My post The Classics Club: I'm In! was posted on November 8, 2012--almost two years ago. In retrospect, my list was ambitious and optimistic. I planned to read 85 classics within 5 years. Two years have already gone by, and I've only finished 11 of the books on my list (I'm in the midst of reading a 12th). Still, I don't feel bad at all. Each of the books I've read has been an addition to a body of reading, and if it takes me more than five years to read all the books on my list, I can live with that. I'll still keep trying, though. I've noticed that since I started keeping track of the books I read, I have increased the number of books read each year. The same should hold true for my classics list.
Here are the books I've completed so far:
1. All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy.
2. The Crossing Cormac McCarthy.
3. Cities of the Plain Cormac McCarthy.
4. The Known World Edward P. Jones.
5. Lolita Vladimir Nabokov.
6. Go Tell It On the Mountain James Baldwin.
7. The Ladies' Paradise Emile Zola.
8. Hard Times Charles Dickens.
9. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens.
10. Invisible Man Ralph Ellison.
11. East of Eden John Steinbeck.
Right now I'm reading Another Country by James Baldwin. This novel, set in Greenwich Village in the 1950's, was published in 1962. The characters are artists, writers, musicians, gay, straight, black, white. Baldwin's writing is very, very beautiful.
I haven't even talked about Romantic Literature in September, or the September meme question. I think I will just send everyone to The Classics Club (http://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com).
Have you joined The Classics Club? If so, how are you doing on your list? If not, are you interested in reading more classics?
I'd love to hear how other Classics Club bloggers are doing....
5 comments:
I'm just about halfway through my 5 year plan to read 50 classics, but slightly behind schedule. Think I'll do an update post, too. Thanks for the idea :)
Did you watch The Paradise (based on Zola's novel) on PBS Masterpiece? Season 2 starts later this month, but season 1 is available on Netflix if you missed it. I enjoyed reading The Ladies' Paradise a few years ago.
I'm thinking of tweaking my list. When I made it, I really picked only books I owned and we have a lot of old books I got from my great uncle. But the more I think about it, I really don't care if I ever read some of them. I'm quite sure I could replace them easily!
@JoAnn-I'm trying not to feel bad about being behind, because I am making progress. I'd love to read about how you are doing on your list. I did watch the Masterpiece version of The Paradise-which I liked but it was nothing like the Zola novel--they took great liberties!
@Lisa-I just want to add things, which makes no sense since I'm behind!
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