Week 1 - January #Classicsathon - Updates

[Anna]

So far this january I have read The black sheep by Balzac and Beowulf.

[Angela]

Just finished ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’. Needed a break from the other two heavier books I’ve been reading. Very good mystery. And a nice respite. Now nose back to the grindstone.

[Karen]

I've just started Crime and Punishment, if I finish it this month, I would like to start on Alexandre Dumas, I'm just not sure which one I will read first.

[Angela]

Just finished ‘North and South’ by Elizabeth Gaskell. I had heard it was similar to Pride and Prejudice. I can see the similarity in that Mr. Thornton and Margaret Hale had misconceptions about each other throughout that they had to overcome. Were sad realities of hard life and death but overall a rewarding read.

[Jackie]

Finished Jude the Obscure. OMG, that book is depressing! I have a bunch of Hardy so I am going to keep checking him out. It was interesting throughout, but I probably won't read again.

[Laure]

So far, i have read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and The Age of Innocence.
Now, i’m reading Fanny de Marcel Pagnol.

[Karen]

Well, I started Crime and Punishment, because I wanted to get a little bit of a head start before the buddy read. What's unfortunate is that I liked it so much, I finished it.

[Jackie]

Karen wrote: "Well, I started Crime and Punishment, because I wanted to get a little bit of a head start before the buddy read. What's unfortunate is that I liked it so much, I finished it."
That's one of my favorites.

[Paperback]

Karen wrote: "I've just started Crime and Punishment, if I finish it this month, I would like to start on Alexandre Dumas, I'm just not sure which one I will read first."

I would recommend the Three Musketeers as The Count of Monte Cristo may look a bit intimidating.

[Angela]

Just finished ‘The Warden’ by Anthony Trollope. It’s the first book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Really enjoyed it, love his writing style so looking forward to continuing the series.

[Ruth]

Finished Daphne du Maurier's Don't look now and other stories, loved the first three stories, was a little bit underwhelmed with the fourth en very much enjoyed the fifth. So overall a fun reading experience. Also read a non-fiction book on women's writing, Elaine Showalter's A literature of their own, British women writers from Charlotte Brontë to Doris Lessing. Very interesting read. It is a piece of academic criticism though, so maybe a little difficult to read when you do not have a background in literary studies because of the academic terminology/writing style she uses.

[Hannah]

I’ve kind of been distracted from Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Howard’s End. I’m really liking it! I want to read the the book before I watch the tv series ☺️

[Angela]

Just finished ‘Barchester Towers’ by Anthony Trollope, the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Really enjoyed it. Eager to start the third.

[Angela]

Completed ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier. Very good story. Contained a few disturbing characters. Loved the atmosphere it created - tension building.

[Karen]

Angela wrote: "Just finished ‘Barchester Towers’ by Anthony Trollope, the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Really enjoyed it. Eager to start the third."

I really liked Barchester Towers, but my absolute favorite of Trollope (so far, after 12 books), is the 3rd one in the series: Doctor Thorne.

[Cathie]

I finished David Copperfield and really enjoyed it, I wanted to read it before the movie came out and so glad I did as I wouldn't have been inclined to pick it up if I'd seen the movie first it did the book no justice.

[Holly]

I started reading Frankenstein, and love it. Any recommendations for other classics I might also like ( as I am new to classics, and am flying through Frankenstein) ?

[Elizabeth]

Holly wrote: "I started reading Frankenstein, and love it. Any recommendations for other classics I might also like ( as I am new to classics, and am flying through Frankenstein) ?"

If you like Frankenstein, I would suggest maybe Dracula or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Picture of Dorian Gray is also very good.

[Jackie]

Karen wrote: "Angela wrote: "Just finished ‘Barchester Towers’ by Anthony Trollope, the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Really enjoyed it. Eager to start the third."

I really liked Barchest..."

I'm reading The Warden for the first time.

[ochopi]

I tried Dracula this month but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish it :(

[Iza]

In January, I read (or re-read, for some) :
and

[Iza]

Jackie wrote: "Karen wrote: "Angela wrote: "Just finished ‘Barchester Towers’ by Anthony Trollope, the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Really enjoyed it. Eager to start the third."

I really ..."

So am I, I'm really enjoying it so far !

[Toni]

I started the year with The Book Thief.

*Sorry I’m late to respond - I’m still figuring out how the groups work on Goodreads !

[Angela]

You were right Karen - ‘Doctor Thorne’ has been my favourite so far of the series! Really good story exploring position and money (or lack thereof). Trollope is becoming one of my favourite authors.

[Paola]

Hi! In January I read Middlemarch and Far from the Madding Crowd, which were great. This month I'm with North And South. I've already finished Persuasion. They're not so good but I keep reading. Next month I think I'll go with Virginia Woolf.

[Natasha]

Hi everyone! Have been lurking on Goodreads for years and have only just discovered you can join groups... 🤭 In January I read Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea and started The Woman in White.

[Jackie]

The two classics I currently have are Hard Times by Dickens and The Death of Ivan Ilych by Tolstory.

[Janice]

The classics I have for January 2021 are: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I am starting with Rebecca first and then not sure what I will be reading next. I know I won't be able to read all these books, but I will enjoy trying.

[Gennyfer Hanvey]

I’m reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Père Goriot, and Wuthering Heights. I following the syllabus of the Great Courses
Classic Novels:
Meeting the Challenge of Great Literature

[Miriam]

I'm going to start this January 2021 with Scott Fitzgerald: "The beautiful and damned".

[Fatima]

I'm starting this year with Anna Karenina and Turn of the srew :)

[Amy]

I got a beautiful Folio Society copy of Pride & Prejudice as a Christmas gift, so I’m starting 2021 with a reread of that. :D

[Karen]

I'm starting with Rudin by Ivan Turgenev. I really don't know which classic I will read after that.

[Heather]

I'm starting A Passage to India by E.M. Forster and I'll also be joining in The Brontë Project 2021, which means I'll be reading Villette over the next two months.

[Julie]

I`ve started War and Peace, after I`ll have finished the first tome, I`m going to read Great Expectations

[Barbara]

Hannah wrote: "I’ve started Evelina by Frances Burney and She Stoops to Conquer a play by Oliver Goldsmith."

I started Evelina too last week. I like it but the language kind of is hard to get through. Those first letters between the lady whoever and the parson are just crazy nonsensical but I think that is supposed to be the point since the book is about the silliness and falseness of society. Evelina's letters almost sound modern they are so easy to read after the gobbledygook of the first letters.

[Barbara]

Stephanie wrote: "I'm reading Northanger Abbey for the Austen Anonymous book club that just started this month. I haven't read it in 10ish years, and I am loving it!"

I want to read that too. Seen a movie on youtube and liked it so I want to read the real book too.

[Barbara]

Iza wrote: "I started re-reading Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen last week (paperback) and I started re-reading Dracula by Bram Stoker earlier this evening."

I seen the BBC adaptation of S and S and I want to read the book. Heard from a booktuber that the father in the story is not really a nice guy like he is in the adaptation. Want to reread Dracula too.

[Ashleigh]

Starting off with Jude the Obscure. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet; just hope I don't feel like I've wasted my time

[Heather]

I signed up for the 'classicathon' last year and never got around to it after quite a brutal year that, hopefully, I can start in '21 as I mean to go on.
I'm intending to read Rebecca, possibly A Tale Of Two Cities and Anna Karenina and Jude the Obscure. My issue is that I'm such a mood reader that I can't even say for certain which ones I feel like, other than I know I'll start off with Rebecca.

Is anyone using a certain list to choose their classics from, as I appreciate that it's entirely subjective... so are we choosing from a certain period, or any geographic restrictions etc?
Thanks x

[Janice]

Update: My reading list for January has changed. It's now , , and reading The Horse and His Boy book.

[Janice]

Heather wrote: "I signed up for the 'classicathon' last year and never got around to it after quite a brutal year that, hopefully, I can start in '21 as I mean to go on.
I'm intending to read Rebecca, possibly A T..."

I'm reading Rebecca right now and am loving it. :)

[Valerie]

I have started the book, Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas the first part I am on page 220 out of 811. So I will be very surprised to finish this book till the end of the month.

[Sandra]

Hello, I started Wuthering Heights. As I am not an native speaker it is a little challenge for me anytime I read book that is not contemporary, however I love Victorian England so is always a treat to immerse myself in the time. Is there anyone else so obsessed with Victorian England but struggling a little with the language?

[Dan]

I'm halfway through the science fiction classic The Mote in God's Eye. I can't wait to finish this and begin Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

[Mark]

I am making January a Tolstoy month with 'The Cossacks' and 'Childhood, Boyhood, Youth".