Old Books, New Readers discussion

2017 Catch-up Challenge
Duration: 1/1/17 - 12/31/17

Completed: 6/10
✔1. The Secret Garden
2. Jane Eyre
✔3. Hamlet
4. Around the World in 80 Days
5. The Wind in the Willows
✔6. Emma
7. Sense and Sensibility
✔8. The Cask of Amontillado
✔9. The Yellow Wallpaper
✔10. A Christmas Carol

Michelle wrote: "2017 Catch-up Challenge
Duration: 1/1/17 - 12/31/17

Completed: 0/10
1. The Secret Garden
2. Robinson Crusoe
3. Hamlet
4. Around the World in 80 Days
5. The Wind in the Willows
6. Emma
7. Sense and..."

I see only one on your list that caused me problems, namely Hamlet. Of course, that has caused problems for every critic for hundreds of years, so you and I are in good company!

Lol Jon. I'm probably going to need sparknotes to get through Hamlet. Other than that, yes I think it's an easier challenge than last year's.

I had an edited version of Hamlet, including footnotes for the Elizabethan English. What is scary is that even the experts who prepared those footnotes had differing interpretations of the same text. Queries like whether the ghost that Hamlet and his friends saw was actually his father's ghost or just a demon wearing a disguise intending to doom Hamlet if Hamlet crossed him. Such things were very real to the Elizabethan audiences.

I am having second thoughts about including Robinson Crusoe in my catch up challenge for this year. Other books I can read instead are Oliver Twist, At The Mountains of Madness, and The Woman in White. Alternatively, I can reread Jane Eyre. I've been meaning to because I read it back in high school and I really want to read it as an adult.

I'm having trouble making up my mind. If anyone of you feel strongly about any of the books, please make your pitch. Thank you!

Michelle wrote: "I am having second thoughts about including Robinson Crusoe in my catch up challenge for this year. Other books I can read instead are Oliver Twist, At The Mountains of Madness, and The Woman in Wh..."

I would vote for either Jane Eyre or The Woman in White. The one proviso is that TWIW is a massively long book (and a bit overwritten) but definitely a very good story.

At the Mountains of Madness is a lot shorter, but you might get bogged down in the scientific data. Don't let that fool you. It is just a way to heighten the coming terror at the end of that book.

You can see my reviews of both TWIW and ATMM.

Thanks Jon! Now I've narrowed down my options to The Woman in White or Jane Eyre.

I saw that you completed The Yellow Wallpaper. It is on my catch up list as well. Did you enjoy it?

Yes I enjoyed it a lot actually. It was very short so I read it in one sitting but I thought it was very powerfully written. Perhaps I'm a bit biased because I work in the field of mental health. Let me know your thoughts after you read it!

This isn't looking so good. Unless I read only Classics for the rest of the year, I'm probably not going to finish this challenge, especially if we do War and Peace.

Same here. I am reading 4 books simultaneously, but only two of them are in my Catch Up reading list. And yes, War and Peace will knock me out of my schedule.

So I guess I did not complete my Catch Up Challenge this year. I ended the year with 6/10 completed.

I barely got finished the 10 that I signed up for.

Jon wrote: "I barely got finished the 10 that I signed up for."

But you still finished it!!!