Back to the Classics Challenge 2013 Wrap-Up

Each year Sarah Reads Too Much hosts the Back to the Classics Challenge. I need very little prodding to read classics, but I always participate in this one because I love the categories she comes up with! I completed the challenge and below are my books with links to each review. I earned three entries by finishing all six main categories and the six optional categories.

I read some really fascinating books for this challenge. I encountered Hemingway in the unexpected gender-bender The Garden of Eden and comtemplated solitude with Thoreau in Walden. I considered the morality debates in The Brothers Karamozov and the impact of societal expectations in Native Son. It really was a wonderful collection of books!

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Sarah for hosting this. It’s a lot of work to coordinate something like this. She even has individual pages for each category to link up, etc. I’m a list maker, so I love being able to check these off my list as I go through the year. Thank you Sarah!

THE CATEGORIES

The Required Categories:

A 19th Century Classic – Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (1848)

A 20th Century Classic – The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway

A Pre-18th or 18th Century Classic – Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

A Classic relating to the African-American Experience – Native Son by Richard Wright

A Classic Adventure – Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
A Classic that features an Animal – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

Optional Categories:

Re-read a Classic – Persuasion by Jane Austen
A Russian Classic – The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

A Classic Non-Fiction title – Walden by Hendy David Thoreau
Classic Children's/Young Adult title – Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Classic Short Stories – A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

Top Ten Books On My Fall 2013 TBR List

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Books on My Fall 2013 TBR List.

1) Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder: It’s on my TBR Challenge list and my book club is reading it this year.

2) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky: This beast is the last book I need to read for the Back to the Classics Challenge.

3) Dune by Frank Herbert: I’m really looking forward to finally reading this one. It’s been on my list too long.

4) The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith: Caved to the hype. I love the Harry Potter books and I’m a fan of the occasionally crime noir.

5) Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya: I try to read at least one banned book each year and this is my selection for 2013.

6) If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino: Care and I are planning a laid back readalong on this one this fall.

7) The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare: I’m a bit behind on my Let’s Read Plays challenge.  

8) The Night Watch by Sarah Waters: All three of these final ones are books I’ve had my eye on for the annual R.I.P. Challenge. I love a good spooky story or mystery in the fall!

9) The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

10) Faithful Place by Tana French

Image from here. 

Top Ten Most Intimidating Books

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for our Top Ten Most Intimidating Books. I’ve learned that most massive books (Moby Dick, The Count of Monte Cristo, etc. aren’t nearly as scary as I thought they’d be, but here are a few that still freak me out.

1) Ulysses by James Joyce – Stream of consciousness ramblings, I just can’t bring myself to read it.

2) Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – Okay, after getting hooked on the TV show this year I’m dying to read this one, but I’m hesitating for 2 reasons. First is because the books are ginormous and second, I’m worried I’ll finish them and have to wait 5 years for the next one.

3) Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust – It is seven volumes long!

4) Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace – Some say it’s genius, others say it’s pretentious, regardless it is huge.

5) The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser – This massive book is the never-ending tome that Granny has to read before she dies in the Thursday Next series.

6) Dune by Frank Herbert – I think this one scares me because my Dad’s been recommending it for years. I’m worried I’ve built it up too much in my head.

7) The Brothers Karamazov by Leo Tolstoy – It’s big, it’s Russian, etc. I read War & Peace and it wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would be, so I just need to dive in.

8) Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin – I’m curious about this book, but I’m also worried it’s going to be really boring and badly written.

9) Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Everything by this author scares me for some reason.

10) The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien – I’ve read Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but this beast just does not look fun.  

Image from here.