I was wondering if anyone was interested in Reading Challenge or goal that some of the other boards do? I love the book of the month that we do (even though I was MIA the last two months...sorry) but thought this might be something else we could do as well. Any thoughts?

I'm intrigued but how exactly does a reading challenge work?

This is what the Historical Fiction Forum did:

**2009 HISTORICAL FICTION READING CHALLENGE**

1. Read a book of Historical Fiction that is written about a "new to you" time period, person, or location.

2. Read a book of Historical Fiction set in your region.

3. Read a book of Historical Fiction that has been on your shelf for at least a year. If you don't have a year-old book, read one of the books you have had the longest.

4. Read a book of Historical Fiction from a "new to you" author.

5. Read a book of Historical Fiction with the word "murder" in the title.

6. Solve a crime! Read one Historical Mystery.

7. Be a patron of the arts! Read one book about a famous work of art, music, or the theatre.

8. Viva La Revolution! Read one Historical Fiction book about a revolution, set in the location of your choice.

9. Off with her head! Read one book of Historical Fiction that has a headless lady on the cover. We'll poke a bit of fun at the trend of including headless ladies on last year's H/F books. ;-)

10. Feed your brain! Read one non-fiction history book. The topic is up to you!

BONUS GOAL: Find a book that is 1,000 or more pages and read, read, and read some more....

Obviously, this would not completely work for Classic lit, but we could use this as a guideline.

I would be interested!

A few topics that might be interesting (some are similar to the ones posted above):

Read a classic book set during a war

Read a classic book by an author you've never read before

Read a classic book by a foreign author (not american or english)

Read a classic book written prior to 1800

Read a classic book that would be categorized as historical fiction

Read a classic book that would be categorized as a mystery

Read the classic book that has been on your TBR the longest

Just a few ideas for consideration :-)

Sheila I was hoping you would weigh in! I like your ideas.  How do these challenges sound:

1. Set during a war
2. New to you Author
3. Pre 19th century novel
4. Classic that is also Historical Fiction
5. Classic Mystery
6. TBR Book
7. Read a Dickens novel
8. Epic
9. Lost in Translation (a book translated to English)
10. Classic Horror or Scary story
11. Classic Sci Fi
12. High School Reading list revisited (A classic that you had to read in High School/College)

Do you think people would do this and the book of the month? Any other suggestions?

I would love to join this challenge.  I will be out of school then and will be able to devout more time to reading.  I was going to read the classics anyway.  I picked up a few at the last library sale I went to.  Would you consider Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace and Little Women classics?

Also you will have to give me names of other classics, so I could order some from here.

Welcome to the forum Renee - we would love to have you join us!

Mick - the categories look great - maybe complete 10 of the 12 for the challenge?

We could allow the BOM to complete a category if it meets the requirement.

Thanks for taking the lead on this.

sounds cool, I'm already gathering titles from my TBR pile to fit the list.  Let's see, possible ones could be.....

1. Set during a war- Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
2. New to you Author- The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
3. Pre 19th century novel- The Divine Comedy by Dante
4. Classic that is also Historical Fiction- I Will Repay or Eldorado by Emmuska Orczy
5. Classic Mystery-  Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler (1940, does that count as classic?)
6. TBR Book- The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne (longest time on my TBR)
7. Read a Dickens novel- Little Dorrit
8. Epic- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
9. Lost in Translation (a book translated to English)- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
10. Classic Horror or Scary story- Camilla by J. S. Lefanu  or The Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe
11. Classic Sci Fi- The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells
12. High School Reading list revisited (A classic that you had to read in High School/College)- Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Sheila, Michael,

Sounds wonderful.

I am IN!

Mick:  It sounds like a plan to me!   Two little quibbles, though.  I don't want to read a 'mystery' unless a book such as Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time would count?   And high school was SO LONG ago that I don't recall what we read then (in the early 1940s, if you must know).  I do, however, remember the teacher very well......she was a memorable maiden lady, Miss Ila Maude Kite.  I think we read The Pickwick Papers, but I don't have time to re-read it . . . .

Classic that is also Historical Fiction-

Would Uncle Tom's Cabin fit this catagory?

Dang, Vanessa, you are on it!

And, yes Tome, I think that would fit HF. Just my two cents, though.

Epic . . . 500+ pages or more or epic in the sense that it spans a certain amount of time?

This is a great idea! I'd love to do it. For a mystery, Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers come to mind, and I'm sure there are others.

Classic that is also Historical Fiction-

  Would Uncle Tom's Cabin fit this catagory?

*capriciously decides to become ultimate arbiter of all genre assignment*

Yes.

Question:

Do we get to select our own books within a catagory or do we vote and read the same book as we have been doing?

I think A Tale of Two Cities would be a good example of classic historical fiction.

I would definitely be interested in this.  It sounds like fun!

Do we get to select our own books within a catagory or do we vote and read the same book as we have been doing?

If it works the same way as the challenges do in the other forums we would pick our own books for each category. 

If it works the same way as the challenges do in the other forums we would pick our own books for each category. 

Oh very nice, very nice. Now I can really get into this challenge.

Wow, I just kept searching my book piles around the house and found books to meet each catagory. This is a great way to reducing my dusty TBR pile. I only have to order one book.

My tentative list:

1. Set during a war: A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemingway (1929) X
2. New to you Author: W. Somerset Maugham - The Painted Veil (1925) X
3. Pre 19th century novel: The Taming of the Shrew  by Williams Shakespeare  (1590s) X 
4. Classic that is also Historical Fiction: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) X
5. Classic Mystery: The Hounds of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1901) X  
6. TBR Book: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)  X  
7. Read a Dickens novel: Tale of Two Cities By Charles Dickens(1859) X
8. Epic:  The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (1844)
9. Translated into English: The Necklace and Other Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant (1880 - 1887)  X 
10. Classic Horror or Scary story: Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (1820) X  
11. Classic Sci Fi: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells (1896) X
12. High School Reading list revisited:  Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954) X

Oooh, can I join? I'm a recently graduated English major going through withdrawal, and this sounds like heaven.

I'll do it.

If it's only 12 books, I'll try to do it as well.  One a month shouldn't be too bad, but I'll have to give it some thought.

Sounds like fun. Count me in. Even if I have to go back and read two that my H.S. teachers instilled a great hatred for: A Tale of Two Cities and Silas Marner.

I'm going to try to fill this in as much as possible from my TBR list. 

1. Set during a war-  Sargossa Manuscript - Jan Potocki

2. New to you Author- The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

3. Pre 19th century novel- Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne

4. Classic that is also Historical Fiction- The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas

5. Classic Mystery-  The Law and the Lady - Wilkie Collins

6. TBR Book-  The Eustace Diamonds - Anthony Trollope

7. Read a Dickens novel- 

8. Epic- 

9. Lost in Translation (a book translated to English)-  Swann's Way - Marcel Proust

10. Classic Horror or Scary story- 

11. Classic Sci Fi- The Rolling Stones - Robert Heinlein (is this early enough?)

12.High School Reading list revisited (A classic that you had to read in High School/College)- Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

That's about as good as I can do with what I have in my house.  I may go with War & Peace for the epic, because I'm completely embarassed that I've never read it.  I'm drawing a little bit of a blank on the horror story simply because I've read so much of it.  I'm also down to the dregs of Dickens so I'm kind of dreading that one.

I would like to join in another challenge, but I have a suggestion--either add more categories and have people pick, say, 8 or 10 of their choice.  Or have a "light" challenge that is half the number of books everyone else reads.  There are several types of books that I really don't want to read (yes, I know a challenge encourages you to branch out from what you usually read, but I am also of the "too many books, too little time" school of not wanting to spend time with something I truly have no interest in).  I have read very few classics in recent years and would like to "challenge" myself to read some, but I want a fair chance to actually complete it.  I think more people will join if  there are some options.

I'm definitely in. This sounds like a great challenge. I have so many classics sitting around so I probably won't need to order any books.

Can you clarify the "epic" category, though? Or give some suggestions? How about Lord of the Rings, Brothers Karamazov, or Atlas Shrugged?

I also need more horror suggestions....

Sarah,

I too had a hard time with the epic challenge. I am not an fan of epics because they go on and on.  I spent several hours yesterday surfing the net for ideas. I know my life would be endangered if I attempted to read Beowulf, The Odyssey, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Moby Dick as I am severely allergic to purple prose and confusion.

Besides, I had a challenge on top of a challenge in that I want to use only books I have on hand. If I did not have Grapes of Wrath on hand, I would have explored Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand or Winds of War by Herman Wouk even though they're not that old.

Horror selections: Poe is always a safe bet.  Thomas Hardy too although he's incredibly dull I hear from a reliable source. Hawthorne wrote The House of Seven Gables. I was almost hospitalized because my "allergy" flaired up something fierce trying to read Gables.

I've always wanted to explore Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. I think it's the first gothic novel. Frankenstein by Shelley is a sure bet too.

Have fun researching and exploring and post what you chose on here. I had a great time picking out my selections.