A new year has arrived and let's hope 2021 is better for all of us. Books of course always make things more bearable and so here are the books I plan to read this year for the 2021 Back to the Classics Challenge:
I9th Century Classic - Middlemarch by George Elliot - I had planned to read this novel last year but it's a long book and I kept putting it off. This year I resolve to read it even if I never get around to posting because Middlemarch is not just a classic but one of the greatest novels in the English language.
20th Century Classic - Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammet - Years ago I read one of his short stories and remember thinking, boy he's good! Red Harvest is the first volume in Hammet's collection of Continental Op hardboiled detective stories.
Woman Author - So Big by Edna Ferber - A popular Pulitzer Prize winning novelist from the earlier part of the 20th century. Well known in her day and you wonder did gender play a factor in why authors like Edna Ferber, Susan Glaspell and Ellen Glasgow (also early 20th century Pulitzer winners) aren't better known today?
Classic in Translation - The Wife by Sigried Undset - This is the second book in Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy. These novels are set in Norway during the Middle Ages and well written.
Classic by a New Author - Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemmingway - First time reading him and this is a memoir about his time in Paris as a member of the lost generation in the 1920's.
Classic by a Favorite Author - The Nether World by George Gissing - I have read his classic 19th century novels The Odd Women and New Grub Street and loved both books so The Nether World is next on the list.
Classic Travel or Adventure Novel - Here is New York by E. B. White. A book length essay written in the 1940's in which the author walks around Manhattan writing down everything he sees. Considered a classic love letter to New York.
Classic About an Animal - Call of The Wild by Jack London. Kind of an obvious choice for this category.
Children's Classic - Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary - I remember reading a book I liked when I was very young about a boy named Henry and his dog. I don't remember the title but if Henry Huggins is the novel I read back then I was reading classics early.
Classic Play - Macbeth by William Shakespeare - I have read only one play by Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, and that's not enough. Once again I am using the Shakespeare Made Easy edition.
Classic Comedy - Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger. Holden Caulfield is a troubled young teenager but also a very funny narrator as he goes after the phonies he sees all around him. I loved this book as a teenager but does it hold up?
Classic by Person of Color -The Street by Ann Petry - Karen K at Books and Chocolate (please check out her book blog under blogs I follow) is hosting this year's 2021 Back to the Classics Challenge. She recently posted about The Street which centers around a single mother living in Harlem during the 1940's trying to raise her young son. This novel has been on my radar for a long time and so now is my time to give it a try.
Thanks once again Karen K for hosting this wonderful Classics Challenge and Happy New Year and Happy Reading to All!
This is an impressive choice of books. Middlemarch really was a great and enjoyable book. I am curious what you will think about it.
ReplyDeleteI also think that Macbeth is a good choir. Happy reading!
Thanks Brian, Certain books sit at the top of the classics pyramid, Middlemarch, Don Quixote, War and Peace and I at least want to read one or two of them and of course Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteGreat choices! I absolutely love Middlemarch, mostly because Dorothea is such a likable character. And A Moveable Feast is probably the only book by Hemingway I actually like because Paris! (I'm not really a fan of Hemingway if you couldn't tell.) Happy reading! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks Lark, I chose Hemmingway too because of Paris. Never read his fiction. Moveable Feast will be the first time reading him so I hope I like the book. Middlemarch is such a great novel and I will be interested to find out more about Dorothea.
DeleteYay for Middlemarch! I think, once you get into it, you will find it is a compelling read despite its length. I have fond memories of having read it.
ReplyDeleteA Movable Feast is really lovely. I think you will enjoy it. It isn’t like his fiction really at all.
You are right about Edna Ferber being unfortunately forgotten. I suspect you are correct and were she a male, her books would be better known. At least have the film Giant and the musical Show Boat to remember her by since they were both based on her novels. I look forward to your review, because I’ve never read any of her books either.
I loved the Henry Huggins books as a kid (as well as Ramona and Beezus).
Hi Ruthiella, I must read Middlemarch and its long but I have read long books before and I have to pace myself.
DeleteRegarding Edna Ferber she was very popular in her day and a Pulitzer winner. And its puzzling because I look at Modern Library best 100 books of 20th century and you don't see Edna Ferber's books or Susan Glaspell but you do see Appointment in Samara which I read and I found it interesting but I preferred Fidelity by Glaspell. I thought it was the better written book.
Cannot believe I missed this post of yours! Okay - I love Middlemarch and hope you enjoy visiting it. I am planning a return trip myself soonish. I am also reading Edna Ferber this year - I was going to read So Big, but settled on Giant instead. I enjoyed the first half of Moveable Feast very much, but got exasperated with Hemingway in the second half - that said, I loved visiting Paris with him. I also like The Call of the Wild - Jack London is underrated, I think. Never did read Catcher in the Rye - will be interested to see how you like it. Macbeth is first rate, and pretty short - I think the shortest of the major tragedies. If you're up for a film version, I particularly enjoyed a reading that Judi Dench and Ian McKellen did in the round in black dress - very effective and moving.
ReplyDeleteHappy Classics Reading :)
Hi Jane, My apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I just saw you comments and I am going to devote a month of reading to Middlemarch because its long but also as classics go this is a great one! I will try to locate the Judi Dench and Ian McKellen film version of Macbeth. They are such wonderful actors. I finished Call of the Wild and I was really taken with Jack London's writing talent. Not sure if I will finish all of the books in the challenge but Middlemarch is a must since it was on my list last year and I didn't get around to it. No excuses this year.
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