2019 Reading Challenge Wrap-Up!

I participated in the Back to the Classics Challenge again this year! I posted at least 1 entry for all 12 categories - which means I get 3 entries into the drawing!

In the Challenge, there are 12 categories which are to be filled with different books written 50+ years ago. I actually had a list of 41 books to read this year... and I read 36.5 books! My final list has some substitutions from my original list. I also started a book that decided to not finish because I didn't like it (hence the .5 in my count). I honestly didn't think I would read all the books on my list, but I got much further than I expected!

Below are the links to all my reviews from this year. A green check means I finished reading it, a white box means it was on the original list but I didn't get to it, and the red X is the book I started but didn't finish.

1. 19th Century Classic. 
✅-Agnes Grey (1847) by Anne Bronte
-The Last Man (1826) by Mary Shelley instead I read:
✅-Dickens at Christmas (1835-1854) - Collection of 9 Christmas short stories

2. 20th Century Classic.
✅✅✅-Worlds of Exile and Illusion Trilogy (1966-1967) by Ursula K. Le Guin
          *HONORABLE MENTION
✅✅✅-The Space Trilogy (1938-1945) by CS Lewis
          *HONORABLE MENTION

3. Classic by a Female Author.
✅-Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte
          **FAVORITE - rating: 9.6 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
✅-Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) by Hope Mirrlees

4. Classic in Translation.
☐-Heidi (1880) by Johanna Spyri
✅-We (1921) by Yevgeny Zamyatin

5. Classic Comedy.
✅-The Autobiography of Methuselah (1909) by John Kendrick Bangs
❌-Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (1889) by Jerome K. Jerome
          *DISHONORABLE MENTION (never finished)

6. Classic Tragedy. 
✅-Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte
          **LEAST favorite - rating: 3.9 - ⭐⭐
☐-1984 (1949) by George Orwell

7. Very Long Classic. 500+ pages
✅-Don Quixote (1615) by Miguel de Cervantes
-Middlemarch (1871) by George Eliot instead I read:
✅-The One Year Chronological Bible (~600BC-100AD) - page count: 1,441
          -New Living Translation (written in Hebrew and Koine Greek)
-I will not be posting an actual blog post review on this one. The Bible is a library in itself and a multitude of books have been written about each individual book. Whether or not you believe in Jesus, this is still an extremely influential book and I think everyone should read it through at least once in their lives. It was interesting to read it chronologically - you realize how much of the Bible actually repeats itself!

8. Classic Novella. under 250 pages
✅✅✅-The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1945-1948) by Astrid Lindgren
✅✅✅✅✅-Dickens at Christmas (1843-1848) - 5 'Christmas books'
          **A Christmas Carol (1843) FAVORITE - ranking: 9.4 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

9. Classic From the Americas or Caribbean. Classic set there, or author from there.
☐-Christy (1967) by Catherine Marshall
✅✅-The Diaries of Adam and Eve (1906) by Mark Twain

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, Oceania, or Australia. Classic set there, or author from there.
-Death on the Nile (1937) by Agatha Christie instead I read and performed in a play adaptation of A Murder is Announced by Christie. (see category 12)
✅-The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus

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) by Louisa May Alcott
✅-The Bostonians (1886) by Henry James
          **LEAST favorite - rating: 3.6 - ⭐⭐

12. Classic Play.
✅✅✅✅-Four Shakespeare Comedies (~1590-1601)
✅✅✅✅-Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays (~1350s-1510s)
✅-A Murder is Announced (1950) by Agatha Christie

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

Title: Lud-in-the-Mist

Author: Hope Mirrlees (British, 1887-1978)
Originally published: 1926
Page count: 264



Dates read: 11/30/19-12/20/19
2019 book goal progress: 36 out of 41
Back to the Classics category:
Classic by a Female Author



Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
Lud-in-the-Mist is a prosperous country town situated where two rivers meet: the Dawl and the Dapple. The Dapple springs from the land of Faerie, and is a great trial to Lud, which rejects anything 'other,' preferring to believe only in what is known, what is solid. Nathaniel Chanticleer, a dreamy, melancholy man, is deliberately ignoring a vital part of his own past; a secret he refuses even to acknowledge. But with the disappearance of his daughter, and long-overdue desire to protect his son, he realizes Lud is changing - and something must be done.

First sentence:
"The free state of Dorimare was a very small country, but, seeing that it was bounded on the south by the sea and on the north and east by mountains, while its center consisted of a rich plain, watered by two rivers, a considerable variety of scenery and vegetation was to be found within its borders."

Favorite quotes:
"Again, fairy was delusion, so was the law. At any rate, it was a sort of magic, molding reality into any shape it chose. But, whereas fairy magic and delusion were for the cozening and robbing of man, the magic of the law was to his intention and for his welfare."

"A class struggling to assert itself, to discover its true shape, which lies hidden, as does the statue in the marble, in the hard, resisting material of life itself, must, in the nature of things, be different from that same class when chisel and mallet have been laid aside, and it has actually become what it had so long been struggling to be."

"Reason, I know, is only a drug and, as such, its effects are never permanent. But, like the juice of the poppy, it often gives a temporary relief."

"I am not given to harboring foul suspicions without cause. But a great deal of mischief is sometimes done by not facing facts."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 5.9 - ⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 7
Atmosphere   - 8
Writing Style - 7
Plot                - 6
Intrigue          - 4
Logic             - 4
Enjoyment     - 5
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

For what this book is, it's really good. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I was expecting, so I was pretty disappointed. I thought it was going to be a high fantasy with faeries, elves, fauns, and magic... but all that is really just alluded to and never seen. This story was more of a mystery than a fantasy. It's more about delusions and figuring out what the truth is - and it has this really weird dream-like sequence in the end.

It was as if it was trying to be an adult version of a children's fairytale - but it failed at being either. The story was very straightforward and predictable (except for the weird dream at the end) - it was boring to me and I wouldn't really consider it an adult story. At the same time, the phrasing of many sentences was strange and the vocabulary was difficult - I would consider this pretty advanced for a children's story. I also think it was supposed to be an allegory - but it went over my head. Overall, the novel just fell flat for me.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Hope Mirrless have the last words:

"There's no clock like the sun and no calendar like the stars. And why? Because it gets one used to the look of Time. There's no bogey from over the hills that scares one like Time. But when one's been used to seeing him naked, as it were, instead of shut up in a clock, one learns that he is as quiet and peaceful as an old ox dragging the plow. And to watch Time teaches one to sing."

A Murder is Announced (play adaptation) by Agatha Christie

Title: A Murder is Announced (play adaptation)

Author: Agatha Christie (English, 1890-1976)
Adapted by: Leslie Darbon (Brittish, ?-?)

Originally published:  1950 (play adapted in 1977)
Page count: 102

Dates read: end of 8/19 through the end of 10/19 -
then our lines had to be memorized
2019 book goal progress: 35 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: Classic Play


Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
An announcement in the local paper states the time and place when a murder is to occur in Miss Blacklock's Victorian house. The victim is not one of the house's several occupants, but an unexpected and unknown visitor. What follows is a classic Christie puzzle of mixed motives, concealed identities, a second death, a determined Inspector grimly following the twists and turns, and Miss Marple on hand to provide the final solution at some risk to herself in a dramatic confrontation just before the final curtain.

First line(s):
MISS BLACKLOCK (MB): Good-bye.
JULIA (J): You really do make too much fuss of her, Aunt Letty...
MB: Well, Phillipa's been through rather a lot, Julia. And, tell me, what's wrong with trying to make life a bit more pleasant?
J: Nothing - I suppose...
MB: It's such a little thing - waving good-bye. But it helps. I'd do the same for you.

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 8.7 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 9
Atmosphere   - 8
Writing Style - 8
Plot                - 9
Intrigue          - 10
Logic             - 7
Enjoyment     - 10
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

I read this through and then read it again... and again and again... until I had whole portions of it memorized. I mean... that is how acting is supposed to work anyway! I played Phillipa Haymes and had a great time with the rest of the cast. I recently moved, so it was nice to meet new people at a community theater. I also hadn't been in a play for 2 years, so it was a blast getting back on stage again! Overall, I think the show is great. Though I haven't read Christie's original book it's made me want to - even though I know who did it!

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Agatha Christia have the last words:

(Note: This is my favorite line in the play. It was probably added to the play by Leslie Darbon and not in Agatha Christie's original novel. It happens at the very end of the play - but doesn't give anything away.)

EDMUND (a struggling writer): I'm convinced somewhere in all this there is a fascinating novel to be written and if I don't write it, someone else will.

All Book Reviews Relating to Christmas!

This page includes links to all the Christmas book reviews I have posted to this blog. This list is small right now, but I hope to see it grow in the next couple of years! I have so many I want to read and re-read!

It is broken into three categories: Bible, Picture Books, and... Non-Picture Books. Where possible, each category is in alphabetical order by the author's last name, then by order of publication.

Nativity Story in the Bible
Full story in the Bible:
Luke 1:1-2:52
Matthew 1:1-2:23

Shortened story from the Bible:
Luke 1:26-56; 2:1-21; 2:39-40 
Matthew 1:18-2:23



Christmas Picture Books and Comics:
-My four favorite Nativity-Centered Picture Books

JRR Tolkein (English, 1892-1973)

-Letters From Father Christmas (1920-1943)

Bill Willingham (American, 1956- )

-Fables Christmas Comics (2007, 2012)


Christmas Short Stories, Novellas, Novels, Plays, Poems Ect...

L Frank Baum (American, 1856-1919)

-The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902)

-A Kidnapped Santa Claus (1904)

GK Chesterton (English, 1874-1936)

-The Spirit of Christmas (written before 1936)

Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
-Dickens at Christmas (1835-1854)
     -A Christmas Carol (1843)
     -The Chimes (1844)
     -The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
     -The Battle of Life (1846)
     -The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848)
     -Mini-Reviews of the Christmas Short Stories (1835-1854)

Elizabeth Goudge (English, 1900-1984)

-I Saw Three Ships (1969)

Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian, 1828-1906)

-A Doll's House (1879)

Multiple Authors

-Home for Christmas: Stories for Young and Old (2002)

Dickens at Christmas

Title: Dickens at Christmas
Includes: Five Christmas Books and
Collection of 9 Christmas Short Stories

Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
Originally published:  1835-1854
Page count: Five books: 85; 88; 91; 88; 99
Nine short stories: 105 total (~5-20 pages each)

Dates read: 7/8/19-12/6/19
Back to the Classics category: 
Five books: Classic Novella (under 250 pages)
Nine short stories: 19th Century Classic


Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Many people are familiar with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - but did you know he actually wrote four other Christmas books and over 20 Christmas short stories?! Well, this wonderful book called Dickens at Christmas collects all five of his Christmas books and nine of his Christmas short stories. An overall review of the Christmas books and an overall review of Dickens at Christmas are included below in this blog post. For more in-depth reviews of the Christmas books and mini-reviews of the nine short stories, you can access them here:
     -A Christmas Carol (1843)
     -The Chimes (1844)
     -The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
     -The Battle of Life (1846)
     -The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848)
     -Mini-Reviews of the Christmas Short Stories (1835-1854)

Overall Review the Five Christmas Books:
A Christmas Carol is by far his most well know Christmas story and it very much deserves that. None of the other books (which are all really novellas) are quite like his first. The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain is also a great tale and is the only other ACTUAL Christmas story. It's blatantly around Christmas-time AND has a personified ghost - usually referred to as a phantom. The main character is also quite similar to the well-known Mr. Scrooge.

The Chimes is a good story but is actually during New Year's Eve/New Year's. It does have a multitude of ghosts (referred to as goblins), but they're not personified like in the two stories mentioned above. The Cricket on the Hearth is an adorable story about love and marriage - but it happens at the end of January and has no connection to Christmas. Crickets are referred to as spirits and symbols of luck, but there are no ghosts in this story.

The Battle of Life was a horrible story that I found confusing. It had a short scene at Christmas, but it wasn't about Christmas at all. It also didn't have any ghosts. This is one to just pass on and read some of Dickens' other wonderful writings instead.

Overall Review of Dickens at Christmas:

If you haven't already, I would highly suggest reading A Christmas Carol - and, even if you have, to read it again. I would also suggest reading all of the other Christmas Books except for The Battle of Life. Most of the short stories are good too. My favorite being "The Story of the Goblin who Stole a Sexton" and my least favorite being "A Christmas Tree." I also enjoyed "The Child's Story," even though it isn't about Christmas.

That was what surprised most reading through this collection of 14 stories - only half of the tales are really about Christmas. The other half had little or nothing to do with Christmas. That was a big disappointment - even if they were good stories on their own.

Nonetheless, Charles Dickens is an INCREDIBLE writer. I greatly look forward to reading more of his books. I had read A Christmas Carol while in college (over 5 years ago) and Oliver Twist when I was in fifth or sixth grade - so I didn't have much to go on to know what to expect from his writing. He writes so smoothly and each sentence seems perfectly crafted - it's almost like reading poetry. Every story has a moral purpose, which just feels good to me. I just couldn't help but smile while reading all these stories.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Charles Dickens have the last words:

"Christmas comes but once a year, which is unhappily true, for when it begins to stay with us the whole year round we shall make this earth a very different place."
-"The Seven Poor Travellers"

Christmas Short Stories by Dickens

Title: Dickens at Christmas - Nine Short Stories


Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
Originally published:  1835-1854
Page count: 105 total (~5-20 pages each)


Dates read: 11/23/19-12/6/19 (8 days)
2019 book goal progress: 33 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: 19th Century Classic


Read my other Dickens at Christmas reviews HERE.

Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Mini-Reviews of the Nine Christmas Short Stories:
"THE STORY OF THE GOBLIN WHO STOLE A SEXTON" (The Pickwick Papers - 1836)
This is by far my favorite short story in this collection - probably because it's a ghost story similar to A Christmas Carol. Gabriel Grub is a Scrooge-like character who has a change of heart after meeting the goblin king. It is humorous, but there are dark moments too.

First sentence:
"In an old abbey town, down in this part of the country, a long, long while ago - so long, that the story must be a true one because our great-grandfathers implicitly believed it - there officiated as sexton and grave-digger in the churchyard, one Gabriel Grub."

"A CHRISTMAS TREE" (Household Words - 1850)
This is by far my LEAST favorite short story in this collection. It's a stream of consciousness that didn't really make much sense - it was just written so differently than what I had come to expect from Dickens. The first third is about nostalgia regarding gifts and decorations on Christmas trees. The second third talks about fairy tales not connected to Christmas. Then there's a two-paragraph transition about Christmas trees and the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The last third is a series of ghost stories that have no connection to Christmas. Then it ends with two paragraphs talking about Christmas trees and Jesus. It is a super weird story with no plot or point.

First sentence:
"I have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree."

"A CHRISTMAS DINNER" (Household Words / Bell's Life - 1835)
This is a cute story that starts as an essay about Christmas being a cheerful time to put aside differences and get along with family. The rest of the story is an anecdotal tale that proves the moral of the essay.

First sentence(s):
"Christmas Time! That man must be a misanthrope indeed, in whose breast something like a jovial feeling is not roused - in whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakened - by the recurrence of Christmas."

"WHAT CHRISTMAS IS, AS WE GROW OLDER" (Household Words - 1851)
This is a forgettable story about remembering those who are no longer around to celebrate Christmas with us.

First sentence:
"Time was, with most of us, when Christmas Day encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone around the Christmas fire; and made the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete."

"THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS" (Household Words - 1954)
This contains a 'main' story that is about travelers celebrating Christmas together. In the middle, there's a story within the story told - which lasts for over half of the entire short story. This 'second' story is about forgiveness but has nothing to do with Christmas.

First sentence:
"Strictly speaking, there were only six Poor Travellers; but, being a Traveller myself, though an idle one, and being withal as poor as I hope to be, I brought the number up to seven."

"THE POOR RELATION'S STORY" (A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire - 1852)
This is a loosely Christmas-y story about a man who tells the account of his life. There is a twist at the end that changes what you thought all along. It's worth the read just for the twist!

First sentence:
"He was very reluctant to take precedence of so many respected members of the family, by beginning the round of stories they were to relate as they sat in a goodly circle by the Christmas fire; and he modestly suggested that it would be more correct if 'John our esteemed host' (whose health he begged to drink) would have the kindness to begin."

"THE CHILD'S STORY" (A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire - 1852)
This is an incredible allegorical story about the journey of life. I highly suggest reading this one - it has nothing to with Christmas, though.

First sentence(s):
"Once upon a time, a good many years ago, there was a traveler, and he set out upon a journey. It was a magic journey, and was to seem very long when he began it, and very short when he got halfway through."

"THE SCHOOLBOY'S STORY" (Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire - 1853)
This story is about a group of schoolboys who are malicious to a teacher, but the teacher is still kind to them in the end. I didn't like this tale and it didn't have anything to do with Christmas.

First sentence:
"Being rather young at present - I am getting on years, but still I am rather young - I have no particular adventures of my own to fall back upon."

"NOBODY'S STORY" (Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire - 1853)
This is about how the poor and working-class are blamed for all the troubles in life even though it's not their fault. This was a good story, but, again, it's not about Christmas.

First sentence:
"He lived on the bank of a mighty river, broad and deep, which was always silently rolling on to a vast undiscovered ocean."

Overall Review of the Short Stories:

These are all pretty good stories and I think they're definitely worth reading. Most of them can easily be read aloud to a group due to how short they are. The two exceptions, which are longer, are "A Christmas Tree" (which is the only one I would suggest skipping anyway - it was bad) and "The Seven Poor Travelers." My main disappointment is that they aren't all actually about Christmas. I would definitely suggest reading "The Story of the Goblin who Stole a Sexton" and "The Child's Story" - even though that last one is not about Christmas.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Charles Dickens have the last words:

"Would that Christmas lasted the whole year through (as it ought), and that the prejudices and passions which deform our better nature, were never called into action among those to whom they should ever be strangers!" -A Christmas Dinner