Back to the Classics 2018 - Complete!

I did it! 

I read a book for all 12 categories (which gives me 3 entries for the drawing) in about 9.5 months! 

Boom.

Sometime last January I decided to look for a book club to join. I found only a few near me and those that I did find coincided with my work schedule. I then moved on to looking for an online book challenge and, after considering several different ones, I decided to try Back to the Classics 2018. 

The main rules are to read a different book (written 50 years ago or more) that fits within the 12 categories between 1/1/18-12/31/18. I added a few extra rules of my own: all books are by a different author; all books I haven't read before (except for the re-read category); and only 1 male author (all others will be female authors). Most of the books I chose have an overall genre/theme of science-fiction/fantasy, utopian/dystopian, and/or feminist. 

Here is my list:

FAVORITE BOOK I READ FOR THIS CHALLENGE:
1. A classic with a color in the title - The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (p. 1946). 
"Sometimes a story that one hears starts off one doing things that one would not have had to do if one had not heard it."

This was such an adorable modern fairy tale! I enjoyed my way through the entire story! I think part of why I like this one so much is because it was one of the last books I read for the challenge (10th to be exact) and most of the previous books had been highly political and pretty heavy. It was a breath a breath of fresh air to read a light-hearted children's fantasy.

GOOD BOOKS:
2. A classic by an author that's new to you - Sultana's Dream and Selections from The Secluded Ones by Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (p. 1905; 1928).
"A lion is stronger than a man, but it does not enable him to dominate the human race. Women have neglected the duty you owe to yourselves, and you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interests."

3. A 20th-century classic - Herland Trilogy by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (p. 1915). 
"Women 'woke up' to a realization of the fact that they were human. Before, they were only female beings; a little human, but mostly female. Now they are mostly human. It is a great change." -Moving the Mountain (book 1)

[Referrring to a society of all women, from the perspective of men] "Here you have human beings, unquestionably, but what we were slow in understanding was how these ultra-women, inheriting only from women, had eliminated not only certain masculine characteristics but so much of what we had always thought essentially feminine. This led me very promptly to the conviction that those 'feminine charms' we are so fond of are not feminine at all, but mere reflected masculinity-developed to please us and in no way essential to their fulfillment." -Herland (book 2)

"I noticed that Ellador and her sisters always said 'she' and 'her' as unconsciously as we say 'he' and 'his.' Their reason, of course, is that all the people are shes. Our reason is not so justifiable." -With her in Ourland (book 3)

4. A classic in translation - Beauty and the Beast by Madame de Villeneuve (French p. 1740) 
"How many girls are compelled to marry rich brutes, much more brutish than the Beast, who is only one in form, and not in his feelings or his actions?"

5. A classic by a female author - Votes for Women: A Play in 3 Acts by Elizabeth Robins (p. 1909). 
"Men say if we persist in competing with them for the bigger prizes, they're dreadfully afraid we'd lose their beautiful protecting chivalry. Well, the beautiful chivalry of the employers of women doesn't prevent them from paying tenpence a day for sorting coal and loading and unloading carts - doesn't prevent them from forcing women to earn bread in ways worse still. So we won't talk about chivalry. It's being over-sarcastic. We'll just let this poor ghost of chivalry go - in exchange for a little plain justice."

6. A 19th-century classic - The Mummy by Jane Loudon (p. 1827). 
"If you once allow innovation to be dangerous, you instantly put a stop to all improvement - you absolutely shut and bolt the doors against it. Oh! It is horrible that such a doctrine should be broached in a civilized country."

OK BOOKS:
7. A single-word titled classic - Kallocain by Karin Boye (Swedish, p. 1940).
"I have noticed that from certain persons there emanates such a strong radiation from their life philosophy that they are a threat even when they say nothing."

8. A classic crime story - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (p. 1926). 
"The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to the seeker after it."

9. A children's classic - A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (p. 1905) 
"When people are insulting you, there is nothing so good for them as not to say a word - just to look at them and THINK. When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn't said afterward. There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in - that's stronger. It's a good thing not to answer your enemies. I scarcely ever do."

10. A classic travel or journey narrative - The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford (p. 1960). 
"Only one thing was clear and certain - that at all costs he was going home, home to his own beloved master. Home lay to the west, his instinct told him; but he could not leave the other two - so somehow he must take them with him, all the way."

11. Re-read a favorite classic - Animal Farm by George Orwell (p. 1945). 
"If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, all working according to his capacity, and the strong protecting the weak. Instead - she did not know why - they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind."

LEAST FAVORITE BOOK I READ FOR THE CHALLENGE (possibly ever):
12. A classic that scares you - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (p. 1957). 
"Morality is: judgment to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, and integrity to stand by the good at any price."

You may have noticed that there are only 11 books in the picture above. That's because I got rid of Atlas Shrugged as soon as I finished it - horrible book. You can read my review to find out more - I'm not going to start a rant here.

I also wanted to read Last Man by Mary Shelley (best known for Frankenstein) and re-read 1984 by George Orwell. I'm going to save those for another time, though - even though I'm submitting this wrap-up about a month early. I'm reading 2 other books right now, including a manuscript draft of a book a friend wrote. (It's good to read modern books too!)

I'm excited to join the challenge again next year and can't wait for the new list of categories! I'm also starting to look into joining The Classics Club, where I would create my own list of 50+ classics to read in 5 years or less.

Happy Reading!