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Reading Room:  Reading Challenge  |
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vmfein
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Valerie
Dale City
VA
USA
247 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 13 2012 : 09:39:29 AM
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I recently joined a club where people are challenging themselves to read 50 or more classic books (classic is your own interpretation) in 5 years (or longer if you want). I am pretty excited about joining and have already started reading my first book. Here is the info if anyone wants to join, http://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/about/
Here is the list of classic that I plan on reading. Most of them I have collected over the years, but as yet have not read. The asteriak mark * means this is a reread for me. I hope to complete this list by Aug 1 2017. I consider memoirs to be classics. Here is my list;
1. Pat of Silverbush by L.M. Montgomery
2.The Children by Edith Wharton
3. The Cossacks & the Raid by Leo Tolstoy
4. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
5. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
6. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
7. Heart of Darkness & Selected Short Fiction by Joseph Conrad
8. The Republic by Plato
9. Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus
10. Walden & Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
11. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton *
12. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
13. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
14. Germinal by Emile Zola
15. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson *
16. The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
17. The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln
18. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
19. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
20. Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
21. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck *
22. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
23. Othello by William Shakespeare
24. The Prince & the Pauper by Mark Twain
25. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
26. Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
27. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
28. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
29. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
30. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
31. The Book of Margery Kempe
32. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
33. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
34. The Horse & His Boy by C.S. Lewis
35. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
36. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
37. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
38. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
39. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
40. The Death of Ivan Ilych & other stories by Leo Tolstoy
41. Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
42. War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
43. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
44. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
45. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
46. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
47. Emma by Jane Austen
48. Persuasion by Jane Austen
49. Five Little Peppers & How They Grow by Margaret Sidney
50. Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
51. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
52. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
53. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
54. Poor Folk & other stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
55. North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell
56. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
57. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
58. The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper
59. Private Yankee Doodle by J.P. Martin
60. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
61. Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
62. Kilvert's Diary by Reverend Francis Kilvert
63. My Antonia by Willa Cather
64. The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman, Jr.
65. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
66. The Letters of the Rozmberk Sisters
67. Larkrise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
Farmgirl Sister #2619
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vmfein |
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GirlwithHook
True Blue Farmgirl
922 Posts
Alyce
Madison
WI
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2012 : 11:04:44 AM
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I hope you have better luck with Ivanhoe and Thomas Hardy than I did! Edith Wharton I found very...well, let's just say I will never understand why her work is considered classic. ( I actually find her morally offensive.) Ugh.
Five Little Peppers, Jane Eyre, and anything by Dickens you will probably LOVE. Tolstoy possibly too, although I find I can only read him in winter for some reason.
If you have time, may I suggest one more? Precious Bane by Mary Webb. Underrated and amazing.
Librarian-Girl will hop off her soapbox now. 
A hook, a book, and a good cup of coffee.... |
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vmfein
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Valerie
Dale City
VA
USA
247 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2012 : 1:39:47 PM
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I tried to pick books that I thought sounded at least somewhat interesing to me, but time will only tell if I like them. I know that I probably won't like all of the books on my list, as there is bound to be one that in the end I won't like. Most of the authors on my list I have never read before. Although I have read Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment which I really liked, even though I didn't agree with what the character did. I have heard his book The House of the Dead, is supposed to be really about his own true experience being in Serbia for his crimes against writing about his viewpoints of the Czar. I will have to look up that book Precious Bane and see what it is about. I love to find new books and authors.
Farmgirl Sister #2619
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vmfein |
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FieldsofThyme
Farmgirl Guide & Schoolmarm / Chapter Leader
4928 Posts
USA
4928 Posts |
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njaw09
True Blue Farmgirl
397 Posts
Annie
NJ
USA
397 Posts |
Posted - Sep 24 2012 : 2:40:20 PM
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I am reading Jane Austen: the complete novel (more than a 1000 pages) and anna Karenina both at the same time. I know I should start one at a time but can't help it.
I have lots of books you listed here and looking forward to read them also. You have a nice list here and hoping you don't mind if I copy it and jot it down on my notebook.
Thanks. |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Sep 24 2012 : 4:15:07 PM
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WOW! That's AWESOME, Valerie!
We use the classics as a basis for my son's homeschool for history, english, literature, geography, etc... We do a MINIMUM of 30 books per year. Believe me, I know what an undertaking this is, but you are going to be sooo happy once you've achieved your goal!
Last year we read (and I mean the entire book, cover to cover):
The Iliad by Homer
The Odyssey by Homer
Theogeny by Hesiod
The Complete Fables of Aesop
Greek Tragedies, Vol I
Greek Tragedies, Vol II
Greek Tragedies, Vol III
Histories by Herodotus
The Collected Dialogues of Plato (not quite all of them, though)
Landmark Thucydides - The Peloponnesian War
Greek Lives by Plutarch
The Complete Plays of Aristophanes
The First Philosophers - The PreSocratics and the Sophists
Euclid, Book I, (various sections)
Basic Works of Aristotle (various sections)
In addition, we read several books from the Bible, and my son read optional personally selected books on Theology, World War I and II, American History, Baseball History and others. I would have to look them up for you, because our old computer died; but I remember they included titles such as Huckleberry Finn, Chance or Purpose, Ethics: The Drama of the Moral Life, and others. When all was said and done, he read 46 books total, the majority of which were classics. Quite an accomplishment for a high school freshman! And he can intelligently discuss them, too!
This year, his core curriculum includes:
The Aenid by Virgil
The Complete Works of Tacitus
Cicero On Duties
On the Nature of Things by Lucretius
The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar
Early History of Rome by Livy
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Crusade of St. Louis by Al-Makrisi
Memoirs of the Crusade and Sir Galahad by Tennyson
Ecclesiastical History of the English People by St. Bede
Enneads by Plotinus
Discourses by Epicitus
Little Flowers of Saint Francis
Ptolemy's Almagest
Saint Augustine's Confessions
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Divine Comedy by Dante
Plutarch's Lives, Vol. I (again)
Plutarch's Lives, Vol. II (again)
Excerpts from the Quran
Two Lives of Charlemagne
The Guide for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides
And he has already almost completed another personal book selection on Vietnam.
The kid's a born reader, historian and storyteller... He breezes through this stuff like it's nothing, and really gets most of it. He actually gets upset when he notices discrepencies and "stretches" in documentaries and textbooks, and loves to explain them clearly to anyone who will listen. Mom, on the other hand, takes a bit longer to read and re-read to make sure she understands. Herodotus about killed me! LOL! All in all, though, he's getting a remarkable education by reading the classics! It's pretty exciting stuff. :)
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Edited by - Ninibini on Sep 24 2012 4:24:38 PM |
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MrsRooster
True Blue Farmgirl
1168 Posts
Amy
Seabrook
TX
USA
1168 Posts |
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MrsRooster
True Blue Farmgirl
1168 Posts
Amy
Seabrook
TX
USA
1168 Posts |
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MrsRooster
True Blue Farmgirl
1168 Posts
Amy
Seabrook
TX
USA
1168 Posts |
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FieldsofThyme
Farmgirl Guide & Schoolmarm / Chapter Leader
4928 Posts
USA
4928 Posts |
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sewbug
True Blue Farmgirl
61 Posts
kim
Charlton
ma
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2012 : 05:54:19 AM
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I started reading O'Pioneers, would that be on anyone's list? I find it not to be an easy read, which I am use to.
Sewbug
farmgirl sister #105
Happy Knitting! |
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MrsRooster
True Blue Farmgirl
1168 Posts
Amy
Seabrook
TX
USA
1168 Posts |
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MrsRooster
True Blue Farmgirl
1168 Posts
Amy
Seabrook
TX
USA
1168 Posts |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Oct 03 2012 : 09:59:49 AM
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I'm going to have to read that, Amy! We have finished "The Aenid" and are getting ready to wrap up Livy's, "Early History of Rome." I am finding the Romans much easier to read than the Greeks, but love the stories of both just the same. :) Very interesting stuff! :)
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Oct 03 2012 : 10:01:27 AM
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Kristina - have you ever seen or do you have the Jane Austen cookbook? I would love to check that out sometime! How neat it must be!!!
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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MrsRooster
True Blue Farmgirl
1168 Posts
Amy
Seabrook
TX
USA
1168 Posts |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Oct 03 2012 : 12:18:45 PM
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Oh my goodness! I didn't know there were more than one! Thank you, Amy! How cool! Hugs - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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vmfein
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Valerie
Dale City
VA
USA
247 Posts |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 8:43:47 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by sewbug
I started reading O'Pioneers, would that be on anyone's list? I find it not to be an easy read, which I am use to.
Sewbug
farmgirl sister #105
Happy Knitting!
I could never get into that one either, but have chosen to try to read My Antonia later. I remember watching the made for tv movie of My Antonia will Neil Patrick Harris years ago and I enjoyed that (course that isn't a guarantee I will enjoy the book, but still).
Farmgirl Sister #2619
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vmfein |
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vmfein
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Valerie
Dale City
VA
USA
247 Posts |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 8:45:38 PM
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I finally finished Pat of Silver Bush, it was an ok book. Not one that I think I will ever reread. There is a sequel to it, but haven't decided if I will read that one or not.
I have already started reading the second book on my list, The Children by Edith Wharton. So far I am liking it, only on page 25, but just trying to keep all of the characters straight.
Farmgirl Sister #2619
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vmfein |
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TeresaJ25
True Blue Farmgirl
975 Posts
Teresa
Medford
NY
USA
975 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2012 : 08:28:23 AM
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Wow! This sounds amazing and fun!! I have a collection of books that belonged to my Great, great Grandpa. My wonderful, sweet Grandma left them to me before she passed away 14 years ago, and I have always been too afraid to handle them for fear that something would happen to them. But what's the point of having them if I can't enjoy them... right?! There are so many intriguing titles.. I wonder where to start!!
I am going to join your reading challenge and I believe I will start with Tales by Edgar Allan Poe. Perhaps this is a fitting time of year to read something a little bit... dark? I don't know whether or not this is considered a classic - but it must have meant something special to my Great great Grandpa! Although I have to say that the book is not as worn as some of the others!! I think he was more a Dickens fan
~Teresa
Farmgirl Sister #1348
Little Henhouse on the Island
Keep reading. Keep learning. Keep loving. Keep giving. Keep smiling. Keep listening. Keep forgiving. Keep praying |
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MrsRooster
True Blue Farmgirl
1168 Posts
Amy
Seabrook
TX
USA
1168 Posts |
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Reading Room: Reading Challenge |
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Reading Challenge
