Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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Carolien's 2021 Challenge Buffet
Second Place or WorseOld school
New school
Short story
Long read
Members choice classic/genre challengeSecond attempt
Decade challenge: African Female authorsIt's a bit Nigeria (and sub-Saharan Africa) biased, but I hope to have an opportunity to visit Lagos in 2021.
2010: Black Mamba Boy (Somalia)
2008: The Blind Kingdom (Ivory Coast)
Century challenge of female African American authors:
And another century based on group reads - I have so many of these already planned for 2021, may as well keep track of them:
2010: The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
2000: The Lighthouse by P.D. James
1990: The Translator by Leila Aboulela
1980: The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters
1970: When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head
1960: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
1950: Kingfishers Catch Fire by Rumer Godden
1940: Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang
1930: The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer
1920: So Big by Edna Ferber
1910: A Jury Of Her Peers
1900: A Room with a View
1890: The Turn of the Screw
1880:
1870: The cuckoo clock?
1860: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
1850: Barchester Towers
1840: (Bronte)
1930s:
1930 Rhododendron Pie
1931 The Good Earth
1932 The Division Bell Mystery
1933 High Rising
1934 Crossword Mystery
1935 The Cornish Coast Murder
1936 The Talisman Ring
1937 The Case Is Closed
1938 Nightingale Wood
1939 Murder in Stained Glass
Short Story challenge (24)I have a project to read works by the Caine Prize winners so this should be doable based on 20 years of the existence of the Prize.
Total: 35
Pre-2000:
1. The Captain's Daughter
2. Bloodchild
3. The Castle of Otranto
4. Oedipus Rex
5. Antigone
6. Plato - Euthyphro
7. Apology
8. A Granted Prayer
9. A Streetcar Named Desire
10. Crito
11. Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran
12. The Sea and Little Fishes https://www.angelfire.com/weird2/athe...
13. American Indian Stories
14. The Snow Storm
15. Bears discover Fire by Terry Bisson
16. Maru
17. They're made out of Meat by Terry Bisson
18. The Toxic Donut by Terry Bisson
19. So Long a Letter
20. A Room with a View
21. Babette’s Feast
22. Passing
23. I Stand Here Ironing
24. Youth Completed 24 June 4 stars
25. Xingu
26. Letters to a Young Poet
27. The Shape of the Sword https://biblioklept.org/2020/02/03/th...
28. Fire Watch http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories...
29. Sanditon
30. Candide
31. Why I Live at the P.O
32. A Jury Of Her Peers
33. On Books and Reading
34. Neighbours: The Story of a Murder
35. The Necklace
36. The Turn of the Screw
37. The Last Question
Post-2000:
1. Amulets and Feathers: A Story from the collection, I Am Heathcliff
2. Inscape by Yaa Gyasi
3. Jungfrau by Mary Watson (Completed 20 January)
4. The Sack by Namwali Serpell (Completed 20 January)
5. Weight of Whispers by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (Completed 20 January)
6. Early retirement by Brontez Purnell (Completed 22 January)
7. The Museum by Leila Aboulela (Completed 20 February)
8. The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
9. Dislocation in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
10. Born nowhere in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
11. Khouribga in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
12. What's not said in Brussels in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
13. Bennani's Bodyguard in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
14. The Invention of Dry Swimming in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
15. Fifteen minutes as philosophers in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
16. The Night Before in The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
17. A Whimsy of the World
18. Logarithm in Nudibranch
19. Kookaburra in Nudibranch
20. Filamo in Nudibranch
21. Point and Trill in Nudibranch
22. Grace Jones in Nudibranch
23. Saudade Minus One in Nudibranch
24. Nudibranch in Nudibranch
25. Daishuku in Nudibranch
26. Mangata in Nudibranch
27. Komza Bright Morning in Nudibranch
28. Addendum in Nudibranch
29. Cornucopia in Nudibranch
30. Synsepalum in Nudibranch
31. Zinzi from Boketto in Nudibranch
32. Dune Dunelm in Nudibranch
33. Something Something Alice Munroe https://www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...
34. Herman Wouk Is Still Alive
2021 Group Reads Challenge:1. The Captain's Daughter
2. Songs of Innocence and of Experience
3. The Warden
4. A Streetcar Named Desire
5. Their Eyes Were Watching God
6. Babette’s Feast
7. Letters to a Young Poet
8. Goblin Market
9. Père Goriot
10. The Necklace
11. The Last Question
12. The Metamorphosis
Expand your horizons:
I'll just list as I go along.
Pre-2000 (6):
1. Eileen Chang
2. Horace Walpole
3. Sophocles
4. Maya Angelou
5. Ann Petry
6. William Blake
7 Anthony Trollope
8. Tennessee Williams
9. Bessie Head
10. Shahrnush Parsipur
11. Zitkála-Šá
12. John Bude
13. Margaret Armstrong
14. Ahlam Mosteghanemi
15. Mariama Bâ
16. E.M. Forster
17. Sébastien Japrisot
18. Naguib Mahfouz
19. Passing
20. Rainer Maria Rilke
21. Edna Ferber
22. Tété-Michel Kpomassie
23. The Bell Jar
24. Christina Rossetti
25. Isaac Asimov
26. L.R. Wright
27. Gloria Naylor
28. Elizabeth Taylor
29. A.S. Byatt
30. Lorraine Hansberry
31. Ursula K. Le Guin
32. E.C.R. Lorac
33. Robin McKinley
34. Honoré de Balzac
35. Lília Momplé
36. Rafael Sabatini
37. Guy de Maupassant
38. Christina Rossetti
39. Franz Kafka
Post-2000:
1. Emily Nasrallah
2. Mary Watson
3. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
4. Deirdre Mask
5. Imbolo Mbue
6. Lyssa Kay Adams
7. Min Jin Lee
8. Abi Daré
9. Brit Bennett
10. Zinzi Clemmons
11. Fouad Laroui
12. Tayari Jones
13. Nadia Davids
14. Sefi Atta
15. Irenosen Okojie
16. Stay with Me
17. Craig Johnson
18. Mubanga Kalimamukwento
19. Kelly Barnhill
20. Leigh Bardugo
21. Saud Alsanousi
22. Wayétu Moore
23. Andy Miller
24. Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
25. Négar Djavadi
Carolien, you have some amazing books planned! A Raisin in the Sun, The Street, Beloved, Passing ... You're going to have a good reading year. :-)
Kathleen wrote: "Carolien, you have some amazing books planned! A Raisin in the Sun, The Street, Beloved, Passing ... You're going to have a good reading year. :-)"I'm so glad to hear that. I'm not sure if I'll get to all of them, but I've planned it in quite a lot of detail, so I'm hopeful.
Mod
Carolein, I rearranged my schedule to read The Street in February. It’s been nominated for new school and I hope it wins. I want to read Bailey’s Cafe as well but saving for summer. I love your idea for your century challenge.
Perfect, let's pencil it in for February!
Mod
So at the end of January:I have completed 4 books in the Old/New challenge and 6 books in the genre challenge. Making progress with Short Stories and New authors. I am glad to have finally read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, it's been on my TBR for ages. I loved Half a Lifelong Romance, it's beautifully written and I will definitely be reading more by Eileen Chang. Oedipus Rex was my first effort at a Greek play and it is way out of my comfort zone, but I will try more of them. My guilty pleasure of the month was The Talisman Ring, I have forgotten what an absolute genius Georgette Heyer is at romantic comedy and this had me laughing aloud so many times.
I've completed at least one book in each of my century challenges as well. Kintu was wonderful, another of these multi-generational Africa sagas. Highly recommend for any fan of Homegoing.
Carolien wrote: "So at the end of January:I have completed 4 books in the Old/New challenge and 6 books in the genre challenge. Making progress with Short Stories and New authors. I am glad to have finally read [..."
I'm glad that the Chang work went well with you, Carolien. That's been my favorite of hers that I've read thus far. I haven't liked everything I've read, but she's definitely too interesting to pass by.
I'm making good progress with the genre challenge. I added three books this month. The Warden for written in the 19th century. This was a new author to me and I enjoyed it very much. I'll be reading the rest of the series.I completed A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep for the non-fiction category. Rumer Godden's autobiography which covers the first 40 years of her life and mainly set in India. I love her books and this provided insight in where many of these originated.
I also read Crossword Mystery for the Mystery/Crime category. I highly recommend this excellent series if you like Agatha Christie and her compatriots.
That leaves me with two categories left in the Genre Challenge.
I read The Street for the Old/New challenge and Second Place or Worse. A very challenging read that will stay with me for a long time to come.
I made progress with the Decade of African Female Authors challenge - I completed Behold the Dreamers and The Girl with the Louding Voice, both of which I enjoyed. The Girl with the Louding Voice is set in Nigeria and Behold the Dreamers is written from the perspective of Cameroonian immigrants in New York.
I added The Street and The Vanishing Half to my century of female African-American authors. So seven books left in both of these.
I have now read six authors new to me published prior to 2000. I'm making progress with short stories as well.
All together a good month of reading. I'm busy with Wives and Daughters which forms part of the Old/New challenge and Second Place or Worse. I'm planning to join the group read for Their Eyes Were Watching God and some buddy reads for When Rain Clouds Gather and Barchester Towers which will progress some of these.
Mod
Keep it up!
Carolien, you have made a great start to your year. Like you, I look forward to continuing the Barchester series.
Mod
I completed Wives and Daughters for both Old and New and Second Place or Worse - just in time for it be finally Book of the month. I really loved it, although North and South remains my favourite.I reread Their Eyes Were Watching God for my African-American century challenge. I knew better what to expect and could concentrate more on the story and less on the vernacular this time around. I suspect I'll reread this again.
For my Decade of Female African authors, I read Happiness. I love her pace and tone and thoroughly enjoyed this one.
I added a few interesting ones to my short stories.
The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers is a collection by Moroccon-born author Fouad Laroui, now based in the Netherlands. A wide variety of settings - Morocco, Utrecht, Brussels and some great moments of comedy.
Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran was a complete surprise. Very difficult to describe as it is part magic realism, part allegory, but an interesting read.
I also joined the buddy read for American Indian Stories which was a new author to me and quite different from my usual reading.
Had fun dipping into a Terry Pratchett story along the way.
For April I am planning to read A Room with a View and my copy of So Long a Letter arrived this week, so I may try and read that as well. There is a buddy read now scheduled for Passing in May if anybody is interested.
Mod
I completed A Room with a View for my Old/New challenge which I enjoyed very much. I should probably watch the movie at some point.I also read So Long a Letter for the second place of worse challenge. This is lovely - a woman's husband dies and she writes as letter to her friend in which she recounts how they met and the changes in her life. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've started a second genre challenge where the most interesting book to date is The Bridges of Constantine by Algerian author Ahlam Mosteghanemi. it took me a while to get used to the pace and tone, but I enjoyed it very much in the end and it has stayed with me all month. It is part of a trilogy and I want to read the other two books. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read Leaving Atlanta for my century of female African American authors and Tayari Jones promptly became one of my new favourite authors.
I'm busy with Palace Walk. Next up is Captain Blood and Framley Parsonage. I'll be joining the buddy read of Passing and hope to get to Black Mamba Boy for my African decade challenge.
Carolien wrote: "I completed A Room with a View for my Old/New challenge which I enjoyed very much. I should probably watch the movie at some point.I also read So Long a Letter for the s..."
You've a great deal going on, Carolien, and it all seems to be going very well! Can't ask for much more in one's reading.
Fortunately, my Century of female African American authors covers a lot of options and I belong to a few groups that read older books so I can often use them here!
Mod
So many great books, Carolien. I hope you're enjoying Palace Walk. I loved the whole trilogy tho PW is the best of the three. Passing is fantastic and reads like something written today. With Trollope you can't lose. Happy reading!
In May I completed Passing which is part of my Old/New Challenge and Second Place or Worse and Century of African American Female Authors. Very interesting book, I really enjoyed her style.I read A Very Long Engagement which I used for Historical Fiction in my second genre challenge. I really enjoyed it.
For my African Female decade challenge I read A Sin of Omission which deals with a piece of South African history that I knew nothing about. In the late 1800's, the sons of Xhosa chiefs were taken to be schooled and some of them ended up with the Anglican church to become missionaries which involved sending them to Canterbury in England to complete their training. The book is broadly based on the life of one of these men and beautifully written.
You've made great progress on the Old and New challenge and have a unique selection.
I love reading your lists! So many enticing titles.
I didn't make a ton of progress this month, but I did manage to reach 24 short stories. I really enjoyed Youth, my first by the author and the twist at the end was marvelous. I don't usually read lots of short stories, but I have participated in a few of the group reads which helped. I added The Bell Jar to the genre challenge for published in the 20th century. Her description of depression was very interesting. And I completed Framley Parsonage for the 19th century. Loved it.
Mod
Maybe you feel like you didn't make much progress, but I love the books you read, and so did you, which is what is important. I read The Bell Jar when I was in college and still have echoes of it in my head. You and I are at the same point in the Trollope series. I also loved Framley Parsonage and really looking forward to The Small House at Allington, which I will get to later this year.
Youth is really fun, I'm glad I found it.I have basically 3 big reading projects for the rest of the year: finishing the Barchester Chronicles, reading the remaining 2 books of the Cairo trilogy and then tackling Kristin Lavransdatter.
But there are so many nice group reads which keeps pulling me in!
Mod
Hi Caolien. Raisin in the Sun is good. It is accessible when one is familiar with prejudice of mid-20th century USA. Also since Hansberry provided somewhat detailed description of set and characters. If you should want more help--or enjoyment--there is at least one movie version of this play on youtube which is true ti the text. In case it matters to you.
Cynda wrote: "Hi Caolien. Raisin in the Sun is good. It is accessible when one is familiar with prejudice of mid-20th century USA. Also since Hansberry provided somewhat detailed description of set and character..."Thanks, Cynda. I'll definitely take a look at it.
Carolien wrote: "Youth is really fun, I'm glad I found it.I have basically 3 big reading projects for the rest of the year: finishing the Barchester Chronicles, reading the remaining 2 books of the Cairo trilogy ..."
Carolien, enjoy The Cairo Trilogy and KL. Both are fabulous! Great choices. :))
Mod
I've completed the Second Place or Worse challenge.I now need 1 book to complete the Old/New challenge and 1 to finish my second Genre challenge. 3 to finish my Century of African-American female authors.
I really enjoyed Candide and A Raisin in the Sun this month. I loved Sanditon, she set it up beautifully, I wish I could read the ending!
Mod
Sara wrote: "Congrats, Carolien, you are really doing well at completing all of these. I'm glad you enjoyed Sanditon. I have wanted to read it but wondered if it would be worthwhile with the ending missing. The..."It's short and I enjoyed it. I haven't read Austen in a while, so it also motivated me to search out one of hers that I haven't read yet - either Emma or Mansfield Park (or reread Persuasion).
Mod
Good to know you enjoyed both. In the meantime, I started Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont last night. So glad you introduced me to Elizabeth Taylor!
Mod
Wow, you are are making mincemeat of this buffet. This is the one challenge where I struggling to make headway. #EnjoyUrReading
Mod
I've read 12 books for the Old and New challenge, so that is done. Captain Blood was the final one, although I'll still read Beloved as it is a group read in another group in October.I added I Do Not Come to You by Chance to my decade of African female authors challenge. Great fun to read, highly recommend this one.
I've completed a Century of Female Authors - 1910 - 2010. I may end up completing some other decades. I'm one book from reading a book published in each year from 1930 - 1939, and 1990 - 1999.
I enjoyed some lovely short stories this month. I have never read anything by Eudora Welty and Why I Live at the P.O was a good introduction, definitely reading more by her. I also enjoyed A Jury Of Her Peers. Neighbours: The Story of a Murder is by Mozambican author Lília Momplé and it was very interesting.
I'll focus on my Century of female African American authors next.
Mod
Wow, congratulations on completing so many challenges and I’m impressed by your diverse reading through time and place! And glad you’ve had so many good reads too! I was on the fence about The Girl with the Louding Voice and I Do Not Come to You by Chance — I’ll have to be sure and read then! :) Do you know when you might be going to Lagos?
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
A Raisin in the Sun (other topics)Half Magic (other topics)
Kingfishers Catch Fire (other topics)
Excellent Women (other topics)
Music in the Hills (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Franz Kafka (other topics)Négar Djavadi (other topics)
Guy de Maupassant (other topics)
Rafael Sabatini (other topics)
Lília Momplé (other topics)
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Old school:
The Castle of OtrantoCompleted 22 January 4 starsWives and DaughtersCompleted 29 March 4 starsOedipus RexCompleted 27 January 3.5 starsNew School:
I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsCompleted 25 January 4 starsA Raisin in the SunCompleted 25 July 4 starsThe StreetCompleted 19 February 5 starsWild Card:
BelovedCompleted 27 October 4 starsPassingCompleted 17 May 4 starsMules and Men
HappinessCompleted 9 March 4 starsSanditonCompleted 28 July 3.5 starsHalf a Lifelong RomanceCompleted 3 January 5 starsAlternates:
A Room with a ViewCompleted 25 April 4 starsCaptain BloodCompleted 30 August 3 stars