So once again I completed ten (well, nine and a half-ish) categories this year for Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge. Here's the list:
Classic in Translation:
Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso
Classic Play:
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion
Classic From Africa:
Ngugi wa Thiong'o's The River Between
Classic From The Americas:
Malcolm Lowry's Under The Volcano
Twentieth Century Classic:
Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil
Very Long Classic:
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
Classic by a Female Author:
George Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life
Classic Tragedy:
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth
Classic Comedy:
Henry Fielding's Tom Jones
(though I've only just finished the last one & haven't blogged about it yet.)
Thanks to Karen for hosting! I guess that's two entries. Should it come up I can be reached by email at reese (at) reesewarner (dot) com.
wow... some weighty texts, there... i keep wondering about Orlando.. i have a copy but it says vol 1 on it... how long is it?
ReplyDeleteOrlando is pretty long! And the verse edition I have there (the one I read) is only about 60% of the whole because Harvard thought the whole thing wouldn't sell. I think the Penguin is complete in two volumes. I read a prose translation of it some years ago that was complete at 500 or so pages.
DeleteOh, I really want to read Orlando Furioso!! I'm glad to see that The House of Mirth helped you fulfill a challenge. Here's to great classic reads for 2020!
ReplyDeleteAnd back at ya! May you have many great reads in 2020 and may everything else be great, too!
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ReplyDeleteWhat a variety of classics! Are you thinking of doing the challenge again in the coming yeaar? I think I read about two classics last year ('about' is likely unnecessary there, but I haven't officially checked my log). It's likely the kind of reading that won't just "happen" unless I do join something along the way!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Karen isn't hosting the challenge for the new year (though I was hoping she might make a late appearance...) but there is a new similar version at
Deletehttps://thebrokenspinedotnet.wordpress.com/
which I suppose I'll sign up for. So many books! Of course. But I do like to have a good mix of classics in my reading diet.
Happy New Year!
Great list! I am also toying with signing up over at The Broken Spine if Karen doesn't want to continue.
ReplyDeleteI just had a paperback copy of Tom Jones in my hands at a library sale. I put it back on the shelf...small print, tight binding. I read it many years ago now and thought it might be fun to reread but probably will just download it from Gutenberg.
I've had the same edition for years & this is the fourth or fifth time I've read it. The print keeps getting smaller...I don't know how that happens...
DeleteIt's still pretty great, though. I enjoyed it at least as much on this read as ever.