Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I think I'll try this out. I'm going to attempt the Level 1: Five in a Row challenge.

Here's the row I'll work on...

Written by Nobel Laureate:
Sci-fi or Fantasy Classic:
Classic of Africa:
Children's Classic:
Winner of Foreign Literary Prize:

This should be fun!

Welcome MMG to the challenge. I do hope that you have fun with it. Can't wait to see what you read.

MMG, I hope you enjoy it!

Welcome to the challenge!
If you are looking for ideas, you can check other challenges to see what folks are reading...

Welcome to the challenge and good luck with your books :)

Thanks, everyone! Everyone else looked like they were having so much fun with Bingo, I couldn't resist!

I think I'll be reading The Once and Future King for my Fantasy Classic, and The Story of an African Farm for my Classic of Africa. (I'm reading the latter for my Women's Century Challenge.) I could change my mind, though, so I'll just post books as I read them.

MMG, thank you for calling my attention to "African Farm"
It looks like a good book and I've added it to my list of possibilities for bingo 2017.

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "MMG, thank you for calling my attention to "African Farm"
It looks like a good book and I've added it to my list of possibilities for bingo 2017."

Yes, I'm really excited to read it. It's on my "Next Up" shelf. Probably, I would have never discovered it, had it not been for the fact I was searching for books for my Women's Century list.

It is hard to resist, isn't it MMG :O)
Enjoy.
(making note of African Farm too)

Veronique wrote: "It is hard to resist, isn't it MMG :O)
Enjoy.
(making note of African Farm too)"

Yes, hard to resist! :) I'm such a slow reader, I may never complete my bingo, but it will be fun trying.

MMG, The Once and Future King is so good! A very special read in my opinion, if you go ahead with it.

MMG wrote: "Yes, I'm really excited to read it. It's on my "Next Up" shelf. Probably, I would have never discovered it, had it not been for the fact I was searching for books for my Women's Century list. "

Same here! Or rather, 2 out of 3. I'm really excited to read it, and I had never heard of it before joining the Century of Women challenge. It's not next up to read though, as I'm drowning in challenge books and flailing for breath and reading time.

Welcome to Bingo!

Thanks for the warm welcome, folks!

It took me a while to decide, but here's the "official" list of books I'll be reading:

Written by Nobel Laureate: Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Sci-fi or Fantasy Classic: The Once and Future King by T. H. White
Classic of Africa: The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner.
Children's Classic: Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories by Washington Irving
Winner of Foreign Literary Prize: Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (winner of the Man Booker Prize)

oooh. A lovely list MMG! So glad you decided on The Once and Future King, and I've only read Man and Superman by Shaw but it was great. The others sound good too--I'll be watching to see how you like them ...

Kathleen wrote: "oooh. A lovely list MMG! So glad you decided on The Once and Future King, and I've only read Man and Superman by Shaw but it was great. The others sound good too--I'll be watching to ..."

Thanks, Kathleen! I'm really looking forward to The Once and Future King. When I was in high school (decades ago), we read the first section of the novel, "The Sword in the Stone." I loved it, and have always wanted to read the entire book. I'll be reading it with my son. He loves anything Arthurian.

Good luck with you challenge MMG!

I'm thinking of reading "African Farm" for bingo 2017.

I'll be watching to see how you like that particular book.

MMG wrote: "It took me a while to decide, but here's the "official" list of books I'll be reading:

Written by Nobel Laureate: Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Sci-fi or Fantasy Classic: [book:..."

Your list looks great. I'll be interested to know what you think of Disgrace. I might read it for my literary prize square as well, but I'm not sure about the subject matter, I think it might annoy me!

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "I'm thinking of reading "African Farm" for bingo 2017.

I'll be watching to see how you like that particular book."

I'm reading that one next, starting it some time this week. I'd never even heard of it before I started researching books for the Women's Century Challenge. I'm really looking forward to it!

Pink wrote: "I'll be interested to know what you think of Disgrace."

Me, too! Disgrace looks like a difficult book, subject-wise, but intriguing.

I've read nothing up to this point by South African fiction writers, so I'm delighted that two of my five books are set in South Africa, and written by South African authors. It will be interesting to broaden my geographical reading horizons with this challenge!

Yes, I'm sorely lacking in any African fiction, so you're doing great to include two South African set books on your list.

And so, I place a token on the square B3: Classic of Africa. I have finished The Story of an African Farm.

I was expecting something similar to Isak Denisen's Out of Africa. (I should say, I haven't read that book, and have only seen the movie.) It was nothing like that! There are multiple plot lines, some suspenseful, some humorous, some philosophical and thought-provoking, and some heartbreaking. There are some elements to the novel that I found shocking given its publication date, namely (view spoiler)[ that one character enters into an unmarried domestic partnership ("free love" as they would have called it then), and another male character is a cross-dresser. I can imagine the inclusion of these topics made the novel somewhat scandalous at that time. (hide spoiler)]

Schreiner's handling of feminist and gender issues was ahead of her time; her handling of race issues, was, sadly, less so. This is a novel about an 1860s Cape Colony microcosm, it does not offer any sweeping views of Cape Colony society in general. While I enjoyed the book primarily for the character of Waldo and his philosophy, there are a couple of philosophical chapters that I found to be rambling and difficult to get through. Overall, though, a very pleasant read.

Had it not been for the Women's Century Challenge, I might never have learned about this book. Apparently, it was much praised in its day, but seems to have fallen off the radar, these days. Perhaps because it was written by a woman?

B1: Written by Nobel Laureate: Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
B2: Sci-fi or Fantasy Classic: The Once and Future King by T. H. White
B3: Classic of Africa: The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
B4: Children's Classic: Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories by Washington Irving
B5: Winner of Foreign Literary Prize: Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (winner of the Man Booker Prize)

I'll have to try this one, thanks to your great review! Congratulations on a solid start to this challenge. Love your selections, and will look forward to your thoughts.

Thanks, Kathleen! I'll likely read Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories next. I live north of the Catskill Mountains where several of the stories are set, and I'll be hiking on several trails in the Catskills this summer, so I thought it would be fun to finally read the collection. I'm familiar with a couple of the stories, but have never actually read them. I'm looking forward to it.

A good start & so glad that you enjoyed The Story of an African Farm. It is a good book.

MMG wrote: "And so, I place a token on the square B3: Classic of Africa. I have finished The Story of an African Farm..."

Gosh - this sounds really good!

Veronique wrote: "MMG wrote: "And so, I place a token on the square B3: Classic of Africa. I have finished The Story of an African Farm..."

Gosh - this sounds really good!"

Thanks, Kathy and Veronique. It was fun to discover a "forgotten treasure."

Truly the perfect way to describe it.

Enjoyed reading your thoughts on The Story of an African Farm. It is on my TBR and will now get moved a bit closer to the top.

Sara wrote: "Enjoyed reading your thoughts on The Story of an African Farm. It is on my TBR and will now get moved a bit closer to the top."

Thank you, Sara! I look forward to hearing others' thoughts on the novel.