13 classic books I would like read in 2007.
1. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
2. Adam Bede, by George Eliot
3. David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
4. The Idiot, by Dostoevsky
5. Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot
6. Persuasion, by Jane Austen
7. The Red and the Black, by Stendahl
8. Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
9. Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
10. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
11. Complete plays of William Shakespeare
12. Hard Times, by Charles Dickens
13. The complete short stories of Anton Chekhov
(Some of these would be re-reads – but I’m counting them anyway. Obviously I have read all of Shakespeare’s plays, in some cases multiple times – but I have been wanting to revisit them again – preferably in the order they were written – as close as can be guessed. Also it’s been years since I read Frankenstein – and I love that book, want to read it again.)
(I got this idea here!)
WHOA. that is a time-consuming reading list. I read Bleak house this summer, and it took me almost two months. I believe it was worth it, though. Les Mis took me a while to finish too. But I’m pleased to see Persuasion and Frankenstein on there, I consider The Creature to be my literary soulmate.
There is no way I could ever read War and Peace and Red and the Black in the same year. So my list is a bit ambitious.
I love that the creature is your literary soulmate – that’s great. :)
I have a backlog of books to get thru right now – maybe I’ll start off with Frankenstein. That’s a quick read, if i recall correctly.
Excellent ambition!
Here’s mine:
1) Complete Plays of Terence
2) History of the Peloponnesian War
3) Complete Dialogues of Plato
4) The Violent Bear It Away – Flannery O’Connor
5) Hypnerotomachia Poliphili – Francesco Colonna
6) At Swim Two Birds – Flann O’Brien
7) Complete Stories of Ivan Turgenev
8) Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
9) The Pickwick Papers – Charles Dickens
10) The Complete Poems of Lord Byron
11) De Rerum Natura – Lucretius
12) Les Fleurs du Mal – Charles Baudelaire (all the way through this time)
13) Adolphe – Benjamin Constant
The Idiot! Oh, I loved that book so so long ago when I read it. I’ve been wanting to reread it for awhile, but I’m going to go grab it off the bookshelf NOW. Thank you for reminding me. Such a great book. (And that IS a very ambitious list. I hope you get through it!)
For your first Chekhov, do ‘A Dreary Story’. As a Joyce ‘The Dead’ worshipper, you will find Doc Chekhov is playing at the same level in this tale. (Or maybe not, but I did)
Also – If you know Peter Falk’s Columbo, be introduced by Dickens to his original ancestor, Detective Inspector Bucket in ‘Bleak House’.
I took a mental health day earlier this year, and sat on the couch with a cat on my lap and read The Mill on the Floss. It’s satisfyingly dreary and irritating.
Also – just want to say that a church member lent me The History of Love a few weeks ago, I read it, and countered with Wolves Eat Dogs. From Amazon: “‘Why would anyone jump out a window with a saltshaker?’ A good question, especially when the suicide victim is Pasha Ivanov, a Moscow physicist-turned-billionaire businessman–a ‘New Russian’ poster boy, if ever there was one–with several homes, a leggy 20-year-old girlfriend (‘the kind [of blonde] who could summon the attention of a breeze’), and every reason to be contented in his middle age. So, wonders Senior Investigator Arkady Renko, in Martin Cruz Smith’s Wolves Eat Dogs, what provoked Ivanov to take a header from his stylish 10th-floor apartment? And how does it relate to the shaker clutched in his dead hand or the hillock of table salt found on his closet floor?”
We’ll see what he makes of it.
Laura – //satisfyingly dreary and irritating//
HA!!!
What a great list – it made me want to go grab one of the books and dive right in.
Funnily enough, I’m re-reading Scarlet and Black right now (in French – do I get extra credit? ;-)), and it’s interesting to see how different my perception of the book is from when I was forced to read it in college 15 years ago. I guess that goes for a lot of the books on your list, some of which I’ve re-read over the years. When you’re reading them because you want to – rather than because you’re obliged to – it’s a whole different ballgame.
Iain – do you get extra credit?? Sheesh, you certainly do – I am very impressed!!
I’ve never read it – I’m kind of afraid to start. I know this is a stupid question, but: is it good??? Am I gonna flip?
And I totally know what you mean – about re-reading this stuff because you WANT to read them. I’m telling you – Tess of the D’Urbervilles was a whole different book the second time I read it. First time was in high school. I grumbled my way thru it. I re-read it a couple years ago – and frankly, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever freakin;’ read!! I was like: I CAN’T have already read this … it seems so different!!
Dearest: noble ambition! Bleak House, will be my choice. I will finish In Search of Lost Time. The Idiot would be another. Thanks for the prompt. love, dad
Dad – we need to have a family party when you finish In Search of Lost Time!!
Sheila – what can I say? It’s very, erm, French… By that I mean that very often there are 9 parts analysis / interior monologue to one part ‘action’. But it’s worth it – it’s a fine picture of 19th-century France, portrayed through the central love story.
I say give it a shot!
Oh, I would love to read all those books too!
I remember I went through a Russian literature obsession when I was 18-19 years old, so I’ve read both The Idiot and War and Peace. They were memorable reads for me, but I should re-read them again as an adult, that’s for sure! Of course, my current Roman history phase would have to come to an end first. And I guess that’s what 2007 will look like for me in terms of books to read (finish Mommsen, go on to Gibbon).
Please, if there is ever a family reunion on the subject of Proust, blog about it!! hahaha I would love to know your dad’s thoughts about In Search of Lost Time. I haven’t read any of it, but my curiosity is piqued!!
Ceci – pretty much any picture of my dad taken in the last 2 years ALSO has “In Search of Lost Time” somewhere in the frame. hahahaha It’s on the table next to the couch, it’s on the kitchen counter …
That’s one of those books which I say … Hmmm, gotta do that someday. I wonder if I ever will??
very ambitious. i don’t think i could read 13 books in one year without dying. :P go red.
Iain – weirdly, look at what site I just found.