People with English Degrees, Reading Books

For this second discussion, please read pages 295 - 570 in the Penguin Classics, translated by Tiina Nunnally. If you're reading from any other edition, this begins with Book II, The Wife, and includes only the first two parts of that book.

"As a young girl growing up in fourteenth-century Norway, Kristin is deeply devoted to her father, a kind and courageous man. But when as a student in a convent school she meets the charming and impetuous Erlend Nikulaussen, she defies her parents in stubborn pursuit of her own desires. Her saga continues through her marriage to Erlend, their tumultuous life together raising seven sons as Erlend seeks to strengthen his political influence, and finally their estrangement as the world around them tumbles into uncertainty.

"In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Undset paints a richly detailed backdrop, immersing readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period...

"With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of Norway's most beloved author - one of the twentieth century's most prodigious and engaged literary minds - and a story that continues to enthrall."

~ From the cover of the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition

Please join us to discuss this historical novel.

As always, if you RSVP as a "yes" and then realize you cannot be present after all, please update your attendance record on this site so that we know not to expect you. Thanks.

Photo by: Tobias Bjorkli / Unsplash

"Beautiful, clever, rich—and single—Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work."

"Austen's adored classic paints a charming portrait of the social constraints of 18th-century English gentry."

~ Quotations from the King County Library System website.

This was the last book Jane Austen wrote that was published before her death. Persuasion was published posthumously.

Contemporary reviewers and critics had quite a bit to say about the book, and Austen collected comments from family and friends about the book. We can add to the collection with our own opinions and observations, not only of the book, but also of the "constraints of 18th-century English gentry" when we meet.

(If you're interested in seeing it, there was a film by the same name that was released in February of 2020 (!) I got to see it just before we went into Covid lockdown and enjoyed it very much)

As always, if you RSVP as a "yes" and then realize you will not be able to be present after all, please update your attendance on this site so that we know not to expect you. Thanks.

~ Photo by: Matt Briney / Unsplash

"Embittered by a false accusation, disappointed in friendship and love, the weaver Silas Marner retreats into a long twilight life alone with his loom ... and his gold. Silas hoards a treasure that destroys his spirit until fate steals it from him and replaces it with a golden-haired child. Where she came from, who her parents were, and who really stole the gold are the secrets that fill this moving tale of guilt and innocence. A moral allegory of the redemptive power of love, it is also a finely drawn portrait of early nineteenth-century England in the days when spinning wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses, and of a simple way of life that was soon to disappear."

"[This book], George Eliot's favorite of her novels, combines humor, rich symbolism and pointed social criticism to create an unsentimental but affectionate portrait of rural life."

~ Comments from the KCLS website

As always, if you RSVP as a "yes" and then realize you will not be able to be present after all, please update your attendance on this site so that we know not to expect you. Thanks.

Photo by: Karolina G. Raboska / Pexels

For this third discussion, please read pages 573 - 863 in the Penguin Classics, translated by Tiina Nunnally. If you're reading from any other edition, this includes , .

"As a young girl growing up in fourteenth-century Norway, Kristin is deeply devoted to her father, a kind and courageous man. But when as a student in a convent school she meets the charming and impetuous Erlend Nikulaussen, she defies her parents in stubborn pursuit of her own desires. Her saga continues through her marriage to Erlend, their tumultuous life together raising seven sons as Erlend seeks to strengthen his political influence, and finally their estrangement as the world around them tumbles into uncertainty.

"In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Undset paints a richly detailed backdrop, immersing readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period...

"With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of Norway's most beloved author - one of the twentieth century's most prodigious and engaged literary minds - and a story that continues to enthrall."

~ From the cover of the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition

Please join us to discuss this historical novel.

As always, if you RSVP as a "yes" and then realize you cannot be present after all, please update your attendance record on this site so that we know not to expect you. Thanks.

Photo by: Tobias Bjorkli / Unsplash