Classic!

When I started my blog here, I did it because I had a plan to read a classic novel once a month for the following year.

I managed, I believe, seven out of the 12 books, which really wasn’t too bad. Of course,  the blogging itself led me to a much wider community that I certainly wasn’t expecting to find.

Which is wandering off-point a bit, but as sporadic as I’ve been with blogging, it’s comforting to know that you’re all “out there” somewhere. J

Anyway. In 2010 I had a go at reviving that personal challenge, with a bit of a diversity reading challenge. I read … one and ¾ books. I think.

However, I see that as no impediment to have another go. I’ve gone for – I hope – a fairly broad mix, even though I’ve interpreted ‘classic’ fairly loosely.

My list:

January:  Waiting by Ha Jin

February: Persuasion by Jane Austen

March: Anna Karenina by Leonard Tolstoy

April: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

May: The Matriarch   by Witi Ihimaera

June: Orlando by Virginia Woolf

July: The Sparrow/Children of God by Maria Doria Russell (re-read)

August:  Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan

September: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishigiro

October: Travels With Myself and Another by Martha Gelhorn

November: The Woman in White by Wilke Collins

December:  The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

12-month diversity classic challenge

ETA: I reviewed this list, and I diversity-failed. I only have one woman writer on there. So I opened up the floor to my twitter feed for suggestions, and have revised the list.

So I've done this challenge a couple of times before, just for myself, and I've never actually completed it.

And I was talking to the awesome Eva from http://astripedarmchair.wordpress.com/ who mentioned diversity, and that got me thinking.

I opened the floor up for suggestions, here and on twitter, and this list is the result (side note: if anyone feels like making up their own list and joining me, for a book a month, then please do! The more the merrier!)

#diversityclassics reading list: (new and improved ...)

September – Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert

October – The Matriarch by Witi Ihimaera

November – In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

December – The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

January – Maurice by E M Forster

February – Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

March – Love and Rockets by Gilbert Hernandez

April – Maus by Art Speigelman

May – The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

June – Waiting by Ha Jin

July – The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

August – Travels with Myself and Another by Martha Gellhorn

That's better. #diversityclassics

September to December's books fit in with my book-buying ban, because I already own them.

Wish me luck! :D