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)

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

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


10. The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot (1860)

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

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


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




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




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

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




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]


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




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)


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

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

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

74. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1971) 

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)








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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?




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