With 2018 rapidly approaching, I'm working on my reading goals for the new year. One of the challenges that I definitely want to do again is the Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen K. at Books and Chocolate.
The goal of the challenge is the same as last year- to read twelve classic novels over the course of the year. For the purposes of this challenge, a classic novel is defined as one written at least fifty years ago (so, by 1968). Each of the novels must fit one of the twelve reading prompts selected by Karen K. Some of these are the same as last year and some are different. I think that the selection of categories are really creative this time around, and I'm looking forward to getting started.
Here are my choices for 2018:
1. A 19th century classic: The American by Henry James (1877) - Completed March 2018 I first became interested in Henry James during an AP English exam when I was in high school. Part of the test had us analyze a passage from The Golden Bowl. I was so enamored with the passage that I began buying James novels as I came across them over the subsequent years. At this point, I've only read The Ambassadors (which I didn't like) and The Bostonians (which I did). It's time to give another of his works a try.
2. A 20th century classic: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1922) - Completed April 2018 I've been a fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald since I read The Great Gatsby back when I was a sophomore in high school. I read my second Fitzgerald novel, This Side of Paradise, in 2016, and was a little underwhelmed. I'm still interested in reading more from him, however, so I decided to give this book a try.
3. A classic by a woman author: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (1814) - Completed September 2018 I eventually want to read all of Jane Austen's novels and review them here on the blog. I've read Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice and Emma, but that was before my blogging days. I'll eventually reread them, so I can write a bit about them here. For now, I decided to try an Austen novel that I haven't read yet for this category.
4. A classic in translation: Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rølvaag (1924-1925) - Completed June 2018 I picked up this novel years ago when the bookstore at my local mall was going out of business. Everything was half-price and the selection was already pretty picked over, but Giants in the Earth was there. I had never heard of it before, but the description on the back sounded interesting. Little did I know that this Norwegian classic would come in handy over a decade later when I needed a translated novel for a reading challenge.
5. A children's classic: Heidi by Johanna Spyri (1881) - Completed February 2018 I have vague memories of seeing the Shirley Temple movie version of this classic when I was a kid. I think I might have seen another version televised on the Disney channel too. I remember the story as being one of those classic, sweet tales for girls, like Anne of Green Gables or Pollyanna. I have a soft spot for books like those, so I want to give this one a try and see how it stacks up.
6. A classic crime story: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939) - Completed November 2018 I was initially thinking of reading a Sherlock Holmes story for this prompt, but then I remembered that I purchased And Then There Were None on my Kindle when it was on sale for $2 on Amazon a while back. I've been meaning to read a Christie novel ever since Murder on the Orient Express came out in the theaters. This will be my first book by her.
7. A classic travel or journey narrative: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1873) - Completed January 2018 For the past two years, I've started my reading with a Jules Verne novel. In 2016 I explored the depths of the ocean with Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In 2017 I glimpsed what lay under the earth's surface with Professor Lidenbrock in Journey to the Center of the Earth. For 2018, I'm going to continue the adventure with a trip around the world with Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days.
8. A classic with a single-word title: Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1854) - Completed October 2018 My life is going to drastically change in 2018. In the fall, I will be leaving Florida, the place I've lived for all of my adult life, and moving to Connecticut. My husband has been offered a professorship at a university there, so we will be packing up and moving across the country. While I'm excited to take this step forward, I'm nervous to leave everything I know behind. I'm hoping to find some comfort in the pages of Walden, a book written by a man who left his life behind for a temporary home in the wilderness. Thoreau's work is an exploration of personal independence and self-reliance, and I'm hoping his wisdom will help me make this massive adjustment in my own life. As a bonus, Walden Pond is in Massachusetts. Living in Connecticut means that it would be easy to go visit the spot he wrote this in and see it for myself.
9. A classic with a color in the title: The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes (1934) Completed February 2018 Last year, when I was assembling my Classics Club reading list, I purposefully sought out works by authors of color. One of the books that kept popping up was The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes. This short story collection is among his best known works, but I had never heard of it before. It is supposedly a pessimistic and sarcastic look at race relations in the 1930s. I thought it sounded interesting, so I ended up putting it on my list. It suits this category perfectly, so I'm going to give it a shot this year.
10. A classic by an author that's new to you: Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (1959) Completed March 2018 I was always a reader as a child, but when I was in high school, my love for the classics exploded. When I was old enough to work a part-time job and had my own spending money for the first time in my life, I started buying up classic novels like they were going out of style. I wanted to establish my own little library, so I started looking around for book lists to guide my purchases. I settled on trying to buy all of the books that Sparknotes had reading guides for, figuring that this would give me a wide range of classics to read and ensure that there would be free resources available to help me understand them if I got lost. Alas, Babylon was the first book I bought off the list. I have no idea what it's about and have never read anything else by Pat Frank before. making this a great choice for this category.
11. A classic that scares you: Ulysses by James Joyce (1922) Completed December 2018 This novel is considered to be one of the best ever written, but it is legendary for its difficulty. I've always known that I wanted to read it one day, but I am concerned that I won't understand a word of it. This prompt has presented me with the perfect opportunity to give it a shot. I've got one thing going for me - this novel draws a lot of parallels to The Odyssey, and I read that book earlier this year. I'm as prepared now as I ever will be.
12. Re-read a favorite classic: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) Completed November 2018 The Great Gatsby is my favorite novel. It touches my heart in a way that I have difficulty explaining to people. It's been a few years since I've read it, and I would like to get a review for it up on the blog. This is the perfect opportunity.
I spent more time this year making my list, and I tried to come up with selections that are meaningful to me. I'm looking forward to spending another year learning about literature and exploring classic novels.
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