Nathan's Classics/New Authors Challenge 2015

[Nathan]

I've not read anything by any of these authors before. I'm sure there will be some pleasant surprises and hopefully a couple of new favorite authors.


Before 1900 :
1. Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell
2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
3. The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy

1900-1999 :
4. The Razor's Edge - W. Somerset Maugham
5. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
6. The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton

Wild Cards :
7. 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
8. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
9. Seveneves - Neal Stephenson
10. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
11. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
12. The History of the Siege of Lisbon - José Saramago

Alternates :
A-1. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
A-2. Elmer Gantry - Sinclair Lewis

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Ooh you have some good choices here!

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I have read 1,4,5,6,8,&A2. Enjoyed them very much, especially The Razor's Edge one of my favorites and The House of Mirth, loved Lily Bart. Enjoy your challenge.

[Pink]

I have War and Peace on my list too...daunting though!

[Nathan]

Pink wrote: "I have War and Peace on my list too...daunting though!"

Maarit has chosen it too. If enough of us pick War and Peace for this challenge, we should band together and try to vote it in as a quarterly long read.

[Tytti]

Nathan wrote: "If enough of us pick War and Peace for this challenge, we should band together and try to vote it in as a quarterly long read."

It already was, so it's not eligible if I'm not mistaken.

[Nathan]

Bob wrote: "I have read 1,4,5,6,8,&A2. Enjoyed them very much, especially The Razor's Edge one of my favorites and The House of Mirth, loved Lily Bart. Enjoy your challenge."

The Razor's Edge was on my radar after you nominated it a couple of months ago. I found a nice old hardback copy for a quarter at a library book sale last week. I'm really looking forward to it.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Nathan wrote: "Pink wrote: "I have War and Peace on my list too...daunting though!"

Maarit has chosen it too. If enough of us pick War and Peace for this challenge, we should band together and try to vote it in ..."

Yes has already been done, but could buddy read it together.

[Nathan]

Tytti wrote: "Nathan wrote: "If enough of us pick War and Peace for this challenge, we should band together and try to vote it in as a quarterly long read."

It already was, so it's not eligible if I'm not mista..."

I'm pretty sure it's eligible. The description for long read nominees in the "What's Eligible?" thread says "Books still must be considered a Classic and must be over 500 pages. The nominations are for books that you want to read over a period of three months. They can be books that we have already read, old school classics, or contemporary classics."

This quarter's pick, Les Misérables, was a group read in 2011.

[Pink]

Yes War and Peace was the first quarterly read this year, but there's no harm in resurrecting the threads for those of us who want to read it. I'll be reading the previous comments anyway, so may as well comment there.

[Tytti]

Nathan wrote: "This quarter's pick, Les Misérables, was a group read in 2011."

Yes, but not a quarterly read.

"Only past Long Read Books listed below are NOT eligible:"
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Nathan]

Tytti wrote: "Nathan wrote: "This quarter's pick, Les Misérables, was a group read in 2011."

Yes, but not a quarterly read.

"Only past Long Read Books listed below are NOT eligible:"
https://www.goodreads.com/..."

Ah, I see. But it's only on the ineligible list for a year, right? So it would be eligible for 3rd or 4th quarter nomination? or is it permanently in elligible?

Oh well, if it is, we can just use the existing threads.

[Tytti]

Permanently probably, it was the first after all. Maybe after we have read all the other eligible long reads...

[Janet]

I have read #'s 1,5,6,11 and A2. Like Bob, I loved House of Mirth. I would like to read 2,3,10 and A1. Nice list.

[Nathan]

Made a few changes. Still planning on reading The Name of the Rose, but I'm going to use it for another challenge.

[Sarah]

Reading the Chunksters is starting War and Peace in a couple of weeks. They do about 50-60 pages per week.

I have The Diamond Age and 1Q84 on another list. I want to read both this year. I actually hated The House of Mirth but it certainly sounds like people enjoy it.

[Nathan]

Sarah wrote: "Reading the Chunksters is starting War and Peace in a couple of weeks. They do about 50-60 pages per week."

Thanks for the tip! :-)

[Nathan]

I finished my first two reads for this challenge.

Cranford was OK. I'm glad I read it, but it was not a favorite. Gaskell is a skilled writer and I'm planning to read North and South at some point, but I felt like Cranford suffered somewhat from a lack of central plot.

Station Eleven was excellent. One of the things I liked best about it was that it's set in the same part of Michigan where I live. It's a great novel other than that too. With its large cast and action that bounces between various times and places, it reminds me of an orrery twirling and revolving until it illustrates an eclipse.

[Pink]

Well done on completing your first 2 reads for this challenge :)

I felt much the same about Cranford and also plan to read North and South later.

I keep seeing so much hype around Station Eleven. It really doesn't sound like the sort of book I like, too YA/dystopian? BUT I have decided to reserve a copy at my library so I can see for myself!

[Laurie]

I just finished Station Eleven and it was pretty good. I thought that the way society evolved for the survivors was more realistic than some similar novels I've read. Overall I don't think it quite lived up to the hype of one of last year's best books, but it was definitely worth reading.

[Nathan]

I've finished two more books for this challenge 1Q84 and The Count of Monte Cristo. Both of them were very long and both were excellent.

1Q84 was exactly the kind of book I was hoping to discover with this challenge. At moments, it reminded me of Margaret Atwood, at others of Franz Kafka, etc. It's chock-full of references to other works of literature, music, film and art. I loved Murakami's writing style; it's perfect for anyone who likes to read a lot. I'm excited to read more of his work.

I can't help but to compare The Count of Monte Cristo with Les Miserables, which I liked a little better. Still, I was impressed by how easily the story flowed, despite it being an 1840s translation. I don't think an author today could get away with writing such a long book with such a convoluted plot and a protagonist who seems to be prescient almost the entire time, but Alexandre Dumas makes it work!

[Nathan]

I completed three more books for this challenge: The Razor's Edge, And Then There Were None and Cloud Atlas. I enjoyed all of them.

This challenge is working out as I hoped it would. I've found several authors I'm looking forward to reading again, especially David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami and W. Somerset Maugham.

[Sarah]

I'm late to the long read discussion but my understanding was that only books read in the last year are ineligible.

I'm reading 1Q84 in Sept with my sci-fi/fantasy group. Just a few of us. I'm glad to hear it's good. And now I'm totally going over to check on your review of And Then There Were None. I love that story.

[Maarit]

I've struggled with 1Q84 for a long time now. I don't know why it feels like a chore for me to read, especially because I've read seven other books from Murakami before and liked most of them a lot (f.ex. Sputnik Sweetheart, A Wild Sheep Chase, Norwegian Wood). I've made it to the beginning of the second part (or book) in 1Q84 and then gave it up. I think it's the story slowing my progress so much, as it feels somehow so heavy to read and the English translation is just so dull to read that I feel like I fall asleep reading it. Should maybe try my native language translation, but the problem for that is it's stupidly chopped into two different books (parts 1&2 in the same book, part 3 separately) and I'm not a fan of those solutions. Sorry for the ranting, just needed to get this out somewhere :) and I will finish this book someday!

[Nathan]

Maarit wrote: "I've struggled with 1Q84 for a long time now. I don't know why it feels like a chore for me to read, especially because I've read seven other books from Murakami before and liked most of them a lot..."

Sorry you're struggling with it. The plot in this one is really slow-moving, but it managed to progress just enough to keep me completely interested. This was my first Murakami novel. I hope I like the others even more.

Good luck finishing it. If I remember correctly, the third part features a new 1st person narrator. I thought it was cool how he brought in a new voice. It changed the rhythm of the story.

[Nathan]

I've finished a couple more books for this challenge.

The House of Mirth I had trouble connecting with. I liked Wharton's writing and I plan to read more at some point, but the story wasn't my favorite.

Seveneves was a very enjoyable read. It's long, but I've found that I usually like 600+ page novels.

I started The History of the Siege of Lisbon and hated it. It's margin to margin huge paragraphs with no dialog the whole way through the book. I don't think I'm going to pick it back up this year. Maybe I'll try another of his at some point in the future.

I've got three books left. I'm reading The Return of the Native next month with the group and I'll also be starting War and Peace. That one will probably go into November. I'll be reading Elmer Gantry in November or December.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

Oh dear! " House of Mirth" isn't good?

I read AoI recently an just loved it. I was trying to figure out what I read next by EW.

[Nathan]

I gave it three stars, which for me means I really did like it, there were just a few things about it I didn't like.

What I disliked about it had to do with the plot and possible solutions to Lily Bart's woes that I felt were ignored. Maybe my ideas just wouldn't have occurred to Wharton writing this over 105 years ago.

If you loved Age of Innocence, please don't let my opinion of The House of Mirth stop you from reading it.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

I'm going to try to read HoM next year, if I can.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Sorry to hear you had trouble with "The House of Mirth". I loved Lilly Bart, she was such a tragic figure. Couldn't separate her heart from her sense of duty. She needed to marry rich, it was expected. yet she wanted more.

She is not a sunshine and roses type of writer but I've been hooked on Edith Wharton since I read Ethan Frome.

By the way Nathan how did you like The Razor's Edge?

[Nathan]

The Razor's Edge was wonderful! I liked the characters and plot, but what really impressed me was the narrative structure. An author who makes himself a character/first-person narrator in his own novel is playing a dangerous game.
Why is he there?
How does he know this?
Why is this the right voice to tell this story?
Lots of questions lurk around every turn of the page. It seems like it shouldn't work, but Maugham pulls it off.

In Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story, John Berendt tries to do the same thing and fails miserably at it, despite that book actually being non-fiction.

[Nathan]

I've read two more from my list and I suppose I'm technically done with this challenge, but I hope to finish War and Peace before the end of the year. Still, it's nice to have the pressure off. All of my 2015 challenges are done!

I'm glad I had this challenge as a motivator for The Return of the Native, because it was really slow going for the first half. I might have given up. But I'm glad I didn't - this book ended up totally redeeming itself. The setting, dialect, rich characters and a tragic plot that rivals Shakespeare all came together in the end!

Elmer Gantry was a huge surprise. I had fairly low expectations. It's satire about hypocrisy and religion - something I'm exposed to fairly regularly in my neck of the woods. It goes after town-to-town evangelists of the inter-war period and still rings true for many of the televangelists and mega-churches across the U.S. I didn't feel like the book was at all anti-Christian, but it certainly was anti-BS...a sentiment I can really get behind. It's a book I'd definitely recommend as long as you can deal with the idea of a preacher being a total scoundrel.

[Sarah]

Nathan wrote: "All of my 2015 challenges are done!..."

Woo hoo!!! Congrats!

[Amanda]

Nice job!!

[Janet]

Congratulations. You had an ambitious list.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

Congratulations!

I had heard of "Elmer Gantry" but I knew absolutely nothing about it.

It sounds worth looking into.

[Teanka]

Congratulations on finishing your challenge, Nathan! And what a foresight you had, to put Seveneves on your list back in 2014, way before it was published!. Good luck with War and Peace, since you still plan on reading it this year.

[Nathan]

Teanka wrote: "Congratulations on finishing your challenge, Nathan! And what a foresight you had, to put Seveneves on your list back in 2014, way before it was published!. Good luck with War and P..."

Thanks! Seveneves was a bit of a cheat. My goal with this challenge was to try new authors. What book I read by each of them was mostly random and unimportant, except that I wanted each to be a good one. I had originally planned to read The Diamond Age, but when the opportunity to read Seveneves with a group came along, I switched.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Congratulations, on this and your other challenges. I also have War and Peace left, still plan on finishing it this year.

[Pink]

Well done on finishing this challenge. I'm another one still with War and Peace to read this year...

[Christine]

Congratulations on completing the challenge, Nathan! You had a few daunting books on your list too, so I'm very impressed. :-)

[Nathan]

Thanks! This was fun and it was a real challenge. I like trying to stick to my guns with a book list over the course of a whole year. I'm looking forward to next year's challenge!