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Aubrey's Personal Challenges - Classics Beyond the Pale
100 Must-Read Classics by People of Color
Number Read - 37/99
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez (review)
2. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
3. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
4. The Arabian Nights - Anonymous (review)
5. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass (review)
6. Silence - Shūsaku Endō
7. The Souls of Black Folk - W.E.B. Du Bois (review)
8. The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X (review)
9. A Raisin in the Sun - Lorraine Hansberry
10. The Waiting Years - Fumiko Enchi (review)
11. Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges (review)
12. Native Son - Richard Wright (review)
13. Love in a Fallen City - Eileen Chang (review)
14. God's Bits of Wood - Ousmane Sembène (review)
15. Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen - Liliuokalani (review)
16. The Doctor's Wife - Sawako Ariyoshi (review)
17. The Street - Ann Petry (review)
18. The Palm-Wine Drinkard - Amos Tutuola (review)
19. The Sound of Waves - Yukio Mishima
20. The Diary of Lady Murasaki - Murasaki Shikibu (review)
21. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
22. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Ann Jacobs (review)
23. Efuru - Flora Nwapa (review)
24. Quicksand - Nella Larsen (review)
25. Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells - Ida B. Wells-Barnett (review)
26. Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup (review)
27. Go Tell It on the Mountain - James Baldwin (review)
28. The Pillow Book - Sei Shōnagon (completed 9/17/18)
29. Thousand Cranes -Yasunari Kawabata (completed 2/12/19)
30. Our Nig - Harriet E. Wilson (completed 2/18/19)
31. Clotel: or, The President's Daughter - William Wells Brown (completed 2/27/19)
32. The Woman in the Dunes - Kōbō Abe (completed 3/8/19)
33. The Confessions of Lady Nijō - Lady Nijō (completed 4/22/19)
34. The Story of the Stone - Cao Xueqin (completed 4/24/19)
35. Some Prefer Nettles - Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (completed 4/29/19)
36. Black Rain - Masuji Ibuse (completed 5/14/19)
37. Selected Poems - Gabriela Mistral (completed 6/8/20)
Number On To-Read Shelf - 5/62
1. Cane - Jean Toomer
2. Season of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih
3. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man - James Weldon Johnson
4. Houseboy - Ferdinand Oyono
5. Ambiguous Adventure - Cheikh Hamidou Kane
101 Years Challenge
To read one book from each of the 101 years up to/including the year of my birth. (Idea credit to Manda & Darren)
1891 - Quincas Borba**
1893 - TBD
1895 - TBD
1896 - TBD
1897 - The Blood of the Vampire**
1898 - Memoirs of a Highland Lady, Volume One - Elizabeth Grant
1899 - Imperium in Imperio**
1900 - TBD
1901 - TBD
1902 - The Story of Mary Maclane**
1908- Love's Shadow - Ada Leverson (w/in The Little Ottleys)
1909 - Gunnar's Daughter*
1910 - The Getting of Wisdom
1911 - Jenny*/**
1912- The Promised Land - Mary Antin
1914 - The Dybbuk**
1917 - TBD
1918 - TBD
1919 - TBD
1920 - The Metal of the Dead** - Concha Espina
1921 - Torn Lace and Other Stories
1923 - The Spider's Web**
1925 - Reminiscences of a Student's Life**
1926 - Strange Tale of Panorama Island**
1927 - La Confusion des sentiments**
1934 - The Villagers
1940 - Darkness at Noon
1946 - The Pianist - Władysław Szpilman
1947 - The Setting Sun(/The World and Africa)
1960 - Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford (Currently Reading)
1976 - Lady Oracle/Speedboat/On Revolution and War
1978 - Territory of Light - Yūko Tsushima
1980 - The Story of Zahra/The Crow Eaters
(cont. in next post)
(cont. from previous post)1981 - Women, Race, and Class - Angela Y. Davis
1982 - The Women of Brewster Place - Gloria Naylor
1983 - Praisesong for the Widow
*duplicate
**unowned
Completed - 62/101
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Book For Every Year Since Birth Challenge:
1993 - Love in the Kingdom of Oil(/Women Writing in India: The Twentieth Century/Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit)
1996 - Pillars of Salt/Memories of a Pure Spring/Cereus Blooms at Night
1999 - The Coldest Winter Ever
2019 - Black Leopard, Red Wolf - Marlon James
2020 - TBD
2021 - The Wrong End of the Telescope**
Completed - 24/30
*duplicate
**unowned
Flex Page
Mod
Katy wrote: "Okay, I'm excited to follow your lists here."Thanks, Katy.
Having updated two of the message blocks with challenges, I'm looking at a loooooong reading period, not including the slots that still need filling. That's fine with me.
Well Done on taking up the 101 Year Challenge - it's a monster!I found just finalising the list to be a big challenge in itself (quite apart from reading 101 books!) especially keeping it down to one book per author :oO
These are great challenges, and I am impressed that you have so many books already picked out. I am doing the birth year to present challenge which I am tracking in another group. But I have many more years to fill in than you.😊I also have a century challenge that I started last year, but mine is 1917-2017. I made it a women authors only to encourage myself read more by women. Best of luck on all of your lists.
Darren wrote: "Well Done on taking up the 101 Year Challenge - it's a monster!I found just finalising the list to be a big challenge in itself (quite apart from reading 101 books!) especially keeping it down to..."
Thanks, Darren. I hate agonizing over which book to pick up next, so long term direction is always good. I agree about the duplicates, and will be avoiding the Woolf/Richardson pile in hopes of acquiring substitutes.
Laurie wrote: "These are great challenges, and I am impressed that you have so many books already picked out. I am doing the birth year to present challenge which I am tracking in another group. But I have many m..."Thanks, Laurie. All I did really was cycle down my to read list while winding down from work. I like filling in blanks.
I'm focusing on women authors as well, but I also focus on non white authors, as well as Jewish authors, in recognition of their similarily marginalized status in literature. It keeps me comfortably international.
I've completed 1969 and 2015 and posted my reviews above.
I've completed Go Tell It on the Mountain and Twelve Years a Slave for my PoCC challenge; 1933, 1953, and 1966 for my 100 Years challenge; and 2001 and 2016 for my Since Birth challenge. Reviews for all are linked to above.
I've finished The Enchanted April for my WC challenge; 1922, 1956, and 1961 for my 100 YBB challenge; and 2004 for my YSB challenge. Reviews for all are linked to above.
I've finished 1989, 1945, 1957, 1972, and 1990 for my 100 YBB challenge, and 2005 and 2012 for my YSB challenge. Reviews for all are linked to above.
I am loving your reading lists :) I am going to have to check a few of your books more closely to see if I might want to add them to my own tbr birthday challenge. Good luck and Happy Reading :)
Sherri wrote: "I am loving your reading lists :) I am going to have to check a few of your books more closely to see if I might want to add them to my own tbr birthday challenge. Good luck and Happy Reading :)"Thanks very much, Sherri. I'm still working on filling out my own list, but it's a labor of love.
I've completed 1949, 1954, and 1991 for my 100 YBB challenge, and 1991 for my YSB challenge. Reviews for all are linked to above.
I've completed 'The Group' for both my WC challenge and 1963 for my 100 YBB challenge, 1943 for my 100 YBB challenge, and 1995 for my YSB challenge.
How did you like The Group? I only recently learned of it and now see have noticed it on several lists. I've added it to my TBR. Did you enjoy it?
Terris wrote: "How did you like The Group? I only recently learned of it and now see have noticed it on several lists. I've added it to my TBR. Did you enjoy it?"Unfortunately, Terris, I wasn't a fan. The work is apparently supposed to be satire, but as it's not very good satire, it doesn't have much else going for it for me personally.
Aubrey wrote: "Terris wrote: "How did you like The Group? I only recently learned of it and now see have noticed it on several lists. I've added it to my TBR. Did you enjoy it?"Unfortunately, Terris, I wasn't a..."
Well, thanks for the info. I'll think I'll keep it on the list, but not move it up too fast ;)
I've completed 'The Pillow Book' in both the WC and PoCC challenges, and have also completed 1915 in the 100 YBB and 1995 in the YSB challenges.
I've completed 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' for the WC challenge, 1892 in the YBB challenge, and 2017 in the YSB challenge. I also got my hands on a copy of Blood on the Forge by William Attaway, so now my 1941 slot is ensured.
I've completed 1986 in the YBB challenge and 1994 and 2002 in the YSB challenge.
I've completed 1958 in the YBB challenge.
I've completed 1992, 1997, and 2010 in the YSB challenge.
I've completed 1903 and and 1942 in my YSB challenge.
I've completed I Capture the Castle and Our Nig for my WC challenge, Thousand Cranes and Our Nig for my PoCC challenge, 1948 and 1952 in my YBB challenge, and 2008 in my YSB challenge.
I've completed The Death of the Heart for my WC challenge; Clotel: or, The President's Daughter and The Woman in the Dunes for my PoCC challenge; and 1905, 1938, 1951, 1955, and 1962 in my YBB challenge.
I've finished 'Belinda' for my WC challenge; 'The Story of the Stone, 'Some Prefer Nettles', and 'Black Rain' for my PoCC challenge; 1928 and 1965 for my YBB challenge; and 2003 for my YSB challenge.I'm out of TBR books for my PoCC challenge, so I need to start expanding my searching grounds a tad.
Katy wrote: "I read Some Prefer Nettles years ago. It has still stayed with me. I should reread it."Tanizaki's a good enough author and had enough works that I can see myself reading another two or three of his in the future.
I've completed 1937, 1944, and 1985 for my YBB challenge, and 2014 and 2018 for my YSB challenge.
Mod
Excellent! My Books for Each Year Since Birth Challenge has been going nowhere lately. Maybe after Bingo is finished.
Lynn wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "I've completed 1937, 1944, and 1985 for my YBB challenge, and 2014 and 2018 for my YSB challenge."Excellent! My Books for Each Year Since Birth Challenge has been going nowhere lat..."
Thanks, Lynn. I haven't actually been conscientiously working on this, but all the chronological jumping around I do in my reading for Quest for Women is certainly helping me fill in the older spots.
I've finished 'The Man Who loved Children' for my WC challenge and 1979 and 1984 for my YBB challenge.
I've finished 1939, 1967, and 1977 for my YBB challenge and 1998, 2000, 2007, 2011, and 2013 for my YSB challenge.
What wonderful challenges! I think I might do the women and people of color one, too! What I find interesting is that you have Latin American authors like Márquez down as people of color.
Let's discuss that culturally! Maybe there are some more Europeans here reading this who could give me their view on this.
Since Spain and Italy are part of us (the EU) I always saw Latino looking people as other Europeans and thus as "white" like myself.
I've never really thought about "race" and its consequences since here in Germany we are never asked about our "race" (obviously in our historical context!). The first time I heard the term "caucasian" was during my school exchange in the US.
This is a culturally very interesting topic... (but still very stupid, because we're all just people).
I guess here in Germany right now, people and the media mainly differentiate between people according to their religion (especially muslims) and then we've got the refugees (who can be of any skin color).
Race isn't an issue except for the crazy and stupid neo-nazis who talk of people being genetically German/northern European.
Philina wrote: "What wonderful challenges! I think I might do the women and people of color one, too! What I find interesting is that you have Latin American authors like Márquez down as people of color.
Let's ..."
Hello Philina. Thanks for the interest.
In terms of the PoC list, this isn't a list that I made myself. Whatever attention was paid to whether a person's status as 'white' has been either questioned and/or negated was minimal at best, as I found that Ruth Prawer Jhabvala had slipped in somehow. Now, whether Jewish people such as her count as 'white' is an intracommunal question that is still being wrestled with, largely because the categories of Jewish and non-Jewish are much older, and have been used as forces of stigmatization, including that of white supremacy, for much longer than categories of race have.
In terms of Latinx authors, I find the overall PoC category applied something of a band aid that doesn't actually want to get into the nitty gritty of Mestizo/Afro-Latinx/non-white immigration (ex: Brazil has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan)/etc in regards to the history of European settler states. It's something that I'm still exploring in my reading, and for now, I don't mind following the label for this authors for the simple sake of spurring my reading towards non-Anglo paths.
All in all, neither of these lists are very reliable, in terms of accurately engaging with contemporary social norms. Indeed, I have a growing number of authors on my shelves who are neither a man nor a woman, and eventually it will make this 'woman' list I'm tracking rather superfluous. As such, much like many a 1001 list I've used until it served its purpose, I'll use these two lists until the categorization no longer proves useful.
I've decided to put my third reserved box on this to good use and compile all my 2020 challenges there. Links will be forthcoming.
Aubrey wrote: "I've decided to put my third reserved box on this to good use and compile all my 2020 challenges there. Links will be forthcoming."Looking forward to it! This is a great list.
Julia wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "I've decided to put my third reserved box on this to good use and compile all my 2020 challenges there. Links will be forthcoming."Looking forward to it! This is a great list."
Thanks, Julia. I've set up the links and tidied up a few things, so peruse away.
I've finished 1930 and 1959 for my YBB challenge
I've finished Sonnets from the Portuguese - Elizabeth Barrett Browning for my WC challenge and 1904, 1931, 1935, and 1936 for my YBB challenge.
I've finished Selected Poems by Gabriela Mistral for my POCC challenge and 1894, 1913, 1932, and 1941 for my YBB challenge.
I've finished 1929 and 1988 for my YBB challenge and 2006 for my YSB challenge. I also finally found works for a couple of the earlier years, which is always nice to see.
Mod
Thanks, Lynn. The years' ones have been going on since 2018, and I'm in no rush to get through them. I suppose I could update the message that has all of 2020's challenges, but that's a lot of work, and I just want to read...
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Ambiguous Adventure (other topics)Metal of the Dead (other topics)
The Crow Eaters (other topics)
Love's Shadow (other topics)
The Little Ottleys (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Cheikh Hamidou Kane (other topics)Mary Antin (other topics)
Luisa Valenzuela (other topics)
Władysław Szpilman (other topics)
Concha Espina (other topics)
More...
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100 Must-Read Classics By Women
Number Read - 50/100
1. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë (review)
2. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë (review)
3. The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
4. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
5. Frankenstein - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (review)
6. Persuasion - Jane Austen (review)
7. The Awakening - Kate Chopin
8. Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf (review)
9. The Mill on the Floss - Mary Ann Evans (review)
10. The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (review)
11. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (review)
12. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson - Emily Dickinson (review)
13. Passing - Nella Larsen (review)
14. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (review)
15. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (review)
16. A Raisin in the Sun - Lorraine Hansberry
17. The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith (review)
18. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (review)
19. North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell (review)
20. We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson (review)
21. The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing (review)
22. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark (review)
23. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Ann Jacobs (review)
24. A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories - Flannery O'Connor (review)
25. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë (review)
26. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman - Mary Wollstonecraft (review)
27. The Tale of Genji - Murasaki Shikibu (review)
28. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
29. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (review)
30. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains - Isabella L. Bird (review)
31. Oroonoko - Aphra Behn (review)
32. Half a Lifelong Romance - Eileen Chang (review)
33. Nada - Carmen Laforet (review)
34. A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
35. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Emmuska Orczy
36. Efuru - Flora Nwapa (review)
37. Thus Were Their Faces: Selected Short Stories - Silvina Ocampo (review)
38. The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim (review)
39. The Group - Mary McCarthy (completed 8/28/18)
40. The Pillow Book - Sei Shōnagon (completed 9/17/18)
41. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith (completed 10/3/18)
42. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith (completed 2/11/19)
43. Our Nig - Harriet E. Wilson (completed 2/18/19)
44. The Death of the Heart - Elizabeth Bowen (completed 3/25/19)
45. Belinda - Maria Edgeworth (completed 5/15/19)
46. The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead (completed 6/18/19)
47. Sonnets from the Portuguese - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (completed 3/23/20)
48. Nectar in a Sieve - Kamala Markandaya (completed 1/6/21)
49. Maud Martha - Gwendolyn Brooks (completed 2/24/21)
50. The Vet's Daughter - Barbara Comyns (completed 5/13/21)
Number On To-Read Shelf - 5/50
1. The Bondwoman's Narrative - Hannah Crafts
2. The Robber Bridegroom - Eudora Welty
3. Frost in May - Antonia White
4. Grand Hotel - Vicki Baum
5. The King Must Die - Mary Renault