Renee's 2017 Old & New Classic Group Bookshelf Challenge

[Renee]

For this challenge, I decided I need to catch up on my classics read by the group so I'm tackling the bookshelf.

Old School (1899 or earlier):
Persuasion Jane Austen
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne 15/3 ***

New School (1900-1999):
Jamaica Inn Daphne du Maurier 17/8 ****
The Scarlet Pimpernel Emmuska Orczy
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

Wild Cards:
The War of the Worlds H. G. Wells
Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 16/5 ***
The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett

Alternates:
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 1/6 *****
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 17/10 *****

[Brina]

Good luck Renee. You picked some lovely books. I chose Jamaica Inn for woman's challenge if you want to read it together.

[Sarah]

That's a great idea on the theme. You have some really great stuff and shine stuff I haven't read. Have fun :)

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

Good luck Renee!

I've read/enjoyed a number of books on your list!

I hope that you like them too!

[Terris]

What a wonderful list! Lots of good books there. I also have The Phantom of the Opera on my list. I hope we both enjoy it!

[Renee]

Brina wrote: "Good luck Renee. You picked some lovely books. I chose Jamaica Inn for woman's challenge if you want to read it together."

I'd love to. Maybe we can get a buddy read going if anyone else is reading it.

[Renee]

Sarah Anne wrote: "That's a great idea on the theme. You have some really great stuff and shine stuff I haven't read. Have fun :)"

Thanks, I hope it works! There are many on the group bookshelf that I haven't read so it looked like a good idea :)

[Renee]

Terris wrote: "What a wonderful list! Lots of good books there. I also have The Phantom of the Opera on my list. I hope we both enjoy it!"

I loved the musical. It's been quite a while since I've seen it, but I fell in love with it the first time I saw it in high school. I think it's about time I read the book! I hope you enjoy it as well :)

[Pink]

Great idea to tackle the bookshelf, we have so many fabulous books to choose from! Good luck :)

[Brina]

I'd love to buddy read but as I noted to others I'm an impulse reader so whenever you want to read it give me a week's heads up and I'm game. Now I have Phantom of the Opera in my head.

[Susie]

I am just beginning to scratch the surface with my 'Classics' reading but you have 3 of my favorites (so far) on your list... Persuasion, A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Pimpernel...

Looking forward to seeing what you think about them...

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

There are a few on your list Renee that I really want to read. Sigh, I wonder if I can this coming year :-)

I love your list and let me tell you, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books of all time. And I thought I wasn't going to like it! I even have socks I bought from (outofprint.com) the book! lol

[Veronique]

Nice selection! Persuasion is probably my favourite Austen, although I love all of them, and The Phantom of the Opera was enjoyable, in a over the top way :0)

[Renee]

Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ wrote: "There are a few on your list Renee that I really want to read. Sigh, I wonder if I can this coming year :-)

I love your list and let me tell you, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite b..."
Thank you. I'm really looking forward to that one. You must have really liked it to buy socks printed off the book!

[Renee]

Thanks Susie and Veronique! Everything I've read so far from Jane Austen I've loved, so I'm looking forward to this one. It seems to be a popular one in the group.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

Renee wrote: "Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ wrote: "There are a few on your list Renee that I really want to read. Sigh, I wonder if I can this coming year :-)

I love your list and let me tell you, The Count of Monte ..."

Yes, holy crow, I sang praises about that book for a week after I read it and I now have three editions of the book. Two hardback and one softback. One of my friends from GR told me about the socks on outofprint. I went right on there and got them. lol

[Terris]

Renee wrote: "Terris wrote: "What a wonderful list! Lots of good books there. I also have The Phantom of the Opera on my list. I hope we both enjoy it!"

I loved the musical. It's been quite a while since I've s..."

Yes, I saw the play a few years ago and loved it! So I'm really interested in reading the book :)

[Amanda]

I read The Bell Jar this year. It's a good read. A Tale of Two Cities and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are on my list too. Enjoy your reading!

[Renee]

Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ wrote: "Renee wrote: "Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ wrote: "There are a few on your list Renee that I really want to read. Sigh, I wonder if I can this coming year :-)

I love your list and let me tell you, The C..."

Coincidentally, outofprint just popped up on my FB news feed the other day and I saw those socks!

[Renee]

Amanda wrote: "I read The Bell Jar this year. It's a good read. A Tale of Two Cities and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are on my list too. Enjoy your reading!"

Thanks Amanda. A Tale of Two Cities has been sitting on my bookshelf unread for far too long! I'm really looking forward to that one. I love Dickens and everything I've read by him so far, but it's been too long since I read anything by him. Too many other books kept popping up and distracting me!

[Renee]

I finally knocked off my first book for this challenge! Not off to a great start am I? I finished The Scarlet Letter today, and while I liked it, I don't know if I would read it again. None of the characters seemed to be anything special to me, and I would have liked to learn a little more backstory for the characters. I'm glad I read it though, as it's been sitting on my shelf for quite a while now!

[Ciera]

Congrats on your first book! I just joined to the challenge and we both have A Tale of Two Cities. You also have a great list of books!

[Renee]

Ciera wrote: "Congrats on your first book! I just joined to the challenge and we both have A Tale of Two Cities. You also have a great list of books!"

Thanks! I'm looking forward to A Tale of Two Cities. I noticed in your challenge that you were reading it. What do you think of it so far?

[Ciera]

I am really loving it so far! It kind of reminds me a bit of Les Miserables, which I also loved. I have never really read Dickens before other than A Christmas Carol.

[Renee]

I listened to the audio book for Robinson Crusoe and I thought the narrator did a great job. This has been on my list for a while, but I moved it up because of how much the house steward from The Moonstone went on about it when I read it last year.

Robinson Crusoe has the worst luck. He gets shipwrecked, rescued, then shipwrecked again and gets stuck on an island all by himself (for the most part) for nearly 30 years. He has to figure out how to survive, get food, shelter, and do things that he doesn't know how to do to live on the island. It was a little slow listening to how he figured out how to get food, keep goats, make crops and shelter, but it was also interesting.

[Pink]

Crusoe just never learns his lesson to stay on dry land!

[Renee]

Pink wrote: "Crusoe just never learns his lesson to stay on dry land!"

I know! Even after he gets rescued and is thinking of sailing again, he gets a funny feeling about it and both ships he was going to take never reached their destinations, and all but 3 people drowned. Maybe he finally learned to trust his gut!

[Renee]

Finished The Three Musketeers for this challenge, and for Bingo. Really enjoyed this one. It was such a fun read! I'm thinking of looking for the next one because I enjoyed it so much.

[Lynnette]

taking a Road Trip. thought I would listen to "The Iliad". on my way. wish me a safe & enlightening journey!

[Renee]

Lynnette wrote: "taking a Road Trip. thought I would listen to "The Iliad". on my way. wish me a safe & enlightening journey!"

I listened to it last year and loved it! Have a good trip!

[Renee]

I've barely made a dent in this list! I'm going to have to do something about that! I'll be starting Jamaica Inn for a buddy read with others in the group, so maybe that will give me incentive to get to some of the others.

[Renee]

I just finished Jamaica Inn for this challenge and really enjoyed it. Rebecca is one of my favourite books though, so I did like that one better. I liked the atmosphere in Jamaica Inn though, and duMaurier is really good at pulling me into the story with her writing.

I'm doing this one, and the Bingo challenge this year. Neither one of my challenges are going well so far. I think I'll have the most trouble with this one though because of The Count of Monte Cristo. I have it in both challenges, but even though I have more books to read for it, Bingo may be easier to finish since I can switch the books out. I do need to read it since it's sitting on my shelf waiting for me, but it may not be this year.

[Melanti]

I always find the challenges with categories to be easier than those with set-lists too.

It takes some time since it's so long, but Count of Monte Cristo does live up to the hype.

[Pink]

I recently listened to The Count of Monte Cristo over a fortnight. It was easy to get into and enjoy, so for me, it only took about as long as a 500 page novel would have. I've certainly spent longer labouring over much shorter books, but it would also work to read slower, a chapter at a time because it's nicely broken up. I hope you give it a try soon, I gave it 5 stars, loved it :)

[Renee]

I would love to finish it this year. Maybe if I just do a chapter a day I could get it done, depending on how many chapters there are of course. With my luck though, and how many people I've heard have loved it, I would start it and not want to put it down! Not that that would be a bad thing though!

[Melanti]

It's not a slog, I promise you! It's one where the pages just fly by!

I sat down meaning just to spot check a few pages to see which translation I wanted to use and next thing I knew, I was a hundred pages in.

I don't recall exactly how many chapters it had, but around 100?

If you want to read it just a chapter a day, you'd need to start soon if you want to finish by the end of the year. I'm sure it's on the Serial Reader app, too, if you want something that rations the pages for you.

[Renee]

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo tonight for this challenge and for Bingo, and I absolutely loved it. Dumas is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers. This challenge isn't looking too good though. I'm going to try and read as many as I can, but some will have to hold over for next year I think.