Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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Susan's Personal Challenges
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Excited to see what is coming :)
I'm borrowing this idea from Kathy and she was kind enough to let me copy her list as well. Presidential Histories/Biographies Challenge. The books listed here are books I have read about the President or related to him.
23/44 men (Grover Cleveland is considered 2 administrations 22 &24)
✓ 1) George Washington, 1789-1797
1776 by David McCullough
Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
✓ 2) John Adams, 1797-1801
John Adams by David McCullough
Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family by Paul C. Nagel
The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters by Paul C. Nagel
3) Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
✓ 4) James Madison, 1809-1817
A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor
5) James Monroe, 1817-1825
✓ 6) John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family by Paul C. Nagel
The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters by Paul C. Nagel
✓ 7) Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
A Being So Gentle: The Frontier Love Story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson by Patricia Brady
8) Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
9) William Henry Harrison, 1841
10) John Tyler, 1841-1845
11) James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
12) Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
13) Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
14) Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
✓ 15) James Buchanan, 1857-1861
Harriet Lane, America's First Lady by Milton Stern
✓ 16) Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk
17) Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
18) Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877
19) Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
✓ 20) James Abram Garfield, 1881
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard
Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield by Kenneth Ackerman
21) Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
✓ 22) Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth by Matthew Algeo
23) Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
24) Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897 (see Line 22)
✓ 25) William McKinley, 1897-1901
The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century by Scott Miller
✓ 26) Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
T.R.: The Last Romantic by HW Brands
Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, Colonel Roosevelt by Edmond Morris
Rough Riders: Theodore Roosevelt, His Cowboy Regiment, and the Immortal Charge Up San Juan Hill by Mark Lee Gardner
Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady by Sylvia Jukes Morris
✓ 27) William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era by Carl Anthony
✓ 28) Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
Wilson by A. Scott Berg
✓ 29) Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of America's Most Scandalous President by Carl Anthony
30) Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
✓ 31) Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
Lou Henry Hoover, Gallant First Lady by Helen B Pryor
✓ 32) Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
FDR by Jean Edward Smith
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P Lash
Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol 1, 1884-1933 and Volume II by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Roosevelt Women: A Portrait In Five Generations by Betty Boyd Caroli
✓ 33) Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
Truman by David McCullough
The Accidental President: Harry S Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World by A.J. Baime
Plain Speaking: an Oral Biography of Harry S Truman by Merle Miller
Harry S. Truman by Margaret Truman
1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America by David Pietrusza
Bess W. Truman by Margaret Truman
✓ 34) Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-1961
Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith
✓ 35) John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Robert F Kennedy
✓ 36) Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
The Path to Power, Means of Ascent, Master of the Senate, The Passage of Power by Robert A Caro
Lyndon: An Oral Biography by Merle Miller
Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson by Jan Jarboe Russell
Lady Bird Johnson: An Oral History by Michael L. Gillette
Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage That Made a President by Betty Caroli
✓ 37) Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
All the President's Men by Woodward and Bernstein
Being Nixon: A Man Divided by Evan Thomas
Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell
38) Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
39) James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
40) Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
41) George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
42) William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
✓ 43) George Walker Bush, 2001-2009
Bush at War by Bob Woodward
✓ 44) Barack Hussein Obama, 2009-2017
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barak Obama
45) Donald Trump, 2017-
Susan how did you like the Bully Pulpit? Doris Kearns Goodwin is my favorite. You can always use her other books for other presidents if you can't come up with other choices.
Brina wrote: "Susan how did you like the Bully Pulpit? Doris Kearns Goodwin is my favorite. You can always use her other books for other presidents if you can't come up with other choices."I really like it. I have a couple of others to read by her - No Ordinary Time and Team of Rivals. She is a great author imo
Mod
Presidential Histories/Biographies Challenge..."
Now I have someone to ideas for each president to read also! So thanks for sharing back.
Kathy wrote: "Susan wrote: "I'm borrowing this idea from Kathy and she was kind enough to let me copy her list as well. Presidential Histories/Biographies Challenge..."
Now I have someone to ideas for each pr..."
You have several on your list that I want to check out. Nice to share an interest.
I'm going to go through both your lists. Team of Rivals was excellent. If you read No Ordinary Time whenever it is let me as its on my TBR. From the time I was 12 I wanted to be DKG when I grew up.
I also read the Nellie Taft bio, interesting. For Bush, Sr you can read his Complete Letters or Barbara Bush's diary that she made into a book. I'm forgetting the name but it's on my shelf somewhere. I like both of your challenges.
Brina wrote: "I also read the Nellie Taft bio, interesting. For Bush, Sr you can read his Complete Letters or Barbara Bush's diary that she made into a book. I'm forgetting the name but it's on my shelf somewher..."Thanks for the ideas. I don't know as much about Bush Sr. except that he was very involved behind the scenes in foreign policy during Reagan's administration. He is one I want to know more about.
Brina wrote: "I'm going to go through both your lists. Team of Rivals was excellent. If you read No Ordinary Time whenever it is let me as its on my TBR. From the time I was 12 I wanted to be DKG when I grew up."I love it!
All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings by George HW Bush. Get the most current version. It is over 700 pages long but captivating. I think I finished it in 2 days when we had a few snow days.
A "short" list of books I have and plan on reading about Presidential history. No particular order except for the TR book that is a group read for Nov/Dec in the Pulitzer group. ✓
✓
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
✓
Lincoln by David Herbert Donald
(I read about half of this one and got distracted.)
Grant by Jean Edward Smith
Kennedy by Theodore C. Sorensen
The Death of a President: November 1963 by William Manchester
The Kennedy Brothers : The Rise and Fall of Jack and Bobby by Richard D. Mahoney
The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963 by Laurence Leamer
Nixon Volume #1: The Education of a Politician, 1913-62 by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Life of Andrew Jackson by Marquis James
Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox, 1882-1940 by James MacGregor Burns
Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, 1940-1945 by James MacGregor Burns
✓
Might as well add a few others to the list. Maybe it will give me more of a sense of accomplishment to whittle down this list as opposed to the massive general "to-read" list I have.
✓
✓
Abigail Adams by Woody Holton
Abigail and John: Portrait of a Marriage by Edith B. Gelles
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph Ellis
John Quincy Adams: American Visionary by Fred Kaplan
Millard Fillmore: Biography Of A President by Robert J Rayback
Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters
First Lady: The Life of Lucy Webb Hayes
All The Best, George Bush: My Life and Other Writings by George H.W. Bush
Barbara Bush: A Memoir by Emily Apt Geer
The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant: Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant
White House Diary by Jimmy Carter
My Life by Bill Clinton
And OF COURSE
✓
I can't resist a Kindle sale, so I picked up these for .99 each, one of which (1960) was a Pulitzer winner.
The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H. White
The Making of the President 1972 by Theodore H. White
Mrs. Bush's memoir was charming. I hope you like it. I am adding the Adams women and the Jackson book. Sound interesting.
What an interesting challenge, Susan!
Thanks Ladies! This is actually really motivating. I need to finish Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63 and pick my next non-fiction from the list.
Brina wrote: "I also read the Nellie Taft bio, interesting. For Bush, Sr you can read his Complete Letters or Barbara Bush's diary that she made into a book. I'm forgetting the name but it's on my shelf somewher..."Brina, since No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II is a Pulitzer winner maybe we can plan to read it next year, if not as a group as a buddy read.
In January, please! Doris Kearns Goodwin is my tonic when it's not baseball season. Just thinking of reading one of her books gives me something to look forward to.
Brina wrote: "In January, please! Doris Kearns Goodwin is my tonic when it's not baseball season. Just thinking of reading one of her books gives me something to look forward to."Sounds great to me. Let's plan on it. I'm also open to reading it sooner if you get really desperate after the World Series. :D
After decompressing (assuming my team really does the unthinkable knock on wood, I am reading Edmund Morris in November as well as some longer buddy reads in this group. Beginning of January looking like a likely time to start. By the way I never scheduled my reading before until I joined this group.
I'm planning on the Morris group read as well. It and the 2nd in the trilogy have been on my shelf for a while. And I will read the 4th LBJ book sometime this fall. I was going to participate in the group read for Washington: A Life, but am trying to avoid buying full price new books. It's on my Kindle list to watch for sales, but I still haven't read Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow yet (which I already have), so I'll just read the thread.(I was going to buy Washington until I gave in and bought Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. Which was totally worth it btw.)
Mod
Me too -- or get it for the Nonfiction Pulitzer group read.
Historical Fiction Catch-Up ChallengeLong ago I read a number of books by James A. Michener and Leon Uris and have accumulated others that I want to read in the historical fiction catagory.
Michener - most of these came from my Dad's libraryThe Covenant
The Drifters
Chesapeake
Caravans
Return to Paradise
The Voice Of Asia
Texas
✓
Alaska
Leon Uris - A couple of these I got this week because they were on sale for the Kindle.Armageddon: a novel of Berlin
QB VII
Mila 18
Topaz
Also
Herman WoukThese are also from Dad's library.
The Winds of War
War and Remembrance
The Hope
The Glory
The Caine Mutiny
I love good historical fiction and these authors are known for doing great research as well as writing a good story.
Unread Authors ChallengeThese are authors that I have not read and want to include on a classics list
23/45
Honoré de Balzac - Eugenie Grandet, Pere Goriot, Cousin Bette
✓ Anne Brontë -
✓ Fanny Burney - Evelina,
Samuel Butler - The Way of All Flesh
Albert Camus - The Stranger
Anton Chekhov - The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Ivanov
G.K. Chesterton - The Innocence of Father Brown
✓ Wilkie Collins - The Woman in White,
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness, Nostromo
Theodore Dreiser - An American Tragedy, Sister Carrie
✓ F. Scott Fitzgerald -
John Galsworthy - The Forsythe Saga
Elizabeth Gaskell - Cranford, North and South
George Gissing - New Grub Street, The Odd Women
H. Rider Haggard - Eric Brighteyes, King Solomon's Mines
✓ Thomas Hardy -
✓ Nathaniel Hawthorne -
✓ Washington Irving -
✓ Henry James -
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
✓ D.H. Lawrence -
✓ J. Sheridan Le Fanu -
Sinclair Lewis - Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry
✓ Daphne du Maurier -
Herman Melville - Moby Dick
Margaret Mitchell - Gone with the Wind
✓ L.M. Montgomery -
✓ Oliver Onions -
✓ Emmuska Orczy -
✓ Edgar Allan Poe -
✓ Ann Radcliffe -
Rafael Sabatini - Scaramouche, Captain Blood
George Sand - Mauprat
✓ Walter Scott -
✓ Bram Stoker -
Booth Tarkington - The Magnificent Ambersons
Anthony Trollope - Can You Forgive Her?, The Warden
Mark Twain - The Prince and the Pauper, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn
Jules Verne
✓ Kurt Vonnegut -
✓ Robert Penn Warren -
✓ H.G. Wells - The Time Machine,
✓ Edith Wharton -
✓ Oscar Wilde -
Herman Wouk - The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War
=======================================
,Pre-1700 Literature to read or reread.
Aristophanes - Lysistrata, Birds
Homer - Iliad, Odyssey
Virgil - The Aeneid
Geoffrey Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales
John Milton - Paradise Lost
Dante Alighieri - The Inferno
Ovid - Metamorphoses
✓ Sophocles -
Euripides - Medea, Electra, Hippolytus, The Trojan Women
✓ Aeschylus -
Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War
Wu Cheng'en - Monkey: A Journey to the West (I read selections from this in college, but want to read the whole thing.)
By Anonymous (not necessarily by the translator linked to)
Tales from the Thousand and One Nights
✓
John Galsworthy is on my tentative list for bingo 2017.Earlier this year, there was a buddy read of "The Forsyte Saga," but I couldn't fit it in among the books that I was reading at the time.
I might try to read this next year.
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "John Galsworthy is on my tentative list for bingo 2017.Earlier this year, there was a buddy read of "The Forsyte Saga," but I couldn't fit it in among the books that I was reading at the time.
I..."
I have The Forsythe Saga as well. It would take a time commitment. Hopefully we can both get it in next year.
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "John Galsworthy is on my tentative list for bingo 2017..."Haha, a tentative 2017 list?! Yeah I'm finding myself slotting some authors in for next year, even though I keep trying not to plan too far ahead. I haven't read any of his books myself...maybe next year...or 2018...
Susan glad you want to read Faulkner. I'd like to read Absalom, Absalom. I also have some tentative 2017 plans based on which classics I don't get to this year. All of these challenges have me motivated to be more organized.
Brina wrote: "Susan glad you want to read Faulkner. I'd like to read Absalom, Absalom. I also have some tentative 2017 plans based on which classics I don't get to this year. All of these challenges have me moti..."It's hard to organize reading. I read based on my mood, but I figure if I have a long term list, maybe I'll be reminded of some of these when I am in the mood. LOL Faulkner seems to be a love him or hate him kind of author.
Mod
I need to read many of these authors too, but I can't recommend The Age of Innocence enough--a very special book in my opinion.
Kathleen wrote: "Yes! The perfect way to use lists, Susan, not as requirements but as reminders. Absolutely.I need to read many of these authors too, but I can't recommend The Age of Innocence enough..."
Thanks Kathleen. It will go on my definite list!
Brina wrote: "All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings by George HW Bush. Get the most current version. It is over 700 pages long but captivating. I think I finished it in 2 days when we..."
Brina, I added this to my Amazon wishlist. There look like some good used options, but it's hard to tell for sure if you're getting the revised edition. Eventually I'll lift my moratorium on buying new books.
Mod
I get all my books from the library. Also on the Bushes, 41 is GWB's memoir about GHWB. Short and touching.
Brina wrote: "I get all my books from the library. Also on the Bushes, 41 is GWB's memoir about GHWB. Short and touching."Alas, every time I try that I end up owing them money. We did grow up with regular visits to the library, but it was also a time before used bookstores were in vogue and everyone gave their books to Goodwill or Salvation Army, so I learned the art of used book shopping early. I have all kinds of rationalizations, but the bottom line is I am a true bibliophile and have trouble not possessing them.
Had to add Thomas Hardy to my never read list. That one is sort of embarrassing.
Susan wrote: "Authors to Read in 2017These are authors that I have not read and want to include on a classics list for 2017. Suggestions for specific books are welcome! What have you read and liked by these au..."
I have a similar challenge category that I call "Author First"
in which I also have lined up for 2017:
Faulkner (Light in August)
Kipling (Kim)
Hardy (Far from the Madding Crowd)
Sinclair Lewis (Main Street)
plus I just finished House Of Mirth
so looks like we might have some overlap!
P.S. all of Sinclair Lewis' stuff is available free on Project Gutenberg Australia
Darren wrote: "Susan wrote: "Authors to Read in 2017These are authors that I have not read and want to include on a classics list for 2017. Suggestions for specific books are welcome! What have you read and lik..."
Thanks Darren, I'll check out your challenge and maybe use some of your ideas. Good to know about Sinclair's works. To start with I have a volume that contains Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith that was in my Dad's library, but who knows I may want to read more. Thanks.
"Light in August" looks like a great choice for Faulkner.
Emerson wrote: "I loved It Can't Happen Here and Elmer Gantryby Sinclair Lewis, Main Street is next on my list too."Both of those sound great Emerson. It might be hard to choose.
Love it when one of my wishlist books goes on sale. Just picked up Grant by Jean Edward Smith for 1.99 for Kindle!
Mod
Sweet.
I've read a couple of my unread authors. Although I still plan on reading The Age of Innocence, I ran across Ethan Frome on my shelf and went ahead and read it. It's not a feel good book, but I really liked it and loved the language, so I'm looking forward to others by Edith Wharton. I also read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I liked it - spooky, but not too scary. Just right for me.
Susan wrote: "I've read a couple of my unread authors. Although I still plan on reading The Age of Innocence, I ran across Ethan Frome on my shelf and went ahead and read it. It's not a feel good boo..."That's good to know. I still haven't read anything by Wharton but I've been considering starting with this one, simply because it's so short.
I expanded my "to-be-read in 2017" to just a list of classic authors that I have not read. So far the list is up to 45 and I'm primarily sticking to authors who I already have unread books by or those that have public domain works. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Haha 45!! That's what I'm afraid will happen if I start planning too much!
Pink wrote: "Haha 45!! That's what I'm afraid will happen if I start planning too much!"I know! I just quit listing. These will take me long enough, just to read 1 by each person!
Mod
I really need flexibility. I would never be able to finish a challenge where I decide the specific books ahead of time. But with these broad, sweeping plans, MAYBE I can at least see progress. :)
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (other topics)Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage That Made a President (other topics)
Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage That Made a President (other topics)
Richard Nixon: The Life (other topics)
Richard Nixon: The Life (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jon Meacham (other topics)Betty Boyd Caroli (other topics)
Betty Boyd Caroli (other topics)
John A. Farrell (other topics)
John A. Farrell (other topics)
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**********2017 Challenges**********
16/20 Pulitzer Challenge
7/14 Old and New Classic Challenge
3/10 Women's Century Challenge
13/25 BINGO Challenge
2017 A to Z Author and Title Challenge lists
My ongoing challenges
Unread Author Challenge
Presidential History Challenge
Felder's Book List
**********2017 and Beyond**********
I want to read all the books in the Oxford History of the United States. One is on my Pulitzer list to read for this year. Two others have won Pulitzers and two have been nominated, so they will fit in nicely in time. I don't expect to get them all in this year. So far 8 out of a projected 12 have been published.
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 - Pulitzer nominee
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 - Pulitzer nominee
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 - Pulitzer winner, on my list for this year.
Battle Cry of Freedom - Pulitzer winner
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 - Pulitzer winner
Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974
Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore
From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776