Contact me at lucyvictoriabrown@gmail.com because I'm always up for a natter about anything. Well, mostly.

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Reading Challenge: A Classics Challenge

I came across this excellent challenge for 2012 hosted by November's Autumn. Read seven words of classic literature in the year (only three of which may be re-reads) and visit the blog every month for a prompt to write about (although I'm certain I'll be writing a review alongside that). Find about about the challenge here.

The classics I'm going to read are nothing to do with my PhD but have all been gathering dust on my bookshelves for quite some time. Here's the list:

1. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
2. Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell
3. The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot
4. A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
5. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman - Laurence Sterne
6. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
7. The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy

The list is subject to change. I'm starting with Bleak House but that could take me most of the year! It looks to be a fun challenge, reading some of the books I really feel I should've read already. The only one I'm not really looking forward to is The Mill on the Floss - I've tried to get into that on several occasions and failed miserably. That one may disappear from the list!


6 comments:

*ೃ༄ Jillian said...

I'm reading The Mill on the Floss as well! Also Middlemarch which I've started already for a different challenge and love. Hope you have fun with this! :-)

CharmedLassie said...

Middlemarch is a challenge that deserves it's own year to complete!

Katherine Cox said...

Thank you for joining the challenge, Lucy! I haven't read Eliot, this coming year will be my first, I plan to start with Middlemarch.

The Mill on the Floss is something I hope to read in future as I'm also interested in Elizabeth Gaskell and have read her novella The Moorland Cottage, which is said by some, to have inspired Mill on the Floss.

Is Mary Barton your first Gaskell read? If so, I might recommend starting with another perhaps Wives and Daughters or Ruth. MB was her first novel and it seems there's no middleground-- people either love it or hate it.

CharmedLassie said...

I've read North and South which I really enjoyed. I've tried starting Mary Barton before but obviously wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. Hopefully this time I'll be able to plunge right in - and hopefully I won't hate it!

Good luck with Middlemarch. Starting with it is quite brave!

Elizabeth said...

Nice Blog...NEW FOLLOWER.

I am so bad about reading Classics.

I have only read OLIVER TWIST from your list.

ENJOY your challenge.

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

CharmedLassie said...

Thanks, Elizabeth, nice to meet you!

More than half way through the year and, though I've read four classics, I've only read the two Dickens books from the list - I definitely need to get back to the plan at some point!