Elsbeth's 12 Classics Read 2015

[Elsbeth]

5 Old School (& 3 sequels - contemporary):
* William Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet
* Emily Whitaker - Benvolio

* Wilkie Collins - The Haunted Hotel finished 28-1-2015 --> 4 stars

* Elizabeth Gaskell - The Cranford Novellas finished 27-1-2015 --> 4 stars for Cranford & My Lady Ludlow, 3 stars for Mr. Harrison's Confessions
* Elizabeth Gaskell - North and South
* E. Journey - Margaret of the North

* Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice finished 24-2-2015 --> 5 stars
* Anna Elliott - Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued finished 7-7-2015 --> 5 stars

3 New School (& 1 contemporary):
* Georgette Heyer - The Black Moth
*D.B. Schaefer - Me & Georgette

* Willa Cather - The Song of the Lark
* Willa Cather - My Antonia finished 18-7-2015 -->3 stars
-----------------------------------
2 alternates
* Thomas Hardy - The Woodlanders
* Louisa May Alcott - Jo's Boys

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Nice one! I like that you have a few authors to really get acquainted with for 2015.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Collins and Gaskell are two of my favorite 19th century authors. Great choices!

[Elsbeth]

Thanks!
This year I discovered that I'm not so much into Jane Austen (my intention was to read all her books), but I found out I really liked Wilkie Collins, Thomas Hardy & Elizabeth Gaskell. So I decided to read more of their books!
And I've been meaning to read Elizabeth von Arnim & Georgette Heyer for a while now, too.
So this is a good chance to do so!

[Pink]

I haven't read anything from your list....but I have Hardy, Gaskell and Collins all on my TBR!

[Julie]

Uh more inspiration for my own tbr yet again *must read more books*

[Elsbeth]

Julie wrote: "Uh more inspiration for my own tbr yet again *must read more books*"

Ha ha! I have the same, when I read other people's reading lists! There should be more hours in a day! ;)

[Elsbeth]

I changed a few of my selection: added 3 contemporary books, sequels to the classics just above them.

[Andrea]

Thomas Hardy never disappoints; good luck!

[Elsbeth]

Thanks, Andee!

[Elsbeth]

Another update... I changed some books for books which are part of some series I would like to finish (especially since I'm doing series-challenges for 2 other book groups...)!

[Sarah]

Please don't base your Austen decision on Emma! It's totally unlike her other work. I only semi liked because the movie Clueless is based on it. I will never read it again. On the other hand P & P and S & S are among my favorite novels.

I need to look up some of the books on your list. Particularly Hardy, apparently. Have fun. :)

[Elsbeth]

Thanks, Sarah! I've heard that before about Emma and her other books. So that's part of the reason why I decided to give P & P a go for this challenge (the other reason is, that I found a sort of a sequel to that book. So if I wanted to read that, I first have to read P & P).

[Sarah]

I'm curious to see what you think of the sequel. I always hesitate on sequels because I don't want them to ruin the novel for me.

[Elsbeth]

Yes, I can understand that! I'll let you know!

[Elsbeth]

New - and probably last - update... I've read Romeo and Juliet about 25 years ago and thought I'd give it another try.

[Sarah]

Ooh, that would be fun.

[Elsbeth]

I hope so!

[Elsbeth]

Update message 1: Finished my first classic!

[Elsbeth]

Update message 1: finished my second classic!

[Elsbeth]

Update message 1: finished the 3rd!

[Pink]

Well done, how have you liked them so far?

[Elsbeth]

Pride and Prejudice and The Haunted Hotel I really loved very much! From the 3 books in The Cranford Chronicles I liked Cranford and My Lady Ludlow better than Mr. Harrison's Confessions. I remember Mr. Harrison from the BBC television series and he annoyed me a bit- and in the book as well. Cranford was sometimes really funny. And my lady Ludlow was a very interesting character with very strong opinions, but not too stubborn to sometimes change them. And I loved the story lady Ludlow tells about friends from France who suffered from the revolution.

Pride and Prejudice was a lot better than I expected (I read Emma last year and had a lot of trouble getting through the book). It is not just a romance with boy meets girl, but it is so much more! Jane Austen has a really beautiful writing style! Guess I'll try some more of her books.

And I really like the books by Wilkie Collins; they are so absolutely different than Jane Austen.

[Pink]

I liked Cranford, but haven't read the others. I plan on reading North and South later sometime.

I haven't read any Austen, or Wilkie Collins! I must rectify this soon, but seem to always put them off.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I read Cranford and Pride and Prejudice this year and enjoyed them both. To date I have only read one by Wilkie Collins, but it is one of my favorites, can't wait to read more.

[Elsbeth]

Which one of Wilkie Collins is the one you read? I also read The Moonstone (5 stars) and The Woman in White (5 stars), which I both loved! And my first introduction to his books was No Name (5 stars). That was really a pleasant surprise, since I had never read anything from the 19th century which wasn't a romance of some kind. ;)

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

The Dead Secret, I thought it was great.

[Elsbeth]

Ah! I don't know that one (yet), but I have it already on my ereader. Good to know Wilkie Collins has some more great books, which I haven't read, yet!

[Laurie]

I've never read any Wilkie Collins, but I have wanted to for a long time. One of my groups is reading The Woman in White soon and I can't wait.

[Elsbeth]

Laurie, I hope you will love it as much as I did! Happy reading!

[Elsbeth]

I didn't feel like reading classics this year. So I'm way behind on this challenge... I'm now reading my 6th book out of the 12...

So I guess I'll just skip this challenge for next year and use 2016 to try and finish this one!

[Pink]

Don't worry about not finishing your challenge, I only got through half of mine too. I'm thinking of putting the other 6 on next year's list along with some really really short books that I know I can get through. Do whatever works for you :)

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Happy year of reading!

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

You did just fine, I too will have more unfinished challenges than finished. Nice to have good company, there is always next year.

[Elsbeth]

Thank you all! I am thinking about doing it your way too, Pink!