Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Blackout!!!
10/25


OOOOX
OXXXO
OXXOO
XXOXO
XOOOO


B1: Written by Nobel Laureate ~
B2: Classic Comedy or Satire ~
B3: Classic Tragedy ~
✔ B4: Classic Made into a Film/TV ~ The Golden Compass finished 6/11/17 5 Stars
✔ B5: Winner of a Foreign Literary Prize ~ The Amber Spyglass finished 7/9/17 5 Stars

I1: 20th Century Classic ~
✔ I2: New-to-You Author ~ The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music finished 1/28/17 5 Stars
✔ I3: Classic Play ~ An Ideal Husband finished 2/16/17 4 Stars
✔ I4: Classic of More than 500 Pages ~ The Three Musketeers finished 2/5/17 5 Stars
I5: 18th Century or Earlier Classic ~

N1: South American Classic ~
✔ N2: Short Story Classic ~ The Gift of the Magi finished 12/4/17 4 Stars
✔ N3: FREE SPACE ~ La Belle Sauvage finished 11/19/17 5 Stars
N4: Poetry Collection ~
N5: European Classic ~

G1: 19th Century Classic ~
✔ G2: Bokklubben (Norwegian Book Club) World Library List Book ~ Hamlet finished 12/10/17 5 Stars
G3: Classic Non-fiction ~
G4: Group Read ~ A Christmas Carol finished 12/12/17 5 Stars
G5: Classic Recommended by a Friend ~

✔ O1: Literary Prize of Your Country/Region ~ The Subtle Knife finished 6/21/17 5 Stars
O2: Classic Folklore or Mythology ~
O3: Asian Classic ~
O4: Classic Romance ~
O5: Prize-Winning Female Author ~









B1: Written by Nobel Laureate - The Glass Bead Game, The Magic Mountain, The Golden Notebook, I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, Doctor Zhivago, One Hundred Years of Solitude
B2: Classic Comedy or Satire - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Don Quixote, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Infinite Jest, A Confederacy of Dunces, Gargantua and Pantagruel, The Princess Bride
B3: Classic Tragedy - The Remains of the Day, The Giver, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Secret History
B4: Classic Made into a Film/TV - finished 6/11/17 The Golden Compass 5 Stars
B5: Winner of a Foreign Literary Prize - finished 7/9/17 The Amber Spyglass 5 Stars

I1: 20th Century Classic - The Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials, The Gormenghast Novels, Life: A User's Manual, The Chronicles of Narnia, Swann's Way, Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable
I2: New-to-You Author - finished 1/28/17 The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music 5 Stars
I3: Classic Play - finished 2/16/17 An Ideal Husband 4 Stars
I4: Classic of More than 500 Pages - finished 2/5/17 The Three Musketeers 5 Stars
I5: 18th Century or Earlier Classic - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Don Quixote, The Divine Comedy, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Le Morte Darthur, The Canterbury Tales

N1: South American Classic - One Hundred Years of Solitude, Hopscotch
N2: Short Story Classic - finished 12/4/17 The Gift of the Magi 4 Stars
N3: FREE SPACE - finished 8/19/17 La Belle Sauvage 5 Stars
N4: Poetry Collection - Leaves of Grass, Eugene Onegin
N5: European Classic - Towards the One and Only Metaphor

G1: 19th Century Classic - Oblomov, Dickens, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky
G2: Bokklubben (Norwegian Book Club) World Library List Book - finished 12/10/17 Hamlet 5 Stars
G3: Classic Non-fiction - I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
G4: Group Read - TBD
G5: Classic Recommended by a Friend - TBD

O1: Literary Prize of Your Country/Region - Haruki Murakami, The Goldfinch, Seiobo There Below, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
O2: Classic Folklore or Mythology - The Silmarillion, The Once and Future King, Le Morte Darthur, Arabian Nights: The Marvels and Wonders of The Thousand and One Nights, Till Eulenspiegel: His Adventures, The Book of Imaginary Beings
O3: Asian Classic - The Tale of Genji, The Arabian Nights, Tao Te Ching, The Good Earth, Monkey: The Journey to the West
O4: Classic Romance - Possession, Pride and Prejudice
O5: Prize-Winning Female Author - finished 6/21/17 The Subtle Knife 5 Stars

Welcome to the challenge, Bat-Cat.

Reserved

Reserved

Reserved

Kathy wrote: "Welcome to the challenge, Bat-Cat."

Thanks Kathy. I'm gearing up for a strong finish to 2016 (including completing the Bingo Challenge with a Blackout), participation in one of the December reads and an enthusiastic start to next year's Bingo Challenge. It sure will be fun to join all of you in the discussions again!!! ;-)

Good luck with the end of 2016 reading (I'm gearing up for a strong finish too) and with your 2017 challenges! Can't wait to see what everyone picks again!

Glad to see you fired up, Bat-Cat! This is gonna be fun. :-)

Pink: Thanks for the well wishes! I'm working on my picks and am excited to start narrowing them down. As soon as that is "done" I'll get them up. ;-) Oh, and I'm just doing this challenge.

Kathleen: I agree, this is going to be lots of fun. I've been hanging out in the background (still plodding along with my reads and challenge) taking care of some personal things (or at least getting them to a more manageable level) and now I feel like I can reenter the Group and participate in some monthly reads again. The break has been nice (although quite necessary) but it will really be fun to jump back into the fray.

I also look forward to seeing what everyone else chooses!!!

I've added a bunch to my list above in case anyone is interested!!!

Ooh, so many choices for you and inspiration for all of us!

Bat-Cat wrote: "I've added a bunch to my list above in case anyone is interested!!!"

Oh yes, thank you. I am definitely interested. It gives me some great ideas and may cause buddy reading too.

Wow, so many great one's and you put them up so quick! You've given me some ideas. I'm hoping Infinite Jest can be a quarter long read next year . I've wanted to read that for so long.

Bat-Cat wrote: "I've added a bunch to my list above in case anyone is interested!!!"

Heck ya! Great ideas, and I'm so glad you listed choices for us to be inspired by. I just added Seiobo There Below which looks great--thanks!

Two of my all time favorites are on here: The Once and Future King and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. (If you end up reading those I'd be tempted to do a re-read. I used to try to read them every year but unfortunately gave that up a decade or more ago. It's time!)

Kathleen wrote: "Bat-Cat wrote: "I've added a bunch to my list above in case anyone is interested!!!"

Heck ya! Great ideas, and I'm so glad you listed choices for us to be inspired by. I just added [book:Seiobo Th..."

I have wanted to read Seiobo There Below for a very long time. I hope this is the year it actually happens. And perhaps the other to books will be picked for monthly reads - one can hope. ;-)

Bat-Cat wrote: "...I have wanted to read Seiobo There Below for a very long time...."

I had never even heard of it, but now I want to read it also.

You have a nice list Bat-cat.

But regarding your selections for 18th C or earlier: weren't Dickens, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky writers of the 19th C and not the 18th C?

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "You have a nice list Bat-cat.

But regarding your selections for 18th C or earlier: weren't Dickens, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky writers of the 19th C and not the 18th C?"

Ah yes, thanks for pointing that out. I guess I had the 1800's in mind.

Confederacy of Dunces is on my tbr. I did not realize it is officially a comedy/satire; I might borrow from you. Maybe we can buddy read.

Brina wrote: "Confederacy of Dunces is on my tbr. I did not realize it is officially a comedy/satire; I might borrow from you. Maybe we can buddy read."

Brina, borrowing is a huge part of the fun as far as I can tell. I don't seem to have a very good track record with Buddy Reads so far, perhaps because life has had a tendency to get out of hand at a moments notice this past year - but we shall see, anything can happen. ;-)

Just for the record, I have decided that this year I would add a few post 2000 books to my challenge - there are sooooooo many new books and award winners that I want to read. So, for my challenge this year any category that doesn't explicitly specify "classic" I determined is fair game for me. That gives me six categories (I'm counting the 4 prizes, the New-To-Me and the Free Space) to satisfy my yearning for current literary fiction. And apparently, from what Kathy has said, I am still to remain "official" as well, how wonderful!!!

Great stuff to choose from! The toughest part is narrowing it down, but then I won't really know what I am reading until I get there. You have done the smart thing by giving yourself a lot of wiggle room. I have also tried to squeeze some contemporary writers in and I suppose I stretch the definition of "classic" a little from time to time. Hopefully we end up with some buddy reads together out of this challenge. Good luck in loving all your choices.

Bat-Cat wrote: "Just for the record, I have decided that this year I would add a few post 2000 books to my challenge - there are sooooooo many new books and award winners that I want to read. So, for my challenge ..."

You're exactly right Bat-Cat. Only the categories with classic in the title need to fit our classics date range, the others can be modern books :)

I cross check national book winners; pen/Faulkner, Edgar, etc to see if any look interesting. Also a great way to catch up on contemporary although I might make that an ongoing personal challenge.

Lots of inspiration here! Good luck!

Good to know Pink, about the classics date criteria...thanks!

Susie wrote: "Good to know Pink, about the classics date criteria...thanks!"

And if you really want to read a book, you can always call it a soon-to-be-classic. We are not too strict here for your challenge.

Thanks everyone for all the clarifications!!! I think this year's Bingo is going to be exceptionally fun for me. Wahoo!!!! ;-)

Lots of really interesting books, both ones that I have enjoyed and ones in my TBR!!!!
I just finished The Essex Serpent and can recommend it - great novel of ideas with amazing characters and beautiful language

Veronique wrote: "Lots of really interesting books, both ones that I have enjoyed and ones in my TBR!!!!
I just finished The Essex Serpent and can recommend it - great novel of ideas with amazing characters and beau..."

Thanks Veronique. That's great to hear about The Essex Serpent, I am really looking forward to getting and reading it.

Good luck!

So much inspiration, Bat-Cat! I'll join you on les Misérables. Hopefully it gets picked as a group read but if not we can always buddy read it. Good luck on your challenge!

Hope you enjoy your challenge! You have some great ideas so far.

Finally got my first book completed for the year - hopefully the rest will come more quickly. ;-)

I4 - Classics of More Than 500 Pages ~ Three Musketeers

Bat-Cat wrote: "Finally got my first book completed for the year - hopefully the rest will come more quickly. ;-)

I4 - Classics of More Than 500 Pages ~ Three Musketeers"

But it was a good one. Good luck on reading the rest of your board.

Well done. I'm still reading the first book I started.

We share quite a few books as ideas for this year. I've got the Magic Moutain, Tom Jones and the Morte d'Arthur on my list of possibles, as well. I read the Divine Comedy last year and it's hard going, but worth it.

Thanks for the encouragement Kathy. I guess the first one is the hardest and all the rest fall into line after that.... right?

April, yes, those are all books I hope to read soon if not this year. I look forward to discussing them in the threads with you whenever that occurs.

Finished another book, albeit a small one, but it counts nonetheless. ;-)

I3 - Classics Play ~ An Ideal Husband

Small books count too! They even things out with our big reads! I used this for my comedy/satire square, as I usually struggle most with filling that one :)

Pink wrote: "Small books count too! They even things out with our big reads! I used this for my comedy/satire square, as I usually struggle most with filling that one :)"

Pink, that's a good idea too. If need be I can switch things around later. :-)

For some reason I have always been attracted to longer books and have often felt as though I am "cheating" if a book has under 300 pages - and short stories were just out of the question! This website is helping me to see the merit in shorter works and I have come to greatly admire how much can be relayed with so few words.

As I have said before, this group has been and continues to be a wonderful addition to my life and I greatly appreciate each and everyone of you for being a part of it and adding to that wonderfulness. Thanks!!! ;-)

I've learnt to love longer books, though I often delay reading them in favour of something shorter, so I can get through more! I'm trying to balance things out more nowadays. I've always struggled with short story collections and still do to an extent, but there are plenty of individual short stories I've read that have become favourites. This group and the people here, push me to test my boundaries too!

I have decided to salvage this Bingo Challenge and officially get a Bingo - as truncated as it is. So here it, I got a diagonal Bingo with B5, I4, N3, G2, O1. Phew, hopefully I've regained a bit of cred. :-)

Good save! But your cred was never lost, and 2018 is around the corner ...

Kathleen wrote: "Good save! But your cred was never lost, and 2018 is around the corner ..."

Ah, Kathleen, it is such a joy to be reminded of how positive and upbeat you are. :-) Thanks so much for the kuddos and encouragement.

Yes, 2018 is already looking to be a year of growth and fulfillment, peace and serenity, and health and prosperity. I am looking forward to a fresh start filled with unlimited potential for not only myself but for everyone.

Bat-Cat wrote: "I have decided to salvage this Bingo Challenge and officially get a Bingo - as truncated as it is. So here it, I got a diagonal Bingo with B5, I4, N3, G2, O1. Phew, hopefully I've regained a bit of..."

Absolutely, glad to have you back.

Katy wrote: "Bat-Cat wrote: "I have decided to salvage this Bingo Challenge and officially get a Bingo - as truncated as it is. So here it, I got a diagonal Bingo with B5, I4, N3, G2, O1. Phew, hopefully I've r..."

Thanks, Katy. So glad to be back! :-)

Way to hang in there Bat-Cat...A bingo is BINGO afterall! 😉

Susie wrote: "Way to hang in there Bat-Cat...A bingo is BINGO afterall! 😉"

Thank you Susie. Congrats are always a great form of encouragement. :-)

Congrats from me, Bat-Cat. There is always 2018 to do a blackout. Nice to have you back.

A bingo is a bingo :0) Congrats :0)