Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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Sue's 2021 Challenge Buffet
Challenge #1 - Old and New 12 DRAFT1899 and earlier/Old School From the group shelf
✔️1. The Portrait of a Lady read Jan, 5 stars
✔️2. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass read Feb 5 stars
✔️3. Treasure Island read April 3 stars
1900-1999/New School from group shelf
✔️1. To the Lighthouse read March 5 stars
✔️2. The Bell Jar read May 3.5 stars
✔️3. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer read March 4.5 stars
My Wild Card Six Pulitzers
✔️1. Angle of Repose read Jan 5 stars
✔️2. The Known World Read June 5 stars
✔️3. The Keepers of the House read May 5 stars >
✔️4. A Death in the Family read March 3 stars
✔️5. Humboldt's Gift read May 3.5 stars
✔️6. The Way West read May 5 stars
Alternates
A-1. Andersonville
A-2. A Bell for Adano
Challenge #2 Does a Century make a difference - not likely
Challenge #4 Members Choice Classic/Genre Challenge -✔️1. 18th Century or older, Moll Flanders read June 5 stars
✔️2. 19th Century Fathers and Sons read April 5 stars
✔️3. 20th Century, A Summons to Memphis[ (Pulitzer) read May 3.5 stars
✔️4. Current or Past group read: [book:Dune|39776179] Dune read June 3 stars
✔️5. An Author not read before, The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie Jr. read April 3 stars
✔️6. Diversity Classic, Mules and Men read June 4 stars
✔️7. Science Fiction, The Time Machine4953] byH.G. Wells read March 3 stars
✔️8. Romance, Cold Mountain June 5 stars
✔️9. Historical fiction, The Color Of Lightning read May 5 stars
✔️10. Nonfiction, What Is Art? read Feb 5 stars
✔️11. Mystery/Crime, Legs read April 4 stars
✔️12. Horror or Humor, Goblin Market read June 4.5 stars
Challeng #5 - Decade/Century Challenge 10Read Before they get too old - Women authors (or authors I thought were women!)
✔️2011 - The Song of Achilles read March 3 stars
✔️2012 - The Round House read June 3 stars
✔️2013 - Burial Rites in progress
✔️2014 - The Ploughmen read Feb 5 stars
✔️2015 - Go Set a Watchman read Aug 2 stars
✔️2016 - To The Bright Edge of the World read Jan - 5 Stars
✔️2017 - The Weight of Ink read July 5 stars
✔️2018 - Call Your Daughter Home read April 5 stars
✔️2019 - This Is How You Lose the Time War read May 5 stars
✔️2020 - The Glass Hotel read Mar 3 stars
Challenge #6 Short Story Challenge 24✔️1. Open Arms and Mr. Green by Robert Olen Butler Open Arms, March ****
✔️2. Open Arms and Mr. Green by Robert Olen Butler Mr. Green, March *****
✔️3. The Trip Back and Fairy Taleby Robert Olen Butler Trip Back, March ****
✔️4. The Trip Back and Fairy Tale by Robert Olen Butler Fairy Tale, March *****
✔️5. Crickets and Letters From my Father by Robert Olen Butler Crickets, March ****
✔️6. Crickets and Letters From my Father by Robert Olen Butler Letters, March *****
✔️ 7. The American Couple by Robert Olen Butler March *****
✔️ 8. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountainby Robert Olen Butler April *****
✔️ 9. "Love" by Robert Olen Butler April *****
✔️10. Mid-Autumn and In the Clearingby Robert Olen Butler Mid-Autumn April *****
✔️ 11. Mid-Autumn and In the Clearing by Robert Olen Butler Clearing April *****
✔️12. "A Ghost story" by Robert Olen Butler April ****
✔️ 13. "Snow" by Robert Olen Butler April *****
✔️14. "Relic" by Robert Olen Butler April ****
✔️ 15. "Preparation"by Robert Olen Butler April ****
✔️16. Black Eyed Woman from The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen ****
✔️17. The War Years The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen ****
✔️18. The Transplant The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen ***
✔️19. The Americans The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen ****
✔️20. The Other Man The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen *****
✔️21. I'd Love You To Want Me The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen *****
✔️22. Someone Else besides You The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen ***** .
✔️23. The Fatherland The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen ***
✔️24. The Snow Storm by Alexander Pushkin March ****
✔️25. Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov read April ****
✔️26. Babette’s Feast May *****
✔️27. The Necklace and Other Stories: Maupassant for Modern Times read July 4 stars
✔️28. The Misanthrope to read Sept
Challenge #7 - 2020 Group reads 12✔️1. The Portrait of a Lady Jan 5 stars
✔️2. Songs of Innocence and of Experience Feb 5 stars
✔️3. Gooseberries April 4 stars
✔️4. Fathers and Sons April 5 stars
✔️5. Babette’s Feast May 5 stars
✔️6. Moll Flanders June 5 stars
✔️7. Dune June 3 stars
✔️8. Père Goriot Jul 3 stars
✔️9. Antony and Cleopatra Aug 4 stars
✔️10. The Necklace July 4 stars
✔️11. The Fall Oct 3 stars
✔️12. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Sept 5 stars
Challenge #8 Expand your horizons with new authors 6 -✔️1. Wallace Stegner Angle of Repose 5 stars
✔️2. Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 5 stars
✔️3. Songs of Innocence and of ExperienceWilliam Blake 5 stars
✔️4. Patrick SüskindPerfume: The Story of a Murderer 4 1/2 stars
✔️5. James Agee A Death in the Family 3 stars
✔️6. Ivan Turgenev Fathers and Sons April 5 stars
Challenge #9 A-Z author
Challenge #10 A-Z title
Mod
I like what you’ve done with challenge #5 Sue!I may well copy you , it will help my TBR too :)
Bob wrote: "Sue, I like your restraint. It’s a buffet and you can always go back for seconds. I will also be on a diet this year. Have fun."thanks Bob! We'll see how it goes
Janelle wrote: "I like what you’ve done with challenge #5 Sue!I may well copy you , it will help my TBR too :)"
feel free Janelle, then we might be able to do some buddy reads!
ooo ... nice planning, Sue! Angle of Repose and The Keepers of the House are on my lists too. I have a feeling we'll both like them. :-)
Reading The Known World next year. I’d like to read some of the ones on your decade challenge for the same reason. Keep me posted.
Kathleen wrote: "ooo ... nice planning, Sue! Angle of Repose and The Keepers of the House are on my lists too. I have a feeling we'll both like them. :-)"Maybe we can work out buddy reads for them Kathleen
Brina wrote: "Reading The Known World next year. I’d like to read some of the ones on your decade challenge for the same reason. Keep me posted."I'd love to do The known World as a buddy read. I tried to read it once long ago (close to when it came out) and had a hard time getting into it. I'm hoping it was just my mood.
I’m at the mercy of the library. I’m not doing challenges but am just trying to read what was on my tbr this year that I had no concentration to read. This is near the top of the list just not March otherwise I’m flexible. But your women’s authors I will read in March. Ones I’m interested in- The Murmur of Bees (could also be September)
Washington Black (could be February)
Round House (could be November)
Weight of Ink (summer)
Brina wrote: "I’m at the mercy of the library. I’m not doing challenges but am just trying to read what was on my tbr this year that I had no concentration to read. This is near the top of the list just not Marc..."All of those work for me except for February. I like to do buddy reads at the 2nd half of the month if that's okay. I like to leave the first half open for group reads. I'll put the Sept and Nov ones down. What about June for the Weight of Ink?
I may read Washington Black in December if I have time. I got it for Christmas and I'm trying to read all the books I get as gifts before the end of the year. I may not make it though because I'm reading The Pickwick Papers and a non fiction book in December. I'll have to play that by ear.
The Known World I could do in 2nd half of January, May or August if you're still interested in that.
Sept and Nov work. June is perfect for Weight of Ink. School gets out for the summer mid June so I have until the end of August for heavier reading. I could even do The Known World in August but if you want to read ahead of time, go for it. Washington Black I could read in December too. All I have is two novels, 1 long read , and a bunch of celebrity memoirs that go fast.
Brina wrote: "Sept and Nov work. June is perfect for Weight of Ink. School gets out for the summer mid June so I have until the end of August for heavier reading. I could even do The Known World in August but if..."That's great. Let's check-in Dec 10th and if it looks like I'll be finished with The Pickwick Papers we can start Washington Black on the 14th or save it for between Christmas and New Year
Those are regular school days for me but I’m mainly doing light reading in December. I want to aim for later in the month so I can get the two novels read that I really want to get to- Zoli and Martin Dressler.
Vanity Fair and The song of Achilles are great. You have many unusual ones on your lists. All the best
Mod
Some fabulous choices here. I loved "Angle of Repose".
Thanks Bob and Janet. I am really looking forward to Angle of Repose and to learning more about Shackleton
Happy New Year Sue... and Happy Reading!!!I really like To the Lighthouse
And Angle of Repise is on my TBR too...
And I had like to read all of Camus's work slowly too.
I loved both his The Stanger (I loved the discussion we had in this group for it) and The plague.
Thanks Elena! I'm looking forward to a new year of reading.
I'm finally updating this challenge for the 5 - 5 star books I've read. This has to be the most books I've read in a row that were 5 stars for me! For the Old & New challenge, I completed The Portrait of a Lady and Angle of Repose
For Genre Challenge, I completed Anna Karenina and What Is Art?. Both of these were switched out for the ones I planned when another group was reading Anna Karenina and when looking for a translation online someone recommended reading What Is Art? 1st. I'm glad that I did.
For my Century Challenge, I completed To The Bright Edge of the World
What a great bunch of reading, Sue! I loved your reviews of Portrait and Anna and the Tolstoy Art book. So interesting. I'm saving the other two til I read them, but congrats on a five-star run!
Thanks Kathleen. I still have to finish my Anna Karenina review and haven't even started on Angle of Repose. I love that book so much, I don't know where to start!
Mod
I should Bob! The one I finished tonight, broke the streak
Mod
Sara wrote: "The reading gods are smiling on you when you get 5 in a row!"I do believe they were Sara!
My five-star disease continues on this challenge. It's starting to feel silly but I can't help it. I did read a 3-star modern book that wasn't on this challenge in between the last 5, but still!My latest two were:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and
The Ploughmen - Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Ploughmen is another modern book that I snuck in with a modern century challenge that was supposed to be all women and books that I own. When I realized this wasn't a woman, I changed it to women or authors I thought were women!
My reading this year has also been largely stellar.
Terry wrote: "My reading this year has also been largely stellar."It's so great when it happens. I hope it keeps up for both of us Terry.
Mod
I finally updated this for my Old and New challenge forAngle of Repose *****
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer **** and
A Death in the Family ***
Then I decided that I may as well add the short story challenge since I'm reading a collection (A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain) and also the New author one since I've already read 6 new ones. I may even add 2nd place or Worse but I promise, I will not add any A-Z! heehee
I just added The Snow Storm byAlexander Pushkin to my short stories after seeing Kathleen's review. It was a delightful little story.
Glad you enjoyed that, Sue! You're doing so well on your stories. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Robert Olen Butler. I've only read his non-fiction--a book about writing that was fascinating.
Kathleen wrote: "Glad you enjoyed that, Sue! You're doing so well on your stories. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Robert Olen Butler. I've only read his non-fiction--a book about writing that was fascinating."Thank you Kathleen. I am adoring Robert Olen Butler's writing. Normally when I've read a short story collection there are always a few mediocre ones but I'm loving every one of these so far.
Mod
Angle of Repose *****
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer **** and
A Death in the Family ***
Then I dec..."
I think you might really have fun with short story challenge. I worked on that one first this year. It has been a nice change-up from the type of reading I did the last few years. Plus I was able to "try-out" multiple new authors to see if I liked their writing style. You have made nice progress so far in your reading.
Thank you Lynn. I do like the short story challenge. I was just worried about committing to too many challenges. I'm going to focus on this Buffet first and not even look at BINGO until I'm mostly done with it.
Mod
Sara wrote: "LOL. We always seem to end up doing all the challenges whether we intend to or not. Bravo on adding to the Old and New...and especially for Angle of Repose, such a great novel."These challenges are strangely addicting! Oh yes, Sara, Angle of Repose is one of my top favorites. It may never have hit my radar if I hadn't copied your Pulitzer challenge! Thank you for that!
Mod
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (other topics)The Fall (other topics)
Dune (other topics)
The Refugees (other topics)
The Misanthrope (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Viet Thanh Nguyen (other topics)A.B. Guthrie Jr. (other topics)
Ivan Turgenev (other topics)
Anton Chekhov (other topics)
Alexander Pushkin (other topics)
More...
Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR - For sure
Challenge #2 - Does a Century Make a Difference? - Not likely
Challenge #3 - Second Place or Worse -not likely
Challenge #4 - Members Choice Classic/Genre Challenge - only if Old & New, Century and BINGO complete may combine
Challenge #5 - Decade/Century Challenge - likely
Challenge #6 - Short Story Challenge - likely - will combine
Challenge #7 - 2020 Group Reads Challenge likely, will combine
Challenge #8 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors - yes will combine
Challenge #9 - A-Z Author Challenge- not likely
Challenge #10 - A-Z Title Challenge- not likely