Friday 4 May 2012

Classics Club Project






Joining the Classic Projects by Jillian, I'd like to post my to-read list here just to remind myself (and to half-force me to read classics). I am not sure about the time I have to read, and some of the books here are long, while others are things I think I have to read before I die but am very lazy to start, so I only include 50 books.

If in fact, I finish all these before the due time I will add more to the list.


  1. The Bible
  2. Caroll, Lewis - Alice's Adventure in Wonderland
  3. Caroll, Lewis - Through the Looking Glass
  4. Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
  5. Dickens, Charles - A Christmas Carol (re-read)
  6. Dickens, Charles - Tale of Two Cities
  7. Doyle, Arthur Conan - The White Company
  8. Dumas, Alexandre Jr. – La Dame Aux Camellias (re-read)
  9. Dumas, Alexandre – The Count of Monte Cristo (re-read)
  10. Dumas, Alexandre – The Man in the Iron Mask
  11. Dumas, Alexandre – The Three Musketeers
  12. Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After 
  13. Euripides  The Trojan Women
  14. Fitzgerald, F. Scott – The Great Gatsby
  15. Fitzgerald, F. Scott – This Side of Paradise
  16. Homer - Illiad
  17. Homer - Odyssey
  18. Hugo, Victor - Les Miserables
  19. LeBlanc, Maurice - Eight Strokes of the Clock
  20. Leroux, Gaston – The Phantom of the Opera
  21. Malory, Thomas - Le Morte d'Arthur
  22. Melville, Herman – Moby Dick
  23. Milton, John – Areopagitica (re-read)
  24. Neruda, Pablo - 100 Sonnets of Love
  25. Neruda, Pablo – Book of Questions
  26. Orwell, George - 1984
  27. Ovid - Metamorphoses 
  28. Pyle, Howard – The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
  29. Rostand, Edmond – Cyrano de Bergerac
  30. Sabatini, Rafael - Captain Blood (re-read)
  31. Sabatini, Rafael - Scaramouche
  32. de Saint Exupery, Antoine - The Little Prince
  33. Scott, Sir Walter – Ivanhoe 
  34. Shakespeare, William - Antony and Cleopatra
  35. Shakespeare, William - Julius Caesar (re-read)
  36. Shakespeare, William - Lucrece
  37. Shakespeare, William - Much Ado About Nothing (re-read)
  38. Shakespeare, William - Othello
  39. Shakespeare, William - Richard III
  40. Shakespeare, William - Sonnets (re-read)
  41. Shakespeare, William - The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  42. Shakespeare, William – Venus and Adonis
  43. Shaw, George Bernard – Pygmalion (re-read)
  44. Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
  45. Sheridan - School for Scandal
  46. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (read)
  47. Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
  48. Spencer, Edmund - Faerie Queene
  49. Stevenson,R L - Treasure Island
  50. Sydney, Sir Philip - Astrophel and Stella
  51. Thackeray, W M - Vanity Vair
  52. Verne - From the Earth to the Moon
  53. Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues under The Sea (re-read)
  54. Virgil - Aeneid
  55. Voltaire - Candide
  56. Wilde, Oscar - An Ideal Husband
  57. Wilde, Oscar - The Importance of Being Earnest
Start Date: May 5th 2012
Finish Date: May 5th 2017

I edited my list (11/08/2012), because I don't want to read Faust and Dorian Grey (the movie and opera frighten me devilishly) and I changed them with some adventurous novels, my favourite genre. To make amends of the sin I've committed, I add one more book to the list, Pyle's Robin Hood. 

I edited my list (11/02/2013) because I don't know why. There are books I don't feel like reading anymore. But I keep my pledge, and add one book to my list for editing. It's Sabatini's Scaramouche.

Editing this again (13/03/2014) because some books must be written off the list. I can't suffer Portrait of a Lady, nor do I have the heart and diligence to read Vicomte de Bragelonne. Eugene Onegin is off, too, until I have strong enough heart to see others' shattered. So I turn to Ovid's Metamorphoses because it's a great source for Renaissance writers, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein because I am determined never again to mistake the Doctor and the creature like so many ignorant souls, and Orwell's 1984 because I don't usually read dystopia book. The addition is Canterbury Tales. 

Hope I can finish these books by then.  

11 comments:

  1. Yayyy...you are the 4th Indonesian blogger (BBI) who joined The Classics Club!

    Wow, you have read George Bernard Shaw! How do you think, is his works less or more "difficult" than Shakespeare?

    A little correction, La Dame Aux Camellias is written by Alexandre Dumas, Jr. (not the father)

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    1. Really? Who are the 2 others? I'm happy to have a fellow Indonesian joining the project.

      I won't comment about the difficulty, but I love Shakespeare more. The language is so strong and well-thought, not saying well written too.

      Yes, it's the son's, but I was not sure how to write the Jr. part in the list. Haha. (You should not name your kids by your own name, you know. :p) Thanks for pointing that out though. You are a thorough reader. :D

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  2. Hi Listra! A beautiful list, and welcome to the club! :-) Don't forget to join up officially here, so others in the club can find you. Cheers, and best wishes with your list!

    - Jillian :-)

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    1. Thanks, Jillian. I've join up officially and am excited to start the project. Good luck on your list too, it's much longer than mine. :D

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  3. Lovely list. I cheer for The Portrait of a Lady and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich :-)

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  4. Hi Listra - you have a lot of titles on your list that intrigue me. Have fun with your reading!

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  5. A few of your titles are on my list as well -- I look forward to reading your thoughts on them.

    But your list is much more diverse than mine is. I have such a hard time tearing myself away from British literature. It's an illness! ;)

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    1. Oh, tell me about it! I love British literature so much. Last week I tried to read Russian literature (usually I read French literature, but never Russian before) and had hard time adjusting myself to the translation. It feels weird. But I have a feeling that I have to read many things, so I try Russian anyway.

      Good luck with your list too.

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  6. Great list! I'll be very interested to see what you think of The Iliad and The Aeneid. I've studied extracts from both in the original Ancient Greek and Latin and thought they were brilliant; so different to modern literature. I hope you enjoy all your reading :)

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    1. Wow. You read in Latin and Greek? That is amazing. I have never touched anything Greek or Latin without translation.

      I am reading Aeneid, and a bit confused with the names. There are lots of new names I didn't know about. Thankfully, the publisher provides little notes so I can understand (a bit) about the context.

      Thank you.

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  7. This is a great list. I am pleased to see lots of Shakespeare, but also, how can I say, less 'obvious' authors too. I will be keeping an eye out for what you think of Dickens, as he features rather prominently on my Classics Club list as well.

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