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Here are the options:
#1 I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - Cassandra Mortmain's rambling journals of her falling in love with man after man. At least, that's what I remember. Do you want to read it to find out if my memory is right? This book is #82 on The Big Read and is on the BBC's list of most inspiring reads, so it's really a UK-based nostalgia vehicle.
#1 I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - Cassandra Mortmain's rambling journals of her falling in love with man after man. At least, that's what I remember. Do you want to read it to find out if my memory is right? This book is #82 on The Big Read and is on the BBC's list of most inspiring reads, so it's really a UK-based nostalgia vehicle.
(My husband claims to never have heard of this book. How is that possible? Is this an unknown book? Sound off in the comments.)
#2 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - The March family must survive the Civil War while the father's off gadding about doing whatever is that men did back then when the womenfolk were keeping the homestead burning. A true beloved classic.
Those are the options. You can try to lobby fellow readers to your favorites in the comments, but your vote will be cast at this Google form. You do not actually need to be a blogger to participate in CBBC, but you should probably at least occasionally read this blog. I'll leave the form up until Sunday, July 14 and then I'll tabulate the votes and post the schedule soon thereafter.
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What do you think of these book suggestions? Have you ever heard of I Capture the Castle? Which one would you be most excited to read?
I have not heard of I Capture the Castle. I vote for the Secret Garden - which I have read many many times, but probably all before I turned 12, so I'd love to read it again as an adult. I think Little Women is overdone. But you should count my vote the least because I haven't finished any books in the CBBC, though I'm always happy to be invited. I like being at the start line, if not the finish line.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of counting your vote the least. LOL. Nope. One person, one vote.
DeleteNever heard of the first one! Voted for it. I have huge holes in my literary education— excited to plug them. I loved Secret Garden and Little Princess as a kid, but I imagine they have not aged well?
ReplyDeleteI feel Burnett isn't too bad, but I can see why people might not want to revisit them. I'm excited that there's so much early voting.
DeleteI voted for I Capture The Castle as I've never read it! Little Women is one of my all-time favourites, but Secret Garden is decidedly NOT.
ReplyDeleteHa! We are opposites, Nicole. Little Women has never been my jam, but I must have read The Secret Garden a dozen times as a child.
DeleteHm. I've heard of ICTC but I don't think I've ever heard anything beyond the, um, title. :)
ReplyDeleteDebating. Have NEVER been able to finish LW, and The Secret Garden was one of my absolute favorites. I worry that it would be knocked off that pedestal with an adult re-read, though. So, going with Little Women. If I can finish My Brilliant Friend, I can finish that! :)
Okay, duly noted. I Capture the Castle is a deep cut! I thought it was on par with LW and TSG, but clearly I am wrong.
DeleteI've read all three of them, so it will be a re-discovery for me! I Capture the Castle is a favorite of my mother's, so that's why I know it. And we have it in the house already, which would be handy. Still, my first vote is The Secret Garden...but I should be able to play along with any of these choices!
ReplyDeleteI loved The Secret Garden as a tween/young teen. My aunt Jean sent me a copy for Christmas and she never steered me wrong about books!
DeleteI have never read ICTC, which makes me lean towards that. The Secret Garden was a childhood favorite and on my list of possible shared reads with my daughter, but I've held off because I'm afraid I won't love it as much as an adult.... I reread Little Women when the Greta Gerwig adaption came out and had so many complicated feelings about it... I obviously need to think more about all this before I vote, HAHA!
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to cause you such angst in voting! I am glad you are all voting, though, because I don't want to have decide among these three.
DeleteI've never heard of ICTC. I loved LW when I was a kid, but when I reread it as an adult, I felt differently about a lot of it. It would be fun to see how everyone else feels. I vaguely recall reading at least some of TSG, but I'm having a hard time remembering it distinctly. Hmmmm....
ReplyDeleteI remember vividly the big reveal in TSG (I won't spoil it) and how astounded I was the first time I read it. I think it might have been the first time a plot twist blew my mind. LOL.
DeleteI love all three (even TSG, with its problematic descriptions of India).
ReplyDeleteYeah, colonialism is a problem in those Burnett books. I'd be curious to know exactly how I'd feel about it as an adult.
DeleteWell, of course ICTC is my #1 choice since I've never heard of it! #2 is LW and #3 is Secret Garden. I'd be happy to read any of these books with the Cool Kids.
ReplyDeleteOoohhh...ranked voting. Maybe I'll consider that our next voting round.
DeleteI'll be happy to read any of them! I read, and loved Little Women as a kid, but I haven't re read it since. I also read The Secret Garden but don't really remember it. I've heard of ICTC but never read it- so I supposed I'll vote for that one. But- I'm just excited for the book club to start up again- any of these three will be fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad there's still enthusiasm for CBBC! Hopefully these books are as amazing as I remember them being. (Or maybe not. Sometimes it's fun to trash a book.)
DeleteI have never heard of ICTC, but I have heard of Dodie Smith, probably because of One Hundred and One Dalmatians? I chose Little Women, because while I'm pretty sure I've read it in the past, I actually have no memory of it, and I definitely haven't read it as closely or analytically as we would in the CBBC. I remember loving Secret Garden, so I'd be happy to revisit that too at some point!
ReplyDeleteI'm loving everyone's explanations of why they voted the way they did. I would be happy reading any of these, too!
DeleteI have heard of and read I Capture the Castle. I want to say I read it for book club? What I remember the most is that the castle was quite broken down and I think the kids are kind of left to care for themselves? My memory is very spare. I voted for Little Women because I'm always up for a re-read of that. I think I read The Secret Garden as an adult but don't remember much about it aside from the whininess of the protagonist which I know is an unkind thing to say but so be it...
ReplyDeleteThat is the beauty of TSG, Lisa. She's such a brat at the beginning, but she's wonderful by the end. It was such a revelation to me as a tween that personality isn't forged in stone!
DeleteI have not heard of I Capture the Castle so would like to read that one! I don't like Little Women and Secret Garden I read years ago with my daughter, but prefer to read a "new to me" book.
ReplyDeleteI get wanting to read something completely new! It sounds like ICTC is new to a lot of people.
DeleteI also haven't ever heard of I Capture the Castle, so that one sounds the most interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is very smug that he's right and it's not a well-known book.
DeleteI am notoriously terrible at keeping up with readings for the very limited book clubs I've attempted to participate in, but what the heck. I'll give it a try! I'll go ahead and vote for the Castle book because I've also never heard of it. Although, I have a copy of the boys' The Secret Garden in a basket in my living room, which I keep intending to read, but also...have not rushed to read because they both informed me it was the most boring book on the planet. HAHA. That may be just a teen boy perspective, however. I am certain I read it at some point as a kid too but I have literally NO recollection of it...
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Garden is not boring!! (Or maybe it is. I haven't read it in decades.) It's not what I would suggest for a teen boy, though. Ender's Game is the classic I'd suggest for your boys.
DeleteI've never heard of the I Capture the Castle book.
ReplyDeleteDecisions, decisions. I'm still not sure what way to vote!
I haven't read The Secret Garden since I was a kid, but remember NOT liking it at the time. I haven't re-read Little Women in years and think that would be nice to revisit? I do really love getting to read older books again and this gives me a good excuse.
Oh, The Secret Garden is part of the trio that also included A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Black Beauty as books I read repeatedly as a child. I kept debating if I wanted to have A Little Princess or The Secret Garden in this poll and went with TSG, but I know Mary Lennox isn't everyone's jam.
DeleteI have never heard of ICTC! I am completely torn over what to vote for. I do already own Little Women and The Secret Garden (although I cannot remember either of them at all), so it would be nice to read a book I don't have to buy/order from the library. Plus, I could read them to my kid. But it IS fun to have a new book!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for leading another CBBC! So exciting!
It IS fun to have a new book, but it's also fun to revisit old favorites. I can't wait to see how the vote shakes out.
DeleteI have heard of I Capture the Castle! But I know NOTHING about it. I despise Little Women, lol, so I really hope that book isn't picked. I voted for The Secret Garden because I would love to re-read it! But I'll also be happy with ICTC!
ReplyDeleteI last read Little Women in my 20s and found the book really preachy. At least Marmee was preachy. Hm. It will be interesting to see how people vote.
DeleteI only know of I Capture the Castle because there is a movie, and isn't that the book that starts with the narrator sitting in a sink or something?
ReplyDeleteI've read Little Women. Would it include Good Wives too? When I was growing up, my copy was just Little Women, and I didn't realize there was all that drama with Laurie and Jo until I came across the book in the library and realized that there was a WHOLE OTHER BOOK that I'd missed out on.
I also love the Secret Garden, but haven't read it in a while, is there a big reveal? I can't remember a big reveal... I think I prefer A Little Princess. Though the musical based on The Secret Garden in beautiful.
Yes, I think she's reading in a sink in the first scene. I think? It's been a bit.
DeleteIf we read Little Women, it will include both parts, so yes to including Good Wives.
I don't know how big of a reveal it is, but I went in knowing exactly nothing about the book, so there were a couple of surprising (to tween me) plot points in TSG. I don't even want to type out what they are in case there's someone reading this who hasn't read it!
I'm excited to see this happening again; thank you so much for organizing it all. It's not like you don't have anything going on, so I really appreciate you doing so.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of the first book and I don't recall ever reading the other two. I know, I need to broaden my reading horizons.
It's so much fun to run CBBC. Hopefully whatever book we choose this time will be more enjoyable to other people than My Brilliant Friend (although I'll defend that book to the death!). It's a great opportunity to read a book you haven't read before!
DeleteI enjoyed MBF too!
DeleteI Capture the Castle is one of my all-time favorite books. Reading it I was Cassandra. Can't go wrong with it, me thinks.
ReplyDeleteSolid vote for ICTC. I don't remember much about it, even though I've read it more recently than the other two.
DeleteI voted for ICTC. I love the other two (though Secret Garden is definitely a piece of its time, with the colonialism and occasional derogatory references to Indian people), but I've never read ICTC before.
ReplyDeleteOh, man, is The Secret Garden really that bad? Egads. I will probably be astounded when I read it as an adult.
DeleteI have read ABOUT I Capture the Castle, and watched the movie, which was quite good. I have been meaning to read it. I have read Little Women and liked it, and loved watching the movies multiple times. Can't say I feel the need to reread it right now. And The Secret Garden does not really appeal, but I will play along if it is chosen.
ReplyDeleteI just looked back at my Goodreads and I read I Capture the Castle in June 2009 and it was wonderful according to my review. I'm happy with any of the three.
ReplyDelete