The Classics Club!

Anyone who spends more than five minutes on this blog knows that I'm a romance and fantasy/urban fantasy reader more than anything else. Heck, even my fantasy/urban fantasy needs a good strong romance for me to get behind or I get grumpy, so let us keep it simple and say that I am a romance reader above and beyond anything and I don't often stray from that path... But that wasn't always the case. 

My reading used to be much more varied. 

I used to be more open to "risks". I'd pick up anything that sounded good to me, even if it wasn't in my typical wheelhouse and I'd read it. I've lost that somewhere along the way... And I want it back. 

Classic books are one area where I rarely dip my toes nowadays but last year (2020) I found myself listening to the audiobook's for Alice in Wonderland, Through The Looking Glass and Peter Pan, and while my reactions to them were mixed, I was super happy that I'd finally read them! 

I'd finally read these classic books and had an unpolluted (by pop-culture, re-imaginings, movies, tv etc) opinion of them! And there are so many others that I want to read! So many stories I'm familiar with because of their legacy or reputation but have never actually experienced from the source material.

So, I'm diving in! 

I'm joining the Classics Club and pledging to read/listen to 50 Classic books by December 31st 2026.

The beauty of this club is that it isn't prescriptive on what constitutes a classic and re-reads are also acceptable. The only re-reads I've included are books that I haven't read in over 10 years, and some of them not since school days, so it'll be interesting reading them as an adult.

My list of 50 books are as follows and I'll update it with hyperlinks as I read them and share my thoughts on each.

1. I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
3. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
6. Dracula by Bram Stoker
7. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
9. Emma by Jane Austen
10. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
11. Persuasion by Jane Austen
12. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
13. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
14. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
15. Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
16. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
17. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
18. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
19. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
20. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
21. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
22. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
23. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
24. The Fellowship of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
25. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
26. The Return of The King by J.R.R. Tolkien
27. The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame 
28. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
29. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
30. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 
31. A Study in Scarlett by Arthur Conan Doyle
32. The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
33. The Hound of The Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
34. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
35. The Secret Garden by Louisa May Alcott
36. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
37. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
38. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
39. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
40. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
41. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
42. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
43. The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
44. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
45. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
46. Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
47. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
48. The Queen of The Damned by Anne Rice
49. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
50. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett