Hi, folks!
It’s time to look back and wrap-up some of my 2019 year-long reading projects.
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Back to the Classics
Back to the Classics, hosted by Karen, aims at encouraging readers to tackle classic books. Below are the categories for 2019, and the books I read for each:
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- 19th-century Classic: The Morgesons, by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1862)
- 20th Century Classic: Nada, by Carmen Laforet, tr. Edith Grossman (2007. Original: Nada, 1944)
- Classic by a Woman Author: Evelina, by Frances Burney (1778)
- Classic in translation: A Woman, by Sibilla Aleramo, tr. Rosalind Delmar (1980. Original: Una donna, 1906)
- Classic Comic Novel: The King of a Rainy Country, by Brigid Brophy (1956)
- Classic Tragic Novel: The Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall (1928)
- Very long classic: Emmeline, by Charlotte Turner Smith (1788, 520 p.)
- Novella: The Black Lake, by Hella Haassee (1948. Original: Oeroeg, 1948)
- Classic From the Americas: The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett (1896)
- Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania: The Pillow Book, by Sei Shonagon, tr. Meredith McKinney (2006. Original: 枕草子 – Makura no sōshi, c.1002)
- Classic From A Place You’ve Lived: A Falência, by Júlia Lopes de Almeida (‘The Bankruptcy’, 1901)
- Classic Play: Girls in Uniform (or Gestern und Heute), by Christa Winsloe (1930)
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Contact: Goodreads
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European Reading Challenge
European Reading Challenge is hosted by Gilion, and the idea is to tour Europe through books. Below are the books I read in 2019:
- My level of participation: 5 star (deluxe entourage)
- Austria: Intimate Ties, by Robert Musil, tr. Peter Wortsman (2019. Original: Vereinigungen, 1911)
- UK: North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (1854 – 1855)
- Iceland: Butterflies in November, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, tr. Brian FitzGibbon (2014. Original: Rigning í nóvember, 2004)
- Germany: Girls in Uniform, by Christa Winsloe (Gestern und Heute, 1930)
- France: The Years, by Annie Ernaux, tr. Alison L. Strayer (2017. Original: Les Années, 2008)
- Italy: Family Lexicon, by Natalia Ginzburg, tr. Jenny McPhee (2017. Original: Lessico famigliare, 1963)
- Ireland: Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth (1801)
- Russia: Sofia Petrovna, by Lydia Chukovskaya, tr. Aline Werth, emended by Eliza Kellogg Klose. (1994. Original: Sofia Petrovna, written in 1939-40, and first published in 1965). Also published as The deserted house, tr. Aline B. Werth. (1967)
- Spain: Nada, by Carmen Laforet, tr. Edith Grossman (2007. Original: Nada, 1944)
- The Netherlands: The Black Lake, by Hella Haasse, tr. Ina Rilke (2013. Original: Oeroeg, 1948)
Victorian Reading Challenge
Victorian Reading Challenge is hosted by Becky to promote Victorian literature. Below are the categories for 2019, and the books I read for each:
- BINGO CARD: Option A (first line, horizontal):
- Free choice:
- Belinda, by Rhoda Broughton (1883)
- Aurora Leigh, by Elizabet Barret Browning (1856)
- Any Brontë sister:
- Gondal’s Queen by Emily Brontë, edited by Fannie Elizabeth Ratchford (1955)
- Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë (1847)
- Elizabeth Gaskell:
- North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (1854)
- Gothic Tales, by Elizabeth Gaskell, edited by Laura Kranzler (2000)
- George Eliot:
- Middlemarch, by George Eliot (1871)
- The Journals of George Eliot, edited by Margaret Harris and Judith Johnston (2000)
- Free choice:
- Hester, by Margaret Oliphant (1883)
- The Beth Book, by Sarah Grand (1897)
- Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti (1862)
- Free choice:
Classics Club
The Classics Club readers commit to read and blog about at least 50 classics over five years. In 2019, from my list, I read the following books:
- North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (1854)
- The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett (1896)
- If not, winter, poems by Sappho, tr. Anne Carson (2003)
- Cassandra at the Wedding, by Dorothy Baker (1962)
- Lavinia, by George Sand (1833)
- The Morgesons, by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1862)
- Aurora Leigh, by Elizabet Barret Browning (1856)
- Wise Blood, by Flannery O’Connor
- Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth (1801)
- The Beth Book, by Sarah Grand (1896)
- Sofia Petrovna, by Lydia Chukovskaya, tr. Aline Werth, emended by Eliza Kellogg Klose. (1994. Original: Sofia Petrovna, written in 1939-40, and first published in 1965). Also published as The deserted house, tr. Aline B. Werth. (1967)
- Evelina, by Frances Burney (1778)
- The Rover, by Aphra Behn
- The Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall (1928)
- The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
- Hester, by Margaret Oliphant (1883)
- Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti (1862)
- Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbens
- Someone at a Distance, by Dorothy Whipple
- Fidelity by Susan Glaspell
- Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë (1847)
- Middlemarch, by George Eliot (1871)
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)
- Emmeline; or The Orphan of the Castle, by Charlotte Smith (1788)
- Diary of a Provincial Lady, by E. M. Delafield (1930)
- Belinda, by Rhoda Broughton (1883)
- Gothic Tales, by Elizabeth Gaskell, edited by Laura Kranzler (2000)
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)
- Around the World in 72 Days, by Nellie Bly (1890)
- The Black Lake, Hella Haassee (1948)
- Letty Fox: Her Luck by Christina Stead (1946)
- The Awakening, by Kate Chopin (1899)
Century of Books
This is a reading project created by Simon, with the aim of reading and reviewing a book published in every year of the 20th century. I am taking it as a long-term project, and my aim is to read one book for every year of the 19th century. Here is my list. In 2019, I read the following books for this project:
- North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (1854 – 1855)
- The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett (1896)
- Lavinia, by George Sand (1833)
- The Morgesons, by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1862)
- Aurora Leigh, by Elizabet Barret Browning (1856)
- Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth (1801)
- The Beth Book, by Sarah Grand (1896)
- Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti (1862)
- Hester, by Margaret Oliphant (1883)
- Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë (1847)
- Middlemarch, by George Eliot (1871-72)
- Belinda, by Rhoda Broughton (1883)
Other personal projects
As for my personal reading projects, I read most (but not all) of the new-to-me authors I wanted to get to know in 2019:
New-to-me Authors to read in 2019
- Radclyffe Hall
- The Well of Loneliness (1928)
- Frances Burney
- Evelina (1778)
- Sarah Orne Jewett
Ouida/ Maria Louise RaméAnn Quin- Renata Adler
- Speedboat (1976)
Violette LeDucElena Garro- Carmen Laforet
- Nada, tr. Edith Grossman (2007. Original: Nada, 1944)
- Christina Stead
- Letty Fox: Her Luck (1946)
- Annie Ernaux
- The Years, tr. Alison L. Strayer (2017. Original: Les Années, 2008)
- Brigid Brophy
- The King of a Rainy Country (1956)
I read 05 of the 10 books on my Spring TBR:
- The Years, by Annie Ernaux, tr. Alison L. Strayer (2017. Original: Les Années, 2008)
- Iphigenia, by Teresa de la Parra, tr. Bertie Acker (1993. Original: Ifigenia, 1924)
- The Well of Loneliness, by Radcliffe Hall (1928)
- Mouthful of Birds, by Samanta Schweblin, tr. Megan McDowell (2019. Original: Pájaros en la boca, 2008)
- Nobody’s Looking at You: Essays, by Janet Malcolm (2019)
And I read 05 of the 10 books on my Autumn TBR:
- Gothic Tales, by Elizabeth Gaskell, edited by Laura Kranzler (2000)
- Belinda, by Rhoda Broughton (1883)
- Victorian Ghosts in the Noontide: Women Writers and the Supernatural, by Vanessa D. Dickerson (1996)
- The Journals of George Eliot, edited by Margaret Harris and Judith Johnston (2000)
- Diary of a Provincial Lady, by E. M. Delafield (1930)
Finally, for the local book club I take part in, I read 09 of the 12 books we discussed:
- The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene (1948) ✓
- Family Lexicon, by Natalia Ginzburg, tr. Jenny McPhee (2017. Original: Lessico famigliare, 1963) ✓
- Call me by your name, Andre Aciman (2007) ✓
- Artemisia, by Anna Banti, tr. Shirley D’Ardia Caracciol (2003. Original: Artemisia, 1947) ✓
- Go Tell It On The Mountain, by James Baldwin (1953) ✓
Lost in Translation, by Eva Hoffman- T
he Wall, by John Lanchester - Conversations with Friends, by Sally Rooney ✓
- Botchan, by Natsume Soseki ✓
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood- Hot Milk, by Deborah Levy (2016) ✓
- Pnin, by Vladimir Nabokov ✓
That’s it for now, folks. How did your projects go this year?
Yours truly,
J.
