Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Rules & Instructions:

The rules are unchanged from last year's rules.

This challenge is designed to help increase our reading of the classics and reduce our TBR's. This challenge commits you to reading 12 books next year. Choose 12 books you want to read and list two alternates, to use as substitutes, should one of your choices need to be replaced. This 12 + 2 challenge will last all year and you can read at your own pace. Once you create your reading thread, you and other members can comment on your progress.

Only six of the 12 books selected are required be Classics based on the Groups definitions. At least 3 books from the Old School category (published before 1900) and 3 books from the New School category (published between 1900 & 1999). The other six and your two alternates can be any genre or age you wish to read.

To create your challenge thread simply go to the top of this folder click on the title (2018 Old & New Classics Challenge). Then look to the right for the words (new topic), click that, a new screen will open. In the box (topic) type the name you wish to give your challenge. In the (comment) box list your books chosen for the challenge. Use the (add book/author) link so that others can link to your choices and learn more about the book you have selected.

Starting today you can begin creating your challenge thread. The whole month of December is dedicated to planning your challenge. You can add your books and make edit adjustments till December 31st. No challenge reading can start till January 1, 2018.

If you're a current Group Member, you have until midnight on 12/31/2017 to finalize your list. You can post your list and make all the changes you want until then, but no changes after 1/1/2018. If you join our Classics Group after that date, you may still participate by posting and editing your list within two weeks of joining the group, but you can't make changes after you post your list.

For New Members joining in 2018, in addition to the above rules, feel free to adjust your challenge according to the number of months left in the year. Example: If you join in March 2018 and wish to participate, list 9 books and 2 alternates. If you join after June 2018 list the appropriate number of books according to the number of months left, but only pick one alternate.

Challenge ideas:
The biggest rule is create a challenge that will be entertaining and fun. Some possibilities are:
1. 12 Decades-pick one book from each of 12 consecutive decades, perhaps 1870-1980.
2. 12 New Authors-pick books from authors you haven't previously read.
3. Group Bookshelf Catch Up-pick books you haven't read or want to reread from the groups bookshelf.
4. Books Sitting On MY Shelf For At Least One Year-pick 12 books that you have been putting off for a year or more.

Remember to add your two alternates to any challenge you set up.

Example of a Challenge:

Melanti's 12+2 Classic Challenge

Old School (1899 and earlier):
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

New School (1900-1999):
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Wild Cards:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
Blindness by José Saramago

Alternates (William Shakespeare):
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Cymbeline


Feel free to mark your finished books any way you wish. After you have finished a book, you can strike it off your list. Directions are listed at the top of the comment box (some html is ok). You can list the date you finished or add the number of stars you though the book deserved.

Examples of marking books completed:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - 4 stars
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - 3/6/16
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - 4 Stars, Finished 3/15
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene - Finished - 3/15/16
Blindness by José Saramago - Print: 1 star and abandoned ,
Audio: 2 stars

Melanti,
This group has so many wonderful challenges that I want to do them all. I'm definitely doing this one. You explained how to do it so well. One question, do I need to set up my list with the titles before I begin or can it be an ongoing fill-in.

This is the one challenge out of all of the group's challenges where the books can't be changed after it starts.

You have until the new year to make any changes you like, but after January 1st, the only changes allowed is using one of the 2 alternate books rather than the first 12.

Thanks.

I didn't finish this one completely in 2017, but it sure helped me to get to some books that I wanted to read. I will have some carry-over for 2018 because there are still so many books I want to read! :)

Thanks Melanti!

This will be my 3rd year and I haven't completed either of my 2 previous challenges (7 in 2016 and 8 so far this year).
I must start thinking of my books for 2018.

I've yet to complete any of my Old & New challenges too.

Me too!Hopefully this year will change that.

I didn't manage to complete this challenge for either 2016 or this year.
Trying to decide if I want to participate in 2018 or not.

Yeah I failed in 2017 as well. It was mainly because I wasn't as enthused by the end of the year for the books on my list. I hope I have chosen better for 2018.

I completely failed this year's challenge too! I didn't even make my unofficial goal of completing two long books! I didn't manage a single one.

Planning is half the fun though, even if I do loose steam in a few months.

This sounds interesting. I love to plan, but the actual reading may not all happen.

Hailee wrote: "Yeah I failed in 2017 as well. It was mainly because I wasn't as enthused by the end of the year for the books on my list. I hope I have chosen better for 2018."

I try really hard to pick books I know I want to read, but I just never seem as enthusiastic about actually reading them as I should. Maybe because I keep picking books I feel like I should want to read rather than books I actually want to read?

Melanti wrote: "I completely failed this year's challenge too! I didn't even make my unofficial goal of completing two long books! I didn't manage a single one.

Planning is half the fun though, even if I do loose..."

I have finished 8 from my list and one of the alternates so far.
I think this year I just picked too many big books. I had The Canterbury Tales, Dune, Le Mort d'Arthur and The Tale of Genji on the list. I've managed two of them so far and I will finish Le Mort d'Arthur this month if it kills me (which is just might...)
If I do participate, I'm going to take a better look at how long and/or dense my choices are.

Sarah wrote: "I try really hard to pick books I know I want to read, but I just never seem as enthusiastic about actually reading them as I should. Maybe because I keep picking books I feel like I should want to read rather than books I actually want to read?..."

Yes I think that was my issue: last year I chose a theme of making progress on series I had started because I felt like I should be making progress on them. But this year I'm optimistic I have chose a better theme and books that I am more excited to get to.

Sarah, I think you hit the nail on the head for me. I pick books that seem to be on my TBR forever and I feel that I need to read them. But then I am less enthusiastic when the time comes to actually read them. So maybe they languished on my list for a reason. It might be because they are really long or seem intimidating or it might just be that I'm not as interested as I thought.

This is my problem as well. Books that have languished on my ever lengthening TBR, books I think I "should" read...

I still managed to read quite a few books on my 2017 priorities list... but a number of them didn't fit my challenges!

I am so tempted to pick out books for this challenge too, but I already have too much (reading wise) to keep track of!

Laurie wrote: "Sarah, I think you hit the nail on the head for me. I pick books that seem to be on my TBR forever and I feel that I need to read them. But then I am less enthusiastic when the time comes to actual..."

I hear you. My TBR is currently 775 books long and some of them have been on it for a long time. Like you said, there's probably a reason they have sat on that list for so long. Maybe its time for a clean up!

MJ wrote: "This is my problem as well. Books that have languished on my ever lengthening TBR, books I think I "should" read...

I still managed to read quite a few books on my 2017 priorities list... but a nu..."

Understandable.

I've chosen my books from Bloom's Western Canon, and I look forward to this challenge. I do have one question, though. Is it okay to include books I've read before, so long as I re-read the entire books in 2018? l'd like to re-read War and Peace and Kristin Lavransdatter. If it's a problem, I'll find substitutes.

Not a problem at all!

Gosh! Another one I’m finding hard to resist!!!! You don’t want to know how many books are waiting on shelves all around me (and that is not counting the digital ones). Titles are already coming to mind...

Matt wrote: "I just tried to add a topic to join the 2018 challenge, and had all my selections typed out and for some reason it didn't post. GR is very frustrating sometimes! I'll try again later."

Hate when that happens.

I didn't do as well with this last year. I want to try again this year but I don't know 😕

Maybe I will just try again 😊

Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ wrote: "I didn't do as well with this last year. I want to try again this year but I don't know 😕"

I didn't do very well either. I'm doing it again anyway because it's still fun to try and I did read a couple of books that I might not have got to in 2017 without the list pushing me to try. Plus I love making challenge lists even if I don't end up completing them

After failing at this two years in a row, I decided to opt out this year.
Going to just do BINGO this time around.

I never do well on this one, but I always have enough fun planning and attempting that I do it again.

Melanti wrote: "I never do well on this one, but I always have enough fun planning and attempting that I do it again."

I get too frustrated with myself for failing for it to keep being fun.
Glad others can enjoy it either way!

Best of luck!

Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ wrote: "Maybe I will just try again 😊"

Love this. :-)

I’d do this but I have a really hard time making decisions. I also do this weird thing where I want a book badly so I buy it but then I keep putting off reading it because once I read it I can’t read it for the first time again and that feeling is gone. So I’m going to do the BINGO first then see how I feel about this. I can finish twelve books in a couple of weeks.

You can always do a reduced challenge, too, if you join later in the year. For instance, since it's now nearing the end of April, you'd knock 4 books off and sign up for an 8 book challenge.

Hi I just wanted to check that it was ok to use my alternates even if I haven't actually attempted one or two of the choices on my "regular" list? Or can you only use the alternates if you have had to DNF one or two of them?

I hope so, as North and South is one of my reserves and I'll be reading it with the group in May!

It's fine! "I didn't feel like reading xxxx" is as valid reason as any. I'm going to be using it myself this year.

Melanti wrote: "It's fine! "I didn't feel like reading xxxx" is as valid reason as any. I'm going to be using it myself this year."

Great, thanks Melanti. I did think it would be ok but it doesn't hurt to double check ;-)

I used that last year. I ended up reading both of my alternates because I just didn't feel like reading two of my original choices.

Question. Since the original rules are you must have at least 3 old school and 3 new school - can you substitute your alternates (not classics) for one of those 3? I mean I am halfway through books number 11 and 12 on my list, but once I finish I will still have only read 2 old school. So do I need to read one more old school to finish? Honestly, I just don't think I feel like reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. Maybe I'll be more into it sometime in the future.

Yep, your alternatives can be used as substitutes for any of your 12 books.

Pink wrote: "Yep, your alternatives can be used as substitutes for any of your 12 books."

Yippie!!