The 2021 Classics Challenge

[Gemini]

Following on from a thread on this topic, I have decide to set a challenge!
This is for myself, to catch up on unread Classics.
Anyone care to join me?

The aim is to read at least one classic during 2021 which you have never read.

My challenge to myself is to try to read one a month.
Yours can be whatever you like. I am a fast reader who reads a lot, especially now, so fitting in one classic a month won't be hard.
You will know what suits you. One a month, one in the year, or somewhere in between!

Tell us about it here, and we will see at the end of the year how we have got on.

I am reading Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier at the moment, so that is my January choice.

[Oma]

So many i keep saying i will read so this may give me the push i need

[Plantaholic]

Will have a think about that Gemini, it takes me a long time to get through a book on Audible, the summer is easier as I sit in the sun room and plug myself in. Rebecca is an amazing book and film.

[Daisy]

Gem - how can I resist! I'll have a think about what to tackle. It does feel like a project because most classics are description heavy, and I like plenty of dialogue.

[Gemini]

Today I started Wuthering Heights, my February choice for my Classic challenge.
I have heard positive and negative thoughts on this book from various people.
I will report back.

I enjoyed my January choice ofRebecca.

[Daisy]

Well done, Gem. You are keeping to your Challenge. I hope you enjoy Wuthering Heights.

[Gemini]

I finished Wuthering Heights yesterday. I'm glad I read it, as I wanted to have read it, if you see what I mean!
I didn't like the book, or the characters, and certainly would never re read it. Unlike Jane Eyre which I have read several times.

I think next month will be either The Woman in White or Oliver Twist. I'll decide in March

Others on my list this year are:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Middlemarch
Anne of Green Gables
Wide Sargasso Sea
Pride and Prejudice
Howard's End
Frankenstein
Catcher in the Rye

[Oma]

I finished Pride and Prejudice the other day and now I am reading Sense and sensibility about 6 chapters in and really enjoying it already ,

I think my next one may be Rebecca or maybe To kill a mockingbird .

[Enfys]

This sounds like something I would enjoy, I’ll give it some thought.

[Sum1Ls]

I’m reading The Making of the British Countryside. It’s a real classic, hugely interesting, but very dense and the font is point 8 so I’ve been at it a long time. I’ve been through the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and I’m now in the Romans! Still a long way to go and I keep getting distracted by other, much easier to read (although not so useful or well written) books that I’ve downloaded on Kindle. Sigh...

[Gemini]

Wow Sum1!

[Daisy]

Sum1 - I salute your perseverance with such demanding text, but I bet it's fascinating. I hope the Romans are keeping you entertained.

Re-reading this thread, has helped me to refocus my thoughts on the Classics. I think I've got a bit fixated on Jane Austen and The Brontes, and haven't thought about other authors. So I've started to look a bit wider. I Googled "The 25 greatest British novels - BBC Culture"

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/...british-novels

I was going to choose a book I had never read - Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy was looking favourite. But when I got to the top of the list it named Middlemarch by George Eliot at number 1 I changed my mind. I read it at school but have no clear memory of it, except that I wanted to read it, not analyse it 'O' Level style!

So it's next on my TBR pile.

[Plantaholic]

Just looked up Middlemarch, I wondered if it was a book I could get on my audible books. Apart from lots of comments about the story, it says as it is 880 pages long, it is not for the faint hearted. As I usually (apart from the summer in my sunroom) only listen in bed and quite often fall asleep. I will perhaps attempt it in the summer. I would love to see it on television.

[Daisy]

Plant - I didn't realise it was that long, but it'll be ok on my Kindle. I mostly read in bed, so I'll have to have some early nights!

[Oma]

I found the first 6 chapters of Sense and sensibility rather tedious but now im into it and enjoying reading it .