Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Last year was the bicentenary of Dickens' birth, and there were a slew of books published about Dickens -- I can't remember how many I added to my to-read list, but still haven't read (I did celebrate Dickens by completing three of his works in 2012:  Martin Chuzzlewit, Our Mutual Friend, and Barnaby Rudge.)

I bought this book just after Christmas, but kept avoiding it.  Big fat nonfiction books tend to scare me, which is a little stupid.  Some of my favorite reads last year were nonfiction, and one of my favorites was a biography, Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams.  However, I realized it was available in audiobook format, and last year I submitted it to the "Suggest A Purchase" feature on the library's website.  They did buy it, and after months of waiting, it finally arrived in January.

I really, really enjoyed this book -- I used to think biographies were dry and boring, but either I was reading the wrong books, or they've gotten much better lately.  This was fascinating stuff.  I knew the basics about Dickens' life from bits and pieces I'd picked up after reading his books, but to learn about his life from start to finish was quite fascinating.  Of course, many readers know now that he was forced to work in a blacking factory as a child after his father was sent to debtor's prison, the inspiration for his favorite novel, David Copperfield.

I loved learning about Dickens, and having read most of the novels, it was interesting to place them into the context of his life.   Though I've enjoyed most of his books, and absolutely love some of them, I learned some things about him that I didn't like very much.  He was a complicated person.  His childhood was difficult, his father was terrible with money, and even though Dickens seemed to work tirelessly, he was constantly faced with demands for financial support from his father, his brothers, and his own children, most of whom were not terribly successful.

Dickens definitely had faults -- his now-famous liaison with a much-younger actress Nelly Ternan is pretty scandalous, and it seems like he was pretty cruel to his wife, and sometimes his children.  But Tomalin obviously did amazing research and puts it all together in a way that's easy to follow.  Just reading his handwriting alone is a triumph -- I've seen some Dickens' original letters and manuscripts in exhibits, and he's nearly indecipherable.

I think listening to something challenging makes it a little bit easier.  For me, it's a little less intimidating if I start with an audio of a book that scares me.  I can take it in bits and pieces, and then I'm not as scared to tackle the print copy.  In this case, I listened to it a little bit every day while driving to and from work in the car, and I really enjoyed it.  I always try to have an audiobook in the car because the radio here in my city is just dreadful.  (I like NPR but I can't listen to the news too much because I find it too depressing).   Also, I usually have a print copy so I can read the book at home (and sometimes a second library copy at work) -- otherwise I'd sit in the driveway listening!   However, then I find it takes me forever to find my place in the audio when I get back in the car.  This time I resisted because I was really enjoying the audio version.  I listened to almost the entire book, except when I got to the end of the three-week checkout period and I couldn't renew it because there were holds on it.

Anyway, I was sorry when it ended and now I want to read lots more biographies, more books about Dickens, and most importantly, I'm determined to finish the rest of Dickens' novels.  I have three left:
The Pickwick Papers, The Old Curiosity Shop, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  Which one should I read next?  Which other books about Dickens are must-reads?  And how do you feel about audiobooks?

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting by Penelope Mortimer

I didn't intend to review another Persphone right away, but once again, Inter-Library Loan has dictated my reading schedule.  (This is what comes of boredom and infinite access to library catalogs via the internet.  I once had eight Persephones arrive at the same time via ILL!)

After carrying this book around in my bookbag for a couple of weeks, a looming due date inspired me to open up this slim volume, vintage 1958 (and a beautiful copy it was, thanks to the Tulsa, Oklahoma public library system).  This is the story of Ruth Whiting, a thirty-something mother in late 1950s England, living a dull suburban existence.  She's just dropped her two sons off at the train enroute to boarding school for the fall term, and returns home to an empty suburban home.  Her eldest child, an eighteen-year old Angela, has just zipped off on the back of some guy's Vespa, and she's home alone since her dentist husband spends the weeknights at a London flat.

Endpapers from the Persephone edition of "Daddy's Gone A-Hunting"

Basically, this is the story of Ruth having a minor breakdown, and how she recovers when forced into  a difficult situation with her daughter; she doesn't want Angela to repeat her mistakes and end up with a life like hers.  

This book was sad but it was a real eye-opener about how life must have been like for women in the late fifties and early sixties before the women's movement began to take off.  Parts of it were bitingly funny; Penelope Mortimer gets in some real zingers, especially her observations about suburban life.  Here's a quote, discussing the people in Ruth's neighborhood:  

Like little icebergs, each [wife] keeps a bright and shining face above water; below the surface, submerged in fathoms of leisure, each keeps her own isolated personality.  Some are happy, some poisoned with boredom; some drink too much and some, below the demarcation line, are slightly crazy; some love their husbands and some are dying from lack of love; a few have talent, as useless to them as a paralysed limb.  Their friendships, appearing frank and sunny, are febrile and short-lived, turning quickly to malice.  Combined, their energy could start a revolution, power half of Southern England, drive an atomic plant.  It is all directed towards the effortless task of living on the Common.  There are times, towards the middle of the school term, when the quiet air seems charged, ready to spit lightning; when it is dangerous to touch a shrilling telephone and a coffee cup may explode without reason. 

Mortimer herself had a difficult life; she had two husbands and multiple affairs.  Eventually, she had a total of six children by four different men.  She was a journalist, and wrote several novels, plus screenplays.   Most of her work is out of print, but another novel, The Pumpkin Eater, is now available as an NYRB classic, so I've suggested it for purchase for my library.  The library also owns a DVD called Portrait of a Marriage, for which Mortimer wrote the screenplay, so I've put it on my request list. It originally aired in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theater and it's about Vita Sackville West, starring Janet McTeer, so I'm intrigued.  I still haven't read anything by Sackville-West but I have The Edwardians on my to-read shelves.

April Zola Reading Event

Fanda from Fanda Classic Lit and  O from Delaisse are hosting a Zola reading event!!  In honor of Zola's birthday, which is April 2, they are hosting Zoladdiction, which is basically a month of reading Zola.  Well, I love Zola, and I have several volumes waiting patiently on the TBR shelves -- how could I refuse?

You can find details here, but essentially, participants will read Zola's works and blog about them during the month of April.  There are three levels of participation, named in honor of three of his most famous heroines:

First level:  Maheude -- read one book 

Second level:  Gervaise -- read two or three books

Third level:  Nana -- read four or more books

As much as I'd love to read all Zola, all the time, I'm going to be realistic and commit to the second level, Gervaise -- I'm sure I can read two books by Zola in one month!

Currently, I have six unread works by Zola in my possession, so I'm going to try and read at least two of them:

The Ladies' Paradise -- sex and shopping!  The story of a department store, with some of the characters from Pot Bouille. 

The Debacle -- Zola's only historical novel, set during the Franco-Prussian War.  Said to be one of the most accurate depictions of war in literature. 

The Dream -- the story of a young orphan living in a world of dreams.  It sounds very different from the harsh realism of most Zola novels.

I won't actually be reading this in French.
But I really like this cover!

The Earth -- a rural novel, set in Provence.  I've heard it has parallels with King Lear.

Nana -- one of Zola's most famous works, the story of a high-class courtesan in Paris.  Nana is the daughter of Gervaise, the washerwoman in L'Assommoir.

The Masterpiece -- Zola's most autobiographical novel, about a tortured artist.  Supposedly Zola's childhood friend Paul Cezanne never spoke to Zola after the novel was published.

Well -- is anyone else signing up for Zoladdiction?  Which novels should I read?  What's your favorite Zola novel?

Chunkster Challenge 2013

I did promise not to sign up for any more challenges, but if I can fulfull a new challenge while knocking a few books off the TBR shelf, why not?  Especially big fat books?  Bring on the Chunkster Challenge 2013!

Last year I was easily able to complete the Do These Books Make My Butt Look Big Challenge?, so I'm going to sign up for that level again.  Here's what I need to complete it, and some possible titles:

Two books between 450 and 550 pages:

The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett (512 pages)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Mildred Jung Chang (544 pages) Completed 10/28/13
The Persephone Book of Short Stories (477 pages)
Completed 4/30/13
Giants of the Earth by H. E. Rolvaag (453 pages) Completed 7/9/13
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki  (530 pages)
Completed 4/25/13
The New York Stories of Edith Wharton (464 pages) Completed 8/2/13
The Earth by Emile Zola (512 pages)

Two books between 551 and 750 pages:

The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt (675 pages) Completed 9/6/13
Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson (590 pages)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (625 pages)
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (552 pages) Completed 8/28/13
The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker (626 pages)
Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson (556 pages)
The American Senator by Anthony Trollope (561 pages) Completed 4/6/13

Two books of 750 pages or more:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clark (782 pages)
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber (894 pages)
The Art of Eating by M. F. K. Fisher (784 pages)
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hacek (752 pages) Completed 8/24/13
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (1232) pages)
Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope (825 pages) Completed 10/11/13

Plus, I could choose any one of a number of Victorian triple-deckers by Trollope still on my shelves -- I think I have about ten that would fulfill the requirements!!   I'm slightly annoyed that I didn't sign up for this before completing The Last Chronicle of Barset (and that I started it before January 1, thereby disqualifying it from the challenge.  Oh, well, it's not as if I don't have enough other choices!)

Which do you recommend, bloggers?  And is anyone else signing up for this challenge?

Fidelity by Susan Glaspell

Susan Glaspell

I'm way behind on my TBR Pile Challenge list, it's already February!  Originally, my goal was to complete one from the list every month.  Finally, I've finished Fidelity by Susan Glaspell, one of the first Persephones I ever purchased (which has been sitting around unread since about 2010, ahem!)

Anyway.  This is one of the Persephones by an American writer, which tends to be a little jarring for me -- if I read a lovely dove-grey book I usually expect it to be British, so reading about life in small-town America was a little strange every time I picked it up.  This is the story of Ruth Holland, a young woman growing up in Iowa who upsets the balance of society in a small town when she runs off with a married man at the age of twenty.

The story begins thirteen years later, in 1913, when Ruth's oldest friend, Dr. Deane Franklin, returns home to Freeport with his new bride.  Deane and Amy are making the rounds of society parties, introducing Amy to all the best people in town, when Ruth's name comes up.  Ruth's scandalous behavior has caused ripples in the fabric of the town society that are still felt years later -- people still blame Deane somewhat for defending Ruth and standing by her.  Ruth's family was ostracized, and it hurt the family business.

Years later, Deane is still the physician for Ruth's family, and her father is dying.  He's written to Ruth to come and see her father one last time, and her arrival causes turmoil for Deane, his bride Amy, Ruth's former best friend, Edith, and for Ruth's sister and brothers.

The story is told in the third person, so the reader gets to see the story from various perspectives -- from Deane, who was once in love with Ruth, and still cares for her; from the bride Amy, whose joys as a newlywed are upset by Ruth's arrival; and by Ruth herself, who is still shunned by her old friends, most of the "society people" and even by members of her own family.   It's not so much about the fidelity of marriage, but about Ruth's infidelity to her friends and family and the entire town.

The beautiful endpapers from Fidelity, an image of a Log Cabin quilt sewn in Iowa

It's a really interesting story, and it really made me think about the interplay of people in a small town.  It's set 100 years ago, and it made me wonder how the story would have played out in the 21st century.  I've never lived in a small town -- my closest experience was living on a military base overseas, and though I can't say I knew everyone, I ran into people I knew constantly.  I suppose it wasn't unlike living in a small town, but one where the people changed every three or four years -- even if you knew everyone, you didn't know their whole life history and all the skeletons in their closets.

I'm sure there are still small communities like that, but people are so much more mobile today, and modern communications and technology have changed so much.   I was wondering if a situation like Ruth's could still take place today.   

A couple of years ago I read the other Persephone book by Susan Glaspell, Brook Evans, which is the story of a young girl who has an affair and gets pregnant, and how this affects three generations of a family.  It was so good I read it almost all in one sitting.    Besides these two, I don't think any of Susan Glaspell's books are still in print, which is an absolute shame, especially since she was a Pulitzer prize-winning playwright.  

This is the 49th book from the Persephone catalog that I've completed, and the first book for my 2013 TBR Pile Challenge.  

Classics Spin for the Classics Club

So, The Classics Club has come up with a fun idea for choosing a classic book to read:  participants choose twenty unread books off their Classics Club to-read list, numbered one to twenty.  Then, next Monday, the club posts a random number, and that's the book off the list we have to choose, to be finished by April 1. Sounds fun!

Updated:  the selection for the Classics Spin was #14.  So I'm reading The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow by Margaret Oliphant.  I'm looking forward to it!

I have selected the following books for my possible read:

Five books that scare me a little:

1.  The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hacek
2.  Kipps by H. G. Wells
3.  Giants in the Earth by A. E. Rolvaag
4.  I, Claudius by Robert Graves
5.  Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence

Five books I can't wait to read:

6.  The Masterpiece by Emile Zola
7.  Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton
8.  The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West
9.  Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
10.  Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope

Five books I'm neutral about:

11.  Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant
12.  One of Ours by Willa Cather
13.  Theater by W. Somerset Maugham
14.  The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow by Margaret Oliphant
15.  The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

Five big fat books I'd love to cross off the list:

16.  Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
17.  Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
18.  The Earth by Emile Zola
19.  A Dance to the Music of Time (First Movement)  by Anthony Powell
20.  Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant

I want to read all of them, so I think no matter what I'll be happy (unless I end up hating it, especially if it's a long book!) And almost every one of them is from my TBR bookcase, so I'll probably have another of those crossed off the list -- or one that's been on my to-read list for a long time.

Which books are the best?  And has anyone else signed up for this?  Send me a link so I can look at your Classics Spin list!

Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin

Go Tell it On the Mountain has probably been on my to-read list since 2005, since I discovered The Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.  (I've now read 48 of them.)  Along with Native Son and The Invisible Man, this novel is one of the classics of African-American fiction.

This is a short book, about 250 pages in most editions.  Basically, this is a semi-autobiographical story based on Baldwin's early life.  It's centered around a day in the life of John Grimes, on his 14th birthday.  It's 1935 and he's growing up in Harlem,  where he lives with his parents, baby sister, and younger brother Royal.  His father Gabriel is a preacher, and everyone thinks he'll grow up in his father's footsteps.  He and his father have a difficult relationship, because his father favors his younger, wilder brother.

The story deals with John's spiritual and sexual awakening, and flashes back to his parents, Gabriel and Elizabeth, and his aunt Florence, and how they moved north from their life of poverty in the Deep South.  It's not overtly about racial conflict, but racism plays a big part in their situation and how it shapes their lives.  There's a lot of religion in the novel, but it's also about family dynamics.

Go Tell it On the Mountain was an easier read for me than Native Son, which has some really unpleasant characters doing horrible things, but I don't think Baldwin was trying to make a big social statement like Richard Wright.  I think it's really just a snapshot, a look into people's lives.  I'm not a religious person, so I'll admit that those parts of the book really didn't speak to me and I ended up skimming them somewhat.  What I was really interested in was the family histories, the role of the female characters, and how hard it was for African-Americans at that time.  The characters are really well-developed and I found them very realistic.

This book was the monthly selection for the library's classic book group, and though not everyone had managed to finish the book, we had a really good discussion about religion and how writers portray it in modern novels versus older book.  I'd still like to read Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, though I'm a little intimidated by it, because of the length and the subject matter.

Have any of you read Go Tell it On the Mountain?  How about Invisible Man?

This is the second book I've completed for the Back to the Classics Challenge 2013. 

The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope

(Edited to remove a possible spoiler)

At last, I have finished; I have completed all six novels of the Barsetshire Chronicles!  It's more than 3,000 pages, more if you count the introductions and endnotes!!  I started back in 2009, but I really hit my stride last year, finishing Doctor Thorne, Framley Parsonage, and The Small House at Allington.  I started The Last Chronicle of Barset the day after Christmas and read it in bits and pieces for the past month.

If you're a Trollope reader, this is the book that ties up all the loose ends in Barsetshire.  Nearly every major character from the previous five books makes an appearance, from the first book to the last, and some new characters as well.  The reader sees how all the characters fit in together in the world of Barset, especially among the clergy (though I never could remember the difference between the dean, the bishop, and the archbishop.  Oh well).

Basically, the story starts out with a scandal, a mystery that brings all the characters together.  Reverend Crawley, a minor character from Framley Parsonage, has been accused of stealing a check for 20 pounds to pay his butcher's bill.  He refuses to get legal help and is arrested for theft.  Barsetshire is abuzz with the news, and people take sides, many of them jumping to conclusions long before the trial.  (I'm talking about you, Mrs. Proudie!)

This is further complicated by the fact that his eldest daughter Grace is the love interest of Henry Grantly, son of the Archdeacon, and grandson of Mr. Harding, the main character of The Warden.  The archbishop won't hear of his son marrying her while her father is under a cloud of suspicion, causing friction in the family;  meanwhile, we learn the fate of Johnny Eames, and many of the other Barset characters, including Dr. Thorne, Miss Dunstable, and the wicked witch of Barset, Mrs. Proudie.  The only character I really missed was the oily Obadiah Slope of Barchester Towers, who, sadly, makes no appearance.  And a few new characters are thrown in as well, just to thicken the plot.

I really liked this book and the way it tied up all the loose ends of Barsetshire.  However, I did feel sometimes that it was dragging on too long.  It's nearly 900 pages!  Honestly, the story of Josiah Crawley could have been trimmed a bit -- pages and pages are devoted to the fact that he won't come to his own defense and hire a lawyer because he's a little too ethereal to bother himself with everyday problems like paying bills.  I also thought some of the side stories were a little unnecessary.  And I still wanted to strangle Lily Dale. (Highlight if you want to know the answer).

Nevertheless, this is a really satisfying ending to the series.  I'm quite proud to have finished it -- now on to the Pallisers, another six-volume series, this one with a more political angle.  I'm sad to be leaving Barchester but I look forward to reading more Trollope.  I'll probably try and read a couple of the stand-alone novels before I tackle another series of Victorian triple-deckers.

I have another 40 novels by Anthony Trollope to enjoy!!  Any suggestions?  So far, the only one I've read (besides the Barset novels) is The Way We Live Now, which I absolutely loved.  Which of Trollope's stand-alone novels are the best?

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Here is a book that many people hate, and yet, it is one of my favorite books of all time.  Sadly, the people who hate this book were most likely forced to read it in high school.  I often bemoan the fact that I came to love many classics later in life, but I've also come to realize that if I had read this in high school English, it's quite likely I would have hated it as well (probably because the American Authors teacher was a terror; I took World Lit because I'd had that teacher for composition sophomore year and really liked him).  At any rate, I was happy reading Candide and 1984 (though The Mill on the Floss was a BIG mistake on my part) and my friends were suffering through The Scarlet Letter.

Nevertheless, I finally found Edith Wharton about seven years ago.  I read The Age of Innocence while on vacation in the Florida panhandle, but somehow, it didn't do much for me.   I really didn't get how wonderful Edith Wharton was until I read House of Mirth about a year later, which I could hardly put down.  Soon after I read Ethan Frome in a single sitting, and I've loved it ever since.  Since then I've enjoyed more Wharton, a writer who can write both heartbreaking novels, ghost stories, and wry and witty short stories -- if you don't believe me, just Google "Xingu" and try to read it without cracking a smile.

But, back to Ethan Frome.  If you don't know the story, basically, it is about a young man trapped in terrible circumstances.  (If you haven't read Wharton, this is pretty much the theme of her entire oeuvre.)  Told with a framing device, in flashback and conjecture, we learn that when Ethan was in his late 20s, he was trapped in a marriage with an older woman, Zenobia, a shrewish hypochondriac.  To help out, Zeena's distant cousin, Mattie Silver, had come to live with them, and Ethan is in love with her.  Once Ethan had a promising future as an engineer or scientist, but he's saddled with debts on a farm he can't sell, and now there's really no way out for him and Mattie.  Over the course of a few days, his life takes a tragic and ironic turn.

I chose this book for the January read for one of our book groups, and I think it was a good choice.  It's a short read, about 150 pages in most editions, and there's so much to discuss -- loaded with symbolism and great characterization.  Also, Wharton is just masterful at setting the scene.  I live in south Texas where we rarely get a hard freeze, much less a dusting of snow, and I just felt freezing cold while reading this book.  It brought back a lot of memories of winters I've spent in the Midwest -- about ten years ago we were stationed in Nebraska, and this story could have easily been relocated to the bleak, windy prairies.

I love Ethan Frome, but it always makes me wonder why I'm so attracted to it.  What does it say about me, if I love Wharton -- her stories are so tragic!   She does tend to write variations on the same story over and over, but she does it so well.  I've read about about seven of her novels, and I've loved most of them.  Sadly, I can only think of one that has a happy ending -- and that was her unfinished novel, The Buccaneers, which was finished by another author based on Wharton's notes.

I still have Twilight Sleep and The Glimpses of the Moon on the TBR shelves, plus The New York Stories of Edith Wharton, an NYRB Classic.  I want to read at least one of these this year.   There's a chance I may even get to visit Wharton's estate, The Mount, in the Berkshires this summer -- but that's still in the planning stages.

So, who else is a fan of Edith Wharton?  Do you love Ethan Frome, or hate it?  And has anyone been to The Mount?

This is the first book I've completed for the Back to the Classics 2013 Challenge.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2013

I did say I wouldn't sign up for any more challenges. . . but this is another great way of working on my Classics Club reading list, and finishing some more books from my TBR shelf!   It's Sarah's Back to the Classics Challenge 2013, hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much. Finish all six categories and blog about them, plus a wrap-up post, and you're entered into a drawing for a $30 gift card from Amazon.com, or a choice of book(s) from The Book Depository!  There are also five optional categories if you want to increase your chances.

Here are the categories:

1.  Any 19th century classic
2.  Any 20th century classic
3.  Any classic from the 18th century, or earlier
4.  Any classic related to the African-American experience
5.  Any adventure classic
6.  Any classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title

Anyone who completes all six of these is entered into a drawing at the end of the year.  Plus, there are five optional categories:

1.  A reread of a classic work
2.  A Russian classic
3.  A non-fiction classic
4.  A children's or young adult classic
5.  Classic short stories -- three or more works by the same author, or by connected by the same genre or time period.

So, here's my tentative list of reads for the challenge:

1.  19th century classic -- Can You Forgive Her?  by Anthony Trollope.  I'm nearly done with the Barsetshire series and I really want to start on the Pallisers novels.  Plus, my library now owns the audiobook, which will make it go faster.  Of course, half the books on my to-read list of classics is from the 19th century, so I have plenty from which to choose.

2.  20th century classic -- A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell.  A big fat book, and one from the Modern Library's Top 100 Novels.  Another series I'm hoping to finish someday.

3.  18th century (or older) classic -- probably Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, because I'm looking for an excuse to buy another of the beautiful Penguin clothbound classics!  Or maybe Moll Flanders, because it's fairly short. 

4.  African-American classic -- Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin.  Been on my to-read list forever. 


5.  Adventure classic -- Kim by Rudyard Kipling, which has been on the TBR shelf for awhile.  Or maybe A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs -- last year I saw the movie adaptation, John Carter, which was much better than I expected.  (Sadly, it was an incredible box office flop, so no chance of a sequel).

6.  Classic book about an animal -- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.  I'd like to read more books in translation, and classic sci-fi.  I also own Journey to the Center of the Earth, so that's also a possibility.  (Could switch these to the adventure category as well, if I find another book about an animal).  Or maybe Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau, if I'm in the mood for a long Victorian.

And some optional books, if I can get to them:

Classic reread  -- Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.  One of my all-time favorites.  I'm definitely rereading this one in January because I chose it for my library's book group. 

Non-fiction classic -- I have a couple of choices here.  Probably The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, but I also have some classic travel books -- Letters from Hawaii by Mark Twain; In Morocco by Edith Wharton; and Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens.  Or maybe The Flame Trees of Thika, since I'm fascinated by Africa.

Children's Classic -- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit.  I read The Story of the Treasure Seekers last summer and I absolutely loved it, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Classic short stories -- I have stacks of these as well.  I have unread volumes by Edith Wharton, Evelyn Waugh, and W. Somerset Maugham on the TBR shelves, so I'll probably choose one of these authors.

I'm not even going to try and choose a Russian to read -- all the Russians on my to-read list are incredibly long, such as Crime and Punishment.  I'll have to finish all the other books for this challenge first! 

Any suggestions regarding the list -- any real clunkers?  Which are must-reads?  And who else signed up for this challenge?  What books are you hoping to read?