One of my goals this year was to read more classics. I started out in January great, reading The Doctor’s Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Somewhere around Vanity Fair, the wind went out of my sails and I’ve been stranded in dead calm every since. Or, well, until this month, when I read The Secret Garden with Andi (not quite done yet, but I’m pretty sure I will finish it). Reading The Secret Garden made me remember my plans, so, in an effort to catch up and do this thing, I’m going to read nothing but classics (and probably The Stand. And maybe a couple other things if obligated…) in July. Since it IS July, I’m going to try to keep it fun as well.
As you know, I adore a list, so here is a list of the books I’ll be picking from read next month:
The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins
The Trail of the Serpent by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
O Pioneers by Willa Cather
The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Emma by Jane Austen
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
My Antonia by Willa Cather
I think that’s a good pile to pick from! What do you recommend I start with?
I've only read a few of those books. I would pick My Antonia to start with.
I read that one a loooong time ago, so I definitely plan to fit it in. I'm curious as to how it holds up. And I have it in audio too!
I’m a big lover of the classics. I’ve read several on your list and hope you enjoy them. The Secret Garden is one of my favorites. Good luck!
I finished The Secret Garden yesterday and I have a whole different appreciation of the book as an adult. Wow, I just loved it.
Emma is a gerat one and both Sherlock Holmes and The Jungle Book are fun!
I really want to fit in Emma. I've only read one Austen! P&P of course! I am so ashamed.
I looooove Sherlock Holmes! I have to fit in a few of the stories. And I've never read The Jungle Book. I'm curious to compare it to The Graveyard Book.
The only one I've read is My Antonia and I'm not racing to re-read it. Actually, I listened to it, and I think that was my first mistake. The narrator was boring!
Oh dear. I have the audio! *panics*
Hopefully I have a different reader????
Oooh! Anything by Cather. I loved O Pioneers! and My Antonia. Her writing feels "light" in comparison to many classics though there's still a lot going on. I consider her work comfort reading.
Maybe I'll jump into more classics in July, too. I've enjoyed The Secret Garden and should have more time to read it now that things are calming down on the homefront.
I forgot to add The Professor's Wife! I got that because of you YEARS ago. I'll read it if you read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn…..
Cather would be a quick and not that hard read. I have just finished Wharton's Age of Innocence which I also really enjoyed. I suppose it may depend on which reading mood you are in – would you like a quick fairly straighforward read? (Cather) Want something a little more meaty with more to think about (gender roles, etc.) (Wharton. Or Austen.)
Sherlock Holmes is good to pick up and put down, and Robinson Crusoe is much better that I thought it was going to be. (A bit long though.)
Whichever you choose, happy reading!
After all the Cather recommendations, I'm definitely going to get one in there. I have never been friends with Wharton and I'm hoping to change that. And yes, you're right. I am SUCH a moody reader, it's not even funny. It will definitely depend on that.