Classics Club Wrap Up

 

Just about five years ago, I decided to join the Classics Club Challenge. The official rules called for participants to create a list of 50 classic novels to read over the course of five years. Being an overachiever, I decided to create a list of 100. I divided my list into several sections, in order to read somewhat diversely over the years. I had several different genres and time periods represented on it. My start date was January 1, 2017. My end date was December 31, 2021.  After years of dedication and commitment, I finally finished about one month early, on November 28, 2021.

Reading these 100 novels was a massive undertaking and probably one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. All of my reading for the past five years was centered around trying to finish it. I read at least one book from it pretty much every month and based a lot of my other reading goals and challenges around making progress on it. I found some books that I truly loved throughout my journey and some that I truly hated. I learned a lot about which kinds of classics I like to read and which kind don't work out for me. Somehow, I read War and Peace twice. Everything I read helped me to grow. I am now undoubtedly a better reader than I was before I started. This experience was so valuable to me that it's actually hard to explain here.

Reflecting back over everything I read and everything I experienced, I came up with three main takeaways:

1. Translations matter.

When reading a book originally written in a different language, it is extremely important to research which translation you are going to read. They are not all equal! Big chain bookstores like Barnes and Noble will generally use the translation that's in the public domain for their editions, which will not necessarily be the best one. A quick Google search will help you determine which version is the most highly recommended. Having a good translation can be the difference between struggling through a classic and actually enjoying it.

2. Spread out reading classics over time.

I knew that works from long ago would contain a lot of racism, sexism, and other disturbing ideas. What I didn't expect was how weary I would soon grow of it all. I do think there is a lot of value in exploring these books, but there is truly a lot you have to overlook. Reading so many of them in quick succession really brought this issue to the forefront. For me at least, it's better to spread out reading classics to avoid being constantly bombarded with the worst ideas of humanity over and over again. On the other hand, when you find a classic that does a good job of treating woman and people of color fairly, you know you have found something special. 

3. Pick classics based on enjoyment.

When I was creating my Classics Club list, my main goal was to create a list full of notable works from many genres. I put a lot of books on there that I felt like I "should" read, even though I knew I probably wouldn't like them much. I ended up paying dearly for that idea with picks like Ulysses and Gravity's Rainbow taking up huge amounts of my time and adding no real value to my reading life beyond building my stamina. Books I was excited about and thought I would like, I generally did. If I were to make another list, I would pick more books based on my favorite genres, time periods, and authors. It's good to explore a bit and try new things, but it's even more important to know yourself as a reader and treat yourself kindly. 

Now that I've finished everything, I looked back over my list and tried to figure out what my best and worst reads were. I definitely can't narrow it down to one of each. My favorites included Wives and Daughters, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Around the World in 80 Days, A Room with a View, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Bell Jar, Heidi, Black Beauty, The Custom of the Country, The Bluest Eye, Native Son, Germinal, and Les Misérables. My least favorites included Ulysses, Gravity's Rainbow, Midnight's Children, On the Road, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Daniel Deronda. I'm lucky to have found so many new favorites throughout this process. I'm also pretty lucky that out of the 100 books I read, there were less than ten that I truly didn't like at all.   

Now that this huge undertaking is officially over, I guess the next thing I have to decide is what to do moving forward. It feels weird to not have this challenge running in the background. This provided structure to all my TBRs over the past five years. Honestly, I'm tempted to make another list and do it all again, but I don't think that's my best move. After all, one of my takeaways was that you should spread out reading classics over time. I think I'm going to take a year off from it, and use that time to really research other classics I would like to read and put together a thoughtful list based on my interests. I'll still read classics in 2022 of course. I'll still do Back to the Classics if it's offered. I'm just going to take my time before jumping back into this awesome challenge for another round.

So I guess that's all, for now at least. This has been a true labor of love and I'm so happy to have finished it. Even so, I'm a little bit sad that it's over.