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| Every post from here on out will have a picture of Hawaii. ;) |
Okay, here we go! I honestly don't know how this reading challenge will play out and if I will succeed but I might as well try. I feel embarrassed that I haven't read a lot of the classics (yes, even The Great Gatsby I somehow managed to not read in high school) so I feel more determined to put these on my lists. The way I hope it will go is a classic a month with a "shorter" read every other month to break it up a bit and also to give me time to squeeze in that longer book if needed. My hope is to also have two longer books to read each for 6 months. Suzanne and Amy were so awesome to do a book blab on reading the classics and it gave me more ideas for this challenge. I decided to throw in a Russian classic because I realized I didn't have one on there.
Again we'll see how this goes. Join in if you want! I really would love to discuss these with others.
January-Watership Down by Richard Adams (478 pages): I realize this is more contemporary classic but I'm fitting it in because I hear it's more of a children's classic. I'm not sure if it's old enough to stand the test of time with classics but oh well. I'm about 70 pages in already.
February-The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (305 pages):
March-East of Eden by John Steinbeck (601 pages)
April-The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (180 pages)
May-Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (560 pages)
June-Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (351 pages): Baby is due this month so we'll see how this month goes...
July-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (505 pages)
August-The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (254 pages)
September-Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (464 pages)
October-Dracula by Bram Stoker (488 pages): I realize this is not a shorter read but it's an appropriate seasonal read.
November-Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (518 pages)
December-Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (abridged version): I'm going to cheat and do the abridged version. I believe my mom has a copy of it at home. But it hits an earlier than 1800's work that I don't have on the list.
My two big reads for the year
Middlemarch by George Eliot (904 pages)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (671 pages): I realize this is not much bigger than East of Eden but it will hit on my Russian literature category. I'm really hoping Austin can help me out with the language since he knows Russian. I've heard really good things about this one!
Which ones have you read or are there others you think I should read first?
I admire this project. I've read a few of these: The Great Gatsby, Mansfield Park, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, and Middlemarch. The Age of Innocence is also on my list for this year. And I plan to get to Watership Down someday (I'll probably "read" it on audio). Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a wonderfully ambitious reading list! I'm glad you added Crime and Punishment, it's long and can be difficult and depressing, but I also thought it was just so interesting. I've read all but three of these, and of the ones I've read I think you've made excellent choices. East of Eden is one I'm hoping to read soon, but my library doesn't have the audio book, so I need to figure that out. I've also had Brideshead Revisited on my to-read list for a while, let me know what you think of it. I've never felt inspired to read Don Quixote, but if you give it a glowing review I'll consider it. :) Good luck, excited to see how your reading goes!
ReplyDeleteExciting! I can't wait to hear. And Watership down is definitely a classic and one of my favorites!
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