Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I had planned on doing LESS challenges this year but so many of these options appealed to me that I'm going for 9 of them (doubling up on #5 with a decade and a century). Some of them shouldn't require any planning but others will be more challenging. Looking forward to getting started!

Challenge #2 - Members Choice
✅Challenge #3 - New Authors
Challenge #4 - Short Story
Challenge #5 - Decade/Century/Millennium
Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time
Challenge #11 - Future Classics
Challenge #12 - Fiction/Non-Fiction
Challenge #15 - Award Winners

Challenge #2 - Members Choice Challenge
Choose one book per category/genre for a total of 9 books.

Completed: 8/9
✅- Finished


1. 19th Century or Older - Emma by Jane Austen
✅2. 20th Century - Animal Farm by George Orwell (Pub. 1945)
✅3. 21st Century - Baba Dunja's Last Love by Alina Bronsky (Pub. 2015)
✅4. Nonfiction - Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
✅5. An Author never read before - The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
✅6. Diversity, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours - James by Percival Everett
✅7. Members Choice Genre - SF: Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
✅8. Members Choice Genre - Graphic Novel: Armed With Madness: The Surreal Leonora Carrington by Mary M. Talbot
✅9. Members Choice Genre - Thriller: Pines: Wayward Pines: 1 by Blake Crouch

Challenge #3 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors - Completed!

Seek out at least six (6) authors that you have never previously read, from any genre or era you want.

✅1. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler by Rebecca Donner
✅2. Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A Traveler's Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far by Neil deGrasse Tyson
✅3. Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
✅4. The Iron Heel by Jack London
✅5. James by Percival Everett
✅6. The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
✅7. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Challenge #4 - Short Story Challenge
Read 18 short stories

✅- Finished
*- Currently reading

✅1. The White Road by Kelly Link (White Cat, Black Dog: Stories) Read: Jan 2025 3 stars
✅2. A First-rate material by Sayaka Murata (Life Ceremony) Read: Feb 2025 2 stars
3.
4.
.
.
18.

Challenge #5 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge
The Decade Challenge
Read 10 books from any 10 consecutive years (1 book per year). The authors can only be used once in the challenge.

Note: I plan to use as many books, as possible, that I own, which is why I picked this decade. I'm struggling with the year 2001. Hoping I will come across something serendipitously!

Completed: 1/10
✅- Finished
*- Currently reading

Decade: 2000-2009

2000: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Maybe???) Other options: Anil's Ghost, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, White Teeth, The Blind Assassin,After the Quake, Esperanza Rising
2001: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, House Corrino
2002: The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
2003: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson or The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2004: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson or Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
✅2005: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro ; Old Man's War by John Scalzi
2006: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe
2007: The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
2008: The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
2009: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, My Struggle: Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgård

Challenge #5 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge
The Century Challenge
Read 10 books from any 10 consecutive decades (1 book per decade). Authors can only be used once in the challenge.

Completed: 4/10
✅- Finished
*- Currently reading

Consecutive Century: 1880- 1979

✅1970s: Shōgun, Part One (1975),

1960s: The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962), Pale Fire 1962)

✅1950s: Moominpappa's Memoirs by Tove Jansson (1950)

✅1940s: Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945); Comet in Moominland (1946)

1930s: The 42nd Parallel (1930), Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (1930), Independent People by Halldór Laxness (1934)

1920s: The Magic Mountain (1924), The Age of Innocence (1921)

1910s: My Ántonia (1918), O Pioneers! (1913), The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (911)

✅1900s: The Iron Heel by Jack London

1890s: Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891), Jude the Obscure (1895), Dom Casmurro (1899), An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge (1890), The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells (1899), Trilby by George du Maurier (1894)

1880s: The Brothers Karamazov (1880), The Portrait of a Lady (1881), Idylls of the King (1888), Kidnapped (1886), Treasure Island (1882)

Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time
Select a book or an author from each of the seven world continents, *Antarctica is optional, and can be substituted for a country specific book.

✅- Finished

✅Africa: The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz - The city or country is not named but it is set in a Muslim community and the author is Egyptian so I'm assuming it could be Egypt.
✅Asia: The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 12 by Kousuke Oono (Japan)
✅Australia: Question 7 (Tasmania & other countries)
✅Europe: Never Let Me Go (England)
✅North America: The Iron Heel (USA)
South America: Jorge Amado or Mario Vargas Llosa
✅Antarctica, or a Country you would most like to visit- Finland: Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson

Challenge #11 - Future Classics
List 5 books you have read over the last 25 years that you believe will still be actively read in 50-100+ years.

These Five Were Great, I Believe They Will Stand the Test of Time

1. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
2. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
3. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
4. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
5. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

List 3 unread books published between 2000-2024 that you feel have the potential to become a classic and read 1 of your 3 selections. Then let us know if you think it has a chance at greatness, or will it pass into oblivion.

These Might have a Chance at Greatness!

1. My Struggle: Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgård
2. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
3. Playground by Richard Powers - This one is going out on a limb since it is a new book!

Book Chosen:

Destined for Greatness or Oblivion??

Challenge #12– Fiction/Non-Fiction
Using the below categories or a selection of your own pick three subjects of interest and read a fiction book and a non-fiction book about that subject. Total number of books for this challenge is six.

Examples of Categories:
Space Exploration, War, Sea Travels/Adventures, Family, Exploration, Animals, Historic Event, Natural Disaster, Survival, Death, Civilization, Justice, Religion/Faith, Slavery, Politics, Royalty

Completed: 0/3
✅- Finished
*- Currently reading

Note: This is the challenge I am MOST looking forward to!

Categories:
1. Ukraine
✅Fiction: Baba Dunja's Last Love by Alina Bronsky
Non-fiction: The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy

2. Exploration of the Amazon
Fiction: City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
Non-fiction: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

3. Fernando Pessoa
Fiction: The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
Non-fiction: Pessoa: A Biography by Fernando Pessoa

4. WWII
Fiction: The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel
✅Non-fiction: The Complete Maus

Challenge #15 - Award Winners
From the below book prize lists, or a prize from your country or local region, seek out and read two award winning books. Please let the group know what prize list or lists you use, as well as the book information.

Nobel Prize in Literature - since 1901
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
Booker Prize - since 1969
https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booke...
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - since 1918
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitze...
Hugo Award - since 1953
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Aw...
Newberry Medal - since 1922
https://www.britannica.com/art/Newber...
European Union Prize for Literature - since 2009
https://www.euprizeliterature.eu/

Books Chosen
✅1. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2006 ALA Alex Award)
✅2. Question 7 by Richard Flanagan (2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction)
✅3. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Pulitzer Prize)


Some options:

Nobel Prize in Literature: Herman Hesse - Steppenwolf, Mario Vargas Llosa - Conversation in the Cathedral or Death in the Andes, Kazuo Ishiguro- Never Let Me Go or The Remains of the Day, Olga Tokarczuk - The Books of Jacob, Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain

Pulitzer: Trust by Hernan Diaz, So Big (1925), The Age of Innocence (1921), The Road (2007), Gilead (2005)

Booker - Troubles by J.G. Farrell (1970), The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2014), The Sea, the Sea, The Luminaries (2013), The Famished Road (1991)

You already have a great list, Pam. Here's to a good 2025 reading year.

Matt wrote: "Good luck on your challenge Buffet!"

Thanks Matt! Same to you.

Sara wrote: "You already have a great list, Pam. Here's to a good 2025 reading year."

Thanks Sara! I am probably being too ambitious, like usual, but the planning at least gets me thinking about books I want to read next year!

Pam, I was going to cut back this year, too, so I could focus on other goals. but then all the new challenges fit with my goals, and now I've gone for more! Ah we,, hopefully we'll both have some good reading this year.

I see you and I both liked A Gentleman in Moscow. You'll probably like Gilead then, too.

Looks like you've got a good plan so far, Pam! I know you are going to enjoy your 2025 reading! :)

You've got a great start on this. I heartily recommend I Capture the Castle -- it was one of my top 2 reads last year. And goodness, I haven't thought about The Trumpet of the Swan in so long -- it was a favourite as a child.

Teri-K wrote: "Pam, I was going to cut back this year, too, so I could focus on other goals. but then all the new challenges fit with my goals, and now I've gone for more! "

I'm a sucker for a challenge but then I find out it's hard to keep up with the tracking during the year, especially in different groups! For 2025, I'm going to have a reading plan at the beginning of the month and just read and then fill in the challenges at the end of the month. I keep a reading notebook with tabs by GR Groups which helps with organization. I do have some specific goals this year and specific books that I want to either read by the end of the year or sell/donate. Gilead is one of them! I don't know why I haven't read it yet.

Yes, I loved A Gentleman in Moscow. Amor Towles is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I can't wait for whatever he publishes next!

Terris wrote: "Looks like you've got a good plan so far, Pam! I know you are going to enjoy your 2025 reading! :)"

Thank you Terris! I'm excited to get started. I don't know what to read for the month of December, though. I'm trying to not read anything on my plan for 2025!

Wobbley wrote: "You've got a great start on this. I heartily recommend I Capture the Castle -- it was one of my top 2 reads last year. And goodness, I haven't thought about The Trumpet of the Swan in so long -- it..."

Thanks Wobbley! I don't even know what I Capture the Castle is about but I see it a lot on GR. I have a copy of The Trumpet of the Swan with my children's books, which I think a friend gave me when she retired from teaching. I've never read it but it looks like a cute book, so maybe I will pick it up when I want a light read.

I’m starting the year off with Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, which works for 4 (maybe 5) of my challenges. I saw the movie when it came out in 2010 and have been meaning to read the book since then. I’m reading 3 other books but will likely finish this one first.

I finished Challenge #3 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors.

My decade and century challenges will be the most difficult for me to finish. I felt so ambitious in December!

Ha, ha...we all feel a bit ambitious in December and a bit pushed by July. I'm amazed how fast the year scoots by us. I think it is marvelous that you have finished #3. Always a joy to add new authors to our repertoire.

That's great -- congrats on finishing Challenge 3! What were your favourites from this challenge? Any new favourite authors discovered?

Nice reading so far, and I understand about December plans! Congratulations on finishing one of your challenges already.

Wobbley wrote: "That's great -- congrats on finishing Challenge 3! What were your favourites from this challenge? Any new favourite authors discovered?"

Thanks for commenting, Wobbley!

My favorite from challenge 3 is All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler. I've read a lot on WWII but had never heard of Mildred Harnack. The story was fascinating! You don't normally think of American underground freedom fighters (not soldiers) in Europe fighting against the Nazis.

My favorite new authors this year - Edward Ashton (Mickey7) and Richard Flanagan. I plan to read the sequel to Mickey7 and one other book by Flanagan this year.

Sara wrote: "Ha, ha...we all feel a bit ambitious in December and a bit pushed by July. I'm amazed how fast the year scoots by us. I think it is marvelous that you have finished #3. Always a joy to add new auth..."

Sara - I can't believe it is June already! I need to read ~24 books to finish all of these challenges! I don't see it happening based on how my reading is going this year. I probably won't finish my century challenge, but the others are still in the running.

Pam wrote: "My favorite new authors this year - Edward Ashton (Mickey7) and Richard Flanagan. I plan to read the sequel to Mickey7 and one other book by Flanagan this year."

I feel like I've heard about Richard Flanagan from a few people lately -- I really must give him a try!

Pam wrote: "Sara wrote: "Ha, ha...we all feel a bit ambitious in December and a bit pushed by July. I'm amazed how fast the year scoots by us. I think it is marvelous that you have finished #3. Always a joy to..."

I was just looking at all the marvelous books you have read. It is already a WIN year for you! You are very close to completing several of the challenges. It isn't about quantity...I hope you enjoy every book you read from here out.