Check-in below!
Tell us about your project — or you! Introduce yourself. (You can introduce yourself more officially here!) Chat.
Tell us what you’ve read, how you’re feeling about your progress, how much you love the classics or the community – any struggles, a favorite read so far. Really, whatever you feel like sharing!
Some people prefer writing an update at their own blog and linking it here in the comments. That’s fine, too.
Please — don’t feel like you are speaking directly to me when you comment, just because I wrote this post. I want this to be a group party. I open the door and invite you in, and then you discuss together.
Feel free to respond to one another in the comments, ask questions, visit each other, tell us you are new to the club, planning to join the club – etc. This is like a meet and greet.
And do not feel ashamed of your progress!! Even if you’ve not finished anything yet. This thread is a conversation — that’s all.
If you’re having trouble with your list and need encouragement, say that! That’s absolutely understandable. We want new classics readers to join us, so there’s nothing wrong with arriving to this thread with all of the newness showing!
(Please also note the “check-in” feature here is entirely voluntarily, intended for those who like weighing in with others in the group, and having a periodic place to reflect upon goals for the club. For some this feature would feel like an unwanted intrusion. Silent participation in this group is of course welcome!)
Thanks for all of your enthusiasm about this project, clubbers. We’re excited to see us at 221 and counting. 
Twitter hashtag for reading check-ins: #ccreadingupdate
New? Introduce yourself to the group on Twitter using hashtag #ccintroductions @ourclassicsclub.
I’ve been discovering so many new “classics” that I keep updating my original list (which I admit was thrown together in a few hours). Recently I’ve read a somewhat recent classic, the 1947 Pulitzer Prize winning “All the King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren. What a great book. I’m reading around outside of the classics as well including mysteries (“The Nine Tailors” by Dorothy L. Sayers) and political fiction (“The Plot Against America” by Philip Roth). I’ve just started “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens which is for a ten-week class and which I have read once before. I use series mysteries like a lemon ice palate cleanser between big books. Sometimes it’s nice not to have to think too hard when you’re reading in bed.
I’m doing well so far, 5 of the 50: The Moonstone, North and South, The Invisible Man, The Phantom of the Opera, and Bridge to Terabithia. I loved North and South! So glad I read it. Bridge to Terabithia was amazing, I cried my eyes out. I put a lot of children’s books on my list because I’m working my way through the Newbery award winners. Phantom of the Opera I read for another challenge, but I can’t say I liked it too much. I do like classic mystery/horror though.
Hi everyone! You can read my rather lengthy check-in on my blog: http://anneishimaginaryadventures.blogspot.hu/2012/09/the-classics-club-check-in-1.html
I had the impression I had already posted a comment… something must’ve gone wrong. Anyway!
So far I’ve read 19 out of the 75 books of the challenge, right now I’m immersed in Baudelaire’s “Flowers of Evil”, rereading it for the 4th or 5th time, in a new edition so I don’t have any ‘bias’ as I read the poems.
My favourites have been:
- ‘Tender is the Night’ by Fitzgerald, I liked it even more than ‘The Great Gatsby’.
- ‘Ninety-Three’ by Victor Hugo, a splendid historical fiction novel about the French Revolution. It’s so thrilling! I think that those troubles times are brilliantly portrayed by Hugo, who is able to convey the significance of that moment, but also what the ‘common’ people had to go through. It’s an overview of almost everything that must’ve happened there. And there’s a lot of action and the dialogues are brilliant (you can really tell Hugo wrote dramas too).
- Burmese Days by Orwell. I was really surprised by this one. I mean, it has nothing to do, apparently, with the themes in 1984 or Animal Farm, but it actually has and his writing is as clear and precise (and somewhat cruel with his characters) as always. I need to read more books by him!
- The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. I could’ve never imagined how amazing this book is.
About my projects, hopes, future, etc. Since I entered the challenge I have modified the list – adding and withdrawing some novels – in order to fit with my tastes or new discoveries. I want this challenge to be a chance to get to know foreign cultures. Most of the books in my list are by English, American, French or Spanish authors (there are some Russians, a couple of Italians, etc). And I want to discover about Asian, African and Australian Literature too! So if you have any suggestions…
Where did you find an edition of ’93? I’ve been trying to find it for years – online, scouring through second hand bookshops etc – all good fun in a way, but so far fruitless as far Victor Hugo goes.
Well, I’m lucky enough to speak French, so I bought the original version, which is more easier to find
Anyway, I think you can buy it in Amazon!
I feel like I’m late to the party, but I’ve enjoyed reading the other comments so much that I thought I would add my own. I joined the classics club in August. So far I have finished The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I enjoyed both, but out of the two Dorian Gray is my favorite. Currently I am reading Gone With the Wind and l-o-v-i-n-g it. It’s such a wonderful work, and being a displaced southern girl it makes me smile and feel incredibly homesick at the same time.