The Classics Club – Year One

As of March 23rd, I’ve been in The Classics Club for one whole year. I can’t believe it’s been a year already, but I’m happy to say I’m well ahead of schedule. The goal I set was fifty books in five years, the minimum requirement, as I wasn’t sure how I’d adjust to reading more classics.

I’ve now reviewed fifteen books, and I have another one waiting to go. There are still quite a few classics I find daunting, Dickens and anything Russian come to mind, but I’ve found that this has been much more of a pleasure than a struggle. It’s possible my view of what a classic is may be a bit broader than some, but it’s been a chance to really expand my interests. I can honestly say that this last year has probably changed how I’ll approach reading for the rest of my life.

So far:

• The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues by Plato (Sometime BC)
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1876)
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)
• The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle (1912)
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)
• The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951)
• The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway (1952)
• Solaris by Stanisław Lem (1961)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)
• Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1963)
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1966)

Funnily enough, I think the classic I enjoyed writing about the most was the one I did just before joining the club – The Taming of the Shrew. It was such a bizarre story that it was hard not to be drawn in. I’ll be starting my next Shakespearean play soon, actually. I figure I should read at least one a year, and I might as well tackle As You Like It before Joss Whedon’s version is released.