Reading-wise, I anticipate that this autumn is going to be very busy. I have books that I have to read for bookgroups, I'm beginning an online course on Shakespeare and one on Dante, and I have to try to focus to finish up my challenges. So with that in mind, here begins my list:
1. Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Mallory
For Jean's Read-Along coming up on October 1st at Howling Frog Books!
2. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
3. Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope
Both this book and #2 are for my Trollope project.
4. The Iliad by Homer
I just love this book. If I could, I'd read it once per year!
5. King Lear by William Shakespeare
I'm not sure the reading order of the plays, but in the course we'll be reading King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing.
6. The Essays of Michel Montaigne
Yikes! I'm behind on this one and need to use the fall to catch up!
7. The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself
After Montaigne's Essays, this is the next book for The Well-Educated Mind biographies project.
8. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
A children's book about Nathaniel Bowditch, a sailor and mathematician, who published The American Practical Navigator, a comprehensive reference book for seamen. I've read this book before and it's excellent!
9. L'Argent (Money) by Émile Zola
Ah yes, Zola again and it's the fourth in his Rougon-Marquart series (in Zola's recommended reading order). I needed a break after La Curée (The Kill), but I'm glad to be back reading the master again! Wonderfully developed characters and descriptions!
10. Perelandra & That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
For my C.S. Lewis Project. I've already read the first in the series, Out of the Silent Planet. This is a fantastic trilogy!
So there are my plans! I neglected to list The Inferno, which I'll be reading for the Dante course. I've read it before but I'm quite excited to read it again. I have a brooding premonition that the time I'll have to apply to these courses will mean that I won't be able to finish all these books by the end of the fall, but I'm not going to think about it and keep ploughing ahead. Wish me luck!
How many Zola's per year do you read? I am planning to begin the reading order next year - like January!
ReplyDeleteI've read about 4 novels this past year. Even though I absolutely LOVE his writing, I find that I can't always read them back-to-back. His portrayal of French bourgeois society is so bleak and their actions so base and often inhuman, that it can get depressing after awhile. Usually if I give myself a break, I'm glad to get back to reading him again.
DeleteGood luck with your start with Zola! He's definitely an author that I'm glad I discovered!
I felt the same way w/ Germinal. I needed a long break. However, then I started to crave another one just a few months ago.
DeleteI think you have the signs of a Zola-addiction! :-)
Deletethis is quite an ambitious plan!
ReplyDeleteMalory scares me. I may be pushing it to finish Montaigne but I'm only reading a list of recommended essays, not the complete essays (although I'd like to gradually read all of them). Otherwise, I'm not too worried. We'll see how it goes though!
DeleteKing Lear is awesome! It easily make my top 5 Shakespeare plays. The rest of your list looks like heavy reading, but that is to be expected from you hehe :)
ReplyDeleteOh, ha ha! ;-) Would you believe that I picked up The Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace the other day? I read about 30 pages and wasn't thrilled but that's hardly giving it a wisp of a chance. I don't think I can fit it in now, but perhaps later.
DeleteSo far King Lear is my favourite Shakespeare play followed by Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. Of the ones in the course, I haven't read Romeo and Juliet, Othello and The Winter's Tale. So three are familiar and three are new, a good balance!
I must get to Money as well! :)
ReplyDeleteHeartened to see you love The Iliad. I've read it once and it did not go well at all. I've got Troy to watch tonight, hoping maybe that will help.
(This is so weird, I've got deja vu - have I said all this to you before about buying Troy? Apologies if I have!)
LOL! No, you didn't tell me about Troy, so rest assured that you aren't losing your mind. :-) I hope it goes better for you this time. Also you could take a look at the Classics and the Western Canon group on Goodreads. They discussed The Iliad and there are such great insights to be gleaned from their discussion. I found it was better to read the poem slowly, not like how you would read a regular novel. Reading too quickly would make it too overwhelming and you don't want your head to explode. In any case, the best of luck to you!
DeleteI ADORE Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. I love the nerdiness of it all, and have adopted "Sail By Ash Breeze" as my personal motto. Also, Nat was one of my literary crushes when I was younger :-)
ReplyDeleteHave fun with Le Morte D'Arthur! I think the last couple chapters are my favorite. It definitely ends with a bang!
Okay, that's helpful to know that the last chapters in Le Morte are good ---- it will help me push on to the end of the book.
DeleteCarry On is one of my favourites ---- yet I have many favourites when it comes to children's books. :-)
I like your list - good luck with the reading and enjoy your courses. Also a reminder to me that it's over six months since I put Dr Thorne down half read and still haven't got back to it. I read Nana in 2010 and Germinal earlier this year and have also decided to now read the series from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to put Trollope on hold when I finish Dr. Thorne. While his writing is light and breezy, it's alot of one type of writing and I'm getting slightly tired of it. Framley Parsonage may be pushed back to winter!
DeleteGood luck with reading the Rougon-Marquart series, Cat! It's definitely worth the time investment!
I'm trying to awake from my 'vacation' mode and see this impressive and demanding list of books you have lined up. I feel I have so much to read but have taken a U-turn towards reading in French. My classic list is suffering terribly. I have just 2 more Zola books to read to compelete the R-M series and I cannot get myself motivated. I hope up better times....or as the French say: "les lendemains qui chantent!" Please send me some of you motivation!
ReplyDeleteI can understand not wanting to wake from vacation mode, and there is certainly nothing wrong with taking a little detour in your reading, especially if it's to practice another language. I'm having some difficulty getting motivated myself, but I hope reading some Shakespeare, will get me going again. And I'd really like to devote some time to poetry, but that goal will have to be put on hold right now.
DeleteI hope you find some new inspiration, Nancy! I'm looking forward to your posts again ---- I've missed them!
My first review on the blog. Finished a lovely French book and now I´m going to tackle a few classics. I appreciate your kind words...it is nice to be missed, sometimes!
DeleteI adored Carry On, Mr. Bowditch as a child! I haven't thought about that book in a long time. Im so happy to see Trollope on your list. I'll be starting Framley Parsonage soon.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch until I was an adult, so I missed that special childhood love of it.
DeleteI'm so happy that I finally have almost caught up to some of the other readers of this series. I've been happy to have a little break from it now and then, but I know I'll be sad when it's over. But then, we can look forward to The Palisers series, can't we? :-)