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