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Discussion Forums - Classic Literature
Topic: 2014 Classics Challenge--lists only
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Well, the votes are in, and we're going to go with these 12 categories: 1. made into film 2. new-to-you author 3. literary award winner 4. lost in translation 5. book you consider short 6. book you consider long 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading 9. classic ghost/horror novel 10. short story collection 11. less-famous book by a famous author 12. banned book Substitution options: works by a particular author from Modern Library's Top 100 free choice. Let's start filling in those blanks! Rose |
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Thanks for tallying votes & putting together the list, Rose! Light challenge...(as many as I can read from the list below) 1. made into film: The Day of the Triffids by Wyndham (4/14/14) 2. new-to-you author: Every Man Dies Alone by Fallada (9/30/14) 3. literary award winner: The Big Sky by Guthrie (Pulitzer) 4. lost in translation: And Quiet Flows the Don by Sholokhov 5. book you consider short: A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (1/12/13) 6. book you consider long: 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading: 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading 9. classic ghost/horror story: something by LeFanu, perhaps 10. short story collection 11. a less-famous work by a famous author: The Italian by Radcliffe 12. banned book: Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury Last Edited on: 9/30/14 5:48 PM ET - Total times edited: 7 |
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1. made into film--Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternack 2. new-to-you author--Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rolvaag (Completed 7/11/14) 3. literary award winner--OMIT 4. lost in translation--The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass 5. book you consider short--The Professor by Charlotte Bronte (Completed 6/14/14) 6. book you consider long--David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (Completed 10/22/14) 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading--London Journal 1762-1763 by James Boswell 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading--Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe 9. classic ghost/horror novel--Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 10. short story collection--Winesburg , Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (Completed 1/26/14) 11. less-famous book by a famous author--The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins (Completed 2/16/14) 12. banned book--The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Substitution options: works by a particular author from Modern Library's Top 100 free choice--A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Completed 5/13/14) Last Edited on: 10/22/14 5:54 PM ET - Total times edited: 7 |
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Last Edited on: 2/6/15 8:33 AM ET - Total times edited: 2 |
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1. award winner - Andersonville (1956) (Pulitzer winner) by M. Kanter Outstanding storyteller. Both prose and topic were heavy but well worth the read. Characters come to life and even I teared up at certain chapters. Kanter researched the history of Andersonville well. 2. made into film - Rebecca (1940) by Daphne Du Maurier This was the best Gothic novel I've read in a long time. As good as Jane Eyre. I really needed a novel that I didn't have to slog through. Du Maurier's writing is superb. 3. new-to-you author - Tess of d'urberville (1891) by Thomas Hardy. I've mixed feelings about this book. Uber pretentious writing. Why use 1 word when 50 will do? Unbearably descriptive in all the wrong places. Waxing endlessly about the countryside and grossly glossing over the event that drives the story. It quickly became an "eat-your-peas" kind of read. But something made me stick to it. I found a movie of it that seemed well done and did not stray from the story. I'd watch the film up to the point where I hadn't read and I just kept reading and then rewarding myself with snippets from the film. I admit I looked at Sparknotes to gain some perspective and to perhaps pick up any hidden meaning that may be in this book. I am sure I missed a lot. I've a feeling the countryside represents a bunch of things I am just not into figuring out at the moment. But Hardy, he's addictive despite the fancy language and I eventually grew to enjoy it. I liked the characters too which helped greatly. The good guys were bad and vice versa. And our sweet Tess? Is there a thing as willful naivety? I think so. I even came to like the countryside that Hardy went on about. There is one particular passage about the weather and the fields that is absolutely a painting in words.
4. lost in translation - Peder Victorious (1929) by O.E. Rolvaag A huge disappointment. Rolvaag's first book, Giants of the Earth was excellent. This sequel fell so flat. Endless chapters about church troubles. Just spinning wheels and getting nowhere. Because Peder Victorious went nowhere I decided to pick up Franz Kafka's famous novella (?) "Metamorphosis." Ahh, much better. Absurd. Silly. Then sad. Leaves you analyzing at the end over what's it supposed to mean. I do love the famous first line. 5. book you consider short - The Ghost Pirates (1909) by W.H. Hodgson Started out with a great hook, but then got bogged down quickly with ship jargon and a protagonist who spent a large portion of the story over ruminating over what he possible saw or not saw which made a short story go on forever.
6. book you consider too dang long - David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickens. At last I finished it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Mas'tr Davy's childhood. Wonderful stuff. It's when he becomes an adult that the pace slows substantially. There are about 300 - 400 pages slogginess in the middle. The only character that kept me reading was the 'umble Uriah Heep. Really, what a build-up. There were characters that I was supposed to like which I didn't. I didn't care for much Little Em'ly or that entire sub story at all. Seemed rather like filler to me. It would have been more romantic if Ham had tracked down Em'ly than her uncle. Found that a bit weird. Mr. Micawber is a strange fellow, and of course, Mrs. Micawber will "never leave him" (how many times must we hear that), I enjoyed his verbosity until the end when he just droned on and on and I wanted to ship him off to live with ...HEEP! Still, Dickens is a wonderful writer with a terrific sense of humor. Would I read more Dickens? In the immortal words of Mr. Barkus. "I am willin'".
7. Less famous work by a famous author - My Cousin Rachel (1951) by Daphne Du Maurier Another wonderfully written work by Du Maurier. My new favorite author. I can't get enough! This story plays with ambiguity like I've never seen. Du Maurier's protagonists so far ... oy you want to kill them yourself sometimes.
8. Free Choice - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeter (1958) by Robert Lewis Taylor This is a Pulitzer winner that actually deserves it's award. This one is a keeper if I could ever find a nice clean copy except it's out of print. 1849, Young Jaimie accompanies his father on a wagon train headed from Missouri to California to find gold in California. Hilarious along the same vein as maybe Twain except Taylor's funnier. It can also be quite horrific at times that I had to skim a few paragraphs about Indian torture (skinning alive, rites of passage rituals etc.)
9. classic ghost/horror novel - I am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson Interesting mix of horror and post apocalypse. I looked forward to picking this up in the evening and feeling Robert Neville's lonliness, catching glimpses of post apocalyptic Los Angeles, and genuinely feeling terror as the sun goes down--Good God vampires waiting outside and calling for you to come out. "NEVILLE!" One petty thing that irked me is Matheson's love for making his main character grit, grind, clench his teeth so much that you'd think the guy would have nubs for chompers. It must have been a sort of writing tic for Matheson. Every chapter, Neville clenches his teeth. The ending was odd but satisfactory enough.
10. short story collection - Richard Matheson's shorts stories These are the short stories that are included with I am Legend. I've gone through quite a few short story collections and found them all to be unsatisfactory. Short stories are weird in that they typically just end in the middle of nowhere. Even the best authors suck at writing the short story. So when I stumbled upon Matheson's shorts and found that their endings were actually endings and not just run-out-of-gas type endings or annoying character sketches in disguise, I was pleased.
11. Modern Library's Top 100 - 1984 by George Orwell
12. banned book - A Wrinkle in TIme (1962) by Madeleine L'Engle Confusing and stupid plot, insipid and unlikable characters with religious drivel tucked in the corners. I don't know how or why this became a classic . Last Edited on: 8/20/14 12:45 PM ET - Total times edited: 31 |
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2014 CLASSICS CHALLENGE (tentative choices): CHALLENGE COMPLETED 1. made into film Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame (1898) made into film 'The Reluctant Dragon'-DONE 2. new-to-you author The Warden by Anthony Trollope DONE 3. literary award winner So Big by Edna Ferber (Pulitzer 1925) 4. lost in translation The Corsair King by Mor Jokai (Hungarian-1888)DONE 5. book you consider short The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952) DONE 6. book you consider long A Modern Instance by Wm. Dean Howells (1882)DONE 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading The King's Own by Frederick Marryat (1830) DONE 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading- sub from Modern Library's Top 100 The Sound and the Fury by Wm. Faulkner (1929) DONE 9. classic ghost/horror novel The Return by Walter de la Mare (1910)-DONE 10. short story collection Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy DONE 11. less-famous book by a famous author The Guest of Quesnay by Booth Tarkington (1907)DONE 12. banned book Settlers of the Marsh by Frederick Philip Grove (1925)DONE Substitution options: works by a particular author, from Modern Library's Top 100, free choice. Last Edited on: 11/19/14 3:37 PM ET - Total times edited: 26 |
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1. made into film 2. new-to-you author Deerbrook - Harriet Martineau 3. literary award winner 4. lost in translation 5. book you consider short 6. book you consider long Most Dickens 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading Hmmmmmm.... 9. classic ghost/horror novel Seven Gothic Tales - Isak Dinesen 10. short story collection 11. less-famous book by a famous author 12. banned book For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway Substitution options: works by a particular author from Modern Library's Top 100 free choice. Last Edited on: 11/26/14 9:31 PM ET - Total times edited: 12 |
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Category 6: Book I consider long---Dombey and Son, by Charles Dickens, at 900-plus pages. I read an edition that had good notes, chapter by chapter, at the back. Category 1: Made into film--- Gösta Berling, by Selma Lagerlöf. This first novel by the 1909 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature was the basis of a 1924 silent film of the same name that launched Greta Garbo into stardom. . Category 7: Book I'd be proud to be seen reading--- Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu. For a long time, I've had a quote from this philosopher displayed on the refrigerator. It reminds that "To know when you have enough is to be rich." Another such book---A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. The only trouble is, I tried it once already, and was led to a strong suspicion that it's 'way beyond me . . . . . . Category 11: Less famous book by a famous author: The Professor's House, by Willa Cather. It's about a scholarly professor in a Middle Western university, in the period of his life between middle and old age. He cannot seem to come to terms with a life that has changed too quickly, too harshly. This Side Jordan. by Margaret Laurence This was the Canadian author's first novel, written when she lived in Africa as a young married woman. However, there was nothing tentative about it; I think it showed a maturity that was borne out in the succession of novels she penned later on, particularly her "Manawaka" series, about her native Canada, to which she returned after living in Africa and the United Kingdom. Category 2: By author new to you: The River Between, by Ngugi wa Thiongo. This little book is the tale of the contentiousness between the natives and the whitemen (English capitalists and Christian missionaries) in a region of Kenya soon after the British established their colony there. It's written in a spare prose which I quickly came to appreciate for its ability to convey what the author wanted to put across, without any 'larding'. Writers who use such an economical prose style to such effect are few and far between. Category 3: Literary award winner: One of Ours, by Willa Cather. This novel about a Nebraska farm boy who found his life at "home" sorely disappointing, but whose personal vista was opened up when he enlisted and went to serve in France in World War One , was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1923, Category 4: Lost in Translation The Ladies' Paradise, by Emile Zola The Oxford World's Classics edition of this novel, the 11th in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, was translated by Brian Nelson. who commented that "the main challenge facing any translator of Zola is how to capture the rhythm, balance, and colour of the many descriptive passages, with their proliferating detail." He also expressed a hope that he had "written dialogue that is unstilted", and his translation into English does read fluidly enough. My only small quibble was a few Britishisms such as the use of "bloke", "old chap", and "my dear chap", and a couple of American-sounding phrases, "suck up to" and "get lost" . . . .which just sounded odd to this American granddame who was 'all wrapped up' in a story of Paris, France, in 1860! (Especially so because I was pronouncing the French names of persons and places in my head, as I read silently!) Category 10: Short Stories There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya Last Edited on: 4/24/14 12:07 PM ET - Total times edited: 20 |
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I've just decided on my book choices: 1. made into film--The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) 2. new-to-you author--Eugene Onegin (Alexander Pushkin) 3. literary award winner--The Golden Notebook (Doris Lessing) 4. lost in translation--Doctor Zhivago (Boris Pasternak) 5. book you consider short--The Sorrows of Young Werther (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) 6. book you consider long--The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Laurence Sterne) 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading--Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy) 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading--Baby Doll (Tennessee Williams) 9. classic ghost novel--The Bride of Lammermoor (Sir Walter Scott) 10. short story collection--The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton 11. less-famous book by a famous author--A Lost Lady (Willa Cather) 12. banned book--Native Son (Richard Wright) Rose |
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1. 2. 3. literary award winner 4. 5. 6. 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading 8. 9. classic ghost/horror novel 10. 11. 12. banned book Last Edited on: 11/6/14 12:49 PM ET - Total times edited: 4 |
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1. made into film All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - completed 1/21 - 5***** 2. new-to-you author 3. literary award winner 4. lost in translation 5. book you consider short Stoner by John Williams - completed 1/2 - 5***** 6. book you consider long 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway - completed 1/4 - 4**** 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading 9. classic ghost/horror novel 10. short story collection 11. less-famous book by a famous author 12. banned book Substitution options: works by a particular author from Modern Library's Top 100 free choice. Last Edited on: 1/21/14 7:38 PM ET - Total times edited: 5 |
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1. made into film The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (re-read) Completed 7/14 ***** 2. new-to-you author The Leavenworth Case, Anna Katharine Green 3. 4. 5. book you consider short Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskill Completed 5/3/14***1/2 6. book you consider long The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading Walden, Henry David Thoreau 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs 9. classic ghost/horror novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley Completed 11/1/14****(One of the most depressing books I have read in a loooong time) 10. short story collection The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Short Stories, Robert Louis Stevenson Completed 1/27/14 **** 11. less-famous book by a famous author Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson Completed 11/5/14**** 12. banned book The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner Completed 9/9/28/14 ***** (Excellent, but frustrating.) Substitution options: works by a particular author from Modern Library's Top 100 free choice Edited to Add: Whoops! Last Edited on: 11/17/14 7:05 AM ET - Total times edited: 11 |
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Saving my spot. I always have excellent intentions to read some classic lit, but get very little read. But it's good to use this as motivation.....right? ;) 1. made into film The Quiet American 2. new-to-you author Slaughterhouse Five 3. literary award winner The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1928 Pulitzer) 4. lost in translation 5. book you consider short 6. book you consider long Three Musketeers 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading A Tale of Two Cities 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading 9. classic ghost/horror novel The Haunting of Hill House 10. short story collection 11. less-famous book by a famous author 12. banned book Substitution options: works by a particular author from Modern Library's Top 100 free choice. Last Edited on: 9/6/14 5:23 PM ET - Total times edited: 2 |
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Thanks for counting ballots to determine the categories. I'm in May 16 update 1. Made into film in 1972: Siddhartha - Herman Hesse. My review is here. May 5 update 2. New-to-you author: Accounting for Murder – Emma Lathen. Published in 1964, this reaches classic status this year. Short-listed for the Gold Dagger Award that year. My review is here. June 23 update 3. Literary award winner: The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler. It won the Edgar Award, an award for mysteries, in 1955. My review is here. March 31 update 4. Lost in translation: The Odyssey - Homer, tr. by Samuel Butcher and Andrew Lang. My review is here May 9 Update 5. Book you consider short: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. My review is here. March 26 update: 6. Book you consider long: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. My review is here.. May 28 update 7. Book you'd be proud to be caught reading: Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens, 1839. My review is here. April 25 update 8. Book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading: Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life – Lafcadio Hearn. My review is here June 4 update 9. Classic ghost novel: Uncle Silas by J.S. LeFanu. My review is here. June 25 update 10. Short story collection: The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard - Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories were originally published in the Strand Magazine between December 1894 and September 1903. My review is here. April 9 update:11. Less-famous book by a famous author: The Master of Cloomber - Arthur Conan Doyle. My review is here. June 16 update: 12. Banned book: Look Homeward Angel – Thomas Wolfe. This book is a fictionalized memoir of growing up in Asheville, NC. The real life people that provided grist for the characters were so easily identifiable that the Asheville Public Library banned the book in order to save the face of the models. The ban was in place for seven years. After Wolfe visited Germany in the 1930s, he wrote an article in which he deplored Germany's harsh treatment of Jewish people. So the Nazis banned all his writing.My review is here. Personal additions: July 7 update: 13. An American Classic: Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin, 1956. My review is here. July 16 update: 14. Adapted into TV show: The Case of the Curious Coquette - Erle Stalnley Garder, 1949 for the book, 1958 for the TV episode. My review is here. July 29 update:15. Classic about War: Three Soldiers - John Dos Passos, 1921. My review is here. Last Edited on: 7/29/14 5:23 AM ET - Total times edited: 30 |
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1. made into film 2. new-to-you author 3. literary award winner 4. lost in translation 5. book you consider short 6. book you consider long 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading 9. classic ghost/horror novel 10. short story collection 11. less-famous book by a famous author 12. banned book Substitution options: works by a particular author from Modern Library's Top 100 free choice. Let's start filling in those blanks! |
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1. made into film Christie. Murder on the Orient Express. Completed 6/14/13 3.5 stars 2. new-to-you author. 6. book you consider long. Ford Madox Ford. Some Do Not. Completed 7/3/14. 5 stars 3. literary award winner 4. lost in translation Ivan Turgenev. First Love. Completed 6/15/14 5. book you consider short. Francoise Sagan. Bonjour Tristesse. Completed 6/9/14 4 stars 6. book you consider long. Ford Madox Ford. A Man Could Stand Up. Completed 7/21/14. 5 stars 7. book you'd be proud to be caught reading. Rebecca West. The Return of the Soldier. Completed 6/8/14 4 stars 8. book you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading. 9. classic ghost/horror novel The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton 10. short story collection. Collier. Fancies and Goodnights. 11. less-famous book by a famous author. Ford Madox Ford. No More Parades 5 stars . Completed 7/15/14 12. banned book The Arabian Nights Substitution options: works by a particular author from free choice. Last Edited on: 7/21/14 9:11 PM ET - Total times edited: 24 |
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bump to the top |
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