Classics TBR

One of the things I missed as a child was reading a lot of the "classics". Our school promoted the modern novels like The Catcher in the Rye, or The Lord of the Flies, so if we wanted to read older books, we were on our own.

Over the course of my adult life I've managed to read a few here and there, but so many remain, unread.

Would any of you be interested in picking a couple tattered classics each month and doing a group read?

Some of the titles I was thinking about are

Gulliver's Travels
Robinson Crusoe
The Pilgrim's Progress
The Canterbury Tales (2)
Dracula
The Innocents Abroad (2)
The Pickwick Papers (2)
Peter Pan (2)
Little Women (2)
Moby Dick

Thoughts?

List started here:
http://www.librarything.com/list/12013/all/Literary-Classics-To-Read-pre-1900-#

>1 fuzzi: Lovely idea. I had a similar classics experience to what you described. The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies were also on our syllabus and I hated them both.

I have managed to catch up on most of the books listed by you and have enjoyed them. Being a slow, eratic reader I would not commit to a monthly reading as I would hold people back, but I will be lurking and, if it does not upset anyone, wil contribute the occasional comment if I feel it might be relevant.

>1 fuzzi: I would be up for pretty much all of them. Some would be rereads, some would be new. Maybe every other month would allow a bit more flexibility?

Never read these in the original english, so I'd be willing to give it a try.

Will you be doing commentary?

I'm more of a lurker than a poster, but I will certainly lurk (at least) :)

Oh, I had a feeling that you all would think like me on this one! :)

What if we each suggest six titles, and then we can pick the six for the year, with maybe six alternates in case some don't want a reread?

::happy happy::

I like The Innocents Abroad because I haven't read it and I like to travel. I would do rereads of Peter Pan and Little Women. And at least comment on the others.
If you didn't have to read The Scarlet Letter in high school, I am jealous.

I don't think I want to commit to a group read of them, but I've read many and will certainly lurk. My reading mojo is very fragile lately, so I read only what I want to at the moment.

I'm reading King Solomon's Mines at the moment, slowly. Plan to read The Three Musketeers this year.

What form would you want to read Canterbury Tales - the original, or a modern translation?

>9 Guanhumara: that's a good question. What do y'all recommend?

>8 MrsLee: don't worry about having to commit. I wanted to have some encouragement and company while I tackled old classics.

I read both The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo in the 1970s, after movie versions piqued my interest.

>7 BonnieJune54: I didn't have to read The Scarlet Letter in school, but I did read it in the last couple of years...and I have NO interest whatsoever in reading anything else by that author!

>4 JerryMmm: of course, we can discuss, but with spoilers as needed.

>10 fuzzi: Had to read The Scarlet Letter twice for school. Never again!

>9 Guanhumara: >10 fuzzi: I would recommend reading The Canterbury Tales in the original, but with a facing-page modern English version -- or, if that's not available, at least having both a modernization and the original on hand. You could then start in the modernization but look to the Middle English regularly, and it may become easier to follow, and that's easier to do if they're both in the same volume.

It has been some time since I last read any of his poetry, but I used to be pretty familiar with Chaucer's work. I'd be happy to provide some context and comment as we go through that one, with enough advance notice.

>13 harrygbutler: thanks! I do not have a copy of The Canterbury Tales, but will check to see if the public or university libraries have a copy as you've described, before I buy.

I want to do this like our Black Stallion "relaxed" read: with suggestions, guidelines (books assigned to a month) but no real pressure, just ENJOY.

>12 Taphophile13: for me it was 1984, never again!

I've never read Peter Pan. At all. Gulliver and Robinson at one point in Dutch, many years ago.
Dracula would be interesting too.

I once tied moby dick... not in the right mind space to try this one again ..

>13 harrygbutler: That sounds like a great way to read the Canterbury Tales. I have tried off and on through the years to read them, but never have been able to finish it.

What a good idea! Thanks @fuzzi.

I'm up for any of those except for Moby Dick. (That was my required HS reading.) I've read all or parts of the others except for Dracula and Pickwick.

I love, love, love Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Daughter and I used to read it aloud to each other.

The notable one I haven't read and would be eager is The Pickwick Papers.

I've read the bulk of The Innocents Abroad, and enjoyed it until I didn't. (overfull feeling) Wouldn't mind starting over.

Great, love it!

If anyone has a suggestion for a classic to read, I'm all "ears".

I'd love to give the ME version of The Canterbury Tales another go. I have never really 'got' the point of poetry in translation.

I've read all the others on your list except The Innocents Abroad - so I would be up for that - and Moby Dick (which defeated me, and I'm not). I'm not really up for a reread purely because I don't have access to the relevant parts of my library just now, and balk at buying duplicates!

Suggestions:
The Master and Margarita (a little later than your suggestions, but still a classic)

Le Mort d'Arthur (although edition would probably be an issue again)

Rob Roy

Oh, Rob Roy, I've heard of that one! I'll add it to my list.

Wow, I've already read and enjoyed Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, expect I'll enjoy Rob Roy as well.

We read Le Mort d'Arthur in high school, I think, though I might peek at it again if others wanted to read it.

I appreciate all the suggestions, all. I'll add newer stuff to my TBR, but really want to concentrate on the older classics for this challenge. :)

>3 harrygbutler: thinking about format...what do you think about having one book and one alternate each month (two choices for "already read that one" and "eww" reasons), but allow two months to finish each book, for a goal of at least six (6) classics read for the year?

Example:
January books
1. Moby Dick
2. Little Women

Harry decides to read Little Women, since he's read Moby Dick. He has until the end of February to get either done, but he gets his January book finished by February, and goes to

February books
1. Gulliver's Travels
2. The Pilgrim's Progress

Harry has read The Pilgrim's Progress, but has not read Gulliver's Travels, so he starts it in February since he finished his January book early. Or perhaps it's an "eww" for him, so he waits until March for the next two.

No strict deadlines, but a little structure so people can discuss their choices if they like.

Actually I would definitely find one per month a struggle; I want to keep up my classics reading, but I have reviewing obligations on recent releases (so I am always reading multiple books in tandem!)

>22 Guanhumara: so you could read one every other month. :)

>21 fuzzi: >22 Guanhumara: I'd cast my vote for having them set up bimonthly, as even if we say that the aim is to read just six, the very presence of monthly reads adds a subtle pressure on participants. But I do like the idea of a selection and an alternate:

Example:
January books
1. Moby Dick
2. Little Women

March books
1. Gulliver's Travels
2. The Pilgrim's Progress

If you want a challenge for the alternate months, @fuzzi, how about confining the first set to books originally written in English and then offering a second to books originally written in some other language. For example:

February books
1. Homer, The Iliad
2. The Epic of Gilgamesh

April books
1. Virgil, The Aeneid
2. Journey to the West

Alternatively, maybe each of those months could spotlight a different language.

>24 harrygbutler: hmm, good thoughts.

So alternate months would be books that were originally not written in English, such as The Iliad and The Epic of Gilgamesh?

Works for me. Anyone else want to chime in?

I like the suggestion of bringing in "in translation" options for some months. But something like Journey to the West in a month is going to be rather high pressure, unless reading an abridged version.

I do have the Iliad on my tbr list. Also have the fagles version of the Aeneid.iirc.

Perhaps some jules Verne as well? I'd like some help in obtaining the best translations though, I understand the earlier ones were rather abridged or changed..

I'm cool with two titles every other month, and some that weren't originally in English.

>27 JerryMmm: I think @harrygbutler could help with the best translations, he seems to read a lot of those kind of classics!

>27 JerryMmm: What did you think of the Fagles version? I had to read his Iliad for my degree and hated it; I much preferred the E.V. Rieu version.

I too read Verne in horribly abridged editions. I have a copy of The Mysterious Island in Kingston's translation - it's supposed to be "one of the better ones", yet it still changes some names and excises anti-British passages!

The Aeneid is also on my TBR list.

Other suggestions:
Crime and Punishment
Don Quixote
The Golden Ass
The Three Musketeers (I've reread this many times, but this could be my opportunity to attempt it in French!)
and
Waverley
and, since we are including epic poetry:
The Faerie Queene

>29 Guanhumara: I like your suggestions, thank you.

>26 Guanhumara: I'd like to consider these two "tracks" as parallel, with the book(s) selected for January to be read over the span January-February, and the book(s) selected for February being read over the span February-March. That way, if it is a short work, one month should be enough time, but if a longer work, there'd be a two-month window to complete it. I have my eye on the Italian Renaissace epics (Orlando Furioso, Orlando Innamorato, or Gerusalemme Liberata) as possible suggestions, and I know I wouldn't want to try to finish one of those in a month, either, if I were reading anything else.

>28 fuzzi: Unfortunately I haven't read Verne in ages, so I'm out of touch on what may be good translations.

I'm liking nearly all the suggestions so far and will spend some time this weekend to put together my list of suggestions. I think when we narrow down the list, we should really consider having the second choice for a month be appreciably shorter than the first. That way, if someone has a lot of time, they could tackle the bigger work, but if a particular month is busy, they could opt for the shorter one and still be involved. Those with really a lot of time might read both.

>31 harrygbutler: I like all the suggestions so far, too, and am looking forward to your choices.

>29 Guanhumara: I liked his Odyssey, bearing in mind that I hadn't read any other translation of it. I did start comparing different translations but then found the fagles somewhere and settled for that.

I did like the Butler as well, but preferred a hard copy instead of ebook and just found the Fagles first.

I just came up with a Challenge title:

"Classics-I-Have-Not-Read"

Hmm?

We don't seem to have heard from @harrygbutler yet :-/

I'll go ask him to honor us with his presence... ;)

Sorry! I've been really busy.

In the spirit of @fuzzi's Challenge title, I've opted to nominate classics I've not read (or at least never finished reading):

Originally written in English
Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian
James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha

Not originally written in English
Homer, The Iliad
Longus, Daphnis and Chloe
Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron
Matteo Boiardo, Orlando Innamorato
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso
Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata

However, I'd be quite happy to revisit the classics I have read, as in some cases it has been many years. :-)

(I've owned the Italian Renaissance epics for some time but have never managed to finish any of them. I get part of the way through and set them aside for one reason or another, and just never get back to them, so I'm hoping that tackling at least one of them this way would prompt me to finish.)

Wow! I've read a couple on your English list: I love Pride and Prejudice, I've read it several times. The Deerslayer was an easier to get into read as opposed to Cooper's other books.

>38 fuzzi: Though I have every reason to think I might like Pride and Prejudice, it has never made it to the top of the reading pile.

The only Cooper I've read is The Last of the Mohicans, which I liked, but I have several others (and considered listing The Spy instead).

My List
The Song of Hiawatha
Moby Dick
Middlemarch
Don Quixote
Mysterious Island
The Iliad

P&P is all that I have read from Harry’s list. I wore out a record of Hiawatha as a child. I think it was the kind with a picture on the vinyl.
Pickwick Papers is very episodic and would be good for sampling. Little Women could be shortened by reading only the first part which is the original novel. The second part is the sequel Good Wives.

>40 BonnieJune54: thanks for your input and information. I've not read any on your list, though I think I read excerpts from Hiawatha. Good information about Little Women, too.

Without further input, I went ahead and made a thread for classic reads, here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/279823

We can make it work, come and join us!

Received "Dickensian" DVD set for Christmas--have you seen it? A wonderfully plausible mash-up of Dickens' characters living simultaneously in London...with a "who killed Marley?" whodunit central to the plot so far.

All that to say, I am regretting skipping, missing, or failing to retain knowledge of some of Dickens' biggies...so Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop are now on the list. Oh, and Bleak House.