Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Hooray, it's challenge planning time of year! These are the challenges I'm hoping to do for the 2025 Buffet:

Will definitely tackle:
✅ Challenge #2 - Members Choice, take 1
✅ Challenge #2 - Members Choice, take 2
✅ Challenge #3 - New Authors
✅ Challenge #4 - Short Story
✅ Challenge #5a - Decade, take 1
✅ Challenge #5a - Decade, take 2
✅ Challenge #5b - Century
Challenge #6 - Group Reads and/or Buddy Reads Challenge
✅ Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete
✅ Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time
✅ Challenge #9 – Rereading Some do Some don't
✅ Challenge #10a - Books by Year: 1951
✅ Challenge #10b - Books by Year: 1953
✅ Challenge #11 - Future Classics
✅ Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories
✅ Challenge #14 - Bestselling Novels in the United States
✅ Challenge #15 - Award Winners

Challenge #2 - Members Choice Challenge, take 1

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

✅ 1. 19th Century or Older - An Ideal Husband - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 2. 20th Century - The Country of the Blind - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 3. 21st Century - Heartstopper: Volume One - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 4. Nonfiction - M.C. Escher: The Graphic Work - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 5. An Author never read before - The Fortnight in September - ⭐️⭐️
✅ 6. Diversity - Somewhere above the Clouds - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 7. Members Choice Genre: Adventure - The People That Time Forgot - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 8. Members Choice Genre: Play - The Romantic Age: A Comedy in Three Acts - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 9. Members Choice Genre: Historical Fiction - Mother Night - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #2 - Members Choice Challenge, take 2

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

✅ 1. 19th Century or Older - Round the Moon - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 2. 20th Century - Aunt Clara - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 3. 21st Century - Written on the Dark - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 4. Nonfiction - Year In, Year Out - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 5. An Author never read before - Appointment with Venus - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 6. Diversity - Allan Quatermain - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 7. Members Choice Genre: Adventure - My Brother Michael - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 8. Members Choice Genre: Romance - The Unknown Ajax - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 9. Members Choice Genre: Science Fiction - Childhood’s End - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #3 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

✅ 1. Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 2. The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff - ️⭐️⭐️
✅ 3. M.C. Escher: The Graphic Work by M.C. Escher - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 4. The Queen of Air and Darkness by Poul Anderson - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 5. The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. van Vogt - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 6. Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #4 - Short Story Challenge

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

The first 9 are from Nine Tomorrows by Isaac Asimov
✅ 1. Profession - ⭐️⭐️½
✅ 2. The Feeling of Power - ⭐️⭐️
✅ 3. The Dying Night - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 4. I'm in Marsport without Hilda - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 5. The Gentle Vultures - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 6. All the Troubles of the World - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 7. Spell my Name with an S - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 8. The Last Question - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 9. The Ugly Little Boy - ⭐️⭐️½

The next 4 are from The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. van Vogt
✅ 10. Black Destroyer - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 11. War of Nerves - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 12. Discord in Scarlet - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 13. M33 in Andromeda - ⭐️⭐️½

✅ 14. Somewhere above the Clouds - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 15. Sonny's Blues - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 16. Call Me Joe - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

The last 2 are from The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
✅ 17. The Rocket Man - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 18. Kaleidoscope - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Challenge #5a - Decade: 1950s, take 1

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

✅ 1950 - The Voyage of the Space Beagle - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 1951 - Before the Flood - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1952 - City - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1953 - Someone at a Distance - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1954 - M.C. Escher: The Graphic Work - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1955 - Requiem for a Wren - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 1956 - Auntie Mame (play version) - ️⭐️½
✅ 1957 - Sonny's Blues - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1958 - The Greengage Summer - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1959 - Nine Tomorrows - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Challenge #5a - Decade: 1950s, take 2

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

I'm tackling the 1950s again, because there are just so many books from that decade that I still want to get to. I'm being more lenient with myself for my second 1950s challenge. The only rule is: 10 books from the 1950s that weren't included in my first 1950s challenge (so repeated years and repeated authors are allowed).

✅ 1. The Illustrated Man - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 2. The Season of the Stranger: A Novel - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 3. My Brother Michael - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 4. Appointment with Venus - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 5. The Unknown Ajax - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 6. Year In, Year Out - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 7. The Winds of Heaven - ⭐️⭐️½
✅ 8. Aunt Clara - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 9. Anatomy of a Murder - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 10. Childhood’s End - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #5b - Century: 1890s to 1980s

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

✅ 1890s: An Ideal Husband - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1900s: The Country of the Blind - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1910s: The People That Time Forgot - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1920s: The Romantic Age: A Comedy in Three Acts - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1930s: The Fortnight in September - ⭐️⭐️
✅ 1940s: Random Harvest - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1950s: Someone at a Distance - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1960s: Mother Night - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1970s: The Queen of Air and Darkness - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 1980s: The Mountains of Mourning - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Challenge #5.iii - Millennium (I probably won't do this one)

Challenge #6 - Group Reads and/or Buddy Reads Challenge (There are a few of these that appear in my Bingo challenge, and I haven't always given them a separate review here)

✅ 1. The Angel at the Grave - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 2. Augustus - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 3. Call Me Joe - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 4. The Illustrated Man - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 5. Zero Hour - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 6. Mimsy Were The Borogoves - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 7. Childhood’s End - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 8. A Lost Opportunity - ⭐️⭐️
✅ 9. The Seagull - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 10. Regret ⭐️⭐️
11.
12.

Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

My goal is to read 2 books from among the following:

1. my 2 favourites from the George Smiley series (reread): Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People
2. the 2nd Daddy-Long-Legs book: Dear Enemy
✅ 3. the 2nd book from the Caspak series: The People That Time Forgot - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4. the first book in the Barsoom series: A Princess of Mars
✅ 5. something from the Vorkosigan Saga series: The Mountains of Mourning - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
6. next book in the Allan Quartermain series: Allan Quatermain
✅ 7. start the Kristin Lavransdatter series with: The Wreath - ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

✅ Africa - Allan Quatermain - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ Asia - Somewhere above the Clouds - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ Australia - Requiem for a Wren - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ Europe - Before the Flood - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ North America - Sonny's Blues - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ South America - The Country of the Blind - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ Specific Country: Norway is the country I'd most like to visit - The Wreath - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #9 - Rereading - Some do Some don't

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

I'll do this one for sure. About a third of my reading in 2024 has been rereads, and it's been so satisfying!

Books I'd Love to Reread
1. No Great Mischief
2. The Life of an Unknown Man
3. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People
4. Winter’s Orbit
5. Death Comes for the Archbishop
6. Do Not Say We Have Nothing
7. Watership Down
8. The Martian Chronicles

Read Again in 2025
✅ 1. Winter’s Orbit - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 2. The Martian Chronicles - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Challenge #10a (1951) – Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year

I couldn't choose between 1951 and 1953, so I'll try to fit in both.

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

10 Books of Interest for 1951
1. The Illustrated Man
2. The Season of the Stranger
3. Before the Flood
4. The Master of Go
5. Southern Cross
6. Appointment with Venus
7. The Grass Harp (title story)
8. A Game of Hide and Seek
9. My Cousin Rachel
10. The Day of the Triffids

1951 Books Read in 2025
✅ 1. Before the Flood - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 2. The Season of the Stranger - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 3. The Illustrated Man - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Challenge #10b (1953) – Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year

I couldn't choose between 1951 and 1953, so I'll try to fit in both.

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

10 Books of Interest for 1953
1. Someone at a Distance
2. Go Tell It on the Mountain
3. The Go-Between
4. Childhood’s End
5. The Long Good-bye
6. The Golden Apples of the Sun
7. The Variable Man
8. Kingfishers Catch Fire
9. Maud Martha
10. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial: A Drama In Two Acts

1953 Books Read in 2025
✅ 1. Someone at a Distance - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 2. Childhood’s End - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 3. The Variable Man - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #11 - Future Classics

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

5 books from the 2000s that I've read that I think will still be read in 50-100 years
partly in the 2000s - Harry Potter Series
2011 - The Martian
2016 - Do Not Say We Have Nothing
2005 - Never Let Me Go
2001 - The Shadow of the Wind

3 books from the 2000s that I haven't read that may stand the test of time
1. Heartstopper: Volume One
2. Convenience Store Woman
3. All the Light We Cannot See

Book Chosen to read in 2025:
✅ Heartstopper: Volume One - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

a play
✅ Old: An Ideal Husband - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ New: Before the Flood - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

a book I've never read by an author I've liked in the past
✅ Old: The Country of the Blind - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ New: Mother Night - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

sci-fi
✅ Old: Round the Moon - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ New: Nine Tomorrows - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Challenge #14 - Publishers Weekly lists of Bestselling Novels in the United States

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

I find this one quite daunting (American bestsellers of the year aren't always my thing), but I'll give it a try. I chose the 10 years using a random number generator. Full disclosure: instead of listing the #1 bestseller from each of these years, I'm listing my preferred option between the #1 and #2 bestseller each year, because I was having trouble finding a book I thought would be a success for me among the #1 bestsellers (and in one or two years I'd already read the #1 book).

10 years of bestsellers
1. 1898 - Caleb West by Francis Hopkinson Smith
2. 1900 - To Have and To Hold by Mary Johnston
3. 1903 - Lady Rose's Daughter by Mrs. Humphry Ward
4. 1912 - The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter
5. 1917 - Mr. Britling Sees it Through by H.G. Wells
6. 1941 - Random Harvest by James Hilton
7. 1958 - Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
8. 1994 - The Chamber by John Grisham
9. 2004 - The da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
10. 2012 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Gosh, most of these are outside my comfort zone. Okay, here goes:

Books chosen to try
✅ 1. a genre outside my comfort zone: Anatomy of a Murder - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✅ 2. one I might enjoy: Random Harvest - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #15 - Award Winners

✅ Challenge Complete ✅

I'm thinking of trying the Hugo Award for best Novella:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Aw...

Books Chosen
✅ 1. The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
✅ 2. The Queen of Air and Darkness (title story) - ️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alternates
1. The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
2. The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

Challenge #16 - A-Z Title Challenge (I probably won't do this one)

Challenge #17 - A-Z Author Challenge (I probably won't do this one)

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Thanks very much, Matt! Good luck with your reading too.

Good luck!

I do not know about half of these books. I might have to ask you for a recommendation. :D Good luck! :)

Looks like another year of good reading here. I'm eager to see how you like your books. I hope they're all great!

I'm very excited to follow your challenge, Wobbley. So many books I haven't heard of! Have a great time.

Oh my, I'm pretty sure you are going to make me add books! I'm excited to follow your reads and find out about some of these that I am not familiar with.

Klowey wrote: "Good luck!"

Thanks very much Klowey!

Samanta wrote: "I do not know about half of these books. I might have to ask you for a recommendation. :D Good luck! :)"

Thanks Samantha! A lot of them are new to me too, and I found them when I was planning my challenges. :)

Kathleen wrote: "I'm very excited to follow your challenge, Wobbley. So many books I haven't heard of! Have a great time."

Thanks Kathleen! I'm excited to follow yours too, especially since we're both doing the same decade. I'm looking forward to our buddy read of Bradbury's Illustrated Man!

Teri-K wrote: "Looks like another year of good reading here. I'm eager to see how you like your books. I hope they're all great!"

Thanks very much Teri-K. I hope so too!!

Sara wrote: "Oh my, I'm pretty sure you are going to make me add books! I'm excited to follow your reads and find out about some of these that I am not familiar with."

Thanks Sara! You've surely noticed that you've made me add some to my challenge too. Off the top of my head, My Name Is Asher Lev, The Fortnight in September, The Go-Between and several more were added because you and a few others recommended them this year. I love how this group helps me find so many new (old) books to try!

Wobbley, you have some great books listed. I'm going to throw in my support for a few of them. Someone at a Distance is very good like everything by Dorothy Whipple. I enjoyed Life Among the Savages and still think of it sometimes (her wit). Excellent Women was my first Barbara Pym and still my favourite among all her books that I have read.

You cannot go wrong with Oscar Wilde, John Wyndham, Elizabeth von Arnim, and Daphne du Maurier. I would love to hear your thoughts on My Cousin Rachel. Keep a translator handy for The Name of the Rose :)

A Princess of Mars and Lost Horizon are exciting reads. I keep thinking of rereading them. Maybe in a few years.

Good luck!

Shaina wrote: "Wobbley, you have some great books listed. I'm going to throw in my support for a few of them. Someone at a Distance is very good like everything by Dorothy Whipple. ..."

Wow, thanks so much for all the advice, Shaina! I read my first Dorothy Whipple this year, and enjoyed it. It seems like everyone in the group enjoys her, regardless of which of her books they read. The Name of the Rose has won the January poll, so I guess I'll need that translator on hand pretty soon, haha!

Feel free to ignore my advice or just take what you want. Yes, I remember holding my paperback copy of The Name of the Rose and then constantly opening Google translate on my phone and hoovering over the text with my phone camera to read the translation:p

Whipple is definitely a favourite, with many in our group. I hope to see her nominated some day.

I hope you enjoy Chaim Potok’s writing as much as I did!

Thanks Terry! It seems like I'm hearing a lot of good things about him recently.

That's a great selection, Wobbley! You'll probably love My cousin Rachel, An ideal husband, Shadow id the wind, and The enchanted April.

Ila wrote: "That's a great selection, Wobbley! You'll probably love My cousin Rachel, An ideal husband, Shadow id the wind, and The enchanted April."

Thanks very much, Ila! I'm feeling quite hopeful about my selections. :)

Thanks for commenting on my challenge earlier. This one looks good! I see a few familiar titles, whereas i seem to know closer to none on some other lists i have seen. Lol Will be following along this year to see what else you might add or adjust (i have been going a bit crazy editing mine, but i think i am getting it there after a few more adjustments. Frankly, i was overthinking it, but its my first year, so *shrugs lol) Have fun!

April wrote: "Thanks for commenting on my challenge earlier. This one looks good! I see a few familiar titles, whereas i seem to know closer to none on some other lists i have seen. Lol Will be following along t..."

Thanks April! There's nothing wrong with overplanning -- you can always change your mind later. I find the planning and refining stage quite fun, and I discover new books when I'm trying to plan. The main thing is to enjoy yourself and your reading! :)

You have some great books on your lists, Wobbley! I particularly enjoyed reading The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland. It was such a heartwarming follow-up reaction to that dreadful day on 9/11/01.

Enjoy your reading in 2025!

Thanks Shirley! It's nice to hear you enjoyed that one. I struggle finding non-fiction I enjoy. But I've gotten some recommendations from the group, so hopefully that will help.:)

I've finished my first few books for my Buffet challenges. I've also completed my first challenge (the trick is to start with the challenge that only requires 1 book to complete it: the Future Classics challenge).

✅ Heartstopper: Volume One ⭐️⭐️⭐️½: In this graphic novel, two high school boys become friends and then develop a romantic relationship. This was cute and enjoyable. I'm using this one for my "Future Classics" challenge. It's hard for me to guess whether it will still be read in 50-100 years. I think it probably depends on how similar our culture remains. If it's similar to now, then yes, I think this might still be read. If it's a lot less conservative or a lot more conservative, it might not be needed or it might not be permitted.

✅ The People That Time Forgot ⭐️⭐️⭐️: This is the second book in a "Lost World"-type series. A rescue mission for some people (from Book 1) who are stuck on a secret continent full of ancient life goes wrong, and this book follows one of the rescuers who gets separated from the others and tries to survive. It's a reasonably entertaining adventure story, though very much a product of its time. (His Wikipedia page says that the author was a supporter of eugenics and scientific racism, and I feel like that's pretty evident in the story.)

✅ The Country of the Blind ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: A man finds his way into a cut-off valley full of blind people, who can't understand when he tries to describe sight. I really liked this story by H.G. Wells. The first half feels like a commentary on the stupidity of the colonial mindset, while the second half is about the danger of being an outsider, or different from those around you.

Wobbley wrote: "I've finished my first few books for my Buffet challenges. I've also completed my first challenge (the trick is to start with the challenge that only requires 1 book to complete it: the Future Clas..."

Interesting reading - and you've finished a challenge already. lol Way to get a good start out of the gate! I haven't read Heartstopper but as widely popular as it is I'd agree there's a decent chance people will still read it in the future. It seems to work on several levels, which can help.

But you never know, do you? Just look at all those bestsellers from the past that are out of print now and we have to track down used or read online somewhere.

Must feel good to say you already finished a challenge on day 4! Off to a great start, Wobbley.

Always hard to predict what the future will retain (or even think) of us. Often the most popular books also become the most dated. Sadly, I think reading itself might be in danger in the future and most of the books I think "ought" to be classics probably won't be.

Thanks Teri-K and Sara! Yes, you're so right, it's really impossible to try to guess what will endure. But I sure hope that things aren't as dire as you predict, Sara -- a world without reading sounds pretty grim.

It's my first visit to your thread and you have already finished a challenge! I noticed The Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells. I liked that story when I read it a few years ago. H. G. Wells was such a prolific writer that there are many, many things to choose from in his portfolio. I still haven't read all his short stories.

I liked your take on The Country of the Blind as being about colonialism. I had not thought of that. I kept thinking how it was similar to Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr..

Lynn wrote: "It's my first visit to your thread and you have already finished a challenge! I noticed The Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells. I liked that story when I read it ..."

Haha, well, it's pretty easy to finish a challenge that only has one book in it. :) I do enjoy the smaller portion sizes in the Buffet this year.

Yes, that was a really interesting story. I really liked his ability to make me feel completely against the main character in the first half, and then totally on his side in the second half, due to the shift in focus. I've had quite a lot of luck with H.G. Wells.

I haven't read that Vonnegut (actually, I don't think I've ready any of his short stories); I'll have to add it to my list!