Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Back to the Classics - My tentative reading list

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.

Comments (28)

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This is the most masculine booklist EVER. Explain yourself!

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.
1 reply · active 696 weeks ago
I love this and am interested to see the final list. I had a hard time with the choices I made this year and am sad to say that I won't finish. I will say that I'd love to see your review of The Confederacy of Dunces. I read it a few years back and found it hilarious, but I've seen so many negative reviews.
5 replies · active 695 weeks ago
I liked this challenge this year, though I'm sure it's off to the challenge graveyard, along with every other challenge I attempted. Have fun!
1 reply · active 696 weeks ago
Bev@My Readers Block's avatar

Bev@My Readers Block · 696 weeks ago

I'll be interested to see what you think of Emma. It seems to be a book you either love or hate. I hated it...but there are plenty of people who think it's Austen's best.
3 replies · active 696 weeks ago
The Hobbit is a great choice for "place you'll never visit." I own it too but CANNOT BRING MYSELF to read it yet. :-)

I'm also reading Emma for the "romance." :-)
1 reply · active 696 weeks ago
I've gotta say, I wasn't thrilled by Hound. It was alright, but I feel like Conan Doyle just does better with short stories.
2 replies · active 696 weeks ago
Oh, I can't remember if I told you, but some of us are doing another classics event alongside Sarah's challenge:
http://jillianreadsbooks2.wordpress.com/2011/11/0...

In case you're interested. The two seem to pair well. You can repeat the same titles. :-)
1 reply · active 696 weeks ago
Please please please read East of Eden! And then The Grapes of Wrath again (you know you want to...) God, I love Steinbeck. Also, The Hours is one of my favourite books ever in the entire world. Just sayin. As for romances, Any Austen is good I think, I can't remember what I said I'd read *checks* Ooh, The Age of Innocence- which I think might have Daniel Day Lewis in it! (Kidding. Sort of. But I might have to watch the movie as well if he is).

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...
1 reply · active 696 weeks ago
Great list! I knew you'd pick a Shakespeare for the play :)

I read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in college and LOVED It.
1 reply · active 695 weeks ago
Good luck with this! That's so ambitious. I'm currently working on an adaptation of Twelfth Night; it's one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy it!
1 reply · active 695 weeks ago
Ok ok I'm impatient but I'll do this for reals and actually start in January and everything.

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.

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