Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

With one month remaining to finish up 2019 reading challenges before 2020 reading challenges collectively descend upon us, what're we all reading this December?

The safest and most satisfying way of steering away from my planned 2020 reads is to stick to 21st century works that have been on my shelves for forever, so that is what I will do.

Potentials

The Invisible Bridge - Julie Orringer (completed 12/11/19)
The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh (completed 12/3/19)
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag - Kang Chol-Hwan (completed 12/9/19)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson (completed 12/17/19)
Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall - Kazuo Ishiguro (completed 12/20/19)
Willful Creatures - Aimee Bender (completed 12/23/19)
The People of Forever Are Not Afraid - Shani Boianjiu (completed 12/26/19)
How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer - Sarah Bakewell (Currently Reading)
Sag Harbor - Colson Whitehead (Currently Reading)

100 Best Women in Translation December Group Read
My Heart Hemmed In - Marie NDiaye (completed 12/16/19)

Last Month's Leftovers
The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka (completed 12/2/19)

That’s neat! How did you make and post the book collage, Aubrey? It looks great!

Cleo wrote: "That’s neat! How did you make and post the book collage, Aubrey? It looks great!"

Thanks, Chloe. I have a shelf specifically devoted to the oldest 20% of my library, so I ordered it by date of publication, screenshotted it, erased any works that didn't fit, and used a chat client called Discord to upload the image in a shareable link format via Goodreads' HTML formatting. It probably sounds complicated, but I did it all on my phone, so it's not that bad.

Here's my december reads :)

Currently reading:
Den hundrede og et-årige, der tænkte at han tænkte for meget (audio)
All Passion Spent
Stephanie Mailers forsvinden
A Night Divided (audio)

To-read:
The Dead
Christmas Stories - (serial-reader)
Dark Matter (audio)
The Edible Woman (audio)
Skyggespillet
Soldier Blue
The Interpreters
Sheltering Rain
Pilfered Promises
Anne of Ingleside
A Pair of Blue Eyes - started
Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court (audio)
Nedrullede persienner og andre begyndelser
Ink
A Share in Death (audio)
Rainbow Valley (serial reader) - started
Gone With The Ghost
Dumplin' (audio)
Moving Pictures
The A.B.C. Murders - started
The Golden Day (audio)

I found the best way to steer clear of 2020 challenge picks is to still have a pile to finish for 2019 challenges. :-/

Should finish soon:
The Sound and the Fury

Certain to finish by end of year:
Revenge - Yōko Ogawa
The Wife - Sigrid Undset
Utopia - Thomas More
Dialog of the Dogs - Miguel De Cervantez
The Lion in Winter - James Goldman
A Woman of No Importance - Oscar Wilde

Hoping to get to:
Three Lives - Gertrude Stein
The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories - Penelope Lively
The Millstone - Margaret Drabble

Ten For December :
Quarterly Long-Read To Finish:
1) Gravity's Rainbow Pynchon, Thomas 1973
Four Main Challenge:
2) The Quiet American Greene, Graham 1955
3) Half Of A Yellow Sun Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi 2006
4) Song Of Solomon Morrison, Toni 1977
5) Bel-Ami Maupassant, Guy de 1885
Old & New Challenge:
6) Vanity Fair Thackeray, W. M. 1847-48
Last Of The Carry-Overs from 2018(!):
7) Tropic of Ruislip Thomas, Leslie 1974
8) The Gate Soseki, Natsume 1910
9) Mood Indigo: L'Ecume Des Jours (aka Foam of the Daze; aka Froth On The Daydream) Vian, Boris 1947
Special For Christmas:
10) The Night Of Christmas Eve Gogol, Nikolai 1832

I'll be interested in hearing what you think of Boris Vian. There was actually a movie made of Froth, but I haven't seen it. I just saw a still of the mice.

My plans for December:

Should finish soon:
Vox - Christina Dalcher 3/12/2019

Would like to finish in December but won't be surprised if I don't:
The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot

December Reading:
A Christmas Memory - Truman Capote 4/12/2019
Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd 17/12/19

December plan:

Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat - the last challenge book
Eventide by Kent Haruf - buddy read
The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes - read with another group

And whatever else I can finish up for the year.

Kathleen wrote: "I found the best way to steer clear of 2020 challenge picks is to still have a pile to finish for 2019 challenges. :-/

Should finish soon:
The Sound and the Fury

Certain to finish by..."

Aww. Rooting for you here, Kathleen!

Group reads
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster READ
A Christmas Carol READ

Buddy reads
Eventide READ

The Witcher Saga
Only one more to go! I'm totally surprised how much I managed to read in November. Now I'll definetly make it until December 20th.
Lady of the Lake READ

Other planned reads
Ein Stern über Sylt READ
The Deal of a Lifetime READ
What Child Is This READ
Orkney Folk Tales

Unplanned books
The Queen and I READ
Queen Camilla READ
Vorhang auf für einen Mord READ
Oldtimer sterben jung READ
Schlechter Geschmack ist tödlich READ
Tod eines Charmeurs READ
Zu tot, um schön zu sein READ
Mord in guter Gesellschaft READ
Schuld READING
Stoner READING
A Shot in the Dark READ
Robin - Die Flucht READ

Aubrey wrote: "Thanks, Chloe. I have a shelf specifically devoted to the oldest 20% of my library, so I ordered it b..."

Thanks for the explanation!

Currently reading
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
Hidden Figures (audio)

Planned reads
Oryx and Crake
Girl, Woman, Other
Winter
My Heart Hemmed In
Monkey Beach

Currently reading:

David Copperfield (group read)

The Brighton Mermaid (library book)

Currently reading Gone Girl (almost finished) and David Copperfield (just started). Next up is The Age of Innocence.

Then if I have time, I'll read The Sound and the Fury and/or Little Fires Everywhere.

My reading for December:

A Christmas Memory finished
Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen: 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films - finished the last 5 stories. I've been reading these slowly over a few years
Utopia Currently half-way
Pachinko - up next
Eventide buddy read 2nd half of Dec
The Beautiful Ones - reading throughout Dec
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster - if it comes in from the library. I've been #5 with 2 copies at my library for over a month. I think one got lost

My December plans are to finish up the three remaining books to complete my Old and New Classics Challenge and my Century of Women Authors Challenge.

Old and New Classics Challenge:
1. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
2. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne which will be a reread.


Century of Women Authors Challenge
1. Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart

Finally, I am teaching the play version of "The Diary of Anne Frank" for the first three weeks of December. The Diary of Anne Frank: And Related Readings by Frances Goodrich

Lynn wrote: "My December plans are to finish up the three remaining books to complete by Old and New Classics Challenge and my Century of Women Authors Challenge.

Old and New Classics Challenge:
1. [book:Snow ..."

I read Snow Falling on Cedars this year. It's really good.

my december reads and plans:

currently reading
Sulphuric Acid by Amélie Nothomb (just finished. loved it)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

starting right after
Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days by Jeanette Winterson
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

and just because I'm almost done with popsugar somehow, I might try and find some cli-fi comics, or comics or play with ghosts (my last two prompts... trying for an easy solution).
If anyone has suggestions - I'd love it.
*update* Got it! I'm going to read Ghosts by Ibsen.
Still stuck with Cli-Fi though.

Sue wrote: "Lynn wrote: "My December plans are to finish up the three remaining books to complete by Old and New Classics Challenge and my Century of Women Authors Challenge.

Old and New Classics Challenge:
1..."

That is so good to hear. Thanks Sue.

My December plan is to finish up my Bingo Challenge & my Old/New Challenge. That means reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls and Brighton Rock, and finishing The Poisonwood Bible and Dodsworth (I'm over halfway through those two). I think I can....I think I can....I think I can....!!! ;)

Terris wrote: "My December plan is to finish up my Bingo Challenge & my Old/New Challenge. That means reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls and Brighton Rock, and finishing [book:The Poisonwo..."

I am sure you can!!

Lynn wrote: "Terris wrote: "My December plan is to finish up my Bingo Challenge & my Old/New Challenge. That means reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls and Brighton Rock, and finishing [bo..."

;)

Terris wrote: "My December plan is to finish up my Bingo Challenge & my Old/New Challenge. That means reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls and Brighton Rock, and finishing [book:The Poisonwo..."

Sending positive reading vibes your way. You've got this.

Katy wrote: "Terris wrote: "My December plan is to finish up my Bingo Challenge & my Old/New Challenge. That means reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls and Brighton Rock, and finishing [bo..."

Thanks, Katy!! :)

This month, I will finish:


Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy


Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank


In the Heat of the Night: The Original Virgil Tibbs Novel by John Dudley Ball

I won't quite finish these books, but at the end of the month they will be nearly complete, almost as though I were "sandbagging" them in order to have them count toward my 2020 reads:


The Terror by Dan Simmons


Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames


Best Horror of the Year Volume 10 edited by Ellen Datlow


Fire Watch by Connie Willis


The Innocents Abroad: Or the New Pilgrim's Progress by Mark Twain


Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming


Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

And I will keep plugging away at:


World Without End by Ken Follett


Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling by Jeb Blount

My plans for December:

Hopscotch
The Journeyer
The Three Musketeers
Andersen's Fairy Tales
The Complete Poetry and Prose (continued)

I plan on finishing up my current two works before the month is through and thus leave myself a clean slate for 2020 challenge works, which will put me at eleven works for this month and 128 for this year. Not a bad sweep at all.

Real Life has restricted my reading this month, so several will go unfinished
but I am glad to have brought in Gravity's Rainbow and Vanity Fair will be bagged also

Daz's December Ten (full details in Message#7 above)
1) Gravity's Rainbow - Finished - 4
2) The Quiet American - In Progress...
3) Half Of A Yellow Sun - In Progress...
4) Song Of Solomon
5) Bel-Ami - Finished - 4
6) Vanity Fair - In Progress...
7) Tropic of Ruislip - Finished - 4
8) The Gate - might still get to...
9) Mood Indigo
10) The Night Of Christmas Eve - Finished - 4