We're almost halfway through November and another year of the Back to the Classics Challenge is complete! I finished all twelve of the prompts a little bit early and am very pleased with my year of exploring some classic novels. I spent 2019 with monkey butlers, toothpaste-selling knights, ragamuffin pickpockets, extremely boring ghosts, and more than one completely delusional protagonist. I read about serious issues like slavery, racism, poverty, and mental health, and not-so-serious issues, like the consequences of time travel, the hazards of allowing Mack and his boys to throw a party for you, and the dangers of addling your brains by reading too many romance novels. I even got to enjoy some outrageous Shakespearean sexism. It was quite the journey, to say the least.
I completed all of the categories, meaning I get three entries in final drawing. If (by some crazy chance) I win, I can be reached at quiet.kristina [at] gmail [dot] com. Here's the breakdown of what I read, with links to my reviews:
1. 19th Century Classic: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1837-1839) Completed February 2019
3. Classic by a Female Author: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) Completed August 2019
4. Classic in Translation: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (1874) Completed in January 2019
5. Classic Comedy: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) Completed in June 2019
6. Classic Tragedy: Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895) Completed in May 2019
7. Very Long Classic: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605-1615) Completed June 2019
8. Classic Novella: Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (1961) Completed January 2019
9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean): Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (1945) Completed April 2019
10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia): The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing (1950) Completed November 2019
11. Classic From a Place You've Lived: The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851) Completed September 2019
12. Classic Play: The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (c. 1590) Completed February 2019
Now that I have finished for the year, I'm a bit sad that it's all over. I want to participate again in 2020, but I feel like this might be the last year for it. If so, this post is bittersweet for me. I'll never stop reading classics, of course, but I will miss this particular challenge if it doesn't return. It's been one of the main elements I structure my yearly reading plans around. I'm still holding out hope that it will come back, but if not, it's been a wonderful five years. Thank you Karen!
Congrats on finishing all 12 categories! That's awesome. I'll probably only manage to finish 8 or 9 this year. But that's better than none. :)
ReplyDeleteYou finished all 12!! Huzzah! I made it to 9. Or will once I finish my current read.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Nice job finishing 9!
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