Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This is a place for you to log your plans for the month. Lists may help you organize your thoughts and may help others to find inspiration.

I want to finish some longer books that I've been making slow progress on, so the list is shorter this month. I will of course add in various books that catch my eye as the weeks go on. But here's my "wish to read" list:

Finally complete:
The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence, 1775–1776 by Tom McMillan
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

Also Read:
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Mrs. Tim Carries On by D.E. Stevenson
The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin
Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
The Tamarind Seed by Evelyn Anthony
Cheerfulness Breaks In by Angela Thirkell

Here goes with a list.

I need to complete The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (1980 )

New School Group Read - The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier (1969) 288 pages.

OH thanks Erin I completely forgot to list The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (1859) Realistically I know this will extend past March for me, but I would like to start it.

Short Story Group Read - The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. This is a reread for me.

Finish The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4: The Debt of Tears by Cao Xueqin
Start The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 5: The Dreamer Wakes by Cao Xueqin

Read The Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of 'The Tale of Genji' by Haruo Shirane
Start The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, to be read over the course of several months, with forays into the referenced poetry along the way.

Read On the Edge of Reason by Miroslav Krleža DNF

EDIT: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is not a group read until April! 😅

March Goals

Challenge Books
✔️Anonymous, tr. Dawood: Tales from the Thousand and One Nights (1775)
✔️Pushkin: "The Queen of Spades" (1834) from The Queen of Spades and Other Stories
✔️Emar: Ten (1937)
✔️Queneau: Pierrot Mon Ami (1942)
✔️Beckett: Krapp's Last Tape (1948)
✔️Poul Anderson: "Call Me Joe" (1957) from The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Vol IIA
✔️Dennis: Little Me: The Intimate Memoirs of that Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, Belle Poitrine (1961)
✔️Capote: In Cold Blood (1966)
✔️Cisneros: The House on Mango Street (1984)
✔️Riordan: The Lightning Thief (2005)

Non-challenge Books
✔️Euripides: "Orestes" from The Complete Euripides, Volume II: Iphigenia in Tauris and Other Plays (-408)
✔️Roemer: On a Woman's Madness (1982)
✔️Ducornet: The Stain (1984)
✔️Smith: Free Love and Other Stories (1995)
✔️Balle: On the Calculation of Volume II (2020)
✔️Latronico: Perfection (2022)
✔️Rosero: House of Fury (2022)
✔️Evenson: Good Night, Sleep Tight (2024)
✔️Serre: A Leopard-Skin Hat (2024)
✔️Seuss: Modern Poetry: Poems (2024)
✔️Equi: Out of the Blank (2025)
✔️Olayiwola: Strange Beach (2025)
✔️Tomkins: Aerth (2025)

Long Reads
Proust: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower (1919) <-- Challenge
Rose: Women in Dark Times (2014) <-- Non-challenge

And maybe...(all non-challenge)
Wodehouse: Sam the Sudden (1925)
Herbert: Children of Dune (1976)
Pratchett: Wintersmith (2006)
Feldman: Precarious Lease (2025)

Challenges Completed This Month
Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR Challenge - 3/30/25
Challenge #2 - Members Choice Challenge - 3/26/25
Challenge #5b - Century Challenge - 3/19/25

Library availability will be causing changes in my reading this month with certain books postponed to next month in place of others.

Finish:
Lies and Sorcery Elsa Morante ***
American Notes for General Circulation Charles Dickens ***
The History of Sound Ben Shattuck *****.
One, None and a Hundred Thousand Luigi Pirandello ***
The Wild Iris Louise Glück ****
The Peregrine J.A. Baker *****
What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World’s Ocean Helen Scales ****
Good Girl Aria Aber ****
Behind You Is the Sea Susan Muaddi Darraj ****
There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven: Stories Ruben Reyes Jr. ***
Eurotrash Christian Kracht ****
The Magician W. Somerset Maugham ****
The House on the Strand Daphne du Maurier ***
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Isabel Wilkerson
Canoes Maylis de Kerangal ****
Universality Natasha Brown
The Dream Hotel Laila Lalami
Live Fast Brigitte Giraud ****
Nesting Roisín O’Donnell ***
The Persians Sanam Mahloudji ***
Death Takes Me Cristina Rivera Garza ****
On a Woman's Madness Astrid H. Roemer **
Crooked Seeds Karen Jennings ****
Hunchback Saou Ichikawa ****

shorts:
The Queen of Spades Alexander Pushkin ***
Ward No. 6: Anton Chekhov’s Classic Anton Chekhov ****
The Lady with the Little Dog Anton Chekhov ****
Call Me Joe Poul Anderson ****
Seams Olga Tokarczuk ***
The Husband Stitch Carmen Maria Machado ****
I Sexually Identify As An Attack Helicopter by Isabel Fall ***
Wild Milk Sabrina Orah Mark ***

continuing:
The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever
Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac
Women Who Run With the Wolves Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Humboldt's Gift Saul Bellow
Under the Eye of the Big Bird Hiromi Kawakami
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People Imani Perry ***
The Sons Franz Kafka

Given the number of works, library accessibility, new books coming out, and the Women's prize longlist, I expect to be modifying this list.
I am going to call it a month and carry over all the books I haven't finished.

I'm continuing with the Dune series. I hope to read books 3 & 4

I will finish:
- What Makes Sammy Run? byBudd Schulberg for Bingo, Buffet.
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain for On the Southern Literary Trail.

I will start and finish:
- Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow for Buddy.

I will start but may not finish:
- Chesapeake by James A. Michener. This is a doorstopper for March and on. Bingo, Buffet.
- a book for Book Club, not yet known.

I may read some of the short stories in The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever. Buddy, Bingo, Buffet.
I may read some short stories by others.

These books are also on my radar for March or April.
- Post Office by Charles Bukowski
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Bingo, Buffet. A holdover from February.
- A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne. For fun.

My plans/hopes:

Continue
Women Who Run With the Wolves
The Stories of John Cheever
The Mirror & the Light

Group Reads
A Game of Hide and Seek
Pride & Prejudice
Light in August

Women's History Month
The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

Challenges
The Masterpiece
Girl with Green Eyes

Impulse
The Ides of March

my "Core 4" for March are:
Afternoon Men Powell, Anthony 1931
Silver Stallion: A Novel of Korea Ahn Junghyo 1990
Nice Work Lodge, David 1988
Magnificent Ambersons, The Tarkington, Booth 1918

Start and finish
✵ Devil in a Blue Dress

Start, but not finish
✵ Reaganland
✵ Bliss and other stories
✵ A Good Man Is Hard to Find
✵ The Road
✵ Robert E. Lee and Me

Continue and finish
✵ The Wise Man’s Fear —Been reading this for 3+ years, and finally finished on the first of this month!
✵ Palace Walk
✵ The Demon of Unrest
✵ The Three-Cornered War

Continue reading, and probably not finish
✵ Circle of Hope
✵ Justice
✵ Where Eagles Dare

Continue reading, and definitely not finish
✵ Greater Gotham
✵ After Virtue

Time for even more reading in March

Currently reading
Bristede forhåbninger (group reads challenge)
Miss Mole (bingo challenge)
Nøglebarn

To read
Det røgede lig
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (pulitzer challenge)
The Franchise Affair (series challenge)
Den Store Åbning (Danish Broadcasting Company, literature award, short list nominee)
Averno (nobel laureate challenge)
Kiss of a Spider Woman (bingo challenge)
Jeg er stadig i mørket (nobel laureate challenge)
Taken at the Flood (series challenge)
Curvy Girl Summer (audio, goodreads challenge)
Advise and Consent (pulitzer challenge) - started
Lossens kløer
Funny Story (goodreads challenge)
Rumhejren (feminist library)
Hund
Dette burde skrives i nutid (golden laurels challenge)
The Buried Giant (ongoing birthyear challenge)
Din tid kommer
The Moving Finger (series challenge)
Somewhere Beyond the Sea (audio, goodreads challenge) - started
Shuggie Bain (old&new challenge)
Ronja Røverdatter (feminist library)
The Queen of Spades (group reads challenge)
A Murder Is Announced (series challenge)
Bæreposeteorien om fiktion (feminist library)
The Atlas Maneuver - started

Here is my end of month post. I also posted on my Buffet Challenge, so sorry those who are seeing a duplicate.


1. Group short story The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin (1834) March 1, 2025 4*
2. Science Fiction on a Whim: The Ideal by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1935) March 24, 2025 3*
3. A Challenge Book: One Autumn Night by Maxim Gorky (1895) March 12, 2025 4*
The Green Kitten by Maxim Gorky (1897) March 19, 2025 2* - This was a new author for me.
4. A Group Read Novel: The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier (1969) March 22, 2025 5*

also
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart (1988) March 29, 2025 5* Mary Stewart is one of my favorite authors. This was a fun, light romance.

Lynn wrote: "Here is my end of month post. I also posted on my Buffet Challenge, so sorry those who are seeing a duplicate.


1. Group short story The Queen of Spades by [author:Alexander Pushkin|..."

I love Mary Stewart - did I know you liked her, too? I can't keep track...

I finished everything on my list except Little Dorrit, which I decided to put aside until I'm actually ready to focus on it. I was really enjoying it but for some reason have just wanted to read other things this month. There's no need to force it, I don't think.