1. A 19th century classic: any book
first published from 1800 to 1899: Middlemarch by George Eliot (1872)
2. A 20th century classic: any book first
published from 1900 to 1971. All books must have been published at least 50
years ago; the only exceptions are books which were written by 1971 and
posthumously published: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1971)
3. A classic by a woman author: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920)
4. A classic in
translation, meaning any book first published in a language that is not your
primary language. You may read it in translation or in its original language, if
you prefer: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
5. A classic by BIPOC author; that is, a non-white author: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
6. A
classic by a new-to-you author, i.e., an author whose work you have never read: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938)
7. New-to-you classic by a favorite author -- a new book by an author whose
works you have already read: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1874)
8. A classic about an animal, or with an animal in
the title. The animal can be real or metaphorical. (i.e., To Kill a
Mockingbird): Moby-Dick by Herman Melleville (1851)
9. A children's classic: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961)
10. A humorous or satirical classic: Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (1954)
11.
A travel or adventure classic (fiction or non-fiction). It can be a travelogue
or a classic in which the main character travels or has an adventure: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (1933)
12. A
classic play. Plays will only count in this category: The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill (1946)
Several of these titles (Eyes were watching, Rebecca, Angle of Repose) are on my Classics Club list for next year, though I'm not using them for this challenge. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAngle of Repose has been on my TBR for a while now. I'm really glad it (barely) makes the cut for this challenge.
DeleteTheir Eyes Were Watching God is beautifully written, Age of Innocence is well written, too, with excellent characters. Don't know if you've read Moby-Dick before, but don't give up, if you get frustrated. Power through it. It may seem like a purposeless story, but it's the opposite.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I haven't read any of the books! I was happy to find this challenge to give me some extra motivation to read some neglected classics. Thanks!
DeleteGreat picks! Middlemarch was long, but very good. It helped me to use both audiobook and the physical book for this one... I think because the size and weight of the physical book was daunting for me at times, so it was nice to not focus on that and instead, focus on the plot. The BBC adaptation was well done and stuck close to the novel. Their Eyes Were Watching God was good... I think I would have enjoyed and understood it better if I had chosen audiobook... the strong accents were hard to decipher at times. I really enjoyed Stegner's Crossing to Safety, so I am hoping to read Angle of Repose at some point.
ReplyDeleteHere is my Back to Classics list, if interested!
https://elle-alice.blogspot.com/2021/01/back-to-classics-2021-challenge.html