Here are the twelve novels I plan to read this year for the 2019 Back to the Classics Challenge and thanks again to Karen K at Books and Chocolate for hosting this event.
19th Century Classic - The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope - I have been introduced to Trollope through Brian Joseph's excellent book blog, Babbling Books, and so this year I will read what many consider to be one of Trollope's best novels.
20th Century Classic - Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I loved the first novel in Wilder's Little House Series and Farmer Boy is book two which I'm pretty certain I will love as well.
Classic by a Woman Author - Excellent Women by Barbara Pym - Ruthiella at Booked for Life, Lark at Lark Writes On Books and Life and JaneGS at Reading Writing Working Playing are all Pym fans and that's all the encouragement I need to give Pym a try.
Classic in Translation - The Wreath by Sigrid Undset - Never read her but I have been hearing about Undset's acclaimed Kristin Lavransdatter saga for some time now and The Wreath is book one in that series.
Classic Comic Novel - The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse. Skimmed Jeeves In The Morning many years ago and Bertie Wooster is hysterically funny without even realizing it.
Classic Tragic Novel - Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. A great novel about how we may think we know how we'll behave in a crisis but until the crisis hits, we really don't know. Been described as a novel of guilt and atonement.
Very Long Classic - The Adventures of Augie Marsh by Saul Bellow - Years ago I read a bit of Dean's December but Augie Marsh is the novel Bellow is most known for, one of the great novels and novelists of the 20th century.
Classic Novella - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - I have seen the movie starring Alistair Sim many times. A marvelous story about how it's never too late to turn one's life around for the better.
Classic from the Americas or the Caribbean - A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul. This novel is set in Trinidad. I read Naipaul's A Turn in the South years ago which I was quite impressed with and so I am looking forward to A House for Mr. Biswas.
Classic from Africa, Asia or Oceania (includes Australia) - The Good Earth by Pearl Buck which is set in China where many of Pearl Buck's novels take place. Read it possibly in high school and the novel made a big impression and so I'm hoping that will still be true when I read it again after all these years.
Classic From A Place You've Lived A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Okay, I've never lived in Brooklyn but I have lived in New York City for most of my life and Brooklyn is a borough within NYC so I figure I'm covered.
Classic Play - Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Not proud of the fact that this is the only Shakespeare play I've ever read and it helped that our high school English teacher walked us through it line by line. So I have decided to reread Julius Caesar to see how much I retained.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to read my reviews here at Reading Matters. It means so much to me and I wish everyone a Healthy and Happy New Year. Now, on to the reading!
Impressive reading list - I'll look forward to reading your reviews.
ReplyDeleteHi Iris, Thanks so much for your comment. It is an ambitious list. I worry too ambitious but some of these books are lighter reads than others. Still, since I plan to read more books than the above 12 in 2019 I am planning some fun mysteries to relax. Donna Leon is always good for that.
DeleteThat sounds like fun :-) Barbara Pym's Excellent Women is on my TBR pile, too. I hope I'll get round to reading it soon!
ReplyDeleteHi Ginette, Thanks for your comment. Barbara Bym is new to me as a writer but a number of book bloggers speak very highly of her so I think you and I will enjoy Excellent Women which is the book she is most known for.
DeleteThanks for the mention and thanks for the good word. I think that you will like The Way We Live Now. In addition to really liking it myself, it is a stand-alone so one does not get drawn into a series by reading it.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your upcoming posts!
Thanks Brian, one of the great things about blogging is finding the blogging community. Writers like Trollope and Barbara Pym were on my radar but vaguely but thanks to you and the other bloggers out there doing such fine work I have learned about all these great books that I never would have thought of otherwise.
DeleteExcellent list. I am a lifelong Little House fan and have been rereading the books myself over the past 5 years - Farmer Boy is one of my favorites. I'm always amazed by how much that boy can eat! Excellent Women is excellent as is Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Good luck and good reading.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jane, Very glad to hear you liked Farmer Boy so much and I know I am going to love it. Never read Pym. I partially read A Trr Grows in Brooklyn years ago and very impressed with the parts I did read. I will be eager to read your reviews in 2019. The world of book blogging is so great and I just wish I had discovered it earlier.
DeleteI think you've picked the best Barbara Pym novel to start with. That one's my favorite, although I haven't read one I've disliked. And I'm a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, too, although I have to admit, Farmer Boy was never my favorite growing up. (It didn't have Laura in it.) I like it much better now that I'm an adult. Good luck with this challenge! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lark, I am so glad to hear you liked Excellent Women. I picked that one because its the novel Barbara Pym is best known for, her best one I think. Good luck with your challenge too and you gave me the idea to simultaneously read books I owned prior to 2018. I have been looking through my kindle and I have some buried treaures there!
DeleteI am probably going to choose The Way We Live now too, but for another category. I love it when there is overlap so I can find out what other readers liked or dislikes and find what perhaps something I missed!
ReplyDeleteWow, unlike your list last year, I have actually already read most of your 2019 planned reading. That never happens! The only books from your list that I have not read aside from the Trollope are A Christmas Carol and the Wreath.
Happy reading and I look forward to reading all your reviews! :
Hi Ruthiella, I like it too when there is overlap because agree we can all read the same book and each of us will find something different, come at it from a new perspective. Did you like The Good Earth and Tree Grows in Brooklyn, rereads for me but I have fond memories of these two books.
DeleteWonderful list with so many of my favorite authors. I still remember fondly the first time I read The Good Earth, and would love to read it again.
ReplyDeleteThanks James, The Good Earth made a good impression on me too when I first read it. Oddly I never went on to read anything else by Pearl Buck and I want to change that.
DeleteShakespeare I am sure I read and I always think I have read A Christmas Carol but I think maybe I am thinking of the movies, I need to go check my goodreads. Happy new year and here is to lots of good books and good health xxx
ReplyDeleteLainy http://www.alwaysreading.net
Thanks Lainy, a very Happy New Year and good health to you too. Regarding, A Christmas Carol the definitive movie version is the one filmed in 1951 starring Alistair Sim. He gives a marvelous performance.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete