I've completed the Back to the Classics challenge, hosted by Books and Chocolate, for another year, and it never fails to stretch me out of my comfort zone. I read some beauties this year, although it kept my total number of books completed lower than normal since some of them are so massively thick. (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Anna Karenina, David Copperfield and Moby Dick.) Once again, I've ticked off all 12 categories, and here they are.
A Nineteenth Century Classic - David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
A Twentieth Century Classic - Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
A Classic by a Woman - Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
A Classic in Translation - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
A Children's Classic - Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery
A Classic Crime Story - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Classic Travel or Journey Narrative - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
A Classic with a single-word title - Emma by Jane Austen
A Classic with a colour in the title - Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
A Classic by an Author that's new to you - The Napoleon of Notting Hillby G.K Chesterton
A Classic that scares you - Moby Dick by Herman Melville
A re-read of a favourite Classic - The Children of the New Forest by Captain Frederick Marryat
Last year I awarded medals to my best three picks from the list, and thought I'd do the same again, with the only three 5-star reads on the list.
Bronze Medal - Pat of Silver Bush
I adore this story because it's so full of everyday magic and the beauty of living a quiet, simple life. It's a perfect cure for the sort of depression that comes from thinking your life doesn't measure up to some arbitrary standard. It also has one of my favourite young L.M. Montgomery heroes, Jingle Gordon.
Silver Medal - Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy kept the characters' personal epiphanies coming thick and fast enough for me to keep turning pages, and they're the sorts of insights we can adopt for our own lives too. I think Konstantin Levin was the character who nudged this up among the best reads of the year for me.
Gold Medal - Wives and Daughters
This has got to be up top, because it holds so much of what makes the Victorian era a joy to look back on for those of us who never lived through it (and that's all of us, of course). It's perfect in its balance of subtle, nuanced characterisation and the buzz of what was going on, such as scientific discoveries by the likes of Charles Darwin. No Victorian novel has made me feel I might have been there as much as this one.
Looking over this list, I think my three stand-outs might all share the simple satisfaction of enjoying ordinary lives, and that probably reveals a fair bit about me, the reader, too. Now, bring on next year!
I absolutely love Wives & Daughters—I agree, it is a richly nuanced book, and I remember being so surprised at how fresh it felt the first time I read it. I am also a big fan of David Copperfield—it was one of the first Dickens novels I ever read, and have read it many times over the years. I’ve never heard of Pat of the Silver Bush, but it sounds worth exploring.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing the challenge! And thanks for stopping by my blog—our reading of the classics seems to run in similar grooves.
Hi Jane, these challenges are so great for helping us add variety to our reading lists, aren't they? I loved David Copperfield too. It took over a month to read but was worth every second. And I shared the same surprise as you with Wives and Daughters. It just pulls us into the Victorian era in such a fresh way 😍 Looking forward to more next year.
DeleteIt's been so much fun reading your reviews of these classics! And so much cross-over in our reading lives at the moment 😂 really looking forward to your next challenge, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHi Sheree, I love those crossovers and always look forward to seeing what you have to say about books we've both read 😁 Not to mention being intrigued by those I haven't read yet, and adding them to my list. I just enjoy your reviews in general.
DeleteI think I'll time before next year's challenge to read and review some more recent books, because those on these lists have to be over 50 years old.
Ohhh thank you, I'm blushing! I desperately want to read some recent releases too - I haven't read a single new release since I started my blog project at the beginning of the year. I've been tempted, but I'm determined to stay strong and focused until this list is done! Then I'll be a bit more flexible and read whatever feels right. I'm sure we're still going to have plenty of crossover though, yay 😍❤️
DeleteYeah, there's bound to be 💕 I'm glad yours is such an interesting, ongoing project.
ReplyDeleteGold to Wives and Daughters huh? I'll have to give that a read.
ReplyDeleteHi Joseph, yeah, I highly recommend it. I haven't read much Gaskell but looking forward to more, if this is any sort of gauge.
DeleteIt doesn't surprise me that Wives and Daughters received the gold medal. It's one of the few Gaskell's that I haven't read but I've seen the movie and I can image that it's wonderful! I almost don't want to read it so I can continue to anticipate it, lol! I remember reading Pat of the Silver Bush and liking it but I can't remember the plot at all. Time to revisit it, I think. Great job at completing your challenge!
ReplyDeleteHi Cleo, it does strike me as the Victorian novel with everything going for it. I'm almost afraid to read other Gaskell novels in case they don't live up to it. Isn't it great at this time of year, when we can wind up and anticipate starting again?
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