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As we do every year, the classics challenge is back. If you're interested in reading classics, talking about classics and finding new literary treasures, take a peek below:

Many have asked about what a "classic" is and what is classified as a classic or not: a Classic novel is one in which that is note-worthy, well-known and exemplary. There are many ways to classify one, one by the book, one by the author... it just depends on what you are looking at. They are widely recognized as a classic as they are timeless, taught through the years and are essentials in that median.

Here are a few lists in which you can scroll through and see if you can pull a few books from!

Required Reading for High School
- I know it is for high schoolers, but most and a lot of these books are the top classified classic novels.

Popular Classics
- More of a wider genre of classics

Please pick from a stage, you can edit as you read more:

Stage One
Read 1-5 classic books

Stage Two
Read 6-10 classic books

Stage Three
Read 11-15 classic books

Stage Four
Read 16- 20 classic books

Stage Five
Read 21-25 classic books

Stage Six
Read 26-30 classic books

Stage Seven
Read 30 books and more.

Rules
If you are/were within 50 pages of completion on January 1st, 2015, the books is all game!

These books can come from other challenges as well, so don't forget that books you read here and in other groups can magically pop up on one, two, three, or all the challenges *unless otherwise stated*

Stage one.

Joining!

Ill try for stage one :)


1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Me! Stage two :)

1. Lord of the Flies 2/3

Im in :)
I think I am done with this :(

Stage Two
Progress: 7/10
1.The Scarlet Letter 3/1 ***
2.Animal Farm 26/02 ***
3.Love in the Time of Cholera 2/03 ***
4.The Picture of Dorian Gray 26/03 ***
5.Les Miserables (currently reading)
6.Anna Karenina (currently reading)
7.Far from the Madding Crowd
8.Persuasion 4/08 ****
9.Things Fall Apart 8/11 ***
10.Great Expectations 07/09 ***

I successfuly did Stage 3 last year- woohoo- so I'll aim for Stage 4 this year!

January 1, 2015- January 1, 2016

Stage Four
Read 16- 20 classic books

12/20 Completed

1.)Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Completed 1/6/15
2.)A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Completed 1/27/15
3.)The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Completed 2/5/15
4.)Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Completed 2/24/15
5.)Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Completed 2/25/15
6.)Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Completed 3/3/15
7.)Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, Completed 3/20/15
8.)The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Completed 6/23/15
9.) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, Completed 7/7/15
10.)Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Completed 7/21/15
11.)Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, Completed 7/23/15
12.)The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, Completed 8/12/15

I'll begin with Stage One :)

1/5
Stage One
Read 1-5 classic books
1. To Kill a Mockingbird Completed 2/9
2. The Great Gatsby
3. Anna Karenina
4. Hamlet
5. Frankenstein

Starting with stage one!

I made a resolution to read more classic literature this year, so this challenge is perfect.

Stage One
1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
3.
4.
5.

I didn't manage to complete this challenge last year so giving it another go - but starting with stage 1 this time :)

Count me in for Stage 3- I'll try to read a classic every month.

I'm keeping track of my progress on the thread Bookworm's 2015 challenges

Completed So Far:
Night
White Fang
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Diary of a Young Girl
Ethan Frome
The Awakening
The Color Purple
Murder on the Orient Express
Housekeeping

I read The Awakening over June/July, so I'm one behind for my "one a month" goal, but still on track for Stage 3!

(updated through 4 October)

So fun! I'm going to try for Stage 2.

1. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
2. Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie
3. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
4. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
5. Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories
6.

I'm going for Stage 3!

1. A Study in Scarlet
2. Ozma of Oz

Last year I read "Starting From Scratch" by Rita Mae Brown. At the end she had a list of books she thought every writer should read. Most of them are classics.
This year I plan to read some of them. The plan is to read one a month. The reality is?
So I will start on Stage 1 with Beowulf.

I'll start with stage one.

2/5

1. Jane Eyre
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3. Night
4. 19842/5
5. Rebecca 3/11

I didn't manage to complete this one last year :( I'll give it another go



1. Revolutionary Road..Richard Yeats(23 Jan)

I've been tiptoeing around this thread for a while, now I'm giving in and go for stage 3 (11-15 books)!

1. Sämtliche Bildergeschichten
2. The Remains of the Day
3. Gulliver's Travels
4. A Tale of Two Cities
5. Fahrenheit 451
6. Rebecca
7. Billy Budd, Sailor
8. Ghosts
9. Jules und Jim
10. Der Untertan
11. For Whom the Bell Tolls
12. Klingsors letzter Sommer by Hermann Hesse
13. Das Leichenbegängnis der großen Mama by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
14. Die Klavierspielerin
15. Der Zauberberg
16. Die Straße der Ölsardinen
17. Marta Oulie: A Novel of Betrayal
18. The Catcher in the Rye
19. Ein Tag im Leben des Iwan Denissowitsch
20. Der Spieler

Trying this year again. I'm a native German speaker, so I have German classics in it as well, hope that's okay.

Stage 1 (1-5 classic books)

1/4

�� Der zerbrochne Krug: Ein Lustspiel by Heinrich von Kleist [January 17th]
�� The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
�� To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
�� Der Proceß by Franz Kafka

Stage Three

1/12

The Wizard of Oz 2/7
Matilda 8/3
1984 8/16

Stage 3
1/15

1. Of Mice and Men 09Feb

Just starting "Pride and Prejudice" and noticing something. The book is well written. The social set up of the time is so alien.
I've noticed some other lists for the year and think some of you will find the same thing. Twain, Alcott, even Harper Lee write of times not familiar with most people now. If the reader doesn't know something about when the book was written, I think the book suffers, not because the book is not well done but because the reader doesn't really understand what is going on.
Has anyone else run into this?

Just finished "Pride and Prejudice." Maybe I'll try "Canterbury Tales" next.

Karen wrote: "Just finished "Pride and Prejudice." Maybe I'll try "Canterbury Tales" next."

Canterbury Tales is a fun read! It can be challenging because there are so many ways to read the characters stories!

Enjoy!

Mike wrote: "I'm off to a slow start this year, but I'll give this a shot and shoot for stage 3 since I have a stack of classics right in front of me to get going on! (:"

Yay! Awesome. :)

Count me in, please :O)
I'll start with Stage Two (6-10 books)

Read: 10/10

01. The Merchant of Venice
02. The Stepford Wives
03. The Enchanted April
04.An Inspector Calls: The Graphic Novel
05. A Month In The Country
06. The Left Hand of Darkness
07. Herland
08. The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance
09. Dubliners
10. Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm

Somehow not the ones I was expecting. Next year I guess :0)

Veronique wrote: "Count me in, please :O)
I'll start with Stage Two (6-10 books)

Read: 0/10

01. The Great Gatsby
02. Of Mice and Men
03. Emma
04. [book:Slaughterhouse-Five|..."

Slaughterhouse-Five is an AMAZING book- enjoy!

Slaughterhouse-Five is an AMAZING book- enjoy!

I hope so :0)
Been wanting to read this book for a long time.

I'll try for stage 6 at the moment, classics I've read so far 2015

27/30

1. The Snow Queen 2/1/15
2. Lord of the Flies 5/2/15
3. Rabbit, Run 16/2/15
4. Emma 27/2/15
5. Lady Windermere's Fan 2/3/15
6. The Metamorphosis 13/3/15
7. A Woman of No Importance 21/3/15
8. The Merchant of Venice 28/3/15
9. The Age of Innocence 29/3/15
10.Salome 29/3/15
11.An Ideal Husband 6/4/15
12.A Midsummer Night's Dream 6/4/15
13.Anne of Green Gables 11/4/15
14.Island of the Blue Dolphins 19/4/15
15.A Study in Scarlet 15/5/15
16.The Scarlet Letter 29/5/15
17.If I Were a Man 8/6/15
18.Treasure Island 11/6/15
19.Animal Farm 12/6/15
20.The Great Gatsby 14/6/15
21.Jane Eyre 18/6/15
22.Night 18/6/15
23.1984 25/6/15
24.Fahrenheit 451 30/6/15
25.Julius Caesar 3/7/15
26.The Sword in the Stone 13/7/15
27.The Three Musketeers 17/7/15

Joy wrote: "I'll try for stage 2 at the moment, classics I've read so far 2015

5/10

1. The Snow Queen 2/1/15
2. Lord of the Flies 5/2/15
3. Rabbit, Run 16/2/15
4. [book..."

The Age of Innocence is on my list. Are you liking it?

I've only just started it but have heard great things about it. I'm swamped with college work so haven't been able to really get into reading it, but I have my midterm next week so it'll be something to look forward to. :)

I ended up with two versions of Canterbury Tales. The one I've finished was a prose version for children. You are right, Rachael, the tales are fun.
The second version is a more scholarly version. The Introduction was invaluable as it laid the groundwork about the characters and times so the tales were so much more enjoyable. I do plan to read the rest of this version as it leaves the Tales in verse form as they were originally written.
For now I'm working on T.S. Eliot. I've read his Poems as a Young Man and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The first was OK. The second was interesting and rather fun. I'm now working on his Collected Poems and not enjoying it. His most famous one, Wasteland, is next in the collection.
I guess I'm moving up a stage or two. My list is now: Beowulf, Pride and Prejudice, Canterbury Tales, and two T.S. Eliot. Does page count matter? Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats was a chapbook.
I see Veronica plans to read "The Secret Garden," one of my all time favorite books. I hope you enjoy it too.

Celebration time! I just finished "O! Pioneers" by Willa Cather. That makes five. I'm ready to move into Step 2.
I've started with "Count of Monte Cristo." It wasn't what I expected but I enjoyed it.

I want to join in here. I will go with Stage 7 (30+)

�� A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul 1/3/15
�� The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss 3/16/15
�� How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss 3/17/15
�� Five Children and It by E. Nesbit 3/18/15
�� Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss 3/20/15
�� Ulysses by James Joyce 5/30/15
�� Heaven to Betsy by Maud Hart Lovelace 6/14/15
�� Betsy in Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace 6/21/15
�� Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey 6/25/15
�� Black Beauty by Anna Sewell 6/29/15
�� Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 7/19/155
�� Macbeth by William Shakespeare 7/24/15
�� Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune 8/20/15
�� I, Robot by Isaac Asimov 8/21/15
�� Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 8/24/15
�� Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman 8/29/15
�� Corduroy by Don Freeman 8/29/15
�� Little Toot by Hardie Gramatky 9/7/15
�� Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren 9/12/15
�� Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel 9/19/15
�� Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban 9/19/15
�� The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle 9/19/15
�� The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams 9/26/15
�� Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel 9/26/15
�� The Big Honey Hunt by Stan Berenstain 9/26/15
�� Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 9/27/15
�� The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner 10/1/15
�� The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum 10/29/15
�� The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 11/9/15
��

I just updated Message #12!

I'll join!

2015 Classics Challenge
Stage one: Read 1-5 Classics in the year of 2015

1.) Ariel 10/08/15
2.)
3.)
4.)
5.)

This Challenge is now CLOSED. Thank you all in participating in the classics challenge! We will have more classics along the way!