15 Classics I’d Like to Read in 2014
The other day I was thinking about how I’ve let go of my tradition of making a post with reading goals for the coming year, which usually included an ambitious list of classics I’d like to get to. The reason is that over the years I let reading goals and lists become a source of pressure and a bit of a way of setting myself up for failure. But it doesn’t have to be that way, does it? 2014 will probably be a year of simplicity and of celebrating small achievements for me, but I think a reading list can actually be a part of that. I also want to put what I’ve been hammering into my own head all year about finding joy in making reading plans into practice, so why waste this perfect opportunity to come up with a shiny and exciting book list?
The following are fifteen classic novels I’d love to finally get around to in 2014. I tried to favour TBR titles when making this list, but other than that there were no rules. I’ll be very surprised if by the end of the year I turn out to have read all of them, but the goal of this post is less to set myself a challenge and more to keep classics I’m excited about in mind when I reach for my next read. If you go back and read some of my previous goals posts, you’ll see that there are books I’ve been listing for over five years now. But there are also titles I eventually got to cross out my list, and I want to focus on those. If by the end of 2014 a few of these have been crossed out, I’m giving myself permission to count that as a win.
The following are fifteen classic novels I’d love to finally get around to in 2014. I tried to favour TBR titles when making this list, but other than that there were no rules. I’ll be very surprised if by the end of the year I turn out to have read all of them, but the goal of this post is less to set myself a challenge and more to keep classics I’m excited about in mind when I reach for my next read. If you go back and read some of my previous goals posts, you’ll see that there are books I’ve been listing for over five years now. But there are also titles I eventually got to cross out my list, and I want to focus on those. If by the end of 2014 a few of these have been crossed out, I’m giving myself permission to count that as a win.
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (1923)
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (1946)
- Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald (1932)
- Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan (1954)
- Olivia by Dorothy Strachey (1949)
- Starlight by Stella Gibbons (1967)
- Gigi and The Cat by Colette (1945 and 1933)
- Hangsman by Shirley Jackson (1951)
- Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
- The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905)
- Passing by Nella Larsen (1929)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943)(I feel like I owe it to Heather to finally read this book in 2014.)
- Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (1952) (Ditto to Aarti.)
- The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (1942)
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1902)
I love the idea of a year of simplicity. I have several books I've been meaning to read for years and keep forgetting to such as War & Peace and 1Q84, which I should have read last year, and also re-reading Madame Bovary which I didn't love the first time round and starting something by Edith Wharton and Henry James... It's funny how we can end up pressuring ourselves in doing something we actually love, isn't it? My plans are very loose this year and I think I'd like to read a little more whimsically.
ReplyDeleteI'd recommend Bonjour Tristesse for when you want to experience some wanton amorality without having the responsibility of actually being amoral ;-). Lolly Willowes - for when you need some empowering. And Emily of New Moon for a space filled with simple pleasures. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteTwo of those that I absolutely love are The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton's writing is so beautiful and very readable - and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn which is one of my favourite books of all time. Good luck with this. I'm trying for some more Dickens this year, more Wilkie Collins and my first Sir Walter Scott. I'm also planning to read The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. But as you said, I'm not putting undue pressure on myself. I'm just travelling hopefully. :-)
ReplyDeleteGigi and The Cat were in my best of the year list the year I've read them. Got me curious about her other novels, but Cheri is still on the TBR...
ReplyDeleteI read Hangsaman a few months ago and I found it very good (and haunting! obviously), now I want to read all of the Shirley Jackson's books that are being re-issued by Penguin Classics. :)
ReplyDeleteThe House of Mirth has been on my TBR shelf for years, and that's one of the candidates for this LAR Month ;) We'll see.
I also have Barbara Pym on my list, I really liked No Fond Return of Love and this year I hope to read A Glass of Blessings and/or Jane and Prudence.
As for the classics I'd like to read Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, and somehow I've got the feeling this will be the year I'll finally get to read The Brothers Karamazov, but then I'd also like to focus on sff books, since I didn't read any (except for short stories) last year.
Good luck with your list (this is also the way I use book lists and I find it a good method, except when I end up making too many of them, ehm) and your reading goals, and happy reading! :)
Yay! You put a big goofy grin on my face Ana! I'm so excited. Maybe I'll join you for Excellent Women, for Aarti's sake. lol :)
ReplyDeleteUnsurprisingly, I've read none of those. Haven't even heard of some of them. You know how much I suck at reading classics, but I do sort of have in my head that this is the year I finally get around to reading Saplings and Lady Audley's Secret.
ReplyDeleteYay, fun list! And some I'd like to get around to reading as well. And lol I am totally with you on the having books on the list for five years, last year I started to think of it as my rollover list ;)
ReplyDeleteI am reading Emily of New Moon, too! I figure if I actually succeed at reading all of L.M.Montgomery's books it will be one of my best classics reading years ever. You have never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn before?? HOW!!!
ReplyDeleteI read Emily of New Moon last year, and now I want to read Emily Climbs. But I'm with you on Gigi and The Cat--it was hard to get a hold of, and you've reminded me that I really want to finally pick it up! Ditto Hangsaman and The Body in the Library--I'm going to follow you around this year, apparently.
ReplyDeleteI have read Emily of New Moon, The Little White Horse, Lolly Willowes, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Excellent Women, and Five Children and It. All wonderful books -- what a treat you have in store!
ReplyDeleteJust this weekend, I moved my copy of The House of Mirth to my bedside reading pile. Going to make sure it doesn't stay there too long.
ReplyDeleteFeel like I inspired this post *pride*.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on Emily of New Moon (along with Anne). I've also read The Body in the Library and Five Children and It. There are several books on your list I'd like to read, especially A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Excellent Women and The House of Mirth.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of a year of simplicity and the celebration of small achievements!
I LOVE A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I feel like it's one of those books you go into thinking it will be pretty simple and straight-forward a la Anne of Green Gables, but there is a lot of depth to it and I think you will really enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Women! I am looking forward to your thoughts. I think Teresa probably is, too. That book resonated strongly with both of us.
Pressure reading goals are no good and take all the joy of it out, but when I can find goals that are attainable and in-line with what I WANT to read, they add a nice feeling of accomplishment to my reading. :) I hope your goals work out well for you!
ReplyDeleteOf your stack here, the two that made me go "aww, I love that book!" were Emily and 5 Children and It. Nesbit is a lovely writer and that's my favorite of hers, and Montgomery, well...I love pretty much everything she wrote, but Emily is up there among the best!
Oh, man, I haven't read any of these either! Looks like they'll be making it to my list, too. Best of luck! I hope you enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will be able to tick some of these classics off your list in 2014 you've got some really interesting choices on it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful list, Ana! Out of the books in your list, I am hoping to read 'Five Children and It' by E.Nesbit this year. The other books from your list I would like to read are 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn', 'The House of Mirth', 'Bonjour Tristesse' and maybe 'Gigi and the Cat' and 'The Body in the Library'.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy reading these wonderful classics! Happy reading!
OMG OMG OMG COLETTE OMG OMG OMG COLETTE!
ReplyDeleteIs this your first one? Ever? Ana, I COMPLETELY want to hear every single thing you think even a little bit, even if you think, "I wonder why she has brown hair" or 'How come the cat doesn't eat tuna.'
*jumps up and down*
OK. Sorry. Back now.
Let me know if you read it. I actually really, really loved My Mother's House and Sido, which were both short works that talked a lot about the relationship between mothers and daughters in a way that I think books often fall flat over, as a sort of 'intro to GSC', but The Cat and Gigi are, in most people's opinions, a lot more fun, so there's that, and the implicit comments about female desire and the role of sex in security I think will probably really turn your buttons.
You know its two different books, right, that they just always stick in the same book, because they're short? Its kind of a weird pairing, too, to be honest, but its always how they do it.
Alright, sorry. All done now. Shutting up.
And it sounds a bit anticlimactic now, but I'm really excited you're reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, too, because its a wonderful book.
ReplyDeleteAnd it sounds a bit anticlimactic now, but I'm really excited you're reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, too, because its a wonderful book.
ReplyDeleteI love your selections! I need to read more Stella Gibbons as I really enjoyed Cold Comfort Farm. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteThe only one I've read is Emily of New Moon which I read in middle school and I didn't like it simply because it wasn't Anne :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a great way to go about reading goals! Loved the Pym and Tristesse, I always say yes to Christie and Larsen really is as fantastic and important as is said of her works! :)Happy pressure-free reading!
ReplyDeleteHahaha, if you were doing a test to see how many times you can mention Emily of New Moon and have me go "YES YES EMILY OF NEW MOON YES," I passed. (Or failed.) EMILY OF NEW MOON SHOULD BE FIRST. I HOPE YOU WILL LOVE IT.
ReplyDelete(I actually think you may not like Emily of New Moon. There's some not-great gender dynamics in that book around Dean Priest.)
Oh my gosh, you're going to love the Emily books! They were some of my favorites when I was growing up, I loved Emily, though not as much as I loved Anne. :-)
ReplyDeleteA Tree Grows in Brooklyn is wonderful too, very warm.
1) I have that mug and it just cheers me up every time I use it. I love love love it. It's just one of those simple tiny things that make every day a little brighter.
ReplyDelete2) You are going to love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It is just lovely.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is wonderful. There's an old movie of it too that is also very good.
ReplyDeleteA Tree Grows in Brooklyn is wonderful. There's an old movie of it too that is also very good.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Body in the Library, too. Hope to find copies this year. Usually I try to read a classic every month, but this year I went a bit overboard with challenges, which will have me reading quite a lot of YA & contemporary series type stuff.
ReplyDeleteHave fun with your list! :-)