Purgatorio Group Read Link-In.

Welcome to the link-in post for the November Group Read of Dante's Purgatorio, the second volume in The Divine Comedy.

Here is the link for thoughts and impressions on the first volume, Inferno. We will also be reading Paradiso in December-think about joining us (Here is where you can sign up).

I will not be posting my own thoughts here (I will put them into their own post in a couple more days), but instead we will use this space to link to everyone's post.

What you need to do is leave a comment with the link to your post on the book. I'll link it here, so that other participants can come and see what you had to say.

Come back over the next week to see what everyone else had to say!

Thank you for participating!

December 2011 Group Reads: Sense and Sensibility and Paradiso.

I figured it was about time to announce the two reads for December Group Reads. I have really enjoyed the new format-less constricting than a readalong-but it is still up in the air at this point whether I will continue to host in the future as a regular feature.

I love hosting, but a very (selfish) small part of me just wants to read whatever I want in the new year AND participate in other events. :) We'll see. I can't resist community aspects of blogging!

Anyway, here are the two books I selected for December's Group Reads:

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen:

I ended 2010 with an Austen title (Emma), and haven't read any other Austen in 2011. I adore her, so it seems like I should create a yearly tradition of reading her around the holidays. There is nothing like Austen to put a smile on my face.

Sense and Sensibility is the Austen title I know the least. I have only read it once, and it was so long ago that I have a hard time remembering details. And Jillian has been raving about it since she finished it, so I feel like I finally need to pull my copy off the shelf, dust it off, and read it.

"Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love." (from Goodreads.com)

I will put a master post up on the 22nd, and you will have until the end of the month to link your post there. Once you have your post up, come back and check in on other participants to see their thoughts and reactions!

Paradiso by Dante:

The second Group Read for December is the third and final volume of Dante's The Divine Comedy. I'm not sure who is still hanging in there with me in this three-month read of the three titles, but I hope you'll consider joining in, especially if you've only read Inferno!

In this third and final volume, Dante will travel to Paradise, meet those who have found their way there, and end his travels through dominions not on earth.

I am excited and happy to be reaching the final volume. I am also excited about being able to cross off The Divine Comedy on my list. :) Like the Austen, a master post will go up on the 22nd. You'll have until the end of the month to link your thoughts there!


Thank you all for participating in my various readalongs and group reads this year! I had a blast, and I hope you did too!

October 2011 Group Read: Inferno by Dante.

"Abandon every hope, all you who enter," (89).

Wow. What a work.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I began reading Dante's Inferno. Maybe I thought I would get a lot of religious doctrine shoved at me. Maybe I thought that it would be a pleasant description of the place I really don't want to end up in...or maybe I expected something completely different.

I was surprised by everything as I read this. I was surprised that the Cantos were so easy to read and understand (although, every time I read an "old" classic, I am always surprised at how much more readable they are than say....Dickens). I was surprised by the level of description and mood. And I was surprised by just how gruesome Dante made hell seem. And really, I don't want to go there. Visiting it with Dante was more than enough

Inferno is essentially about Dante (the character, not the writer) and his trip through hell. The rest of The Divine Comedy (which I am reading in November and December) will take us through purgatory and paradise. But this one seems to more widely read than the other two...perhaps because it is so disturbing? Yeah, I'll go with that.

Dante is visiting hell with a guide, the poet Virgil, and the two descend the levels of hell to witness not only the people who are there, but also the level of punishment for each sin. I was absolutely fascinated by the descriptions of the rings of hell, the crimes, and what the punishments entailed. Here is a great image to illustrate what I am going to talk about:

Dante, the character not the writer, explains to us as he descends the levels of hell and what it means to be closer to the bottom (or the smaller rings-however you want to picture it). Those souls near the top and wider rings are sinners who committed lesser sins. Those in limbo are those who never found God in their earthly lives. As you move down, or further into the rings, you find sinners with worse crimes and punishments.

What was most interesting was the perspective on where Dante placed certain sins on terms of this scale. Those near the very center, closest to Satan, were those sinners who seemed to really go with their free will. As I understand it, Dante explains that God gave humanity free will. To violate that will and violate the trust God placed in you as a human being means that you find yourself in a far worse predicament than if you committed a crime of passion (like those in the lust circle, close to the top (outside). I could be interpreting that completely wrong, but that is what I saw.

Anyway, I was completely absorbed in every piece of the journey to the center, and to Satan encased in ice. I loved that Dante met famous people from history-like Helen of Troy, Achilles, and even Popes. It makes you think where these people did end up and why. It makes you question your decisions, and made me wonder who I'll meet in purgatory and paradise. :)

One thing I should mention to those of you who haven't read this is to read the notes. In my edition, translated by Mark Musa, there are extensive notes after each of the cantos. These were amazing. Because while Dante meets people you recognize, there are also a lot of smaller references that will pass you by. Some of those include some of Dante's political enemies and figures I have never heard of, so yes, read the notes.

Now that I am finished walking through hell with Dante and Virgil, I am heading to Purgatory. I hope that you'll decide to join in, even if you didn't join for this group read! (we'll be reading Paradiso in December as well).

*I also want to apologize for posting this...well, almost 2 and a half weeks late. Life got the best of me and this has been sitting in my drafts for weeks*