Classics Without All the Class discussion

Hey Guys!
This will be my fourth Classic Author Challenge in a row. Since I've been around the block, so to speak, I thought 'why don't I post the new thread?!'
So here it is, rules and all...
And rule #8: Have fun! :)

Rules

1. Using the author's first or last name - read: 26 books
2.Nothing published after 2006. Whether some things are classics or not is debated, so feel free to ask or argue your defense of a book you feel is classic.
3. No non-fiction
4. No poetry
5. You may NOT repeat any author.
6. Any name with an "X" or a "Q" in them will work for those letters. (The name does not have to begin with an X or a Q.)
7. Books must have been read in 2016.

You can sign up anytime, and you can backdate books if you know when you finished it, as long as it was done in the year 2016.
You can also link if you wish, or not.
TLDR: same rules as last year, but this year.

0/26

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Maybe edit the year to 2016! It takes a while to adapt to the numerical years, doesnt it? . Completed it within the nick of time last year, lets see how this one goes.

Yup.
I was trying so hard to remember to get it right that I got it wrong.
Edited.

I will be joining the challenge!

Only shouldn't rule 2 be: Nothing published after 2006? (in 2013 it was nothing after 2003, in 2014 it was nothing after 2004 and so on).

Thank you for starting the thread Tanya-Marie. I will also be joining this challenge.

Doubt I'll get through them all but here goes:

Atwood. M - The Handmaids Tale.
Bainbridge. B - The Bottle Factory Outing.
Cormac McCarthy- The Road.
Dostoyevsky - The Possessed.
Elliot George - Middlemarch.
Faulkner. W - The Sound & The Fury.
Gissing George - New Grub Street.
Herbert Frank - Dune.
Ibsen Henrik - The Dolls House.
Joseph Heller - Catch 22.
Kis Danilo - Encyclopedia of the Dead
Laurence Sterne - Life & Opinions of Tristam Shandy.
Mulk Raj Anand - Untouchable.
Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Scarlet Letter.
Orwell. G - Down & Out in Paris & London.
Par Lagerkist - The Dwarf.
Queneau Raymond - Zazie in the Metro.
Roth. Philip- Portnoy's Complaint
Stephen King- IT
Thomas.L.Peacock- Nightmare Abbey.
Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose Vonnegut Kurt -Slaughterhouse Five.
Wilkie Collins - Armadale.
Xun Lu -A- Madman's Diary .
Zola Emile - Germinal.

I'm still seeing 2015 in rule #7 and the final paragraph. :) I also agree with Robin about raising the years to 2006.

I'll be joining along, too! This being my first time, I have a question: Do books I've started reading last year count toward the list (when I finish them), or does it have to be books that were started and completed in 2016?

Cheers for getting us going on this!

Whoops, had trouble with the computer,
Vonnegut Kurt - Slaughterhouse Five should be V however it's on the line above.

I've also missed Y. darn it. Will think of something and add later.

John wrote: "I'm still seeing 2015 in rule #7 and the final paragraph. :) I also agree with Robin about raising the years to 2006.

I'll be joining along, too! This being my first time, I have a question: Do bo..."

Everyone has their own idea about this, but I consider a title read in 2016 so long as when I started it in 2015, I didn't read more than 1/3 of the book during that year. For some people, its half the book. Its a personal line that you draw for yourself.

Laurie's Classics

8/26

A Andersen, Hans Christian - The Emperor's New Clothes
B
C Caldwell, Erskine - Tobacco Road
D
E Wharton, Edith - Summer
F
G Graham,Winston - Poldark
H Heyer, Georgette, The Convenient Marriage
I Irving, Washington - Rip Van Winkle
J Jacobs, Harriet Ann - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
K Kipling, Rudyard - "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
L London, Jack - Call of the Wild
M
N
O O'Brien, Tim - The Things They Carried
P Poe, Edgar Allen - The Black Cat
Q
R
S Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
T
U
V
W Collins, Wilkie - The Woman in White
X Dumas, Alexandre - Queen Margot
Y
Z Grey, Zane - Riders of the Purple Sage

My list is currently incomplete. I gave myself an addtional rule; all my letters are last names only. Also, I ended up with mostly prize winning novels.

(1/26 read)
Albom - The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Bellow - Humbolt's Gift
Chekov - The Shooting Party
Defoe - Moll Flanders
Ellroy - The Black Dahlia
Faulkner - A Fable
Grau - The Keepers of the House
Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises
Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day
Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Knebel - Seven Days in May
Lewis - The Screwtape Letters
Möring - In Babylon
Nguyen - The Tapestries
Ondaatje - The English Patient
Pasternak - Doctor Zhivago
Q
Russo - Empire Falls
Stryon - The Confessions of Nat Turner
Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces
Updike - Rabbit is Rich
Vidal - Myra Breckinridge
Wouk - The Caine Mutiny (I may change this, as I've read it several times)
X
Y
Z

All lists should be incomplete until they are done.
You start with a blank slate and then plug in the letters.

Tanya-Marie wrote: "All lists should be incomplete until they are done.
You start with a blank slate and then plug in the letters."

Following Kat's example, I've decided to select all of my books now, so that I lock myself in to reading them (otherwise, I'll start a bunch and wander away, as one look at my "currently reading" list will show you). :) I'll place a "FINISHED (date)" next to them when I've completed each one.

Sorry John, it's my first time doing this challenge so thought we needed to post the list of books beforehand, it seems I was wrong and we should be adding them to the list once we have read them.

It's okay guys. You can pick them, but may as well pick them privately and then post here as you finish. Otherwise we'll end up with clogging of the thread and trying to keep up.
I have all my books picked as well and set aside in a pile next to my bed. But I'll only post the challenge as I finish titles in order to streamline the thread better.

My apologies; I didn't realize there were rules set up for the list itself; I figured it would be whatever worked for the person creating the list. I do have to wonder how my editing of one post over the next year will clog the thread, but I will happily clear the list and...then...I'm confused after that. I post each time I finish a book? Edit the post to add books?

Usually, people update their lists after every few books.
If you're curious, you can check out the threads for 2015, 2014, and 2013.
For example, last year, I only posted my list twice...once at 13 titles completed and then at the end. Other chose to update every 3-4 titles. All that's fine. It is up to you in that way. But if you want others to follow your progress in the thread, it makes more sense to compile your list at home and post the completed titles here.

Thanks for helping the newbie. :)

Anytime :)

The reason for posting as you go, by the way, is because as people post at the end of this thread, it will grow. And we will all get notifications as to the posts. This way, we come back and keep tabs on one another, encourage each other, recommend authors and so on. If you simply make your post at the top, this early in the year, and edit with dates, no one will be notified and no one will go back several pages to seek out your progress. Goodreads doesn't send out notifications on edits.

Completed 7 of 26:

A- Aristophanes - "Lysistrata"
B- Benson, E.F. - "Trouble for Lucia"
C- Cynthia Ozick - "The Messiah of Stockholm"*
D
E
F
G- George Sand- "The Devil's Pool"*
H
I
J-Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer- Heat and Dust
K
L
M- Malouf, David- "Remembering Babylon"*
N
O- Ondaatje, Michael - "The English Patient"*
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

*- on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List

3/26

A
B
C
D
E
F Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q Marquez - One-Hundred Years of Solitude*
R
S
T
U
V
W
X Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo (in progress)
Y
Z Zamiyatin - We*

*On Boxall's 1001 Books to Read

Completed 8 of 26:

A- Aristophanes - "Lysistrata"
B- Benson, E.F. - "Trouble for Lucia"
C- Cynthia Ozick - "The Messiah of Stockholm"*
D
E
F
G- George Sand- "The Devil's Pool"*
H
I
J-Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer- Heat and Dust
K
L
M- Malouf, David- "Remembering Babylon"*
N
O- Ondaatje, Michael - "The English Patient"*
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W- Wolf, Christa - Cassandra
X
Y
Z

*- on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List

Ed wrote: "Completed 8 of 26:

A- Aristophanes - "Lysistrata"
B- Benson, E.F. - "Trouble for Lucia"
C- Cynthia Ozick - "The Messiah of Stockholm"*
D
E
F
G- George Sand- "The Devil's Pool"*
H
I
J-Jhabvala, Rut..."

Goodness Ed - you're on fire! And here I was happy with the 3.25 I've knocked off the list!

Valerie wrote: "Ed wrote: "Completed 8 of 26:

A- Aristophanes - "Lysistrata"
B- Benson, E.F. - "Trouble for Lucia"
C- Cynthia Ozick - "The Messiah of Stockholm"*
D
E
F
G- George Sand- "The Devil's Pool"*
H
I
J-Jh..."

LOL...I'm retired...so, I have a lot of time to read. Actually read 10 books so far this month...but two didn't fit the criteria here...one was non-fiction and the other was published after 2006.

Ed wrote: "Valerie wrote: "Ed wrote: "Completed 8 of 26:

A- Aristophanes - "Lysistrata"
B- Benson, E.F. - "Trouble for Lucia"
C- Cynthia Ozick - "The Messiah of Stockholm"*
D
E
F
G- George Sand- "The Devil's..."

Well, you're allowed then! I've actually read 11 books this month, but I focused on the RwS Dominoes challenge + some "light" entertainments between the classics.

John wrote: " Do books I've started reading last year count toward the list (when I finish them), or does it have to be books that were started and completed in 2016?..."
I posted this question also in December. I got only one response to it I think. I decided having read a little of the book in 2015 was ok; I limited myself to 15% rather arbitrarily, but read four different books to that point. I think a little more would be ok too, but it would definitely need to be less than half.

Here's my January start:

R- Ralph Ellison Invisible Man
S- Stowe, Harriet Beecher Uncle Tom's Cabin
V- Virgina Woolf Orlando

I'm working on U and W now, Umberto Eco and TH White and soon to start H, Thomas Hardy. I'm trying to get some of the less common letters early, like V and U.

George wrote: "John wrote: " Do books I've started reading last year count toward the list (when I finish them), or does it have to be books that were started and completed in 2016?..."
I posted this question als..."

Thanks, George! What I decided to do was to only place books on my list that I hadn't started in 2015. Most of the ones I was reading toward the end of the year wouldn't really qualify as classics anyway (at least, not in fiction). I appreciate your comment; if I find myself in a similar situation at the end of 2016, that's the way I'll probably end up going. Cheers!

Yeah, it's a personal challenge so everyone can decide how they feel about the books they started in 2015 but finished in 2016. For me, I have to have read 1/3 or less in the previous year for it to count in the next. But again, that's my personal line. For some it half or less and so on.

Maybe a stupid question, but does the surname O'Brien count as an 'O' or 'B'? Same with McEwan, should this be an 'M' or 'E'? English is not my native language so I have no idea about the alphabetizing rules..

And to the question as to which percentage of a book you can read in the year before: I had so many books to finish in december for all of my challenges, I didn't have time to start any new ones ;) I think I would count it if I read at least 50% in the new year.

I'd put O'Brien under O and McEwen under M.

Completed 11 of 26:

A- Aristophanes - "Lysistrata"
B- Benson, E.F. - "Trouble for Lucia"
C- Cynthia Ozick - "The Messiah of Stockholm"*
D- David Malouf- "Remembering Babylon"*
E-
F- Forster, E.M. - Maurice
G- George Sand- "The Devil's Pool"*
H
I
J-Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer- Heat and Dust
K
L
M- Michael Bulgakov - Heart of a Dog
N
O- Ondaatje, Michael - "The English Patient"*
P
Q
R
S
T- Tolstoy, Leo - Two Hussars
U
V
W- Wolf, Christa - Cassandra
X
Y
Z

*- on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List

Another update:
14/26

A – Aristophanes - Lysistrata
B – Benson, E.F. - Trouble for Lucia
C – Cynthia Ozick- The Messiah of Stockholm
D – David Malouf - Remembering Babylon*
E – Eudora Welty - The Ponder Heart
F – Forster, E.M. - Maurice
G – George Sand- The Devil's Pool*
H –
I –
J – Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer - Heat and Dust
K –
L –
M – Michael Bulgakov - Heart of a Dog
N – Nathalie Sarraute - The Planetarium
O – Ondaatje, Michael - The English Patient*
P – Peters, Elizabeth - Crocodile on the Sandbank
Q –
R –
S –
T – Tolstoy, Leo - Two Hussars
U –
V –
W – Wolf, Christa- Cassandra
X –
Y –
Z –

*- on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List

Wow Ed, you're cruising right along! I wish I had your focus; I'm reading a lot, but I have trouble sticking to my list. How did you like The English Patient? That's one of the books I'm currently reading.

Ed wrote: "Another update:
14/26

A – Aristophanes - Lysistrata
B – Benson, E.F. - Trouble for Lucia
C – Cynthia Ozick- The Messiah of Stockholm
D – David Malouf - Remembering Babylon*
E – Eudora Welty - ..."

Wow! At this rate you'll be able to do it twice! I'll have 5 finished by the end of today, and it looks like the spring RwS challenge will "allow' me to knock off 10 more! Yay. Anyhow, I was wondering what you thought of Maurice. It's been on my "under consideration" list for the last two A-Z challenges, but I've been trying to avoid books that have to ordered through interlibrary loan (it slows down the momentum).

John wrote: "Wow Ed, you're cruising right along! I wish I had your focus; I'm reading a lot, but I have trouble sticking to my list. How did you like The English Patient? That's one of the books I'm currently ..."

I liked the English Patient...you have to be patient with all the flashbacks...but they magically all come together by the end. I didn't remember the movie well...saw it so long ago...but I would have my own flashbacks every once in a while with plot points.

Valerie wrote: "Ed wrote: "Another update:
14/26

A – Aristophanes - Lysistrata
B – Benson, E.F. - Trouble for Lucia
C – Cynthia Ozick- The Messiah of Stockholm
D – David Malouf - Remembering Babylon*
E – Eudo..."

Maurice is a good read...very much ahead of its time...of course, that's why Forster couldn't publish it during his lifetime. Hope you enjoy it.

Ed, Maybe you could read 2 books with each letter? Has anyone ever done a "Double"? ;-)

Here's my update, 5 of 26:

R- Ralph Ellison- Invisible Man
S- Stowe, Harriet Beecher- Uncle Tom's Cabin
U- Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose
V- Virgina Woolf- Orlando
W- White, T.H.- The Sword in the Stone

I'll soon have a T and an H, from Thomas Pynchon and Thomas Hardy. All of these are in "1001 Books You Must Read...", four of them > 80 yrs old.

Here's a question on Spanish-surnamed writers- when they have essentially two last names, eg, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, can we use either for the alphabet challenge? If only one, which? English speakers treat Garcia as a middle name but I think Spanish-speakers would alphabetize him under Garcia, as if it were Garcia-Marquez.

George wrote: "Ed, Maybe you could read 2 books with each letter? Has anyone ever done a "Double"? ;-)

Here's my update, 5 of 26:

R- Ralph Ellison- Invisible Man
S- Stowe, Harriet Beecher- Uncle Tom's Cabin
U- ..."

I plan on reading 120 books this year...so, it's possible, if I'm successful, to actually do the alphabet three or four times...but very unlikely. A few of the letters become very difficult to get...especially when my focus is on satisfying the requirements of my Reading with Style, 52 Weeks and Pop Sugar challenges.

As for Spanish surnamed writers... I think you are right... his surname would be Garcia Marquez... not Marquez.

Ed wrote
"As for Spanish surnamed writers... I think you are right... his surname would be Garcia Marquez... not Marquez. "
I was just doing a little research on this. In the author index of "1001 Books" he's listed under M. Evidently this is sometimes up to the preference of the person being considered, but according to
http://fil-gen-pro.blogspot.com/2013/... :
"...when two surnames are used in the usual Spanish naming pattern, alphabetization is normally according to the first element or surname."
My "vote" would be that you can use either for our challenge- in his case it's a question of whether we can use him for the M, but how about Carlos Ruiz Zafon- can he be either an R or a Z or C? Maybe he's not a "classic" author anyway though.

8/26

A
B
C Cain - "Mildred Pierce"
D
E
F Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned
G
H
I
J James - The Children of Men
K
L
M
N Nabokov - Lolita*
O
P
Q Marquez - One-Hundred Years of Solitude*
R
S
T
U
V
W
X Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo (in progress)
Y Yates - Cold Spring Harbor
Z Zamiyatin - We*

*On Boxall's 1001 Books to Read

I'd planned on having 10 books on the list read by now but I was sidetracked for 3 weeks after being on a limited reading schedule due to eye strain. I now have glasses for the first time in my life and on the first day that I wore them, I read over 150pgs. I should be back on track in no time :)

I just finished the third book for my challenge, time for the first update. This year I try to only use last names, except for the Q and X probably.

My Progress so far: 3/26

A -
B -
C -
D -
E -
F -
G -
H - Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the D'Urbervilles*
I -
J -
K -
L -
M - Mitchell, Margaret - Gone with the Wind*
N -
O -
P -
Q -
R -
S -
T -
U -
V -
W - White, T.H. - The Sword in the Stone
X -
Y -
Z -

*On the 1001-Books-You-Must-Read-Before-You-Die List

I have been plugging away at my challenge! Here is my progress so far.... (in the next few months I hope/plan on knocking off a good chunk of the alphabet!).

A
B
C Capote, Truman Breakfast at Tiffany's
D
E
F
G Greene, Graham The end of the affair
H
I
J
K
L
M Mitchell, Margaret Gone with the Wind
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W White, T.H. Sword in the Stone
X ProulX, Annie Close Range
Y
Z

Here's my update, 7 of 26:

H- Hardy, Thomas- Far From the Madding Crowd*
R- Ralph Ellison- Invisible Man*
S- Stowe, Harriet Beecher- Uncle Tom's Cabin*
T- Thomas Pynchon- The Crying of Lot 49*
U- Umberto Eco- The Name of the Rose*
V- Woolf, Virgina- Orlando*
W- White, T.H.- The Sword in the Stone *(part of a 1001 listing)

*On the 1001-Books-You-Must-Read-Before-You-Die List

I'm working on the A, Z, and M now with an Auster, Zafon and Murdoch. I guess I'll be doing G Chaucer for the G for the group read, and shift Elizabeth Gaskell over to the E, as I want to read a Chimamanda for the C. If I can keep this pace, maybe I can finish by Labor Day.

Tim's 26 Classics in 2016
Update: 21/26

A= Aesop - Aesop's Fables*^
B= Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain*
C= Cervantes, Miguel De - Don Quixote*^
D= Doctorow, E. L. - City of God*
E= Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man*
F= Freud, Esther - Hideous Kinky*
G= Grass, Gunter - Crabwalk
H= Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-time*
I= Isherwood, Christopher - Goodbye to Berlin*^
J= Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man*^
K= Karel Capek - R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)^
L= Lew Wallace - Ben-Hur*
M= Mahfouz, Naguib - The Journey of Ibn Fattouma
N= Nikos Kazantzakis - Zorba the Greek
O= Oliver Goldsmith - The Vicar of Wakefield*
P= Plath, Sylvia (aka: Victoria Lucas) - The Bell Jar*
Q= RemarQue, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front*
R=
S= Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin*
T= Tolkien, J. R. R. - The Hobbit*
U=
V=
W= White, T. H. - The Sword in the Stone*
X= Xinran - Sky Burial
Y=
Z=

* On the 1001 list, Boxall, et. al.
^ On the Western Literary Canon list, Harold Bloom

Another update:
15/26

A – Aristophanes - Lysistrata
B – Benson, E.F. - Trouble for Lucia
C – Cynthia Ozick- The Messiah of Stockholm
D – David Malouf - Remembering Babylon*
E – Eudora Welty - The Ponder Heart
F – Forster, E.M. - Maurice
G – George Sand- The Devil's Pool*
H –
I –
J – Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer - Heat and Dust
K –
L –
M – Michael Bulgakov - Heart of a Dog
N – Nathalie Sarraute - The Planetarium
O – Ondaatje, Michael - The English Patient*
P – Peters, Elizabeth - Crocodile on the Sandbank
Q –
R –
S – Simenon, Georges- The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien
T – Tolstoy, Leo - Two Hussars
U –
V –
W – Wolf, Christa- Cassandra
X –
Y –
Z –

*- on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List

13/26

A
B
C Cain - "Mildred Pierce"
D
E
F Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned
G
H Hardy - Far From the Madding Crowd*
I
J James - The Children of Men
K Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
L
M
N Nabokov - Lolita*
O Orwell - Burmese Days*
P
Q Marquez - One-Hundred Years of Solitude*
R Rushdie - Midnight's Children*
S
T Tolstoy - Three Deaths
U
V
W
X Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo (in progress)
Y Yates - Cold Spring Harbor
Z Zamiyatin - We*

*On Boxall's 1001 Books to Read