Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I have spectacularly failed my 2021 challenge buffet (and a good number of other reading plans).
When I came up with my two challenges my expectations were of a year of well-tempered reading. Instead my health took a turn for the worse and I received a diagnosis that upended all my plans. - Reading included. Sometimes I didn't touch a book for months, because I was too miserable.
Knowing that my treatments will go on during the next year and not knowing if they will work or how I will be, inevitably raises the question if there is any sense in attempting a challenge in 2022. Two weeks ago I would have said no, expecting to read only a few books. Now I'm feeling better and daring. I spend all my days at home now, and a good amount of time in bed (what a boring life); so reading really is my best option when I feel up to it. I might read five books or a hundred in the next year. Who knows.
Reading Bob's juicy challenge proposals and encouraging words to just have fun, made me want to get started with my planning and overindulge in gluttony. Thank you, Bob, for reminding us that it does not matter if we cannot finish our challenges. Thinking that there is a high chance of me reading very little should not keep me from planning my challenges. After all, if I find I can read a lot, I will be all the happier for having planned them. And if I end up reading next to nothing, then at least I had fun planning. I am now going to completely overindulge myself, preparing for the maddest reading appetite of all possible versions of 2022.

Challenge overview

Main Challenges:
#1 Colorful Language Menu (Old & New TBR)
#2 Children's Series Marathon Feast (Old & New TBR)
#3 Leftover Cooking: Old Potatoes from the Bookstack (Personal Challenge ⁓ Old & New TBR)
#4 Shopping Fresh Ingredients (Old and New Linked Categories)
#5 Eating at the Banket: 2022 Group Reads Challenge

Optional Challenges:
#6 Mixing Many Tastes (Members Choice Challenge)
#7 Cooking from old recipes (The Millennium Challenge)
#8 Recheck your Ingredients: Fiction/Non-Fiction
#9 Sort your Cookbooks: A-Z Author Challenge
#10 Sort your Cookbooks: A-Z Title Challenge

#1 Colorful Language Menu (Old & New TBR)

I came up with this challenge for 2021. The aim is to make myself read more in languages that are not English.

German (New School)

1. Der Zauberberg by Thomas Mann (1924)

Swedish (New School)

2. Ronja rövardotter by Astrid Lindgren (1981)

French

3. L'Africain by J.M.G. Le Clézio (2004, Wild Card)
4. Vingt mille lieues sous les mers by Jules Verne (1870, Old School)
5. Les Trois Mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas (1844, Old School)

Dutch (New School)

6. De torens van februari by Tonke Dragt (1973)
7. De tuinen van Dorr by Paul Biegel (1969)

Italian

8. La principessa Baciarospi by Garth Nix (2017, Wild Card)
9. Speciale Violante by Bianca Pitzorno (1989, New School)

Historical Languages (Old School)

10. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer -> read from The Riverside Chaucer edited by Larry Dean Benson (ca. 1387-1400, Middle English)
11. The Homilies of Wulfstan by Lupus Wulfstan, edited by Dorothy Bethurum (996-1023, Old English)
12. Layamon's Arthur: The Arthurian Section of Layamon's Brut by Layamon, edited by S. C. Weinberg and W. R. J. Barron (ca. 1200, Middle English)

Alternates

1. Das kunstseidene Mädchen by Irmgard Keun (German, 1932, New School)
2. Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen by Heinrich Heine (German, 1844, Old School)
3. Memoires d'une Jeune Fille Rangee by Simone de Beauvoir (French, 1958, New School)

Some comments on my choices

German:
A tough section of the challenge. Don't misunderstand me: reading German is easy, it is just that I am so thoroughly unmotivated. Before this challenge I bought a book in German about once every five years (study books and philosophy excluded). Finding a book that I actually want to read is pretty hard, which is why I only tax myself with one title. Der Zauberberg should be a good choice and it is a long read, so I'll consider that enough effort for the year.

Swedish:
Ronja rövardotter was on my list last year, but I ended up reading a translation of Harry Potter instead, as the other book by Astrid Lindgren didn't go well. I still have to finish that, so we'll see how far I get in the Swedish section.

French:
I pledged to read The Three Musketeers for my children's series challenge. The series has two more volumes, but I don't know how that will go. I felt confident enough, though, to put the first volume on a second challenge. My other two choices were partly motivated by my 2021 choices: I wanted a short novel continuing the fifties theme. That would be an easy option to get a least some French reading done if my challenge goes badly. L'Africain is a newer publication, but based on memories from 1948. In contrast, I wanted the second book to be a long read, something to commit me more thoroughly to reading French. I already read this story by Jules Verne several years ago for a seminar. But as it was just a week's reading, I ended up having to do some skimming, and I've been wanting to read it properly again.

Dutch:
One of the languages I feel comfortable reading. But as I still have a pretty thick unfinished novel from 2021, I won't be able to commit to more than two titles for the new year. I wanted to read Biegel for 2021, then discovered that it was no longer being sold in my country. As it is now back in stock with a nice new cover, I am putting it back on the list. I didn't go for De torens van februari last year, as I already read it in translation as a child and wanted to read something new first. But I am excited now to reread it in the original.

Italian:
This is one of the two languages I will be struggling with most, as I am sadly out of practice. For that reason I only picked one book last year, but then didn't make it to the Italian section. I have a feeling now that I won't be able to read more than children's books. My first choice is actually a translation. I picked it, because a) I read the story in English, so it will be easier as a starting point (I haven't read Italian for a long time) and b) I came across this beauiful beautiful edition, and as a collector I just needed to buy it. For the second book I wanted something from a well known Italian author. Pitzorno seemed to be the obvious choice.

Historical Languages:
I used to read a lot in Middle English, but didn't have much time for it during the last years. Rereading The Canterbury Tales is the obvious starting point to get back into the habit. Wulfstan was already on my list last year, but I did't find the time. He will be harder to read, as his work is in Old English, which is more difficult and mine has gotten rusty. I know I will have to look up some words. The Arthurian section of Brut is something I've been wanting to read for the last ten years - I actually got started on a library copy back then, but did't have the time to finish it. I am definitely wanting to read some Arthurian stuff this year, so this should be a good choice. All put together, these three books are quite long and will take up a good amount of reading time. I really think three is too much and I will be happy to go for two of them - likely Chaucer will have to move. Challenge aside, my language goal for he historical section will be at two.

Alternates:
Last year I sorted all my books by language and did not pinpoint alternates. I'm keeping the alternates seperate this year, because I'm setting myself certain goals for each language and the alternates are not part of this. My language goal for the historical section is actually at two books, so my language goals do not quite add up for the challenge. I could swap one of the historical titles for a German alternate, but I don't want to mess that language goal up either. The reason I picked German and French for my alternates (despite my hesitation to read German), is because those are the two languages in which I could read more. Dutch would normally also be on the list, but I still have a good 460 pages left from that brick I started for 2021. For the two German titles I explicitly picked short works. Reading them instead of Mann will not count for my language goals. They are, however meant as an easy way out for the other language sections: for those languages I am struggling with, books I cannot finish for the challenge. So I'm giving myself the option of an easy replacement read to get the challenge finished. The obvious languages here are Swedish and Italian. I actually rather want to read Das kunstseidene Mädchen - I read it a good fifteen years ago in school and it was quite good - but I'm not putting it in the regular section, as I really want myself to work on the goals for the other languages. My French alternate is rather long, not a fast replacement, but still easier to read than some of the other titles. I'm actually also really wanting to read about Beauvoir's experiences in the twenties, and it would also go well with Das Kunstseidene Mädchen. But I only came across this work after my French list was already finished. We'll see.

#2 Children's Series Marathon Feast (Old & New TBR)

During the last two years I kept coming across children's series that I had been wanting to reread - some well remembered, some with only the vaguest memory from my childhood. It seemed like a good idea to put them into a challenge, in order to finally go read those series.

For this Old & New TBR I am using a series for every position. The total number of books might seem insane, but as they are children's books (or maybe some young adult), the faster reading pace should make the challenge more managable. The Old School part will be a little tricky, but we'll see. I am a little uncertain so far if I should let duets count. In that case Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll would be eligible, for example.

I will list the first book of the series for reference.

New School

1. The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann (7 volumes) 1979-1992
2. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, followed by The Willows in Winter by William Horwood (4 volumes, I'm not counting the Christmas volume added later) 1908, 1993-1996
3. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (5 volumes) 1952-1982
4. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton (4 volumes originally, but mostly printed as a trilogy now; might need to count 5, though the last one wasn't originally part of the series and is described as a stand-alone) 1939-1951
5. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (7 volumes) 1950-1956
6. Wyvern Winter by Toby Forward (4 volumes) 1992-1994 (unfortunately out of print and difficult to buy now, and I only own the series in translation)
7. Can You Beat the Challenge? (Knightmare) by Dave Morris (6 volumes; volume 7 is only puzzles) 1988-1993

Wild Card

8. Boston Jane: An Adventure by Jennifer L. Holm (3 volumes) 2001-2004

Old School

9. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (4 volumes) 1876-1896
10. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (2 volumes) 1886-1894
11. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope (3 volumes) 1894-1898
12. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (3 volumes) 1844-1850; going for the French version for now Les Trois Mousquetaires 1

Alternates

1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2 volumes) 1865-1871 (Old School)
2. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (3 volumes) 1995-2000 (New School)
3. The Fall by Garth Nix (6 volumes) 2000-2001 (Wild Card)

#3 Leftover Cooking: Old Potatoes from the Bookstack (Personal Challenge ⁓ Old & New TBR)

I came up with the Leftover Cooking Challenge (originally Mixed Corpse Challenge = bookstack corpses) for 2021 as a way to remind me of the books that have been forgotten the longest. We all have these books: we buy them, start reading, and then put them for some reason aside, others we never even open. In this challenge I am addressing the books that have been in my stacks the longest: the leftovers from the 2000s. I will probably allow some younger purchases as well, but nothing I have had for less than three years is eligible. I am a little undecided yet if I will also allow reread corpses: those are books I read and put back on the stack to reread and that have also been left there for several years.

Nota bene

I am, for the moment, unable to physically access my bookstacks, to browse through them and see which books I might have forgotten about. Unfortunately Old and New challenges need to be prepared in advance - and I really want to choose my books this way. So I'm changing this challenge to a personal one, but to keep things less messy and have all my challenges in one thread I'm not moving it there. Titles will be filled in by and by as I find the opportunity to go through my stacks. The goal is mainly to read twelve books from these stacks.

Old School

1. Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
2. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
3. Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
4.

New School

The Ringmaster's Daughter by Jostein Gaarder

Wild Cards

Alternates

#4 Shopping Fresh Ingredients (Old and New Linked Categories)

This challenge is dedicated to those books I always keep saying I'm going to read, but never even end up buying. Basically, I'm just going to read those books and then see how I can pair them with other books and topics. I'm not going to completely preplan this challenge, but will leave some room for spontaneity.

1.
Old:
New: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, 1945

2.
Old:
New: Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson, 1939

3.
Old: A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy, 1873
New:

4.
Old:
New:

5.
Old:
New:

#5 Eating at the Banket: 2022 Group Reads Challenge

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5.
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12.

#6 Mixing Many Tastes (Members Choice Challenge)

This challenge is an optional, a maybe, I'm not sure if I'm really going for it. But I think that a lot of the categories can be filled with books I'm reading for my main challenges, so I'll see how far I get.

1. 19th Century,
2. 20th Century,
3. 21st Century Potential Future Classic,
4. Current or Past Group Read,
5. An Author not read before,
6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours.
7. Science Fiction,
8. A book originally written in a language other than your own,
9. A Banned Book,
10. Nonfiction,
11. Mystery/Crime,
12. Horror or Humor

#7 Cooking from old recipes (The Millennium Challenge)

This challenge is an optional, a maybe, I'm not sure if I'm really going for it. An additional I might attempt in the second half of the year if I'm doing well with my main challenges.

I would really like to go for antiquity, especially for the Greek plays. But we'll see. No planning until I get started.

#8 Recheck your Ingredients: Fiction/Non-Fiction

This challenge is an optional, a maybe. An additional I might attempt in the second half of the year if I'm doing well with my main challenges.

The reason why this challenge seems so attractive to me is, because I have a good number of interesting non-fiction books in the older parts of my stacks. And this challenge might be the ultimate excuse to finally deal with those nice books (and add a fictional extra to the topic).
However, this will be a lot of extra reading and I have already pledged a number of main challenges. So I only keep this as an extra in case my reading time will be running wild.

1.
Non-Fiction:
Fiction:
2.
Non-Fiction:
Fiction:
3.
Non-Fiction:
Fiction:
4.
Non-Fiction:
Fiction:
5.
Non-Fiction:
Fiction:

The next two challenges are an optional, a maybe, I'm not sure if I'm really going for them. I'm mainly curious to see how many of the letters can be filled with books I'm reading anyway (e.g. for my main challenges), and if a lot of them fill up, I might attempt for the more difficult letters during the last part of the year. No planning ahead.


#9 Sort your Cookbooks: A-Z Author Challenge

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#10 Sort your Cookbooks: A-Z Title Challenge

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Lilly, your challenges look like a lot of fun! I'm glad you're feeling well enough to be so ambitious with your planning. That's wonderful!
I find that challenges, whether I finish them or not, encourage/push me to read books that have been on my list for a long time. If I add them to a challenge I'm more likely to go ahead and read them. The challenges have helped me a lot in reducing my huge TBR list! But, of course, I keep adding to it, haha!

Happy 2022 Reading!! :)

I'm so happy you feel up to reading more! I hope to get ideas from your lists so thanks in advance. :)

Glad to hear your are feeling a bit better, Lilly. I admire your efforts to read in languages not your own. And I think you children's challenge is a lovely idea!

Terris wrote: "Lilly, your challenges look like a lot of fun! I'm glad you're feeling well enough to be so ambitious with your planning. That's wonderful!
I find that challenges, whether I finish them or not, en..."

Thank you for your encouragement, Terris : )
The lists definitely help me to keep those books in mind while I come across other reading options, and I'm hoping to read as much as possible during the next year.

CindySlowReader#Boosted wrote: "I'm so happy you feel up to reading more! I hope to get ideas from your lists so thanks in advance. :)"

Thank you, Cindy : )
I'm happy to see that you're interested in my lists.

Lilly I am sorry to hear of the difficulties, but hope that you have much success this year both personally in your reading. A plan is like a dream. You decide on how big it should be. Good luck with your reading.

Carolien wrote: "Glad to hear your are feeling a bit better, Lilly. I admire your efforts to read in languages not your own. And I think you children's challenge is a lovely idea!"

Thank you, Carolien. I'm glad you like my new challenge, I'm really excited to get it started. : )

Lynn wrote: "Lilly I am sorry to hear of the difficulties, but hope that you have much success this year both personally in your reading. A plan is like a dream. You decide on how big it should be. Good luck wi..."

Thank you, Lynn : )

Request

I only knew the first two volumes of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a kid. Apparently volume 3 and 4 are parodies of adventure and detective novels at the time. Does anyone know these and if so, are they any good?

I also came across the Ruritania trilogy and the David Balfour Duet in a Goodreads list but don't know them. Has anyone read these?

I love that positive attitude, which will get you a long way while battling illness, Lilly. I hope you continue to improve and that your reading joy exceeds your expectations. You've made some wonderful plans!

Sara wrote: "I love that positive attitude, which will get you a long way while battling illness, Lilly. I hope you continue to improve and that your reading joy exceeds your expectations. You've made some wond..."

Thank you, Sara : )
I'm hoping that lots of books will make the difference ...

Planning is half the fun, so even if you don't get around to completing the challenges at least you plotted them out!

The Prisoner of Zenda is my favourite old adventure classic. I have read it multiple times and watched all (I think) of the old film adaptations. I love me some swashbuckling fun. I've never thought of it as a children's book, although there's no reason why a child shouldn't read it. Actually, I was a child when I first read it, so there's that. Rupert of Hentzau isn't as good (in fact I have forgotten the plot). But I rated it three stars, so I must have liked it well enough.

I read Kidnapped as a child, and again as an adult. It made quite an impression on me as a child and was fun to revisit.

Leni wrote: "Planning is half the fun, so even if you don't get around to completing the challenges at least you plotted them out!

The Prisoner of Zenda is my favourite old adventure classic. I have read it m..."

Thank you so much for your feedback, Leni! : )
I'm happy to hear that both "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "Kidnapped" are such good reads. It's always difficult to know which of the less well-known books are worth reading. I'm putting both series in my challenge, as I've become really curious and I also want to give the Old School section a decent share.

As to the question if those books can be considered children's books ... Well, children's books as we have come to know them today did not exist at the time. But apparently certain classics have a tendency to be on book lists for younger readers and regularly find themselves in the children's section of book shops. Like "Tom Sawyer", or "Treasure Island", or "Around the World in 80 Days". For me that is good enough to use them in this challenge. After all, they are readable by children, just as you said, although finding them in this category may surprise us for a moment.
The series factor makes the choices for my challenge a little more difficult - but also brought me to "Zenda" and "Kidnapped", which is great. I really enjoyed my dig in the "children's" Old School section : )

Jillian ❀‿❀ wrote: "Lilly, so many good wishes for 2022. Your children's book challenge especially looks so lovely. I hope it strengthens you and gives you joy this year. x"

Thank you, Jillian : ) I'm really excited for that one - already went sniffing some books out on the internet ...

I love the themes for your challenges Lilly. You have been very creative!

I am sorry to read that you have been unwell but wish you all the best for your health and your challenges in 2022.

Thank you, Liesl : )

I'm always wanting to make my challenges as personal as possible.

Finally finished setting up my first challenge: The Colorful Language Menu. I'm feeling really good about this. : )

See here.

Color me impressed!
You have done some great planning!

Lilly reading can sometimes distract. I find listening to more accessible books or books revisited keeps me reading and a little elevated from physical difficulties. . . . .And then other times more challenging books as a way of insisting that I am in a moment outside the physical difficulties. So a mixed list worked best for me, new reading skills learned as I learned to continue reading in hurting days just about the time reading technology was changjng. I will be wishing you improved health in the months to come. . . .

Hi Lilly, I'm sorry to hear you had health problems last year, and I hope things will take a better turn for you in 2022! In any case you are right to plan anyway, even if you don't know if you will be able to read all of those books, all that matters is the fun you have during the planning and eventually also the reading^^ Your reading plans seem very cool, quite a few of my favourite child and teenager favourite books in there! ;-) Have a wonderful reading time!^^

Susie wrote: "Color me impressed!
You have done some great planning!"

Thank you, Susie : )

Cynda wrote: "Lilly reading can sometimes distract. I find listening to more accessible books or books revisited keeps me reading and a little elevated from physical difficulties. . . . .And then other times mor..."

Thank you for your well wishes, Cynda! And thank you for your insights how reading helps you cope with illness. I will definitely be remembering your words when I make my reading choices throughout the year. You are right, I should not lower the bar for what I think myself capable of reading just because of the added layer of difficulty. I did hope to join some group reads, so, hopefully, I will tax myself a little from time to time.

Irphen wrote: "Hi Lilly, I'm sorry to hear you had health problems last year, and I hope things will take a better turn for you in 2022! In any case you are right to plan anyway, even if you don't know if you wil..."

Thank you, Irphen : )
I am hoping to get as much reading time this year as possible ...

Update

Here I am, already two weeks into the year and still juggling my challenges. I know we are technically supposed to finish our Old and New TBR lists by the end of the year. But my health took a downwards turn after christmas, so I have been unable to wrap anything up. I only managed to get back to GR and finish my list for the children's series marathon (challenge 2) on the 9th - but I do not feel like this is cheating, given the situation, especially as I had already decided on the titles at the end of the year ...
As for my bookstack challenge (challenge 3), I have been torn about what to do with it, as I had only filled in a few titles. I had to go to the hospital for a week and am now staying with my grandparents. So I have no opportunity to access my bookstacks and choose my books through browsing - which is really the way I want to do this challenge, to see which titles I might have forgotten and to choose beyond those books that come to mind first. An obvious solution (just to set up the challenge quickly at the beginning of the year) would have been to take my list from last year and swap the one title I have started reading. - But I do not feel like I want to read exactly those same books. Or, another option would be to drop the challenge completely, which I do not want either.
So I've come to think the best - and obvious - solution is to change the challenge type. Using another menu's challenge would not really work and I really want to keep the general format. So I'm simply changing it into a personal challenge: I will fill in the titles as I go, whenever I find the opportunity to browse through my stacks, and my goal is to eliminate twelve of these. I do not know if I will keep the minimum numbers for Old School/New School. My main goal, at the moment, is just to motivate myself to go for the stacks. I'm feeling good about this decision. But, to keep my challenges tidy together I won't move the challenge from the menu thread.

Lilly,
I sent you a friend request so we can discuss different skills of how to continue to read if not challenges and committments, then at least read. We are readers and reading somehow fixes us, or me, and maybe others too.