(photo from Amazon, Penguin Hardcover Collection)
How did I arrive here? Well, the number of classics on my To-Be-Read (TBR) list is not in danger of shrinking if I allow them to linger there another year. Toward the middle of 2010 , I experienced some burnout - my review schedule was entirely too full. I over committed and agreed to review books I wouldn't ordinarily read, much less want to write about. The lack of freedom to post off topic left me frustrated. I imagine most book bloggers at some point have to deal with how to balance the books so to speak - but my answer is go Back to Basics. Reading what I want, when I want, and getting sidetracked looking at pretty non bookish things. One trend from last year was incorporating authors into novels: The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott , What Alice Knew (Henry James and family), and Alice I Have Been(Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll) . My super challenging, yet oh so rewarding experience with Anna Karenina last fall gave me some needed confidence in tackling hard books. And sealing the deal - The Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse was my finale read of 2010. It was a marvelous tale of two serious book lovers and their journey to open a shop that only carries "good novels". The whole concept brings up so many questions that it begs for a discussion for another time, but I found the notion intriguing, especially considering what was already bouncing around in my head.
The order remains pretty loose because I don't thrive in a heavily structured reading environment. Also if you, dear reader, are determined to read Lonesome Dove while vacationing in out West this summer- I'll pick it up then too. The pace is set at 2 per month to leave room for other deliberate reading choices or to allow for a month when tackling an 800 pager. Compare this to your list and see if any match up - I would love to coordinate if possible. Many of these titles I either already have, are free or $1 on Kindle, or super easy to acquire via library or used book store. We can even trade them...
The Back to Basics list:
- My Antonia - Willa Cather
- The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
- Middlemarch, Silas Marner, Daniel Deronda - George Eliot (3 books)
- Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
- The Nine Tailors - Dorothy Sayers
- Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
- Villette - Charlotte Bronte
- Faulkner - I'm open to suggestions here
- Our Mutual Friend OR Dombey & Son OR Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens
- The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
- Brideshead Revisited OR A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh
- My Man Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
- The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
- Crime & Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson
- The Minister's Wooing - Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (newly trans. by Lydia Davis)
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass
- The Man Who Was Thursday - GK Chesterton
- The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
- The Leavenworth Case - Anne Katherine Green
- The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
- Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
- The Beautiful and Damned - F Scott Fitzgerald
- Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Unset (1000+ pages yikes!)
- Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
- Night - Elie Wiesel
- Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
- also considering Henry James and Anthony Trollope titles
Bravo to you if counted and see the list has more than 24 titles. Three reasons - 1. I love making lists 2. I already read one (My Antonia) , and began two others last year (i'll probably have to reread a bit, but still I don't want you to call me cheater cheater pumpkin eater as Owen likes to say) and 3. I worry I may not be able to finish a couple (due to timing or boredom or both) so I padded it. And yes, some of these titles may seem a bit obscure, but I have read a few classics in my day - mostly the obvious ones (Austens, Jane Eyre, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gatsby, etc.) And if I get really desperate, I can always watch the movies, wink wink.
As a heads up, I'm planning to read Madame Bovary next. If anyone wants my copy of My Antonia, I'll be happy to give it to you, just leave your request in the comments section.
If you'd like to see a comprehensive list of classics lookie here - Penguin Classics Backlist.
I'd love to see your classics list or your self-made reading plan for 2011. And if you are considering playing along (because this is supposed to be enjoyable) please share your thoughts! There is no hurry, feel free to let it simmer for a few days. I have had the benefit of thinking about it for a few months. Just check in from time to time and maybe you'll catch a spark.
The End.