The Classics Club: 75 Classics in 5 Years Book List

I first heard about the Classics Club  in May from Mama Needs A Book blog. It sounded like a great way to read all the classics I have been adding to my long To-Read list on Goodreads. I have been averaging one classic every 1-2 months this year, so now that I am joining a challenge, it will help keep me on track and accountable for a long-term goal of reading classics.

The challenge is pretty simple: Choose at least 50  books to read in 5 years.  Blog about your list of books (which I will do below),  then review them as I read them, linking the review to this list so they care easily accessible. I am starting this month, July 2020, so I will plan to finish the seventy-five books by July 2025. If I start a book and end up not liking it, I can stop and add a new classic to replace that one with a different classic. If I decide even prior to starting a book that I want to replace it with a different classic, that is fine too (and I can consult my Back Up list. So, this list is somewhat fluid. What constitutes as a 'classic'? That is pretty subjective and fluid as well. For this challenge, it will be books that have stood the test of time for around fifty years. My list includes British classics, modern classics, Christian classics, and children's classics.

I will be linking my reviews on each classic as I read them, so anything that has a hyperlink denotes a book I have read and reviewed so far. 

So, without further ado, here are my 75 books I am hoping to read in the next 5 years.

Beginning Date: July 2020

End Goal: July 2025

1. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719) (READ 9/2020)

2. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (1817) (READ 10/2020)

3. Villette by Charlotte Brontë (1843) (READ 4/2021)

4. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (1848)

5. Shirley by Charlotte Brontë (1849)

6. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851) READ 8/2020

  

7.Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

8. Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853) READ 4/2023

9. Phantastes by George MacDonald (1858) READ 2/2022

10. The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot (1860) READ 7/2024

11. Silas Marner by George Elliot (1861) READ 5/2022

12. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (1866) READ 2/2021

 

13.   An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott (1869) READ 5/2023

14. Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy (1872) READ 5/2021

15. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (1874) READ 8/2020

16. Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (1875) (READ 4/2021)

17 . Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott (1876)  (READ 12/2021)

18. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877). READ 9/2020

29. Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss (1880) RE-READ 11/2020

20. Home Education by Charlotte Mason (1886) READ OCTOBER 2023

21. A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1) by Arthur Conan Doyle (1887) READ 11/2020

22. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900) READ 8/2020

23. Peter Rabbit's Giant Storybook  by Beatrix Potter (1902) [Read with Elliot]

24. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin (1903) READ 8/2022

25. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy (1905) READ 7/2020

26. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)  (READ 12/2020)

27. Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit (1902) READ 10/2022

28. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (1906) READ 5/2021

29    Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children by E. Nesbit (1908) READ 7/2023

30. A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (1909) (READ 8/2020)

31. Kilmeny of the Orchard by L.M. Montgomery (1910) READ 4/2022

32. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton (1911) (READ 2/2021)

33. Mother by Kathleen Thompson Norris (1911) READ 8/2021

34.   The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter (1911) READ 8/2023

35. Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (1913) READ 2/2023

36. Laddie: A True Blue Story  by Gene Stratton-Porter (1913) READ 6/2022

37. Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1916) READ 9/2021

38.  A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter (1918) READ 1/2023

39. Rainbow Valley (Anne of Green Gables, #7) by L.M. Montgomery (1919) READ 8/2021

40. The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1924) READ 7/2022

41. The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter (1925) READ 6/2021

42. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (1926) (READ 1/2021)

43. The Complete Tales of Winne-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1926-1928) [Read with Elliot]

44. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield (1930) READ 9/2021

45. Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome) (1930)

46. Testament of Youth (1933) by Vera Brittain

47. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (1935) READ 10/2021

48. Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (1936) [READ 11/2021]

49. The Hobbit  by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937) [READ 2/2021]

 50   Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (1937) READ 5/2022

51.   Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery (1937) READ 1/2023

52. Lark Rise (Lark Rise to Crandleford #1) by Flora Thompson (1939) [READ 11/2021]

53. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis (1940)

54. Springs in the Valley by Lettie Cowman (1946) FINISHED 9/2022

55. Mountain of Spices by Hannah Hurnard (1964)  RE-READ FEBRUARY 2024

56. Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith (1948) READ 8/2022

57. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (1949) READ 5/2021

58. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria August von Trapp (1949) READ 8/2023

59. Three Blind Mice and Other Stories by Agatha Christie (1950) READ 3/2022

60. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier (1951) (READ 10/2020)

61. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (1952) (READ 8/2020)

62  The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (1955) RE-READ 1/2023

63  Amberwell by D.E. Stevenson (1955) READ 10/2022

64. Summerhills by D.E. Stevenson (1956) READ 1/2023

65. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (1956) (READ 4/2021)

66. The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson (1958) READ 1/2023

67. The Day Christ was Born by Jim Bishop (1960) READ 12/2020

68. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961) READ 5/2021

69. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (1961) READ 7/2020

70. The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge (1963) READ 8/2021

71. Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein (1964)

72. A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry (1967) READ 6/2021

73. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1967)

74. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1971) 

75.  The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer (1971) READ 11/2020

76. L'Abri by Edith Schaeffer (1972) READ 10/2021

77. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff (1973)

78. Roots by Alex Haley (1976)

79. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (1977)

Back-Up List

Emily's Quest by L.M. Montgomery (1927)

Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck (1940)

Hounds of Baskerville by Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)

A Francis Schaeffer book

Another Elizabeth Goudge novel

Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis  (1938)

A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich (1928)

Bright April by Marguerite de Angela (1940)

Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers (1923)

We Made A Garden by Margery Fish (1956)

Pygmalion  by Robert Bernard Shaw (1912) 

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Have you read any of these books, and if so, what did you think about them? Do you have a recommendation of which book(s) to read sooner rather than later?