The Classics Club (!!!!!)

Ello. :)

The other day I was visiting fellow linkers from The Book Chewers. I stumbled across this tumblr, which then led me to The Classics Club. (horray for linking!!!!). And I have been super excited ever since.

The Classic's Club is a 'club created to inspire people to read and blog about classic books.' Basically, you create a list of 50+ classics, then commit to reading them by a certain due date (maximum five years in the future). You write a review for each book after you finish it, then all sorts of linking takes place. It's awesome because there is no set 'time'. You can join whenever you like! And, they're very good about what constitutes a 'classic'. It's pretty much open to interpretation, as long as it is at least 25 years old.

So, I've decided to join up! I was considering doing a re-visit to my For the Betterment of Her Mind list, anyway, so this is perfect (just cross your fingers this challenge works out better than that one...). I've decided on 57 titles, with my official end date being September 22, 2018 (so it's technically five years and one month. Shhh.....). That gives me a few weeks lee-way to catch up, if need be. I'll be 21 when this challenge ends....eep!

I plan on reading one book from the list every other book, and seeing that I included a couple of lit-class picks, it should be fairly doable. Easier reads will be for the busy-ness of the school year, and I'll focus on the harder reads during the summer. I should be completing roughly one a month, so 12 a year.

This list is in no particular order, but I'll try to let you guys know what I'm reading, so maybe we can chat about the books. :) If you're a blogger, I highly suggest looking into the club!! Check it out here.

Without further ado, here's the list!

A few of the books on my list. :)

Novels:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
2. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.
3. Northanger Abby by Jane Austen.
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen.
5. Lady Susan by Jane Austen (supposedly her first work, not published until after her death!).
6. Emma by Jane Austen.
7. Sanditon by Jane Austen (one of her unfinished works).
8. The Watsons by Jane Austen (another unfinished work).
9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (re-visit).
10. Agnes Gray by Anne Bronte.
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (re-read).
12. A Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.
13. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
14. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. (re-visit).
15. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (re-visit).
16. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brone.
17. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
18. The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzergald.
19. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (re-read).
20. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
21. The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
22. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy.
23. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. (re-read. I read the abridged when I was tiny, and was terrified. For some reason I want to be terrified again....)
24. Drakula by Bram Stoker.
25. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
27. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. (Mum read it, I watched it. About time I read it!).
28. 1984 by George Orwell.
29. Villette by Charlotte Bronte.
30. The Professor by Charlotte Bronte.
31. Shirley by Charlotte Bronte.
32. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.
33. Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott.
34. Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott.
35. Father Brown Stories by G.K. Chesterton.
35. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle.
36. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (re-read. Basically, I want to read all the way through my copy of this. Soooo.....)

• A Study in Scarlet.
• The Sign of the Four.
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
• The Return of Sherlock Homes.
• The Hound of the Baskervilles.
• The Valley of Fear.
• His Last Bow.
• The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.

37. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
38. Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
39. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.
40. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
41. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
42. The Ingenious  Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes (I totally blame this post).

Plays:

43. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde.
44. As You Like It by William Shakespeare.
45. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare.
46. All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare.

Poetry:

47. The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Caroll.
48. Poems by Curer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (Also known as Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte).

Collections:

49. Stories and Poems For Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages collected by Harold Bloom.
50. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhem Grimm.
51. The Complete Works of Hans Christian Anderson by Hans Christian Anderson.
52. The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
53. The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
54. The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
55. The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
56. The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
57. How Much Land Does A Man Need? And Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy.

So there we have it. 57 books, 4 re-reads, and 3 re-visits to books I've never finished. You probably noticed my affinity to Austen, Shakespeare, and the Bronte's, but I'll also be reading Fitzergald, Chesterton, and Hugo for the first time.

By the by, even if you don't participate in the challenge, you're not all out of luck! You can always check out The Classic's Club shelf on Goodreads, which features some of the most popular classics picked for the challenge. I also just made a 'For The Betterment of Her Mind' list on Goodreads, for the purpose of collecting books that make you think, in the spirit of Mr. Darcy. So stop on by and add your picks!

Thanks for reading, and wish me luck!!! :)