One of my resolutions for this year is to get back into reading more classic books. Specifically, books that I haven’t read before. I know that there are plenty of different ways to classify a ‘classic’, but I’m using the simple metric of books that have stood the test of time and are (or where) well known for their quality. I’m hoping to write a review of each book I read for you all, in case you’re interested in jumping into any of these yourself.
How many books?
I’ve decided that 20 books will be my magic number. It feels significant enough to be worthwhile, but also small enough to be manageable. At 52 weeks a year, that comes to 2.6 weeks per book. Given I’m a speedy reader, I think that’s do-able. That said, I have to say I’m nervous about keeping to time with one Russian author …
In the end, I may have to spend less time watching television or on my phone to keep up the pace, but that is no bad thing. I’m hoping that branching out will broaden and deepen my mind, as well as providing fodder for conversation and keeping me off my phone.
The List
Drumroll please. Here are the twenty books I’m hoping to get through in 2022:
- Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher
- The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (the abridged 500 page version)
- The Arabian Nights translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton
- Pope Peter by Joe Heschmeyer
- Utopia by Thomas More
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Densovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Sir Gawain and The Green Knight translated by Brian Stone
- War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
- Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
- Nemesis by Agatha Christie (because one is never enough)
- Canterbury Tales By Chaucer
- Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
- My Antonia by Willa Cather
- Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Antigone by Sophocles
- Oedipus the King by Sophocles
- Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles
- What’s Wrong with the World By G. K. Chesterton
Reading and reviews
I’m planning to write a book review after I finish each book on the list. This will help keep me accountable, but I also want to use the review process as a way to cement my knowledge of the book. Annoyingly, the teachers were onto something with that whole book review thing. It really does help you remember what’s in them! I’d also like to track which books I really enjoyed and which ones were more of a slog.
I’ll post the reviews here, and hopefully you’ll enjoy them. It would be great to hear your thoughts on these books, whether you’ve read them before, what you thought of them etc.
I am hoping to read more classics this year, currently working through the Divine Comedy by Dante.
I hear the Divine Comedy is a difficult read, with the old English translations. Good on you for picking a solid 2022 challenge! I hope you enjoy reading it.
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