NOTE: This is my initial post for the beginning of 2019. For a more updated list, take a look at my 2019 Reading Challenge Wrap-Up!
I am excited to participate in the Back to the Classics Challenge again this year! I had a fun time getting into reading again, so I want to keep it up.
In the Challenge, there are 12 categories (which are meant to be filled with 12 different books). In order to qualify as a classic, the book has to have been published (or written) 50+ years ago, so 1969 or older. There are several other minor rules (like having to read all the books in 2019), which you can read at the link above. If you are interested in joining the challenge, the last day to sign up is March 1, 2019.
Last year, I added an extra ‘challenge’ to the challenge by reading all books (except for 1) by female authors. This year, I’ve taken a slightly different approach. Instead of 1 book per category, I’ve chosen 2 books. Out of the 24 books listed below, half of them are female authors and the other half are male. Now, there may be 24 ‘bound books’ listed below, but there are actually 41 novels/novellas/plays (e.g. My copy of The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis is a single physical book, but actually includes - you guessed it - 3 books).
I kind of doubt I’m actually going to read all of the books I’ve listed - but what’s the point of a challenge if you aren’t going to set the bar high? My goal is to read at least 1 book in each category and see how many extras I can read on top of that!
NOTE: As I read the books, I will link my reviews on the titles listed below. I will also check off the boxes next to the books I've completed.
1. 19th Century Classic.
✅-Agnes Grey (1847)
-Author: Anne Bronte (English, 1820-1849)
☐-The Last Man (1826)
-Author: Mary Shelley (English, 1797-1851)
2. 20th Century Classic.
✅✅✅-Worlds of Exile and Illusion (First 3 books in Hainish Cycle) (1966-1967)
-Author: Ursula K. Le Guin (American, 1929-2018)
✅✅✅-The Space Trilogy (1938-1945)
-Author: CS Lewis (British, 1898-1963)
3. Classic by a Female Author.
✅-Jane Eyre (1847)
-Author: Charlotte Bronte (English, 1816-1855)
✅-Lud-in-the-Mist (1926)
-Author: Hope Mirrlees (British, 1887-1978)
4. Classic in Translation.
☐-Heidi (1880) - written in German
-Author: Johanna Spyri (Swiss, 1827-1901)
✅-We (1921) - written in Russian
-Author: Yevgeny Zamyatin (Russian, 1884-1937)
5. Classic Comedy.
✅-The Autobiography of Methuselah (1909)
-Author: John Kendrick Bangs (American, 1862-1922)
❌-Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (1889)
-Author: Jerome K. Jerome (English, 1859-1927)
6. Classic Tragedy.
✅-Wuthering Heights (1847)
-Author: Emily Bronte (English, 1818-1848)
☐-1984 (1949)
-Author: George Orwell (English, 1903-1950)
7. Very Long Classic. 500+ pages
☐-Middlemarch (1871) - page count: ~650
-Author: Mary Anne Evans (Pen Name: George Eliot) (English, 1819-1880)
✅-Don Quixote (1615) - page count: ~790, written in Early Modern Spanish
-Author: Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish, 1547-1616)
8. Classic Novella. under 250 pages
✅✅✅-The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1945-1948) - trilogy, 3 novellas; written in Swedish
-Author: Astrid Lindgren (Swedish, 1907-2002)
-Page count: ~ 160 / 145 / 130
✅✅✅✅✅✅-Dickens at Christmas (1843-1848) - 5 novellas, including A Christmas Carol and a collection of Christmas short stories
-Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
-Page count: ~ 105 / 120 / 110 / 120 / 110
9. Classic From the Americas or Caribbean. Classic set there, or author from there.
☐-Christy (1967) - set in Tennessee and North Carolina
-Author: Catherine Marshall (American, 1914-1983)
✅✅-The Diaries of Adam and Eve (1906)
-Author: Mark Twain (American, 1835-1910)
10. Classic From Africa, Asia, Oceania, or Australia. Classic set there, or author from there.
☐-Death on the Nile (1937) - set in Egypt
-Author: Agatha Christie (English, 1890-1976)
✅-The Plague (1947) - set in Oran, Algeria, written in French
-Author: Albert Camus (French-Algerian, 1913-1960)
11. Classic From a Place You've Lived. Read locally! Any classic set in a city, county, state,
or country in which you've lived, or by a local author. (I live in MA, USA.)
☐-Work: A Story of Experience (1873) - set in the United States (possibly Boston, MA)
-Author: Louisa May Alcott (American, 1832-1888)
-Author from: Boston and Concord, MA
✅-The Bostonians (1886) - set in Boston, MA (mostly)
-Author: Henry James (American-British, 1843-1916)
-Author from: He lived several years in Boston/Cambridge, MA (he traveled around a lot)
12. Classic Play.
✅✅✅✅-Four Comedies:
Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night
-(~1590-1601) - written in Early Modern English
-Playwright: William Shakespeare (English, 1564-1616)
✅✅✅✅-Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays (~1350s-1510s) - written in Middle English
-Playwrights: Unknown
