April's 2019 Old and New Classics that have been on my shelf for more than a year challenge

[April]

Sara wrote: "You started off with a tough list, and you have made amazing progress with it. I'm sorry it hasn't been more fun. Sometimes it pays to just take a break and read something that is for nothing but p..."

Thanks, Sarah. I do that as well. They're all books I own, so I'd like to read them before I take them to the charity shop.

[April]

Bob wrote: "April wrote: "This year's books aren't turning out that well at all."

Sorry to hear this, so many of your books I am unfamiliar with and hoping to hear they were worth while. I guess I'll pass the..."

Two of the books have given me real joy, so I'm happy to keep going. It does make me wonder, though, how books become classics.

[April]

Ovid's Fasti is done. I feel as if I started with his best work, Metamorphoses, and everything else has been increasingly disappointing.

[April]

I've finished The Bostonians. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to. Now I'm trying to work out what I think about it.

[Lynn]

April wrote: "I've finished The Bostonians. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to. Now I'm trying to work out what I think about it."

That's nice to hear April. Henry James is an author I feel I should read more of. I have only read The Turn of the Screw so far.

[April]

Washington Square is good and I enjoyed The Europeans.

[April]

I've finished Classical Literary Criticism: Poetics/Ars Poetica/On the Sublime, which I enjoyed for the most part. Of the three treatises, the one by Aristotle is the best by far.

I still have three hefty books to finish in two months, so I hope I can do it.

[Lynn]

April wrote: "I've finished Classical Literary Criticism: Poetics/Ars Poetica/On the Sublime, which I enjoyed for the most part. Of the three treatises, the one by Aristotle is the best by far.

I ..."

I am also feeling the pressure. But deadlines can be good?? Ha. Good luck.

[April]

Lynn wrote: "April wrote: "I've finished Classical Literary Criticism: Poetics/Ars Poetica/On the Sublime, which I enjoyed for the most part. Of the three treatises, the one by Aristotle is the be..."

Thank you.

[April]

I've finished Angel Pavement. It didn't quite live up to its early promise, but it was worth reading.

[Sara, New School Classics]

I really do need to read more Henry James. You really had an ambitious list to begin with and you have made marvelous progress.

[April]

Thank you. It didn't feel terribly ambitious 11 months ago.

I've got another Henry James lined up for next year. On the whole, I think I've enjoyed more of his novels than I haven't.

[Cynda]

I see you have selected Eudora Welty. I remember well some of her stories from that collection, including The Wide Net and The Worn Path. Have you ever seen her
It contains work done for the WPA.

[April]

I haven't seen her photographs. To be honest, I'm not enjoying the stories very much.

[April]

I have finished The Confessions of Saint Augustine, which I loved. He's very honest about his blundering and his fears.

[April]

I've finally finished The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. I didn't get on with these at all and I'm glad they're behind me.

This means that the challenge is completed for this year.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Congratulations!

[Sue]

Congratulations on completing April!

[April]

Thank you both.

[Lynn]

Great job April. Congratulations.