Back to the Classics 2026

Like others, I've been lamenting the demise of Karen's Back to the Classics challenge, so I've decided to simply do it this year myself.

Half the fun of the old Back to the Classics challenge was conjuring up a list of classics to match the prompts for the year--and then proceeding to ignore all those stated intentions. (And commenting on everybody else's plans.) At first I was going to make my own list of categories, but then I saw that Deb Nance at Readerbuzz had created a set of categories and I decided to just steal hers. So here we go--and my tentative matches against each category.

The old challenge required that the books be at least fifty years old, and I'll honor that. 

19th Century Classic

George Gissing/New Grub Street 

20th Century Classic

Eudora Welty/Delta Wedding 

An Award-winning Classic

Ursula K. Le Guin/The Left Hand of Darkness (Nebula, Hugo) 

A Classic Journey or Travel Narrative, Fiction or Non-Fiction

R. L. Stevenson/An Inland Voyage 

A Classic by a Woman Author

Rebecca West/The Fountain Overflows 

Humorous or Satirical Classic

Machado de Assis/The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas 

Classic Detective or Mystery Fiction

Edgar Wallace/The Four Just Men 

Classic Children's Book

Horatio Alger/Ragged Dick 

Banned or Censored Classic

Mikhail Bulgakov/Heart of a Dog 

A Classic in Translation

Simone de Beauvoir/The Mandarins 

A Non-fiction Classic

John Ruskin/Unto This Last 

Free Choice

Nazami Ganjavi/Layli and Majnun

 

I just formalized a new Classics Club list, my second, so I had a ready list of classics to choose from.

If you've been missing this challenge & put together a Back to the Classics list, mention it in comments and I'll be thrilled to go find yours. 

Back to the Classics Challenge 2022 Signup

Karen's Back to the Classics challenge is on again for this year. (Yay!) Since my radical paring down of challenges a while back, this is one of the two I continue to do. You likely know the drill, so let's proceed directly to the categories and my predictions therefore. Which I will (almost!) immediately start to ignore...

19th Century Classic

Sir Walter Scott/Count Robert of Paris

 -This was in the same slot last year and got pushed off. But this year for sure!

20th Century Classic

Willa Cather/A Lost Lady

 -Been on a bit of a Willa Cather binge lately. I'm going to try to read this one soon.

A Classic by a Woman Author

Virginia Woolf/The Waves

 -Another one from last year's list that fell away...

A Classic in Translation

Honoré Balzac/Cousin Bette

 -Another...uh, oh, am I sensing a pattern here?

Classic by a BIPOC author

James Baldwin/Notes of a Native Son

 -Whew! This time let's change things up.

Mystery/Crime/Detective Classic

 -So many choices here...Karen suggests Brothers Karamazov, which I've read, but could read again, or In Cold Blood, which I haven't ever read. But it's likelier to be Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, or Rex Stout. Or I could obsessively blog about Edwin Drood one more time!

A Classic Short Story Collection

Thomas Hardy/Wessex Tales

 -Ooh, a new category! Or is that 'a different kind of failure'? (T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, 'East Coker')

Pre-1800 Classic

 -Likely to be an ancient Greek play. Tom at Wuthering Expectations is hosting a readalong.

Nonfiction Classic

Edmund Wilson/The Shores of Light

 -A ringer: I just finished this on Monday. Now I need to write it up. But this is the reason I won't immediately start to ignore my plans.

Classic That's Been on your TBR List the Longest

Edmund Wilson/Axel's Castle

 -Ahem. Records from the ancient mists of time may be unreliable and in any case are incomplete. But I started this in my early 20s before realizing I just possibly oughtn't read a book about Proust, Joyce, and Stein, before I had read any of Stein, Joyce, or Proust...

Classic Set in a Place You'd Like to Visit

 -Hmm. Hav isn't old enough, nor is Orsinia. Maybe it will end up being some place a bit more reachable.

Wild Card

 -Well, you can't expect me to plan that in advance!

Which ones would you pick? 

Thanks to Karen for hosting this again!

Back To The Classics Challenge 2021 Signup

 Karen is once again hosting her Back To The Classics Challenge:

The complete description of her challenge is available here, but the important question is what are this year's categories and what books do I think I'll match up against them? Where possible I usually pick books from my main Classics Club list and I've done that again. I'm sure these will all get changed around again. But for now! Here's this years list of categories:

19th Century Classic

--Sir Walter Scott/Count Robert of Paris

I'm nearly out of 19th Century classics on my Classics Club list. Yikes!

20th Century Classic

--Samuel Butler/The Way of All Flesh

A Classic By A Woman Author

--Virginia Woolf/The Waves

A Classic in Translation

--Honoré de Balzac/Cousin Bette

A Classic by a Non-White Author

--James Baldwin/Go Tell It On The Mountain

A Classic by a New-to-you Author

--Henryk Sienkewicz/Quo Vadis

New-to-you Classic by a Favorite Author

--R. L. Stevenson/Black Arrow

A Classic About An Animal, or With An Animal In The Title

--Henry James/The Wings of The Dove

A Children's Classic

Not entirely sure here. The Wind In The Willows, The Once and Future King, or Howard Pyle's Men of Iron are possibilities, though they would all be rereads.

A Humorous Classic

How is it I have no funny books left on my Classics Club list!? I've left all the serious stuff to the end? Except for one...

A Travel or Adventure Classic

--R. L. Stevenson/Travels With A Donkey

A Classic Play

--George Bernard Shaw/Major Barbara

The one funny book left on my list. 

Which look good to you?

Thanks to Karen for hosting another year!