Back to the Classics Challenge 2015

For the second year in a row, Karen from Books and Chocolate is hosting the Back to the Classics Challenge.  This is probably my easiest challenge; as I read so many classics, my categories fill up quickly.

Here are the categories and rules:

1.  A 19th Century Classic -- any book published between 1800 and 1899.

2.  A 20th Century Classic -- any book published between 1900 and 1965.  Just like last year, all books must have been published at least 50 years ago to qualify as a classic.  The only exception is books that were published posthumously but written at least 50 years ago.)

3.  A Classic by a Woman Author.

4.  A Classic in Translation. As in last year's category, this can be any classic book originally written or a published in a language that is not your first language.  Feel free to read it in its original form if you are comfortable reading in another language.  

5.  A Very Long Classic Novel -- a single work of 500 pages or longer.  This does not include omnibus editions combined into one book, or short story collections.  

6.  A Classic Novella -- any work shorter than 250 pages.  For a list of suggestions, check out this list of World's Greatest Novellas from Goodreads.

7.  A Classic with a Person's Name in the Title.  First name, last name, or both, it doesn't matter, but it must have the name of a character.  David Copperfield, The Brothers Karamazov, Don Quixote -- something like that. It's amazing how many books are named after people!

8.  A Humorous or Satirical Classic.  Humor is very subjective, so this one is open to interpretation.  Just tell us in the review why you think it's funny or satirical.   For example, if you think that Crime and Punishment and funny, go ahead and use it, but please justify your choice in your post. 

9.  A Forgotten Classic.  This could be a lesser-known work by a famous author, or a classic that nobody reads any more.  If you look on Goodreads, this book will most likely have less than 1000 reviews.  This is your chance to read one of those obscure books from the Modern Library 100 Best Novels or 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.  Books published by Virago Modern Classics, Persephone, and NYRB Classics often fall into this category.  

10.  A Nonfiction Classic.  A memoir, biography, essays, travel, this can be any nonfiction work that's considered a classic, or a nonfiction work by a classic author.  You'd be surprised how many classic authors dabbled in nonfiction writing -- I have nonfiction books by Dickens, Trollope, Twain, and Steinbeck on my shelves. 

11.  A Classic Children's Book.  A book for your inner child!  Pick a children's classic that you never got around to reading.  

12.  A Classic Play.  Your choice, any classic play, as long as it was published or performed before 1965.

And now for the rest of the rules:  

• All books must be read in 2015.  Books started prior to January 1, 2015, are not eligible.  Reviews must be linked by December 31, 2015. 
• All books must have been published at least 50 years ago; therefore, 1965 is the cutoff date.  The only exception is books published posthumously, but written before 1965. 
• E-books and audiobooks are eligible!  Books may also count for other challenges you may be working on.  
• Books may NOT cross over categories within this challenge.  You may NOT count the same book twice for different categories in this challenge.  One book per category -- otherwise, they won't count.  
• If you do not have a blog, you may link your review from Goodreads or other publicy accessible online format.  
• Please sign up for the challenge using the linky below BEFORE MARCH 31, 2015.  If possible, please link to your sign-up announcement post, if possible or applicable.
• You do NOT have to list your books prior to starting the challenge, but it's more fun if you do!  You can always change your list at any time.  Books may be read in any order.
• Please identify the categories you've read in your wrap-up post so that I can easily add up your entries for the prize drawing!  Adding links within the post would be greatly appreciated.
•  The prize will be awarded the first week of January, 2016.  All qualifying participants will receive one or more entries, based on the categories completed, and will receive a $30 (US) gift card from Amazon.com or The Book Depository, as long as they live in a country that can receive shipment.  See here for list of countries.  

As usual, I don't have particular books planned for each category but I have a few in mind:

1. The Plague - Albert Camus
2. Orlando - Virginia Woolf
3. one of Jane Austen's works
4. Ulysses - James Joyce (we'll see --- it makes me quake ....)
5. Notes from the Underground - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
6. Framley Parsonage - Anthony Trollope
7. Confessions - Jean Jacques Rousseau
8. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

It's entirely possible that my list will be completely different at the end of the year, but it will be fun to compare!


List COMPLETED!!!:

  1.  Persuasion - Jane Austen
  2.  East of Eden - John Steinbeck
  3.  Orlando: A Biography - Virginia Woolf
  4.  The Plague - Albert Camus 
  5.  Confessions - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  6.  Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
  7.  The Narrative of the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
  8.  Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
  9.  The Club of Queer Trades - G.K. Chesterton
10.  Meditations - René Descartes
11.  The Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi
12.  Hamlet - William Shakespeare

Persuasion Read-Along

Beginning January 5, 2015, a read-along of Jane Austen's Persuasion begins and, in keeping with my Austen Project for 2015, I'm one of the participants! Hosted by Heidi at Literary Adventures Along the Brandywine, this will be one of two read-alongs that I'll be doing for the month of January.

Persuasion is the only Austen work that I've never read and I hear that I'm in for a treat.  I'd watched the movie years ago and wasn't particularly fond of it and therefore had avoided the book.  It just shows that you can't judge a book by its movie!

If you're interested in joining us, please pop over to Heidi's blog and sign up!

The Pre-Printing Press Challenge 2015

For the second year in a row, I'm going to participate in The Pre-Printing Press Challenge hosted by Elena at All Booked Up.  I believe books written before 1440 are largely under-read, so anything I can do to support these works, I will.

Last year I planned to read 4-6 books and I've made it to 12.  My success makes me want to branch out but, knowing that I have challenges that will keep me reading newer books ---- Reading England Challenge, Jane Austen Project, etc. ------, I'll reign myself in and aim for the trusty 4-6 books, hoping to read more.  What do I have in mind?  Well, from my Classics Club list, I hope to get to Herodotus' Histories, The Republic by Plato and The Cantebury Tales.  Otherwise, I'd like to read Ovid's Metamorphoses and Plutarch's Lives, but these are two chunksters that I don't see myself being able to fit in this coming year.  However, one never knows .........

The rules of the Pre-Printing Press Challenge:

1. All books must have come out before 1440, when the printing press was first invented.
2. Books chosen for this challenge can overlap with other challenges.
3. Books can be translated into the language of your choice.
4. All the books you've chosen must be read by December 31, 2015.
5. You can read 1-3 books, 4-6 books, 7-9 books or 10 or more books if you're feeling particularly ambitious.
6. The choice of books is up to you. There are no set reading lists, and you don't have to set one when you join.
7. Post your blog address where you'll be posting your comments on your choice of books in the comments of this post when you join, and tell me how many books you've chosen. I'll set up a link to participating blogs from here.
8. Above all, Have fun.

The challenge starts January 1st.

Are there any other ancient and early medieval literature enthusiasts out there who are planning to join this challenge?

Othello by William Shakespeare

"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on."

Othello the Moor is lauded over Venice for his help in attempts to rid them of the pesky Turks in their battle over Cyprus.  Yet when Othello weds the beautiful Venetian Desdemona in secret, some opinions of his prowess change, notably those of Desdemona's father.  And unbeknownst to Othello, Iago, his third-in-command, is plotting a dastardly revenge for being passed over for promotion, the position being given to Othello's loyal lieutenant, Cassio.  Hence proceeds perhaps the most shocking example of manipulation in literature, as Iago takes possession of Othello's mind and emotions, like a beast taking possession of its prey, transforming our noble Moor from a honest, straightforward, respected man into an enraged, vengeful monster who believes every evil of his innocent wife, including her unfaithfulness with his second-in-command, Cassio.  Othello's jealousy manages to eclipse anything within our understanding.

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud
ben Mohammed Anoun,
Moorish ambassador to Elizabeth I
suggest inspiration for Othello
source Wikipedia

Iago reveals that, as well as the injury of being passed over for promotion, he also harbours a suspicion that Othello has been sleeping with his wife, Emilia, who is Desdemona's lady-in-waiting.  There is no proof of this accusation in the play, and it is likely that Iago is expecting people to act with the same lack of integrity and base bestial urges, that he himself would, in the same circumstances.

How does a gentle and admired military leader allow himself to be reduced to a maddened beast, his fury leading him to commit the worst atrocity against a perfectly innocent human being, and one who has loved and supported him through their short marriage?  What hidden button inside Othello's psyche has Iago discovered and pushed, knowing that it will make him snap?

Maria Malibran as Rossini's
Desdemona
Françoise Bouchot
source Wikipedia

Certainly there are various issues that come into play and work against Othello.  He is used to being a commander, yet is unused to being a husband and obviously, when in love, is out of his depth.  Perhaps he sees Desdemona as a possession that he has conquered and, instead of being able to relax in his marriage, he, like a military leader, feels that he must wage battle to keep her.  And when difficulties do arise, instead of trying to search out the truth, he acts like a military leader and attempts to "conquer the enemy".  He has insecurities that lead to him being a willing pawn of Iago's machinations. The jealousy that Iago is able to set aflame within him, corrupts his normal good sense and his actions become intemperate.  I certainly have compassion for his state, as I believe these aspects have severely affected his decison-making and emotional state, but, that said, he is still human and he still has the option of choice.  He knows right from wrong, yet he decides to allow his emotions to rule and himself to be led down the tragic path of mindless jealousy.  In reality, he allows himself to turn into a beast.

Othello & Desdemona
Antonio Muñoz Degrain
source Wikipedia

Shakespeare's exhibits an uncanny ability to weave endless possibilities into a Gordian knot of drama and draw the reader into his poetic spell.  Will we ever know exactly what motivated Othello and his spiral from an honourable man to a madly jealous murderer.  Will we ever understand why he believed Iago without any "ocular proof"?  What happened to the military commander that must have been used to exhibiting self-control?  Do intense emotions subvert our ability to act as a human beings?  There are so many avenues to explore and no obvious or set answers.

Of all the characters in the play, my favourite character was Emilia.  While she remains surprisingly unaware of the plotting and intrigues of her husband, upon realizing the truth, she becomes the voice of the audience, who has until this point been mute in horror, and satisfyingly spews vile recriminations on the head of Othello.

T.S. Eliot had a different view of the last actions of Othello than many older critics:

"I have always felt that I have never read a more terrible exposure of human weakness -- of universal human weakness -- than the last great speech of Othello.  I am ignorant whether any one else has ever adopted this view, and it may appear subjective and fantastic in the extreme.  It is usually taken on its face value, as expressing the greatness in defeat of a noble but erring nature. What Othello seems to me to be doing in making this speech is cheering himself up. He is endeavouring to escape reality, he has ceased to think about Desdemona, and is thinking about himself. Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of oneself. Othello succeeds in turning himself into a pathetic figure, by adopting an aesthetic rather than a moral attitude, dramatising himself against his environment. He takes in the spectator, but the human motive is primarily to take in himself. I do not believe that any writer has ever exposed this bovarysme, the human will to see things as they are not, more clearly than Shakespeare."

I read this play as part of a Shakespeare: From the Page to the Stage course that I'm taking online, and it's definitely moved in among my favourites!

Laurence Fishburne & Kenneth Branaugh
Othello 1995
source Wikipedia

2015 TBR Pile Challenge

It is once again time for the TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader and once again, I'll be a participant!

This is by far my hardest challenge for the simple reason that I have such a difficult, insurmountable, arduous, overwhelming problem with following lists. When it comes to reading, I'm more of a free spirit who would like to flit here and there as the mood or read-along takes me.  Being trapped in a schedule is not my thing.  HOWEVER, I do realize that it's beneficial to work on the areas that are challenging for me, so this challenge reflects my effort at balance.

I still have a couple of books to finish for last year's challenge.  If I can get to them, I'll be more than a little pleased!

Here are Adam's rules:

The Goal: To finally read 12 books from your “to be read” pile (within 12 months).

Specifics:

1. Each of these 12 books must have been on your bookshelf or “To Be Read” list for AT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2014 or later (any book published in the year 2013 or earlier qualifies, as long as it has been on your TBR pile – I WILL be checking publication dates). Caveat: Two (2) alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the “can’t get through” pile.

2. To be eligible, you must sign-up with Mr. Linky below – link to your list (so create it ahead of time!) and add updated links to each book’s review. Books must be read and must be reviewed (doesn’t have to be too fancy) in order to count as completed.

3. The link you post in the Mr. Linky below must be to your “master list” (see mine below). This is where you will keep track of your books completed, crossing them out and/or dating them as you go along, and updating the list with the links to each review (so there’s one easy, convenient way to find your list and all your reviews for the challenge). See THIS LINK for an idea of what I mean. Your complete and final list must be posted by January 15th, 2015.

4. Leave comments on this post as you go along, to update us on your status. Come back here if/when you complete this challenge and leave a comment indicating that you CONQUERED YOUR 2015 TBR LIST! Every person who successfully reads his/her 12 books and/or alternates (and who provides a working link to their list, which has links to the review locations) will be entered to win a $50 gift card from Amazon.com or The Book Depository!

5. Crossovers from other challenges are totally acceptable, as long as you have never read the book before and it was published before 2014!

And so, of course, now I have to come up with a list.  Since I'm being even more unfettered with my planning this year, a list is certainly going to be a challenge.  Let's see what I can come up with:

1. Meditations -  René Descartes
2. Orlando -  Virginia Woolf
3. The Plague - Albert Camus
4. Confessions  -  Jean-Jacques Rousseau
5. Hamlet  -  William Shakespeare
6. Ivanhoe  -  Sir Walter Scott
7. Walden  -  Henry David Thoreau
8. Framley Parsonage  -  Anthony Trollope
9. If On A Winter's Night A Traveler  -  Italo Calvino
10. Persuasion  -  Jane Austen
11. Notes from the Underground - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
12. The World's Last Night and Other Essays - C.S. Lewis

Alternates:

1. The Cantebury Tales  -  Geoffrey Chaucer
2. Ulysses  -  James Joyce

Whew!  I think I have a list I can stick to.  Ivanhoe and Ulysses are monster reads but I should be able to accomplish at least one.  I hope!

Best of luck to everyone on their TBR Pile Challenge!

Jane Austen Project 2015

Plethora @ Plethora of Books is doing her own Jane Austen Project for 2015 and I've decided to join her.

Isn't the button lovely?  In any case, I've read most of Austen's works, only having the last half of Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion left to read. Plethora's described her challenge as this:

February: Sense andSensibility [1811] (409 pg.)


My addition: Pride and Prejudice [1813] (254 pg.)

July: Mansfield Park [1814] (507 pg.)


August: Emma [1815] (474 p.)


October: Northanger Abbey [1818] (254 pg.)


December: Persuasion [1818] (254 pg.)

I'll probably switch up the months a little.  I've heard rumour of a Persuasion read-along in January that I'd like to join and, while she hasn't included Pride and Prejudice in her challenge, I'm going to slot it in.  This should be my fifth time reading it.

So if we have any more "joiners", please go to Plethora's blog, grab the button and sign up!

Back to the Classics Challenge Wrap-Up

I can't believe that it's already time to wrap-up for the year.  This challenge was probably my easiest by far and I actually finished it on August 25th.  Oh, if they all were so easy!

1.  20th Century Classic   The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
2.  19th Century Classic   David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
3.  A Classic By A Woman Writer  Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
4.  A Classic In Translation   Son Excellence, Eugène Rougon by Émile
                                                  Zola
5.  A Wartime Classic  War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
6.  A Classic by an Author Who is New to You  The Warden by Anthony 
                                                                                 Trollope

Optional:

1.  An American Classic   The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
2.  A Classic Mystery/Suspense Thriller  The Big Sleep by Raymond 
                                                                        Chandler
3.  A Classic Historical Fiction Book  The Once And Future King by E.B. 
                                                                       White
4.  A Classic That Has Been Adapted into a T.V. or Movie Series  Othello
5.  Extra Fun Category - Write a Review of #4   Othello Movie Reviews 

This challenge was hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate (what a great blog name, huh?) and she did a wonderful job!  I hope the challenge continues in 2015!