Hosted by Karen@Books and Chocolate, this challenge always looks like fun, so this year I thought I would join in as it will also help me organise my reading a little. All I need to do is read one book in each of the following categories:
- 19th Century Classic: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (March)
- 20th Century Classic, before 1969: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
- Classic by a Women Author: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (March)
- Classic in Translation: The Leopard by Tomasi Di Lampedusa
- Classic Comic Novel: Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
- Classic Tragic Novel: House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
- Very Long Classic (500+pages): Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Classic Novella (less than 250 pages): Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
- Classic From the Americas: Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- Classic From Africa, Asia or Oceania: Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
- Classic From a Place You’ve Lived: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
- Classic Play: To Be Decided (if I ever get there)
These are my ideas for the moment but any of them could change. My main worry is that there are too many long reads here and I’ll just never finish!
Just Reading A Book 
That’s a great list, many of which I’ve read in the deep distant past (or in some cases fairly recently!) Gaudy Night is quite chunky but absolutely impossible to put down, I find! And of course I’m in favour of Crime and Punishment… 😀 Good luck!
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Thank you, I agree if they’re good reads then the length doesn’t matter – here’s hoping!
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I love your list! I’ve been wanting to read more Dickens, and of course Northanger Abbey is an old favorite. I’ve been wanting to read Dorothy Sayers now that I’m turned on to mysteries.
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Thanks! I haven’t read any Dickens for years and am looking forward to it and I’ve heard great things about Dorothy Sayers so I hope it lives up to my expectations!!
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What a terrific list! A Very Long Classic is a frightening category, though.
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It is and I’m a bit worried, but it doesn’t matter if I don’t finish all 12 (I tell myself!)
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No pressure from anyone except yourself 🙂
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Gosh, three of my all-time favourite read her – A Tale of Two Cities, The Code of the Woosters and Northanger Abbey! Hope you enjoy them and the others. 😀
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Hmm… that should be “reads here” not “read her” – note to self: check for typos before pressing Post… 😉
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Hooray! Always good to have recommendations – they’re the 3 I’m most looking forward to. . .
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Nice list! I found the challenge gave me a direction for my reading so I wasn’t wandering around. I hope you enjoy it, too!
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Thank you and yes, I agree, a bit of direction is a good thing even if I don’t manage to finish!
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What a great list of books! I love The House of Mirth and A Tale of Two Cities, and Crime and Punishment is on my list to read this year.
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Oh good, I’ve never read anything by Edith Wharton and am a bit nervous of Crime and Punishment, so will be interested to read your thoughts – no pressure!
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1, 3, 7, and 9 are all on my Classics TBR!!
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These are all taken from my Classics Challenge, I thought it would help me decide which ones to read this year!
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This is such a lovely list and I’d love to participate in the challenge. The House of Mirth would be on my list too. I love Edith Wharton!
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She’s a completely new author for me, I’m hoping that I love her too – she comes highly recommended!
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I’ve only read three of these (A Tale of Two Cities, Northanger Abbey, and Grapes of Wrath), but I loved them all! Hopefully that bodes well for the rest of your list!
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I hope so!
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The Grapes of Wrath is a brilliant book and Northanger Abbey is like an ode to bookworms. Great picks!
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Ha Ha – an ode to bookworms, I like that – and thanks!
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I keep meaning to read If This is a Man – maybe 2019 will be the year… I know what you mean about long reads – the size of The Golden Notebook always puts me off, which is ridiculous really!
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Oh no, I haven’t looked at it yet, please don’t let it be more than 500 pages!
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Yey, great that you also are joining this year!
Gaudy Night is one of my favourites so I hope you’ll get around to it. There are some plot threads in it that starts in earlier novels so if that is important too you you may want to start with Strong Poison and Have His Carcase. Unfortunately those are notably weaker (more generic golden age crime) so I only recommend them if you really enjoy crime fiction. If not it makes more sense to skip directly to the much more interesting Gaudy Night (I read it before the other novels by accident and it worked fine).
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I think I picked Gaudy Night because of you! I quite like going back to earlier novels to fill in gaps – and I’m not a fast reader!
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Wharton is a good choice, so is Steinbeck and Dickens. I think it just depends on what you are in the mood for. I read The House of Mirth many years ago and plan to read it again but I remember I liked it more than I expected (especially at the time it surprised me because I didn’t read many classics at the time).
Grapes of Wrath took me some time to get into the story and the way Steinbeck wrote it but once I did, it was very good to me.
A Tale of Two Cities was a little slow at first but it’s a shorter Dickens and gets suspenseful and then bang! Surprise surprise.
I hope you enjoy whatever you pick!
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Thank you booksbythecup, I’m interested in The House of Mirth because Edith Wharton is going to be completely new to me, hopefully I’ll be in for a pleasant surprise!
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