While I procrastinate on writing my review of Colson Whitehead's Zone One, I figured I'd start putting together a list of books to read for the Back to the Classics challenge. This has proven to be more difficult than I thought. Below is my tentative list of choices. The ones that have a little story around them (because I can't stop talking) are the ones I'm fairly sure of. The ones that are a list of titles are some suggestions so I don't forget them, but those are very much up for debate. And yes, I know there's only one option under Romance but it's still tentative. I can't think of any romances so suggestions are welcome.
Any 19th Century Classic
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
Any 20th Century Classic
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Reread a classic of your choice
Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut. I read this when I was about 16, loved it, and then read a bunch of other Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions being a favorite). But I haven't read the guy in awhile and it seems to make sense to go back to the beginning. Well beginning for me.
A Classic Play
Twelfth Night by Shakespeare. I was originally thinking of reading Midsummer but realized I should probably pick something I haven't read, not something I've read a bajillion and 12 times.
Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction -
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I read a few pages of this when I was trying out the iBooks app on my iPod. Now seems like a good opportunity to actually finish it.
Classic Romance
Emma by Jane Austen
A Classic translated from its original language to your native language
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I would have never come up with this one except my good friend has been bugging me to read this for awhile and he offered to lend me his copy for the challenge. So how could I pass that up?
Classic Award Winner
The Confederancy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Classic set in a country you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime
The Hobbit by Tolkein. I might hate myself for this. I read the first 2 LotR books and really tried to make it through RotK and couldn't do it. But I've had The Hobbit sitting on my shelf for years so I should just suck it up and read it.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
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Comments by IntenseDebate
Back to the Classics - My tentative reading list
2011-11-09T08:58:00-05:00
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Back to the Classics|reading challenge|
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readingrambo 112p · 696 weeks ago
Everyone seems to be having a hard time with romance. I had to scan my shelves for like 10 minutes to find something. But The Hobbit is *excellent* and way easier to read than LOTR. Also, East of Eden is one of my favorite books of all time.
Beth · 696 weeks ago
Jennifer · 696 weeks ago
Bev@My Readers Block · 696 weeks ago
readingthethings 62p · 696 weeks ago
I'm also reading Emma for the "romance." :-)
Paolo! · 696 weeks ago
readingthethings 62p · 696 weeks ago
http://jillianreadsbooks2.wordpress.com/2011/11/0...
In case you're interested. The two seem to pair well. You can repeat the same titles. :-)
Laura · 696 weeks ago
Anyway, I approve of your list even though, as Alice said about a million comments ago, it could have more ladies on it- so get on that! God, I'm bossy...
Brenna · 695 weeks ago
I read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in college and LOVED It.
Broche @ Wildly Read · 695 weeks ago
Paolo! · 695 weeks ago
Any 19th Century Classic
The Three Musketeers (Dumas) - Gotta go lighthearted somewhere on here.
Any 20th Century Classic
Ulyss-hahahaha no let's not even pretend.
I'll play this one by ear. Maybe The Sound and the Fury, maybe some Hemingway. And I've never read any Steinbeck. Definitely a modernist.
Reread a classic of your choice
Probably Slaughterhouse 5, for the same reason, actually. I wonder if I still know how to spell Trafalmadorian. (Google says I misplaced the L. TraLfama...) Maybe Gatsby or On The Road.
A Classic Play
If I'm still on the horror kick the rest of these items are for, I'll probably read Faust (Goethe)
Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction
Never read any Lovecraft, so I'll throw in some of his stuff here. He counts as classic in my book, at least.
Classic Romance
I dunno. I just read P&P&Z, and that was enough romance for me for a while. This says something about me. I'm not sure if it's flattering or not.
Maybe Madame Bovary (Flaubert)?
A Classic translated from its original language to your native language
Probably Inferno (Dante)
Classic Award Winner
Well golly gee there's a lot of awards to choose from and a lot of books I haven't heard of. No clue. I want to sneak some Brit lit on here, so I guess I'll pull from the Man Booker? Possibly Midnight Children (Rushdie).
Or, I might cave and finally read Gravity's Rainbow (Pynchon), since it's already on my Kindle and everything.
Classic set in a country you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime
Thanks to Red, I've settled on, appropriately enough, "My Name is Red" (Orhan Pamuk). Takes place in 16th century Istanbul, which if I remember correctly, sets it concurrently with the American Revolution.