Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

2026 Challenge Buffet Menu:

COMPLETED:

ATTEMPTED:
Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR
Challenge #2 - Members Choice
Challenge #3 - New Authors
Challenge #4 - Short Story
Challenge #5 - Decade/Century
Challenge #6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, Moderators Run Amok
Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete
Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Book at a Time
Challenge #9 – Rereading - Some do. Some don't.
Challenge #10 - Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year
Challenge #11 - Future Classics
Challenge #12 - Fiction/Non-Fiction
Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories
Challenge #14 - Genre Locked? Neglecting Your Favorite Author?
Challenge #15 - Award Winners
Challenge #16 - Terry's Book Chain
Challenge #17 - The Year You Were Born and 100 Years Earlier
Challenge #18 - A-Z Author
Challenge #19 - A-Z Title
Challenge #20 - No Challenge Here. A Place to List Your 2026 Impulse Reads

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR

Pre-1914:
1 Love's Labour's Lost - Shakespeare
2 Little Dorritt - Dickens
3 The Small House at Allington - Trollope

1915-2006:
1 The Big Sky - Guthrie Jr.
2 The Island of Sheep - Buchan
3 A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury - Pargeter

Lingering on My Shelves:
1 Daybreakers – L'Amour
2 Round the Bend - Shute
3 Odyssey - Fry
4 Call Me a Cab - Westlake
5 A Literature of Their Own - Showalter
6 Eugene Onegin - Pushkin

Alternates:
1 The Eagle and the Hart - Castor
2 Secret History of Home Economics - Dreilinger
3 The Adventures of Amina Al-surafi - Chakraborty

Challenge #2 - Members Choice
Completed: 0/9

1. 18th Century or Older -
2. 19th Century -
3. 20th Century -
4. 21st Century -
5. A book of interest from another diner's buffet -
6. Members Choice Genre -
7. Members Choice Genre -
8. Members Choice Genre -
9. Members Choice Genre -

Some Genre Choices-
Fiction - Science Fiction. Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Young Adult, Poetry, Plays, Romance, etc.
Nonfiction - History, Biography, Memoir, Politics, Religion, Science, Philosophy, Sports, Travel, Self Help, etc.

Challenge #3 - New Authors
Completed: 0/4

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4

Challenge #4 - Short Story
Completed: 0/16

1
2
3
4
5
6

Challenge #5 - Decade/Century

Decade of 1950s
Completed: 0/10
1950 - Our Spoons came from Woolworths - Comyns
1951 - Round the Bend - Shute
1952 -
1953 -
1954 - task #10
1955 -
1956 - task #17
1957 - Sylvester - Heyer
1958 -
1959 - My Brother Michael - Stewart

20th Century
Completed: 0/10
1900 -
1910 - Howard's End 1910
1920 -
1930 - Island of Sheep 1936
1940 -The Big Sky 1947
1950 - task #10
1960 - LOTS
1970 - Bloody Field by Shrewsbury 1972
1980 -
1990 - Tigana 1990

Challenge #6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, Moderators Run Amok
I made 7 last year, so achieved my target of half a bite. Will I get to 10 this year?
Completed: 0/10

1 Group - Howard's End
2 Buddy - This Rough Magic RR
3 Buddy - My Brother Michael RR
4 Buddy - Our Mutual Friend RR
5
6
7
8
9
10

Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete
Completed: 0/2

Start:

Continue:

Complete:

Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Book at a Time
Select 5 books, by 5 different authors, from 5 different countries, other than your own.
Completed: 0/5

Book Title - Author/Country - Book Setting
1. Les Miserables - Hugo/France - Paris, France
2. Howard's End - Forester/England - England
3. ?? - Montgomery/Canada - Prince Edward Island
4. ?? Kaye/India -
5. ?? Helen MacInnes/Scotland -

Challenge #9 – Rereading - Some do. Some don't.
Completed: 0/2

Books I'd Love to Reread:
1. Emma - Austen
2. Les Miserables - Hugo
3. Christy - Marshall
4. Tigana - Kaye
5. Howard's End - Forester

Read Again in 2026:
1.
2.

Challenge #10 - Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year
Locate and list 10 books that most interest you from the year of your choice. The challenge is to read 2 books from that list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/popula...
Completed: 0/2

1954
1 The Toll Gate - Heyer
2 The Horse and His Boy - Lewis
3 Katherine - Seton
4 Half Magic - Eager
5 The Two Towers - Tolkien
6 The Sound of Waves - Mishima
7 Destination Unknown - Christie
8 The Art of Eating - Fisher
9 The Children of Green Knowe - Boston
10 My Left Foot - Brown

Read:
1
2

Challenge #11 - Future Classics
A Quarter of the 21st Century has passed; did you read any potential classics? For discussion, and the benefit and curiosity of our members please list 5 books you have read over the last 25 years that you believe will still be actively read in 50-100+ years.
Completed: 0/1


These Five Were Great, I Believe They Will Stand the Test of Time
1 The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence, 1775–1776 - MacMillan
2 Penelope's Bones: A New History of Homer’s World through the Women Written Out of It - Hauser
3 A Thousand Mornings: Poems - Oliver
4 A Gentleman in Moscow - Towles
5 The Boys in the Boat - Brown

These Might have a Chance at Greatness
1 Raising Hare: A Memoir - Dalton
2 Henry V: The Astonishing Rise of England's Greatest Warrior King - Jones
3 Small Miracles - Atwater

Read
1

Challenge #12 - Fiction/Non-Fiction
Completed: 0/4

Celebrate Nature:
1 Nonfiction - The Language of Trees - Holten
2 Fiction - Stratton-Porter

Women's Lives:
1 - Nonfiction - A Literature of Their Own - Showalter
2 - Fiction - Our Spoons came from Woolworths - Comyns

Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories
Using the below categories or choices of your own, pick two subjects of interest. Link the chosen subjects to an old book 1914 or earlier to a newer book 1915 -present.
Completed: 0/4

Pre-1914 -
Post 1915 -

Pre-1915 -
Post 1915 -

Challenge #14 - Genre Locked? Neglecting Your Favorite Author?
Completed: 0/3

Part A - Pick and read one book from two different genres that are not your normal go too. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Young Adult, Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Romance, etc.

Genre Selected - Book Chosen
1. Science Fiction - All Systems Red
2. Modern Fantasy - The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

Part B - pick one or more favorite authors you have been mistreating by leaving them on your shelf for far too long. Pick up that book you have been meaning to read and READ IT!

Neglected Author - Book Chosen
1.

Other Neglected Authors - Book Chosen - Not a requirement
Sharon Kay Penman
Ralph Waldo Emerson
P G Wodehouse
Helen MacInnes
Elizabeth Chadwick
Louisa May Alcott
Gene Stratton-Porter

Challenge #15 - Award Winners
0/2

Prize - Title:
1
2

Challenge #16 - Terry's Book Chain
Start with a book you want to read, then take one word from that title, and find another book you want to read with that word in the title. Repeat the process until you have the total required to make your chain.
Completed: 0/6

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Challenge #17 - The Year You Were Born and 100 Years Earlier
Select 7 books from the year you were born. Select 7 more from 100 years earlier, for a total of 14 books. The challenge is to successfully read 4 of the 14 books selected. 2 from your birth year and 2 from 100 years earlier.
Completed: 0/4

1956:
1 My Family and Other Animals - Durrell
2 Patrick Butler for the Defense - Carr
3 Sprig Muslin - Heyer RR
4 Murder in Vienna - Lorac
5 We Made a Garden - Fish
6 Long Day's Journey Into Night - O'Neil
7 Hundred and One Dalmatians - Smith


1856:
1 Westward Ho! - Kingsley
2 The Warden - Trollope
3 North and South - Gaskell RR
4 Aurora Leigh - Browning
5 Song of Myself - Whitman RR
6 Englishwoman in America - Bird
7 Madame Bovary - Flaubert

Challenge #18 - A-Z Author
Completed: 0/22

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Challenge #19 - A-Z Title
Completed: 0/22

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Challenge #20 - No Challenge Here. A Place to List Your 2026 Impulse Reads

Taking advantage of Bob's good nature, I'll be using this for my monthly TBR, as I track all my relevant reads in My Personal Book Club Challenge.

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You're really far along with your planning already! I really enjoyed Little Dorrit; for me, it's just slightly below Our Mutual Friend at the top of my Dickens favourites. Tigana is a favourite of mine too. I'm looking forward to our Mary Stewart Buddy reads. Enjoy your planning!