Friday, November 18, 2011

Two 2012 Classics Challenges

'Tis the season to join challenges!  I usually go easy on reading challenges these days, but here are a couple I don't want to miss out on. I love classics and I love lovers of classics, and the world needs a little more love, doesn't it?  I must do my part to make the world a better place.
I believe both hostesses are okay with the challenges overlapping, but I'm choosing not to, mostly out of pure foolishness.

A Classics Challenge hosted by Katherine of November's Autumn

It's a beautiful button, isn't it?  I have almost as much of a weakness for buttons as I do for book covers.  When it comes to people, I'm all about inner beauty, but when it comes to books and buttons, I do like a nice package!  

The goal for this challenge is to read seven classics during 2012, and on the fourth of each month, Katherine will pose a question to be answered about whichever classic you're reading at the time.  For more details, visit here.  Here are my picks:

1.  Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
2.  The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
3.  Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
4.  Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
5.  O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
6.  On the Road by Jack Kerouac
7.  Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens




Back to the Classics Challenge 2012 hosted by Sarah of Sarah Reads Too Much

This fabulous button just screams "Let's get this party started!!!"  Are you feelin' it?  'Cause I am.  This one has CATEGORIES.  I don't drink, but I think this would be the equivalent of margaritas for those so inclined.  More details that have nothing to do with partying or getting drunk can be found here
Here are the categories and my choices:

1.  19th Century classic:  The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
2.  20th Century classic: A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
3.  A reread:  Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4.  Classic play: A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
5.  Classic mystery/horror/crime fiction: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
6.  Classic romance:  The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
7.  A classic translated from the original language into my language: Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
8.  An award winner:  The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
9.  A classic set in a country that I will probably never visit in my lifetime: King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

Any or all of these choices may change.  Foolish.  Fickle.  Name any flaw that starts with an "f" and I've probably got it.  But of course it will be . . .  Fun.  (I make these occasional clumsy attempts to be witty.  Is here an "f" word for that?)

10 comments:

  1. It won't be long before I get sucked into A Classics Challenge. I'm also feeling the Back to the Classics Challenge! A Room with a View is such a good book! I've also been wanting to read the Last of the Mohicans. Good luck with the challenges!

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  2. Melissa (Avid Reader)November 18, 2012 at 7:52 PM

    I already joined the Back to the Classics Challenge and I think I'm going to have to join the other one too. I love your choices for both. Brideshead Revisited, A Room With a View and O Pioneers! are all wonderful books. I hope Tender is the Night is better for you this time around!

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  3. I love your lists! I haven't joined these two challenges, but I'm giving it serious thought. I read Brideshead Revisited earlier this year and loved it. I've been meaning to read O Pioneers! Maybe I'll read it in 2012 also. Good luck!

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  4. Thank you for your enthusiasm!! I'm so glad to have you on board with the Challenge - and I really need to join the other one as well!

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  5. I really enjoy A Doll's House. You could pair it with Ibsen's Ghosts -- they relate very well. and both are short. I haven't read most of the others, but it looks like a great Classics reading year for you!! Yeay for Classics!

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  6. Thank you for joining the challenge, Shelley! So glad that you liked the button I made for it. :) I love the recent adaptation of The Forsyte Saga! I plan to read it for Sarah's challenge. Looking forward to your thoughts on the book.

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  7. After hosting the classics challenge for a few years I have to admit I'm a sucker for them. Even though I've sworm off challenges, I love the categories for the Back to the Classics Challenge! Would be fun to just make a list. No harm in that, right? ;)

    Love Tender is the Night!

    Ok...trying to figure out how to comment...

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  8. Wow, what a list! I'm excited for you to read The Forsyte Saga. I loved that one. Many here I've never heard of. Oh boy, I'm tempted to at least do the first one! I'm always trying to fit more classics in. It used to be that's all I read, then... I started blogging.

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  9. I love the categories for the Back to the Classics challenge. I think I'm going to have to join that one!

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  10. Bad, Classical Me...I have only heard of O Pioneers, The Caine Mutiny, and The Last of the Mohicans. Yikes.

    Just found this challenge...won't be participating, but you chose great books.

    ENJOY!!!

    OLD FOLLOWER.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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