The Classics Club

Happy Sunday everyone! How are you all? Well rested after another weekend of swirling snow and freezing weather? Yeah me neither. I’ve simultaneously not done much and had a really busy weekend. I was in work yesterday, and today I’ve been to zumba and had a lovely roast at my parent’s house. It’s been good. IPaulo’ve also read, and, not only read but really enjoyed reading. I’ve sat on the sofa, stayed up at night in bed, and finished a book. I know that doesn’t sound amazing, but it’s been a great way to spend my time and has made me think about what I am planning to read. Emma was looking into The Classics Club, and I decided that it might be something I was interested in.

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 everyone is 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 perk is that, not only will you have read 50+ incredible (or at the very least thought-provoking) works in five years, you’ll get to do it along with lots of other people. Simply put, The Classics Club is a reading community dedicated to reading classics, modern classics, and recent books that are considered potential classics and ubiquitous of their time. So, if you fancy joining in, there are the rules and important stuff:

The club basics:
– 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 the 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!
Now, to be a little more specific…

Instructions:
At your own blog, list 50, 100, or 200 (or more, if you’re so inclined) classics that most interest/scare/excite you, alongside your goal date for finishing this list. You can either make a straight list of titles, or explain next to each title why you’ve chosen it. You could also explain a few of your chosen titles, but leave the others explanation-free. It’s up to you.

The goal? To read every classic on your list at your blog, and write about each one at your blog. Each time you write about a classic from your list, hyperlink the discussion post at the main classics list on your blog. You can also submit your post to be included in the weekly round-up of posts.

I have done my best to try and think of books that I actually want to read, and don’t just think I’d tolerate to complete the list. There is a good range of books on here, some I own, some I don’t, some I have imminent plans to read, and some I know I might finish in the next few years. There isn’t much of an order to it, but it’s a list. And, as the instructions say, you’re supposed to give a time frame. They suggest 5 years, which seems a long time to me, so I’ve decided on my 30th Birthday. I’m aiming to finish these books by 14th November 2021.

So, the list:

Northanger Abbey Jane Austen (Review)

The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas

The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling

In Cold Blood Truman Capote

Jamaica Inn Daphne Du Maurier

Scottsboro Ellen Feldman

The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter

Moonstone Wilkie Collins

David Copperfield Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens

If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller Italo Calvino

The Quiet American Graham Greene

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Return of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

His Last Bow Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Hans Christian Anderson Tales Hans Christian Anderson

101 Fairy Tales The Brothers Grimm

110 Grimmer Tales Fairy Tales Volume II The Brothers Grimm

Little Women Louisa May Alcott

The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers

Vera Elizabeth von Anrim

A Room with a View E M Forster

Animal Farm George Orwell

A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess

The Road Cormac McCarthy

The Alchemist Paulo Coelho (Review)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John Le Carré

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving

The Horse and His Boy C S Lewis

Prince Caspian C S Lewis

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C S Lewis

The Silver Chair C S Lewis

The Last Battle C S Lewis

Madame Bovary Gustav Flaubert

The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank

The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux

Around the World in 80 Days Jules Verne

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore John Ford

Lady Audely’s Secret Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky

In Patagonia Bruce Chatwin

The Body Snatcher Robert Louis Stevenson

We Yvegeny Zamyatin

Monk Matthew Lewis

Inferno Dante

Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë

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It’s quite a long, and quite an ambitious list. I actually own quite a number of them already in hardback, paperback, and audio book editions, so hopefully will be able to make a cracking start to the list. I think it will be good, it’ll certainly keep me accountable and actually make me try to read and talk about classics more than I ever have done. The added bonus is that I am joining a great book community too!

Is it something you think you would like to take part in too? You definitely should, it’s simple and it is a great way to read more reputable books. Why not join me, and everyone else taking part?

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