Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

❄ Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR COMPLETED
❄ Challenge #2 - Second Place or Worse COMPLETED
❄ Challenge #3 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge COMPLETED - Decade & Century
❄ Challenge #4 - Members Choice Challenge COMPLETED
❄ Challenge #5 - Short Story Challenge COMPLETED
Challenge #6 - 2022 Group Reads Challenge
❄ Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors COMPLETED
Challenge #8 - Does the Passage of Time Make a Difference?
Challenge #9 – Fiction/Non-Fiction
Challenge #10 - The Half a Millennium Challenge with a Sour Lemon Twist of Difficult
❄ Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories COMPLETED

COMPLETED

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR

I hope I have chosen more wisely this year. 2021 could not be completed because of poor choices.

1899 and Earlier:

➤The Small House at Allington June 23 - 5✭
➤The Old Curiosity Shop - February 5 - 4✭
➤Liza of Lambeth July 16 3✭

1900-1999

➤The Able McLaughlins February 21 3✭
Lark Rise to Candleford
➤Brighton Rock - January 23 - 4✭

Wildcards

➤They Came Like Swallows - May 14 5✭
➤Remembering Laughter August 4 4✭
➤Good Morning, Midnight by Rhys- March 26 3✭
➤Twilight Sleep August 14 3✭
➤The Widow's Trial August 6 5✭
➤In a Summer Season - February 18 - 5✭

Alternates
The Chequer Board
➤The Winter People - May 19 - 5✭
Under the Greenwood Tree

Completed

Challenge #2 - Second Place or Worse

➤Old - Oroonoko July 5
➤Old - The Old Curiosity Shop February 5
➤New - The Bone People March 12
➤New - The Summer Book June 29
➤Short Story - The Mark on the Wall June 27
➤Short Story - A Horseman in the Sky March 31
➤Long Read - Sometimes a Great Notion June 13

COMPLETED Decade & Century Only

Challenge #3 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge

Decade 1970's

➤1970: I'm the King of the Castle
➤1971: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
➤1972: The Summer Book
➤1973: The Time It Never Rained
➤1974: The Diviners
➤1975: To Look and Pass
➤1976: Last Seen Wearing
➤1977: Quartet in Autumn
➤1978: The Far Pavilions
➤1979: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Century 1800's

➤1800 Poems in Two Volumes, Volume 1
➤1810 Persuasion
➤1820 The Last Day of a Condemned Man
➤1830 Mudfog and Other Sketches
➤1840 The Old Curiosity Shop
➤1850 Bleak House
➤1860 The Small House at Allington
➤1870 The First Violin
➤1880 Treasure Island
➤1890 Liza of Lambeth


Millennium

20th Century Sometimes a Great Notion
19th Century The Old Curiosity Shop
18th Century
17th Century Oroonoko
16th Century
15th Century
14th Century
13th Century
12th Century
11th Century

COMPLETED

Challenge #4 - Members Choice Challenge

➤1. 19th Century The Old Curiosity Shop
➤2. 20th Century Brighton Rock
➤3. 21st Century Potential Future Classic The Siege
➤4. Current or Past Group Read The Waste Land
➤5. An Author not read before The Moonflower Vine
➤6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours The Bone People
➤7. Science Fiction Good Morning, Midnight byLily Brooks-Dalton
➤8. A book originally written in a language other than your own Chess Story
➤9. A Banned Book Bridge to Terabithia
➤10. Nonfiction The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays
➤11. Mystery/Crime A Strange Disappearance
➤12. Horror or Humor The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

COMPLETED

Challenge #5 - Short Story Challenge

1. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
2. A Shocking Accident by Graham Greene
3. The Golden Kite, The Silver Wind by Ray Bradbury
4. Why I Live at the P.O by Eudora Welty
5. Bluebeard's Egg by Margaret Atwood - (12)
6. Love by William Maxwell
7. The Begging-Letter Writer by Charles Dickens
8. The Legacy by Virginia Woolf
9. Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre (21)
10. The Grave by Katherine Anne Porter
11. The Caterpillar by Lydia Davis
12. The Kimono by H.E. Bates
13. A Horseman In The Sky: Short Story by Ambrose Bierce
14. A Son of the Gods by Ambrose Bierce
15. My Evil Mother: A Short Story by Margaret Atwood
16. The Moving Finger by Edith Wharton
17. An Imaginative Woman by: Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
18. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories (10)
19. Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin
20. Hearts and Hands by O. Henry
21. The Wife's Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
22. The House of Asterion by Jorge Luis Borges
23. Regret by Kate Chopin
24. The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf
25. Mudfog and Other Sketches by Charles Dickens
26. Three Detective Anecdotes by Charles Dickens
27. On Duty with Inspector Field by Charles Dickens
28. So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
29. Uncanny Stories by May Sinclair (8)
30. That Distant Land: The Collected Stories by Wendell Berry (23)
31. The Fun They Had by Isaac Asimov
32. Our English and French Watering-Place by Charles Dickens
33. The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton by Charles Dickens
34. The Harvest by Amy Hempel
35. The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman

Total: 104

Challenge #6 - 2022 Group Reads Challenge



1. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
2. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
3. The Waste Land and Other Poems
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Buddy Reads Just for tracking purposes.

1. The Siege by Helen Dunmore
2. The Bone People by Keri Hulme
3. These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner
4. The Sea Wolf by Jack London
5. The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye
6. Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles
7. Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
8. The Trees by Conrad Richter
9. The Fields by Conrad Richter
10. The Town by Conrad Richter

COMPLETED

Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors

1. Jetta Carleton - The Moonflower Vine
2. Helen Dunmore - The Siege & The Betrayal
3. Lily Brooks-Dalton - Good Morning, Midnight
4. Margaret Wilson - The Able McLaughlins
5. Keri Hulme - The Bone People
6. Nancy E. Turner - These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901
7. M.M. Kaye - The Far Pavilions
8. Stefan Zweig - Chess Story
9. Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
10. Jorge Luis Borges - The House of Asterion
11. Barbara Pym - Quartet in Autumn
12. Mary Lawson - Crow Lake
13. Tove Jansson - The Summer Book
14. Aphra Behn - Oroonoko
15. May Sinclair - Uncanny Stories
16. Kate Quinn - The Alice Network
17. Elmer Kelton - The Time It Never Rained
18. Elizabeth Madox Roberts - The Time of Man
19. Alfred Lansing -Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
20. Olga Tokarczuk - Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
21. Sanora Babb - Whose Names Are Unknown
22. Sharyn McCrumb - The Ballad of Tom Dooley
23. Alice Hoffman - The Bookstore Sisters

Challenge #8 - Does the Passage of Time Make a Difference?

Select 10 books from any single year of interest, then select 10 more from 100, 50, or 25 years earlier, for a total of 20 books. List your choices for other members to explore. The challenge is to successfully read 10 of the 20 books selected, five from your year of choice and five from the earlier year chosen.

1923

Cane
Weeds
➤ Uncanny Stories
A Lost Lady
➤ The Ladies of Lyndon
➤ The Able McLaughlins
➤ A Son at the Front

1973:
➤ The Time It Never Rained
The Dressmaker
The Bird of Night
Elizabeth Alone
Moonraker's Bride

Challenge #9 – Fiction/Non-Fiction

➤1. Cold Climate:
The Siege by Helen Dunmore / Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

➤2. Agrarian:
The Fields by Conrad Richter / The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays by Wendell Berry

➤3. A Book About a Writer:
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence / The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life by Andy Miller

➤4. Contains a Death:
Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton / The Last Day of a Condemned Man by Victor Hugo

Feeling I will not finish the ones I signed up for, I am officially saying no to this one.

Challenge #10 - The Half a Millennium Challenge with a Sour Lemon Twist of Difficult (MAYBE)

COMPLETED

Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories

➤Traveling/Wandering: The Old Curiosity Shop and The Far Pavilions

➤Contains a Death: Bunner Sisters and They Came Like Swallows

➤Contains a Trial: Bleak House and Sarah's Quilt

➤Contains a Murder: Treasure Island and The Winter People

➤Small Town/Rural Setting: The Small House at Allington and Sometimes a Great Notion

Reserved

Reserved

I am taking on 11 of the 13--no A to Z for me, with a promise to myself that I will not worry over any of them that I cannot finish.

I admire your appetite, Sara!

In which way were your choices from this year poor? Were some of the books unavailable? I'm sorry to hear that it did not go as planned.

I chose books for the Old and New that were books I had had on my TBR and physical bookshelf for years. Unfortunately, three of them were bummers, and since you cannot change the books in the O&N, I had to choose between continuing to read a horrible book or admit defeat in the challenge. I did the latter. This year I chose books that I want to read and that come with good recommendations. I ought to fare better.

That must have been frustrating. But I think you're right and it's more important to enjoy the challenge. Hope things go better this time.

Thanks, Lilly. I'm confident they will.

You have a nice selection for this year, Sara! Lark rise to Candleford has been on my TBR for a while. Happy reading!

Thanks, Carolien. I loved the series they made from it and put it on the list way back then.

Carolien wrote: "You have a nice selection for this year, Sara! Lark rise to Candleford has been on my TBR for a while. Happy reading!"

That one has also been on my list for ages. Might try to put it somewhere in. Good idea, Sara.

These are the kinds of books that make for good buddy reads as the year progresses. You guys keep it in mind.

Yes, that would be nice. :)

Would definitely be up for a buddy read on that one next year!

Thanks, Jillian. I missed the group reading of Shirley, actually I missed it twice. I hope to get to it this year for sure. It is also my last Bronte unread.

The Far Pavilions was recommended a while back by someone whose taste is impeccable. I'm looking forward to it. I hadn't heard it compared to GWTW, but that is also encouraging.

I also missed out on "Shirley" in the group reads, still have it right in my stacks. Don't know yet if I'm going to try for it this year.

It is one of those books that have been on my list for as long as I have had one. I really need to read it and put it behind me. Good luck on your stab at it, Lilly.

I'm glad to see John Ehle on your list - The Widow's Trial is one that I have purchased. I've got The Road on my century challenge right now. I'd love to get to it as well and look forward to what you think.

I also have both of them, Lori. Ehle really impressed me. I am looking forward to more of his work and your opinions. Always more fun when a friend is also reading!

Good luck with 2022, Sara.

I did the same thing last year, and am repeating again this year, by trying to use up TBR books that are physically on a shelf in my bookcase. I sometimes wonder if they are still sitting there for a reason.... Shirley is one of them so fingers crossed that it will go well.

Thank you, Liesl. I am determined not to buy more books until I read a good number of the ones I already have. I need to clear the space!

Sara, I have been admiring your Old and New challenge. The titles alone give me warm fuzzy feelings. I want to add them all but I'll look forward to doing that after your reviews. I just know this is going to be an excellent challenge for you!

I'm also loving your decade and century challenges.

I see Sometimes a Great Notion on your list, and it's one I've been trying to get to for a few years. If you do end up reading it, would you want to consider a buddy read, maybe middle of the year sometime?

Thank you, Kathleen. I labored over the Old and New this year, not wanting to make the same mistake I made before. I really want to read all the books I chose, so I should be fine.

I would LOVE to read Sometimes a Great Notion with you mid year. I am going to put it on my calendar to check back with you and set a date sometime around May. Something to look forward to!

If you both do a Buddy Read of Sometimes a Great Notion, I might join as well.

Terry wrote: "If you both do a Buddy Read of Sometimes a Great Notion, I might join as well."

Great. I think Candi said something about reading it once. We might get a rather nice group together.

I'm so glad! May sounds great to me, and I do hope Terry and Candi both join too.

I think your plan looks very good Sara. I admire that you are willing to try the Old and New Again. I think finishing a few challenges, especially if there is Bingo too, is a very full year.

I have always loved the Old & New because I used it to make myself get to books I had ignored for too long. This year is a bit different because I put books I'm just itching to read on it instead. I've promised myself not to press too hard to do too much. I'm planning, but I might not stick to it at all...I am going to be more spontaneous if I can.

Sara wrote: "It is one of those books that have been on my list for as long as I have had one. I really need to read it and put it behind me. Good luck on your stab at it, Lilly."

Thank you, Sara. I hope reading Shirley will still be mostly enjoyment for you, even though you feel the need to press on with it.

Sara wrote: "I have always loved the Old & New because I used it to make myself get to books I had ignored for too long. This year is a bit different because I put books I'm just itching to read on it instead. ..."

I'm applauding you for being so strict with your unfinished tbr. But being spontaneous and going for new books is also good. I hope you find exactly the right mix for this year!

Thanks so much, Lilly.

Ooh, I'm glad I stopped by your thread tonight, Sara! Yes, I have been wanting to read Sometimes a Great Notion for a few years now! I have it on my kindle ready and waiting for the perfect time - which would be with a group of buddies :) :)

Marvelous! I'm glad I remembered that correctly. I was going to send you a PM. Put it on your calendar for May. I'm excited.

I just wrote it on the calendar, Sara! Yippee!

And, it works for the long read in the Second and Worse challenge. lol. Got to fill those slots.

I agree, poor selection led me to bail out on my challenges this year. I ended up reading only half of them. Happy reading

This was the first year I had that problem, Ila, but I was very careful in choosing for 2022. Have a great holiday and I'll see you for some reading next year!

The Far Pavilions is brilliant, but it is a tome, so allow time for that one or do a little every day.

I have a hard copy, Carolien. I never mind if the book is long, as long as it is interesting and doesn't drag. I will try to tackle it early in the year, because I hate when I take those kinds of books down to the wire.