Paris in July 2022

It's July already, the year is half over -- how did this happen? But for me July will always include the Paris in July reading challenge hosted by Thyme for Tea. I started participating in this event back in 2011 and I've posted my Francophile book reviews nearly every year since! 

As always, I'm trying to read mostly from my own shelves in my never-ending quest to empty the TBR shelves. Some of these can also count for the Back to the Classics and TBR Pile Challenges, and from my Classics Club List. I'm sure I won't finish all of them but reading goals are always good, right? 

First, the French books in translation: 

• Claudine Married by Colette. The second novella in the Claudine omnibus; I'm sure I won't finish the entire series this month.
• The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos. Found this whilst browsing in the library and it looked interesting (and short!). 
• Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar. 
• Renoir, My Father by Jean Renoir
• A Fine of Two Hundred Francs by Elsa Triolet
• The Bright Side of Life by Emile Zola

Books originally written in English but set in France: 

• The Loved and Envied by Enid Bagnold
• Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
• Martha in Paris by Margery Sharp
• The Golden Lion of Granpere by Anthony Trollope
• Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner

So - mostly fiction and fairly short books - more than half of them are under 300 pages and a couple are under 200! The longest is the Renoir biography (not counting the Claudine omnibus but all three of the remaining novellas are under 200 pages). I wonder if I could actually finish the entire list? 

Bloggers, have you read any of these? Which are your favorites and should be read first? And what else do you recommend for Paris in July?

Back to the Classics 2022: My List

Time to make up my own list for this challenge! As ever, I'm trying to read books from my own shelves. Here's my tentative pile: 

1. 19th Century Classic: Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope. I'm in an online Trollope group and this is the next group read. 

2. 20th Century Classic: The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Newly reprinted by Persephone Books! I received a copy for Christmas and I've just started it.

3. Woman Author: Mr. Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim. I have owned this book for ten years, bought at a vintage bookstore in Fredericksburg, Texas. So it's moved with me three times.

4. Translation: Kasebier Takes Berlin by Gabriele Tergit. A newish acquisition, bought at The Strand Bookstore in NYC.

5. BIPOC: Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal. I think this has been on my BTCC list every year for the past five years!

6. Mystery/Detective/Crime Classic: Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg. A British Library Crime Classic, I think I bought it at Foyle's on my first trip to London just for the cover. 

7. Classic Short Story Collection: The Matador of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett. Pretty sure I bought this at Half-Price Books back in Texas. It's a wee little paperback edition, and it's short, so it shouldn't take too long. 

8. Pre-1800 Classic: Henry VI. I joined an online Shakespeare reading group, and this winter they're reading all three parts. Or maybe Richard III which they're reading in the spring.

9. Nonfiction: The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig. I loved his short stories so much I want to read everything he's ever written, so I was happy to find this memoir in translation.

10. Longest on your TBR: Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens. I've read all his novels so far, and this is a collection of his earliest writings. 

11. Set in a Place You'd Like to Visit: The Feast by Margaret Kennedy (Cornwall). There's a beautiful reprint that was recently published -- another one of my Christmas gifts!

12. Wild Card: Jenny Wren by E. H. Young. A Virago Modern Classic that I've been meaning to read forever. Also found at the Half-Price Books, probably the Austin location.

Basically, mix of old and new acquisitions, about half written by women, and a couple in translation. And all from my own shelves except the Shakespeare! Readers, what do you think? Which should I read first -- and are there any I should dump immediately? I'm a little worried about the Dickens and the Shakespeare, I haven't read any the histories yet. And have you made up your own lists yet? I'm ready to start this challenge!

Back to the Classics 2021: My List

My list of possible reads for this year's challenge. Once again, mostly taken from my own TBR shelves -- how many of them will I actually read this year? 

1. 19th Century Classic: The Doctor's Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon -- I do love Victorian sensation novels! 

2. 20th Century Classic: A Wreath for the Enemy by Pamela Frankau. Bought at The Strand Bookstore last year. 

3. Classic by a Woman Author: The Portable Dorothy Parker. Received as part of my prize from a Penguin book giveaway back in 2011. Also my Classics Club Spin pick so I have to read it by January 30. 

4. Classic in Translation: Renoir, My Father by Jean Renoir. I bought it at the Frick Museum gift shop in 2013. Or maybe I'll put in the effort to finally read Crime and Punishment!

5. Classic by a BIPOC Author: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Or something by Zora Neale Hurston.

6. Classic by a New-to-Me Author:  I've hardly read any Victorians this year so I'd like to read one for this category. I still have The Clever Woman of the Family by Charlotte Mary Yonge and Marcella by Mrs. Humphrey Ward -- are they obscure because they're terrible or are they forgotten gems?  I could also try again to read The Real Charlotte which I plan to read for the European Reading Challenge

7. New Classic by a Favorite Author: The Bright Side of Life by Emile Zola. I'll probably read Zola in April for Fanda's Zoladdiction challenge, or for Paris in July -- maybe both! I still have about five unread novels in the Rougon-Macquart series and the final novel Doctor Pascal has finally been reprinted in a new translation.

8. Animal Classic: Either Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge or A Pelican at Blandings by P. G. Wodehouse. I bought a bunch of P. G. Wodehouse years ago when Borders went out of business, and I still have two left unread. 

9. Children's Classic: Kilmeny of the Orchard by L. M. Montgomery. I bought a lovely early edition last summer during my trip to Second Story Books.

10. Classic Humor or Satire: Something by P. G. Wodehouse. His books always make me laugh, and lately I've been reading my way through the Blandings Castle series. I could read Galahad at Blandings for this category and Penguin at Blandings for the Animal classic.

11. Travel or Adventure Classic: The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim. I think this is the fifth time I've put it on a reading challenge list! 

12. Classic Play: She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith. It was on the schedule for one of the DC theaters in 2020 but has been postponed until whenever -- hopefully it'll be rescheduled when the theaters finally reopen! Or I might try to read some Shakespeare, I haven't read any since college. 

So -- ten from my own shelves, which is a good ratio, and more than half are by women. I'm really looking forward to a new list in the New Year! 

What do you think, bloggers? Have you read any of the books or authors from this list? Which should I read first -- or avoid altogether? 

Big Book Summer Challenge

What's better than a reading challenge to inspire another list? Hosted by Suzan at Book by Book, I hope this challenge will help me to clear off all those enormous books I still have on my shelves. According to my Goodreads list, I still have more than 30 books on my owned-and-unread shelves that I consider Big Fat Books, i.e., more than 500 pages long (or thereabouts). I've divided them into categories. 

Nonfiction:

Our Hidden Lives: The Remarkable Diaries of Postwar Britain by Simon Garfield (544 pp)
Long Live Great Bardfield by Tirzah Garwood (495 pp)
Trollope by Victoria Glendinning (551 pp)
Slipstream: A Memoir by Elizabeth Jane Howard (528 pp)
A London Family, 1870-1900 by Molly Hughes (600 pp)
Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee (869 pp)
Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford (744 pp)
Charles Dickens by Michael Slater (696 pp)
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman (592 pp)
Roughing It by Mark Twain (592 pp)

Fiction: 

Imperial Palace by Arnold Bennett (769 pp)
T. Tembarom by Frances Hodgson Burnett (518 pp)
The Complete Claudine by Collette (656 pp)
Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens (680 pp)
Painting the Darkness by Robert Goddard (608 pp)
Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge (571 pp)
The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham (544 pp)
Bella Poldark by Winston Graham (688 pp)
Penmarric by Susan Howatch (735 pp)
Madame Solario by Gladys Huntington (493 pp)
The Little Ottleys by Ada Leverson (543 pp)
. . . And Ladies of the Club by Helen Santmyer (1176 pp)
Temptation by Janos Szekeley (685 pp)
John Caldigate by Anthony Trollope (656 pp)
Ralph the Heir by Anthony Trollope (770 pp)
Marcella by Mrs. Humphrey Ward (560 pp)
The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton (652 pp)
Hudson River Bracketed by Edith Wharton (547 pp)
La Debacle by Emile Zola (536 pp)

Short Stories:

East and West: The Collected Stories of W. Somerset Maugham, Vol. I (955 pp)
The World Over: The Collected Stories of W. Somerset Maugham, Vol. II (681 pp)
The Portable Dorothy Parker (626 pp)
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (495 pp)
The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh (640 pp)
The Collected Stories of Edith Wharton (640 pp)
The Most of P. G. Wodehouse (701 pp)
The Collected Stories of Stephan Zweig (720 pp)


By my count, that's 37 books, and I don't even want to do the math to think of how many pages that is -- it could be an entire year's reading for me! I could just concentrate on reading long books all summer, but I still want to make my goal of 100 books, and I'm exactly on track right now. 

There are about 15 weeks this summer, if you count it as the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day (Memorial Day is early this year, and Labor Day is late, not until September 7). In theory I could probably finish one per week, if that's all I was reading, but I know that'll never happen! And I know that some of them will be much slower than others, like the Wharton biography which is more than 800 pages of tiny print, not including endnotes and the index -- it's a dense read. I can probably knock off most of the fiction books within a week each, but the nonfiction and short stories will be harder, especially since I tend to dip in and out of them, alternating with fiction. 

I'm not going to commit to any particular list at the moment, since I know I'll never stick to it. The only book I'm definitely going to read is Temptation by Janos Szekely -- it was a Mother's Day gift and I've already read a few pages, I'm already hooked and plant to dive into as soon as I finish my current read). So I guess my goal will be to simply read as many as possible, at least one from each category -- a lot of these books have been hanging around my TBR shelves forever and I should just suck it up and read them, or at least attempt -- if I'm not enjoying them, I'll donate them to the Little Free Library down the block, since the library is still closed. 

Bloggers, what do you suggest from my list of Big Fat Books? Do you have any enormous books you've been putting off forever? And do you have any reading goals this summer? 

Back to the Classics 2020: My List

Last year I had an epic fail with this challenge -- I read nearly all the books, but I just didn't get around to blogging about them -- and this is my own challenge. Well, it's a new year, and hopefully this new list will inspire me to keep blogging. Of course I should read books from my own shelves but I'm not limiting myself.

So without further ado, here is my list:

1. 19th Century Classic: The Real Charlotte by Edith Anna Somerville. I'd never heard of it but I found a copy at The Strand bookstore. I'm always on the lookout for Victorian authors, especially women.

2. 20th Century Classic: something by Nevil Shute. I read three of his novels last year and really liked them, especially A Town Like Alice (meant to count for last year's challenge!) On the Beach sounds depressing so maybe Pied Piper or Trustee From the Toolroom.

3. Classic by Woman Author: So Big by Edna Ferber. I only know that it's about Chicago and it won a Pulitzer Prize. It was on my list last year for this challenge also.

4. Classic in Translation: They Were Counted by Miklos Banffy. I'd never heard of this Hungarian author but I found a copy in the library stacks and it intrigued me. it looks a bit like Buddenbrooks. It's very long so I may switch it out for Zola who is my go-to author for this category. Or maybe Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz.

5. Classic by a POC Author: Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston. It's nonfiction, a recently rediscovered manuscript. In 1931 Hurston interviewed the only living survivor of the Clotilda, the very last ship which captured and transported slaves to America.

6. Classic Genre Fiction: A tough category. I'm not a huge fantasy/sci-fi reader but I do love a good mystery. I have some British Library Crime Classics still unread. I also love Georgette Heyer so a Regency romance might be fun. Maybe The Masqueraders. 

7. Classic with a Proper Name: One of Colette's Claudine novels. I bought an omnibus edition (and a hefty author biography) last year after seeing the eponymous biopic. Don't know if I'll make it through all of them but I could probably manage at least one. Or all three -- I could also count these toward other categories as well.

8. Classic with a Place in the Title: Imperial Palace by Arnold Bennett. I first discovered Bennett after reading The Old Wives' Tale, which is on the Modern Library Top 100 novels, though hardly anyone reads it anymore. I loved it and I really want to read something else by Bennett.

9. Classic with Nature in Title: The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. I really enjoyed Buddenbrooks and I've heard this one is just as good.

This book is so obscure there are hardly any images for the English editions, but all her novels seem to be in print in Italian.

10. Classic about a Family: Father by Elizabeth von Arnim. I've loved nearly everything by her and I found a vintage copy at The Strand Bookstore in New York last year. Or maybe it's time to re-read Little Women, which I haven't read since I was a child.

11. Abandoned Classic: Will this be the year I finally get around to reading Les Miserables? I've started it several times and always gotten distracted. Or will I finally commit to One Hundred Years of Solitude? 

12. Adapted Classic: Lark Rise to Candleford. I've watched a couple of the TV episodes and I know it's much beloved, it sounds like exactly the type of show I'd love. I bought the book years ago and have never gotten around to reading it. 

Hopefully these are a good mix of genres, though more than half are really long! And more than half are from my own shelves, more than half by women authors. I'm excited to start reading! 

Bloggers, what do you think? Any must-reads, or any I should reconsider? I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else wants to read for the challenge!

Back to the Classics 2019: My List

I don't think I've ever completed my exact list for this challenge, but here goes! As usual, I'm trying to read as many books as possible from my own unread shelves. I'm also trying to read more female writers and books in translation. And six of these are from my second Classics Club List!

19th Century Classic: The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope. There's a newly restored version that was recently published and I've been waiting almost two years to read it! I'm in an online Trollope discussion group and they're reading the entire Pallisers series in order. I've been holding off so I can participate.

20th Century Classic: It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. I'm trying to get this on the list for my real-life reading group, I think this would be great for discussion.

Classic in Translation: The Bright Side of Life by Emile Zola. Or The Wife by Sigrid Undset, the second novel in her Kristin Lavransdattir trilogy. I read the first book for this challenge two years ago, and I've been meaning to read the rest of the series. 

Classic by a Woman Author:  I have a LOT of Virago Modern Classics and Persephone Classics, so I'll probably choose one of those. I could also count The Wife for this category.

Classic Comic Novel: The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim. I always enjoy her books, and this one is supposed to be really funny. 

Classic Tragic Novel: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. You can't beat the Russians for a good tragedy! And I'm pretty sure La Debacle would qualify for this category also -- not many happy endings in Zola.

Very Long Classic: Imperial Palace by Arnold Bennett (bought for $1 at a library sale!), or Les Miserables. I finally got around to seeing the musical version of Les Mis; also, there's a new TV adaptation coming this winter. 

Classic Novella: Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather. My last unread Cather, except for the short stories.

Classic From the Americas: The Children by Edith Wharton, which I have owned forever and still haven't read. I could also count Sinclair Lewis for this category. Or maybe I should finally read One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Classic From Africa/Asia/Oceania: I actually own two classic books from New Zealand -- Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge, and The Godwits Fly, a Persephone classic, so I want to read one of those. 

Classic Set in a Place I've Lived: I should probably read Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann because it's a German classic -- but it's really long and I'm a little intimidated. If not, maybe Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser or So Big by Edna Ferber -- they're both set in Chicago and I lived there for ten years. 

Classic Play: I Am a Camera by John Van Druten. The English Theater company in Frankfurt is performing Cabaret this winter and I already have tickets to see it after Christmas (it's the musical version of  I am a Camera). I've never seen it and can't decide if I should read the play first or wait until afterward. 

Bloggers, have you read any of these? Good choices or bad? Which one should I read first -- probably a short one, since I've just realized that a lot of these books are really long! And have you signed up for the Back to the Classics Challenge 2019 yet? 

Fifteen Books of Summer

There's a meme going around for 20 books of summer, but when I started compiling this list I realized some of mine are real whoppers, so I'm cutting it back to fifteen. I'm not usually good at finishing specific lists, unless it's for a challenge, but I wrote a post a couple of months ago of the Top Ten Books on my Spring TBR List, and I'm happy to say that I've finished eight of them so far and started the ninth. Who knows, maybe I'll actually succeed with this list as well.

A detailed list:

1. Heat Lightning by Helen Hull. A Persephone I received as a Mother's Day gift a few years ago, it's on my TBR Pile Challenge List; also, there's a mini Persephone Readathon this weekend so I really want to finish it in time.

2. The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett. I bought this at a library sale about 10 years ago, it is probably one of the books I've had owned and unread the longest. I downloaded the audio from the San Antonio Public Library and I need to finish it before my library card expires! (It's not pictured because I can't actually find my print copy -- could I have donated it to the library before we moved two years ago?)

3. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. For my book group that meets next week before we break for the summer. Luckily  it's quite short, under 200 pages (which is why we chose it.) Highly recommended by Simon from Stuck in a Book.

4. London War Notes by Mollie Panter-Downes. Already started, but it's 450 pages of biweekly essays written for the New Yorker magazine. Not like I can zip through it. It's on my TBR Pile Challenge list, I'm making good progress this year.

5. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. Also on my TBR Pile Challenge list -- it's almost 700 pages long! But I've heard it's amazing and there's a readlong that starts June 1.

4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. One of my daughter's favorites, I've been putting it off forever because I am afraid of Dostoevsky. There's a new translation which I will try to get from the library. I can also use this for the Back to the Classics Challenge.

5. Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell. Book #6 in the Barsetshire series (I've actually skipped #3, The Demon in the House, but I'm told you can skip around the series).

6. In Confidence by Irene Nemirovsky. I thought her short story collection Dimanche and Other Stories was absolutely brilliant, so when I saw this new collection on a blog, I ordered it immediately. More than a year ago! It's quite short so I should be able to finish it quickly.

7. The New Moon with the Old by Dodie Smith. Published in 1963, it's by the author of I Capture the Castle, one of my favorites. I love mid-century fiction and I was actually able to get it from the library!

8. Tom Tiddler's Ground by Ursula Orange. This was a birthday gift -- a year ago, and I still haven't read it. It's a Furrowed Middlebrow reprint by Dean Street Press, highly recommended by Simon and Rachel in the Tea or Books? podcast.

11. An Old Man's Love by Anthony Trollope. Also available on audio from the library. Trollope is tough to find on audio, especially the standalone novels, so I was delighted to find this on OneClick Digital for download.

12. Barmy in Wonderland by P. G. Wodehouse. Because Wodehouse is the perfect summer read.

13. Bond Street Story by Norman Collins -- because I loved London Belongs to Me (and also recommend by Rachel from Booksnob. It's another doorstopper, almost 500 pages and also oddly oversized.

14. The Day of the Scorpion by Paul Scott. (Not pictured). Second in the Raj Quartet series, it's only on audio download from the library -- but, luckily, the library card that isn't expiring! I have a year left if I want to finish the series before we move back to the U. S. (though of course I can find in a library when I return).

15. Troy Chimneys by Margaret Kennedy. Bought last year in a secondhand shop in Charing Cross Road on a trip to London.

Let's see if I can finish all of these by Labor Day which is September 3. Bloggers, which are your favorites? And what's on your summer reading list?

Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List

After finishing the massive Wives and Daughters I'm somewhat between books at the moment. I did just start something a couple of days ago,but this seems as good a time as any to make another list. Spring break is less than two weeks away and I do plan to get a lot of reading done. Here's what I'm hoping to finish this spring:

1. Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather. I'm only about 50 pages in to this novella, one of Cather's last works. It's about a young musician living in Chicago which is also the setup for her 1915 novel The Song of the Lark. This one was published 20 years later so it will be interesting to compare the two.

2.  One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes. Chosen randomly for me by the Classics Club Spin. I've heard wonderful things about this novella, set just after the end of WWII. Also it's blessedly short, since I have some really chunky books on this list.

3. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. On my TBR Pile Challenge list. It's about 700 pages long and I've heard it's wonderful. I've wanted to read it since 2014 when there were lots of great lists of books about WWI.

4. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. I've only got two Pym works left before I've finished all her books. This one fits in with Simon's 1977 Club which should be sometime in April if I remember correctly!

5. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik. I don't read much current fiction but bloggers seem to love this book. On a recent trip to Paris I picked this up at Shakespeare and Company.

6 One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. The follow-up to One Pair of Hands, Monica Dickens' memoir of working as a nurse in WWII. Also purchased at Shakespeare and Company, they also have used books. This one was a bargain at only 6 euros.

7. Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher. I was absolutely gripped by the TV adaptation of this historical crime series, set in Berlin during the wars. It's streaming on Netflix and if you haven't seen it, you should drop everything and WATCH THIS. I'm trying really hard not to buy any more books but I broke down and ordered a copy online. I suspect I'll get hooked on the series and have to buy all of them as soon as they're translated into English.

8. The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse. Another book from the TBR Pile Challenge, it's Virago Modern Classic about a young woman who goes to Burma in the 1880s. I thought it would work nicely for Asian Pacific Heritage Month in May.

9. A Love Story by Emile Zola. It's been a while since I read a Zola novel but Fanda at Fanda Classiclit is hosting Zoladdiction in April, in honor of Zola's birthday. I got a lovely new translation from the nice people at Oxford World's Classics so this would be a good time to read it.

10. The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott. This is on my list as a possible read for the Back to the Classics Challenge (it squeaks in just under the wire as a 20th Century Classic). There's a free digital audio download on Overdrive from my library so this is a win-win!

Bloggers, have you read (or listened to) any of these? And what's on your to-read list for spring?

Classics Club Redux: The List

Last year I pretty much gave up on my Classics Club List -- from my original list of 75, I had six left to go which I'd been putting off forever. I'd tried reading all of them at least once and just couldn't get into them. Since I started with 75 I thought that I'd done pretty well and decided to take a break, though I had made a tentative second list.

I forgot all about it and the Classics Club, but I've been blogging a lot more lately (around the end of the year I usually get revved up again while planning the Back to the Classics Challenge). This week a lot of bloggers are signing up for the next Classics Club Spin, which is always really fun. Basically, participants pull 20 books from their list and number them, then a random number from one to twenty  is chosen, and everyone reads whichever number book corresponds. It's a really fun way to choose a book off your list and I always enjoyed it.

Well, I do love making lists, and it's always fun to have someone else choose your next read. But before I can choose a list of twenty for the spin I had to come up with another Classics Club List. Some of the titles are more obscure classics because in the past 12 years or so since I seriously started reading, I've read a lot of the major works -- I'm getting down to the less-well known titles and authors. Also, I've really stopped buying classics that I can get for free from the library or digital download. Nowadays, I usually only buy books that I can't find otherwise.

This time, I've chosen only books from my own shelves, and I didn't choose any books from the TBR Pile Challenge because I know I'm definitely going to read those -- I really want to make some progress with my owned-and-unread books and I think this will really inspire me. Without further ado:

1. The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim
2. Imperial Palace by Arnold Bennett
3. Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather
4. Bond Street Story by Norman Collins
5. One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens
6. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
7. Alas, Poor Lady by Rachel Ferguson
8. My American by Stella Gibbons
9. Westwood by Stella Gibbons
10. Living/Loving/Party Going by Henry Green
11. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
12. A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy
13. Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
14. The Hireling by L. P. Hartley
15. The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer
16. Mandoa, Mandoa! by Winifred Holtby
17. A Pin to See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse
18. Troy Chimneys by Margaret Kennedy
19. Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamund Lehmann
20. The Little Ottleys by Ada Leverson
21. The World My Wilderness by Rose Macauley
22. Whiskey Galore by Compton Mackenzie
23. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
24. The Pumpkin-Eater by Penelope Mortimer
25. In Confidence by Irene Nemirovsky
26. The Misunderstanding by Irene Nemirovsky
27. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
28. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
29. A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym
30. Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal
31. Summer Half by Angela Thirkell
32. Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell
33. Is He Popinjoy? by Anthony Trollope
34. Kept in the Dark by Anthony Trollope
35. Linda Tressel and Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope
36. An Old Man's Love by Anthony Trollope
37. Ralph the Heir by Anthony Trollope
38. Roughing It by Mark Twain
39. The Children by Edith Wharton
40. The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton
41. Hudson River Bracketed by Edith Wharton
42. Frost in May by Antonia White
43. Barmy in Wonderland by P. G. Wodehouse
44. Jenny Wren by E. H. Young
45. The Misses Mallett by E. H. Young
46. La Debacle by Emile Zola
47. The Fortunes of the Rougons by Emile Zola
48. A Love Episode by Emile Zola
49. Money by Emile Zola
50. Beware of Pity by Stephan Zweig

Bloggers, which have you read and loved -- or hated? Should I just get rid of some of these and not waste my time? 

I'll pick out twenty of these and post my Spin list in a day or so. On Friday the Classics Club will post the number and who knows what I'll read next!

Back to the Classics 2018: My List

It's always tough but fun for me to make my own list for the Back to the Classics Challenge -- I've read a lot of classics in the past ten years or so years, so my choices are getting a little more obscure. Last year I tried to read all women authors and nearly succeeded (the pre-1800 challenge is not my favorite -- what the heck was I thinking?). I'd love to read all women authors again but I am desperate to try and read more books off my own shelves -- my list of of owned-and-unread books is creeping dangerously close to the 200 mark. And I only read 33 of my own books so far this year! It's disgraceful. 

So this year, I swear that every single book for this challenge must be from my own shelves -- except the children's classic, since I don't own any that I haven't read. And without further delay, here's my tentative list: 

1.  A 19th century classic. Who Was Lost and Is Found by Margaret Oliphant. She was a fairly prolific Victorian writer, but this book has exactly ZERO ratings on Goodreads. I found it at John King Used & Rare Books in Detroit, and it's an 1895 edition! I think it's the oldest book I own. 

2.  A 20th century classic. Whisky Galore by Compton MacKenzie. I love wartime stories and I've heard this is quite funny. Also, there's a tiny chance I might go to Scotland next year -- it would be a perfect read for the trip!

3.  A classic by a woman author. Edith Wharton! I have four of her books on my TBR shelves, but I think I want to read The Children; The Fruit of the Tree; or Hudson River Bracketed. 

4.  A classic in translation. A Love Story by Emile Zola. I haven't read any Zola in ages, and there's a new translation from Oxford World's Classics that the publisher was kind enough to send me for free.

5. A children's classic. Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery. I finally got around to reading Anne of Green Gables about 10 years ago and couldn't believe I'd taken so long to read it -- and then promptly put off reading the rest of the series. I've wanted to read this one for years! (This will be the exception to my read-my-own-books rule)

6.  A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction. Definitely fiction! I bought several British Library Crime Classics last year on a trip to London -- how could I resist those covers? 

7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction. Mark Twain -- I own both Roughing It and Letters from Hawaii. Or possibly Orient Express by Graham Greene -- I'm guessing it has little in common with the Agatha Christie mystery, but I've mostly liked his work so far so I'll give it a try. 

8. A classic with a single-word title. Westwood by Stella Gibbons or Peony by Pearl S. Buck. I also have a Virago Modern Classic that looks really good, Crossriggs by Mary and Jane Findlater.

9. A classic with a color in the title. Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple. Or maybe Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxeley.

10. A classic by an author that's new to you. Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane, a German language classic. I have a newly published Persephone edition, and I feel like I should actually read something German while I live here in Germany.

11. A classic that scares you.  Les Miserables, by far the longest book on my TBR shelves. I have two different copies, the Penguin Hardcover classic and also a mass-market Signet paperback. (They have different translations but I haven't decided which one, so I'd love recommendations if anyone's read either of them.)

12. Re-read a favorite classic.  I haven't read Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell in ages, and it's one of my all-time favorites! Or maybe I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

I have yet to finish this challenge reading the original books on my list, but you never know, this could be the year! I'm really looking forward to tackling this list. Can't wait to see what everyone else is reading!