Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

What are you thinking about reading this month?

I am going to list six different books/stories/plays that I own, but I will probably only read two or three of the selections.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899) 198 pages
Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway (1925)
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (1966)
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1601) 289 pages
Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde (1892) 84 pages
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864)

I plan to tackle two longish nonfiction books this month which cuts down on the number of books I typically read.

Planned
Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant by Tracy Borman
The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare
Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker

Currently reading but will not finish
Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

Possible but not definite
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (audiobook)

Aside from BotM picks from my various GR groups, I am starting 2 reading projects this November: Indigenous Writers and Cyberpunk/Biopunk.

For my Indigenous Writers project I'm currently reading The Moon of the Crusted Snow by First Nation writer Waubgeshig Rice and The Dawnhounds by Maori writer Sascha Stronach.

For my Cyberpunk/Biopunk project, I am currently reading The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu. I have several books picked out for this project, too many to list here, and I anticipate it will take me several months to get the bulk of them.

Other BotM picks I'm reading for other GR groups besides this group: James by Percival Everett, which I just picked up from the library along with Ellison's translation of The Three Musketeers; The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin which will be a reread for me, which is fine as she's one of my favorite authors; and The Will of the Many by James Islington, which I hope I'll like as the last 2 super popular fantasy series I've tried I quickly DNF'd.

My November plans

Currently reading:
The Price of Salt
Den røde hane (Danish Broadcasting Novel Prize Nominee 2025)
Divine Rivals (audio, goodreads challenge)

To read:
Kulmørket
Vernon God Little (Man Booker Prize Winner)
Kongen af Os
Ridsemærker
What Does It Feel Like?
The Housemaid
The Executioner's Song (pulitzer prize challenge) - started
The Girl with the Louding Voice (feminist book club)
No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us (feminist book club)
Grib mig, sagde døden
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Saga (Tænkepauser Book 111) (audio)
The Masque of the Red Death (group read challenge, audio)
Homegoing (audio, feminist book club)
My Favourite Mistake
The Phantom Tollbooth (bingo challenge)
Hævneren
Skygger på Silkevejen
Hvor vinden vender
Kragernes ø
The Midnight Feast - started
Varme hænder - started

November Goals
I want to read at least three of the six books shortlisted for this years Goldsmiths Prize this month. Other than that, I'm keeping up with a few Reddit reading groups and catching up on books I've bought in 2024.

From the Goldsmiths Prize shortlist
✔️Cusk: Parade (2024)
✔️Mukherjee: Choice (2024)
✔️Pawson: Spent Light (2024)

Other books to read/finish in November
✔️Aeschylus: The Complete Aeschylus, Volume I: The Oresteia (-459)
✔️Shakespeare: The Oxford Shakespeare: Henry IV, Part 2 (Oxford World's Classics) by William Shakespeare (1598)
✔️Wodehouse: The Swoop! and the Military Invasion of America (1909)
✔️Rushdie: Midnight's Children (1981)
Markson: Wittgenstein's Mistress (1988)
Pratchett: Carpe Jugulum (1998)
Meyer: While We Were Dreaming (2006)
✔️Bechdel: Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama (2012)
✔️Cusk: Outline (2014)
✔️Ali Smith: Winter (2017)
✔️Krasznahorkai: Herscht 07769 (2021)
Michaels: Held (2023)


Long reads
Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532)
Martin: A Clash of Kings (1998)

It's put up or shut up time for my challenges, so I hope to squeeze lots of good reading into this month.

Currently Reading
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (will continue into December)
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
The Letters of Shirley Jackson

Group Reads
Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary by Anonymous

Challenge Reads
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories by William Saroyan
New Grub Street by George Gissing
The Stillmeadow Road by Gladys Taber
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym

Ooooh, I want to read them all! But I know I can't. :-(

I'll (hopefully) read:

Dracula by Bram Stoker by Bram Stoker
Airport Paperback Arthur Hailey by Arthur Hailey
Gerald's Game by Stephen King (I don't know if this book is already a classical one)

Do I finish my reads I've got going, or just pick up some new books that I'm excited to read?

I have been away from Goodreads for quite a while due to a series of work emergencies, but I'm trying to dip my toes back into reading. I'd really like to join the ongoing read of Nicholas Nickleby as well, but I'm so far behind.
We'll see.

Here's my tentative plan:

Finish up from prior to my hiatus, maybe?:
in progress 28% Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
in progress 36% The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart
in progress 52% Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha
in progress 52% Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Definitely:
in progress 30% Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe
in progress 9% Juxtaposition by Piers Anthony

Probably:
Huck Out West by Robert Coover
The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Possibly:
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Unplanned:

Currently reading...
The Female Man by Joanna Russ and Rules of Prey by John Sandford

Planning to read this month...
Homo Faber by Max Frisch
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett

Business and stress sidetracked my planned reading last month - I ended up with a lot of quick, easy books that didn't require much thought. I'm doing better now, so here's my plan moving forward:

Finishing:
Our Mutual Friend by Dickens - It's my first time with this book, and I'm loving it! I put it aside because I wanted to finish it when I could really enjoy it, but I'm back on to it now.
The Odyssey by Homer - Old favorite I also put aside for a few weeks.
The Spiritual Poems of Rumi by Rumi - About done with this. My first Rumi, which is sad because my daughter suggested her decades ago and I just forgot.
The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England - My second Dan Jones book. He's so good!
Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America - I've been reading through this slowly and am ready to finish it.
The Lighted Heart by Elizabeth Yates - Lovely old book given to me at our local used bookstore; it's a memoir by an author I loved as a young girl. Very slow and nature oriented, so I'm taking my time.

Haven't yet started:
Henry VI, Part 2 by Shakespeare - I'm reading these in chronological order. Love them!
Pride and Prejudice - Top favorite of mine, just waiting for the right time to reread.
Horace's Odes - Whatever edition ILL gets for me. I've not read these before.

Kathleen wrote: "It's put up or shut up time for my challenges, so I hope to squeeze lots of good reading into this month.

Currently Reading
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (will..."

Oh, I love the Stillmeadow books! Have you read them before? I've never seen anyone else who reads them.

Teri-K wrote: "Oh, I love the Stillmeadow books! Have you read them before? I've never seen anyone else who reads them."

I haven't seen anyone else either, so thanks for saying, Teri-K! I've only read her Country Chronicle, and loved it. This one was passed on to me by a friend, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Though it seems I have a lot of books I’m not finishing this month, most of them I’ll be finishing within the first 5–10 days of December. A few longish books, and a few that I threw into my schedule at short notice, so I’m stretching them out a bit to mitigate the impact of that. (I’m a pretty hardcore scheduler, at this point.)

Starting and finishing
▨ Half American [Reading for Understanding BC (bookclubs.com)]
▨ 84, Charing Cross Road I’ve been putting this off for some time. Will I get to it this month? Optimistic at the moment.

Starting and not finishing
▨ Wandering Stars [ConstantReader BC]

Continuing and not finishing
▨ Babel [EHRTBM]
▨ David Copperfield [EHRTBM long-read]
▨ No Right to an Honest Living [Nonfic Award Nominees challenge]
▨ The Left Hand of Darkness

Continuing and finishing
▨ Death on the Nile [EHRTBM]
▨ Small Is Beautiful [EHRTBM Bingo challenge]

Ongoing long-term reads that I may or may not finish; may or may not even make any progress this month.
▨ Martyr Made a little progress last month, but didn’t finish it like I thought I might.
▨ After Virtue I won’t be surprised if 2025 comes to an end before I finish this book. Not even joking. At least this slowness is purposeful. I don’t think I’ve ever been so deliberative about a book.
▨ The Wise Man’s Fear Man, I’d like to finish this one before I simply give up on it.
▨ The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan

my "Core 4" for November:
Libra DeLillo, Don 1988 (Decades Challenge, 1980s)
Mansfield Park Austen, Jane 1814 (Main Challenge, 1800-24)
Conquest of New Spain, The Díaz del Castillo, Bernal 1568 (Main Challenge, 1500's)
George Passant (Strangers and Brothers, #2) Snow, C.P. 1940 (Main Challenge, Author-First)

Oliver Twist
The Mill on the Floss and Other Works by George Eliot

Don't think I can take on much more than that. Although I wish I could.

Kathleen wrote: "Teri-K wrote: "Oh, I love the Stillmeadow books! Have you read them before? I've never seen anyone else who reads them."

I haven't seen anyone else either, so thanks for saying, Teri-K! I've only ..."

The Lighted Heart by Elizabeth Yates iis a book I'm reading now, and it's very similar to Gladys Taber. It's so good!

Teri-K wrote: "The Lighted Heart by Elizabeth Yates iis a book I'm reading now, and it's very similar to Gladys Taber. It's so good!"

That does sound really good. I'll look for it--thank you!

Reads so far for November are:

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
The Reappearance of Rachel Price
A Crane Among Wolves
And currently my favorite read of all for November reads Demon Copperhead.

Kathleen wrote: "Group Reads...A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary by Anonymousll..."

I'm anxious to read your thoughts on this book, Kathleen. I bought it a couple of years ago with the intention of reading it immediately, but it's still waiting for me on my bookshelf.

Greg wrote: "I'd really like to join the ongoing read of Nicholas Nickleby as well, but I'm so far behind. We'll see...."

I don't know how fast you read, Greg, but I would highly recommend joining in the group read, if you can work it into your schedule. It's really a great novel, and Jean's information and the active discussions are making this so much fun. We probably have another six weeks to go.

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "Group Reads...A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary by Anonymousll..."

I'm anxious to read your thoughts on this book, Kathleen. I bought it a couple of ye..."

It's really good so far, Shirley, thanks! It's one thing to read fiction about that period, even really good fiction, but it's quite another to get a well-written (the anonymous author was a journalist) eye-witness account.

Thank you, Kathleen. I need to go ahead and prioritize it. It really sounds like it would be fascinating!

I read 2 out of 6 of the possible things I listed at the beginning of the month. I ended up with 1 novel and 3 short stories. Two of the things I read were Group reads last month.

Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway (1925) November 8, 2024 4*
Universe by Robert A. Heinlein (1941) November 9, 2024 4*
Surface Tension by James Blish (1952) November 19, 2024, 3*
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864) November 23, 2024 4*

Without naming anything in particular, I spent the month mostly working on books that I started and meant to read, but was neglecting, two of which are still in progress. I’m clearing the decks to be ready for next year. The end is in sight!

I've finished all but two. One I'm still reading, and one - The Plantagenets - I've pushed to next year. Mostly I rereading light, enjoyable books off my shelves and gearing up for Christmas books later this month.

This was my results last month. I had already read all of this group's monthly selections that I was interested in; but I joined in some reads with other groups.

Finish up from prior to my hiatus, maybe?:
in progress 28% Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
✔ Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha ★★★ (3.0)
✔ Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ★★★★ (3.5)

Definitely:
✔ Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe ★★★★★ (4.5)
in progress 39% Juxtaposition by Piers Anthony

Probably:
✔ Huck Out West by Robert Coover ★★★ (3.5)
✔ The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez ★★★★ (4.0)

Possibly:
in progress 4% A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
in progress 24% Linghun by Ai Jiang

Unplanned:
✔ Permafrost by Eva Baltasar ★★★★ (3.5)
✔ In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka ★★★★ (4.0)
✔ Count Brass by Michael Moorcock ★★★★ (3.5)
✔ The Champion of Garathorm by Michael Moorcock ★★★ (3.5)

Terry wrote: "Without naming anything in particular, I spent the month mostly working on books that I started and meant to read, but was neglecting, two of which are still in progress. I’m clearing the decks to ..."

I clear the decks by deciding to read the books in 2025!!

I finished 3 of my "Core 4" for November:
Libra DeLillo, Don 1988 (Decades Challenge, 1980s) - 4 Stars
Mansfield Park Austen, Jane 1814 (Main Challenge, 1800-24) - 3.5
George Passant (Strangers and Brothers, #2) Snow, C.P. 1940 (Main Challenge, Author-First) - 2.5

and am still finishing up the amazing:
Conquest of New Spain, The Díaz del Castillo, Bernal 1568 (Main Challenge, 1500's)