Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I am copying this list from Sara's personal challenge - thank you Sara! I am not putting a time limit on completion of this, as my TBR is enormous, so this may take years, lol! I have a few that I have read over the years, and they may not even be noted as "Read" if prior to my GR days. My memory of some are foggier than others, but I'm checking them off as a starting point.

1918 - His Family by Ernest Poole
1919 - The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
✔1921 - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
1922 - Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
✔1923 - One of Ours by Willa Cather
1924 - The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson
✔1925 - So Big by Edna Ferber
1926 - Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
1927 - Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady by Lewis Bromfield
✔1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
1929 - Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
✔1930 - Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge
1931 - Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
✔1932 - The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
1933 - The Store by Thomas S. Stribling
✔1934 - Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller
1935 - Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 - Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis
✔1937 - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
1938 - The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand
1939 - The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
✔1940 - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1942 - In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow
1943 - Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair
1944 - Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
✔1945 - A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
1947 - All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener
1949 - Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens
1950 - The Way West by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
1951 - The Town by Conrad Richter
1952 - The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
✔1953 - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1955 - A Fable by William Faulkner
1956 - Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
1958 - A Death in the Family by James Agee
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 - Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
✔1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1962 - The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
1963 - The Reivers by William Faulkner
1965 - The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
1966 - The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter
1967 - The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
1969 - House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
1970 - The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford
✔1972 - Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
✔1973 -The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
1975 - The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
1976 - Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1978 - Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
1980 - The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
1981 -A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
1982 - Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
✔1983 - The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1984 - Ironweed by William Kennedy
✔1985 - Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
✔1986 - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
1987 - A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
✔1988 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
1989 - Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
1990 - The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
1991 - Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
1992 - A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories by Robert Olen Butler
✔1994 - The Shipping News by E. Annie Prolux
✔1995 - The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1996 - Independence Day by Richard Ford
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser
1998 - American Pastoral by Philip Roth
✔1999 - The Hours by Michael Cunningham
✔2000 - Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
✔2001 -The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
✔2002 - Empire Falls by Richard Russo
✔2003 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
✔2004 - The Known World by Edward P. Jones
✔2005 - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
✔2006 - March by Geraldine Brooks
✔2007 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
✔2009 - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
✔2010 - Tinkers by Paul Harding
2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
2013 - The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
✔2014 - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
✔2015 - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2016 - The Sympathizer by Nguyen
2017 - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
2018 - Less by Andrew Sean Greer
2019 - The Overstory by Richard Powers
2020 - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

I like your on-going challenge here! I think I have seen this list of Sara's but I went ahead and copied it today for myself. Thanks, Sara and Candi :)

So far I have read 26, with 8 on my immediate TBR list. There are some good books here (and some I've never heard of!). Keep Reading! ;)

Thank you, Terris! It's a great list of books. Like you, I am familiar with some titles and not at all with others. It will be fun to explore :)

Finished my first Pulitzer in July since starting this thread and wrote up a little review of Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

My Review

I like the name of your challenge. You're doing MUCH better than I am. I think I need to copy the list too. Thank you in advance.

Good job, Candi!

Connie wrote: "I like the name of your challenge. You're doing MUCH better than I am. I think I need to copy the list too. Thank you in advance.

Good job, Candi!"

Thanks, Connie! The ones I have checked off were all read prior to my starting the challenge, over a period of years! Except for my recent addition :)

Be neat to watch you rack these up, Candi. My list is going slowly, but I am trying to do one a month. Like you, I will be reading for years.

We'll all keep working on them, over the years. :-)

@Sara - it is fun working on this. I think I need to make some deliberate choices and read one on a regular schedule as you are trying to do.

@Connie - yes, as long as we are having fun, how long it takes won't really matter!

Checked off another Pulitzer winner this month:

Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge

My Review

Great review Candi.

Katy wrote: "Great review Candi."

Thanks so much, Katy! :)

Congratulations on ticking off another one, Candi! I don't think I will be making any more progress this year, but next year I intend to put several on my challenge lists AND I intend to read one a month. It could still be years getting done.

Thank you, Sara. I want to focus on this next year as well, but then again my plans always seem to go haywire, lol.

I know what you mean. I always bite off just a bit too much and find myself in a scramble at the end. I get distracted by group reads and books that my friends make me want to read right now, and YES, I mean you. lol.

Ha ha, Sara! If only this were the worst thing us humans did to one another, we'd be in pretty good shape! :-)

Another Pulitzer completed in February:

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

My Review

Great to tick on off, isn't it? Your review was super.

Sara wrote: "Great to tick on off, isn't it? Your review was super."

It really is, Sara! But, if I keep at this slow pace, I really will be doing this for years and years, lol!

I nearly forgot about this challenge! An entire year (plus!) has gone by since I've updated this. I've only read one Pulitzer since last posting here - and it was just earlier this month!

Loved this one:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

My Review

It seems I might be able to check another one of the list very soon, as I just dusted off The Hours by Michael Cunningham

I have long dead periods on mine as well. I just finished my first one for this year. I was hoping to clear twelve this year, but looks unlikely.

I loved The Goldfinch, but found The Hours a little disappointing. I will be interested to see what you think. I read Mrs. Dalloway right before starting The Hours and wondered if I would have liked it better if I had not done that.

Candi wrote: "I nearly forgot about this challenge! An entire year (plus!) has gone by since I've updated this. I've only read one Pulitzer since last posting here - and it was just earlier this month!

Loved th..."

Thanks for the reminder! I've read some that I didn't add!!!

Sara wrote: "I have long dead periods on mine as well. I just finished my first one for this year. I was hoping to clear twelve this year, but looks unlikely.

I loved The Goldfinch, but found The Hours a litt..."

I guess I don't specifically plan to work on this, books just happen to come along and get checked off as a result!

I read Mrs. Dalloway a few years ago (3 or 4 maybe??). So it's not fresh in my mind, but I recall enough. I wonder if this will make a difference or not... So far, I like it but I'm not too far into it yet :)

Connie, I'm happy to have reminded you to add some of your books to your challenge!

Candi wrote: "I read Mrs. Dalloway a few years ago (3 or 4 maybe??). So it's not fresh in my mind, but I recall enough. I wonder if this will make a difference or not... "

I don't think you necessarily need to have Mrs. Dalloway fresh in the mind when you read this. I'm glad it is meeting expectations so far.

Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer and another favorite!

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

My Review

Finished the 1972 Pulitzer winner! My first Stegner novel and an excellent choice :)

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

My Review

You just ticked off one of the best on the list! I have made very little progress on this this year. I think I will try to put nothing but Pulitzer winners on the Old and New Challenge next year. I usually give that challenge priority and stack it with books that I know I want to read but somehow never do.

Sara wrote: "You just ticked off one of the best on the list! I have made very little progress on this this year. I think I will try to put nothing but Pulitzer winners on the Old and New Challenge next year. I..."

I'm so glad I've finally read Stegner, Sara! I don't doubt this is one of the best on the list. My progress is slow-going, but it's a fun project to have going on here :)

Stegner seems to be all the rage. I must read one of his books soon.

Ila wrote: "Stegner seems to be all the rage. I must read one of his books soon."

Do give him a try sometime, Ila! He really is celebrated with good reason :)

Candi, I like the title of your thread - brilliant!!! and true, it may do but you may also surprise yourself :)

Angle of Repose is one of the few books I have read three times. I have a copy of Crossing to Safety that I have been meaning to read. Maybe later this year.

Inkspill wrote: "Candi, I like the title of your thread - brilliant!!! and true, it may do but you may also surprise yourself :)"

Thank you, Inkspill! Well, whether it takes a while or not, I'm sure to have fun with it! :)

Terry wrote: "Angle of Repose is one of the few books I have read three times. I have a copy of Crossing to Safety that I have been meaning to read. Maybe later this year."

That speaks a lot for that book and for Stegner's writing, Terry! I'd like to get to Crossing to Safety hopefully later this year :)

Candi, Let me know if you want to do a Buddy Read when you are getting ready.

Terry, I would love to do a buddy read. I will let you know when it gets closer! Probably in the second half of the year :)

You will love Crossing to Safety, absolutely guaranteed! As for the time it takes to do this challenge, mine goes on and on. I was making great progress in the beginning and have gotten sidetracked--but we knew it would be a long one when we started. Yes?

Sara, I'm sure I'll love Crossing to Safety! Yes, I did figure this would take me quite some time!

Crossing to Safety in the second half of the year sounds perfect to me, Candi. I may try a multi-year Pulitzer list next year. I have already read a number of them, especially among the more recent ones. This year, I am trying to fill my Bingo card early and then concentrate on my Multi Year Century Challenge, which may include some Pulitzers. In the midst of this, I want to participate in some Group Reads and my Sisters Book Club picks, as well as a few contemporary novels of my own choosing.

Great, Terry. We will touch base on it later then. I'm also trying to focus a bit on my challenges, while at the same time inserting some spontaneous selections. It seems to be working well so far :)

Finished the 1985 Pulitzer - an excellent novel!

Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie

My Review

Ticked off one I haven't gotten to yet!

Candi, I forgot that we talked about Crossing to Safety and I read it in December, although I haven’t yet written a review. I hope you get to it. It was a 5 star book for me.

Sara wrote: "Ticked off one I haven't gotten to yet!"

Don't let it wait too long, Sara!! :)

Terry wrote: "Candi, I forgot that we talked about Crossing to Safety and I read it in December, although I haven’t yet written a review. I hope you get to it. It was a 5 star book for me."

I had forgotten too, Terry. I actually just finished Crossing to Safety a few days ago! 5 stars from me too :)