
Whew! Good luck to you all! Still pouting about my Pamela copy but I'm thinking it's for the best.
ReplyDeleteRah Rah Sis Boom Clarissa!!!! ;)
Your project has made me so curious about this book that I downloadad the beginning of the story from Project Gutenberg! :) I cannot commit to reading the whole thing just now, but we'll see...
ReplyDeleteTrish: Thanks Trish! You are the best :)
ReplyDeleteTiina: That's great Tiina! Try it out and see what you think. Read part or all of it. Feel free to jump into any conversations too!
Woohoo! I just read the first letter (I read the preface a couple of days ago, because I wasn't sure if the first letter was on Jan 8 or 10). So far I'm relieved to see a much more readable writing style than I was expecting. The sentences are certainly structurally complex, but nothing more than Tom Jones (which I loved).
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point about using a dictionary to make sure a word's meaning hasn't changed over the centuries!
The first letter has me intrigued...looking forward to Clarissa's response.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so excited to see how you guys start out so that when Jillian and I tackle it in April we'll be prepared. :) I'm looking forward to all your posts and thoughts! Yay Clarissa! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I might have to bug Trish to see if she wants to read Pamela later this year. :)
LOL!!! Pamela is MUCH shorter. ;)
ReplyDeleteEva: Definitely readable. Took me a letter or two to adjust to sentence structure, but I'm waiting to get sucked into the story so I won't notice it anymore!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn: I have found the letters make me want to read more to see the story develop. Happy reading!
Allie: So far so good!
Trish: If you read Pamela I will visit you online and cheer :)
I should have joined in this one, but noticed it too late:) have a great week Terri
ReplyDeleteDiane, you can still join if you would like to. We've really only just begun and the reading for January isn't too long (6 letters). You can also set your own pace if you'd like. Would love to have you!
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