Next year I’ll be restarting the Classics Club challenge, with a scheduled list set to go live on January 1st, but some bloggers whom I follow are enrolling in a mini-classics challenge, with twelve categories. My CC list fills all the categories easily, so I’m dovetailing it with Books and Chocolate’s challenge. Here’s my list, a preview of my second CC run..
- A 19th century classic: Rebecca, Daphne de Maurier
- A 20th century classic: Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
- A classic by a woman author: Persuasion, Jane Austen
- A classic in translation: Resurrection, Leo Tolstoy
- A classic by by a non-white author: The Shahnameh, Ferdowsi
- A classic by a new-to-you author: Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin
- New-to-you classic by a favorite author: A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- A classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title: Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
- A children’s classic: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
- A humorous or satirical classic: Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen. (A satire of Gothic novels, I’m given to understand..)
- A travel or adventure classic (fiction or non-fiction). Captains Courageous, Rudyard Kipling
- A classic play. Plays will only count in this category: The Crucible, Arthur Miller
Reading Freely 
A few of these are on my ‘interest’ list too…. I’m hoping (rather than planning) to read more classics in ’21. Not sure how many though! I have an idea of my first two but after that….???
The Classics Club website could give you lots of ideas! 😉
More of a ‘Which Classic I own do I read next?’ sort of thing……….
You have some nice ones here. Truth be told, I am not a big Jane Austen fan and until I read Northanger Abbey, nothing really pulled me in. But I loved this book. It has a lot of the themes she’s known for, but it’s also really fun!
I wish you well on this challenge.
Thank you! I’ve not read a lot of Gothic literature so some of the satirical content might escape me, but I’m hoping to get something out of it. 🙂
You have some good ones on here…Persuasion is my favorite Austen bc of its maturity; thoroughly enjoyed The Crucible bc of the story behind the plot (so intriguing); of course, Solzhenitsyn is purposeful; and my kids and I enjoyed Captains Courageous some years ago. I’ve also read Northangar Abbey (yes, a satire of the Gothics); and Of Mice and Men, which I read a long time ago — and it’s due for a reread one of these years. Steinbeck and I have a rocky relationship, so I’m not sure Of Mice and Men would be helpful. 😀 Good luck!
Persuasion is *very* good. It’s my 2nd favourite Austen. My fave is P&P. Still yet to read Northanger or Mansfield.
Captains Courageous was an instant add when I read about the plot. It brought to mind “The Sea Wolf”!
I admire your dedication to this challenge! I want to read Rebecca…someday.
If 2020 teaches us anything, it’s SEIZE THE DAY! Hope you’re able to take up the gauntlet at some point. 🙂
Rebecca is one of my all time favorites. But I thought it’s written in 20th century?…
I also like Persuasion – it’s the first Austen I liked, by the way. Black Beauty is a treasure, but Resurrection is a meh for me; hopefully you’ll enjoy it more.
Great choices, Stephen, have fun! 🙂
Um…whoops. XD Thanks for pointing that out, I literally just mentally threw de Maurer into the same “Victorian Classics” box as the Brontes and Austen. Thanks for dropping by!
I read Of Mice and Men and The Crucible in high school and I really enjoyed them both. Northanger Abbey is in my top three of favorites for Jane Austen. I do hope you like that one as well. Looks like we are both going to read Go Tell It on the Mountain. Good luck!
Thanks! If a high schooler could enjoy them that gives me hope that they won’t be too ornerous! 😉
So many great titles on your list! I don’t usually read mysteries or anything even slightly dark (because I am a wimp and get scared easily and then can’t sleep), so I was tentative about Rebecca, but I ended up LOVING it! The recently released movie was really close to the book (with beautiful scenery!). Persuasion was just so lovely. Northanger Abbey was good, but not my favorite of Austen’s. Alice and Wonderland was delightful and silly. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. And Black Beauty was a great one too; I learned a lot about horses and enjoyed a horse narrator (that’s a first for me)
Here is my Back to Classics list, if interested!
https://elle-alice.blogspot.com/2021/01/back-to-classics-2021-challenge.html
I read a version of Black Beauty as a child, and much of it has stayed with me. I’m looking forward to re-experiencing it! 🙂
For some reason Disquis isn’t letting me post my response to your Back to the Classics challenge, so I’ll copy-paste it here:
“You’ve got a lot of good reads coming up! Have fun with Father Brown. I’ve never finished any of the Brown collections, but I like GKC in general. Wendell Berrry is WONDERFUL.”
(Disqus is having an authentication issue but not letting me resolve it — odd.)
I love Wendell Berry too! Hannah Coulter is my favorite, with Jayber Crow a close second! I’m looking forward to Father Brown! I haven’t read anything else by Chesterton, but I have heard great things about this series! Thank you for replying here since Disqus was being weird!
Hannah was my second WB book. 🙂 Have you read the rest of the series? The Memory of Old Jack would probably rank as my third or second favorite, I think.
I think with Disquis I have to sign out and sign back in — will test when I’m not on the road.