Paula W's 2017 Bingo Challenge

[Paula W]

B1: Written by Nobel Laureate - The Pearl by John Steinbeck
B2: Classic Comedy or Satire - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
B3: Classic Tragedy - King Lear by William Shakespeare
B4: Classic Made into a Film/TV - Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
B5: Winner of a Foreign Literary Prize - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

I1: 20th Century Classic - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
I2: New-to-You Author - A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
I3: Classic Play - Antigone by Sophocles
I4: Classic of More than 500 Pages - War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
I5: 18th Century or Earlier Classic - Paradise Lost by John Milton

N1: South American Classic - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
N2: Short Story Classic - A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
N3: FREE SPACE - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
N4: Poetry Collection - The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
N5: European Classic - Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

G1: 19th Century Classic - Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
G2: Bokklubben (Norwegian Book Club) World Library List Book - Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
G3: Classic Non-fiction - The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
G4: Group Read - Hard Times by Charles Dickens
G5: Classic Recommended by a Friend - The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

O1: Literary Prize of Your Country/Region - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
O2: Classic Folklore or Mythology - Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
O3: Asian Classic - A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe
O4: Classic Romance - Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
O5: Prize-Winning Female Author - The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

[Paula W]

I had a lot of fun with this in 2016. Looking forward to more great reading!

[Katy, Old School Classics]

So glad you are coming back for another bingo challenge Paula. Hope you have fun with this one too.

[Pink]

I'm glad you enjoyed bingo this year and good luck for 2017!

[Sue]

Can't wait to see your picks!

[Katie]

Good luck!

[Terris]

I'm excited to see what you choose, Paula! :)

[Paula W]

Thanks, guys! I am plotting out my first few months now. It is so hard to do when I want to read ALL THE THINGS!!

[Brina]

Don't you know it!!! I've changed my plans so many times. Looking forward to seeing what you choose.

[Nathalie]

I hope you'll enjoy it again this time around, Paula!

[Paula W]

My first three reads of the year fit in nicely. I love it when that accidentally happens. :))

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

I used The Pearl for Nobel Laureate, but haven't put it on my board yet, though I finished it.

[Paula W]

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "I used "The Pearl" for Nobel Laureate."

I am quite sure I will read several books that fit into multiple categories and will need to change them around. I was planning to use "The Grapes of Wrath" for the Nobel Laureate category. Or maybe a Faulkner novel since I have never read one. But that could also work for New-To-You Author. My plan this year is just to read what I want to read and then see if it fits somewhere. I ended up reading several books last year that I really didn't like simply because I was trying to mark off a square.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

Paula, this is my third year, and I've always moved books around.

If another Nobel Laureate comes up in this group or one of my other classic monthly reads that I want to read, I'll move "The Pearl" to short story square.

I'm not sure if I'm going to black out my board this year.

I'm getting "friendly" pressure from some folks in the mm group to try some of the more "intense" challenges rather than the team bingo I've been doing. I'm such a lightweight!

[Loretta]

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Paula, this is my third year, and I've always moved books around.

If another Nobel Laureate comes up in this group or one of my other classic monthly reads that I want to read, I'll move "The Pear..."

Hardly Andrea!!!!

[siriusedward]

Good luck Paula!

[Sara, New School Classics]

Wow, three marked already and only 7 days in. You are on a roll!

[[deleted user]]

Hope you're enjoying your challenge! Was The Importance of Being Earnest any good?

[Paula W]

I loved it. I am quickly becoming a fan of Wilde and can't wait to read more.

[[deleted user]]

Sounds great! I'll probably read it for the challenge too. Thanks for reminding me of its existence :)

[Paula W]

I think I can add Ishiguro as the New To You author and A Passage to India as a prize winner when I finish them. Things are shaping up nicely very early on!

[Pink]

Looking very good indeed!

[Veronique]

I just re-read A Passage to India and really enjoyed it - and Remains of the Day is just beautiful...
Great start of the year!!

[Paula W]

Hey, guys. Do any of you have any ideas for something I might enjoy for the South American Classic square? I couldn't get through One Hundred Years of Solitude, and I don't want to attempt anything else like that. I'm not sure if magical realism isn't my thing, or if it was that the book had no plot and everyone had the same names and I was simply too thick to figure out the point. Anyway, suggestions for completely different types of books would be appreciated!

[Katy, Old School Classics]

I did not enjoy One Hundred Years of Solitude either, and I did not really enjoy Like Water for Chocolate.

But I do love Isabel Allende. I am thinking of reading her The House of the Spirits.

Beginning life as a letter to her dying, 100-year-old grandfather, the Peruvian-born novelist’s debut is a history of Chile told as a family saga through the female line. “At five,” she has said, “I was already a feminist but nobody used the word in Chile yet.”

Another I've on my list is Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Here are a couple of links to Best Latin American Novels (not all from South America):

http://www.latintimes.com/top-20-lati...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/...

[Paula W]

Kathy wrote: "I did not enjoy One Hundred Years of Solitude either, and I did not really enjoy Like Water for Chocolate.

But I do love Isabel Allende. I am thinking of read..."

That's a good idea. I wasn't able to read that one with the group last year, but I do have it on my kindle. I'm going to check audible, too, to see if there is a version with a narrator I like. Thanks!

[siriusedward]

Kathy wrote: "I did not enjoy One Hundred Years of Solitude either, and I did not really enjoy Like Water for Chocolate.

But I do love Isabel Allende. I am thinking of read..."

I was thinking of Jorge Luis Borges too.

[Brina]

Allende is my favorite author. If House of the Spirits doesn't sound interesting try Eva Luna or any of her other books

[Paula W]

Brina wrote: "Allende is my favorite author. If House of the Spirits doesn't sound interesting try Eva Luna or any of her other books"

Thanks! I read Eva Luna some time last year and it was a 3-star read for me, if I recall correctly. I think I'll give House of the Spirits a try, but it will be a bit before I get to it.

[Paula W]

Aaccckkkkkkk! I listened to a sample of the audiobook and the narrator sounds like a rock that has been incorrectly animated. I think I'll have to read this one in print.

[Laurie]

Paula W wrote: "Hey, guys. Do any of you have any ideas for something I might enjoy for the South American Classic square? I couldn't get through One Hundred Years of Solitude, and I don't want to attempt anything..."

Paula, I don't like magical realism very much and I didn't care for The House of the Spirits, but I just finished Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende. It is historical fiction, not magical realism and I really enjoyed it.

[Paula W]

Oh great, thank you so much!!

[Brina]

Daughter of Fortune by Allende has less magic realism, really not much at all. It's historical fiction.

[Sara, New School Classics]

I was not a fan of House of Spirits, but I did like Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia.

[Emerson]

I'm interested to read A Passage To India, any thoughts?

Definitely Borges! Ficciones is mindbending and genius!

[Leni]

Wow, you are breezing through the challenge! About Oscar Wilde: We have his complete works in one volume. I highly recommend it! I spent three months going through the whole thing five years ago. One month each for the stories, the plays, and the poems. I'm not really a poetry person, so I don't remember anything about the poems, but I really enjoyed the rest. I had no idea before I started it that Wilde wrote children's stories too. Some really nice ones.

[Kathleen]

Emerson wrote: "I'm interested to read A Passage To India, any thoughts?

Definitely Borges! Ficciones is mindbending and genius!"

Oh yay! I'm reading that one this year. Can't wait!

[Paula W]

Emerson wrote: "I'm interested to read A Passage To India, any thoughts?

Definitely Borges! Ficciones is mindbending and genius!"

I loved A Passage to India, but it did get off to a bit of a slow start. For me, it wasn't one of those books I could get really engrossed in, but more one I had to sit and think about.

[Pink]

Same here with A passage to India, a slow start and slow read, but totally worth it in the end.

[Paula W]

You guys, King Lear was fantastic. It is a classic Shakespearean tragedy with a lot of humor thrown in. I really liked it, and hope some of you can add it to your bingo challenge this year!

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Paula W wrote: "You guys, King Lear was fantastic. It is a classic Shakespearean tragedy with a lot of humor thrown in. I really liked it, and hope some of you can add it to your bingo challenge this ..."

I read it last year, you are correct -- great reading.

[Leni]

I'll bear that in mind! I'm planning on reading something by Shakespeare this year, but I haven't decided what.

[Pink]

Paula W wrote: "You guys, King Lear was fantastic. It is a classic Shakespearean tragedy with a lot of humor thrown in. I really liked it, and hope some of you can add it to your bingo challenge this ..."

I've been meaning to read this for the past couple of months and even have the book ready on my shelf, but keep delaying for some reason. Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much, this might give me the push to read it this month.

[Paula W]

Thoughts about some of the squares:
B1 - The Grapes of Wrath (May or June)
I1 - The Outsiders (probably May if it doesn't win the current poll)
I4 - War and Peace (currently reading)
N1 - Alive (June)
N4 - Jesus i have no clue (this will for sure be the last one I finish)
G2 - Lolita, or Don Quixote (planned for April)
G3 OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS
G4 - Hard Times (currently reading)
G5 - It Can't Happen Here (currently reading)
O1 OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS
O2 - Le Morte d'Arthur (planned for March)
O3. OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS.
O5 - Beloved (planned for March)

[Paula W]

Pink wrote: "Paula W wrote: "You guys, King Lear was fantastic. It is a classic Shakespearean tragedy with a lot of humor thrown in. I really liked it, and hope some of you can add it to your bingo..."

I think you would like it. It is better than Othello, but not quite Hamlet. And it was a short read!

[Sara, New School Classics]

Paula...for G3 I am planning 10 Days in a Madhouse
03: If you want to go truly classic there is The Good Earth or A Many-Splendored Thing and have read them both and enjoyed them.
Or if you want to go more modern, there is anything by Amy Tan, which are all great.

Like your list...and looks like you are already well on the way to a completion.

[Paula W]

I think I voted for The Good Earth on one of our group read polls a month or so ago for this very reason. :((

[Susan O]

The Good Earth is excellent, but I enjoyedPavilion of Women: A Novel of Life in the Women's Quarters by Buck even more.

[Loretta]

I wasn't enamored with The Good Earth. Maybe one of the other suggestions.