Hello bloggin friends! A little late to the party but let’s see if I can read and blog about a few of these in 2022. A few I have actually already read. I just need to make the time to write up the blog posts!
1. 19th Century Classic: I have a few Anthony Trollope novels on my shelf that I could read here. Cousin Henry, The Kellys and the O’Kellys, John Caldigate or The American Senator are what I can choose from if I stick to what I already own. But I've been pretty strict limiting my book purchases in the past two years and now I feel like indulging. BUY BUY BUY. So maybe I will read something I don't own yet.
2. 20th Century Classic: For now, I am going to leave this open. I read plenty of backlist but would like to reserve this spot for one of the 27 books I have left to read from Modern Library Top 100.
3. Woman Author Classic: I read a Furrowed Middlebrow imprint title from Dean Street Press every two months with a group on the reading app Litsy. I will probably pick one of these, since they are always mid-century novels by lesser known British female authors.
4. Translation Classic: I might stick with Zola for this. The next title in the recommended reading order is La Curée (The Kill). So far I’ve read the free editions available on Gutenberg but I think Oxford University Press has them all in print. I might start buying them. For the annotations and for the unexpurgated versions, since Victorian translators often edited out parts of novels to assuage British sensibilities.
5. BIPOC Classic: I've already read this month the book that will fit perfectly for this category. It is the American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks' only novel: Maud Martha.
6. Mystery/Detective/Crime Classic: Well, I have one more Josephine Tey novel, The Singing Sands, to read. Maybe I will pick that. On the other hand, I have a hankering to re-read some Lord Peter Wimsey novels.
7. Classic Short Story Collection: I have two beautiful Virago naked hardbacks with Daphne DuMaurier’s short stories. This is what I should pick. I’m not much of a fan of short stories in general. I might not manage this one at all.
8. Pre-1800 Classic: I have already read The Golden Ass by Apuleius in February which was “published” in the late second century CE and will fit the bill.
9. Nonfiction Classic: This is tough for me since I avoid nonfiction. Maybe I will pick Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad. If any of you have a suggestion, I am all ears.
10. Longest on your TBR: I think here I will pick another from Modern Library Top 100. I have a print out of this list and have been working on it since 1998, so pretty long!
11. Classic Set in a Place You'd Like to Visit: This is subject to change, but I might pick Norman Collin’s London Belongs to Me or Rumer Godden’s The Greengage Summer.
12. Wild Card Classic: I recently bought a copy of Wilkie Collin’s The Law and the Lady. I haven’t read any of his books in a while and I love a good Victorian sensation novel.
