Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
2025 Challenge Buffet
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Sara's 2025 Food for Thought Buffet
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� = Read
OLD - 1914 and earlier
Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens (1841)
Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell (1863)
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy (1872)
NEW - 1915-2005
The House in Dormer Forest by Mary Webb (1920)
�Year Before Last by Kay Boyle (1932) - 3*
�Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard (1991) - 5*
WILDCARD
�Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson (1934) - 4*
Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell (1934)
The Lady and the Unicorn by Rumer Godden (1937)
What Happened to the Corbetts by Nevil Shute (1939)
The House Opposite by Barbara Noble (1943)
The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell (1945)
ALTERNATES
Old - New Grub Street by George Gissing (1893)
New - Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry (1941)
Wild - Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple (1949)
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Member's Choice
�1. 19th Century or Older - The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 5*
�2. 20th Century - Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple 5*
�3. 21st Century - In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner 5*
�4. Nonfiction - The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom 5*
�5. An Author never read before - The Lighted Heart by Elizabeth Yates 5*
�6. Diversity, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours - The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar 2*
�7. Members Choice Genre - Historical Fiction - Augustus by John Williams 5*
�8. Members Choice Genre - Crime/Mystery - Code of the Hills by Chris Offutt 4*
�9. Members Choice Genre - Biography - The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel: John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life 5*
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Expand Your Horizon with New Authors
1. Elizabeth Yates - The Lighted Heart
2. Oliver La Farge - Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story
3. Charles J. Shields - The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel: John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life
4. Zeyn Joukhadar - The Map of Salt and Stars
5. Vaddey Ratner - In the Shadow of the Banyan
6. Angela Thirkell - High Rising
7. Mary Johnston - To Have and to Hold: A Tale of Providence and Perseverance in Colonial Jamestown
8. D.E. Stevenson - Miss Buncle's Book
9. Kay Boyle - Year Before Last
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Short Story Challenge
Read 18 short stories. (I will include poems and essays here).
1. Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson - poem
2. The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain by Charles Dickens - novella
3. The Feather Pillow / El Almohadón de Pluma (New Translation - Bilingual Edition) by Horacio Quiroga
4. The Grey Ones by J.B. Priestley
5. Somewhere above the Clouds by Tan Twan Eng
6. Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald
7. The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor - Collection (12 stories)
Total: 18
8. J.B.: A Play in Verse by Archibald MacLeish - play
9. A Girl I Knew by J.D. Salinger
10. Goodbye, My Brother by John Cheever
11. The Common Day by John Cheever
12. The Enormous Radio by John Cheever
13. The Hartleys by John Cheever
14. O City of Broken Dreams by John Cheever
15. The Sutton Place Story by John Cheever
16. The Summer Farmer by John Cheever
17. Torch Song by John Cheever
18. The Pot of Gold by John Cheever
19. Clancy in the Tower of Babel by John Cheever
20. Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor by John Cheever
21. The Season of Divorce by John Cheever
22. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis - Novella
23. Screwtape Proposes a Toast. Illustrated by C.S. Lewis
24. Seams by Olga Tokarczuk (no listing on GR)
25. The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin
26. The Superintendent by John Cheever
27. The Children by John Cheever
28. The Sorrows of Gin by John Cheever
29. O Youth and Beauty! by John Cheever
30. the day the pig fell into the well by John Cheever
31. The Five-Forty-Eight by John Cheever
32. Just One More Time by John Cheever
33. THE HOUSEBREAKER OF SHADY HILL. by John Cheever
34. The Bus to St. James by John Cheever
35. The Worm In The Apple by John Cheever
36. The Trouble of Marcie Flint by John Cheever
37. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (18)
38. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (22)
39. The Wrysons by John Cheever
40. The Country Husband by John Cheever
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1940-1949 (completely composed of book I own or have had on the TBR for years)
1940:
Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain
-or- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway - reread
-or- Native Son by Richard Wright
1941:
Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry
-or- Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf
1942:
� The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis 5*
1943:
The House Opposite by Barbara Noble
-or- The Small Back Room by Nigel Balchin
-or- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - reread
-or- Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot (If I am feeling very brave indeed)
1944:
My Home is Far Away by Dawn Powell
-or- Under a Glass Bell by Anaïs Nin
1945:
Miss Bunting: A Novel by Angela Thirkell
-or- The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell
-or- The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
1946:
The River by Rumer Godden
-or- Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
-or- Then and Now by W. Somerset Maugham
-or- The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers - reread
1947:
Kate Hardy by D.E. Stevenson
-or- Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts
-or- The Pearl by John Steinbeck - reread
1948:
No Highway by Nevil Shute
-or- Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
-or- Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens
1949:
Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple
-or- Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
-or- The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
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Century Challenge
�1900 - To Have and to Hold: A Tale of Providence and Perseverance in Colonial Jamestown by Mary Johnston (1900)
�1910 - Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (1919)
�1920 - Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge (1929) - 3*
�1930 - High Rising by Angela Thirkell (1933)
�1940 - The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (1942) - 5*
�1950 - Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple (1953) - 5*
�1960 - The Lighted Heart by Elizabeth Yates (1960) - 5*
�1970 - A Bird in the House by Margaret Laurence (1972) - 5*
�1980 - Mountain Path by Harriette Simpson Arnow (1985)
�1990 - Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard (1991) 5*
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1. Augustus by John Williams
2. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
3. The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
4. In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
5. The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin
6. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
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START
I plan to start the following series:
(at least one book in each)
Elena Ferrante
My Brilliant Friend
The Story of a New Name
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
The Story of the Lost Child
The Alexandra Quartet
Justine (1957)
Balthazar (1958)
Mountolive (1958)
Clea (1960)
CONTINUE
I plan to continue reading the following series:
(at least one book in each)
Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie
�Started Early, Took My Dog
�Big Sky
Death at the Sign of the Rook
Anthony Trollope's Pallister Series
Phineas Redux
The Prime Minister
The Duke's Children
COMPLETE
I plan to complete the following series:
Elizabeth Jane Howard
(imagine my surprise to find that there are not 3, but 5, books in this series. I am adding the other two to the list, but unsure if I will finish more than the two I had already committed to.)
�Marking Time
�Confusion
�Casting Off
�A Bird in the House by Margaret Laurence
Jack by Marilynne Robinson
�Code of the Hills by Chris Offutt
***
Three series I heartily recommend:
The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills / The Last Enchantment / The Prince and the Pilgrm / The Wicked Day
The Big Sky series by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Ross Poldark by Winston Graham (this is a long series, but oh so worth every moment)
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➤Africa - The Map of Salt and Stars
➤Asia - In the Shadow of the Banyan
Australia - My Brilliant Career
➤Europe - Marking Time
➤North America - Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story
South America - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Antarctica - Migrations, or a book set in the country you'd most like to visit
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This year’s challenge is, reread two of your reread selections.
Books I'd Love to Reread
1. The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
2. Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville
4. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Read Again in 2025 Challenge requirement is 2
�1. The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey
�2. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Personal Goal:
�3. J.B.: A Play in Verse and Job, KJV
�4. Beau Geste by P.C. Wren
�5. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
�6. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
7.
8.
9.
10.
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(Completely failed at this last year--not one entry)
/book/popula...
10 Books of Interest for 1969
1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
2. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
3. The Poetry of Robert Frost
4. The Promise by Chaim Potok
5. Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene
6. The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier - reread
7. Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell
8. The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
9. A Slipping-Down Life by Anne Tyler
10. Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser
2025 Books Read
1.
2.
3.
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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.
These Five Were Great, I Believe They Will Stand the Test of Time
(I have tried to pick books that I think actually will be read. I have read some wonderful books that ought to be classics, but they, sadly, will not. i.e. Corrag)
2021 - Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
2020 - Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
2014 - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2013 - The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
2009 - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
2002 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Future Classic Challenge - List 3 unread books published between 2000-2024 that you feel have the potential to become a classic. The challenge, read 1 of your 3 selections. Then let us know if you think it has a chance at greatness, or will it pass into oblivion.
These Might have a Chance at Greatness?
1. 2019- This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
2. 2011 - My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
3. 2023 - Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt - (This book has garnered some of the best reviews from some of my most trusted friends)
Book Chosen:
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Fiction/Non-Fiction
commonality / Fiction / Nonfiction
1. John Williams / Augustus / The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel: John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life
2. Endurance and Faith / J.B.: A Play in Verse / Job, KJV
3. World War II-The Home Front / Confusion / The Hiding Place
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commonality / Old / New
1. About writers / The Seagull / The Little Virtues
2.
3.
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1. 1897 Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
�2. 1900 To Have and To Hold: Mary Johnston
3. 1902 The Virginian by Owen Wister
4. 1919 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: A World War I Novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
5. 1931 Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather
6. 1933-1934 Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen
7. 1949 The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
8. 1961 Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
9. 1963 The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris L. West
10. 1976 Trinity by Leon Uris
Books Chosen:
1. Outside my Comfort Zone:
�To Have and to Hold: A Tale of Providence and Perseverance in Colonial Jamestown by Mary Johnston
(while I like historical novels, I am not usually a fan of romances)
This book got 3-stars from me. I did like it and found it fun, but I was right about it being outside my comfort zone.
-or- The Virginian
(westerns are not generally my cup-of-tea, but I have been told this one is great).
2. Might be a 5-Star Read:
Quo Vadis
(I am expecting big things from this one)
-or-The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris L. West
(just sounds like exactly the kind of book I enjoy)
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Read two award winning books.
(This is a gimme for me because I will choose both from my Pulitzer Challenge list.)
Books Chosen
�1. Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge
2.
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I have been doing this personal challenge at another group for a number of years now. When 2024 started, I only had 8 books to finish. I am sad to say that I only completed 4...So, for the endless challenge, here are the last four books that will be completed this year!
1870 An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
-or- The Fortune of the Rougons by Émile Zola
�1895 The Seagull by Anton Chekhov - February
1901 My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
�1919 Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
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I want to read more non-fiction this year, so I am setting a goal for ten non-fiction reads, which will include a number of biographies I have bought but not yet read. I do not necessarily want to read fiction books to pair with them, so adding this independent listing.
�1. The Lighted Heart by Elizabeth Yates
�2. The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel: John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life by Charles J. Shields
3. Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life by Richard Meryman
4. John Adams by David McCullough
5. Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier
6. Wolf Willow by Wallace Stegner
�7. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
�8. The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg
9.
10.
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You've chosen a lot of interesting books, Sara. And you'll be finishing your 100 Years Challenge - which may have felt like it took that long! Happy reading!
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There are some great books here Sara, enjoy your 2025 challenges!
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Sara, looks like fun is "afoot!" And, you know I will be looking over your choices to help fill out my 2025 reading choices!! haha! I'm excited to start planning :)
So many great books on your lists! On your Future Classics challenge, I’m happy to see The Narrow Road to the Deep North make your list since I plan to read it in 2025. I hope you choose to read My Brilliant Friend. That series is so good! I just have #4 to finish. I’m interested to see what you read next year. Enjoy!
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As I will be looking at yours! The planning is always great fun and I tend to make changes right up to the starting gun.
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I will be excited to see what you think of The Narrow Road. It was an unexpected favorite for me! I'm glad you recommend the Ferrante series, because I have bought them all and plan to read them for sure. My Brilliant Friend is penciled in for early in the year.
Wow, you've planned out a lot already! It's early to say, but it looks like you're going to have another great success with your Old & New TBR Challenge in 2025. Good luck!
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I'm as excited about your challenge as I am about my own!Again this year, you have a remarkable Old and New challenge. Under the Greenwood Tree is lovely. Your 40's decade is wonderful--can I vote? :-) Just kidding, but I will put in a good word for Between the Acts, Embers and Zorba.
Have a fantastic year, Sara! From the looks of this challenge, it's going to be wonderful.
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I am excited that I will be concentrating on clearing shelves and yet pretty sure that I have a lot of gems just waiting to be opened. And, as you very well know, a lot of the fun is following you and replacing every book I read with two from your discoveries!
So far, I've added The Folded Leaf to my list, and I've been wanting to read Zorba the Greek for awhile! And I will tell you that I really enjoyed To Have and To Hold: Mary Johnston, The Virginian, and Shadows on the Rock (loved this one!). So you have some very good ones to look forward to there :)
I am salivating at everyone’s challenges. In your lists I loved Screwtape Letters and my favorite My Brilliant Friend quartet. I’m so jealous! I had told myself I was free reading and doing no challenges next year. I’m not sure that’s going to work now. I may do what you are doing and read only from my shelf and see where it lands. I had fun with that process this year and completed a lot.It all looks amazing, Sara!
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And I will tell you that I really enjoyed [book:To Have and To H..."
Oh, I am stoked that you read and enjoyed the Mary Johnston, because I was a bit afraid of it being a bust from just reading the blurb. When I read The Folded Leaf, I will have completed William Maxwell and I will be very sad. I truly love his writing!
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I know I would do the planning even if I didn't subsequently read a single book. I have the most fun just seeing what everyone else chooses. It was interesting to me how many of my owned books and books that I really want to get to just fell into place on the lists. I think it is going to be a great year for just reading what I want and also completing at least some of the challenges. I have just promised myself not to be challenge focused.
I hear you about the focus. I get swept up in “needing� to read something for a challenge and find I put off a lot of books I still really want to read because they don’t fit. It makes me too stressed sometimes. So the laid back approach is where I’m going! And yes, I love seeing what others are planning. This is great fun always!!
So many great books on your list, Sara. I loved The Odd Women and gave it 5 stars. I hope you like it as much as I did. I have My Brilliant Career on my challenge list too.I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Good Luck!
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The Embers, The Odd Women, and The fortune of the Rougons are all wonderful books. All the best for your challenges, Sara!
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Nice plan Sara! And thanks for stopping by mine earlier. I like how you didnt actually fill everything out yet. Part of me wishes i went for more spontanaity with my challenges, but its my first year. Question, i see a couple of folks 'saving' posts... oh, i guess maybe you didnt add in all of the challenges yet? Or did you, and there is another reaaon for the save? We dont have to save for updates do we? Like when we complete a challenge or something, do we need to post in just one post, or can it be additional? I am concerned i didnt leave one. Lol
Anyway,
Have fun!
Shaina wrote: "So many great books on your list, Sara. I loved The Odd Women and gave it 5 stars. I hope you like it as much as I did. I have My Brilliant Career on my challenge list t..."Shaina, I'm glad you brought up The Odd Women -- I'm moving that up on my list! And I did enjoy My Brilliant Career. I think you'll both like it :)
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Don't panic, April. After the first year you learn a few tricks that work, sometimes just for you. I always save a couple of extra comment threads so that I can add anything I might have missed. I will erase them when I am sure they aren't needed. I don't do the A-Z, but I have been known to change my mind.😃
As for the planning...I always enjoy that phase so much, but I seldom stick to the plan 100%. You can change things up as you go along, with the exception of the Old and New--make sure you have used books there that you absolutely know you want to read. In the other categories, if you read a book that fits the slot, use it, regardless of what you might have planned. If you get to that planned book later, it is almost sure to fit somewhere else. The biggest thing is HAVE FUN and make the challenges work for you.
Lovely to have you aboard, and I will be watching your progress over the coming year. Sharing is paramount in this group!
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I love this reinforcement for my choices. Shaina, maybe this means My Brilliant Career will be a brilliant read for the two of us.
I can't wait to follow your reading this year, Sara. You have so many on your list that I absolutely loved, but they're not read very often, so I'm excited to hear what you think. I hope you have a very enjoyable reading year!
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Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Year Before Last (other topics)The Wrysons (other topics)
The Country Husband (other topics)
Year Before Last (other topics)
Winesburg, Ohio (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Kay Boyle (other topics)Kay Boyle (other topics)
Sherwood Anderson (other topics)
Sherwood Anderson (other topics)
Ray Bradbury (other topics)
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� = Read
This year I have decided to read mostly books I already own and more spontaneously than by design. As a result, I have no idea which challenges will fill themselves in and which will not, but a few are absolutes for me--like the Old and New.
Completed:
Challenge #2 - Members Choice (completed February)
Challenge #3 - New Authors (completed March)
Challenge #4 - Short Story (completed January)
Challenge #5 - Century (completed April)
Challenge #12 - Fiction/Non-Fiction (completed March)
Open:
Challenge #1 - New & Old
Challenge #5 - Decade
Challenge #6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, Moderators Run Amok
Challenge #7 - Series Books � Start, Continue, Complete
Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time
Challenge #9 � Rereading Some do Some don't
Challenge #10 - Most Popular ŷ Books Listed by Year
Challenge #11 - Future Classics
Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories
Challenge #14 - Bestselling Novels in the United States
Challenge #15 - Award Winners
100 Years Before Me
Non-Fiction