Wednesday 24 April 2019

The Classics Club

Through "Words and Peace" I found "The Classics Club".

Their rules are published here:
The Classics Club is a club created to inspire people to read and blog about classic books. There’s no time limit to join and you’re most welcome, as long as you’re willing to sign up to read and write on your blog about 50+ classic books in at most five years.

The club basics (the short version):
* choose 50+ classics

* list them at your blog
* choose a reading completion goal date up to five years in the future and note that date on your classics list of 50+ titles
* e-mail the moderators of this blog (theclassicsclubblog@gmail.com) with your list link and information and it will be posted on the Members Page!
* write about each title on your list as you finish reading it, and link it to your main list
* when you’ve written about every single title, let us know!


Since I love classics, this is just the right club for me to join.

They offer a fantastic list (here) though I think some of the titles are a tad too recent to be called classics. "The Uncommon Reader", by Alan Bennet, for instance, dates from 2007. That's only twelve years ago.

Until now, a classic for me was anything before 1900 though I have adjusted it now. LOL. But I still don't consider anything a classic that is not older than at least fifty years.

So, this is my list. The books are the oldest ones on my TBR list. I hope I will finish them all in the next five years though I am sure I will add more classic books to that list, as well.

1.    Alighieri, Dante "The Divine Comedy" (Divina Commedia) - 1308-20
2.    Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine de "Corinne: Or Italy" (Corinne ou l'Italie) - 1807
3.    Austen, Jane "Sanditon" - 1817
4.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Italian Journey aka Letters from Italy" (Italienische Reise) - 1817
5.    Eichendorff, Joseph von "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und andere Novellen" (Life of a Good-For-Nothing) - 1826
6.    Stendhal "The Red and the Black" (Le Rouge et le Noir) - 1830 - The Classic Spin 
7.    Gogol, Nikolai (Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь, Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol) "The Overcoat" (Шинель) - 1842
8.    Dumas, Alexandre "The Count of Monte Cristo" (Le comte de Monte-Cristo) - 1844-46
9.    Douglass, Frederick "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" - 1845
10.    Sand, George "Fadette" (aka Fanchon, the Cricket) (La Petite Fadette) - 1849
11.    Crafts, Hannah "The Bondwoman’s Narrative" - 1855-69
12.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel "The Scarlet Letter" - 1850
13.    Northup, Solomon "Twelve Years a Slave" - 1853 - 240
14.    Keller, Gottfried "Novellen" (Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe u.a.) "Novellas" (A Village Romeo and Juliet and others) - 1855/56
15.    Eliot, George "Silas Marner" - 1861
16.    Jacobs, Harriet Ann (Linda Brent) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" - 1861
17.    Rhoides, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Roidis) "The Curious History of Pope Joan" (Papissa Ioanna) - 1866
18.    Marx, Karl "Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie" (Capital. Critique of Political Economy) - 1867
19.    James, Henry,  "Daisy Miller" - 1879 - The Classic Spin
20.    Twain, Mark "A Tramp Abroad" - 1880
21.    James, Henry "The Europeans" - 1878
22.    Storm, Theodor "The Rider on the White Horse" (Der Schimmelreiter und andere Erzählungen) - 1888
23.    Wells, H. G. "The Time Machine" - 1895
24.    Van Dyke, Henry "The Story of the Other Wise Man" - 1896
25.    Hubbard, Fra Elbert "A Message to Garcia" - 1899 - The Classic Spin
26.    Baum, L. Frank "The Wizard of Oz" - 1900 - The Classic Spin
27.    Gorki, Maxim "The Mother" (Мать/Matj) - 1906/07
28.    Burnett, Frances Hodgson "The Secret Garden" - 1909
29.    Frost, Robert "A Boy’s Will" and "North of Boston" - 1913+1914 - The Classic Spin
30.    Mann, Thomas "A Man and his Dog" (Herr und Hund. Ein Idyll) - 1918
31.    Undset, Sigrid "Kristin Lavransdatter" (Kristin Lavransdattter) - 1920
The Bridal Wreath (Kransen) - 1920
The Mistress of Husaby (aka: The Wife/Husfrue) - 1921
The Cross (Korset) - 1922
32.    Christie, Agatha "Hercule Poirot. The Complete Short Stories" - 1923-61
33.    Martin, Catherine "The Incredible Journey" - 1923
34.    Ford, Ford Maddox "Parade's End" (Tetraology: Some Do Not, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, Last Post) - 1924-28
35.    Mandelstam, Ossip "The Din of Time" (Шум времени/Shum vremeni) - 1925
36.    Bulgakow, Michail "The Master and Margarita" (Мастер и Маргарита) - 1929-39 - The Classic Spin
37.    Cather, Willa "Shadows on the Rock" - 1931
38.    Christie, Agatha "Murder on the Orient Express" (Hercule Poirot #10) - 1934
39.    Elbogen, Ismar; Sterling, Eleonore "Die Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland" [The History of the Jews in Germany] - 1935/66
40.    Rand, Ayn "We the Living" - 1936
41.    Brecht, Bertolt "The Good Person of Szechwan" (Der gute Mensch von Sezuan) - 1938-40
42.    Némirovsky, Irène "La Proie" [The Prey] - 1938
43.    Zweig, Stefan "The World of Yesterday" (Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers) - 1942
44.    Fallada, Hans "Every Man Dies Alone" (Jeder stirbt für sich allein) - 1947
45.    Böll, Heinrich "The Silent Angel" (Der Engel schwieg) - 1949/50
46.    Camus, Albert "The Just Assassins" (Les Justes) - 1949
47.
    Kazantzakis, Nikos "The Last Temptation of Christ" (Ο τελευταίος πειρασμός/O telefteos pirasmos) - 1951
48.    Highsmith, Patricia "The Talented Mr. Ripley" - 1955 - The Classic Spin 
49.    Savage Carlson, Natalie "The Family Under the Bridge" - 1958
50.    Simenon, Georges "Maigret Sets a Trap" (Maigret tend un piège) (Maigret #48) - 1958

The Classic Club tries to instigate us to read those books within five years, so I hope I will have them completed on 31 March 2024.

I read all 50 of those books in May 2023.

And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

10 comments:

  1. Very interesting classics list. I have read 8 of them. Some I never heard of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't heard of all of the, either. I just came across them somewhere in a shop or at a swap and since I love classics, I took the chance. Which ones have you read?

      Best wishes!

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    2. The Red and the Black, The Scarlet Letter, Twelve Years a Slave, Daisy Miller, The Secret Garden, The Wreath, The Last Temptation of Christ, and The Talented Mr Ripley. I am picky about classics but these were all good.

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    3. Oh, lovely, we will be able to talk about quite a few of them, then. I already finished two of them in the meantime. Mind you, both quite short ones, "Daisy Miller", my #19 on the list and "The Secret Garden" on your recommendation. Thanks.

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  2. I like how you limited yourself to old stories. Good luck with your spin.

    https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-classic-club-spin-and-book-im-going.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I have already stepped over my line for what is a classics book, I used to consider everything from or before the 19th century to be a classic, now I say a hunderd years. But those are only thirty books on my list, so I carried on. I'm so looking forward to finding more really old classics, maybe some I haven't heard of before.

      Now I'm off to look at your list and which book you are going to read next.

      Thanks for the visit. Happy Reading!
      Marianne

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  3. wow, I didn;t realize you found the Club thanks to me, so happy, And believe it or not, I have also read 16 out of your list!! I a currently listening to all of Hercule Poirot, so it will sonn be 17 ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We never know what impact we have on others. I am sure I mentioned it when I first found it but it's been a while, so I'm not surprised you didn't remember.

      Anyway, thanks a lot for that, I always enjoy your blog.

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  4. Great list, and looks like you're making tons of progress! I am currently reading Kristin Lavransdatter (2 books down, 1 to go). I kind of wish I'd added it to my list now. ;)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thanks, Marian.

      Actually, I've been reading books from this list for two years now. Without the challenge, I might have only done half of them. I love classic books but there are always so many new ones.

      Enjoy Kristin Lavransdatter. I'm sure in a year or two your list will look exactly like mine.

      Happy Reading!

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