Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
Buffet Archives
>
Lynn's Challenge Buffet 2022
Mod
Old School
1. The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1894) 10/9/2022 5*
2.
New School
1.
2.
Short Story/Novella
1. A Horseman In The Sky: Short Story by Ambrose Bierce 5*
2. The Altar of the Dead by Henry James 5*
Quarterly Long Read
1.
Mod
Century Challenge Children's Books Theme
1922 Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery 5* 6/24/2022
1930
1948 Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey 4* 4/20/2022
1958 Umbrella by Taro Yashima 4* 5/20/2022
1960
1972 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 4* 4/18/2022
1984 The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller 4* 10/24/2022
1995 Officer Buckle and Gloria Peggy Rathmann 3* 10/14/2022
2000 Roadrunner's Dance by Rudolfo Anaya 4* 12/7/2022
2010 Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming 3/15/2022
Mod
✓ 1. 19th Century, Twice Told Tales (Volume 1); The Gray Champion. Sunday At Home. The Wedding Knell. The Minister's Black Veil. The Maypole Of Merry Mount. The by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837) 5*
✓ 2. 20th Century, City by Clifford D. Simak (1952) 5* Winner of the International Award for Fantasy Fiction 1953. Simak is a "Grand Master" of Science Fiction/Fantasy
✓ 3. 21st Century Potential Future Classic, A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash (2012) 4* 12/4/2022 Winner of three book awards.
✓ 4. Current or Past Group Read, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote (1958) 6/25/2022 5*
✓ 5. An Author not read before, The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1894) 10/9/2022 5*
✓ 6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours. Bullfight by Yasushi Inoue (1949) 10/29/2022 4*
✓ 7. Science Fiction, Way Station by Clifford D. Simak (1963) 5* 3/19/2022
✓ 8. A book originally written in a language other than your own, The Devil's Pool by George Sand (1846) 3* 10/14/2022
✓ 9. A Banned Book, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926) 4* 3/12/2022 - I also used this for the banned book in Bingo.
✓ 10. Nonfiction, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World by William H. McRaven (2017) 4* 6/26/2022
✓ 11. Mystery/Crime, Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola (1867) 4* 11/22/2022
✓ 12. Humor, MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker (1968) 4* 9/30/2022
Mod
Read 24 short stories. This equates to only two per month for the year. Read them all at once or spread them out, it's up to you
Theme: 19th Century Short Stories - I will only use stories here that are not included in a published collection used for other challenges. 24/24 stories
✓ 1824 The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving 4*
✓ 1832 "The Wives of the Dead" by Nathaniel Hawthorne 4*
✓ 1832 Roger Malvin's Burial by Nathaniel Hawthorne 3*
✓ 1852 "The Snow Image" by Nathaniel Hawthorne 4*
✓ 1852 The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell 4*
✓ 1854 The Fiddler by Herman Melville 4*
✓ 1856 "Lost on the Steppe: or the Snow-storm" by Leo Tolstoy 4*
✓ 1861 The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell 3*
✓ 1868 The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte 5*
✓ 1869 The Idyl of Red Gulch by Bret Harte 5*
✓ 1869 The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte 5*
✓ 1870 Tennessee's Partner by Bret Harte 4*
✓ 1873 Transcendental Wild Oats by Louisa May Alcott 5*
✓ 1883 The Three Strangers: By Thomas Hardy - Illustrated 5*
✓ 1886 The Three Hermits by Leo Tolstoy 4*
✓ 1886 The Candle by Leo Tolstoy 3*
✓ 1887 The Beggar by Anton Chekhov 3*
✓ 1889 Chickamauga by Ambrose Bierce 2*
✓ 1894 An Imaginative Woman by: Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy 5*
✓ 1895 The Altar of the Dead by Henry James 5*
✓ 1897 A Strayed Allegiance by L.M. Montgomery 4*
✓ 1897 "Detected by the Camera" by L.M. Montgomery 4*
✓ 1898 A Horseman In The Sky: Short Story by Ambrose Bierce 5*
✓ 1899 "The Christmas Mistake" by L.M. Montgomery 4*
Mod
The challenge is to read 12 of this year's group selections. Competed 12/18/2022
1 "The Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot 3* 2/13/2022
2 Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville 5* 3/3/2022
3 The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges 3* 3/5/2022
4 The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 4* 3/12/2022
5 how the poor die by George Orwell 4* 6/5/2022
6 Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov 4* 8/21/2022
7 Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe 3* 10/2/2022
8 The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf 2* 10/30/2022
9 Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola 4* 11/22/2022
10 The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy 4* 11/27/2022
11 The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann 5* 12/8/2022
12 Before the Party by W. Somerset Maugham 5* 12/18/2022
Mod
Seek out at least six (6) authors that you have never previously read, male or female, from any genre or era you want
1 Elizabeth Gaskell
2 Rainer Maria Rilke
3 T.S. Eliot
4 Jorge Luis Borges
5 Candace Fleming - 21st Century children's books
6 Tomie dePaola - 20th Century children's books
Other new authors this year Barbara Robinson, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, David Brin, George Sand, Richard Hooker, Émile Zola, Wiley Cash, Rudolfo Anaya, and Ken Follett
Mod
Select five categories of your choice or use some of these sample categories. Once you make your category selections, link the categories by finding and reading an Old School (1899 or older) and a New School book (1900-1999) that contains some part or is all about your selected categories. It will be more interesting and more varied if you come up with your own categories.
***NOTE - I am not looking at this challenge as a way to add more books to my annual total, but rather as a way to think about the books read.
1. Children's Literature - Bildungsroman , children growing up.
Old School: The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (1812) 1/16/2022 5*
New School: Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (1923) 6/24/2022 5*
2. Novellas - Tragic Flaw, a book in which a character has a tragic flaw which predicts or determines his or her fate.
Old School - Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville (1853) 3/2/2022 4*
New School - Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote (1958) 6/25/2022 5*
3. Plays - Ambition
Old School Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (1897) 8/21/2022 4*
New School The Tenth Man: A Tragic Comedy in Three Acts by W. Somerset Maugham (1913) 8/14/2022 4*
4. Short Stories - Unreliable narrators
Old School Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe (1835) 10/2/2022 3*
New School Barn Burning by William Faulkner (1939) 1/1/2022 4*
5. Christmas Tales
Old School The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1894) 10/9/2022 5*
New School The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (1972) 10/22/2022 3*
BONUS
6. Jealousy and Murder
Old School Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola (1867) 11/22/2022 4*
21st Century Future Classic A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash (2012) 12/4/2022 4*
Mod
Just for laughs I am making out a list here of books I already own that could fit. (nope I may need to purchase a few, but I mostly own them.) But I know myself, and I predict I will not read them all.!!
1. 19th Century, A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy
2. 20th Century, O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
3. 21st Century Potential Future Classic, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
✓ 4. Current or Past Group Read, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - 4* 12/31/2022
5. An Author not read before, Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
6. Diversity Classic, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours. Life of a Counterfeiter by Yasushi Inoue translated by Michael Emmerich I just purchased this on Kindle, because I like "The Hunting Gun" so much.
✓ 7. Science Fiction, Way Station by Clifford D. Simak 5* 3/19/2022
8. A book originally written in a language other than your own, Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
9. A Banned Book, Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
10. Nonfiction, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
11. Mystery/Crime, The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
12. Horror or Humor, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Six of these titles are from the group bookshelf and I bought them thinking I would read them, but never did. Four of these books are by authors I have not read yet.
Challenge #3 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge - I saw that someone - sorry I cannot remember who at the moment - had an Old and New Challenge of Children's Books. It looked good, so.... These are all books that I already own, either at home or in the classroom, and that I have not read yet.
Children's Books Century Challenge - Planning ( Classic Authors and Newberry Award Books)
1905 A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1910 Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery
✓ 1923 Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery - currently reading
1937 On the Banks of Plum Creek by Louisa May Alcott
1945 Stuart Little by E. B. White
1955 Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
1962 Savage Sam by Fred Gibson
1978 A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madelene L'Engle
1985 Sarah, Plain and Tall by Sarah McLaughlin
1990 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Challenge #3 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge Planning
Here is another possible plan. I had so much fun with short stories last year, using them for decade and century challenges. I deliberately did not use any author twice.
1950s Golden Age of Science Fiction Decade Challenge - Short Stories (Hugo Award Winning Authors)
1950 Coming Attraction by Fritz Leiber
1951 Inside Earth by Poul Anderson
1952 Surface Tension by James Blish
1953 The Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick
1954 The Ties That Bind by Walter M. Miller Jr.
1955 I Do Not Love Thee, Doctor Fell by Robert Bloch
1956 The Dead Past by Isaac Asimov
1957 Postmark Ganymede by Robert Silverberg
1958 The World That Couldn't Be by Clifford D. Simak
1959 Operation Haystack by Frank Herbert
Lynn wrote: "Just for laughs I am making out a list here of books I already own that could fit. (nope I may need to purchase a few, but I mostly own them.) But I know myself, and I predict I will not read them ..."Quite a good list, I would read that one. So far I've only read Mary Poppins and some titles are on my tbr.
But if you have previously been frustrated by some of these titles, it is probably not the best predisposition for a challenge ...
Mod
I remember loving Christy, Lynn, and your "know thyself" plan is a great way to get to the books we most want to read. Have fun!
Mod
My father gave me a copy of Christy that had belonged to my grandmother. He said it was her favorite book. I would have said Doctor Zhivago was. I know she watched the movie many times and she had a lovely little stereo system. I remember her playing the Doctor Zhivago soundtrack back in the 1970s.
There is a wonderful inscription in the front of Christy. It was given to her as a thank you gift from the Council of Southern Mountain Workers when they had a conference at the mountain resort where grandmother worked and lived, Fontana Village, NC. How appropriate!
Kathleen it is nice to hear that you liked it so much.
Mod
Actually the only book on the list that I started and did not finish was The Pillars of the Earth. It was just so long. I read half and there seemed to be a stopping point, so I did! The others are just on the shelves and haven't been started yet.
Lynn wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "I remember loving Christy, Lynn, and your "know thyself" plan is a great way to get to the books we most want to read. Have fun!"My father gave me a copy of Chris..."
Lynn, that is such a lovely story! It reminds me of my grandmother's favorite, A Girl of the Limberlost. And you have me humming the Dr. Zhivago theme ...
Lynn wrote: "Actually the only book on the list that I started and did not finish was The Pillars of the Earth. It was just so long. I read half and there seemed to be a stopping point, so I did! The others are just on the shelves and haven't been started yet."Oh well, then I think you should really use some of the titles. Whichever you have the most appetite for. : )
I've never read The Pillars, but I've heard other people say similar things about the length.
Lynn wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "I remember loving Christy, Lynn, and your "know thyself" plan is a great way to get to the books we most want to read. Have fun!"My father gave me a copy of Chris..."
What a wonderful story! : ) Those are the kind of details we remember the longest.
Mod
That's a lovely story about your grandmother, Lynn. I've never heard of Christy, but it looks lovely. Will add it to the TBR.
Mod
Mod
I am back to the idea of reading as an aid to teaching elementary school. My switch from 8th grade to 3rd means there are many books I should read to be caught up on the children's literature. So I set up a Century Challenge of Classic Children's books.
Wow so many of these are new to me. Good luck with your challenges
Mod
Thank you Ila. Many of these books are found in the middle of book series so the title may not be that familiar. I tried to use the Newberry Winners' List as my guide as well as books I owned. For the Science Fiction I use authors who have won Hugo Awards. Perhaps I should call these the Award Winning Authors' Lists.
I love the title of your challenge, Lynn, and the philosophy behind it. It definitely helps to "know thyself" when setting goals that we want to accomplish. I'll try to keep this in mind as well.I love your book selections and how you set up your decades challenge to read either all children's fiction or science fiction. That's a great idea!
What a lovely story about your grandmother... both your obtaining her treasured book Christie and her love for the movie Dr. Zhivago. That brought back such memories! Like Kathleen, now I have the theme song running through my head. 😄 Omar Sharif was SO romantic in that movie. I went to see that movie with my mother and her best friend when it first came out (I was just a baby - LOL). My mother's friend always referred to it as Doctor Zhervago, and to this day, my mom and I still talk about Doctor Zhervago. Thanks for the sweet memories, Lynn!
Good luck on your challenges!
Mod
Mod
I have read five short stories so far this month:
1. Barn Burning by William Faulkner - 20th century - not for the Challenge
2. "The Old Nurse's Tale" by Elizabeth Gaskell (1852)
3. The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1836)
4. Transcendental Wild Oats by Louisa May Alcott (1873)
5. "A Christmas Mistake" by L.M. Montgomery (1899)
For a few years, I have realized that my reading is heavily 20th Century and I wanted to read older works. This is a good start. I will fill in the exact short stories read as I go along. I like this system. I have a large pool of possible stories to choose from, but the day to day choices are just by mood and whim. I am excited.
Mod
I personally have found Twice-Told Tales fascinating. Sometimes the story itself is the reason - "The Minister's Black Veil", "The May-Pole of Merry Mount", "Wakefield", or "David Swan" . Sometimes the documentation of historical day-to-day realities is what is interesting to me: "The Rill from the Town-Pump" is a good example of that or "Sunday at Home".
I found a recent group read A Christmas Tree: by Charles Dickens curious because it had little or no plot line. It was a rambling essay. There are a few examples of this type of writing in Twice-Told Tales. "Little Annie Ramble" felt much like Dicken's "A Christmas Tree". This style must have been more prevalent in the 19th Century.
Overall, for writing ability, historical insight, and just plain good story telling I found Twice-Told Tales Volume 1 published in 1837 a wonderful book well worth my time. I have also been surprised that when I mentioned it in comments that people would actually respond with negative comments that I or anyone would spend time reading it. Especially in today's society when we are all about reexaming the past and the moral failings therein, this book perfectly fits that idea. Hawthorn was the descendant, great great grandson (?) of a Puritan Judge that condemned people in the witch trials. Hawthorne was born Hathorne, but he so wanted to distance himself from his ancestor John Hathorne that we actually changed the spelling of his name. Some of his most powerful stories are telling of the Puritan legacy of his area. It was a shadow that loomed over his writing published 100 years later.
Lynn wrote: "I really enjoy reading Twice-Told Tales, Volume I by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fiction, Classics by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It has surprised me that there is so much negative re..."
I'm glad you enjoyed Hawthorne's stories. I've not read his work since high school - I enjoy British literature much more than American overall. But you're encouraging me to give Hawthorne a revisit. That's very interesting that he altered his last name to avoid association with his family's history - I didn't know that.
Not sure why there's a negative reaction to Hawthorne - sorry you've encountered that. Thanks for sharing your reading experience with him :)
I'm glad you enjoyed Hawthorne's stories. I've not read his work since high school - I enjoy British literature much more than American overall. But you're encouraging me to give Hawthorne a revisit. That's very interesting that he altered his last name to avoid association with his family's history - I didn't know that.
Not sure why there's a negative reaction to Hawthorne - sorry you've encountered that. Thanks for sharing your reading experience with him :)
Lynn wrote: "I really enjoy reading Twice-Told Tales, Volume I by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fiction, Classics by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It has surprised me that there is so much negative reaction to Hawthorne."I too was surprised by the negative reactions when you mentioned reading this last week, especially from one person who admitted having never read it. I went digging among my books and discovered it in a “50 Classic Books” collection. Of the 36 stories, I had previously only read two, “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “The May Pole of Merry Mount” (as well as a few not included here). In addition to rereading these two, I have made it through four more. “The Gentle Boy” seems most apropos to the times in which we live. I’m going to continue rotating this with other short story collections I have going.
Speaking of short story collections, I recently finished Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson. Her stories are much shorter than Hawthorne (17 stories/190 pages total), and the sinister or creepy twist she puts on things is interesting. It’s impossible for me to choose a favorite!
I'm British and I read The Scarlet Letter a few weeks ago and I'd never really heard of it (aside from an American high school film) and I adored it! Hawthorne's writing it absolutely lovely, relatable, and surpringly feminist I thought. For some reason I thought it would be a boring classic but when I read it I soured through it and it has become an instant favourite for me and was a total 5* read for me. Then I came onto Goodreads to try and share the love for the book, and all the 1* reviews/negative reviews was truly shocking to me!I can't comment but surely it's because he's forced reading in school, and it just leaves a bad taste in peoples mouths? And yes, to a teenager the writing would be tough and the setting/context boring - I don't think it should be required reading because you can't really appreciate it at that age... but as an adult and knowing nothing about it the book was honestly amazing, and his writing was poetic and mesmerising, and I found the format/chapters balanced really well. I wonder if people have genuiene critique's and negative points beyond a psychological trace from their teenage years?
Summer wrote: "I'm British and I read The Scarlet Letter a few weeks ago and I'd never really heard of it (aside from an American high school film) and I adored it! Hawthorne's writing it absolutely lovely, relat..."
Hawthorne was required reading when I was in high school in the '80s (US). Also required for my daughter in the 2010s. We both were required to read Scarlet Letter. I remember thinking it was a powerful story, but my daughter loathed it. I would need to read the book again to offer an opinion beyond this, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Hawthorne was required reading when I was in high school in the '80s (US). Also required for my daughter in the 2010s. We both were required to read Scarlet Letter. I remember thinking it was a powerful story, but my daughter loathed it. I would need to read the book again to offer an opinion beyond this, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Cozy_Pug wrote: "Summer wrote: "I'm British and I read The Scarlet Letter a few weeks ago and I'd never really heard of it (aside from an American high school film) and I adored it! Hawthorne's writing it absolutel..."It was also required reading for me in the 70's (US). I think I liked it pretty well, but I like classics and really got into them in high school. But overall, I hear people say negative things about this book.
Lynn wrote: "I really enjoy reading Twice-Told Tales, Volume I by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fiction, Classics by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It has surprised me that there is so much negative re..."I read Hawthorne for the first time in an in-person book group taught by a retired English professor. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed his works, except for The Marble Faun. Even as an adult, an excellent teacher made a difference in my life by opening a genre of literature that I would not have attempted on my own.
Mod
Thanks everyone. Summer I agree about the forced reading. I read The Scarlet Letter when I was 16 years old. I did not like it. The shaming part was just too much for teenage girls to bear. I have meant to reread it, but it scares me a little due to that long ago experience. Reading short stories by Hawthorne was the perfect way to ease back into his writing.
Mod
Three stories The Outcasts of Poker Flat, The Idyl of Red Gulch , and The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte were both 5* stories for me. I better watch out or I will finish that entire collection and move them out of the Short Story Challenge!
The most recent story I read was A Strayed Allegiance . It is a short story by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I have only read the first two Anne books so far. My mother gave me her hardback set of the books when I was a child. I still have them. I like Montgomery and have been sampling some of her short stories. Most were written before she started writing novels. I gave it 4*. The youngsters today (lol) really seem to dislike it. I thought it was a nice period piece with a touch of melodrama. The heroine absolutely does not act like a modern woman. More power to her.
Roger Malvin's Burial by Nathaniel Hawthorne was originally published anonymously 1832 and was later publicly claimed. It was not in Twice-Told Tales Volume 1. 3 stars on this one.
Mod
I saw on Matt's thread that you read 10 books in a series in one month! Sci-fi?
Mod
No... it is embarrassing chick lit romance...I thought they might be like "Grim" the tv series or like Twilight the book and movie series. They are about werewolves looking for wives... but good werewolve who work as policemen...haha the entire firefighter force is comprised of werebears... it is silly and filled with cliffhangers, but I want to see if they defeat the demon who is trying to invade the Earth and kill all humanity. LOL book 10 and the demon is still not dead.
For good measure there are angels, dragons and time travelers. Just about any element you can imagine has been thrown in.
WARNING: explicit sex. I did not expect that. Yet, she is very formulaic so there will be like an entire chapter you can just skip if you don't want to read the sex scene and it does not cause you to miss any of the plot. Perhaps all my skipping of chapters is one reason I have read so many.
LOL I bet after all my reading of Jack London, Bret Harte, Nathaniel Hawthorne, L. M. Montgomery, Leo Tolstoy, T.S. Eliot, etc
the author who will garner all the attention is Lisa Ladew
Mod
Mod
I hesitated to even mark it as read. If I used enough of my real name for students to find me, then I would not have for sure. I think it will be ok.
Mod
L.M. Montgomery was an orphan herself and raised by her grandparents. Her husband was a stern Scottish Presbyterian minister who suffered from Depression all his life. She has a lot more to say to us.
Her short stories are easily found in many places: Project Gutenberg, manybooks.net, and Kindle. There are good Librivox recordings of many of the short stories on youtube - which I listen to while commuting. Here are the particular short story collections I am sampling from:
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories: 1896-1901 and The Complete Christmas Stories
Mod
lol. That old double-life conundrum.
I have not read any of Montgomery's short stories, but I have several of her "not Anne" novels on my TBR. I love Anne now and absolutely adored her when I was a kid. Do children still read and love her?
Mod
Mod
In 8th grade there was a small group of girls who were reading Anne books because of the recent television series they had watched. They invariably said, "My mother bought this book for me after we watched the series together." It was not a regular part of the curriculum in our school or any other that I know of. They loved their Anne books, brought them to school, and talked to each other about them.
The current trend in ELA is a de emphasis of literature. The powers that be push informational texts and controversial opinion pieces. They are also teaching "modern language" versions of Shakespeare that make me quake with anger and have a high blood pressure episode. My last year in Middle School was an absolute battle ground because I insisted on keeping more literature. It was why I quit...oh and Covid. If you watch the news at all I am sure you are aware of the parent backlash. Literature will be back soon enough. I tried to walk away from the fight, but a principal who is also a parent saw the battle every step of the way. She recruited me to teach her own son. This madness will soon pass.
Example: in third grade we have a hardback literature book, a softcover Reader's Workbook, grammar/writing, phonics/spelling, and oral reading. That is so much more than I can do. - correction, than the students can absorb. There are about twice as many reading selections as there are weeks to teach. I deliberately and systematically eliminated:
1. How to write letters and speak at the local governments so children can make a difference.
2. Voting rights and the biographies of 3 Texas lawmakers, and a couple of suffragettes.
I did include all the informational texts about wolves, desert wildlife, national parks, endangered species like manatees, poetry selections, the Hubble Telescope and the history of space exploration. I did include 3 biographies: Thomas Jefferson - focusing on his inventions, and two NASA astronauts, one male, one female.
I did include several realistic fiction stories about children their own age (Clementine) Clementine , Clever Jack Takes the Cake , 1 folk tale, 3 fairy tales, and they read weekly passages at home that focused on National Parks, ballooning, and other informational texts. The entire school had Celebrate Dr. Seuss week. We read The Lorax and discussed how illustrations are more than just pretty designs. Good illustrations give additional information and move the story along. They pulled out a few lines from the story and made original illustrations.
My current principal says she prefers that we focus on the animal informational texts - I agree.
Parents last Fall were concerned of course about who I am as a person. I told them I am a mom, grandmother, and that I care about giving the students the most normal childhood experience I could coming out of Covid. That was exactly what they wanted. In my classroom we do not discuss boyfriend/girlfriend stuff or politics. They are 8 years old for goodness sake.
Mod
Mod
Mod
Just realized it is a short story...easy to fit in. Thanks, Lynn.
Mod
Just realized it is a short story...easy ..."
Sure. I have been hesitant to take on one of his big books, but the selections from the Wessex Tales are awesome!
I love Hardy, too! Lynn, thanks for bringing this one to my attention and, Sara, for mentioning that it is a short story. I can do that!! ;)I just found a PDF online and will read it right away.
I've read most of his most well-known novels, but I would like to read some more. Sara, I think I'll try to get to "Under the Greenwood Tree" sometime soon. I also want to read A Pair of Blue Eyes. I'm moving Hardy up on my list! Thanks, you two, for reminding me of him :)
Mod
Lynn, I have the Wessex Tales on my list. I would like to read them all...but this will be a good place to start.
Now I've revised my Bingo plan so that I can include Hardy!! "The best laid plans...." ;)
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
The Pillars of the Earth (other topics)Before the Party (other topics)
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (other topics)
Clever Jack Takes the Cake (other topics)
Roadrunner's Dance (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ken Follett (other topics)W. Somerset Maugham (other topics)
Rudolfo Anaya (other topics)
E.T.A. Hoffmann (other topics)
Candace Fleming (other topics)
More...
I call it "Know Thyself" because after a few years of Challenges I have learned what does and does not work well for me. I am just never going to read more than one long-read a year. I really love short stories. I like trying to read one or two group reads each month. So with all that in mind, let the planning begin.
I predict, if I finish the Challenges I have chosen:
Challenge #2 - Second Place or Worse
Challenge #3 Decade or Century Challenge
✓ Challenge #4 Member's Choice Challenge 12 books 12/4/2022
✓ Challenge #5 Short stories Challenge 24 short stories 5/31/2022
✓ Challenge #6 2022 Group Reading 12 more texts 12/18/2022
✓ Challenge #7 New Authors completed 4/17/2022
✓ Challenge #11 Linked books Old and New School completed 10/22/2022
So I am looking at 34 short stories or so and twenty-four books. Then there may be more to read for Bingo. I think I have planned a good amount. Anymore would just be stressful.
Authors I am interested in:
Walter M. Miller Jr.
Willa Cather
Books I am interested in:
✓ Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Christy by Catherine Marshall