A Classics Challenge

Well, it look like it's that time of year where everyone is signing up for 2012 reading challenges! (Side note - I just remembered that when I was in early elementary school I wrote little stories a lot and the first word was always "Well, ..." Looks like I haven't kicked that habit yet.)

ANYWAY, Connie and I are going to participate in "A Classics Challenge" hosted by November's Autumn! Woot woot! The challenge is to read 7 classic works of literature (not necessarily Classics as in Greek and Roman literature, but classic works from any era) in 2012. Here's how the challenge works:

Instead of writing a review as you finish each book (of course, you can do that too), visit November's Autumn on the 4th of each month from January 2012 - December 2012.

You will find a prompt, it will be general enough that no matter which Classic you're reading or how far into it, you will be able to answer. There will be a form for everyone to link to their post. I encourage everyone to read what other participants have posted.

I think we can commit to this. Right, Connie? (Right, Ingrid!)(<--that was real cheesy) ANYwho, here are our lists.

Ingrid's books:
1. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. (I'm not going to like it. I already know that. But I need to get it out of the way...)
3. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dotoyevsky
4. Middlemarch by George Eliot
5. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
6. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn
7. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The reason I chose these books is because I feel like they are all very well known classics works of literature that I just haven't read yet, maybe with the slight exception of The Brothers Karamazov and The Return of the Native. I've read the other more famous works by these two authors and I'm anxious to give them another try.

Connie's books:
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (I made a goal last year to read this book this year, and guess what, it never happened. This year, though, I swear it shall! hopefully)
2. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
3. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
4. Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (in all likelihood, this one will NOT happen for me, as it has consistently failed to happen for me for many, many years, but since Ingrid has it on her list, too, maybe we can motivate each other and do some sort of book club)
6. Les Miserables (unabridged) by Victor Hugo (I've read the abridged version, and I feel like a fraud)
7. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (I read this one in my early teen years and remember enjoying it, but I hardly remember it. I think this is worth a re-read!)

WOW I have created an ambitious list! Whyyy are so many of my books tomes?? Good thing the rules don't bind us to these particular classics, because I DEFINITELY see myself modifying it once I begin.


How many of YOU are joining in? Any classics reading goals you have set for yourself?