Back to the Classics

It’s midway through the year, & it’s time to check in on the ONE blog challenge that I committed to this year. So far, I’ve done a completely abysmal job of tracking my progress. I hope to get my act together this month, and get posts up for categories that I have fulfilled!

While I haven’t been sufficiently motivated to write any posts of the books that I’ve read to fulfill the challenge categories, I have completed 6 of the 12 categories. I will be working to get posts up this month, but for now, just a recap:

A 19th Century Classic: I had planned to read Elizabeth Gaskell or Anthony Trollope for this one, but I ended up read The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, published in 1844. This is a beloved adventure story that has so permeated pop culture at this point that I don’t think anyone doesn’t know at least the bare outlines of the story.

A 20th Century Classic: I’ve been on a tiny bit of a Stella Gibbons tear – she was one of the authors-in-residence chosen for January-March by my GR vintage fiction group. I managed to read two books by Ms. Gibbons: Westwood and The Swiss Summer.

A Classic by a Woman Author: This one is still open; I’m still vaguely planning on one of those final two Cather novels. But I read so many classics by women that, really, this one could end up as anything. 

A Classic in Translation: I’m tempted to use The Three Musketeers for this one, but I’m going to leave it where it is (at least for now). This one remains open.

A Classic by a BIPOC author: I ended up subbing A Fire Next Time for If Beale Street Could Talk, but stayed with James Baldwin as the author of choice for this category.

A Classic by a New-To-You Author: I have been meaning to read something by Margery Sharp for several years, so I picked The Nutmeg Tree for this category.

New-To-You Classic by a Favorite Author: This one is still open.

A Classic about an Animal or with an Animal in the Title: I haven’t read for this one, yet, although I had tentatively selected The Wind in the Willows for this category.

A Children’s Classic: Ursula LeGuin was selected as an author-in-residence as well, so I read The Wizard of Earthsea

A Humorous or Satirical Classic: This really isn’t my jam at all, so I’ll just come up with something. Probably Wodehouse.

A Travel or Adventure Classic: I read Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, and it fits into this category just beautifully.

A Classic Play: Plays also aren’t my jam, but I do have a paperback omnibus of several of Agatha Christie’s plays, so it will probably come from that, and will most likely be The Mousetrap. An alternative possibility is Dickon by Josephine Tey (writing as Gordon Daviot).

So, I’ve filled exactly half of the categories, which is perfectly acceptable, since the year is half over!

One comment

  1. What a great mix of books! I also read The Swiss Summer and enjoyed it very much, also loved The Nutmeg Tree. I still have Westwood on my TRB shelf and hope to get to it . . . someday! And of course you can change around the categories at any time before your final wrap-up. Thanks for participating in the Back to the Classics Challenge!

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