Based on how many classics I managed to read in 2014, I’ve decided to join The Classics Club.
The rules dictate that I list the 50 classics that I want to read. In no particular order (and then I will probably consult the 1001 Books to Read Before I Die lists when I eventually stall…OK – consulted it quite early before I realized I could sort my ToBeRead books on goodreads by published date!) I’ve defined ‘classic’ as anything over 25 years old.
50. Stoner – John Williams
49. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
48. The Three Muskateers – Alex Dumas
47. Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd
46. Jude the Obscure – Hardy
45. the Woodlanders – Hardy
44. Rabbit, Run – Updike
43. Naked Lunch – Wm Burroughs
42. Cry the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
41. Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford
40. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
39. Murder Must Advertise – Elizabeth Bowen
38. The Painted Veil – WS Maugham
37. And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
36. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
35. Heart of Darkness – Conrad
34. Germinal – Zola
33. The House of the Seven Gables – Hawthorne
32. Vanity Fair – Thackeray
31. Dead Souls – Nikolay Gogol
30. Candide – Voltair
29. Orlando – V Woolf
28. Stranger in a Strange Land – Rob Heinlein
27. The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
26. Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
25. The World According to Garp – Irving
24. Confederacy of Dunces – JKToole
23. Twelve Years a Slave – Solomon Northup
22. The Way We Live Now – Trollope
21. Sister Carrie – Teddy Dreiser
20. Winesberg, Ohio – Sherwood Anderson
19. the Counterfeiters – A. Gide
18. A Handful of Dust – Waugh
17. The Ox-bow Incident – Walter Van Tilberg Clark
16. Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
15. West With the Night – Meryl
14. Eileen Chang’s Love in a Fallen City
13. They Were Sisters – Dorothy Whipple
12. I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
11. One Fine Day – Mollie Panter-Downes
10. The Portable Dorothy Parker
9. the Bird’s Nest – Shirley Jackson
8. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
7. The King Must Die – Mary Renault
6. The Dud Avocado – Elaine Dundy
5. the Hunter – Richard Stark
4. Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
3. Charlotte Sometimes – Penelope Farmer
2. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler – EL Konigsberg
1. The Double Helix – Watson
I’ve got FIVE YEARS to do this! and I am allowed to swap titles in and out, I think, so as long as I get 50 titles read by 2020, I WIN. This also means that I’m committing another five years to this blog. Whoddathunkit?!
Anyone up for a readalong on any of these, you know I am always up for a good Twitter hashtagging conversation.
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Care's Books and Pie 
Love it! I keep changing my classics club titles but it has opened me up to a lot of new books that I wouldn’t have considering reading before (at least, not on my own). I Capture the Castle is awesome, and Things Fall Apart is one of my favorite books ever. I would totally be up for a readalong, maybe a Hardy? I have never read anything of his.
One of my besties is a huge Hardy fan so I think of her everytime this author comes into my radar. Must read more!
I like your definition of classics. I’ve been wanting to read Cold Comfort Farm – I’d love to join you in a readalong!
Wonderful! Do you think January is too early? My year is WIDE open.
Great list — so many of my favorites are included! The Way We Live Now and Germinal are brilliant, and West with the Night is just . . . wonderful! If you can track one down, see if you can get the illustrated edition with photos of Markham.
Yay! I could add more, ya know…
Good for you! I have classics I want to read yet. I insist our book club reads one every October to “class us up” a bit 🙂
Our club always seemed to work in a classic every year. 😀
Yay! Welcome!
Not sure why it’s taken me this long.
Hooray, you’re in!!! So many of these are on my list and several I want to read in 2015. Would love a readalong…. but can’t even think about it for a couple more weeks.
Whenever. We’ve got 5 years…
Your list is so excellent. I don’t know why, but I don’t really like Thomas Hardy. Glad you’re around for another five years. Squeeeee!
I’ve only read Tess. I’ll try one more before I decide if I will keep all of his books on this list.
I think I need more than five years to read 50 classics, at the rate I’ve been going! I’m glad you’ve renewed your commitment to your blog with this official ceremony, too!
I managed 16 books this year that I consider classics! and a few were of the chunkster variety – I think I’m ready. ha. (I’ve missed blogging and yapping about books. I’m not going anywhere)
Yay! I love that you joined our little club. The Painted Veil was one of my absolute favorites this year. – Melissa
Yay! I have been wanting to join this challenge for quite a while but making the list always overwhelmed me. You’ve inspired me to give a go in 2015 🙂 Good luck!
Mansfield Park is my last Austen to read so if you want to read it togeher I’m game.
The list is flexible and can change at any time. Feel free to borrow mine if you just need 50. 😀
My apologies to both Ms Dorothy L Sayers and Ms Elizabeth Bowen. I have credited Ms Bowen with writing Murder Must Advertise when it was Sayers who is the author. Yikes and egads. (I am wondering which title of Bowen’s I should read now!)