I have 21 months left to finish my Classics Club list, with 22 books remaining. I'm not sure what happens if one fails to complete the list -- perhaps it involves being attacked by moody English teachers, I'm not sure. Anxious to avoid such a fate, I plan to make classics my priority this year, and have developed a tentative schedule for this year that will make 2020's classic requirements relatively light. Most of the sets (save January's) have a paired connection, like Rome, travel, and so on. If I actually get this done, I'll reward myself with a little bottle of scotch.
January:
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Moby-Dick, Herman Melville
February
The Aeneid, Virgil
The Conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar
March
The Moviegoer, Walker Percy
Love in the Ruins, Walker Percy
April
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1, Edward Gibbon
The Vicar of Wakefield, Oliver Goldsmith
May
Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain
The Swiss Family Robinson, Johann David Wyss
June
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
July
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
August
The Education of Henry Adams, Henry Adams
The Three Musketeers, Alexander Dumas
September
The Histories, Herodotus
October
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
November
War and Peace, Tolstoy
December
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoeyesky
This leaves The Federalist Papers as the odd man out for 2020. I wanted to make it the September read (September 17 is Constitution Day, a date presumably unremarked on by anyone other than con-law professors), but The Histories seems formidable. We'll see what happens!
Unsure who intimidates me more, Herodotus or "Publius." :) Either way, this is one exciting list! I'm also scheduled to re-read Moby-Dick this year (February-ish) with Cleo and a couple of other bloggers. It'll be fun to compare reactions.
ReplyDeleteI have a head start on Moby-Dick because of the Big Read (British celebs taking turns reading chapters of Moby-Dick aloud), so I'm hopeful about it. I'll look forward to your response, as well.
Deletegosh, Stephen, that seems extraordinarily ambitious... i'm convinced you're taking this very seriously... best of luck is all i can say and watch out for those rabid english teachers, hiding behind bushes, slavering at the mouth, clenching their fists around 12" steel rulers: i get the shivers just remembering them...
ReplyDeleteThere are some months I'm concerned about frankly, but it's doable!
DeleteI see I'm not the only one making a goal to plow through my TBR pile. I liked Ellison's Invisible Man, it's different. I'll be interested to read your review, which I believe should be in about a month, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteIt should be read and reviewed by February, yes. I'm not sure which will be first -- I'm currently halfway through two books at once, and once they're done I'll tackle on of the two classics for this month.
DeleteI'm presently approximately 4 books away from 'Invisible Man' and approximately 8 books away from 'Catch-22'. Always interested in comparing notes! I have several of the others you listed but no plans to read them just yet.
ReplyDeleteThis is an impressive list. Of the ones that I have read I think that Catch 22 was the most enjoyable. Your post is a reminder that I want to read The Federalist Papers myself this year.
ReplyDeleteBetter not tempt fate and miss your deadline :) Have fun reading these books.