It’s the last weekday of 2016. I’m spending the day getting prepped for 2017 – reorganizing homeschool stuff, resetting our family budget, and much more entertaining, setting up my reading challenges for the year!
Below is my plan for the Back to the Classics Challenge, hosted by Books and Chocolate. In 2016 I completed 9 categories; this year I’m aiming for all 12. We don’t have anything major planned for the year so I should be able to do it… right? I created a simple checklist that I printed and punched for my day planner to track this challenge. If you would find that useful, it’s available on dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/etig93atotr1933/Back%20to%20the%20Classics%202017.docx?dl=0
In addition, I’m doing the Christian Reading Challenge hosted by Tim Challies. I like the idea of diversifying my reading in addition to reading classics. I’m aiming for somewhere between the Light and Avid plans. I don’t want to rush through books; I want to savor them and be changed by them. Completing wo books a week would definitely require rushing in my life.
Back to the Classics 2017 PLAN (Written in pencil. Blanks will be filled as others start linking up. I need ideas!)
1. A 19th Century Classic – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/book-review-the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/
2. A 20th Century Classic – Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston (1937) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/book-review-their-eyes-were-watching-god/
3. A classic by a woman author. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith (1943) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/book-review-a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn/
4. A classic in translation.
5. A classic published before 1800. Beowulf (Old English)
6. An romance classic. Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope (1865) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/book-review-miss-mackenzie/
7. A Gothic or horror classic. The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe (1794) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/02/26/book-review-the-mysteries-of-udolpho/
8. A classic with a number in the title. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (1859) Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Margaret Sidney (1881) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/book-review-five-little-peppers-and-how-they-grew/
9. A classic about an animal or which includes the name of an animal in the title.
10. A classic set in a place you’d like to visit. A Passage to India, Forster (1924)
11. An award-winning classic.
12. A Russian Classic. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866)
Gabi Sunshine 
I’m working on my reading plan for 2017 too and hope to post my choices soon. Like you, I have blanks for some of the categories and besides that I’m sure some of my choices will change.
Have you ever seen the translation of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, https://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-Verse-Translation-Seamus-Heaney/dp/0374111197/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483116168&sr=8-2&keywords=beowulf+seamus+heaney. Both of my girls read this version in high school and loved it. I am considering choosing this one for my pre-1800 choice. You are pretty brave (or more able to handle Old English than I am)!
Other than A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and A Tale of Two Cities I’ve not read your other choices.
I hope to read more than the Classics Challenge too. Hoping to include some biographies. I’ll have to check out the Christian Reading Challenge. Thanks for mentioning it!
I have read the Seamus Heaney version – we did it in high school. My copy had Old English on one side and modern translation on the other. I’m actually reading a translation by RK Gordon this time, I didn’t make that clear in my post. It’s just *from* Old English. Beowulf is the only book on my list I’ve read before… although I’ve read a lot in my life, little of it has been classics. Trying to change that bit by bit.
The Challies challenge is just a personal one, no prizes or link ups. Several blogs are doing it and my husband and I are doing it together.
I am here from Linda’s blog. Nice titles, I will be looking forward to your reviews too.
From your list, I read and LOVE A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Their Eyes… is a good title. Crime and Punishment is a good moral drama.
That Udolfo book sound intriguing.
Thank you Silvia! I started the year with Udolfo – I’m only about 30 pages in (and it’s got 672 pages total!). It’s very engaging if you can overlook the excessive use of commas. The intro suggests the commas are there due to original intention of being read aloud.