Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Tammy wrote: "The Tale of Genji was #32 on the classics by women and Lady Murasaki, I'm pretty sure, was on the people of color list. I agree that these kinds of lists can be suspect at times but I do check them..."

It never feels complete and some feels eurocentric.But,it is good for ideas or when in a read8ng slump to tick all the books you read/want to read..like in the listchallenges.com .
It lifts your mood or makes you want to read more.


Aubrey wrote: "I hadn't realized while formulating my personal lists of classics challenge that there was a board specifically for lists of classics, so I'll go ahead and post links to the ones I'm using as refer..."

Thanks for the links,Aubrey.

Since I turned fifty and decided to read a classic a month, these are the classics I’ve added to my list;

1. Therese Raquin- Emile Zola (1867)
2. The Trial- Franz Kafka (1925)
3. The Turn of the Screw- Henry James (1898)
4. Tender Is The Night- F. Scott Fitzgerald (1934)
5. Animal Farm- George Orwell (1945)
6. Nostromo- Joseph Conrad (1904)
7. Jane Eyre- Charlotte Brontë (1847)
8. The Sound and the Fury- William Faulkner (1929)
9. Candide- Voltaire (1759)
10. The Metamorphosis- Franz Kafka (1915)
11. The Naked and the Dead- Norman Mailer (1948)
12. The End of the Affair- Graham Greene (1951)
13. To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf (1927)
14. Myra Breckenridge- Gore Vidal (1968)
15. Madame Bovary- Gustave Flaubert (1856)
16. The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath (1963)
17. The Beast Within- Emile Zola (1890)
18. Mrs. Dalloway- Virginia Woolf (1925)
19. Decline and Fall- Evelyn Waugh (1928)
20. Orlando- Virginia Woolf (1928)
21. Jude The Obscure- Thomas Hardy (1895)
22. Villette- Charlotte Brontë (1853)
23. The Human Factor- Graham Greene (1978)
24. Silas Marner- George Eliot (1861)
25. Adam Bede- George Eliot (1859)
26. Far From The Madding Crowd- Thomas Hardy (1874)
27. Kim- Rudyard Kipling (1901)
28. Middlemarch- George Eliot (1872)
29. Lord Jim- Joseph Conrad (1900)
30. Shirley- Charlotte Brontë (1849)
31. Naked Lunch- William Burroughs (1859)
32. The Mayor of Casterbridge- Thomas Hardy (1886)
33. Down and Out In Paris and London- George Orwell (1933)
34. Mr Norris Changes Trains- Christopher Isherwood (1935)
35. Goodbye to Berlin- Christopher Isherwood (1939)
36. Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866)
37. The Quiet American- Graham Greene (1955)
38. Blood Meridien- Cormac McCarthy (1985)
39. The Moonstone- Wilkie Collins (1868)
40. Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison (1952)
41. The Rainbow- DH Lawrence (1915)
42. The Screwtape Letters- CS Lewis (1942)
43. Wide Sargasso Sea- Jean Rhys (1962)
44. A Single Man- Christopher Isherwood (1964)
45. If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller- Italo Calvino (1979)
46. Go Tell It On The Mountain- James Baldwin (1953)
47. Notes of a Native Son- James Baldwin (1955)
48. Nana - Emile Zola (1880)
49. The Fire Next Time- James Baldwin (1963)
50. Beloved- Toni Morrison (1987)
51. The Mill on the Floss- George Eliot (1860)
52. The Woodlanders- Thomas Hardy (1887)
53. The Secret Agent- Joseph Conrad (1907)
54. Of Human Bondage- W Somerset Maugham (1915)
55. The Periodic Table- Primo Levi (1975)
56. Typhoon- Joseph Conrad (1902)
57. Native Son- Richard Wright (1940)
58. The Honorary Consul- Graham Greene (1973)
59. Women in Love- DH Lawrence (1920)
60. The Bluest Eye- Toni Morrison (1970)
61. A Sentimental Education- Gustave Flaubert (1869)
62. Giovanni’s Room- James Baldwin (1956)
63. Politics and the English Language- George Orwell (1946)
64. L’Assommoir- Emile Zola (1876)
65. Don Quixote- Miguel de Cervantes (1605)

My Top Ten from this list is;

1. Madame Bovary
2. Adam Bede
3. Jude The Obscure
4. Jane Eyre
5. Crime and Punishment
6. The Trial
7. Therese Raquin
8. The End Of The Affair
9. A Single Man
10. The Rainbow

It’s been a rewarding journey.

PinkieBrown wrote: "Since I turned fifty and decided to read a classic a month, these are the classics I’ve added to my list;

1. Therese Raquin- Emile Zola (1867)
2. The Trial- Franz Kafka (1925)
3. The Turn of the S..."

I love your list. Great job. Also, I calculate that I must be about six months older than you...

Number 10 is The Rainbow, DH Lawrence; amazing poetic book.

Yes, thanks. I’m ahead of that book a month schedule by a couple of years; there’s some pretty short books in there!😀 At least it gives me more time with Don Quixote for one.
....

Great list! I see a lot of wonderful books on there
L'Assommoir is my favourite Zola novel.

Yeah it’s difficult to use the word “enjoy” with Zola but he writes like an angel and I like one of the literal translations of L’Assommoir which is “The Hammering”. Do you have any other favourites of his? I feel like I’ve read the books from his cycle that stand out (Nana, Germinal, Bete Humaine).....

I read the books in order so it is hard to pick just a few. Le Rêve, La Débâcle, La Faute de l'abbé Mouret are a few that stand out. Au bonheur des dames is the most cheerful book of the series. The absolute worst is the final book in the series, Le Docteur Pascal.

I've read only The Fortune of the Rougons so far. Rosemarie, did you follow a particular order to reading them?

I read the order given by the author, if at all possible.

PinkieBrown if you go the personal challenges folder you can start your own thread for all your books lists. It may make things easier.

Personal Challenges

Nice list! Lots of good ones there! :)

PinkieBrown wrote: "Yeah it’s difficult to use the word “enjoy” with Zola but he writes like an angel and I like one of the literal translations of L’Assommoir which is “The Hammering”. Do you have any other favourite..."

I don't have any recommendations, but Thérèse Raquin (which I know you have read) really stuck with me!! I loved it. Germinal is on my list for this year, so I hope I enjoy it as much!

@ Rosemarie;
I saw The Masterpiece and The Ladies Paradise recommended on a site; what do you think of those books? Zola, like Conrad, is someone I like to have one of their books to hand for when they suit a certain mood.

I like them both, Pinkie.

Thanks. Found a cheap copy of Ladies Paradise (Bonheur des dames means Happiness of Women I think, strange way of thinking of a department store😳).
I noticed you were reading Red Harvest so maybe I can return the recommendation by suggesting Hammett’s The Glass Key; then watch Millers Crossing which is a mixup of the two books!

I guess women really love to shop!

I liked The Glass Key more than Red Harvest, which was like a gangster movie in book form.

I found this list, The 10 ancient classics every student should read

I think I'll add it to my personal challenge. Time to get some ancient classics read -- I've actually not read any of these works.

Katy wrote: "I found this list, The 10 ancient classics every student should read

I think I'll add it to my personal challenge. Time to get some ancient classics read -- I've actually not read any of these works."

Nice Katy. I've read 2 and just happened to add one of them today to my list. Maybe I'll add a few more.

Oh I float through John Lewis on a cloud myself occasionally 😜

Yes if there are gangster elements in Glass Key they are an evolution from Red Harvest and the peeling apart of gangster movies and noir movies starts there. Bogart started in gangster films but he becomes the noir icon and Jimmy Cagney, the gangster icon. Glass Key gets at the political elements in gangsterism and even the title is supposed to represent the Key you have to turn as you ascend from the gutter to the next class level in society- the glass key is there to be turned but it invariably breaks in the lock.

Katy wrote: "I found this list, The 10 ancient classics every student should read

I think I'll add it to my personal challenge. Time to get some ancient classics read -- I've actually not read any of these works."

Great list, Katy. I've read three, and remember Metamorphoses as being really fun. I plan to read Poetics this year, but I'd never heard of The Satyricon, which sounds kind of gross but interesting. Thanks!

Katy wrote: "I found this list, The 10 ancient classics every student should read

I think I'll add it to my personal challenge. Time to get some ancient classics read -- I've actually not read any of these works."

Like it! Saving it :)

Glad some of you liked this list also. Another set of books for the TBR list.

I’m surprised in reviewing the comments here that nobody mentioned Clifton Fadiman’s Lifetime Reading List. I love book lists and know there are many good ones out there, this one is my fave. (And while I’m at it, I’ll put in a plug for Anne Fadiman’s - Clifton’s daughter’s - collection of essays, “Ex Libris.”)

Joseph wrote: "I’m surprised in reviewing the comments here that nobody mentioned Clifton Fadiman’s Lifetime Reading List. I love book lists and know there are many good ones out there, this one is my fave. (And ..."

There is a list here on Goodreads for that one: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

not sure if it's been mentioned before but I just came across neglectedbooks.com which links through to about 50 sub-lists of - er... neglected books!
endless hours of entertainment researching possible new additions to one's tbr pile...
:oD

What a great find, Darren. Thanks

Oh no, Darren...I can spend hours there, and planning time for 2025 is just around the corner.🥴

I know
the "Writer's Choice" list alone has nearly 600 titles :oO