Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I wasn't going to do this, because i was determined to just focus on my Personal Challenges, and especially my 50by50 challenge, but then I realised that I can populate some buffet challenges with books from the 50by50 and that would make that challenge more bite sized!

So, even though I have never managed to complete an Old&New Challenge and this feels like I'm jinxing myself, I'll gather myself a plate of the following samplers:

Old & New TBR Challenge

Members Choice Challenge

Expand Your Horizon with New Authors

Short Story Challenge

Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete

Award Winners

And a personal challenge inspired by Shadows At Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century:

Focus on South Asia:
(books by South Asian authors that are also (at least partially) set in South Asia)

(unread books I own)
✓Rabindranath Tagore - Short Stories *****
Midnight's Children
A Suitable Boy
The God of Small Things
The White Tiger
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Previously read:
The Home and the World
A case of exploding mangoes
The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Old & New TBR Challenge

Old School:
1. (approx 1020) The Tale of Genji
2. (1876) Daniel Deronda
✓3. (1911) Der Tod in Venedig ***

New School:
1. (1920-1922) Kristin Lavransdatter
2. (1958) The Once and Future King
3. (1993) A Suitable Boy

3+3 Plays and NF
✓ 1. An Inspector Calls ****/*
2. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
3. Waiting for Godot
4. The Periodic Table
5. Man's Search for Meaning
6. Theaetetus

Alternates:
✓ 1. The Idiot ****
✓ 2. The Gunslinger ***/*
✓ 3. Rabindranath Tagore - Short Stories *****

Members Choice Challenge

1. 19th Century or Older -
2. 20th Century -
3. 21st Century -
4. Nonfiction -
5. An Author never read before -
✓ 6. Diversity, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours - Short Stories by Rabindranath Tagore *****
7. Members Choice Genre -
8. Members Choice Genre -
9. Members Choice Genre -

Expand Your Horizon with New Authors

✓ 1. Maxim Gorky - The Artamonov Business ****
✓ 2. Thomas Mann - Der Tod in Venedig
3.
4.
5.
6.

Short Story Challenge

✓1: Rabindranath Tagore - The Kabuliwalah
✓2. Rabindranath Tagore - The Home-Coming
✓3. Rabindranath Tagore - Once There Was a King
✓4. Rabindranath Tagore - The Child's Return
✓5 Rabindranath Tagore - Master Mashai
✓6. Rabindranath Tagore - Subha
✓7. Rabindranath Tagore - The Postmaster
✓8. Rabindranath Tagore - The Castaway
✓9. Rabindranath Tagore - The Son of Rashmani
✓10. Rabindranath Tagore - The Babus of Nayanjore
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete

Start:

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
✓ The Gunslinger ***/*

Kristin Lavransdatter (trilogy) by Sigrid Undset

The Once and Future King

Continue:

The Chronicles of Barsetshire

Complete: ?

Award Winners

I follow quite a few book prizes, but for this buffet I would like to read two previous winners of

The Women's Prize for Fiction
1.
2.

and two winners from either
The International Booker
1.
2.

or
The (regular) Booker
1.
2.

(Or both, if things go really well)

Yay! Glad you'll be here, Leni. And no one says you have to clean your plate. :-) I'm planning to read The Once and Future King too--really looking forward to it!

I'm hoping to read Kristin Lavransdatter this year, too! Happy reading!

Happy reading, Leni. Glad you decided to join in.

Enjoy your challenges!

I've added a personal challenge to my first post. It's sort of adjacent to the fiction/non-fiction challenge. I read Shadows At Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century last year, and it mentioned several writers that I have on my tbr, and a couple of books I have already read. My challenge isn't an exhaustive list of books mentioned or anything, it's just the South Asian literature I happen to have. And now I feel inspired to read them. I always read multiple books at the same time, and I aim to have one of them "on the go" throughout the year. And then we'll see how many I've read by the end of the year.

This looks like a really worthwhile addition to your challenges. :)

First quarter check-in.
I'm pleased with my Old and New progress. Sure, I've only read one Old School and one Wildcard, and nothing from New School, but I have read all three Alternates. So that should take some pressure off.

After I read An Inspector Calls, I went with the whole family to see it performed. That was some nice timing.

I've expanded my horizon with two new-to-me authors. And I have read 10 short stories by Tagore. Those are my favourite from the buffet so far.

I'm currently reading The Tale of Genji, and I'm about to start a group read (different group) of Daniel Deronda. That will take care of my Old School books. Other plans for the next quarter include continuing the Dark Tower series, and reading some more short stories. I also need to pick up another South Asia book, but which one? All I know is that I am saving the longest, A Suitable Boy, for the summer.

So happy to hear about the Tagore. Isn't he wonderful? I need to read more. Hope Daniel Deronda goes well.

Marvelous progress, Leni and sounds like you are enjoying the reads, which is even nicer. I am reading at random this year and it is almost scary how few of the O&N I have read.

Wow, you're making amazing progress on your Old & New TBR!

Great job!

I noticed The Gunslinger on here. I have that on my list to read and as a possible for some personal challenges. Question though, what does the break between the stars mean? (This- ***/*) Can you say anything more about what you thought of it, like have you read other King books and how would this rank with those others if you have? What kind of scares does it have, or is it even scary? I know it is set in the west, but thats about it. Ha! So anything you can say, without spoilers, would be appreciated. No pressure though!

April wrote: "Great job!

I noticed The Gunslinger on here. I have that on my list to read and as a possible for some personal challenges. Question though, what does the break between the stars mean? (This- ***..."

The slash means that it's a three to four star, or three and a half. Which is a decent rating for me. I hand out a lot of three stars. The Gunslinger is not scary. It's not horror. But it is a bit gross in places! It's the start of a fantasy series. Consider it a spaghetti western mixed with the Hobbit, just with adult content (sex scenes, violence, some gore), and no actual hobbits, or dwarves. lol So, really just the journey part of the Hobbit.

King was heavily inspired by having seen The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Or maybe it was A Fistful of Dollars. Anyway, it is highly visual with a lot of scenery descriptions, which I find a bit dull. It also doesn't give you much of a clue as to what is going on, it's almost like a prologue to the rest of the series. I've read the second book now as well, and it's very different in tone and it's more apparent what's going on. (I rated that one a weak 4 stars, like a 4 minus.) That said, I have read a lot of fantasy, and I have also read The Stand (which I rated five stars), so I managed to make some guesses from the first book. People seem to be more baffled by it than I think is warranted. Before I started reading it, people kept telling me not to give up after the first book, that you need to read the second as well before you can decide if the series is for you or not. And I guess I see where they are coming from, because the second book is pretty different. But I wasn't put off by the first one. The Gunslinger is also very short, so just go for it! But maybe hold off on buying the rest of the series until you see what you're letting yourself in for.

Hope that helps!