Here's how it works:
The challenge will be exactly the same as last year, 12 classic books, but with slightly different categories. You do not have to read 12 books to participate in this challenge!
1. A 19th Century Classic - Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
2. A 20th Century Classic - By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. A classic by a woman author - Middlemarch, by George Eliot
4. A classic in translation.
5. A classic by a non-white author.
6. An adventure classic - did a reread of Robert Louis Stevenson's incomparable Treasure Island.
7. A fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian classic. Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
8. A classic detective novel.
9. A classic which includes the name of a place in the title. The Small House at Allington, by Anthony Trollope - book 5 in the Barsetshire novels.
10. A classic which has been banned or censored.
11. Re-read a classic you read in school (high school or college). Emma by Jane Austen
12 .A volume of classic short stories - Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories, by L.M. Montgomery
I am really looking forward to another year of wonderful classics--both new and rereads.
Happy New Year, fellow Classics lovers!
You have some excellent books lined up there! I can't remember if you've read Grant Allen, but Miss Cayley's Adventures would fit nicely in #6, if Treasure Island is disqualified.
ReplyDeleteI also can't remember if you've read Margaret Oliphant before. Salem Chapel was interesting but not my favorite - I need to re-read it & see if I feel differently.
Happy New Year, and happy reading :)
I'll have to check out Grant Allen--thanks for the suggestion.
DeleteI read Miss Marjoribanks and really enjoyed it so I picked up Salem Chapel and am hoping for the best!
You started with one of the best, then :)
DeleteI look forward to seeing what you end up reading. BTW, I am reading A Small House at Allington for the same category!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to have to amend my rules -- there are so many great adventures stories that are children's classics! Also in the banned books category.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks again for signing up for the challenge again! You have a great list -- I'm especially pleased to see Dickens, Trollope and Wharton on your list! Roman Fever is one of my favorite short stories of all time -- Wharton was a brilliant short story writer.
ReplyDeleteI did read Roman Fever, just the story not the collection, before I went to Rome this Oct, and I agree, that short story is fabulous!
DeleteThis is a wonderful list of books. I look forward to your commentary in 2016.
ReplyDeleteOn the issue of banned books. I did a little research. It turns out that a very high percentage of classic or well known novel is on some list of banned books. I believe that the majority of books that you mentioned as possible reads in other categories can be found on such lists. I found that Googling a title along with words liked "banned" produces such interesting results.
Nice choices....my vote Grapes of Wrath over For Whom the Bell Tolls. Just me.
ReplyDeleteJane, this is quite a challenge and your books are wonderful. Not only that, but finding your sight this afternoon will lead me to many books that I shall surely have on a TBR list soon! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOn the #5 of this challenge, you mention looking for another slave-related book: may I recommend "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones. It is excellent and also won a Pulitzer Prize. My husband read it too and asked me to save it. That means he will be reading it again one day! That says a lot for the book around here!!
I tried to email you this afternoon, but the message came back "undeliverable"...I sent it to the email address on your "Profile" page.
Thanks for sharing these great books. ~ linda @ The Reader and the Book as well as Being Woven
Thanks for the recommendation--I will definitely check out The Known World.
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