Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Hello. Looking at the books that have won the polls for this month and next I have quite a list that I want to read. So Katy and Aubrey I am posting so we can start the discussion. What do you plan on reading this month?

The books I would like to read are:

The Sea Wolf by Jack London - Buddy Read
Persuasion by Jane Austen - This would be a reread for me.
The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - another reread for me.


For Challenges:
The Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick
More 19th Century short stories and the novel
The Honorable Schoolboy by John le Carré

I know this is more than I can finish in a month, but there were so many good choices. Blindness by José Saramago is tempting and I considered Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but there are just too many other to read right now. I have always loved to read multiple books by the same author. Three of my favorites were voted in: Jack London, Jane Austen, and Thomas Hardy. I love John le Carré so I am choosing his book for a challenge.

It may be April Fools in certain regions, but challenge reading is no joke. It's also National Poetry Month and Arab American Heritage Month in the US, both of which would be nice to dedicate some reading to.

Quest for Women
The Bondwoman's Narrative - Hannah Crafts (completed 4/2/22)
The Pumpkin Eater - Penelope Mortimer (completed 4/4/22)
Memoirs of a Highland Lady, Volume One - Elizabeth Grant (completed 4/18/22)
Crick Crack, Monkey - Merle Hodge (completed 4/23/22)
The Kindness of Strangers - Salka Viertel

People of Color Old & New
Last Words from Montmartre - Qiu Miaojin (completed 4/8/22)
The War of the End of the World - Mario Vargas Llosa (completed 4/12/22)
Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories - Hisaye Yamamoto (completed 4/29/22)

Bingo
The Origin of Species - Charles Darwin (completed 4/16/22)
The Women of Brewster Place - Gloria Naylor (completed 4/17/22)
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke (completed 4/26/22)
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison (Currently Reading)
The Sagas of Icelanders - Various (Currently Reading)
Richard III - William Shakespeare (Currently Reading)
Waiting for God - Simone Weil (Currently Reading)
Howl and Other Poems - Allen Ginsberg
Personal History - Katharine Graham
Nausea - Jean-Paul Sartre

Lynn wrote: "The books I would like to read are:

The Sea Wolf by Jack London - Buddy Read.."

I missed that this was going to be a buddy read. It is on my TBR list, so now I'm hoping to add to my April reads. The list just gets longer. At the first of the month I start stacking the physical books that I want to read - I should just post the picture.

Continuing on in April with my various challenges and working my way chronologically through a list of 1800's British novels.

Great Expectations

Persuasion

Our Mutual Friend

The Last Chronicle of Barset

The Moonstone

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Moonstone and Drood might spill over into May.

continuing reads:

Bleak House by Charles Dickens (chapter a day)

finish up from last month:
❒ Possession by A.S. Byatt
❒ The Lord's Prayer: The Meaning and Power of the Prayer Jesus Taught by Adam Hamilton

likely:
❒ Blindness by José Saramago
❒ Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
❒ Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
✔ The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges
❒ Learning to Talk to Plants by Marta Orriols
✔ The Sea Wolf by Jack London
✔ The Fisherman by John Langan

maybe, if time permits:
❒ All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
❒ Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich
❒ Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
❒ Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
❒ Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Carried over from prior months - fit in when possible:

❒ The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai
❒ The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
❒ Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

unplanned reads:

Happy to see I'll be sharing reads with some of you. :-) Don't know how I'm going to do this, but here's the plan:

Continuing
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry
Embers by Sándor Márai

Group/Buddy Reads
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Sea Wolf by Jack London
Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

Challenge Book Possibilities
Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley

Special (Thanks to Aubrey for throwing off my plans ... I mean for the reminder and inspiration!)
The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami for Arab American Heritage Month
Love Poems and Sonnets by William Shakespeare for National Poetry Month

my "core 8" for April will be:
5xPersonal Challenge:
Book Of Ebenezer Le Page, The Edwards, G.B. 1981
Radetzky March, The Roth, Joseph 1932
Piccadilly Jim Wodehouse, P. G. 1917
Ascent Of Rum Doodle, The Bowman, W. E. 1956
Aerodrome, The Warner, Rex 1941
2xDoorstops-Carried-Over-From-March:
Life And Fate Grossman, Vassily 1960
Imajica Barker, Clive 1991
1xBeen-Putting-Off-For-So-Long-It's-Unbelievable:
Correction Bernhard, Thomas 1975

Kathleen wrote: "Special (Thanks to Aubrey for throwing off my plans ... I mean for the reminder and inspiration!)"

Heh heh, if it makes you feel any better, Kathleen, I'm throwing myself off a bit too. Hoping to actually follow through though!

I love seeing all the books that everyone is reading!

Cozy_Pug wrote: "Continuing on in April with my various challenges and working my way chronologically through a list of 1800's British novels.

Great Expectations

Persuasion

[book:Ou..."

Cozy, you are packing some heavy duty classics into your reading these days! I know you'll love all of those.
Happy reading in April! :)

Greg wrote: "continuing reads:

Bleak House by Charles Dickens (chapter a day)

finish up from last month:
❒ Possession by A.S. Byatt
❒ [book:The Lor..."

My, that's quite a list, Greg! Possession is on my list for this year, so I'll watch and see what you think about it. I think I will also do the group read of Blindness, and as it is on my Bingo list, that's great for me!
Also, Nothing to See Here is kind of quirky and fun. I liked it a lot. Hope you do too!
Happy April Reading :)

This is the “big” plan for April. But since “April is the cruelest month,” we’ll see how it goes ;)

Bingo
✔Blindness by Jose Saramago (& GR group read)
White Noise by Don DeLillo (also Old/New Challenge)
Adventures of the Greek Heroes by Mollie McLean & Anne Wiseman

Old/New Challenge
✔Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

“Catching Up on Classics” group reads
✔The Hand by Guy de Maupassant
The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy

April Mini Challenge (Paging All Bookworms group)
✔The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
✔The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (re-read)
✔Miss Mapp by E.F. Benson
✔The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King (Dark Tower IV)

NetGalley
✔French Braid by Anne Tyler (out 3-22-22)
Vigil Harbor by Julia Glass (out 5-3-22)
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan (out 5-31-22)

Extras for Fun
Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo (May Library Book Club)
✔Vittoria Cottage by D.E. Stevenson (friend recommendation)
The Snapper (The Barrytown Trilogy, #2) by Roddy Doyle (friend recommendation)

Wish me luck!

I struggle to limit my tbr like the rest of you. One of my books works for Arab American Month so it was a fortuitous pick I had already made. Fingers crossed for the group read. It's my second attempt.

Group read
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Century Challenge
Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories by Alifa Rifaat

Does a Century Make a Difference Challenge
The Yield by Tara June Winch
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

For fun
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
Aya by Marguerite Abouet

Terris wrote: "My, that's quite a list, Greg! Possession is on my list for this year, so I'll watch and see what you think about it. I think I will also do the group read of Blindness, and as it is on my Bingo list, that's great for me!
Also, Nothing to See Here is kind of quirky and fun. I liked it a lot. Hope you do too!
Happy April Reading :)"

Thanks so much Terris, and you too! :)

I've been trying to read more modern books lately; I used to read mostly older books, and I'm trying to mix some like Nothing to See Here in there. So far, I'm enjoying mixing it up.

Hopefully, I finish Possession this month, but I fear it might end up stretching to the next month too. I joined quite a few buddy reads and am planning to join quite a few group reads, maybe too many; I just couldn't resist! :D

Terris wrote: "Cozy_Pug wrote: "Continuing on in April with my various challenges and working my way chronologically through a list of 1800's British novels.

Great Expectations

[book:Persuasion|..."

Yes, this is my year for mostly classics after giving up on contemporary fiction last year.

You have a huge list for April - wow! I spy a couple of books on your list I'm intrigued by. My mother received her copy of Paris Bookseller from the library this week - she's been so excited to read that one.

Kathleen wrote: "Happy to see I'll be sharing reads with some of you. :-) Don't know how I'm going to do this, but here's the plan:

Continuing
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
[book:A Bl..."

So many books! I'm reading Bleak House and Persuasion, too. I loved Castle of Otranto - such great atmosphere.

Greg wrote: "continuing reads:

Bleak House by Charles Dickens (chapter a day)

finish up from last month:
❒ Possession by A.S. Byatt
❒ [book:The Lor..."

I've had Voices from Chernobyl on my list for a long time. But I'm always hesitant to read it, I'll be curious to know what you think of it.

Cozy_Pug wrote: "Terris wrote: "Cozy_Pug wrote: "Continuing on in April with my various challenges and working my way chronologically through a list of 1800's British novels.

Great Expectations

[b..."

I'm interested to learn about Sylvia Beach and her "Shakespeare and Company" bookstore. I like that 1920's era when Hemingway, Fitzgerald, et al, met at Gertrude Stein's "salons." I hope your mother enjoys it. I'm looking forward to it!

@ Aubrey The Bondswoman's Narrative looks intriguing. Added to my ridiculous tbr oooh.

@ Greg. Klara and The Sun is so on my list to read asap, not this month unfortunately.

@ Kathleen. The Castle of Otranto is intriguing as early Gothic work, I hope you enjoy it too.

@ Terris. Wishing you luck. We will wish each other luck. Wait till you see my list. It's a doozy too!

Greg, I have been eyeing, knowing I will lose any battle to avoid adding to tbr. . . .I too want to read The Dictionary of Lost Words.

@Cynda, I started Klara and the Sun a week ago and have been enjoying it. It reminds me a little of Never Let Me Go so far, but it's hard to tell because I'm only 1/3 done.

Greg, What is a reader to do . . . .Based on how much you have read, shall I read Never Let Me Go first? I think maybe so? because the books are sometimes sold together I see. I will do that. I don't want to miss references or understandings.

Cynda wrote: "Greg, What is a reader to do . . . .Based on how much you have read, shall I read Never Let Me Go first? I think maybe so? because the books are sometimes sold together I see. I will do that. I don..."

I don't think the two are related in terms of the actual characters, at least not yet. They just have a similar literary sci-fi bent. But I loved Never Let Me Go myself, and I don't think reading that one first would be a bad thing.

Cynda wrote: "@ Aubrey The Bondswoman's Narrative looks intriguing. Added to my ridiculous tbr oooh.

Cheers, Cynda. It's certainly one of the more singular investments one could make with one's reading time.

Whew. Then I will enjoy Klara and the Sun and perhaps return to Never Let Me Go. Thanks Greg.

April Plans.
I feel a little more focused this month. We shall see.

Read
1978. The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty April 03
1941. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges April 06
2021. Boxing For Beginners: Boxing Basic For History, Rules, Techniques, Tips & Instructions: Boxing Practice by Ernie Nicholsen April 06
1980. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
1995. Blindness by José Saramago April 09
1997. The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman April 09
2012. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time by Jeff Speck April 21
Traditional. Aesop's Fables by Aesop April 21
2015. Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall April.24
2019. Syria's Secret Library: Reading and Redemption in a Town Under Siege by Mike Thomson April 28
2001. Gardens of New Orleans: Exquisite Excess by Lake Douglas April 28
1964. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl April 30
1979. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
2018. Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman
2013. Hasib and the Queen of Serpents: A Tale of a Thousand and One Nights by David B.
1913. The Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig

Reading
* The Dangerous Old Woman byClarissa Pinkola Estés
* The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Hope to Read
* The Second Sex
* Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen

Greg wrote: "@Cynda, I started Klara and the Sun a week ago and have been enjoying it. It reminds me a little of Never Let Me Go so far, but it's hard to tell because I'm only 1/3 done."

I want to know what you think of Klara and the Sun! I loved Remains of the Day AND Never Let Me Go....I'm not sure what I thought about Klara. I'll watch for your review, I'm interested in what your thoughts by the end.

Cynda wrote: "Greg, What is a reader to do . . . .Based on how much you have read, shall I read Never Let Me Go first? I think maybe so? because the books are sometimes sold together I see. I will do that. I don..."

Cynda, they aren't connected in any way, but I definitely think you should start with Never Let Me Go first (because that's the one I liked better!). But -- it's up to you :)

Cynda wrote: "April Plans.
I feel a little more focused this month. We shall see.

Finishing
* The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
* The Dangerous Old Woman by[author:Cl..."

Cynda, I think you may be more "book crazy" than I am!! Lol!
That list is massive! And I like your little quip at the end "And who knows what else" -- you mean you think you can get to more???!!
Well, I'm excited for you and I hope you have a wonderful reading month. Good Luck!! To both of us! haha! ;)

Hi Terris only for the 24-hour readathon. I haven't selected my comic book for the readathon. It's the one part of reading practice I like to leave a little open ended, no committments. Sometimes I go to a library and select something off the shelf or the bookstore to select something from there. Reading fun, you know. . . .😉

Aubrey The Bondswoman Narrative will make a good addition to a multiple-year study of civil rights. Starting with black folk. (Quietly excited to do a able/disabled study.)

Cynda wrote: "Hi Terris only for the 24-hour readathon. I haven't selected my comic book for the readathon. It's the one part of reading practice I like to leave a little open ended, no committments. Sometimes I..."

It does sound like fun! Enjoy :)

My plans for April:

- Blindness (group read)
- Resurrection (bookclub)
- Monkey King: Journey to the West, which I couldn't engage enough people to for a group read
... and maybe something else. I'm reading JD Salinger's short stories and HC Andersen's fairytales every now and then.

Klara and the Sun was my favourite new release that I read last year. I've heard people say that it's not one of Ishiguro's best, but it had a big impact on me. Klara has stayed with me. It was my first Ishiguro so I had no expectations when I started.

Anette wrote: "My plans for April:

- Blindness (group read)
- Resurrection (bookclub)
- Monkey King: Journey to the West, which I couldn't engage enough people to for..."

I voted for Monkey King: Journey to the West. I have The History Of World Literature and the professor talked about it in Chapter 19. I even put in a plug for it here;
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I would do a buddy read with you.

Klowey wrote: "Anette wrote: "My plans for April:

- Blindness (group read)
- Resurrection (bookclub)
- Monkey King: Journey to the West, which I couldn't engage enoug..."

Yeah, let's do a buddy read. Thank you for having advertised it in the voting thread.

Anette wrote: "Klowey wrote: "Anette wrote: "My plans for April:

- Blindness (group read)
- Resurrection (bookclub)
- Monkey King: Journey to the West, which I couldn..."

I also wanted it.

I am finishing up Hunger right now, but could start on it anytime you are ready. I'm a bit of a slow reader, so I could start earlier. ;-)

Anette wrote: "My plans for April:


There is no hurry. I usually have several books going at the same time, and it takes me a while to go through them all. I'm new to the forum so I'm not sure how it works. I can make a post in the specific thread to see if others are interested.

Anette wrote: "Anette wrote: "My plans for April:


There is no hurry. I usually have several books going at the same time, and it takes me a while to go through them all. I'm new to the forum so I'm not sure how..."

Sounds great.

Cynda wrote: "April Plans.
I feel a little more focused this month. We shall see.

Finishing
* The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
* The Dangerous Old Woman by[author:Cl..."


So tell me where these 24 hour read-a-thons are happening, if you would.

Yes Lynn. I read and co-moderate here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Also more general information at
https://deweysreadathon.wordpress.com...

Many of us read shorter works or sections of longer books. Come see if you like. . . Everyone is welcome :-)

That's fun, Cynda! Thanks for posting. I love people planning events around books. :) I probably won't be able to join in, but I love the idea of it.

Maybe another time Natalie. . . .

Cozy_Pug and Cynda, thanks for the info about The Castle of Otranto--I'm glad you both enjoyed it, and I needed the motivation! I'll see you in the Persuasion thread, Cozy, and good luck with your awesome list, Cynda--two of my favorites on your personal challenge!

I finally got on a roll and finished 8 books last month. Onward!

For Challenges:
Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann - finished
These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner
No Life for a Lady by Agnes Morley Cleaveland
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

Starting:
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Hopefully:
Wise Children by Angela Carter
Blindness by José Saramago

Good job, Marilyn!
I just wanted to say I'm about 3/4 way thru Blindness and, oh my, is it a wild ride! It is not what I expected. But it is an easier read (language-wise) than I thought it would be. However, the subject matter -- all I can say is "wild!" I can't wait to see how it ends. Hope you enjoy it :)

Terris wrote: "Good job, Marilyn!
I just wanted to say I'm about 3/4 way thru Blindness and, oh my, is it a wild ride! It is not what I expected. But it is an easier read (language-wise) than I t..."

Sounds interesting Terris! I will be starting it soon.

Greg wrote: "Terris wrote: "Good job, Marilyn!
I just wanted to say I'm about 3/4 way thru Blindness and, oh my, is it a wild ride! It is not what I expected. But it is an easier read (language..."

I think you'll find it very interesting, Greg!

What a super month you had! Here's to another good month in April.

Sara wrote: "What a super month you had! Here's to another good month in April."

Thanks, Sara! It was fun :)