It’s been three years since I joined The Classics Club, and I’m on track for meeting my goal of reading 50 books in 5 years! Here are the twelve books I’ve read in the past year.
Ethan Frome
Lucky Jim
Three Men in a Boat
A Fugue in Time
Long Day’s Journey into Night; Ah, Wilderness!; A Moon for the Misbegotten
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Makioka Sisters
Diary of A Provincial Lady
Troy Chimneys
Scaramouche
My Cousin Rachel
Man’s Search for Meaning
It’s always hard to pick favorites, but I’d say Scaramouche was the most entertaining, My Cousin Rachel the most mesmerizing, Three Men in a Boat the funniest, Something Wicked This Way Comes the weirdest, Troy Chimneys the most enigmatic, Ethan Frome the most depressing, Long Day’s Journey into Night the saddest, The Makioka Sisters the best window into another culture, and Man’s Search for Meaning the most thought-provoking and inspirational. I was not so fond of Lucky Jim, A Fugue in Time, or Diary of A Provincial Lady, but I’m still glad to have read them.
What’s next? As I mentioned in my last review, I’ve added some categories to my list and given myself some more “breathing room.” Helen’s recent review of The Spire has gotten me interested in trying William Golding again; I have Excellent Women and The Return of the Native on my Mount TBR list, among others; and I’d really like to do some more rereads from school, such as Herland (also brought back to my mind recently by Brian).
What’s on your list? Anything on mine you think I should check out in the coming year?
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
I looked at your list and I think you should read One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes. I love that book and want everyone else to love it too. It is beautifully written and so evocative of a time and a place. I am still a bit sad that you didn’t enjoy The Diary of a Provincial Lady but we can’t all like the same books.
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One Fine Day is a book I might not have discovered without other bloggers — I’ve seen so many who, like you, loved it. So I’m really looking forward to that one. I felt like I should have enjoyed Lady more than I did, because normally I do like that kind of humor; maybe it was just not the right time.
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Great list. I like how you described your 3rd year reads.
From your list, Don Quixote, Robinson Crusoe, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and My Brilliant Career are books I have read and loved. But your plan looks great. (I have my eyes on Excellent Women as well).
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Great to know! Probably you were able to read Don Quixote and One Hundred Years of Solitude in Spanish, for which I am jealous…
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I did, Lory. 🙂
If you have the change, (and if you wish so), I’d pick Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote, and Gregory Rabassa’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (unless you already have other copies bought).
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-rabassa-death-20160614-snap-story.html
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I meant chance
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I have the Grossman trans. of DQ — won in a giveaway more than a year ago and now I really need to read it! I read an abridgement in high school. Thanks for the advice on 100 years, I always appreciate when someone can guide me to a good translation.
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Neat! (One has to be in the right mood for DQ, but it’s great to hear you have Grossman’s trans.)
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I just checked your review of My Cousin Rachel and it sounds fantastic. Deffo checking it out for my own classics challenge.
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Wonderful, I think you will enjoy it.
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Three Men in a Boat is a fun book. You are the second person that I hear say Ethan Frome is depressing.
I want to read Something Wicked… and I love The Makioka Sisters, such a wonderful book imo.
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Ethan Frome would be in the running for the most depressing book EVER. It’s a good thing it is actually a novella, because if it were longer most readers would probably not be able to bear it.
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Return of the Native is an enjoyable read
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I read it in high school and really want to give it another look! Another reason is I bought a Heritage Press edition with beautiful woodcuts and I want to enjoy it.
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Lory, I have the same Heritage Press edition. I do love those woodcuts. And Hardy is great.
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I love the artwork and would love to find more of these editions if they exist. I also have Jude the Obscure (one hardy I have not read yet.)
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I love you list of superlatives, what a great way to quickly summarize your reads!
I second the recommendation of One Fine Day. It is so short and yet so full of meaning at the same time.
Also, peeking at what you have left, I do have a real soft spot for Martin Chuzzlewit since that is the first Dickens title I read. But since he is one of your favorite authors too, I am pretty sure you will like it.
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I was reading my way through Dickens at one point and am not sure why I stopped, but I still have a few left. I put M.C. top on my list because of the satirical portrayal of America. I think that could be interesting right now.
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Re the satire of the U.S. in MC, yes, you will probably be able to see some aspects of American culture which haven’t changed much over the past 100+ years.
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Long Days Journey into Night …it was as you said sad but unforgettable!
Alcohol was his nemesis.
O’ Neill had been compelled to surrender to this addiction.
But it gave him the opportunity to write a scarifying portrait
of his dysfunctional Irish family life.
I loved the symbol of the ‘fog’ coming in along the Connecticut coast (I am a CT yankee!).
The fog was the drug induced haze his mother was drifting into. O’ Neill was quite a writer!
My classics? I’m reading 20 classics (post #20BooksOfSummer) that I DON’T want to read!
Now that is a challenge!
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I hope to see O’Neill in production some day – and I would also like to visit the house museum in Connecticut. I’m so glad I delved more into his works because of Reading New England.
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Yes, a production of O’ Neill’s play would be an experience. I have not seen LDJN but I did see Kevin Spacey in London in O’Neill’s The Ice Man Cometh. It was so intense….the actors were exhausted after the preformance…but so was I!
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I should sign up for the Classics Club! I have been reading and rereading classics this year and find it does help me cope with these difficult times. Great books, with psychological benefits.
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Haha, that’s a good description of the classics!
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Well done on some great progress and even better to hear you’ve been enjoying your reading so much. Looking at your list, I think you should read The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I read this wonderful novel for the club and loved it! 🙂
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I believe I added The Three Musketeers on you recommendation, and I do think it would be a fun one to start with!
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Good job with 12 classics in the past year. I would agree that Something Wicked is a weird book–glad I read it, but not planning a reread! Excellent Women is excellent–hope you enjoy it also. I’ve enjoyed rereading school curriculum books recently. A Separate Peace was as good as I remembered, and I ended up liking Silas Marner and Ethan Frome much more as an adult than I did as a teen. Of Mice and Men was not quite as powerful as I remember when I first encountered it, but still a good reread.
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I have read some Barbara Pym, but don’t remember what, so I’m not sure if I read Excellent Women. I am sure I would have hated Ethan Frome as a teen, and I definitely appreciated A Separate Peace much more as an adult! I have not reread Of Mice and Men, but I have quite a strong memory of it being one of the first “classics” that I fully enjoyed. It’s so interesting how our reading tastes change over time!
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This is such an impressive list of books. I want to read them all!
I think that weird is a good word for Something Wicked this way Comes. I had forgotten just how strange of a book it was.
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Definitely one of the weirdest books I have read!
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