Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Plate selection:
#1: Old & New (Added after other challenges were sorted. See msg 14.)
#3: Second Place or Worse,
#4: Genre Challenge
#6: Short Story Challenge
#7: 2020 Group Reads Challenge
#8: New Authors Challenge

And I am researching whether or not to do Challenge #2. I chose 1918; now, can I find enough 1818 books to read? Many were serialized and with a quick look, I only find parts.

Edited to add that I am doing Challenge #2. See msg 7.

#3: Second Place or Worse
Go back through the groups past polls and select seven (7) total books that lost the poll and never made it to our group bookshelf. Two books from New School, two from Old School, two from Short Story/Novella, and one from the Quarterly Long Read.

✅Done

New School
✅1. Passing
✅ 2. We

Old School
✅1. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
✅2. Sonnets from the Portuguese: A Celebration of Love

Short Story/Novella
✅1. The Tree
✅2. The Man Who Planted Trees

Quarterly Long Read
✅1. They Were Counted

#4: Genre Challenge
Choose one book per category for a total of 12 books.
I'm going to use mostly short stories to work on the number of books on the group bookshelf that I haven't read.

✅ Challenge done!

✅ 1. 18th Century or older The Rime of the Ancient Mariner read 1/1/21
✅ 2. 19th Century The Brick Moon read Jan 31- Feb 6, 2021
✅ 3. 20th Century The Lottery Read Sept 4, 2021
✅ 4. Current or Past Group Read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl read January 1-24, 2021
✅ 5. An Author not read before Candide read April 20-May 4, 2021
✅ 6. Diversity Classic Narrative of Sojourner Truth read April 7- 19, 2021
✅ 7. Science Fiction The Curious Case of Benjamin Button read January 17-18, 2021
✅ 8. Romance Lady Susan read Feb 21-28, 2021
✅ 9. Historical fiction A Rose for Emily
✅ 10. Nonfiction Ten Days in a Mad-House read Feb 5-11, 2021
✅ 11. Mystery/Crime Witness for the Prosecution read 1/1/21
✅ 12. Horror or Humor At the Mountains of Madness read April 23-May 8, 2021

#6: Short Story Challenge
Read 24.
✅***Completed if you count individual stories but I will keep going***

1. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner January 1, 2021
2. The Witness for the Prosecution: A Short Story January 1, 2021
3. The Garden Party and Other Stories (complete collection = 15 stories) January 2-5, 2021
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button January 17-18, 2021
5. The Book of Tea January 14-17, 2021
6. Summer January 18-24, 2021
7. Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul January 20-22, 2021
8. The Blue Fairy Book (complete collection = 37 stories) January 10-26, 2021The Maker of Gargoyles
9. The Metamorphosis January 23-27, 2021
10. Old Nurse's Tale from The Old Nurse's Story and Other Tales January 26-27, 2021
11. The Time Machine January 29-February 3, 2021
12. The Brick Moon February 2021
13. Ten Days in a Mad-House February 5-11, 2021
14. Ward No 6 from Ward No. 6 and Other Stories February 14, 2021
15. Lady Susan February 21-28, 2021
16. Gooseberries from Ward No. 6 and Other Stories February 28, 2021
17. The Lady with the Dog from Ward No. 6 and Other Stories February 28-March 1, 2021
18. A Granted Prayer March 1, 2021
19. The Sandman #1 : Sleep of the Just March 9 , 2021
20. To Build a Fire and Other Stories - just the title story - March 12, 2021
21. The Death of Ivan Ilych March 17-23, 2021
22. Candide April 20-May 4, 2021
23. At the Mountains of Madness April 23-May 8. 2021
24. At the Mountains of Madness April 23-May 9, 2021
25. Babette’s Feast May 12-14, 2021
26. A Rose for Emily May 18, 2021
27. Hills Like White Elephants May 20, 2021
28 Rashōmon and Other Stories (6 stories) May 27-June 5, 2021
29. In the Cage June 4-21/2021
30. The Biggest Bear June 24, 2021
31. Fanshawe July 9-13/2021
32. The Jungle Book (whole collection = 5 stories) June 21-July 13, 2021
33. The Maker of Gargoyles July 13-14, 2021

#7: 2021 Group Reads Challenge
Read 12.

✅ Challenge done (but still reading). If listed below, I have read them in 2021.

1. Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul
2. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
3. Cranford
4. The Portrait of a Lady
5. The Secret Garden (Not the pictured book but the 1938 Thrushwood Edition)
6. The Warden
7. Gooseberries
8. A Streetcar Named Desire
9. Babette’s Feast
10. Fathers and Sons
11. Moll Flanders
12. The Metamorphisis

#8: New Authors Challenge
6 new-to-me authors published before 2000.

✅ Done but Still reading. If listed below, they are new-to-me authors that I have read from in 2021.

1. Katherine Mansfield: The Garden Party and Other Stories
2. Honoré de Balzac: At The Sign Of The Cat And Racket
3. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
4. Kakuzō Okakura: The Book of Tea
5. Harriet Ann Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
6. Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis

********Completed but I will keep recording *************

7. Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto
8. Muriel Spark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
9. Nellie Bly: Ten Days in a Mad-House
10. Edward Everett Hale: The Brick Moon
11. Joan Aiken: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
12. Elizabeth Goudge: The Little White Horse
13. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther
14. Anthony Trollope: The Warden
15. Barbara Hambly: Dragonsbane
16. Liliuokalani: Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen
17. [[author:Clarice Lispector|86098]: book:Near to the Wild Heart|153425]
18. Ethel Turner: Seven Little Australians
19. Bessie Head: When Rain Clouds Gather
20. Sojourner Truth and Olive Gilbert: Narrative of Sojourner Truth_ A - Sojourner Truth
21. Voltaire: Candide
22. Pierre Boulle: Planet of the Apes
23. Isak Dinesen: Babette’s Feast
24. Jerome K. Jerome: Three Men in a Boat
25. Lord Dunsany: The King of Elfland's Daughter
26. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: Rashōmon and Other Stories
27. Clark Ashton Smith: The Maker of Gargoyles
28. Edward Eager: Half Magic
29. Booker T. Washington: Up from Slavery
30. Banana Yoshimoto: Kitchen
31. Margaret Laurence: The Stone Angel
32. Sayaka Murata: Convenience Store Woman
33. Margaret Edson: Wit
34. Grazia Deledda: After the Divorce
35. Eliza Fowler Haywood: Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze
36. Howard Pyle: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
37. Hella S. Haasse: In a Dark Wood Wandering: A Novel of the Middle Ages

#2: Does a Century Make a Difference: 1918 & 1818 Read 5 from each of the years chosen.

Note: I've moved this to my Take-Out Box of Unfinished Buffet Books personal challenge.

1918 has lots of possibilities. Here are some of the ones with better ratings:
*The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen by Owen
Rilke: Poems by Rilke
*The Enchanted Barn by Hill
The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories edited by Cox
The Madman by Gibran
*The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by Gibbs
*The Amazing Interlude by Rinehart
A Spring Harvest by Smith
✅The Magic Pudding by Lindsay
✅ The Land That Time Forgot Collection by Burroughs
The Tin Woodman of Oz by Baum
A Madman's Diary 狂人日記 by Lu Xun
*The Magnificent Ambersons by Tarkington
✅ The Beast in the Cave by Lovecraft

1818 Possibilities - sometimes only one volume linked
✅*Northanger Abbey by Austen
✅Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Shelley (This was a reread.)
*Marriage by S.E. Ferrier
✅ *Nightmare Abbey by Peacock
The Nun of Santa Maria Di Tindaro: A Tale; Vol. I by Stanhope
*The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott

On archive.org:
The Fast of St. Magdalen: A Romance by Porter
The Bandit's Bride: Or, the Maid of Saxony: A Romance; Vol. I by Stanhope

Available on Google Books
*Florence Macarthy: An Irish Tale; Volume 3 by Owenson


* Books I own, ordered or have found.

Welcome and have fun with your buffet, Annette!

I hope you find what you need for challenge #2, Good luck.

Bob wrote: "I hope you find what you need for challenge #2, Good luck."

Thanks, Bob. I have posted eight 1818 books I was able to find and chose some of the better-rated 1918 books. I should be able to complete the challenge - unless I need ten 1818 books to begin?

One of the books I'll be reading for my challenges, Flowers in the Mirror by Li Ruzhen, may or may not have been published in 1818 (conflicting sources on this one, and I don't have my copy in front of me). Could be worth checking out.

Aubrey wrote: "One of the books I'll be reading for my challenges, Flowers in the Mirror by Li Ruzhen, may or may not have been published in 1818 (conflicting sources on this one, ..."

Thanks, Aubrey. I'll look into it.

Aubrey wrote: "One of the books I'll be reading for my challenges, Flowers in the Mirror by Li Ruzhen, may or may not have been published in 1818 (conflicting sources on this one, ..."

I am also finding conflicting publication dates. Mostly I find 1827 or before 1830 so I am not going to use it as a 1818 publication. It looks intriguing though!

I was worried that I would run out of challenges (LOL) so I am going back to the buffet before I even start what I already have in front of me!

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR
✅ Challenge completed but not blacked-out.

Old School
✅ 1. Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen
✅ 2. The Sorrows of Young Werther
✅ 3. Othello

New School
✅ 1. Up from Slavery
✅ 2. The Red Pony
3. Doctor Zhivago

Other
✅ 1. The Jungle Book
✅ 2. Three Men in a Boat
✅ 3. Treasure Island
✅ 4. The House in the Cerulean Sea
✅ 5. The Book of Tea
✅ 6. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Alternates
✅ 1. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
✅ 2. Summer

Annette wrote: "I was worried that I would run out of challenges (LOL) so I am going back to the buffet before I even start what I already have in front of me! ..."

Ha ha! I love your planning. I think you're going to have a great time with these challenges, and I'm going to be adding to my tbr ...

lol. Second helpings before firsts. Looking forward to sharing the challenges with you this coming year. You've got some great choices.

Re: Message 7
Wilfred Owen was a WWI casualty in November 1918. I have discovered that while The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen was written in October 1917-November 1918, it was actually published posthumously in 1920. The first poem in the collection is very good so I will be reading this collection anyway & I will read another book as well for 1918.

Updated my buffet challenges today.

I haven't gotten much done on Challenge #2. Some of the 1918 reads are too easy to set aside.

You have almost completed your Genre Challenge and great progress on the Old and New. You will get to 1918 eventually. :)

Glad things are going well for you, I have yet to list a single read for the Genre challenge.

I am almost done with my buffet plate -- all but the "Does a Century Make a Difference?" and the "Second Place or Worse" neither of which I've started. I guess it's time to make them a priority!

Annette wrote: "I am almost done with my buffet plate -- all but the "Does a Century Make a Difference?" and the "Second Place or Worse" neither of which I've started. I guess it's time to make them a priority!"

Lots to look forward to!

Aubrey wrote: "Annette wrote: "I am almost done with my buffet plate -- all but the "Does a Century Make a Difference?" and the "Second Place or Worse" neither of which I've started. I guess it's time to make the..."

The end of the year reading could be a mad rush. I am waiting to be sure that my "Second Place or Worse" are still that after the vote for the December books. I am aiming to be mostly done with all my other challenges before then.

Annette wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "Annette wrote: "I am almost done with my buffet plate -- all but the "Does a Century Make a Difference?" and the "Second Place or Worse" neither of which I've started. I guess it's t..."

That is an issue. Second place books I was interesting in keep getting nominated!

You have done a great job on the Group Reads and Short stories. You have a really nice list of texts read.

Thanks, Lynn. I think the original idea was to get the Second Place books more attention, wasn’t it?

I updated my buffet today. I am only missing Dr Zhivago to create a black out in "Old & New". Now I am working hard on my "Does a Century Make a Difference" books so that I will be free in November and December to read my "Second Place or Worse" choices.

Nice work, Annette :)

Janelle wrote: "Nice work, Annette :)"

Thanks, Janelle! (Sorry for the delay, I have not been on my own pages for some time.)

I've started reading my Second Best or Worse Challenge books since none were chosen as reads this year. The Man Who Planted Trees is really a great short story.

And I am finally making some progress on my 1818 and 1918 books for Does a Century Make a Difference Challenge. One thing I noticed is that I have 2 children's books from 1918 on hand and I failed to find any available from 1818. An internet search just didn't turn up many 1818 children's titles.

I did love The Man Who Planted Trees, Annette. Nice to see you get to the Second Best challenge; it is one I probably will not finish, but there are scads of books there that I really want and need to read. I'm a little surprised about the lack of children's books for 1818, but I find that there are years in which dozens of great books are published and years in which I am pressed to find even one that I truly want to read.

Sara wrote: "I did love The Man Who Planted Trees, Annette. Nice to see you get to the Second Best challenge; it is one I probably will not finish, but there are scads of books there that I really..."

I am making good progress on my Second Place or Worse but it seems unlikely that I will finish my 1818 vs 1918 Does 100 Years Make a Difference.

I have created a personal challenge to wrap up my Does 100 Years Make a Difference.

I will also add books like The Decameron)to my personal challenge Take-Out Box of Unfinished Buffet Books.

And on the last day of 2021, I finished my Second Place challenge from the Buffet with They Were Counted. Happy New Year to all!

(Added from my phone. Edited later to include the book link & mark the book completed on my list above.)