2019 Reading Challenge

Now this is one of my favorite posts to write because there's nothing like anticipating what to read next, am I right? 

First, a look back on how I did on my 2018 reading challenge. I read about 10 out of the 14 on my list. I decided to skip Don Quixote and read A Christmas Carol instead which was a better choice. Austin read Dracula for me (and absolutely loved it) so it sort of counts. ;) It definitely makes me want to pick it up now. He couldn't stop talking about it after he read it. Brideshead Revisited was awfully slow and it was the same month that I had Dallin so that was a no-go. I technically didn't finish Wuthering Heights. I just couldn't stomach it anymore. Got about 2/3 of the way through and quit. I think I petered out of the classics by the end of the year because I didn't read Tess of the D'Urbevilles even though I wanted to. I really need to make it a priority this year. 

Some of my favorite reads from the challenge: Middlemarch, The Age of Innocence, Mansfield Park, and East of Eden. 

One thing I learned from this challenge is that I like reading classics but maybe need them spread out so I don't get bogged down by the end of the year. Maybe I'll just try and read 4 classics a year (one each quarter) and go from there. 

Here's what I'm thinking about classics for this year.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Tess of the D'Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Now for my other challenge...

Mostly I'm just going to read what I want to read and not be tied down too much to a challenge. 

I do have a list of authors that I want to read from. That way I won't feel guilty if I read War and Peace and then not feel the need to Anna Karenina. The hard/fun part is picking what to choose. If I don't like one of their books mid-through, it's either an indication I won't like any of their books or I just need to try some different ones. I'm not planning on reading all from these authors this year but it's an ongoing list of what I would like to read eventually. The funny thing is many of these authors are 'classic' so I don't think I'm escaping the classics challenge anytime soon!

Here are authors I would like to read at least one of their novels (starred are those that I'm going to try and read this year):

Wendell Berry

Wallage Stegner*

Jodi Picoult*

Ann Patchett

Leo Tolstoy

Anthony Trollope

Dorothy Whipple

Toni Morrison

Kate Atkinson*

Virginia Woolf

Georgette Heyer*

Ron Chenrow
Maya Angelou

Henry Thoreau

Margaret Atwood*

Louise Penny

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Alexander McCall Smith

Truman Capote

E.B. White
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Marilynn Robinson

If you have a favorite book from one of these authors, please tell!