Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
2025 Challenge Buffet
>
Kathleen's Trying for Balance in 2025
Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR ChallengeI've been thinking about this one!
1914 and earlier
✔️1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1601) ✨✨✨✨
2. Indiana by George Sand (1832)
✔️3. The Masterpiece by Émile Zola (1886) ✨✨✨
1915-2005/New School
✔️4. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster (1924) ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️5. Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks (1953) ✨✨✨✨✨
6. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1971)
Wildcard: Favorite Authors
✔️7. A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor (1951) ✨✨✨✨✨
8. Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym (1955)
✔️9. Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin (1965) ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️10. Paradise by Toni Morrison (1997) ✨✨✨✨✨
11. The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer (2013)
12. Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings by Shirley Jackson (2015)
Alternates
A-1. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853)
✔️A-2. Girl with Green Eyes by Edna O'Brien (1962) ✨✨✨✨
✔️A-3. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck (1954) ✨✨✨✨✨
Challenge #3 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors(At least six)
Horacio Quiroga, El almohadon de plumas / The feather pillow: La Insolacion / the Insolation Finished 1/11/25 ✨✨✨✨
Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here 2/7/25 ✨✨✨✨
Gayl Jones, The Unicorn Woman 2/11/25 ✨✨✨
Marcel Aymé, The State of Grace 2/15/25 ✨✨✨✨
George Hitchcock, An Invitation to the Hunt ✨✨ 3/3/25
Jeff Lyons, Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success ✨✨✨✨ 3/19/25
Philip Roth, American Pastoral ✨✨✨✨ 4/28/25
Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future ✨✨✨✨ 4/30/25
Josephine Winslow Johnson, Now in November ✨✨✨✨ 5/12/25
Émile Zola, The Masterpiece ✨✨✨ 5/17/25Campbell Walker, Your Head is a Houseboat: A Chaotic Guide to Mental Clarity ✨✨✨✨ 7/8/25
John GalsworthyThe Man of Property ✨✨✨✨✨
John Le Carré Call for the Dead ✨✨✨ 8/6/25
Jane Gardam The Flight of the Maidens ✨✨✨✨✨ 8/6/25
Hanne Ørstavik Ti Amo ✨✨✨✨ 8/8/25
Alan Hollinghurst Our Evenings ✨✨✨✨ 8/30/25
Challenge #4 - Short Story ChallengeRead 18 short stories.
January
The Angel at the Grave by Edith Wharton ✨✨✨✨
El almohadon de plumas / The feather pillow: La Insolacion / the Insolation by Horacio Quiroga ✨✨✨✨
Recitatif by Toni Morrison ✨✨✨✨✨
February
The Traveling Companion by Hans Christian Andersen ✨✨✨
The State of Grace by Marcel Aymé ✨✨✨✨
The Story of a Panic by E.M. Forster ✨✨✨✨✨
Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin (Collection) ✨✨✨✨✨
March
An Invitation to the Hunt by George Hitchcock ✨✨
"Seams" by Olga Tokarczuk ✨✨✨✨✨
The Dream by O. Henry ✨✨✨✨
April
A Lost Opportunity by Leo Tolstoy ✨✨✨
Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor ✨✨✨✨
Prelude by Katherine Mansfield ✨✨✨✨
May
The Phoenix by Sylvia Townsend Warner ✨✨✨
June
Poor Girl by Elizabeth Taylor ✨✨✨✨
July
The Sailor Boy's Tale by Isak Dinesen ✨✨✨✨
August
Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell ✨✨✨
September
Regret by Kate Chopin ✨✨✨✨
Challenge #5 Part One - Century of Women*stretching beyond our classic timeframe, but looking for some possible future classics?
✔️1930-1939
✔️1940-1949
✔️1950-1959
✔️1960-1969 Girl with Green Eyes, Edna O'Brien (1962) ✨✨✨✨
1970-1979The Road to Lichfield, Penelope Lively (1977)
✔️1980-1989 The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, Riane Eisler (1987) ✨✨✨✨
✔️1990-1999 Paradise, Toni Morrison (1997) ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️2000-2010
2010-2019 A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler (2015)
✔️2020-2029
Challenge #5 Part Two - The 1950's DecadeDelving into literary darkness; bolstered by Bradbury
1950 -
✔️1951 - The Illustrated Man, Ray Bradbury ✨✨✨✨
✔️1952 - Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison ✨✨✨✨
✔️1953 - Maud Martha, Gwendolyn Brooks ✨✨✨✨✨
1954 - The Bird's Nest, Shirley Jackson
1955 - The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis
1956 - Lady Sings the Blues, Billie Holiday
1957 - Raising Demons, Shirley Jackson
✔️1958 - Babette’s Feast, Isak Dinesen ✨✨✨✨✨
1959 - A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories, Ray Bradbury
Challenge 6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, or Moderators Run Amok(at least 12)
<January
The Angel at the Grave by Edith Wharton ✨✨✨✨
February
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov ✨✨✨✨
Augustus by John Williams ✨✨✨✨✨
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ✨✨✨✨
April
A Lost Opportunity by Leo Tolstoy ✨✨✨
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury ✨✨✨✨
May
The Promise by Chaim Potok ✨✨✨✨✨
July
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck ✨✨✨✨✨
August
Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell ✨✨✨
September
Regret by Kate Chopin ✨✨✨✨
Challenge #7- Series Books – Start, Continue, CompleteTo meet the challenge = read at least two
My minimum goal = double that, with four, some combination of the following.
My dream goal = read all of these!
Start:
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle Series
#1 A Wizard of Earthsea
Philip Roth The American Trilogy
✔️#1 American Pastoral ✨✨✨✨
Continue:
The Easy Rawlins Series by Walter Mosley
#3 White Butterfly
#4 Black Betty
Gilead Series by Marilynne Robinson
#2 Home
Love Medicine series by Louise Erdrich
(I've read #6, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse)
#1 Love Medicine
#2 The Beet Queen
#3 Tracks
Finish:
The Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
✔️#3 The Mirror & the Light ✨✨✨✨✨
The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien
✔️#2 Girl with Green Eyes ✨✨✨✨
#3 Girls in Their Married Bliss
The Reuven Malther series by Chaim Potok
✔️#1 The Chosen ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️#2 The Promise ✨✨✨✨✨
The Once and Future King Series by T.H. White
✔️#1 The Sword in the Stone (re-read)
#2 The Witch in the Wood (re-read)
#3 The Ill-Made Knight (re-read)
#4 The Candle in the Wind (re-read)
#5 The Book of Merlyn (new-to-me)
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
✔️#1 The Man of Property ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️#1.5 Indian Summer of a Forsyte ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️#2 In Chancery ✨✨✨✨
✔️#2.5 Awakening ✨✨✨✨
#3 To Let
George Smiley by John Le Carré
✔️#1 Call for the Dead ✨✨✨
#2 A Murder of Quality
#3 The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
Challenge #9 - Rereading - Some do Some don'tBooks I'd Love to Reread
1. The Once and Future King by T.H. White
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
4. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
5. Books and You by W. Somerset Maugham
6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig
Read Again in 2025
✔️1. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️2. Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan ✨✨✨✨
Challenge #11 - Future ClassicsThese Five from the 2000's Were Great, I Believe They Will Stand the Test of Time
1. Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
2. Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
3. Just Kids by Patti Smith
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
These Might have a Chance at Greatness? (read one of three)
1. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (2017)
2. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (2019)
3. The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (2023)
Books Chosen
Challenge #12– Fiction/Non-FictionTotal Number of Books: 6
Categories:
Art
✔️Fiction - The Masterpiece, Émile Zola ✨✨✨
Non-Fiction - Arts and Ideas, William Fleming
Isolation
Fiction - Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
Non-Fiction - Journal of a Solitude, May Sarton
Imperialism
✔️Fiction - A Passage to India, E.M. Forster ✨✨✨✨✨
Non-Fiction - Heaven's Command: An Imperial Progress, Jan Morris
Human Societies
✔️Fiction - Paradise, Toni Morrison ✨✨✨✨✨
✔️Non-Fiction - The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, Riane Eisler ✨✨✨✨
Tyranny
Fiction - Animal Farm, George Orwell
Non-Fiction - Living My Life: Volume 2, Emma Goldman
Proust
Fiction - Within a Budding Grove, Marcel Proust
Non-Fiction - How Proust Can Change Your Life, Alain de Botton
Race
✔️Fiction - Going to Meet the Man, James Baldwin ✨✨✨✨✨
Non-Fiction - A Rap on Race, James Baldwin
Hurston
Fiction - Moses, Man of the Mountain, Zora Neale Hurston
Non-Fiction - Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, Valerie Boyd
Native People
Fiction - Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich
Non-Fiction - The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, Ned Blackhawk
Challenge #15 - Award WinnersRead Two Award-winning books
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Possibilities:
1. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
2. The Stories of John Cheever, John Cheever
3. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
4. The Hours, Michael Cunningham
5. March, Geraldine Brooks
Actual Award Winners Read (at least two)
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ✨✨✨✨✨
American Pastoral by Philip Roth 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ✨✨✨✨
Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson 1935 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ✨✨✨✨
(Upcoming:
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Stories of John Cheever 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Additional Personal Challenge: IMPULSE READS(at least 12)
To quote something Sara said in another thread, I’m calling this my “Go your merry way and read whatever you like” challenge. :-)
My goal is to include one impulse read EVERY MONTH. If I miss a month, I can make up for it by reading two impulse reads another month, so at least 12 impulse reads total.
Impulse does not mean that I don’t own it or have it on my tbr. It just means unplanned: not on a challenge, not a group read. Many of these may be newer books, but not all.
Fingers crossed I'll finally reach this goal after many years of trying!
1.
Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America by Kurt Andersen (January) ✨✨✨✨2.
Recitatif by Toni Morrison (January) ✨✨✨✨✨3.
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (February) ✨✨✨✨4.
The Unicorn Woman by Gayl Jones (February) ✨✨✨5.
Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success by Jeff Lyons (March) ✨✨✨✨6.
Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon (May) ✨✨✨✨✨7.
A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen (July) ✨✨✨✨8.
Your Head is a Houseboat: A Chaotic Guide to Mental Clarity (July) ✨✨✨✨9.
10.
11.
12.
Matt wrote: "Your planning looks great Kathleen!Your Old & New list is awesome.
If and when you get to your 50's challenge, maybe we can get a buddy read together for The Illustrated Man.
Go..."
Thanks, Matt! And I'd love a buddy read of The Illustrated Man. I'll put it on the request thread after the first of the year. :-)
Mod
I'm hoping this is going to be our best year ever, full of 5-star reads and wonderful finds.
What great lists you have, Kathleen, what fun ahead! I'm like you, I'd like to have more fun with impulse reads and not feel guilty or get behind on my reading "plans"! I'm going to try to fit in more "fun/want to reads" and less "guilt" reads!And you've inspired me to try to finally get to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values! It's been sitting on my bookshelf for years -- maybe this is the year!
Enjoy your 2025 reads! :)
Great choices! Actually, I'm also going to do the 1950s for my Decade Challenge, and mine also includes The Illustrated Man. So I'd be happy to join your buddy read, as long as you're doing it in the first half of the year.
Sara wrote: "Oooh, The Illustrated Man is on my short-list and I do love Bradbury. Getting tempted by you already!I'm hoping this is going to be our best year ever, full of 5-star reads and wonde..."
Yes! To the best year ever, Sara! 🥂 However it goes, I know I'll enjoy sharing it with you.
Terris wrote: "What great lists you have, Kathleen, what fun ahead! I'm like you, I'd like to have more fun with impulse reads and not feel guilty or get behind on my reading "plans"! I'm going to try to fit in m..."Oh, I would love to see what you think of the Motorcycle book, Terris. It seems to be kind of polarizing, and though I loved it, I read it so l-o-n-g ago, I'm curious what I'll think now too.
We'll have to remind each other about these impulse reads ...!
Wobbley wrote: "Great choices! Actually, I'm also going to do the 1950s for my Decade Challenge, and mine also includes The Illustrated Man. So I'd be happy to join your buddy read, as long as you're doing it in t..."Oh boy--we'll definitely get an Illustrated Man buddy read going, and I'll suggest the first half of the year. It will be fun comparing 1950's reads!
Good luck, Kathleen! You have some good books on your list. I hope you enjoy the Pym, Cranford and all the Bradbury as much as I did. I read something about a buddy read for The Illustrated Man on Wobbley's thread. Please count me in for that one :) (if there is one)
Shaina wrote: "Good luck, Kathleen! You have some good books on your list. I hope you enjoy the Pym, Cranford and all the Bradbury as much as I did. I read something about a buddy read for [book:T..."
Thanks, Shaina! I know I'll love the Pym and Bradbury, and hope I get to Cranford. And yes, we're getting a buddy read together for The Illustrated Man--I'll put a request out there after the beginning of the year, and make sure you're on the list. Should be fun!
Kathleen, if you want to you could post the buddy read request now, just so we can figure out the timing that works for everyone. Just a thought.
Wobbley wrote: "Kathleen, if you want to you could post the buddy read request now, just so we can figure out the timing that works for everyone. Just a thought."Of course, you're right! I think I was taking not getting ahead of myself a little too far. :-) I'll request now.
Great planning, Kathleen! We should compare notes on Pym and Zola and Georgette Heyer are always good choices
Ila wrote: "Great planning, Kathleen! We should compare notes on Pym and Zola and Georgette Heyer are always good choices"Yes, let's! I've never read Heyer before, but have a copy of this one, so thought I'd start there. Thanks, Ila!
Mod
Lynn wrote: "I love your lists Kathleen. You have many books planned that I really love. I also like your focus on Bradbury and Erdrich."Thank you, Lynn--I'm glad to hear it! I'm excited to read more from both Bradbury and Erdrich, and happy they've both given me much to choose from. :-)
Last day to make changes to the Old and New ... so I did! Thanks to Sue reminding me about Sweet Thursday, and not wanting to wait too long after reading Cannery Row, I replaced my Margaret Atwood Alternate with this Steinbeck--also a fave author so goes with my structure. :-)
And, I still haven't cracked the book I looked forward to all year, The Mirror & the Light, so added that to my series books. That will be one of the first books of the new year.
Another year of fun begins!
Mod
We should do a buddy read for Sweet Thursday, Kathleen!I also want to get to the The Once and Future King series even though I'm not big on fantasy, because I read H is for Hawk in 2023 and T.H. White and that series were mentioned throughout . T.H. White's tortured life made me want to get to the series, in order to honor him.
If you haven't read H is for Hawk White and that book would be a good fiction/nonfiction combo. You already have a lot of great ones though.
Sue wrote: "We should do a buddy read for Sweet Thursday, Kathleen!I also want to get to the The Once and Future King series even though I'm not big on fantasy, because I read [book:H is for Haw..."
I'll suggest the buddy read of Sweet Thursday--great idea, Sue!
And I'm not big on fantasy either, generally, but loved this one growing up, and hope you do too. I'd like to read the series before getting to the non-fiction, so we'll see. Thanks!
Mod
Wow, very impressive lists, Kathleen. You’ve got an excellent year planned! I’d also join in a buddy read of Sweet Thursday! Good luck next year!
This is great, Sara and Lori! I'll put in the buddy read request now. :-)
Wonderful ideas for your challenges, Kathleen! Your choices for the fiction/non-fiction reads look really interesting.I would also love to join in a buddy read of Sweet Thursday.
Thanks, Connie--now if I can only get to all these books ...Glad you'll be in for Sweet Thursday--that will be fun!
I seem to have all long books going, all started at the beginning of the year. So since they won't be done for a while, I decided to get my short stories on the board, two 4 star thought-provoking ones. The second is also a new author for me, Quiroga, and I'm hoping I can find something else by him.
The Angel at the Grave by Edith Wharton **** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
El almohadon de plumas / The feather pillow: La Insolacion / the Insolation by Horacio Quiroga **** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Kathleen wrote: "I seem to have all long books going, all started at the beginning of the year. So since they won't be done for a while, I decided to get my short stories on the board ..."That's a great idea! I find it's helpful to feel like you're making progress, so this is a really good solution when you're in the middle of long books. Glad you enjoyed them both. :)
Great work, Kathleen! Long books are the most challenging in early days
Thanks so much, Sara, Wobbley and Ila! Your encouragement is very helpful right now, when it feels like it will be ages before I finish anything!
I feel the same way, Kathleen! Between Augustus and The Copenhagen Trilogy (and I am enjoying both!), I don't seem to be finishing anything! Adding in some short stories in between sounds like a good idea to me! :)
Mod
The short stories certainly help, Terris and Sara. This month I started three multi-month books, a long non-fiction, and two great but long novels The Mirror & the Light and Demon Copperhead. Demon is long, but quick. Mirror is amazing, and I'm loving every word, but it's Proust-like slow. I read three pages and feel like I've read 10, just because each page is so packed with story!
That was just the way beginning of the year/group reads played out, and fortunately I'm enjoying everything so can't complain. But taking a break for short stories is working as a great "change of scenery." :-)
Mod
Ya I agree great lists! I might steal some off the Fiction/Non-fiction list you have, haha. I noticed you have The Wizard of Earthsea on the series challenge, I read it a few months ago, interested to see what your thoughts are if you get around to it.
Steal away, Thomas--thanks! I hope I get to Earthsea too, but I have a feeling I'll have a take-away box of leftovers after this buffet ...
I've finished another story and a non-fiction book, two for my Impulse Reads challenge, so off to a good start there.Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America by Kurt Andersen isn't about the evil geniuses currently in the news, but is a very informative take on U.S. history over the last 40 years.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Recitatif by Toni Morrison is her only published short story. Stunning, as I expected from this favorite author, but this one has a very different feel than her novels.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hmm, I think you've persuaded me to add Recitatif to my TBR. Great progress!
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Regret (other topics)Our Evenings (other topics)
Regret (other topics)
Ti Amo (other topics)
Lois the Witch (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Kate Chopin (other topics)Alan Hollinghurst (other topics)
Kate Chopin (other topics)
Hanne Ørstavik (other topics)
Elizabeth Gaskell (other topics)
More...
I'm going for these:
#1 Old and New
#3 New Authors
#4 Short Stories
#5 Century and Decade
#6 Group/Buddy/Mods Reads
#7 Series
#9 Re-Reads
#11 Future Classics
#12 Fiction and Non-Fiction
#15 Award Winners
Impulse Reads