Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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Laurie's 20th Century Challenge
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Kathy wrote: "Wow, some great ideas you have going here. Good luck with all of your challenges."Thank you. I can't wait to see what everyone else is doing.
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AnneGordon wrote: "This is great , Laurie. I too am aiming for one book a month and to limit myself to what is already in my house and unread. That's a great list you've got there."Thanks, Anne. I don't feel like I've progressed very well on this 20th century list since I compiled it in 2013, so I definitely want to do better this year. I've already picked up my next book from the library and hope to get it read in the next few weeks.
Wow, what a huge and amazing list of books. There's some really great ones and lots that I'd like to get to myself!
Pink wrote: "Wow, what a huge and amazing list of books. There's some really great ones and lots that I'd like to get to myself!"Thanks, Pink. I feel like my TBR list of classics is always expanding especially since I joined this group. People mention so many classics that are new to me, and I haven't even read all of these well known novels.
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And me also. You have such a nice list of books and some that were not on my radar.
My challenges are going well, but I am still behind on two of them. I am definitely over-challenged this year and under-funded on time. And I did not take advantage of my week of vacation last week to do any serious reading. I read one book which I enjoyed immensely, The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain, but I excelled at people-watching. So I am rested but even more behind in my reading. Oh well, the vacation from the pressures of reading was actually kind of nice too.
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Perfect description of my quandary.
I am stealing Bob's idea and doing a recap of my challenge progress. At the halfway point, this is where I am:Around the World Challenge - 19/24 complete
Women's Classics Century Challenge - 6/10 complete
Old and New Classics - 8/10 complete
Classics Bingo - 22/24 complete
Best of 20th Century - 4/12 complete
A-Z Author - 15/26 complete
Non-fiction Challenge - 11/20 complete
Doing well except on the 20th Century Challenge. I am ready see at least one completed challenge though.
I have a goal of 25,000 pages and I have completed 12,008 pages with another 400+ on books in progress, so I am right on target. I look back at last year in which I read over 32,000 pages and I have no idea how I did that. I feel like all I do in my spare time is read (and look at GR group threads) and I will come nowhere near that. But that's okay as long as I am enjoying my reading which I am.
Yikes! Stealing his idea? Laurie, I hoped you asked him before you did that.
LOL. Jokes :)
Cool list, Laurie! I hope you've enjoyed your time spent reading them. With such a list, do tell, which ones have stood out as favourites?
LOL. Jokes :)
Cool list, Laurie! I hope you've enjoyed your time spent reading them. With such a list, do tell, which ones have stood out as favourites?
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Around the World Challenge - 19/24 complete
Women's Classics Century Challenge - 6/10..."
No permission needed and no theft to report. I hope you find making a summary as helpful as I do, it's gives one a chance to reflect and evaluate progress. I do have one small bone to pick. Your Best of the 20th Century Challenge is brilliant. Now I have to see if I can resist starting my own, it's not like I need another challenge. but what a great way to target quality reads that have yet to be read. Thanks, I think.
Nargus wrote: "Yikes! Stealing his idea? Laurie, I hoped you asked him before you did that. LOL. Jokes :)
Cool list, Laurie! I hope you've enjoyed your time spent reading them. With such a list, do tell, which..."
Sorry that I didn't ask permission, but luckily Bob is graciously not holding it against me. My favorites so far this year are Half of a Yellow Sun which is the second novel I have read by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and I think she is awesome; Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf; The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson who I always enjoy; and Native Son by Richard Wright. I am currently reading A Town Like Alice which looks at this point may be a 5 star book.
Bob wrote: "Laurie wrote: "I am stealing Bob's idea and doing a recap of my challenge progress. At the halfway point, this is where I am:Around the World Challenge - 19/24 complete
Women's Classics Century C..."
I think you are reading plenty of classics without creating another challenge for yourself. I created mine before I joined this group, so I should be further along than I am. But Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies are on my list, so if I read those with the group this month, I will knock off two more. They are both rereads for me and I would rather tackle new to me books, but reading them with the group should help as an incentive.
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Have to join in to say that A Town Like Alice is a beautiful novel and one that ranks very high on my favorites list. One of my problems is that I stumble across a comment like this one and I think "Oh, I want to read that again" which keeps me from reading the things I should be reading that I haven't gotten to yet! Not a bad problem to have, I'm guessing.
Congrats, Laurie, on such an impressive reading accomplishment thus far!
Sara wrote: One of my problems is that I stumble across a comment like this one and I think "Oh, I want to read that again" which keeps me from reading the things I should be reading that I haven't gotten to yet! Not a bad problem to have, I'm guessing./i>I agree that it's a problem when I would love to reread a novel that was wonderful but I feel that I don't have time. Which is how I always feel, so I very rarely reread anything. But some novels are worth the time, and I am never sorry when I spend some time again on a favorite.
I've completed two of my challenges so far this year, and it feels like it has been such a monumental effort. I started doing reading challenges a few years ago and I loved it at first, but I think next year will be the year of no new challenges. I put way too much pressure on myself to finish them all and it is beginning to make reading seem much less fun. It isn't that I don't enjoy the books, I just don't enjoy being so committed to reading specific ones to match a challenge. Right now I would like to complete my Women's Classic challenge and my Old and New challenge and not worry if I don't complete the others. And I think the only goal I want to have next year beyond my two ongoing Best of 20th century and Around the World reading challenges is to allow myself to read according to my mood as I did for most of my life.
Laurie,Do what feels right to make reading a pleasure!
Since I've joined GR I do a lot of challenges and seem to read less from my ever-growing tbr pile.
I can see getting to eventually feeling about challenges and group reads as you're feeling now.
Laurie, I think reading according to your mood is the best thing to do, especially when you're feeling swamped by challenges. I try to concentrate on a couple of challenges with planned books and let anything else fill itself in depending on what I pick up. Do whatever makes you enjoy reading!
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Laurie,Do what feels right to make reading a pleasure!
Since I've joined GR I do a lot of challenges and seem to read less from my ever-growing tbr pile.
I can see getting to eventually feeling..."
I think I wouldn't be so tired of challenges if I only did one or two. But between all of my groups I have 10 or so. Even with books overlapping, that is too many challenges to allow for mood reading if I want to complete the challenges. So I need to follow your advice and do things differently so that reading becomes a pleasure again.
Pink wrote: "Laurie, I think reading according to your mood is the best thing to do, especially when you're feeling swamped by challenges. I try to concentrate on a couple of challenges with planned books and l..."You seem to go about these challenges in a healthy way. I act like it's a competition with myself which is stupid when reading is meant to be my pleasurable pastime. So I agree that I need some mood reading soon.
Good for you!!! With all the groups I'm in sometimes all the books I "have" to read becomes overwhelming. I am strongly thinking of no challenges next year and only picking and choosing group reads that sound interesting filling in with books I chose myself.
I have finally come to, what I believe is, a sane relationship with this GoodReads group and the challenges (fingers crossed). I started this year joining and committing to 3 challenges as well as hoping to read most of the monthly selections. Ha!!! That was just wayyyyy too ambitious for me and I have finally realized it and done something about it. I have dropped 2 of the challenges (Women's and Old & New) but have decided to continue with the Bingo challenge because I really love and enjoy it. The rules of the Bingo challenge allow me to be very flexible and change books throughout the year as much as I like - that is crucial for my every evolving eclectic tastes. :-) I have also decided to only read the monthly choices (and Buddy Reads) that I feel really drawn to and warm and fuzzy about. By eliminating as many feelings of pressure and stress (all self-imposed, of course) as I possibly can, I find that I now feel re-energized and excited to continue participating in this most awesome group with the most exemplary gathering of multi-cultural, multi-lingual people I have ever had the honor of being a part of. I guess I just need to continually remember myself to get out of my own way by keeping my heart, mind and soul open. Then, every day can be as fresh and exciting and new as ever. Hope this is helpful. ;-)
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There is a fine line between participating with joy and being overextended. You will find the balance!
Sara, what you say is so true!I seem to have a compulsion to join every group read across several groups each month!
I need to get that under control and read more from my tbr pile.
It's very interesting to me that I am not alone in feeling pressured to read books that are not on my TBR because of a challenge or a group read. And while we all admit that these books may be an unexpected treasure, it also means that many books we want to read stay unread on our shelves since there isn't time to read everything. There is no perfect solution and each of us has to deal with the too-many-books-to-read problem differently. Thanks for the great advice and various perspectives.
Yep, I definitely had too many challenges going in previous years, spread among various groups. With that and trying to read group choices each month it left no time for personal reading on a whim. Now I stick to a couple of main challenges and only join in with group reads that I was planning on getting to anyway. I used to feel bad about this, but then I realised nobody else really cares what I read anyway!
Pink wrote: .I used to feel bad about this, but then I realised nobody else really cares what I read anyway! .."That is the absolute truth. I pay little attention to what others read and I know no one pays attention to my reading list either. Good thought to keep in mind.
I have to say that I am just thrilled to be around people who struggle with what and how much to read, and who get caught up in these temptations! I'm still figuring out what works for me, and appreciate you bringing this up, Laurie, and everyone's thoughts. Excellent point about no one caring what we read. I guess we have to figure out what really matters and try to stick to it.
Apparently I am not alone in needing to learn this lesson too (not that I'm glad others are struggling as well but that we are coming to the same realizations). The lesson being that what, when and how much we read is really solely our business and if we choose to share our thoughts and feelings about those books that it is, again, entirely up to us. And also that, thank you thank you thank you Pink and Laurie, the reality is that nobody really cares about what I read anyway. So, with that in mind, read on everyone and follow your bliss!!! I truly enjoy reading all of your thoughts and feelings regarding the books you choose to read and when I feel like it (and have time to) I love to pipe in as well but please know that I do so now with the desire to say something I feel strongly about as opposed to merely feeling pressured to do so. Hopefully I have finally figured it out for myself. ;-)
Bat-Cat wrote: "Apparently I am not alone in needing to learn this lesson too (not that I'm glad others are struggling as well but that we are coming to the same realizations). The lesson being that what, when and..."Kathleen wrote: "I have to say that I am just thrilled to be around people who struggle with what and how much to read, and who get caught up in these temptations!
I'm still figuring out what works for me, and ap..."
Bat-Cat and Kathleen, deciding what to read is actually a nice problem to have. In my day to day life, not many people read or they don't mention it if they do. I hear lots of comments about TV shows and movies but not books. So I value everyone here who is like me with such a huge reading obsession.
I have always been surrounded by books, but until we had the internet I didn't really have feedback on book recommendations other than professional book reviews. I would just wander around bookstores or the library and pick up books at random. My TBR was tiny because I didn't even know about so many great books. Now the wealth of information and feedback entices me to add books to my TBR all the time. But I now have lots of good books to look forward to and that is a good thing.
Laurie-- same situation here. My friends don't read. Until I became active in goodreads I was at the mercy of my librarians to recommend me a decent book a week. I am glad that thanks to this site I no longer have that issue. I have decided to cut back on challenges though and to only read group reads for all groups that I am actually interested in. Just made a 6 month plan and made sure to include books that I am interested in.
Very beautifully said Laurie. I am ever so grateful that I am one of those with an extreme love for reading. Most of the time I gladly choose books over just about any other source of entertainment (I do also love the outdoors and playing music, and...). It hadn't previously occurred to me that the internet could have played such a huge role in the rapid expansion of my TBR list but you are definitely correct. I browse and find a huge selection of books I really want to read, almost on a daily basis, and know that I will never, not in several lifetimes, be able to read all of them. But just by having them in my list is often enough, similar to the tactile sense of satisfaction I experience when touching physical books in a bookstore, because just by knowing of and about the book somehow adds a meaningful connection to my life that wasn't there before my awareness of its existence. And if it does happen to be one of the books I incorporate further into my life and being by actually reading it then so much the better. It is my belief that books have an energy field and life all their one and that just by being near them one is affected by these fields and thus their life becomes, even if ever so minutely, better for it.
I was thinking about what Laurie said about libraries and picking up books at random, and remembering how in pre-internet days I used to just look through the library stacks for something to jump out at me. (Okay, sometimes I'd touch them--run my finger along them like a chain-linked fence.) But then one would speak to me and it would often turn out to be fabulous--my special find, unknown before, to me anyway. Now when I go to the library, instead I see "Oh, that's the one so and so read," or "that's coming up in a group read," or "I saw that on a booklist." Thanks for sharing your thoughts about that energy field, Bat-Cat, because now I see the different ways that this works. Now, like you, I can surround myself with knowing these great books are in existence, and not feel bad if I don't get to read them all.
Just finished Lolita for my 20th century challenge and my author A-Z. It was disturbing as I expected, but it was also amazing in unexpected ways. Here is my review for what it's worth. Now on to something more palatable.
I am doing a year-end wrap up now since I won't be reading any more books for challenges this year. So here's the tally:Around the World Challenge - 24/24 complete
Women's Classics Century Challenge - 10/10 complete
Old and New Classics - 10/10 complete
Classics Bingo - 24/24 complete
Best of 20th Century - 6/12 complete
A-Z Author - 26/26 complete
Non-fiction Challenge - 20/20 complete
I completed every challenge except my Best of 20th century challenge which I only read 6 of my goal of 12. But I consider it to be a successful year for that challenge anyway because I was so impressed with the books I read. I had one 3 star, one 5 star and the remaining were 4 star reads.
I read:
1 Shirley Ann Grau - The Keepers of the House 4*
2 Richard Wright - Native Son 4*
3 Sherwood Anderson - Winesburg, Ohio 4*
4 Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita 3*
5 Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita 4*
6 Willa Cather - Death Comes for the Archbishop 5*
As for the other challenges, I am pleased that I completed them and am glad that I read so many classics. But by the same token, I am pretty burned out on challenges after participating in them with my groups for the past 4 years. So in 2017, I will forgo challenges except for my ongoing long-term challenges such as my Best of 20th century. I want to have a year of more spontaneity which hopefully means less self-imposed pressure.
I look forward to cheering on our group members who are competing in the various challenges. I love that we have them and that so many people are enthusiastic and are joining in. It has been very hard to resist signing on myself even though I determined am not to. I love looking at everyone's updates as the year progresses and adding to my TBR when some great books are read.
Wow! Laurie, very impressive! Enjoy your "year of spontaneity"!!
Looks like you had a fantastic year of reading challenges! Well done and good luck with your more spontaneous reading in 2017 :)
Thanks, Terris and Pink. 2016 was a good year and I expect 2017 will be as well.
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Sara wrote: "Amazing! I don't even know how you kept up with that many challenges...I'd have forgotten to post things. I hope your free-reading is FUN in 2017."Thanks, Sara. Lots of planning which is what I see eveyone doing in their 2017 challenges right now. I didn't forget to post things because I had a spreadsheet to help. But I will admit that I found it to be a hassle to post after a while. Hence the decision to pass up next year's challenges. Fun is what I am going for ;-)
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I am continuing with my personal challenge of reading my own best of the 20th century challenge. I had a goal last year of 12 and only managed 6. This year I don't have a specific number in mind, so I'll just see how I do. Time to fess-up that I changed my list a bit since a review of my titles in December showed a serious lack of female-authored books. So I exchanged some male-authored books to bring my female author total to 35 out of 100. Not the percentage I would like but much better than most famous lists. I have read my first book for my challenge this year, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie which was an odd story for me. The characters are not at all likeable and Miss Brodie's actions with the young girls are deplorable. She wasn't truly a teacher, she was more of an odd cult leader. Or she tried to lead the girls in a rather cult-like manner. I'm not actually sure that I didn't like the story, but I found it to be unusual.
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I haven't seen the movie, but many people have commented about it in their reviews. It was better liked than the book so I need to check it out.
Laurie, I just read the book a week ago and watched the film immediately afterwards, which made me appreciate it even more. It's available on YouTube if you do decide to watch it :)
Pink wrote: "Laurie, I just read the book a week ago and watched the film immediately afterwards, which made me appreciate it even more. It's available on YouTube if you do decide to watch it :)"Awesome! Thank you for the information, Pink. I will take a look.
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
East of Eden (other topics)To Sir, With Love (other topics)
A Month in the Country (other topics)
Empty Wardrobes (other topics)
Owls Do Cry (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
E.R. Braithwaite (other topics)John Steinbeck (other topics)
J.L. Carr (other topics)
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (other topics)
Alan Paton (other topics)
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I decided in mid 2013 that I would read the classics of the 20th century that most interested me. I made up my list comprised of books on several different best of 20th century lists with some adjustments to include a more diverse international list. Some books didn't make my list because I didn't want too many books by any single author. Others were simply a novel I knew I would never read. I will reread any that I read prior to 2013.
As of January 1, 2023 I've read 91 of my 100. I am quite determined to complete this challenge this year.
READ 2013-2023 COMPLETED 9/30/23
100/100 read
Daphne DuMaurier - Rebecca
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children
Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon
John Le Carre - The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Jean Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
Thornton Wilder - The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God
J. R. R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings
Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Toni Morrison - Beloved
Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
E. B. White - Charlotte's Web
Wallace Stegner - Angle of Repose
V. S. Naipaul - A Bend in the River
William Maxwell - So Long, See You Tomorrow
James Joyce - Ulysses
F. Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night
Chinua Achebe - Things Falls Apart
James Baldwin - Go Tell It on the Mountain
J. D. Salinger - the Catcher in the Rye
Edith Wharton - The Age of Innocence
Flannery O'Connor - A Good Man is Hard to Find
Max Beerbohm - Zuleika Dobson
George Orwell - 1984
Graham Greene - The Quiet American
Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea
Robert Graves - I, Claudius
John O'Hara - Appointment in Samarra
Isabel Allende - The House of the Spirits
Ken Kesey - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Shirley Ann Grau - The Keepers of the House
Richard Wright - Native Son
Sherwood Anderson - Winesburg, Ohio
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita
Willa Cather - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man
Ernest J. Gaines - A Lesson Before Dying
Barbara Pym - Excellent Women
Edith Wharton - The House of Mirth
Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Pat Barker - Regeneration
Ursula Hegi - Stones from the River
George S. Schuyler - Black No More
Margaret Walker - Jubilee
Irmgard Keun - After Midnight
James Baldwin - Giovanni's Room
E.M. Forster - Howards End
Iris Murdoch - Under the Net
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Dorothy Allison - Bastard Out of Carolina
Louise Erdrich - Love Medicine
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust
Djuna Barnes - Nightwood
Miles Franklin - My Brilliant Career
Tsitsi Dangarembga - Nervous Conditions
Eudora Welty - The Optimist's Daughter
Naguib Mahfouz - Palace Walk
Radclyffe Hall - The Well of Loneliness
Kamala Markandaya - Nectar in a Sieve
Fumiko Enchi - The Waiting Years
Joy Kogawa - Obasan
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - A Grain of Wheat
Bessie Head - When Rain Clouds Gather
Rudolfo Anaya - Bless Me, Ultima
Clarice Lispector - The Hour of the Star
Rose Allatini - Despised and Rejected
Ama Ata Aidoo - Changes: A Love Story
Elizabeth von Arnim - The Enchanted April
Ann Petry - The Street
Birgit Vanderbeke - The Mussel Feast
Magda Szabó - Iza's Ballad
Janet Frame - Owls Do Cry
Joan Lindsay - Picnic at Hanging Rock
Anita Desai - Clear Light of Day
Beryl Gilroy - Frangipani House
Sylvia Townsend Warner - Lolly Willowes
Josephine Winslow Johnson - Now in November
Carol Shields - The Stone Diaries
Dorothy Canfield Fisher - The Home-Maker
Leslie Marmon Silko - Ceremony
Olivia Manning - The Great Fortune
Pearl S. Buck - The Good Earth
Gloria Naylor - The Women of Brewster Place
J.L. Carr - A Month in the Country
E.R. Braithwaite - To Sir, With Love
Maria Judite de Carvalho - Empty Wardrobes
Alan Paton - Cry, the Beloved Country
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki - The Makioka Sisters
John Steinbeck - East of Eden