Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

My first year participating in a Catching up on Classics challenge.

I'll be doing Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR Challenge and
Challenge #7 - 2020 Group Reads Challenge

Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR Challenge
1899 and earlier/Old School
1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
2. Moby-Dick, or, the Whale by Herman Melville
3. Middlemarch by George Eliot
1900-1999/New School
4. ✔️ East of Eden by John Steinbeck 9/10/20 ****
5. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
6. Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
My Wild Card Six
7. The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge
8. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
9.John Adams: A Life by John Ferling
10. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
11. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham
12. Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts

Alternates
A-1. Stoner by John Williams
A-2.The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Challenge #7 - 2020 Group Reads Challenge
1. ✔️ Dangerous Liaisons 5/4/20 ***
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Welcome to the challenge, I hope you enjoy it

I like that your O&N challenge is balanced between fiction and non fiction. I haven't read any of your NF choices but they all sound interesting. I look forward to your opinions. Enjoy your challenge!

Laurie wrote: "I like that your O&N challenge is balanced between fiction and non fiction. I haven't read any of your NF choices but they all sound interesting. I look forward to your opinions. Enjoy your challenge!"

Thanks, Laurie! A bit ambitious in the challenge spirit.

Your challenge is quite ambitious! I love that you did a mix between fiction and non-fiction too. Even though you mixed in fiction, you chose some pretty big ones.

East of Eden is an all-time favorite and I liked Moby Dick and Blood Meridian quite a bit also.

I'm especially curious about how you like the books on the U.S. Presidents. I would love to read at least one book on each of our Presidents eventually. I hope to find ones that focus mostly on the good things about them.

Sue wrote: "Your challenge is quite ambitious! I love that you did a mix between fiction and non-fiction too. Even though you mixed in fiction, you chose some pretty big ones.

East of Eden is an all-time fav..."

I have a presidential biography goal also. For Washington, I can highly recommend Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. I am going to re-read with another group after the first of the year and then go on to Adams and Jefferson.

I am using this blog as a guide. Steve has read and reviewed multiple biographies of every president.

I read both Hamilton's and Grant's biographies by Chernow and loved them. I've bookmarked that blog for future reference. Thanks!

Next year I want to read a book about Herbert Hoover. I always had a negative view of him until I saw a news magazine segment on him that was pretty impressive.