Read a Classic Challenge discussion

Welcome to the 2014 Read A Classic Challenge!

When you finish a classic book, please post the following information to the feed: Title, Author, Translator (if applicable), Year of (initial) Publication, Number of Pages, and Format (print, e-reader, audiobook, etc.). You may also post analysis, critique, or questions about the book if you wish. Classics can be posted at anytime and are open to interpretation.

You can also participate in the challenge on Facebook by joining the Read a Classic Challenge Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60542...

This is a grassroots group so feel free to participate as much or as little as you have time for. Just make sure to try to log at least one book this year.

- John, Scott, David (Moderators)

Are you going to have a monthly theme for this year?

That is what I just the reason I logged into Goodreads! :)

Scott has been busy logging the books from 2013, so we haven't put that together yet. I have offered to help with the themes and will post it as soon as possible. Any suggestions for fun themes this year?

We're working on those themes this weekend and hope to have them out on Sunday at some point. Stay tuned.

Angelique and Lesley:

We'll be unveiling optional monthly themes tomorrow and are suggesting fairy-tales, myths, legends, and fables for January.

We're also going to offer reading groups (like online book clubs) for The Silmarillion and The Blue Fairy Book. The later is available free for most ereaders including Kindle www.inkmesh.com

I love it! I am happy to be a member at the start of it all this year!

Hi folks - if you didn't see it yet, the themes for the year and suggested January reads have been posted in the appropriate forum. Have fun!!

Saw them and thank you again! Started the Brothers Grimm today, but am feeling the urge to break out Gilgamesh!

I'm doing 'book challenge 2014'on goodreads and ravelry. My target is 24 books. I aim for at least one of these to be 'classic'; probably 'Bleak House'

Goodluck with your challenge Jill. I don't know that I would have read half the books I did last year without the Read a Classic Challenge and the Goodreads Challenge.

Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame (more famously known for The Wind in the Willows). Originally published 1898, I read the Folio Society's 2013 publication. 172 pages.

This is actually a sequel to his earlier The Golden Age, which I haven't read yet, but my Mother gave my son a copy of Dream Days and it was a wonderful adventure to read.

I posted a few books at the end of the 2013 challenge, but didn't realize we were supposed to give our location, so I'll give that here. I live in Central Florida, USA.

I look forward to seeing how many Classics we can read this year!

Hi, I'm Kate from Baltimore, MD. My aunt introduced this group to me a few days ago which pairs well with my current interest in Norse mythology. I'm thinking of rereading The Silmarillion as my husband is reading it for the first time and I'd like to chat about it with as many folks as I can!

Today I finished The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths by Padraic Colum, original published in 1920. I read it as an e-book, courtesy of Project Gutenberg and clocked in at 228 pages. It was a lark and felt like a good introduction to the subject. Hopefully it will give me a good basis to jump into the The Elder Edda that I picked up today.

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, 1959, 390 pages, print.

Other than a few familiar elements, it bears almost no resemblance to the movie. Since Heinlein was moving out of his juveniles period, I didn't expect the writing to be very flowery and it isn't. While the movie really played up the satirical elements, I couldn't find anything in the book to support any claims of satire. In some ways I would have almost preferred satire to the glorification of militarization so evident in these pages. In was clear in a few places, notably in his teacher Mr. Dubois's lectures and well as protagonist Johnny Rico's own monologue, that Heinlein was using the science fiction story as a construct for expounding his own libertarian platform. But was it really libertarian? He describes a future where modern society (for Heinlein, the Cold War era 1950's) is brought down by brats who were never brought to heel because corporal punishment was outlawed by pesky "social workers". That sounds libertarian. However, the resulting society, where enlistment in the Federal Service is made mandatory in order to be able to be a voting citizen, definitely smacks of socialist thinking and militarism. In the end I'm not really sure what Heinlein was getting at and the story was fairly routine science fiction. I'm glad I read the book, but it was nothing special.

x-posted on Facebook

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1866, 614 pages, read on my kindle.

I thought I would hate this book but I didn't. I didn't love it either. The story isn't bad but the book just seems to be all over the place and some of it is so random. There is probably some deep message you are supposed to get from this book but I just didn't get it. I'm glad I read it but this is probably one I won't read again.

*Also posted on Facebook
*This is my first post - I am in Maryland

Finished Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens today.
Published 1828, 817 pages, ereader

*also posted on Facebook.

I'm from Illinois, small town near Springfield.

I tried to read Crime & Punishment several years ago but couldn't get past who was related to whom and the unpronounceable long names. But I did read Dostoyevsky's The House of the Dead. I really enjoyed it. So descriptive! It's a semi autobiographical novel about life in a Siberian prison camp. One of the best books I've ever read, just loved it!

Crystal wrote: "I tried to read Crime & Punishment several years ago but couldn't get past who was related to whom and the unpronounceable long names. But I did read Dostoyevsky's The House of the Dead. I really e..."

It's weird but now that it has been a couple days since I finished it, my view has changed. I keep thinking about certain scenes of the book and find myself feeling more emotion than when I originally read them. I'm actually going to update my review because a book that causes you to continue thinking about it when you've moved on (and finished) another book deserves more stars than I gave it.

That is a great point, Crystal. The books that make you feel, think, or reflect beyond their pages demonstrate the powerful influence of the written word, especially when it was written in a different century.

Junky by William S. Burroughs, Originally published in 1953, 256 pages, read on Kindle

I read this because it was on the list of Boxall's 1001 books you must read before you die. I understand its importance in that it documents the drug culture in America during that time period however, I also think it would have been okay if I had lived without ever reading this.

*also posted on Facebook

Babylonian Legends of the Creation by E. A. Wallis Budge, published late 1800s-early 1900s, 84 pages, kindle

Hello all,
I've just read The Call of Cthulhu, by H.P. Lovecraft, 1926, 28 pages (french edition), France.
A great moment... I finally know what is this famous Cthulhu!!
Love it.
Thanks.

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang(Editor), 1889, 721 pages. (Location: New York State).

I liked this book, some of the stories were more enjoyable than others, but I found that I enjoyed the diversity of cultures and settings contained within the volume (even if a few kingdoms seemed to change geographical location mid story). I will post more about this story in the book group pages.

Slight Spoiler Alert:

And seriously, I wouldn't ever talk to wolves if I read their version as a kid.

X-posted on Facebook.

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte, 1847, 416 pages, print.

"Wuthering Heights" is basically a very good book about truly awful people. They are either born awful or simply turned awful by being in the presence of other awful people. Some people think the the romance between Heathcliff and Catherine was something deep and profound. I think "obsessive-compulsive" is a more apt term, so much so that it drove them to hurt and/or kill everyone around them thanks to their single-mindedness. And I haven't even mentioned the part about graves.

Did I like the book? Actually, I did! Most reactions I got to "hey, I'm reading Wuthering Heights!" included "Ugh!", "Why??", "Don't!!!" and "Heathcliff is a stalker" (thanks, Mom). It's a dark one and should not be confused with works such as "Jane Eyre" or anything by Jane Austen (which is actually a poor comparison as this came much later). There is a lot of lit-crit about this book, but the opening essay was all I really needed to understand the background of the book and where much of the nastiness comes from. Also, this book was quite a bit easier a read for me than Pride and Prejudice, which I took on a couple years back, I think because the language of the Victorian era is a bit closer to our own than that of the Romantic era. I'm not an English major; I'm just throwing that out there!

X-Posted on Facebook

The Persians by Aeschylus. Written 472 BCE, (Pub. Jun 9, 2013, kindle 48 pages. (sorry not sure if this is the actual page number. My kindle app just has location. Got this from a book of the same play.)

Finished Love and War by John Jakes on 1/17/14. First published in 1984. 1,087 pages, I listened to an audio version.
My location is central Illinois.

This is the 2nd of the North & South Trilogy. Great historical fiction, but I'm taking a break before I read the last.

Finished The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling on 1/21/14. First published in 1894, 146 pages. I used an e-reader on my iPhone. I'm in Oregon.

Hello just finished:

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

Originally published in 1889 in London.

I read the Kindle Book published 10/21/2005, a Public Domain Book.

Pages 713.

Location is Buffalo, NY.

Just finished:

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Originally published in 1852 in United States.

I read the Kindle version.

Pages 521.

Location Buffalo, NY.

Recently finished "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin in 1899. 128 pages

Finished, Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens.

Originally published in 1789 in England.

I read the Kindle version.

Pages 238.

Location Buffalo, NY.

1. The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Originally published in 1889 in London
Audio version: Librivox website
Hrs: Approx. 10

My Location: Florence, OR

2. Knife by R.J. Anderson
Faery Rebels Series Book 1
Originally published in 2009
Audio version: release date Apr 1 2010
Hrs: 7 hr 16 min

3. Rebel by R.J. Anderson
Faery Rebels Series Book 2
Originally published in 2010
Audio version: release date Nov 1 2010
Hrs: 6 hr 33 min

The Faery Rebels is an excellent series. Glad this month's challenge was on fairies, etc. Thank you.

The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe. Published 1844. ebook 17 pages.

Finished The Holy Bible ESV.

Published by Crossway, Wheaton, Ill.

Date is 2001.

Pages 1,043.

Kindle edition

Finished The Holy Bible ESV.

Published by Crossway, Wheaton, Ill.

Date is 2001.

Pages 1,043.

Kindle edition

Location Buffalo, NY.

Finished The Four Feathers by A.E.W.Mason.

Published 1902.

Read Kindle edition.

Pages 270.

Location Buffalo, NY.

Finished On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria.

Published 318.

Read Kindle edition.

Pages 120.

Location Buffalo, NY.

Do not know if this is a classic, but it is to me.

Finished The World of Pooh. The complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne and illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard.

Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 1926.

The House At Pooh Corner was published in 1928, United Kingdom, United Kingdom.

Total pages 314.

Location Buffalo, NY.

John wrote: "Do not know if this is a classic, but it is to me.

Finished The World of Pooh. The complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne and illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard.

Winn..."

It is to me too.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. 3rd ed. 1973, 391 pages.

Finished The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.

First published in 1922. Has 434 lines.

I read the Kindle book 19 pages.

Location Buffalo, NY.

One thing about this important poem of the 20th century. I read it 6 times looked it up on the web and still do not understand it. It was way above or below me. It makes no sense to me.

Finished The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson.

Published in 1912, USA.

Pages103

I read the Kindle book, 103 pages.

Location Buffalo, NY.

The blue fairy book by Andrew lang
Kindle edition
713 pgs

The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo.
Written 397-398.
I read the Baker House reprint 1977.
Pages-180.

The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells.
Published in 1897, English.
Kindle edition May 11, 2012. PDB.
Pages 148.

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, 1889, 721 pages, E-book

Happy to get it done. I think I am done with fairy tales for awhile.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cecvantes Saaverda. Translator John Ormsby.
Published 1605.
Kindle March 2011.
Kindle pages 403.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle.
Published 1893, English.
Kindle edition May 2012.
Pages 246.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.
Published 1922.
Kindle book 132 pages.