I shortlisted reading plans at the start of this month, and I am already reworking those! This time, I have my eyes on Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate. There are 12 prompts, and the cut-off year is 1972. I have a *tentative* reading list in mind — no idea if I’ll actually stick to these picks, but I had a field day putting these together.
1 / A 19th century classic. Any book first published from 1800 to 1899
My pick: Pelham, or, Adventures of a Gentleman by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1828)
2 / A 20th century classic. Any book first published from 1900 to 1972. My picks: Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff (1958). / Mark of the Horse Lord (1965).
3 / A classic by a woman author.
My pick: The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden (1797-1869).
4 / A classic in translation. Any book first published in a language that is not your primary language.
My pick: The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, translated by Celina Wieniewska (Poland, 1934).
5 / A classic by BIPOC author. Any book published by a non-white author.
My picks: Alexandre Dumas’s The Red Sphinx (1865–66). / Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral (1922). / Yokomizo’s The Inugami Curse.
6 / Mystery/ Detective/ Crime classic.
My picks: Armadale by Wilkie Collins (1864-66). / The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler (1939).
7 / A classic short story collection. Any single volume that contains at least six short stories.
My picks: Classic Comedies (not sure if this qualifies). / Baroness Orczy’s The Case of Miss Elliott (1905, 12 stories). / Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (1944).
8 / Pre-1800 classic.
My picks: Eliza Haywood’s Betsy Thoughtless (1751). / Mrs. Inchbald’s Simple Story (1791).
9 / A nonfiction classic (Travel, memoirs, biographies)
My pick: Seneca: Letters from a Stoic (c.4 B.C. – A.D. 65)
10/ Classic that’s been on your TBR list the longest.
My pick: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
11 / Classic set in a place you’d like to visit. Can be real or imaginary.
My picks: Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings (1961, Scotland). / Georgette Heyer’s Penhallow (1942).
12 / Wild card classic. Any classic book you like, any category, as long as it’s at least 50 years old!
My picks: Death of Jezebel by Christianna Brand (1948). / Angela Thirkell’s High Rising (1933)
Do you have any classics on your TBR? Time to dust them off and take part in the Back to the Classics challenge!
11 replies on “Back to the Classics Challenge 2022”
A lot of your selections for 2022 are on my long-term TBR too. I do enjoy a classic read, here and there, but I don’t have any in the “soon” stack.
Oooh, lots of lovely titles there! I can recommend the Ambler, the Borges and the Sylvia Townsend Warner, in fact I have copies of a couple of new to me Borges waiting. I’ve got my list for Back to the Classics scheduled for a week or so into February, based on the remaining titles on my Classics Club list, so wish me luck.
I have definitely read something by Georgette Heyer. Maybe Eric Ambler, bit I am not sure.
Classics on my TBR:
His Last Bow by Conan Doyle
Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) by Franz Kafka
Treasure Island by Stevenson
In 80 Days Around The World by Jules Verne
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Paradise Lost by Milton
OMG, I hadn‘t realized that it was this many!
This sounds like a lot of fun! I’m not planning to revamp my 2022 reading challenges (at least not yet) but I’ll have to remember to look for Classics challenges next year.
Yay! I’m so glad you’re doing this challenge, too. I can’t wait to see what classics you end up reading. I have a copy of Miss Betsy Thoughtless sitting on my shelf and am hoping to finally read it for my Pre-1800 book this year. Good luck! 😀
I don’t read many classics, they always appear daunting to me for some reason!
Good luck with this challenge! 😀
I should try to read some classics I haven’t read yet instead of just rereading my favorites 😅
That sounds like an awesome challenge! I might have to keep this one in mind for next year. Good luck!
I’d like to read classics this year, I’ve been eyeing some of the British Crime Classics that I started but fell away…
Well, there are some good ones on your list! I do enjoy Angela Thirkell, although I can’t remember any apart from each other except The Duke’s Daughter. My mother is a big Dorothy Dunnett fan so I have read all the Lymond books and highly recommend. She is also a big Sutcliff fan so I have read a fair number but not Warrior Scarlett or The Eagle of the Ninth. I was thinking about them for 2022 but at the moment have quite a pile of waiting library books. For a while during the pandemic, the libraries renewed everything indefinitely so long as no one had it on hold but they ended that policy without fanfare, somewhat annoyingly.
I really really really REALLY need to give my Classics Club reading list some love.
I’ve made no challenges this year. I’m just going to try to read a 100 books and that feels tough enough for me.
Love your classics list though!
Hope you are well Lex and life is treating you good!