Monday, August 5, 2013

Joining the Classics Club

When I first started blogging, one of the things I enjoyed most was the regular Classics Circuit Tour.  The sheer variety of topics was an excellent way for me to pep up my reading list and help me achieve one of the aims of this blog, that of broadening out my book diet.  Unfortunately (although completely understandably), the tour stopped after Rebecca, its driving force, became a parent.

Although the two are completely unconnected, I’ve also noticed a slight reversion to my comfortable reading habits of old in recent months and so, in an effort to halt this and to reconnect to the classics, I’ve decided to join the ranks of the thriving Classics Club.  I’d previously held back from this on the grounds that the commitment required was a little too much for me but, having given it some thought, I reckon I can do it, without letting a set list take over my reading completely.

So I’m dipping my toe back in by picking a list of 50 classics to read over the next five years, the minimum number required by the club.  If this proves to be easy, I can always up the number.  The list comprises a mix of books I’ve always meant to read, some I feel I “should” read and a few old favourites I’d like to meet again.  I’ve stuck to the “25 year” rule but haven’t paid much attention as to whether it is unduly Western or male oriented.  Basically, it’s stuff I want to read.  So here it is – I’ll be setting the list up as a separate page and linking to my reviews both here and on the page:

1.       Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes
2.       Inferno – Dante
3.       Purgatorio – Dante
4.       Paradiso – Dante
5.       Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
6.       Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
7.       Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
8.       Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
9.       A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (reread)
10.   Bleak House – Charles Dickens
11.   Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
12.   Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne (reread)
13.   Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson (reread)
14.   The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
15.   The Gambler – Fyodor Dostoevsky
16.   Kim – Rudyard Kipling
17.   The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
18.   The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers
19.   Fantômas – Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre
20.   The Thirty Nine Steps - John Buchan (reread)
21.   Rashomon – Akutagawa Ryunosuke
22.   The Trial – Franz Kafka
23.   Chaka the Zulu – Thomas Mofolo
24.   The Good Soldier Svejk – Jaroslav Hasek
25.   The Sword of Honour trilogy – Evelyn Waugh (reread)
26.   Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin
27.   Mr Norris Changes Trains – Christopher Isherwood
28.   Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
29.   Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
30.   The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
31.   Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
32.   The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov (reread)
33.   The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima
34.   Interview with a Vampire – Anne Rice
35.   The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco  (reread)
36.   The Aeneid – Virgil (reread)
37.   The Twelve Caesars – Suetonius
38.   Scoop – Evelyn Waugh (reread)
39.   The Complete Short Stories – Saki
40.   A Culinary Campaign – Alexis Soyer
41.   The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
42.   The Complete Essays – Michel de Montaigne
43.   Scum of the Earth – Arthur Koestler
44.   Shakespearean Tragedy – A.C. Bradley
45.   The Belly of Paris – Emile Zola
46.   The Case of Comrade Tulayev – Victor Serge
47.   Ancien Regime and the Revolution – Alexis de Tocqueville
48.   The Conquest of New Spain – Bernal Diaz del Castillo
49.   The Voyage of Argo – Apollonius of Rhodes
50.   Any Old Iron – Antony Burgess

4 comments:

Sam (Tiny Library) said...

Great list! I've been in the classics club for a year now and am definitely enjoying it so far. Hope you have the same experience.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Woo hoo! Welcome to the club!

Lisa said...

It's a great list - I'll look forward to your posts. The monthly prompts are always interesting & thought-provoking.

Falaise said...

Sam - thanks, I'm looking forward to it!

Melissa - thanks!

Lisa - thanks, I'm looking forward to seeing what others are up to as well.