Friday, November 4, 2011

2012 Back to the Classics Challenge

  I was not successful in completing the 2011 Back to the Classics Challenge, but I am ready to take on the 2012 Challenge, once again hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much.  I was new to the whole challenge thing this year, and I think I was too ambitious, but this year I am going to be SMARTER (ha). 

  Here is the list of categories and the books I tentatively plan to read:

 Any 19th Century Classic:   Moby Dick


Any 20th Century Classic:  1984

Reread a classic of your choice:  Pride and Prejudice

A Classic Play:  Macbeth

Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction:  Frankenstein

Classic Romance:  Persuasion

Read a Classic that has been translated from its original language to your language:  Doctor Zhivago

Classic Award Winner - To clarify, the book should be a classic which has won any established literary award:  The Diviners (it won Canada's Governor General's Award in 1974 -- does that make it a classic?)

Read a Classic set in a Country that you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime:  Heart of Darkness
 
 
Several of these books are on the schedule for my library's classics reading group in 2012, so that will make completing the challenge a little bit easier!

6 comments:

  1. Suzanne, your list is a great one! There are some real gems--Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Dr. Zhivago, and Macbeth. Sounds like you'll be hunting the 'great white whale' with me too, Woo-Hoo! I sort of have a love-hate relationship with Melville and Moby Dick, and I'm hoping I can use the challenge to get past that. We'll see ;-) Cheers! Chris

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  2. Thanks for joining in again... It looks like you've already set yourself up for better results this year! As for THE DIVINERS, you'll have to tell us why you think it is a classic - but that award sounds like and established award, so it would fit the category! Good Luck!

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  3. Good luck on this challenge! I tried to set a personal goal of reading one classic a month this year, and only got two done before life took over. Hopefully I will redouble my efforts and be successful this time around!

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  4. Great choices! I love The Diviners. It's one of my favourites. It's such a unique coming-of-age story. Good luck :)

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  5. Very cool and great choices.
    Did you see my classic challenge http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=3937?

    It's my first one.

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  6. Good luck with the challenge this year! Moby Dick is an ambitious choice. I'm super impressed

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