Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I haven't yet decided how many of the challenges I will take on in 2024. I have two personal challenges that remain unfinished and I am truly hoping to concentrate more on them next year. I always take on more than I can complete, but the fun of the planning just gets me carried away.

➤ = Done

Completed Challenges

➤Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR - completed August
➤Challenge #3 - Century - completed September
➤Challenge #3 - Decade - completed December
➤Challenge #4 - Members Choice - completed June
➤Challenge #5 - Short Story - completed July
➤Challenge #6 - Group Reads and/or Buddy Reads - completed September
➤Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors - completed July
➤Challenge #9 – Fiction/Non-Fiction - completed September
➤Challenge #10 - The Half a Millennium Challenge with a Sour Lemon Twist of Difficult - completed October
➤Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories - completed August
➤Challenge #13 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time -completed October (elected not to do Antarctica, which was optional)
➤Challenge #14 - Rereading Some do Some don't - completed October (challenge as stated completed, personal goal not met)
*************************************************
Definitely Attempting: 10-Challenges
Challenge #2 - Second Place or Worse (failed to finish--needed a long read)
Challenge #12 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete (failed to complete all I had scheduled, but quite pleased with the progress I did make)


Maybe (five that I might not get to)
Challenge #3 - Millennium
Challenge #8 - Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year

Personal (which makes an even dozen to commit to)
Personal Pulitzer Challenge
100 Years Before Me Challenge

COMPLETED

Old and New TBR

Old School (Before 1915)
➤1. Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope 4★
➤2. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 4★
➤3. The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy 2.5★

New School (1915-1999)
➤ 1. The Children by Edith Wharton (1928) 5★
➤2. The Journey of August King by John Ehle 5★
➤3. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor 5★

Wild Card (any year at all)
1. Jack by Marilynne Robinson
➤2. The Fighter by Michael Farris Smith 5★
➤3. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell 5★
➤4. In Another Life by Julie Christine Johnson 2★
➤5. The Priory by Dorothy Whipple 5★
➤6. The Chequer Board by Nevil Shute 3★

Alternates
1. That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green (1897)
2. Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden (1939)
➤3.The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley (1953) 5★

ABANDONED - INCOMPLETE

Second or Worse

New School
➤1. Rabbit Redux by John Updike

Old School
➤1. My Lady Ludlow by Elizabeth Gaskell

Short Story/Novella
➤1. The Lost Boy by Thomas Wolfe
➤2. Bliss by Katherine Mansfield

Quarterly Long Read
1. The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo
-or- Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
-or- The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
-or- The Magus

Failed to get a Long Read done for this challenge and too late now to manage it.

I am committing to the Decade and Century; with a 'maybe' on the Millennium.

COMPLETED

Decade - The 1930's

➤1930: Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
➤1931: The Fortnight in September: A Novel by R.C. Sherriff
➤1932: Jenny Wren by E.H. Young
➤1933: One More Spring by Robert Nathan
➤1934: Silent Snow, Secret Snow by Conrad Aiken
➤1935: The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
➤1936: How Wang-Fo Was Saved by Marguerite Yourcenar
➤1937: The Lost Boy by Thomas Wolfe
➤1938: The Vigilante by John Steinbeck
➤1939: The Priory by Dorothy Whipple

COMPLETED

Century

➤1900: Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton
➤1910: Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
➤1920: Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim
➤1930: Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
➤1940: Chatterton Square by E.H. Young
➤1950: The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
➤1960: The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
➤1970: The Journey of August King by John Ehle
➤1980: Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
➤1990: The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller

ABANDONED - HALF FINISHED
Millennium: (only a maybe)

➤21st Century - Fallen Land
➤ 20th Century - The Children
➤19th Century - Ramona
➤18th Century - Dangerous Liaisons
➤17th Century - Absalom and Achitophel
➤16th Century - Richard III
➤15th Century - Tamburlaine
14th Century - Troilus and Criseyde
13th Century - The Prose Edda
-or- The Travels Of Marco Polo
12th Century - The Romance of Tristan and Iseult
-or- The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse
-or- The Life of Merlin
11th Century - The Tale of Genji
-or- The Diary of Lady Murasaki

COMPLETED

Member's Choice

➤1. 19th Century The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
➤2. 20th Century Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim
➤ 3. 21st Century The Fighter by Michael Farris Smith
➤4. A book originally written in a language other than your own The Gentle Spirit by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
➤5. An Author not read before Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
➤6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours. Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson
➤7. Science Fiction/Fantasy In Another Life by Julie Christine Johnson
➤8. Action/Adventure The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
➤9. Childrens/Young Adult The Dark Horse
➤10. Nonfiction South Toward Home: Travels in Southern Literature by Margaret Eby
➤11. Mystery/Thriller When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
➤12. Horror or Humor The Strange Gentleman by Charles Dickens

COMPLETED

Short Stories

1. The Sick Gentleman's Last Visit by Giovanni Papini (1982)
2. Behind a Mask, Or, a Woman's Power by Louisa May Alcott (1866) - Novella
3. R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury (1962)
4. Frritt-Flacc The Storm by Jules Verne (1884) - No entry in GR for English translation
5. The Vigilante by John Steinbeck (1938)
6. The Lost Boy by Thomas Wolfe (1937)
7. The Gentle Spirit by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1876)
8. The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan Poe (1845)
9. Wants by Grace Paley (1974)
10. August 25, 1983 by Jorge Luis Borges (1980)
11. The Beauties by Anton Chekhov (1888)
12. Lovers at the Museum: A Short Story by Isabel Allende (2024)
13. Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton (Novella) (1907)
14. Peter og Rosa by Isak Dinesen (1942)
15. How Wang-Fo Was Saved by Marguerite Yourcenar (1936)
16. Cut and Thirst by Margaret Atwood (2024)
17. Bliss by Katherine Mansfield (1918)
18. The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson (1891)
19. The Son's Veto by Thomas Hardy (1894)
20. What the Shepherd Saw by Thomas Hardy (1881)
21. Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular, a Comic Burletta by Charles Dickens (1837)
22. The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury by Neil Gaiman (2012)
23. For The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin (1954)
24. Chickamauga by Ambrose Bierce (1889)

Officially complete at this point, but hoping to add many more.

25. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion by Thomas Hardy (1890)
26. No Thoroughfare by Charles Dickens
27. How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once by Mark Twain
28. The Swimmer by John Cheever
29. Antaeus by Borden Deal
30. The Door in the Wall by H.G. Wells
31. Zebra and Other Stories by Chaim Potok (title story only)
32. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
33. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy (7)
34. The Garden Lodge by Willa Cather
35. Table for Two by Amor Towles (6) + (1)-Novella
36. Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway
37. The Bet: By Anton Chekhov - Illustrated by Anton Chekhov
38. Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope (5)
39. Malachi's Cove by Anthony Trollope
40. Hester Lilly by Elizabeth Taylor (17)


Total: 72

COMPLETED

Group Reads or Buddy Reads - 12

1. Behind a Mask, Or, a Woman's Power by Louisa May Alcott
2. Rabbit Redux by John Updike
3. China Court: The Hours of a Country House by Rumer Godden
4. The Gentle Spirit by Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
6. The Beauties by Anton Chekhov
7. The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden
8. Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
9. Miss Mole by E.H. Young
10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
11. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy
12. The King Must Die by Mary Renault
13. Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
14. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
15. No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym

COMPLETED

Expand Your Horizons - New Authors

1. Helen Hunt Jackson - Ramona
2. Margaret Ayer Barnes - Years of Grace
3. Julia Peterkin - Scarlet Sister Mary
4. Margaret Drabble - The Millstone
5. Grace Paley - Wants
6. Chaim Potok - My Name Is Asher Lev
7. E.H. Young - Chatterton Square
8. Marguerite Yourcenar - How Wang-Fo Was Saved
9. Taylor Brown - Fallen Land
10. R.C. Sherriff - The Fortnight in September
11. Julie Christine Johnson - In Another Life
12. Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - Dangerous Liaisons
13. Tom Godwin - For The Cold Equations
14. L.P. Hartley - The Go-Between
15. Herta Müller - The Land of Green Plums
16. Borden Deal - Antaeus
17. John Cheever - The Swimmer
18. Mary Renault - The King Must Die
19. Gerald Durrell - My Family and Other Animals
20. Elizabeth Jane Howard - The Light Years
21. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart
22. Jorge Galán - November

NOT ATTEMPTING

Most Popular Books - Year (only a maybe)

1969 - I graduated High School in 1969

Book Choices:
1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
2. The Andromeda Strain
3. Papillion
4. The Poetry of Robert Frost
5. Portnoy’s Complaint
6. The French Lieutenant's Woman
7. Master and Commander
8. Mary Queen of Scots
9. Travels with My Aunt
10. The House on the Strand
11. Birds, Beasts and Relatives
12. The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
13. A Slipping-Down Life


2024 Books Read:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

COMPLETED

Fiction/Non-Fiction (only a maybe)

1. Gardens - Homecoming / The Writer's Garden: How gardens inspired the world's great authors

2. About the South - Fallen Land / South Toward Home: Travels in Southern Literature

3. Danger/Death - Absolute Friends / I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death

4. Richard III - Richard III / The Lost King: The Search for Richard III

5. Takes Place in Greece - The King Must Die / My Family and Other Animals

COMPLETED

Half a Twist - Millennium (only a maybe)
Select five books from five different centuries, using the same decade for each century you select. They do not have to be consecutive centuries but must be the same decade.

➤20th 1980-1989 - The Dark Horse 1981
➤19th 1880-1889 - Ramona 1884
➤18th 1780-1789 Dangerous Liaisons 1782
➤17th 1680-1689 Absalom and Achitophel 1681
➤16th 1580-1589 Tamburlaine 1587
15th 1480-1489 Le Morte de Arthur 1485
14th 1380-1389 Troilus and Cresedye - Chaucer 1385

COMPLETED

Old and New Linked Categories (only a maybe)

1. black lives: OLD -Scarlet Sister Mary / NEW-The Chequer Board

2. deception: OLD -Dangerous Liaisons / NEW- The Go-Between

3. Undying Love; Older man, younger woman; Religion: OLD: Jane Eyre / NEW: Gilead

4. Journey: OLD: No Thoroughfare / NEW: The Journey of August King

5. Art: OLD:The Well-Beloved / NEW: My Name Is Asher Lev

TECHNICAL FAILURE - PERSONAL SUCCESS

Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete
(This is a good addition for me--I have series planned and ones I need to finish)

I am planning to finish at least two of the following series in which I have only One Left:
(Only finished one of the two, but that put one series to bed)

➤Cranford - My Lady Ludlow
The Country Girls - Girls in Their Married Bliss
Manawaka Sequence - A Bird in the House
Mick Harden - Code of the Hills
Gilead (Robinson) - Jack

Begun but Still to Finish:
I plan to read books 2, 3 & 4 of John Updike's Rabbit series:
(finished this series)
➤ Rabbit Redux - January
➤Rabbit Is Rich - June
➤Rabbit at Rest - September

I plan to read at least two of Anthony Trollope's Pallister series:
(Currently reading Eustace Diamonds, so this one will be complete--Three to go forward to next year)
➤Phineas Finn
➤The Eustace Diamonds
Phineas Redux
The Prime Minister
The Duke's Children

I plan to read at least two of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series:
(Only managed one)
➤When Will There Be Good News?
Started Early, Took My Dog
Big Sky
Death at the Sign of the Rook

Series Re-read:
I would like to re-read the first three novels before completing with the last (Jack), which I have not yet read (see entry #1).
(Only managed one re-read, so never got to Jack--but this will be on the top of the list for 2025)
➤Gilead
Home
Lila
Jack

COMPLETED

Travel the World One Continent at a Time

➤Africa - Things Fall Apart

➤Asia - The Dark Horse (India)

➤Australia - In the Wet (Australia)

➤Europe - The Land of Green Plums (Romania)

➤North America - Rabbit Is Rich (USA)

➤South America (Central America) - November by Jorge Galán

❌Antarctica - DNF'd The Survivor by Thomas Keneally

COMPLETED (but short of my personal goal)

Rereading - Some do. Some don't
Let us know the titles of five books you found worthy of rereading. This year’s challenge is, reread two of your selections.

Attempting to re-read twelve books a year. The top four came over from the 2023 List.

➤1. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
➤2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
➤3. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
➤4. Richard III by William Shakespeare
➤5. Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden
-----------------------------------

1. Moby-Dick or, The Whale
2. Paradise Lost
3. Shōgun
4. Jude the Obscure
5. Rebecca - Mrs de Winter - Rebecca's Tale
6. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
7. The Scarlet Letter
8. Snow Falling on Cedars
9. The Turn of the Screw
10. Anna Karenina
11. The Parasites
12. The Remains of the Day

INCOMPLETE - read only four of the eight books, which leaves four to be read in 2025. This has become the neverending challenge for me.

100 Years Before Me
One book from each year back to 100 years before I was born.

I started this challenge in 2017. These are the years (and book selections) I have to read to put "finished" on this one.

➤ 1884: Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson
➤1892: The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy
➤1907: Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton
➤1914: Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

1870: An Old-Fashioned Girl
-or- The Fortune of the Rougons
1895: Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
-or- The Altar of the Dead by Henry James
-or- The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
1901: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
-or- Kim - Rudyard Kipling
1919: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
-or- The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley
-or- Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

Welcome Sara!!

Thanks, Lynn. Always a fun part of the year, planning for the next one.

Exciting lists, Sara! I can see similarities abounding in our choices of authors! I am not surprised. I had Angel in my hands at the second hand store yesterday. Somehow I didn’t make it home with it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Looks like you've got a great plan started! Looking forward to seeing your progress!

I’m also going to pair Anne of Green Gables with Pollyanna so if you want to buddy read…….let me know!

I find saying no to used books is one of the hardest things in life, Lori. Maybe we will have a lot of notes to compare this coming year--I always love that!

I just edited my message as we cross posted. I hope you see my addition.

Of course, most of my loved books come from your shelf! Haha! I’m sure we’ll have many to compare!

Great choices, Sara! You have many favorites of mine like Dangerous Liaisons and The Swedish Cavalier on your lists. All the best.

Oh, it's such a great idea to slot in one re-read a month. Good luck with your planning and reading!

Lori wrote: "I just edited my message as we cross posted. I hope you see my addition.

Of course, most of my loved books come from your shelf! Haha! I’m sure we’ll have many to compare!"

Pollyanna would be such a fun book to share, Lori. I'm going to hold you to that!

Ila wrote: "Great choices, Sara! You have many favorites of mine like Dangerous Liaisons and The Swedish Cavalier on your lists. All the best."

I picked The Swedish Cavalier up from you, Ila! Thanks for all the times you point me toward a good read. Have a great reading year in 2024.

Matt wrote: "Good luck Sara!"

Thanks Matt!

Wobbley wrote: "Oh, it's such a great idea to slot in one re-read a month. Good luck with your planning and reading!"

I tried this year and managed to re-read seven. I am hoping to really make the twelve this year! Excited to see your choices for this year, Wobbley.

Ahh--we both have our Old and New well planned, and I'm almost as excited about your reads as I am about my own! I see some authors I haven't read yet that I just know you'll force me to add. :-) Plus a few I have read and highly recommend:
Cakes and Ale
All Passion Spent
Down and Out in Paris and London
and ooh, The Land of Green Plums!

Oh, and Country Girls--that's the #1 series I want to finish.

Oh boy--great times ahead.

I'll be sure those get read for sure, Kathleen. I always love the books you recommend. I can't believe it has been so long since I read the second book in the Country Girls. We both need to get that one done this year.

So much planned already! You’re amazing Sara :)

Thanks, Janelle. I have been making up a list for several weeks now, mostly made of books I meant to read in 2023 but haven't gotten to.

I'm another vote in favour of Cakes and Ale and All Passion Spent.

Wow! I’m so impressed, and tempted!

Wobbley wrote: "I'm another vote in favour of Cakes and Ale and All Passion Spent."

I'll just put them on the "not putting them off any longer" list, Wobbley. Thanks!

Veronique wrote: "Wow! I’m so impressed, and tempted!"

Come on, Vero...the meal is free and soooo delicious.

I'm getting ideas from you already (who ever heard of The Children?! But it looks like a must-read!).

However, one book that you have listed as a maybe in your Decade Challenge that I must insist that you read is: The Fortnight in September!! Have you read R.C. Sherriff? If not, you will love him. I liked this book so much. And I recently read The Hopkins Manuscript by him. It has an unusual story and subject matter, but his writing is amazing! And I got my first information about him on NPR (Maureen Corrigan or Nancy Pearl), which makes me happy ;)
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I have not read Sherriff yet but I will now mark him for a MUST next year. I have three authors I have not read that I insist on getting to this year: E.H. Young, Borden Deal, and D.E. Stevenson. I have purchased books by each of them and suspect they are not going to disappoint.

I'm glad you mentioned these three authors:
1) I have Miss Mole on my list but forgot it was E.H. Young, whom I've never read!
2) I've never heard of Borden Deal but now I have A Long Way to Go on my immediate TBR list! I'm interested in this author :)
3) I have read five D.E. Stevenson books! I love Miss Buncle, and read that series. AND you just reminded me that I need to finish the third book in the Dering Family series (I must add that to my "Series Challenge"!). It's a nice series, and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this author :)

I find that when I'm selecting books for next year's challenges, I'm going more by authors that I like, or want to read, than by titles. That feels good, and I think I'm getting to know about better writing rather than just going by what critics have said about books. I often don't agree with those critics -- you know what I mean -- we've both read too many bad "classics"!! ;)
This last year I have loved getting to know Elizabeth Taylor's and Dorothy Whipple's books!
I had Angel next on my list for Taylor and see that you plan to read that also (yay!). And my next Whipple book will be Someone at a Distance because my local librarian bought it for our library because I was interested in her and couldn't find her books anywhere! I thought that was really nice of him :)

Well, gotta' go plan and read and do "book stuff!" ;)

Borden Deal's books are not easy to find, but I have two of them in my possession now. Not the one you mentioned, so it will be another to look for. Really looking forward to Stevenson now!

I have also changed the way I "get" books, and I have increased my number of 5-star reads tremendously over the years. I can almost tell now, just from checking with trusted readers (like YOU) whether a book will work for me or not.

Angel is probably up next for me with Taylor. I have several on my Kindle, waiting, and two Whipple's. Again not the one you mentioned. I don't have such good luck with the librarian here...the books I am interested in aren't popular enough for them to invest I suppose. I used to submit "requests" but none of them get filled, so I stopped. I usually look for a place to buy them, which limits me.

In fact, I'm already making some alterations in the "plan" because I cannot easily get my hands on the books I listed. I will exhaust all my resources and, if I cannot find them, I will put them on the "try to buy" list. Wish I had a much bigger book budget!

I completely understand! I couldn't believe my librarian bought two Dorothy Whipple books! I know I'll probably be the only one to read them! The one I requested was High Wages and I enjoyed it. I had not heard of this second one, but now I feel obligated to read it! And, of course, I want to.

I'm glad I'm able to order the Deal book I named through my library's interlibrary loan. Like you, I only buy books (usually through Thriftbooks) if I can't find them anywhere else. I am not a book collector. I just want to read it and get it off my book shelf! But it is really fun when you go to the mailbox and there is a book in there! I nearly skip back into the house! ;)

I look forward to more 5-star books this year by choosing what "I" like to read. I've read enough that I'm nearly past all the classic "must reads," unless you tell me that I must read it ;)

I'm at the same place, although there are some of the "standard" classics I would like to re-read. Interestingly, I find that some of the books written by classic authors that are not well known are as good or better than the ones that are famous.

I smiled at you dancing away from the mailbox. I always get excited when there are books as well!

Haha! I'm not that good of a dancer but a book makes me do a little jig ;)

You two are so funny!

Sara, we picked the same year: 1969! I just went through five years before I hit one with enough books I wanted to read. My list is a little different than yours, but good to know I can come to your list if I need more ideas!

A wonderful list, Sara. I highly recommend All Passion Spent and The Odd Women. Thank you for adding multiple options under each category so I can look them up and save them for future reading.

Good luck and happy reading!

Kathleen wrote: "You two are so funny!

Sara, we picked the same year: 1969! I just went through five years before I hit one with enough books I wanted to read. My list is a little different than yours, but good to..."

Lucky for me to have yours as a source as well. I did four different years before I decided on 1969. I was surprised there were so many I didn't read back then, but then I was young and busy. lol.

Shaina wrote: "A wonderful list, Sara. I highly recommend All Passion Spent and The Odd Women. Thank you for adding multiple options under each category so I can look them up and save them for future reading.

Go..."

Thank you, Shaina. I always add too many books to my TBR this time of year. I will make sure to clear your recommendation this year...they have both been on and off lists for me for years.

I see Rumer Godden. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her. Nice lists!

Good luck Sara! Some of your rereads are so ambitious :D But I hope your reading year will be good.