For this! I made my Classics Club list a couple of years ago now I think, but I've still failed to read very much from it and so when I saw Twelve Months of Classic Literature over on their blog I thought why not set myself a list of some titles from my list that fit in with the themes and get me back to being a more active member of the club again? Here's the plan
January : William Shakespeare - Macbeth
February: Harlem Renaissance/ African-American Literature - Jazz or Paradise by Toni Morrison (not on the list but in my house & has been for years!)
March: Feminist Literature/ Persephone/ Virago Literature - A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
April: Transcendentalist Literature - Walden by Henry David Thoreau
May: Postcolonial Literature/ World Literature - The Stranger by Albert Camus
June: World War One/The Lost Generation - The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
July: Post-Modernist Literature - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
August: The Englightenment Thinkers -
September: Romantic Literature - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (re-read)
October: LGBT Literature - The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
November: Victorian Literature - Something by a Bronte
December: Freebie Month - James Bond!!
So there we go, hopefully not too much to deal with. I'm dreading Catch 22 as I've tried it before and had to give up, and I'm a little nervous about the Toni Morrison because aside from Beloved I've never really been able to get into her writing, but never mind. I'll give it a go! Is anybody else doing this?
Perhaps I'll give Catch-22 a go next summer as well, keep you company. It's been on my shelf for ages, so it's about time I gave it a go I suppose. I have no idea what I'll make of it, so it'll be an adventure for both of us! I want to finally read a little Shakespeare again this winter too (I bought a bunch of the new Penguin editions last winter and haven't touched them since!) and FINALLY read Walden and something by Fitzgerald. I figure now's the time, with the cold months ahead and the shop out of my hair in a few weeks' time! BRING IT ON! :)
ReplyDeleteYES! We should definitely read Catch 22 together because I tried before and I gave up, so I really need some moral support! Plus that we we can talk about it and it will be more fun :-)
Delete*then not that, and only one we. What's wrong with me?!!
DeleteYou are going to read Gone With The Wind in a month!? That either reflects really well on you or really well on the book and I don't know which (although I am of course inclined to think you!). I've been kind of wanting to read that for years but haven't got round to it.
ReplyDeleteI think instead of going with a smaller challenge, I'm going to go for just making a Classics Club list. After reading The Moonstone, I'm in a bit of a classics mood so I'm pretty sure that I'm giong to join your Tale of Two Cities read-along and then in the new year post a list of 50 off the back of my success. Hopefully.
Catch 22 is on the current draft of my list so I might join you and Ellie if you decide to go for it...but writing that made me nervous so we'll see!
I've already read Gone with the Wind so it will be a re-read, probably a bit of cheating :-p It's good, as far as I remember but apparently incredibly racist which I somehow missed when I read it age 13!
DeleteYou should definitely make a Classics Club list and DEFINITELY join the Tale of Two Cities readalong! :-D I'm doing so badly with my Classics Club list, but I'm determined to read more from it next year!
It would be so good if you read Catch 22 with us as well :-) The idea of it terrifies me so we can be nervous together!
GWTW is really so so racist, and I feel bad for loving it as much as I do, but I really do? Damn me.
DeleteAlso, oh yeah, The Classics Club! I reaaaally need to read some more classics for that... :s
Sounds ideal for those into the classics. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea and I'm so excited for 2014 to come around purely for the reading I can be doing. I'm particularly looking forward to January, March, May, June and November.
ReplyDeleteI have the same feelings about Catch-22 and it's my spin book this time around.
The Well of Loneliness is a really interesting read. I'm not a fan of it but I still like it because of the subject and how much you can learn from it.
Bring on 2014, I say!
I adore Gone With the Wind. I just reread it myself for the fourth time. :-) Also Walden! :-)
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