Reread a Favorite Classic

The last category in Karen's Back to the Classics challenge is to Reread a Favorite Classic.  I had several different thoughts originally about what book I was going to use for this category but I ended up going back to visit Anne.  I discovered the Emily books by L.M. Montgomery this year and loved them so much!  However, they made me nostalgic for Anne.  I've re-read the first two so far and am currently rereading Anne of the Island.  They're just as good as I remembered!  I didn't add this one to GoodReads for some reason but it says I finished Anne of Avonlea October 29th.

A Classic with a Single Word Title

A Classic with a Single Word Title...I grew up LOVING the movie Pollyanna but for some reason I had never read the book.  It did NOT dissapoint me.  I loved the book just as much, if not more, than the movie!  I felt like the book did a better job of portaying how much work it was sometimes for Pollyanna to play the "glad game" and that she was always making a contentious choice to look for the good in every situation.  I finished this one April 14th but I apparently slacked off greatly in getting my posts up for the Back to the Classics challenge. 

A Classic Crime story

This children's book barely squeaked in for the Back to the Classics challenge since it was published in 1959.  It is a mystery story which says it's ok for the Classic Crime catagory so that's where I'm using it.  According to GoodReads I finished this book October 2nd.  It is over 50 years old though and you're allowed to use up to three children's books for the challenge.  I checked this book out through inter-library loan for my daughter because she loves Carol Ryrie Brink's Caddie Woodlawn and Magical Melons so much.  While the story was totally different than those the writing was just as good and the story was so cute and charming.  A winner in my book for sure! 

A Children's Classic

For A Children's Classic for Karen's Back to the Classics challenge, we read The Book of King Arthur by Howard Pyle.  I've read several of his books now and the kids and I all love him and his writing!  King Arthur was no different.  We finished it up September 4th and it was given a resounding 5 stars by all. 

19th Century Classic

I'm using this one for the 19th Century Classic catagory in the 2018 Read the Classics challenge hosted on Karen's blog.  This is also an Ambleside Online year 7, Term 2 poetry book...overall I really loved this. The story about Pelleas was pretty stupid and definitely my least favorite part of the book, but Tennyson’s handling of Arthur confronting Guinevere was soooo good! Lots of insight into the consequences of sin, the outcome, the pain and lack of any gain on all sides, it was very moving. Writing a 300+ page book in verse form is impressive, to write one this well...it’s no wonder Tennyson is still famous, read, and lauded today.

A Classic Travel or Journey Narrative

This book was such a pleasure to read I almost feel like I'm cheating!  Plus, Zeke, my Year 4 student in AmblesideOnline, had to read it for school and I always pre-read their books.  

The Incredible Journey.  We've all seen the movie.  We all know about Shadow, Chance, and Sassy...but do you know about Tao, Bodger, and Luath?  There were moments in the storyline that just worked out a little too perfectly (you know the moments, things that ONLY could happen in a book) but despite those few moments this book made me cry, cheer, and smile.  It is a quick and easy read and WELL worth your time! 

(And just a note that this is the book I'm using for "A Classic Travel or Journey Narrative in Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge.) 

A Classic with a Color in the Title

I had planned to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for the Classic with a Color in the Title (and I've started it and will finish it) but I found Agnes Grey on Librivox and ended up listening to it first. 

The recording I listened to was by "various" readers and that fact alone was quite distracting.  The first 7 or 8 chapters were all read by the same reader and then after that there were two or three different readers...one in particular that I had a really hard time listening to. 

Aside from the readers the story was simply ok.  I found it rather boring in parts although overall I was entertained and it had a happy ending.  Overall, only three stars. 

A Classic by an Author that is New to You

     Continuing on with my Back to the Classics challenge!  I read Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy for the "A Classic by an Author that is New to You" category and I thoroughly enjoyed it!   My copy had a lengthy introduction to Thomas Hardy that was quite interesting since I knew nothing about him. 
       Bathsheba Everdeen was a woman through and through.  I feel like some women might be insulted by the way she was portrayed but I just thought it showed a very good understanding on Hardy's part and often made me laugh!  lol
        There was great character growth and development and I'm so excited to discuss it with my book club.  My only complaint is that the ending felt rather abrupt to me. 

20th Century Classic

I finished my 20th Century Classic for the Back to the Classics Challenge today!  (That was a classic written between 1900 and 1968.  Animal Farm was copywritten in 1946)  

This book is assigned in term 2 of Ambleside Online for Year 6 and I had never read it so I was excited to read it along with my 11 year old (we didn't read it together, I just "pre-read" all her books...usually I'm only about a week ahead of her!  lol)

I actually had no idea that it was a social commentary on communism when I started it.  I had no idea what it was about at all.  It is blatantly about communism though.   So far Kessa hasn't made that connection and I'm not sure if she will until we study communism more in-depth.  We covered it very briefly at the beginning of the school year.  For now, that's fine.  She's enjoying it simply as a novel.  I'm interested to hear her final thoughts after she reads the last two chapters though!  

A Classic That Scares You

So, originally Bleak House didn't scare me.  I didn't know much about it honestly but I liked the other books by Dickens I had read and I was able to get the unabridged Audible version for a dollar or two so I downloaded it....and then I saw that it was over 35 hours long!!!!!!  EEK!!!!  Then I was scared!  lol!!! 

If you're like me and you don't know much about Bleak House I'll give you a VERY brief overview.  An illegitimate child grows up with a mysterious benefactor.  She meets this benefactor when she comes of age and she and two other dependents live a very happy life with him for a while.  A "chancery" case of an inheritance and a very bleak overview of the English legal system weave through the entire story and a mysterious murder takes up some time too. 

I was engaged for the entire story and enjoyed it very much!

A Classic in Translation

I finished my first book for the 2018 Back to the Classics Challenge! 

I "bought" The Phantom of the Opera for kindle for $0 and then added the Audible Narration (I think that was $.99)  and I'm so glad I chose to listen to this one because I don't speak French and I would have butchered all the names in my head if I had been reading it instead of listening to it!  lol 

I knew the very very basic gist of the story but I had never read the book, seen the Opera, or watched a movie of this so it was still a surprise to me what happened and how everything happened.  It took me a while to get into it...probably an hour or two.  I wasn't sure I was going to like it but once I got into it I found myself taking a bit longer cleaning up the kitchen or things like that so that I could listen longer!  It was well written and interesting.  It won't be on my Top 10 favorite books or anything but I gave it a solid 5 stars. 

Linked to Karen's Back to the Classics - Classics in Translation post. 

365 Days of Les Miserables

When I was looking through blogs linked to the 2018 Back to the Classics Challenge I stumbled upon a Chapter-a-Day Read Along for Les Mis and decided to participate.  We stopped by Barnes and Noble on January 1st and I bought the only unabridged copy of Les Mis they had and have read a chapter a day since.  I made a schedule in the back of one of my journals so that it's easy to keep track of where I am.  So far I think my biggest problem will be reading only 1 chapter a day.  LOL!  There's still plenty of time if you'd like to jump in too!

Back to the Classics Challenge 2018

UPDATE - Wrap Up Post

I did it!!!  I finished all 12 categories for the Back to the Classics Challenge!!!  You can see all the books I read this year on my GoodRead account (and you can contact me through there too if I get luck and win something Karen!  lol ;) ) Thanks for the fun challenge!!! 

Ok, I'm going to ATTEMPT this in the coming year.  Karen apparently hosts this challenge on her blog every year.  This is the first time I've heard of it but it sounds right up my ally and will be a good challenge to help me read books with a bit more substance.  I'll also probably to try to find books from Ambleside that the kids will have to read eventually so that I'm a step ahead there.  So, here are the categories and if I have an idea for what book I'll read for that category I've added it also.   (Once I've completed a category the category name is hyperlinked to the page for that challenge on Karen's blog and the title of the book I read is hyperlinked to my review of it.)

1. A 19th Century Classic - (DONE!)
         Idylls of the King (I'm actually reading my original plan book right now but won't finish it before the end of the year.) In Freedom's Cause (A Story of Wallace and Bruce) by G.A. Henty - This is one Kessa will have to read next year in year 7 of Ambleside Online so it will help me get a jump on my pre-reading.

2. A 20th Century Classic - (written between 1900 and 1968)  (DONE!)
            I ended up going with Animal Farm for this one just because it fit and I was reading for "school".  I still plan to read The Birth of Britain but I'm counting this category done for this challenge!  

3. A Classic by a Female Author - (DONE!)
          The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte - I've had this one for a little while, I think I got it after reading The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, but haven't started it yet.   I don't know that I've read anything by Anne before.  I've read several of Charlotte's books and at least one by Emily.  Jane Eyre is my all time favorite book, so we're going to give this one a chance!  lol.

4.  A Classic in Translation -  Phantom of the Opera (DONE!)

5.  A Children's Classic - (DONE!)
          Ended up going with King Arthur and His Knights for this one.  Possibly A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - This is an AO year 7 free read.

6. A Classic Crime Story - (DONE!)
          The Pink Motel.  Probably either Bleak House by Dickens or a Sherlock Holmes book.

7.  A Classic Travel or Journey Narrative - (DONE!)
          The Incredible Journey - This is an AO year 4 book that Zeke will be reading and I've never read it before so I'm excited to see how much better it is than the movie!

8.  A Classic with a Single Word Title - (DONE!) 
          Pollyanna - another one that I've seen the movie but never read the book!  Horror!  Or possibly Ourselves because I need to pre-read it for Kessa's AO year 7. 

9.  A Classic with a Color in the Title - (DONE!)
          I ended up reading Agnes Grey for this one instead of my original plan of Sir Gwain and the Green Knight (I'll probably read the translation by Tolkien because he's fabulous.)

10.  A Classic by an Author that is New to You - (DONE!)
             I read Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy for this one.  (DONE!)
Maybe the Tripods series (these just eked in under the 50 year old limit for this challenge!  lol.)  They're on the AO year 7 Free Reads list.

11.  A Classic that Scares You -(DONE!)
          Bleak House by Dickens (DONE!)

12.  Re-read a Favorite Classic - (DONE!)
         I didn't go with any of my original plans!  I've been re-reading the Anne series.  I've re-read Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and now I'm also most done with Anne of  the Island.  They're just as good as I remembered!  Well Jane Eyre would be the obvious choice here...and I probably will...or maybe The Lord of the Rings...or a Jane Austen book...there are just too many to choose from!!!