Back to the Classics 2021: Final Wrap-Up Posts

Have you finished the Back to the Classics Challenge? Congratulations! This is where you'll link up to your Challenge Wrap-Up Post, after you've completed a minimum of six different categories from the original challenge post. This post is only for Challenge Wrap-Up Posts. If you do not have a blog, or anywhere you post publicly, please write up your post-challenge thoughts/suggestions/etc in the comments section below. Please read the directions carefully. 

By linking or commenting here, you are declaring that you have completed the challenge; that each book reviewed fits the correct definition of the category, and was published before 1970 (except for posthumous publications); and that your reviews for each category are linked to the correct post. If I cannot find links to your reviews, I cannot give you credit and thus enter you into the drawing. THIS is where I will look at the end of the year and randomly choose the winner for the bookish prize. 

Please remember to indicate the following within THIS POST, linked below, or in the comments section below if you do not have your own blog:

1. Which book corresponds to each category;

2. The number of entries you have earned for the prize drawing; 

3. Links to your reviews. 

If you do NOT include links to your original reviews IN THIS POST, I CANNOT ENTER YOU INTO THE DRAWING.

Remember:

• If you've completed six categories and you get one entry.
• Complete nine categories, and you get two entries.
• Complete all twelve categories, and your name is entered into the drawing three times!

VERY IMPORTANT: 

Please be sure and include some kind of contact for me within your final wrap-up post. This year, I will be contacting the winner privately BEFORE posting their name publicly on this blog. If I cannot contact you, I cannot award your prize. If there is no contact on your blog post, please email me at karenlibrarian13 [at] yahoo [dot] com.

I can also message the winner via Goodreads, so if you are posting reviews via your Goodreads account, I can contact you that way also.

Back to the Classics 2020: Final Wrap-Up

I've finished! After abandoning my own challenge last year, I persisted and successfully completed all twelve categories in 2020. Some were from my original list, some were not. Here's what I read, with links to my reviews:

Only 7/12 from my own shelves this year, the rest were library or free e-books.

1. 19th Century Classic: Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins. Completed 2/16/20.

2. 20th Century Classic: Pied Piper by Nevil Shute. Completed 1/10/20.

3. Classic by a Woman: So Big by Edna Ferber. Completed 1/12/20.

4. Classic in Translation: Temptation by Janos Szekely. Completed 6/5/20.

5. Classic by a POC Author: The Street by Ann Petry. Completed 12/5/20.

6. Genre Classic: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. Completed 1/27/20.

7. Name in the Title: The Sin of Abbe Mouret by Emile Zola. Completed 4/14/20.

8. Place in the Title: Crossriggs by Jane and Mary Findlater. Completed 4/28/20.

9. Nature in the Title: In the Mountains by Elizabeth von Arnim. Completed 4/16/20.

10. Classic About a Family: Father by Elizabeth von Arnim. Completed 2/27/20.

11. Abandoned Classic: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Completed 4/5/20.

12. Adapted Classic: Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson. Completed 5/14/20.

Seven of them were from my own shelves (pictured above), which is pretty good, though I'm aiming higher next year -- for next year's Back to the Classics Challenge, I'm going to try and read at least ten out of the twelve categories from my own unread books. 

I chose really well this year -- I really enjoyed nearly all of my challenge selections, not a dud in the bunch. Of the twelve, I think my absolute favorites were Temptation, Pied Piper, and Father. I also thought The Street was brilliant. My least favorites were probably The Sin of Abbe Mouret, just because of the misogyny, and Les Miserables, because let's be honest, it really could have used some editing. 

So there's more than two weeks left to complete the challenge -- you only need six books! And if you don't have time this year, why not sign up for next year's challenge? 

Back to the Classics 2020: Final Wrap-Up Posts

Have you finished the Back to the Classics Challenge? Congratulations! This is where you'll link up to your Challenge Wrap-Up Post, after you've completed a minimum of six different categories from the original challenge post. This post is only for Challenge Wrap-Up Posts. If you do not have a blog, or anywhere you post publicly, please write up your post-challenge thoughts/suggestions/etc in the comments section below. Please read the directions carefully. 

By linking or commenting here, you are declaring that you have completed the challenge; that each book reviewed fits the correct definition of the category, and was published before 1970 (except for posthumous publications); and that your reviews for each category are linked to the correct post. If I cannot find links to your reviews, I cannot give you credit and thus enter you into the drawing. THIS is where I will look at the end of the year and randomly choose the winner for the bookish prize. 

Please remember to indicate the following within THIS POST, linked below, or in the comments section below if you do not have your own blog:

1. Which book corresponds to each category;
2. The number of entries you have earned for the prize drawing; 
3. Links to your reviews. 

If you do NOT include links to your original reviews IN THIS POST, I CANNOT ENTER YOU INTO THE DRAWING.

Remember:

• If you've completed six categories and you get one entry.
• Complete nine categories, and you get two entries.
• Complete all twelve categories, and your name is entered into the drawing three times!

VERY IMPORTANT: 

Please be sure and include some kind of contact for me within your final wrap-up post. This year, I will be contacting the winner privately BEFORE posting their name publicly on this blog. If I cannot contact you, I cannot award your prize. If there is no contact on your blog post, please email me at karenlibrarian13 [at] yahoo [dot] com.

I can also message the winner via Goodreads, so if you are posting reviews via your Goodreads account, I can contact you that way also.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2019: Final Wrap-Up Posts

Have you finished the Back to the Classics Challenge?  Congratulations!  This is where you'll link up to your Challenge Wrap-Up Post, after you've completed a minimum of six different categories from the original challenge post.  This post is only for Challenge Wrap-Up Posts.  If you do not have a blog, or anywhere you post publicly, please write up your post-challenge thoughts/suggestions/etc in the comments section below.  Please read the directions carefully. 

By linking or commenting here, you are declaring that you have completed the challenge; that each book reviewed fits the correct definition of the category, and was published before 1969 (except for posthumous publications); and that your reviews for each category are linked to the correct post. If I cannot find links to your reviews, I cannot give you credit and thus enter you into the drawing.  THIS is where I will look at the end of the year and randomly choose the winner for the bookish prize. 

Please remember to indicate the following within THIS POST, linked below, or in the comments section below if you do not have your own blog:

1. Which book corresponds to each category;
2. The number of entries you have earned for the prize drawing; 
3. Links to your reviews. 

If you do NOT include links to your original reviews IN THIS POST, I CANNOT ENTER YOU INTO THE DRAWING.

Remember:

• If you've completed six categories and you get one entry.
• Complete nine categories, and you get two entries.
• Complete all twelve categories, and your name is entered into the drawing three times!

UPDATED, VERY IMPORTANT: 

Please be sure and include some kind of contact for me within your final wrap-up post. This year, I will be contacting the winner privately BEFORE posting their name publicly on this blog. If I cannot contact you, I cannot award your prize. If there is no contact on your blog post, please email me at karenlibrarian13 [at] yahoo [dot] com. 

LATEST UPDATE: It looks like I can also message the winner via Goodreads, so if you are posting reviews via your Goodreads account, I can contact you that way also. Thanks to Rachel for suggesting it!

Congratulations, and thanks again for participating in the Back to the Classics Challenge!

Back to the Classics 2017: My Final Wrap-Up

I'm finished! It took me almost the entire year, but I did finish on time. Here's what I read for this challenge, with links to my reviews.

19th Century Classic: Red Pottage by Mary Cholmondely -- great, under-appreciated Victorian novel by woman author.

20th Century Classic: School for Love by Olivia Manning. A young man is stuck living in Jerusalem at the end WWII in a boarding house with quirky characters. 

Classic by a Woman Author:  The Trail of the Serpent by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. A great Victorian sensation novel.

Classic in Translation: The Wine of Solitude by Irene Nemirovsky.

Pre-1800 Classic:  Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. 

Romance Classic: Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer 

Gothic Classic:  A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott. Another Victorian sensation novel -- written by the author of many beloved children's classics! Who knew?

Classic With a Number in the Title: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. 

Classic About an Animal (or Animal in the Title): Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau. 

Classic Set in a Place I'd Like to Visit: The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien (Ireland). 

Award-Winning Classic: Kristin Lavransdattar, Vol. I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset.

Russian Classic: Journey Into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg. A fascinating yet horrifying look at life in a Russian labor camp.

I picked some really good reads for this year's challenge. My favorites were Kristin Lavransdattar, The Trail of the Serpent, and Red Pottage, though Deerbrook was also really good. Least favorites were Journey Into the Whirlwind and The Country Girls, simply because they were rather dark and depressing, though both were very well written. Overall I'm really pleased with all the books I chose, especially because I managed to fulfill the challenge reading a majority of books by women, and six were from my own shelves. Next year I'm going to try to read more of my own books for this challenge as those TBR piles are pretty big.

And well done to everyone who participated! Congratulations and thanks for joining!

Only 30 days left for the Back to the Classics Challenge!

There are only 30 days left for the Back to the Classics Challenge! Did you sign up for the challenge? Have you completed six or more books? There is still time to complete the challenge and qualify for the prize drawing by posting a short wrap-up and linking here.

So far only 15 people have linked to wrap-up posts so odds are in your favor! You have until midnight, December 31 (PST) to post. What are you waiting for?