Reading Classic Books discussion

Hopefully you'll find these challenges helpful during your classics reading journey. You don't have to do all of the prompts and if you have a book that fits multiple prompts feel free to count it towards however many prompts. The goal here is simple.

LET'S READ MORE CLASSIC BOOKS!!! And, yes push yourself out of your comfort zone.

But most of all make sure to have fun.

So, here are the challenges. Feel free to copy and paste them into the Personal Challenge Discussion.

1) Read a classic over 500 pages
2) Read a classic by a POC and/or with a POC as the main character
3) Read a classic that takes place in a country other than where you live
4) Read a classic in translation
5) Read a classic by a new to you author
6) Read a book of poetry
7) Read a classic written between 1800-1860
8) Read a classic written by an LGBT author and/or with an LGBT main character
9) Read a classic written by a woman
10) Read a classic novella
11) Read a classic nonfiction
12) Read a classic that has been banned or censored

I just finished my Spin title, which is #3 in a classic quartet of Indonesian literature. So I was going to count it for #2, but it isn't QUITE 50 years old! More like 45. And it wasn't actually published until the 80s; it was first composed and narrated in prison. That's OK, I'll find another one. I've got all kinds of stuff here...but if you're ever looking for some good Indonesian literature, the Buru quartet is pretty neat.

Jean wrote: "I just finished my Spin title, which is #3 in a classic quartet of Indonesian literature. So I was going to count it for #2, but it isn't QUITE 50 years old! More like 45. And it wasn't actually pu..."

Jean, I'm pretty flexible. Feel free to use it, if you can't find another. I'm certainly not going to ding you and call fowl. Read what you can and have fun!

I've just decided to read Treasure Island, for #10, and I'm putting some James Baldwin on my to-read list for #2.

#8... just finished The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Nella Larsen's "Passing," as far as I can tell (I'm on the first page, so I'm going on hearsay here), features some very subtle LGBT themes? Is that right?

Well, I finished it, and I can't say I saw it. :/ Maybe other folks are smarter than I am. The introduction also said that people argue over the ending, and it seemed to me that it was obviously Irene?

Jean wrote: "Well, I finished it, and I can't say I saw it. :/ Maybe other folks are smarter than I am. The introduction also said that people argue over the ending, and it seemed to me that it was obviously Ir..."
Hey Jean,

Sorry I'm just seeing this. I don't recall the story having LGBTQIA themes, but Nella Larsen struggled with her sexuality and it has been reported that she was either lesbian or bisexual.

It's been over at least 20 years since I read Passing, so I'm sorry I'm of no use. I do plan on reading in February for Black History Month. So, I'll let you know what I think.

Allison wrote: "#8... just finished The Picture of Dorian Gray."

What did you think? Did you write a review here or on a blog?

It's been over at least 20 years since I read Passing, so I'm sorry I'm of no use. I do plan on reading in February for Black History Month. So, I'll let you know what I think.

I would love to know what you think when you read it! For some reason I had a vague idea that you'd read it recently; maybe I saw it on one of your lists last year or something. I wondered about Larsen, but neither my book's introduction nor the short bio I saw online said anything, which was kind of frustrating.

I've just started reading North and South which (hooray) will be for my Classic written between 1800-1860. There was a nice BBC adaptation a few years ago so I'll see if I can get that on demand too.

What did you think? Did you write a review here or on a blog?"

My review is on my blog. I'm really bad at keeping up on goodreads. Too much social media.

Jean wrote: "It's been over at least 20 years since I read Passing, so I'm sorry I'm of no use. I do plan on reading in February for Black History Month. So, I'll let you know what I think.

I would love to kn..."

I finished Passing and I see what you're talking about with the LGBTQIA+ rep. I feel it's there but very subtle. I think that's part of the tension that Irene has towards Clare. She's attracted to her but can't act on it, so she gets frustrated with her and resents her. I think Passing is a metaphor because most of characters we meet are passing for something they're not.

Katie wrote: "I've just started reading North and South which (hooray) will be for my Classic written between 1800-1860. There was a nice BBC adaptation a few years ago so I'll see if I can get that on demand too."

North & South is on my list if classuxs to read. Did you finish? What did you think?

For the fourth prompt I read the The Tartar Steppe, by Dino Buzzati. Maybe the most profoundly depressing novel I have ever read, The Tartar Steppe is about the total emotional isolation of the individual, the purposelessness of modern life, and the desire of some to fill the emptiness with visions of glory. Written in 1938, but not published until 1945, The Tartar Steppe is in many ways a bridge between Kafka at the beginning of the 20th century, and the existentialist after World War II.

David wrote: "For the fourth prompt I read the The Tartar Steppe, by Dino Buzzati. Maybe the most profoundly depressing novel I have ever read, The Tartar Steppe is about the total emotional isolation of the ind..."

David, I find it hard to believe that this is the mist profiundly depressing book you've ever read. Some of the books you talk about at work are pretty doggone depressing. You've intrigued me, so now you'll have to tell me more about this book.

Erica wrote: "David wrote: "For the fourth prompt I read the The Tartar Steppe, by Dino Buzzati. Maybe the most profoundly depressing novel I have ever read, The Tartar Steppe is about the total emotional isolat..."

Nope, this is the one. The main character spends his entire adult life without family, friends, or any emotional connection deeper than colleagues. He doesn't even have a loyal henchman or a beloved pet. His previous emotional bonds are discarded within the first five pages of the book. There is no struggle, no conflict, no momentary joys, only passive surrender to the inevitable nothingness.

This is not criticism. It was a great book. I discovered it from the below list of Jorge Louis Borges favorite books:

http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/jo...

Erica wrote: "Katie wrote: "I've just started reading North and South which (hooray) will be for my Classic written between 1800-1860. There was a nice BBC adaptation a few years ago so I'll see if I can get tha..."

I've got half way (ish) - there are two "books" and I've read no 1 - I'm taking a short break though!

I'm reading Treasure Island now as a break from North and South.

I read Teffi, a Russian author who is new to me, and I love her! She wrote short stories, mostly. https://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2020...

I just read (very quickly) A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney, I am going to count it for poetry (it's a play). I loved it, I'm really into 60s realistic literature. I also recommend The L Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks, of the same era.

Here is my POC title: The Dark Child, by Camara Laye. Wow, it was great! Highly recommended. It's a memoir of growing up in Guinea.

https://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2020...

This one is my banned title, if books banned in other countries can count. Red Cavalry, by Isaac Babel, is a beautifully written collection of short stories about the Soviet invasion of Poland in the early 20s. It was published in 1926 in the USSR and banned in 1933, never to be published again under the Soviet regime. Babel was arrested in 1939 and never seen again. Read all about it at https://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2020...

I finished two books for the non-fiction category: Capital by Karl Marx (1867) and The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin (1892). Both influential, contrasting works of 19th leftist philosophy; Marx the pessimistic socialist, Kropotkin the optimistic anarchist.

My completed categories:

5) Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
11) Read a classic nonfiction: Capital by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

Today I finished my selection for category six, Selected Writings by French Modernist poet Guillaume Apollinaire. The disjointed juxtapositions of Apollinaire's poetry are reminiscent of Cubism, contemporary to his writing. His free associative, often symbolic verse foreshadow the abstractions of Orphism, and the dreamlike imagery of Surrealism, both movements Apollinaire named.

5) Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
6) Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings by Guillaume Apollinaire
11) Read a classic nonfiction: Capital by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

I just read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, for my classic written by a woman. I don't think I've read it before, though I read most of Austen's books as a teenager (a long time ago!) I have never enjoyed Jane Austen as much as some other people do, so was glad this was quite short, but I did enjoy it, and then watched the movie on Netflix - good, gentle, amusing entertainment.

I love Northanger Abbey!
I'm reading The Fire Next Time for my book by a POC. Really interesting - I knew some about Baldwin but almost nothing about the Nation of Islam.

Here is my classic translation, from French: A Tempest, by Aime Cesaire.
https://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2020...

How's everybody doing with this lockdown? I was pretty discombobulated for a bit there.

For my "Read a classic that takes place in a country other than where you live" I read William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Macbeth & Henry IV, Part I remain my Shakespeare, but I did enjoy Hamlet, in all it's ponderous glory. The death of Ophelia is now one of my favorite scenes in literature.

3. A Classic Set in Another Country: Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
5. Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati
6. Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings (c. 1911 - 1918) by Guillaume Apollinaire
11. Read a classic nonfiction: Capital (1867) by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin

I'm currently reading Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther King, which is my non-fiction choice.

I have just finishedOur Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens for the book of over 500 pages. Mine is a 1924 hardback edition with 779 very thin pages with very fine print. Other than the difficulty of reading that print, I absolutely loved it!

I'm just starting Down Second Avenue by Ezekiel Mphahlele, for my "banned book". Many of the banned South African books are too new, but this one is from 1959, and starts with his childhood in 1924.

I finished reading Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes for my book over 500 pages. I read a 940 page hardcover copy of the Edith Grossman translation. Now one of my favorite books, Don Quixote is a delightful, grandly eccentric epic, and a quick read which never felt like nearly a thousand pages. The friendship between Quixote & Sancho Panza is one of my favorites in fiction.

1. Read a classic over 500 pages: Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes
3. A Classic Set in Another Country: Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
5. Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati
6. Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings (c. 1911 - 1918) by Guillaume Apollinaire
11. Read a classic nonfiction: Capital (1867) by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin

Here's my 500+ page classic: The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, by Henry Handel Richardson, who was in fact Ethel. It's Australian and I think should be better known!

I also wrote the post a couple of weeks ago, and now I feel weird about posting about books when everything is terrible. So, just know that it isn't meant to be disrespectful of anybody; it just happened to be scheduled.

For my Censored Classic, I read The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes. Published anonymously in Spain, in 1554, Lazarillo de Tormes is, reputedly, the first ever picaresque novel. Scathingly critical of the Catholic Church, during the early years of the Counter-Reformation, Lazarillo was banned by the Inquisition. I read the NYRB Classics edition, translated by W.S. Merwin.

1. Read a classic over 500 pages: Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes
3. A Classic Set in Another Country: Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
5. Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati
6. Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings (c. 1911 - 1918) by Guillaume Apollinaire
11. Read a classic nonfiction: Capital (1867) by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin
12. A Censored Classic: The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (1554)

Here is my classic set in a different country: Virgin Soil, by Turgenev, which is set in Russia. https://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2020...

For the second prompt, "Read a classic by a POC", I read The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon's 1961 classic of anti-racist and de-colonization theory. Fanon was a Martinique born psychiatrist, who, after earning his medical degree in France, was sent to Algeria, to treat both Algerian freedom fighters and French officials during the protracted Algerian war of independence. Ultimately siding with the Algerians, The Wretched of the Earth was the last book in series establishing his theory of racism and attacking European colonialism.

1. Read a classic over 500 pages: Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes
2. Read a classic by a POC: The Wretched of the Earth (1961) by Frantz Fanon
3. A Classic Set in Another Country: Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
5. Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati
6. Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings (c. 1911 - 1918) by Guillaume Apollinaire
11. Read a classic nonfiction: Capital (1867) by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin
12. A Censored Classic: The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (1554)

Right, you should all read Down Second Avenue. It just distills the essence of what a racist society takes us to - but you see all the glimpses of where we are now in Europe/North America

Katie wrote: "Right, you should all read Down Second Avenue. It just distills the essence of what a racist society takes us to - but you see all the glimpses of where we are now in Europe/North America"

Down Second Ave looks very good. I added it to my Amazon wish list after your last update.

Good to hear! I'd never heard of him (I've read various other African writers) but he was clearly very important politically as well as a wonderful writer.

For my classic by an LGBTQ author I read James Baldwin's short story collection, Going to Meet the Man. The edition I read was included in Library of America's "Early Novels & Stories". Going to Meet the Man included some of my favorite Baldwin, including "Sonny's Blues", about a jazz pianist struggling with heroin addiction, the title story, about a violent, Civil Rights Era Southern deputy's memories of witnessing a lynching, & "This Morning, This Evening, Soon", about a Black-American singer who has found fame & acceptance in France, preparing to return to America & white supremacy.

1. Read a classic over 500 pages: Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes
2. Read a classic by a POC: The Wretched of the Earth (1961) by Frantz Fanon
3. A Classic Set in Another Country: Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
5. Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati
6. Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings (c. 1911 - 1918) by Guillaume Apollinaire
8. Read a classic written by an LGBT author: Going to Meet the Man (1965) by James Baldwin
11. Read a classic nonfiction: Capital (1867) by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin
12. A Censored Classic: The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (1554)

Tonight I finished "The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant" my second entry for the classic over 500 pages prompt. The former President gives a detailed account of his military service in the Mexican War, and his command during the Civil War. Despite it's length, Grant's memoirs were a quick read. Grant writes with the same clarity and force with which he prosecuted the war.

1. Read a classic over 500 pages: Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (1885) by Ulysses S. Grant
2. Read a classic by a POC: The Wretched of the Earth (1961) by Frantz Fanon
3. A Classic Set in Another Country: Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
5. Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati
6. Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings (c. 1911 - 1918) by Guillaume Apollinaire
8. Read a classic written by an LGBT author: Going to Meet the Man (1965) by James Baldwin
11. Read a classic nonfiction: Capital (1867) by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin
12. A Censored Classic: The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (1554)

Wow, you've fulfilled all the categories! Congrats!

Jean wrote: "Wow, you've fulfilled all the categories! Congrats!"

Close. I haven't fulfilled categories four, seven, nine, & ten.

David wrote: "Jean wrote: "Wow, you've fulfilled all the categories! Congrats!"

Close. I haven't fulfilled categories four, seven, nine, & ten."

OMG David, you are rocking the challenge. It's my challenge and I'm so far behind. I have one more class and I think I'll be able to catch up.

Erica wrote: "David wrote: "Jean wrote: "Wow, you've fulfilled all the categories! Congrats!"

Close. I haven't fulfilled categories four, seven, nine, & ten."

OMG David, you are rocking the challenge. It's my ..."

I've had extra time. I'm not taking classes, and I've been furloughed. I'll be back at work on Wednesday, so probably a little less time for reading. That's why I ended up reading a second massive tome, while I have the time.

Just finished my third book for this challenge, so very unlikely to complete the whole lot. I read Tiburon by Kylie Tennant - an Australian classic about life in a small country town during the Depression, published in 1935. I loved it and have used it for the Written by a Woman prompt. About to start on another Aussie classic for the non-fiction prompt.

Finished my Classic over 500 pages: The Complete Father Brown. I have, I confess, been reading this on and off for a couple of years. Some of the stories are really profound and some very fluffy. I do like Father Brown though as he solves his crimes by being interested in people and believing both the best and worst of them, as people, rather than by noticing their coat sleeve and their shoes but not their personality.

I read The Uncommercial Traveller, a collection of essays by Charles Dickens that were published 1860-1861. So I hope that counts for the 1800-1860 one! :) It was pretty fun -- and very long -- to read.

https://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2020...

For my "translated classic, I read History of Rome, Volume 1, by Livy (Oxford World Classics edition), written in Latin during the reign of Augustus, containing books 1-5 of Livy's monumental history of the Roman Republic. Volume 1 covered the founding of Rome, from Romulus & Remus to the sack of Rome by the Gauls.

I have only three categories left; A Classic Written Between 1800-1860, A Classic Written by a Woman, and A Classic Novella.

1. Read a classic over 500 pages: Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (1885) by Ulysses S. Grant
2. Read a classic by a POC: The Wretched of the Earth (1961) by Frantz Fanon
3. A Classic Set in Another Country: Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
4. A Classic in Translation: History of Rome, Volume 1 (c. 27-25 BCE) by Livy
5. Read a classic by a new to you author: The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati
6. Read a book of poetry: Selected Writings (c. 1911 - 1918) by Guillaume Apollinaire
8. Read a classic written by an LGBT author: Going to Meet the Man (1965) by James Baldwin
11. Read a classic nonfiction: Capital (1867) by Karl Marx, The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin
12. A Censored Classic: The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (1554)