Once again, I’m embarking on a book reading challenge that I may (or may not–but let’s stay optimistic here!) complete. I’ve read some interesting books this year, but I also want to sprinkle in some more classics, and I want a moderate degree of accountability to read some books on my “I really should get around to reading this–it’s a classic!” list.

So I’ve joined the Classics Club and their 50 books in 5 years challenge. Here’s my big list.

I’m not sure exactly where to start, so I’m going to create this list of 20 of the books, wait for the Classics Club August Book Spin, where they will pick a number, and that’s the book I’ll start with. To give myself a good chance of not quitting immediately, I’m only picking books with less than 450 pages for this first month. I looked up the books on Goodreads and grabbed page numbers from there. My actual page count may vary depending on what edition I read, but I thought at least that would give me a general idea.

If you’re curious, the longest tome on my list is War & Peace, with 1275 pages. Yeah, I’m not going to start there.

Here are my options (I have more books under 450 pages, but I grabbed 20 at random):

1. Forster, E.M.: Room With a View (119 p)
2. Woolf, Virginia: To the Lighthouse (209 p)
3. Gaskell, Elizabeth: Cranford (257 p)
4. Wharton, Edith: The Age of Innocence (332 p)
5. Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited (351 p)
6. Burns, Olive: Cold Sassy Tree (405 p)
7. Sayers, Dorothy: Have His Carcase (440 p)
8. Hemingway, Ernest: A Moveable Feast (192 p)
9. Shakespeare, William: Othello (314 p)
10. Christie, Agatha: A Murder is Announced (288 p)
11. L’Engle, Madeleine: Many Waters (352 p)
12. Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray (367 p)
13. Cather, Willa: My Antonia (232 p)
14. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia: Love in the Time of Cholera (348 p)
15. Du Maurier, Daphne: The House on the Strand (352 p)
16. le Carre, John: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (381 p)
17. Austen, Jane: Persuasion (249 p)
18. Camus, Albert: The Stranger (123 p)
19. Gaskell, Elizabeth: Mary Barton (437 p)
20. Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women/ Good Wives (449 p)

I’ll be back to let you know what I’m reading first!

UPDATE: The Classics Club spin chose #9, so I’m starting with Othello. An interesting place to start! I’ll let you know how it goes.

https://youtu.be/MIqFgimdJ6o

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash