June Is Gone With The Wind

By on June 3, 2012 in Classics, Fiction, Week In Review

I can’t believe that June is here already!  June is going to be quite an exciting month for me and the family.  In about three weeks, give or take, our baby will be born, so my wife and I are pretty much on babywatch for the next couple of weeks.  It will certainly be exciting and I’m looking forward to becoming a daddy!  :-)

This month is also going to be interesting from a reading perspective.  My wife was kind enough to run over to our local library the other day and pick up my read for the next couple of weeks.  Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind.  I’ve been looking forward to reading Gone With the Wind ever since I developed my Classics Club list back in March.  Gone With the Wind will be the sixth book I’ll be tackling from that list.  My wife checked out a paperback version of the book, and here’s a quick synopsis of the book:

Margaret Mitchell’s epic saga of love and war has long been heralded as The Great American Novel.  Gone With the Wind explores the depths of human passions with indelible depictions of the burning fields and cities of Civil War and Reconstruction America.  In the two main characters, the irresistible, tenacious Scarlett O’Hara and the formidable, debonair Rhett Butler, Margaret Mitchell gives us a timeless story of survival and two of the most famous lovers in the English-speaking world since Romeo and Juliet.  Gone With the Wind is a thrilling, haunting, and vivid book that readers will remember for the rest of their lives.

I’ve always been interested in the story of Gone With the Wind, it’s one of my mother’s favorite books of all-time, not only that, but she really loves the movie with Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh as well.  I think I’ve seen the movie, in its entirety a grand total of once, and that was when I was very young, so I’m not overly familiar with the story.

Having studied history in undergraduate school, I’m also very fascinated with our Civil War and the culture behind it and the Reconstruction South, so I’m really looking forward reading a bit more about that as well.  With all those variables, Gone With the Wind seems like a book that’s right down my alley!

I hope the story engrosses me so much that I won’t want to put the book down and that I just really enjoy it as much as others have.  If you’ve read Gone With the Wind, I’d love to hear your thoughts!  What’s on tap for your week?

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  • http://www.shabbyrabbit.com/ Laura@Bunny Tales

    I can’t believe, as many times as I’ve seen the movie, that I have never read this book. I actually have two copies of it. Maybe this year will be my year too.

    • Beltwayliterature

      I can’t remember for the life of me how many times we actually watched the movie growing up.  Most of the time, I would catch it around the half-way point or toward the end.  It’s been so long though, that I don’t really remember it, so it’s like new to me!

      I hope you’re able to read the book at some point, maybe we can have a discussion about it!  Thanks for dropping by!

  • Laurel-Rain

    I adored Gone with the Wind and read it at least three times when I was young.  I didn’t connect as completely with the movie, perhaps because the “old style” movie making seemed stilted and the characters didn’t look like I’d visualized them!

    I bought a copy of GWTW a few months ago, and I’m planning a reread.  I wonder if I’ll enjoy it as much as I did when I was young?  I hope so.

    Hope you enjoy it, too.  And good luck with the new baby. 

    MY SUNDAY SALON POST

    • Beltwayliterature

      My mother really enjoyed reading Gone With the Wind when she was younger, I’m not quite sure if she’s read it since though!  Everyone that I seem to talk to that’s read it, have really enjoyed it.  I’m hoping too that I’ll enjoy it!

      Thanks, the baby could be here any day now, we’ll have to see.  I suppose waiting is part of the excitement!  Thanks for dropping by!

  • http://jillianreadsbooks2.wordpress.com/ Jillian

    I’m reading Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall this week. As for Gone With the Wind, I hope you enjoy it! It’s my absolute favorite book. I’ve read it three times and have it on my Classics Club list for a fourth read. :)

    • Beltwayliterature

      Jillian, part of the reason I’m reading the book is because of how highly you speak of it!  So far, it’s a pretty interesting read, and I’m hoping that I thoroughly enjoy it!  Thanks for dropping by!

  • http://geoffwhaley.com/ Geoff Whaley

    Good luck with the baby! And Gone with the Wind! I struggled with it because at times it just got a bit too long winded. I did enjoy it though especially for the historical value of the thought process (both of the time and when Mitchell wrote it).

    I still haven’t had a chance to see the film, last time I tried to watch it from the library the DVD didn’t work :(

    • Beltwayliterature

      Thanks! S/he should be here any time now!  I’ve noticed, in the early going, that some parts are a bit long winded, I hope it isn’t like that throughout the book!  The historical value is one area that I’m really interested in with Gone With the Wind and I hope it doesn’t disappoint!

      Once I complete my reading of it, my wife and I will probably get the movie from Netflix.  I’m really looking forward to seeing the differences!  Thanks for dropping by!

  • susan

    Good luck with the baby — very exciting!  And Gone With the Wind — a great read!  Oh Ashley Ashley! Oh Rhett ! 

    • Beltwayliterature

      Thanks!  It could literally be any day now!  I’m only through the first part of Gone With the Wind, and I have to say….  ”Oh Charles!”

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1431876248 Amy Brandon

    Love Gone With the Wind — book and movie!

    • Beltwayliterature

      I may be starting to get on board with the story.  From the early going it seems a bit long-winded in some places, so I sure hope it picks up a bit!  Thanks for dropping by!

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