Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #3 - Decade/Century/Millennium CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #4 - Members Choice CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #5 - Short Story CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #12 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #13 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time. CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #14 - Rereading Some do Some don't CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Challenge #16 - A-Z Title CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Challenge #1 New & Old TBR CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Old <1900
✔ Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (1598) 1/13/24 ★★★★
✔Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (1865) 3/13/24 ★★★★
✔ The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (1878) 8/11/24 ★★★★

New 1900-1999
✔ A Son at the Front: Historical Novel by Edith Wharton (1923) 5/24/24 ★★★
✔ Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym (1953) 3/6/24 ★★★½
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951)

Wild Cards (any year)
✔ Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin (1968) 2/16/24 ★★★½
✔ South Riding by Winifred Holtby (1936) 1/29/24 ★★★½
✔ The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel (2020) 9/13/24 ★★★★★
✔ The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker (1993) 6/11/24 ★★★½
✔ Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope (1860) 4/11/24 ★★★★★
✔ Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns (1950) 6/15/24 ★★★½


Alternates
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X (1965)
✔ Silence by Shūsaku Endō (1966) 5/16/24 ★★★★★
✔ Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau (1838) 10/23/24 ★★★★½

Challenge #3 Century Challenge CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Not planning this one, so we'll see what I read that works.

1900-09 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (1908) 1/7/24
1910-19 Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (1913) 2/12/24
1920-29 A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton (1923) 5/24/24
1930-39 South Riding by Winifred Holtby (1936) 1/29/24
1940-49 Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (1945) 2/7/24
1950-59 Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym (1953) 3/6/24
1960-69 Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin (1968) 2/16/24
1970-79 Kona Winds by Janet Dailey 6/28/24
1980-89 Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987) 3/20/24
1990-99 A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1993) 4/27/24

Challenge #4 Member's Choice CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Choose one book per category/genre for a total of 12 books.

✔ 1. 19th Century Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens 3/13/24
✔ 2. 20th Century South Riding by Winifred Holtby 1/29/24
✔ 3. 21st Century Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 2/22/24
✔ 4. A book originally written in a language other than your own Swann's Way by Marcel Proust 2/12/24
✔ 5. An Author never read before South Riding by Winifred Holtby 1/29/24
✔ 6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours. Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin 2/16/24
✔ 7. Science Fiction/Fantasy Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis 5/17/24
✔ 8. Action/Adventure Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing 1/17/24
✔ 9. Childrens/Young Adult Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 1/7/24
✔ 10. Nonfiction Memoir/Biography A Country Year: Living the Questions by Sue Hubbell 2/29/24
✔ 11. Mystery/Thriller Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon 2/11/24
✔ 12. Horror or Humor Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare 1/13/24

Challenge #5 Short Stories CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Read 24 short stories. This equates to only two per month for the year. Read them all at once or spread them out; it's up to you.

1. The Open Boat by Stephen Crane 1/2/24 ★★★★
2. The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson 1/4/24 ★★★
3. Friends by Grace Paley 1/15/24 ★★★
4. Selected Shorts: Family Matters (7 stories by various authors) 1/23/24 ★★★½
5. They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson 1/23/24 ★★★★
6. How the Future Got Better by Eric Schaller 2/7/24 ★★★
7. My Old Man by Ernest Hemingway 2/17/24 ★★★
8. The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield 2/21/24 ★★★½
9. The Enormous Radio by John Cheever 2/25/24 ★★★★
10. Araby by James Joyce 3/2/24 ★★
11. The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde 3/6/24 ★★★★
12. Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin 4/6/24 ★★★★★
13. To Build a Fire by Jack London 4/9/24 ★★★★
14. Texts by Ursula K Le Guin 4/9/24 ★★★
15. Malachi's Cove by Anthony Trollope 4/30/24 ★★★★
16. The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges 5/6/24 ★★★★★
17. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury 5/27/24 ★★★★
18. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges 6/10/24 ★★★★
19. The Beauties by Anton Chekhov 6/21/24 ★★★
20. The Enchanted Bluff by Willa Cather 6/22/24 ★★★
21. Selected Shorts: American Classics (7 stories by various authors) 6/24/24 ★★★★★
22. The 7-10 Split by John Sayles 6/25/24 ★★★★
23. The Cold Equations and Other Stories by Tom Godwin (title story only) 7/3/24 ★★★★★
24. Death of a Traveling Salesman by Eudora Welty 7/5/24 ★★★

Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Seek out at least six (6) authors that you have never previously read, from any genre or era you want.

1. Barry Crump - Wild Pork and Watercress 1/15/24
2. Alfred Lansing - Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage 1/17/24
3. Winifred Holtby - South Riding 1/29/24
4. Donna Leon - Death at La Fenice 2/11/24
5. Marcel Proust - Swann's Way 2/12/24
6. Sue Hubbell - A Country Year: Living the Questions 2/29/24
CHALLENGE COMPLETE
7. James Thomas Flexner - Washington: The Indispensable Man 3/8/24
8. Georgia Webber - Dumb: Living Without a Voice 3/9/24
9. Claire Tomalin - Jane Austen: A Life 3/30/24
10. Helen Brown - Cats & Daughters: They Don't Always Come When Called 4/6/24
11. Zana Muhsen - Sold 4/17/24
12. Sophocles - Oedipus Rex 4/21/24
13. Vikram Seth - A Suitable Boy 4/27/24
14. Jessica J. Lee - Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family's Past 5/10/24
15. Shūsaku Endō - Silence 5/16/24
16. Margaret Renkl - The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year 5/17/24
17. Mary M. Talbot - Rain 5/30/24
18. Rodrigo García - A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son's Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha 6/6/24
19. Sandra Dallas - Little Souls 6/8/24
20. Barbara Comyns - Our Spoons Came from Woolworths 6/15/24
21. Matt Haig - The Midnight Library 6/15/24
22. Alice Winn - In Memoriam 6/19/24
23. Margaret Wilson - The Able McLaughlins 6/26/24
24. Janet Dailey - Kona Winds 6/28/24
25. Terry Tempest Williams - Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place 7/7/24
26. Frances Burney - Evelina 7/19/24
27. Paula Byrne - The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things 7/24/24
28. Lara S. Ormiston - Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling 7/25/24
29. Ann Cleeves - The Long Call 8/2/24
30. Madeleine K. Albright - Fascism: A Warning 8/9/24
31. Nina Burton - Notes from a Summer Cottage: The Intimate Life of the Outside World 8/20/24
32. Lola Shoneyin - The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives 8/26/24
33. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - The Sorrows of Young Werther 9/23/24
34. William Makepeace Thackeray - Vanity Fair 10/20/24
35. Harriet Martineau - Deerbrook 10/23/24
36. Tracy Borman - Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant 11/9/24
37. Barbara W. Tuchman - The Guns of August 11/27/24

Challenge #12 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete. CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Start:
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
✔ 1. Swann's Way 2/12/24

Continue:
Chronicles of Barchestershire by Anthony Trollope
✔ 4. Framley Parsonage 4/11/24
✔ 5. The Small House at Allington 10/11/24

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
✔ 2. Prince Caspian 5/17/24

Regeneration series by Pat Barker
✔ 2. The Eye in the Door 6/11/24

Complete:
✔ Thomas Cromwell series by Hilary Mantel
3. The Mirror & the Light 9/13/24

Start and complete
✔ The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles 5/4/24

Challenge #13 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Select a book or an author from each of the seven world continents, *Antarctica is optional.

Africa The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin 8/26/24
Asia Silence by Shūsaku Endō 5/16/24
Australia Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump 1/15/24
Europe Swann's Way by Marcel Proust 2/12/24
North America Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 1/7/24
South America Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez 6/2/24
*Antarctica Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing 1/17/24

Challenge 14 - Rereading - Some do. Some don't CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Let us know the titles of five books you found worthy of rereading. This year’s challenge is reread two of your selections.

1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck not read since a teenager - is it as good as East of Eden?
✔ 2. Beloved by Toni Morrison 3/20/24
✔ 3. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 4/22/24
✔ 4. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel 7/17/24
✔ 5. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton 1/25/23
✔ 6. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare 2/4/24
✔ 7. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 7/15/24
✔ 8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 9/8/24

Challenge #16 - A-Z Title Challenge CHALLENGE COMPLETE

This challenge is successful by using only 23 letters. There are 4 optional letters marked with an (*), you only need to use one.

A Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 1/7/24
B Beloved by Toni Morrison 3/20/24
C Cannery Row by John Steinbeck 2/7/24
D Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon 2/11/24
E Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing 1/17/24
F Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope 4/11/24
G The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman 11/27/24
H Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 10/29 24
I In Memoriam by Alice Winn 6/19/24
J Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym 3/6/24
K Kona Winds by Janet Dailey 6/28/24
L Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl 5/29/24
M Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare 1/13/24
N Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin 2/20/24
O Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens 3/13/24
P Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis 5/17/24
*Q Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley 10/29/24
R Richard II by William Shakespeare 4/14/24
S South Riding by Winifred Holtby 1/29/24
T Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin 2/16/24
U Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling by Lara S. Ormiston 7/25/24
V Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 10/20/24
W Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 4/22/24
*X ----
*Y ----
*Z ----

Whew! Here we go. I definitely won't complete all of these but I would like to have some fun trying and to not put too much pressure on myself.

Have fun planning -- I find this to be one of the funnest parts!

You have exactly the right idea--this is for fun, not a chore. I'll be excited to follow along with you and find out about some of these books that are new to me.

Planning is awesome and then I read different books. That's why I find the Old & New challenge a challenge.

Ha ha, you're so right! That's actually why I'm not doing the New & Old TBR challenge in 2024 -- for me it's too much challenge and not enough fun!

I love your choices, Laurie! Whether you finish all the challenges or not your have a lot of good reading to look forward to!

I love how you have written why you want to reread certain books. I'm going to read The Dispossessed for the first time next year.
Happy Reading, Laurie!

Thanks, everyone.

I have changed my Old and New challenge wild cards after giving it more thought. I have struggled with ths challenge in the past because I've included books I thought I should read and they weren't always books I was excited about. That's what I did originally with my wild cards, so I've changed them to ones I have been wanting to read for a while.

Wise move, Laurie. The only year I didn't finish was the year I tried to make it about books I "needed" to read and not ones I "wanted" to read. The Old and New ought to be the most fun, because it is a commitment to read the books you WANT to read but never seem to get around to.

Sara wrote: "Wise move, Laurie. The only year I didn't finish was the year I tried to make it about books I "needed" to read and not ones I "wanted" to read. The Old and New ought to be the most fun, because it..."

Agreed

Looks like you have served up excellent reading. Have fun! I saw Blindness on your Old and New list. It's one I'm interested in reading. I had it on my list last year and put it back for this year. Never got around to getting a copy, this year for sure. Have a good year.

Thanks, Bob. I planned on reading Blindness last year too. I actually read twenty or so pages and then decided to put it aside as I had too many books going at once. I am determined to read it this year though.

I read my first short story today and I picked the story due to today's date. On this date in 1897, a boat carrying munitions to Cuba with Stephen Crane aboard sank off the coast of Florida. Crane had been sent along to report on the insurrection against Spain. He and three other men spent a day and a night on a ten foot dinghy trying to row to shore. This event inspired him to write The Open Boat which was published in a magazine four months later.

This bit of information about Crane's adventure was my morning reading in Love, Sex, Death and Words: Surprising Tales From a Year in Literature. It has an entry for each calendar day, and I look forward to seeing what literary tidbits I read about this year.

I completed my first Old and New challenge book with Much Ado About Nothing. This is the last Shakespeare play on the group’s bookshelf that I hadn't read. I read this play a little differently than usual. I listened to a full cast audio along with reading the print book. It enhanced my experience so much that I hope to continue this with all the rest of Shakespeare and other ancient classic plays when I can. Watching a play performed is optimal, but this was a wonderful second best for me.

That's great that you found a way to enjoy it even more!

I love that play, and love the song in it. (Hopefully they sang in your audio!) Congrats on a great start to your Old and New challenge, Laurie.

Thanks, Wobbley and Kathleen. And yes, they sang in the audio. I did like the "Into hey nonny nonny" part of the song.

Laurie wrote: "Thanks, Wobbley and Kathleen. And yes, they sang in the audio. I did like the "Into hey nonny nonny" part of the song."

:-)

I see you just finished Endurance. I loved that one!

Brook wrote: "I see you just finished Endurance. I loved that one!"

It was a great book, and the subtitle is accurate. It was an incredible voyage.

Good luck on your challenge Laurie. I was thinking about starting the Wayfarers series too, it looks so interesting.

Rora wrote: "Good luck on your challenge Laurie. I was thinking about starting the Wayfarers series too, it looks so interesting."

Thanks, Rora. I've been meaning to start Wayfarers for a while and I just haven't gotten around to it.

I have completed the reread challenge with two books, but I am doing a very slow read of Wolf Hall and will also reread Bring Up the Bodies so I know I'll finish more books on that challenge. Rereading isn't something I do often, so it's amazing that I've already read two books on that challenge this early in the year.

Congrats on completing that challenge Laurie : )

Well done completing a challenge already!

You are off to such a great start, Laurie. I hope you enjoy the third book in the Wolf Hall series. Felt like I waited forever for that one. Don't know if you watched the PBS series, but they are filming The Mirror and the Light...I'm very excited to see it!

Sara wrote: "You are off to such a great start, Laurie. I hope you enjoy the third book in the Wolf Hall series. Felt like I waited forever for that one. Don't know if you watched the PBS series, but they are f..."

No, I didn't know about the new series. I'm excited to read it so I can watch it when it comes out.

Rora wrote: "Congrats on completing that challenge Laurie : )"

Wobbley wrote: "Well done completing a challenge already!"

Thanks, Rora and Wobbley.

Congrats on your progress!! I’ve got Wolf Hall on my reread list too, Laurie. It’s been over a decade since I read it and I never completed the series and wanted to. I hope I can fit it in!

Lori wrote: "Congrats on your progress!! I’ve got Wolf Hall on my reread list too, Laurie. It’s been over a decade since I read it and I never completed the series and wanted to. I hope I can fit it in!"

Thanks, Lori. I hope you can too. I am reading it with a group who is taking a year to read the trilogy. So it really is a very slow read averaging only about 37 pages a week.

Congrats, Laurie!

Well done, Laurie. I was planning to read The Mirror and the Light this year, but I waited so long after originally reading the other two that I've decided to re-read them first. I'm very excited to start that soon. A slow read is a great idea. Hope you enjoy the next two!

Ila wrote: "Congrats, Laurie!"

Thanks, Ila

Kathleen wrote: "Well done, Laurie. I was planning to read The Mirror and the Light this year, but I waited so long after originally reading the other two that I've decided to re-read them first. I'm very excited t..."

I knew I needed to reread both books too. It has been several years and there are so many characters. I would have been lost if I tried to pick up The Mirror and the Light without reading the first two again.

Nice start. I too, rarely reread, but I am on my second of the year and plan on several more.

Bob wrote: "Nice start. I too, rarely reread, but I am on my second of the year and plan on several more."

Thanks, Bob. I don't know why some people reread frequently and others don't, but the challenge is encouraging me.

I finally finished another challenge. I completed #4 Member's Choice challenge. I am happy to have another one done and I'm close on a couple of others. Woo hoo!

Congrats, Laurie! It feels good to finish up a challenge, doesn't it?! Keep reading & you'll have those other two completed before you know it! :)

Congrats. Such a good feeling when you can actually mark one off the list...hope it happens to me soon.