Photo from the State Library of Victoria Collections
The first year I started blogging, I joined all sorts of reading challenges. They were fun to make lists for and I read some great books due to joining those challenges. I haven’t done much of that since my first year, but I’ve had my eye on The Classics Club challenge for several months now. Basically, to join the Classics Club collection of bloggers, you set the goal of reading 50+ classics over five years. (For more information on this, see: http://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/how-to-join/). I like the long-term nature of the challenge and I also greatly enjoy reading classics.
In my own mind, I began this challenge in September when I read King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard. So September 2017 is my goal date in which to complete the challenge.
And now to my favorite part, the list! I’ve included a little more than 50 books on this initial list, and may add or subtract along the way. One thing I tried to make sure and do is include some nonfiction classics, especially travel writing classics. Also, I incorporated the remaining unread books on my 19 Books Older than Myself challenge that I created for myself in 2010.
Here goes, by order of title (underlined titles means it has been read):
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner [1930]
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis [1955] (mini-review)
Bab: A Sub-Deb by Mary Roberts Rinehart [1916] [review]
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery [1926]
Brazilian Adventure by Peter Fleming [1933] [review]
Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann [1901]
Dispatches by Michael Herr [1977]
Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope [1858] (review)
Dubliners by James Joyce [1914]
East of Eden by John Steinbeck [1952] [review]
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym [1952]
Faces in the Water by Janet Frame [1961]
Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway [1929]
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman [1974] [review]
Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope [1861]
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck [1931]
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens [1860]
The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux [1975]
High Rising by Angela Thirkell [1933]
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding [1749]
A House is Not a Home by Polly Adler [1953]
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison [1952]
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott [1819]
Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau [1964]
King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard [1885] (review)
I Am A Cat by Netsume Soseki [1905]
The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope [1867]
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo [1862]
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry [1985] (review)
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson [1941/1945]
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis [1920]
Mariana by Monica Dickens [1940]
Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman [1947]
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott [1869]
The Oresteia by Aeschylus [458 B.C.]
Original Letters from India by Eliza Fay [1925]
Penny Plain by Anna Buchan [1920]
The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon [11th century] (review)
The Priory by Dorothy Whipple [1939]
Saplings by Noel Streatfeild [1945] (review)
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby [1958]
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion [1968]
The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope [1864]
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen [1978]
So Big by Edna Ferber [1924] (review)
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury [1962]
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers [1930]
Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi [1958]
This House of Brede by Rumer Godden [1969]
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome [1889]
A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor [1977]
To the North by Elizabeth Bowen [1932] [review]
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck [1962]
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith [1943] [mini-review]
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson [1962] (mini-review)
Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell [1934]
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell [1865] [mini-review]
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard [1922]
A Good Stopping Point 
Wonderful choices! Les Miserables is intense and Main Street is on my list too! – Melissa
A great list. You have reminded me I need to put the Snow Leopard on my list. I have been meaning to read it for ages. Loved Travels W Charley. You’ll have fun with this list. Pam
What a great challenge. I love the fact that it stretches over such a period of time. That really appeals to me, the sense of a sprawling reading project. And I like your selection: I think I could quite happily adopt your list!
Pingback: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry | A Good Stopping Point
We have a number of similar books and authors. I was interested to see the Blue Castle. I had never heard of it until 2 weeks ago, when I was researching a post for my blog about one of favourite comfort reads…turns out there have been plagiarism allegations against it as it is so like the Blue Castle.
PS LOVE< LOVE< LOVE Patrick leigh Fermor
What was the comfort read you were researching?
Pingback: Library Book Sale finds, TBR Triple Dog Dare, Long-Awaited Reads Month | A Good Stopping Point
Pingback: Classics Club: Spin #11 | A Good Stopping Point
Pingback: A Trio of Classic Reads: Mini-reviews | A Good Stopping Point
Pingback: Library Loot: when the holds come in! | A Good Stopping Point