I did it! I actually managed to complete all twelve categories in Karen's Back to the Classics 2021 Reading Challenge. That's a first for me. I've come close two other times, but I always fell short at the end. Not this year! Here are the twelve categories for this year's challenge, and the twelve books I read to fill them:
1. A 19th Century Classic: Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
2. A 20th Century Classic: A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse
3. Classic by a Woman Author: The Young Clementina by D.E. Stevenson
4. A Classic in Translation: Au Bonheur des Dames by Emile Zola
5. A Classic by a BIPOC Author: The Housing Lark by Sam Selvon
6. Classic by a New-to-you Author: Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
7. New-to-you Classic by a Favorite Author: Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
8. Classic about an Animal, or with an Animal in the Title: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
9. A Children's Classic: Queen Zixi of Ix by L. Frank Baum
10. A Humorous classic: Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
11. A Travel or Adventure Classic: In Morocco by Edith Wharton
12. A Classic Play: Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
So there you have it. Twelve classics I doubt I would have read this year if not for this challenge. Thank you, Karen, for hosting it again! I read some very interesting books. I think my three favorite were The Housing Lark, A Damsel in Distress and Tarzan, although they were all pretty good. And I'm glad I read them.
Happy Reading!
Really well done, Lark! That's amazing. I'd like to try this one next year, just waiting for the sign-up post to appear. Will you do it again?
ReplyDeleteI'm seriously thinking about doing it again next year, although I'd probably only try for 6-9 categories, and not all 12. Doing all 12 categories this year was kind of hard.
DeleteCongratulations! That looks like a good variety of books.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Helen! I tried to have fun with it this year.
Deletewow! congratulations! i'm way too disorganized to accomplish something like that: a victim to my whims i am, yesss....
ReplyDeleteWhims are good when it comes to reading. I almost didn't finish this challenge this year because of my own changing bookish mood, but somehow I managed to stick it out.
DeleteCongratulations. That is quite an accomplishment. It's not something that I would ever do but I admire the stick-to-itiveness it took to do it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've managed to finish all 12 categories in this challenge; I usually run out of oomph on these kinds of challenges about halfway through the year. :)
DeleteCongratulations! It was fun reading about them as you went along.
ReplyDeleteThanks! They weren't all the books I meant to read at the beginning of 2021, but for the most part I liked all of the books I ended up reading.
DeleteWell done for sure! I like the idea of joining challenges but I'm not very good at sticking with them:(
ReplyDeleteI actually have a hard time sticking with them, too. I always start off really enthusiastically, but by June or July I'm usually over it and ready to move on to something else.
DeleteCongrats on meeting your goal.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary! :)
DeleteCongratulations Lark for completing all 12 categories in the challenge! You have read and posted about some wonderful books and you are so right. I too would never have read the many classics I have read in the past few years without the challenge.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I like doing this challenge! I've done it three times now, and I think I might sign up for it again next year. (If Karen decides to do it again.)
DeleteGood job! I've never read any of these. In fact, I've only ever heard to two of them. LOL.
ReplyDelete:D I hadn't heard of The Housing Lark or Miss Pym Disposes before this year either.
DeleteWow! I'm impressed! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteCongrats! 🏆 That's fantastic! This seems like a fun challenge. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a fun one! (Well, if you like reading classics.) :D
DeleteI'd like to shake up my reading habits a bit and read more classics!
DeleteThere are certainly lots of good ones out there to choose from.
DeleteOoh Tarzan! I'm an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan even though I like some of his stuff better than others.
ReplyDeleteCongrats!
I've now read Princess of Mars and Tarzan by Burroughs and liked both books. I want to read more by him in the future.
DeleteThe Gods of Mars and the third one are quite good and complete the initial trilogy
DeleteI need to read those. (And hey, my library has both of them!) Thanks for the rec. :D
DeleteWow, you did really great on this challenge. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :D
DeleteThat's great and congrats, Lark! :D
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melody! :)
DeleteCongratulations on completing your challenge, Lark! I've only read Five Little Pigs on your list. I should look into the challenge for next year. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun one, and it does force you to read a little more widely, which I always like. :)
DeleteCongratulations, Lark! That's awesome! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ashley! :D
DeleteWow, well done, you. That took some extra special effort. OK, at the risk of sounding really stupid, you are going to have to tell me what a BIPOC author is. All the letters we use these days leave me in a near constant state of confusion.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I don't think I read a single classic all year, yikes what a year!
ReplyDeleteSome years are like that! I deliberately signed up for this challenge this year in order to make myself read a few classics. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have read any either.
DeleteWow! Congratulations! That would be a hard challenge for me to complete.
ReplyDeleteI like reading the classics, so I've always liked this challenge....even though I've never actually managed to finish it before. :)
DeleteCongratulations, Lark!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteCongrats on finishing the challenge! Many interesting titles .... I can see Tarzan being the best, ha! Much adventure & wilderness there.
ReplyDeleteIt was surprisingly fun. Only he doesn't get together with Jane until the next book!
DeleteAwesome! Well done. :D We both read Wodehouse, but for different categories. For me, this was the first time I'd read him and now I am hooked!
ReplyDeleteHis books are easy to get hooked on, that's for sure! :D
DeleteThat's so awesome, Lark! Congratulations!! I am thinking about reading a few classics next year but don't think that I am going to participate in a classics challenge.
ReplyDeleteI totally get that. Sometimes I can't face the commitment of a reading challenge either. What classics are you thinking about reading? Or are you still deciding?
DeleteCongratulations on completing the challenge! Well done. You have some interesting titles and some great authors in your lineup. I just finished my wrap up post today, though I finished my final book in November. That's the earliest I've ever finished.
ReplyDeleteHope to do this again in 2022.
Happy reading and happy holidays!
I'm hoping to do this challenge again next year, too. If Karen decides to host it again. :)
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