Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Books I read Challenge Complete

25/25 complete

B1: Classic of Asia Love in a Fallen City ★★★ 7/14/20
B2: Classic Tragedy King Lear ★★★★ 2/6/20
B3: A Book Published at Least 200 Years Ago The Diary of Lady Murasaki ★★★ 7/31/20
B4: Memoir, Autobiography, or Biography The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After ★★★★½ 1/7/20
B5: Classic of Europe The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
★★★★★ 1/10/20

I1: Classic Mystery or Crime Death on the Nile ★★★½ 3/8/20
I2: Group Bingo Participant Pick Nectar in a Sieve ★★★★ 7/4/20
I3: Classic Drama or Play Twelfth Night ★★★ 1/7/20
I4: Book From Group’s 2020 Bookshelf Mary Barton ★★★½ 2/27/20
I5: Classic Gothic or Horror Jamaica Inn ★★½ 5/29/20

N1: Book From Group’s Old School Classic Shelf prior to 2020 Villette ★★★★ 6/15/20
N2: Winner of a Foreign Literary Prize The Inheritance of Loss ★★★ 1/31/20 (2006 Booker Prize)
N3: Reader’s Choice Palace Walk ★★★ 5/18/20
N4: Classic Short Story Summer ★★★★ 2/29/20
N5: Book From Group’s New School Classic Shelf prior to 2020 Mary Poppins ★★★★ 4/12/20

G1: Classic Science Fiction or Fantasy The Lathe of Heaven ★★★ 5/11/20
G2: The Bigger Read List by English Pen Love in the Time of Cholera ★★ 7/30/20
G3: Poetry or Essay Collection Shakespeare's Sonnets ★★★★ 5/30/20
G4: Banned Book The Well of Loneliness ★★★ 6/27/20
G5: Classic Science or Philosophy The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois ★★★★ 7/23/20

O1: Classic of Africa, Antarctica, Australia, or Oceania My Brilliant Career ★★★★★ 1/11/20
O2: Classic Western O Pioneers! ★★★★★ 6/30/20
O3: Book Published the Year You Were Born Efuru ★★★★ 1/20/20
O4: Classic Adventure Peter Pan ★★★ 4/17/20
O5: Classic of the Americas The Alienist by Machado de Assis ★★★★ 7/5/20

BINGO
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I wasn't going to post possible books but I have no resistance to planning. The good thing is I am able to plug in quite a few that I plan on reading for other challenges.

Laurie wrote: "I wasn't going to post possible books but I have no resistance to planning. The good thing is I am able to plug in quite a few that I plan on reading for other challenges."

Multi-challenge books are always good books.

So glad that you have joined the challenge, Laurie! I hope you have a great year reading in 2020.

Laurie wrote: "I wasn't going to post possible books but I have no resistance to planning. The good thing is I am able to plug in quite a few that I plan on reading for other challenges."

Quite a few of us don’t have that resistance LOL It is also the fun of it ;0)

Great list Laurie. I plan to read An Ideal Husband next year also and I need to work Jamaica Inn into one of my challenges.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my favorite Bronte sisters book that I've read (1 from each)

I've read my first book for bingo: I3 Classic drama or play Twelfth Night which I gave 3 stars. I would love to see this play staged because in reading it the humor fell flat.

I've added the second book for this challenge for Memoir, Autobiography, or Biography. I planned on reading a classic but an audiobook I finished was just too good not to include. The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya is powerful and sad.

My review

I have added B5 Classic of Europe with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall which I gave 5 stars and now count among my favorite books. I am sorry I took so long to read it but I look forward to reading Agnes Grey later this year.

Oooh, yes, a good one, Laurie. You are making good progress already.

Laurie wrote: "I have added B5 Classic of Europe with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall which I gave 5 stars and now count among my favorite books. I am sorry I took so long to read it but I look forward ..."

Five stars for me too, I thought it was great.

I've completed 01 Classic of Africa, Antarctica, Australia,, or Oceania with My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin. I loved it and gave it 5 stars.
My Review

I've added my O3 Book Published the Year You Were Born book with Efuru by Flora Nwapa. I think it is an important Nigerian classic that more people need to read.

My review

Laurie, thanks for posting about Efuru. I've been trying to find women and/or PoC authors for as many squares as possible, and O1 was giving me fits, especially since I didn't just want to go "easy mode" and choose Things Fall Apart, Palace Walk, or something by a white Australian.

Beth wrote: "Laurie, thanks for posting about Efuru. I've been trying to find women and/or PoC authors for as many squares as possible, and O1 was giving me fits, especially since I didn't just wa..."

I'm glad it is a book you can use for that square. I'll have to check out your bingo board.

Please do! :) My thread is here.

I have added N3 Winner of a Foreign Literary Prize with The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai which won the 2006 Booker Prize.

I've completed my Classic Tragedy with King Lear. It's incredible that I had never read or seen this classic which is practically the epitome of tragedies. I plan on looking for a movie of Lear to watch this weekend.

Laurie wrote: "I've completed my Classic Tragedy with King Lear. It's incredible that I had never read or seen this classic which is practically the epitome of tragedies. I plan on looking for a movi..."

Glad you liked that one, Laurie. I had the pleasure of taking a Shakespeare tragedy course with a true master of a professor, and I had an amazing time reading the play then. I suggest 'Ran' for a movie adaptation if you don't mind possibly needing subtitles.

Shakespeare has endured for a reason. Lear is very powerful. Happy you enjoyed it.

I finally finished Mary Barton for the 2020 bookshelf square which ultimately I gave 3.5 stars. It was a decent debut but it took me forever to care about anything that was taking place which made me not pick the book up for days at a time. I am glad I read it, but I am also glad I didn't start reading Gaskell with this book.

It was my first Gaskell, Laurie, and I have enjoyed many others since. I almost think it was better to begin with it...nothing to compare it to.

Sara wrote: "It was my first Gaskell, Laurie, and I have enjoyed many others since. I almost think it was better to begin with it...nothing to compare it to."

Maybe you are right, Sara, since it was a small letdown. I still have lots of Gaskell's work left to read so I anticipate much more enjoyment awaits.

I completed the N4 square for Classic Short Story with Summer by Edith Wharton which has an added bonus of being a book on our group bookshelf that I needed to read.

I read Death on the Nile for the Classic Mystery or Crime square. It was an okay mystery but I don't love Christie's novels with the passion I did when I was young.

I have the same reaction, Laurie. They were wonderful back then, but just okay now. I think so many people have copied her plot lines and style that she seems a bit cliche, but of course she was not when she was writing.

I finally added one more book to this challenge: New classic bookshelf book prior to 2020 Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. I had never read the book nor have I ever seen a movie version. My idea prior to reading the book was that Mary Poppins was a lovable wonderful character, but I did not find her that way. She was cranky and impatient with the children but they loved her anyway. I liked the two older children, Jane and Michael who were joyful and fun. This was just the light read I needed right now.

I've added O4: Classic Adventure with Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. I only gave it three stars. I seem to be slowly chipping away at children's classics I did not read as a child.

Laurie wrote: "I finally added one more book to this challenge: New classic bookshelf book prior to 2020 Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. I had never read the book nor have I ever seen..."

Haven’t read it yet but I heard somewhere that Travers really wanted Mr Banks to be the real hero of the piece...

I've added the G1 square for Classic Science Fiction or Fantasy with The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. I gave it 3 stars and I must say that I was disappointed. The first Le Guin book I ever read was The Dispossessed and I loved it and consider it one of my favorites. I like her essays as well, but other fiction by her I have read subsequently have only been 3 star reads. I plan on reading A Wizard of Earthsea this year but my hopes have dimmed that I will like it.

Laurie wrote: "I've added the G1 square for Classic Science Fiction or Fantasy with The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. I gave it 3 stars and I must say that I was disappointed...."

I think her books can vary a lot (from the three I’ve read) and depend on taste as well as to which you may like. I loved The Lathe of Heaven although I know a lot of people have not liked it at all, enjoyed The Left Hand of Darkness but found A Wizard of Earthsea only so-so because the story was mostly told rather than feeling like you were experiencing it with the character, at least in my opinion. What other novels of hers have you read? I am looking forward to reading The Dispossessed later this year! =)

I’m glad most of your reads have been enjoyable! Many I want to read as well! =)

Erin is totally right in her description of Wizard of Earthsea.

Erin and Philina, thank you for giving your opinion about A Wizard of Earthsea. I still plan to read it in an effort to catch up on some of the group's bookshelf, but I can go into it with an understanding of the writing style.

I finished I5 Classic gothic or horror with Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. I only gave it 2.5 stars. My review

Also completed G3 Poetry or Essay collection with Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare which I gave 4 stars.

Still no bingo with 15 books read so far.

Maybe every book from here on out will be a bingo!

Veronique wrote: "Haven’t read it yet but I heard somewhere that Travers really wanted Mr Banks to be the real hero of the piece..."

(catching up on digests after a long absence, sorry for the late reply)

I didn't get that from the book at all, which was almost entirely centered on Mary and the children, with Mr. Banks and Bert being secondary characters at best. The Disney film certainly centered Mr. Banks more, so maybe that's where this impression is coming from. There's some more information about Travers' family and her interactions with Disney here. (the whole thing is kind of depressing, imo)

I completed N1 Book from group's classic old school shelf prior to 2020 with Villette by Charlotte Brontë which I gave 4 stars. This gave me my first bingo for N1, N2, N3, N4, & N5.

I would appreciate suggestions for a bingo participant pick to read in July. I would like something under 400 pages and either 19th or 20th century. Ideally I would also like an author not from the US or UK because I read so much from those countries already.

Congratulations on bingo!

I'll throw out a few ideas for you. I can't remember--have you read the Kristin Lavransdatter series? Even broken into volumes though, it might be too long.

There is a very quiet little book I enjoyed called The Samurai's Garden. Also Jasmine.

Oh, and there's The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, which is fun.

Enjoy the rest of your reading!

Have you ever read Nectar in a Sieve

And I know this is long but Sue and I were planning on buddy reading A Fine Balance during the second half of July if you were interested in joining us.

The God of Small Things is under 400 pages. It's currently up for New School vote for August.

I love how we all thought of India. There’s also The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi that is short and a stunning book. Just for variety.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Kathleen, I have only read the first book in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, so the second book would be a good possibility. I hadn't heard of the three others but they all sound intriguing, especially The Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands. I can get it from Project Gutenburg so that's a plus.

Brina, I have not read Nectar in a Sieve but it is on my TBR so I could try that one if I find a copy. I have read A Fine Balance and gave it 5 stars. I will be reading The Waiting Years next month as part of my century challenge, but it will count as the classic of Asia for bingo.

Milena, I have read The God of Small Things and it was a 4 star book for me.

Congrats on your Bingo! For a 19th century you might checkout Ruth and for 20th century selection look at The Razor's Edge, for me both were 5 stars.

Laurie wrote: "Thanks for the recommendations.

Kathleen, I have only read the first book in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, so the second book would be a good possibility. I hadn't heard of the three others b..."

Both 'The Waiting Years' and the Seacole are very good non US/UK books. As is TGoSM, which is an absolute favorite of mine, but you've already read that one.

I’m looking forward to A Fine Balance then next month. If you get Nectar in a Sieve let me know. I’ll try to get too.

Bob wrote: "Congrats on your Bingo! For a 19th century you might checkout Ruth and for 20th century selection look at The Razor's Edge, for me both were 5 stars."

Those are both on my TBR too. This is going to be a tough choice and I certainly appreciate the recommendations.

I have completed the 18 book for the challenge which gave me another bingo. I read The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall for G4 Banned book. My bingo is B4, I4, N4, G4, and O4.

Congrats on that Bingo, Laurie.

Katy wrote: "Congrats on that Bingo, Laurie."

Thanks, Katy.

Congrats on your Bingo, Laurie!