Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Hi all, I'm new here and want to read more Classics in 2025!

My main goal is to sample everything on offer. I know I won't finish all the challenges and probably no more than 2-3, but I do want to be exposed to more literature, talk about books with people, and start to figure out what I like and don't like. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Any tips/suggestions are appreciated. I will be posting/editing throughout the month.

Thanks,
-T

Completed 2/17

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR 4/12
Challenge #2 - Members Choice 2/9
Challenge #3 - New Authors 1/6
Challenge #4 - Short Story 1/12
Challenge #5 - Decade/Century/Millennium 0/10
Challenge #6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, Moderators Run Amok 4/12
Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete 2/2
Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time 1/7
Challenge #9 – Rereading Some do Some don't 1/2
Challenge #10 - Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year 0/3
Challenge #11 - Future Classics 1/3
Challenge #12 - Fiction/Non-Fiction 1/6
Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories 0/3
Challenge #14 - Bestselling Novels in the United States 0/2
Challenge #15 - Award Winners 3/2
Challenge #16 - A-Z Author 5/26
Challenge #17 - A-Z Title 0/26

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR

Progress: 4/12

1914 and earlier
✓1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Finished 2/11 review
2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
1915-2005/New School
4. Stoner by John Williams
5. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
6. Watership Down by Richard Adams
Six Bookshelf Dust Collectors
7. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
✓8.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Finished 1/16 review
9. Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
✓10. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Finished 1/25 review
11. The Waves by Virginia Woolf
12. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Alternates
✓ A-1. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Finished 3/10 review
A-2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
A-3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Challenge #2 - Members Choice Challenge Choose one book per category/genre for a total of 9 books.

Progress 2/9

✓ 1. 19th Century or Older - Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Finished 3/29 review
2. 20th Century -
3. 21st Century -
4. Nonfiction -
5. An Author never read before -
6. Diversity, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours -
7. Science Fiction - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
✓. Members Choice Genre - Adventure - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Finished 1/21 review
9. Members Choice Genre -

Science Fiction. Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Young Adult, Nonfiction, Poetry, Romance, etc.

Challenge #3 - New Authors

1/6

1. William Faulkner
2. Virginia Woolf
3. Graham Greene
4. Sylvia Plath
✓ 5. Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray Finished 3/10 review
6. Margaret Atwood

Challenge #4 - Short Story

1/12

1. The Wasteland and other poems
2. Goblin Market: A Tale of Two Sisters What a great title!
3. A Street Car Named Desire
4. The Magic Shop
5. Rosencratz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard
✓ 6. Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson Finished 4/20 review
✓ 7. The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov Finished 6/24 review
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Challenge #5 - Decade/Century/Millennium

I'm going to split old/new school era's to see if I prefer one or the other, or perhaps a specific decade stands out for future challenges. Granted this has a lot to do with the books chosen. Whatever.

1860 - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
1870 - Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
1880 - Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
1890 - Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
1900 - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
1910 - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
1920 - The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
1930 - Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
1940 - The Stranger by Albert Camus
1950 - Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Challenge 6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, or Moderators Run Amok

The challenge is to read 12 total books/stories from this year's selected group reads. Your reads can come from this year's poll winners, the Buddy Read Requests, or the new Moderators Run Amok! There should be plenty of choices.

PROGRESS 4/12

✓ 1. Augustus MRA Jan.-Mar. Finished 2/6 review
✓ 2. The Seagull Short Story for Feb. Finished 2/13 review
✓ 3. Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson For April MRA Finished 4/20
✓ 4. Mimsy Were The Borogoves by Lewis Padgett For May MRA Finished 5/17
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete

Each member is to decide what they wish to accomplish. For challenge purposes, read at least two books. That is only 1 every six months. This is doable

PROGRESS: 2/2

I'd like to continue/be current with:
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King 1/8
The Discworld Series by Sir Terry Pratchett. 23/41
✓Interesting Times Finished 1/14 review
Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot: 1
✓ The Mysterious Affair at Styles Finished 1/1 review

Series with 1 more to be caught up:
Southern Reach Series by Jeff VanderMeer 3/4
Tita Rosies Mystery Kitchen by Mia P. Manansala 4/5

I have to finish:
The Wheel of Time Series, by Robert Jordan. I have books 11-14 to finish.

Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time

2/7

Africa - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
✓ Asia - The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov Finished 7/2
Australia - The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Europe - Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
✓ North America - The Shipping News by Annie Proulx Finished 3/17 review
South America - Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende
*Antarctica, or a Country

*Read a book set in the country you'd most like to visit

Challenge #9 – Rereading Some do Some don't

This year’s challenge is, reread two of your reread selections.

Progress 1/2

I am not a big "re-reader" (if that's even a term...). There are so many I haven't read that I need to get to lol, but this challenge will help with that. I might just go for ones that I read back in school with the sole interest of writing a paper or passing a test...

Books I'd Love to Reread
1. The Giver by Lois Lowry
2. Blindsight by Peter Watts
3. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
4.
5.

Read Again in 2025
✓ 1. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien Finished 4/27
2.

Challenge #10 - Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year 1988

Locate and list 10 books that most interest you from the year of your choice. The challenge is to read 3 books from that list.

1. Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
2. Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum
3. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson
4. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
5. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
6. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
7. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman
8. A Great Deliverence by Elizabeth George
9. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
10. Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives by Brian L. Weiss

Challenge #11 - Future Classics

Progress 1/3

The Future Classic Challenge - List 3 unread books published between 2000-2024 that you feel have the potential to become a classic. The challenge, read 1 of your 3 selections. Then let us know if you think it has a chance at greatness, or will it pass into oblivion.

1. 2022 - Babel by R.F. Kuang
2. 2011 - 11/22/63 by Stephen King
✓ 3. 2001 - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Finished 4/20

Challenge #12 - Fiction/Non-Fiction
Using the below categories or a selection of your own pick three subjects of interest and read a fiction book and a non-fiction book about that subject. Total number of books for this challenge is six.

Progress 1/6

Categories
War
Historic Event
Survival
Death
Civilization
Justice
Politics

The American Revolutionary War
✓Non-fiction - Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson Finished 1/19 review
Fiction - Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell
Or
Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara

Example:
Sea Travels/Adventures
Fiction - The Sea Wolf
Non-Fiction - Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea

Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories
Using the below categories or choices of your own, pick three subjects of interest. Link the chosen subjects to an old book 1914 or earlier to a newer book 1915 -present. Total number of books for this challenge is six.

Categories
Genres-Romance, Science Fiction, etc.
Contains a Trial
Has a Murder
Contains Time Travel
Coming of Age
An Error in Judgement - Paying the Ultimate Price
Set on or has The Sea involved
Animals
School
Travel
Life Changing Action
Survival
Friendship
Bravery/Courage
Generation Gap

Example:
Life Changing Action
Old - A Horseman in the Sky
New - A Separate Peace

Challenge #14 - Bestselling Novels in the United States

he below link provides a list of bestsellers from 1895-2023. Pick 10 years of interest. List the bestseller for each year selected. If you have read it, list the 2nd bestseller and so on. Ideas for picking years: birth years for family and friends, memorable events graduations, anniversaries, etc. or historic events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publish....

NOTE: click on the link above then Look for the blueish info bar, just under it you will find a list of decades from 1890-2020. Click the decade needed and search individual years.

Example:
1899 - David Harum: A Story of American Life
1938 - The Yearling
1956 - Don't Go Near the Water
1975 - Ragtime
.
.
10.

The Bestseller Challenge from your list of 10 books pick two. One from a genre outside your comfort zone. You may surprise yourself and like it. If it ends as DNF no problem at least you tried. Book two should be a book you think has a chance at 4 or 5 stars.

Books Chosen
1.
2.

Challenge #15 - Award Winners

From the below book prize lists, or a prize from your country or local region, seek out and read two award winning books.

Progress 3/2

Hugo Award - since 1953
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Aw...

Books Chosen
✓ 1. 1974 Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke Finished 1/23 review
✓ 2. 1962 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein Finished 4/13 review

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

✓ 3. 2025 - James by Percival Everett Finished 5/5


NOTE: I won't promise that these links will work for everyone. Given the prize names listed, plus you can select and use any other book award of interest, I don't think there is a serious problem for members to search out web sites if the links fail.

Challenge #16 - A-Z Author

I find this to be a very difficult challenge, many others consider it one of their favorites. For those who really enjoy this challenge in its pure form use all 26 letters. For those of us who struggle, with this challenge consider it successful by using only 23 letters. There are 4 optional letters marked with an (*), you only need to use one.

PROGRESS 6/26

A
✓ B - Charles Bukowski - Love Is a Dog from Hell Finished 4/7
✓ C - Albert Camus - The Stranger Finished 4/5 review
✓ D - Don DeLillo - White Noise Finished 6/2 >/b>
E
F
G
✓ H - Joseph Heller - Catch-22 Finished 4/14 review
✓ I - John Irving - The World According to Garp Finished 1/17 review
J
K
L
M
N
O
✓ P Thomas Pynchon - The Crying of Lot 49 Finished 6/1
*Q
R
S
T
U
V
W Herman Wouk The Winds of War ( I noticed Bob mentioned he wished he hadn't kept this on the shelf for so long. That's exactly the kind of stuff I'm trying to glean from a challenge and cooperation of a group. Thanks Bob!)
*X
*Y
*Z

Challenge #17 - A-Z Title

I find this to be a very difficult challenge, many others consider it one of their favorites. For those who really enjoy this challenge in its pure form use all 26 letters. For those of us who struggle, with this challenge consider it successful by using only 23 letters. There are 4 optional letters marked with an (*), you only need to use one.

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H - Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
*Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
*X
*Y
*Z

Welcome Thomas! The challenges in this group are really fun and very no-pressure, so it's a good approach to just sample what you like from them and not worry about whether you finish the challenges.

One tip is that if you want to try a new author without a lot of commitment, you could try a short story or novella by that author.

Another good tip is that this group is a great resource for finding out about really good books. As the year progresses, I read other people's challenges to see what they think of the books they've finished; sometimes reading their thoughts on a book persuades me to add it to my own list of books to read.

You could also check out this thread, where people talk about the best books they read this year. It's a great place to start for recommendations!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Here is the equivalent thread from last year: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

And here is a discussion about people's favourite books among the group reads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Enjoy!

Wobbley wrote: "Welcome Thomas! The challenges in this group are really fun and very no-pressure, so it's a good approach to just sample what you like from them and not worry about whether you finish the challenge..."

Thanks Wobbley! I've skimmed the "Bookshelf" but those links are great resources to point me in a good direction and get me thinking. The planning phase can be fun but the execution phase is what usually gets me in trouble.

Welcome, Thomas! I love your approach. My advice is to keep an eye on the threads and group reads, and then just sit back and see what tempts you. :-) Enjoy your planning!

Kathleen wrote: "Welcome, Thomas! I love your approach. My advice is to keep an eye on the threads and group reads, and then just sit back and see what tempts you. :-) Enjoy your planning!"

Thanks Kathleen! You members have already done the hard work and found, and read, a lot of good books so I'm just going use everyone's recommendations.

Delighted you have decided to take a nibble, Thomas. Main ingredient in any recipe here is fun. I do hope you get to Faulkner and Woolf...some great new authors to add to your repertoire.

Sara wrote: "Delighted you have decided to take a nibble, Thomas. Main ingredient in any recipe here is fun. I do hope you get to Faulkner and Woolf...some great new authors to add to your repertoire."

Thanks, Sara. I just discovered the Mod's Run Amok! and Augustus sounds interesting.

So happy if you can join in. I think it will be fun and we should have a great group of readers.

Welcome! And what an ambitious start! I wish you all the best! As a still somewhat new member myself, i am looking at these new challenge threads and getting inspired to make my own! Think i will be choosing less challenges though, because i tend to get competitive and disappointed if i cant keep up (or stressed to keep up and neglecting more important things. Eek!) Sorry to blabber on in your thread. Ill shut up now and try to make my own. Lol
All the best!

Edit: puts foot in mouth as i reread you saying you wanted to sample and not expect perfection. I think i just got ahead of myself and thought of my own nervous impulses with competition. Lol

Welcome to the group and the buffet, Thomas! This is my third year, and I haven't found a nicer or more supportive group anywhere, so I think you'll be happy you joined.

Don't forget that you can read more modern books for these challenges unless the task specifically calls for a classic, so your Wheel of Time books, for instance, can be used for many of these tasks.

Also, do double up. Take the books from your Old and New TBR and plug them in multiple other places, too. And that's the only one where you're asked not to change things after Jan. 1. Otherwise you can arrange and rearrange to your heart's content as the year goes on.

Sara, the old school classics mod, is doing a no-plan year, where she just reads and then sees how the books fit the prompts. You might enjoy following her to see how that works out, too.

At any rate, welcome and have fun reading!

Thomas, I wanted to pop back and let you know one more point that might help you out. As you may be guessing, this group is relaxed about things, so the "books" you read can be any length. You can use one short story or essay, a poem or play, kid's book, etc. Basically if someone write it down you can use it, regardless of length. That can help a lot for some of the really tricky tasks, or if like me you just enjoy plays, poetry and essays!

Welcome to the group, Thomas! You have a great collection of books for the challenges. All the best