The Classics Club, now thirteen years strong, posted a fun-looking survey yesterday morning.

1. When did you join The Classics Club? How many titles have you read for the club so far? Share a link to your latest classics club list.
   
   I joined the Classics Club for the first time in 2015, completed my first list in a timely manner, and then began anew in 2020. Last year I effectively “paused” my read and am counting 2026 as the “last” year for my current list,The Classics Club Strikes Back. I’ve read 84 titles to date, 50 from the original list and 34 from the current one.
   
2. What classic are you planning to read next? Why? Is there a book first published in 1926 that you plan to read this year?
   
   I’m feeling most drawn to The Confessions by St. Augustine, which I’d planned to re-read during Advent.(I read it over a decade ago, but I suspect I would enjoy it far more now — and not only because it’s translated by my favorite Latinist, Anthony Esolen.)
   
3. Best book you’ve read so far with the club? Why?
   
   Oh, the Gulag Archipelago. Granted, I am a history major.
   
4. Classic author who has the most works on your club list? Or, classic author you’ve read the most works by?
   
   Jane Austen and John Steinbeck are tied at 4 (in the two lists), I think. I have read all of Jane’s main works (ignoring juvenalia) save for Mansfield Park.
   
5. If you could explore one author’s literary career from first publication to last — meaning you have never read this author and want to explore him or her by reading what s/he wrote in order of publication — who would you explore? Obviously this should be an author you haven’t yet read, since you can’t do this experiment on an author you’re already familiar with. Or, which author’s work you are familiar with might it have been fun to approach this way?
   
   I’m not sure if this counts, but I’d love to do a deep dive of Solzhenitsyn. I’ve read his Gulag Archipelago, of course, and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but I feel certain I haven’t gotten more than knee-deep into what he offered.
   
6. First classic you ever read?
   
   My first classic was also my first ‘adult’ novel: I received a Great Illustrated Classics edition of Jack London’s Call of the Wild. I read it all day that Christmas.
   
7. Favorite children’s classic?
   
   I’m a little hazy about how to define a children’s classic, but The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe seems a safe bet.
   
8. Which classic is your most memorable classic to date? Why?
   
   I could say Gulag Archipelago again, but instead of double-dipping I will mention Jane Eyre because of an outstanding quote from it that lives in my head.
   
   “I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad — as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth — so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am quite insane — quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.”
   
   
9. Least favorite classic? Why?
   
   In my wrap-up post for my first list, I specifically called out The Sun Also Rises. “The appeal of this was entirely lost on me,” past-me declared.
   
10. Favourite movie or TV adaption of a classic?
    
    My initial thought was Great Expectations with Ioan Gruffud and Ian McDiarmid, and I’ll still stand by it — but the ladyfriend and I recently watched a version of Little Women that was awesome. And I’ve read both of those for the CC!
    
    
11. Favorite biography about a classic author you’ve read, or the biography on a classic author you most want to read, if any?
    
    I think the only biography of a classic author I’ve read would be about CS Lewis.
    
    
12. Favourite classic author in translation? Do you have a favorite classics translator? What do you look for in a classic translations?
    
    I honestly don’t pay sufficient attention to the translator, unless I’m reading a Russian novel in which case it can make a huge difference. The only exception is Anthony Esolen: while he’s written many books on Christianity, society, and culture, he’s also a Latin translator who has covered The Confessions, The Divine Comedy, and The Nature of Things. His translation of the Commedia was especially helpful because he combined it with annotations that explained medieval cosmology, Italian politics, etc.
    
13. Do you have a favorite classic poet/poem, playwright/play? Why do you love it?
    
    One of my odder hobbies is memorizing poems, or at least reciting them and trying to memorize them. The first poem I memorized was “The Tyger” by William Blake, in part because I was obsessed with tigers as a kid and in part because the cadence of the poem bewitched me. I can almost hear it as a song, or at least an eerie chant. (Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” followed, thanks to Star Trek Deep Space Nine.) Though “The Tyger” may be beautiful, it doesn’t have the meaning for me that other poems do. I’m thinking specifically of “Invictus” — which I’ve been reciting for nearly twenty years now — and “Breathes There the Man”. I also love Epistle II of Pope’s “Essay on Man“, for this bit:
    
    
    Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle state,
    A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
    With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
    With too much weakness for the stoic’s pride,
    In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast;
    In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
    Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
    Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
    Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
    
    
    
14. Which classic character most reminds you of yourself? Which classic character do you most wish you could be like?
    
    Maybe Davita, from Davita’s Harp. That may sound outlandish, but I strongly sympathized with her coming from a secular background, raised by parents obsessed with creating a socialist revolution, and being instead drawn to her grandparents’ Jewish faith. Off-list, Larry Darrel from The Razor’s Edge was another character consumed by the search for Meaning.
    
    
15. What is the oldest classic you have read or plan to read? Why?
    
    I’ve read The Epic of Gilgamesh and am pretty sure that can’t be beat.
    
16. If a sudden announcement was made that 500 more pages had been discovered after the original “THE END” on a classic title you read and loved, which title would you be happiest to see continued?
    
    You know, I think Melville could have written more about whales in Moby-Dick.
    
17. Favorite edition (or series) of a classic you own, or wished you owned, if any?
    
    The version of Little Women I read had a wonderful cover.
    
18. Do you reread classics? Why, or why not?
    
    It depends on the classic — I’ve reread several Londons and Steinbecks, for instance, and I’ve read The Bible many times — the Protestant one, anyway. Years ago I’d begun trying to read all of the deuterocanonicals but my attention wandered off. It’s not as if they’re that numerous, but you know me….my brain is a dog chasing six rabbits at once. The ladyfriend and I are doing the Bible in a Year program with Fr. Mike Schmitz, so it will be interesting to see if he includes those.(It appears he does!)
    
19. Has there been a classic title you simply could not finish?
    
    I wound up switching to an abridged version of Hunchback of Notre Dame. I should do it proper at some point.
    
20. Has there been a classic title you expected to dislike and ended up loving?
    
    Loving is too strong a word, but I was very much surprised by The Jungle. Until the end, where the main character disappears listening to endless political blathering, it’s a fairly compelling story.
    
21. List five fellow Classic Clubbers whose blogs you frequent. What makes you love their blogs?
    
    I follow so many book blogs and substacks I would be hard-pressed to pick the CC members out!
    
22. If you’ve ever participated in a readalong on a classic, tell us about the experience? If you’ve participated in more than one, what’s the very best experience? the best title you’ve completed? a fond memory? a good friend made?
    
    Marian and I read The Great Gatsby together back in 2021, which is strange because it feels like I just read that last year. (Probably because I did watch the DiCaprio film last year.) The ladyfriend and I are plotting a readalong of Little Men if I can find my copy.
    
23. If you could appeal for a readalong with others for any classic title, which title would you name? Why?
    
    The Confessions by St. Augustine. Would be interesting to read it with Christians of different denominations (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant) to see the different responses.
    
24. What are you favourite bits about being a part of The Classics Club?
    
    I like the camaraderie, and the ability to discuss the same books with people who have also read it. I live in a small town, so it’s difficult to have good bookish conversations — and that’s even true despite my working in a library, because no one else reads the books I want to talk about!
    
    
25. What would like to see more of (or less of) on The Classics Club?
    
    I’d like to see more of me reading from my list, since my last CC entry was from 2024.
    
    
26. Question you wish was on this questionnaire? (Ask and answer it!)
    
    Characters from Classics you’d like to have lunch, or at least a walk, with. I choose Willie Talos/Willie Stark from All the King’s Men. If he had any of Huey Long’s charisma he’d be a hoot and a half.