Farewell! Hello!

Greetings, Classics Clubbers!

As you know, our founding moderators (what shall we be known as, now? “Legacy Moderators” “First Gen Moderators!?”) decided it was time to retire and make on their merry ways with other projects and responsibilities. They embarked on a perilous journey of calling for, vetting, and coordinating with new “Next Gen” moderators, those worthy few who were eager and prepared enough to carry our incredible Classics Club into the future!

A call went out, a massive response was received, and ultimately, four new exceptional individuals were selected as our noble successors. Now, it is time for us –Adam, Allie, Melissa, and Sarah– to say goodbye to you all and to introduce you to our four new Club Moderators! Here they are – please give them a very warm welcome!

Brona

I’ve been blogging at Brona’s Books since 2009 and managing an Independent bookshop in Sydney since 2008. Before that I was an early childhood teacher for 18 years in country NSW. I run a photography blog called Four Seasons and edit the Non-fiction page for the Australian Women Writers challenge. My love affair with classics began with Little Women, Seven Little Australians and the What Katy Did series. In my teens I fell in love with Jane Eyre, Anne of Green Gables and To Kill A Mockingbird. My favourite authors (to date) are Jane Austen, Wilkie Collins, Edith Wharton and Emile Zola. I joined the Classics Club in August 2012 and completed my first list in April 2018. I love the supportive community that has built up around the Classics Club and I’m a HUGE fan of the CC spins! One of my Classics Club highlights was meeting Melissa (gen one moderator) and her Huz when they visited Australia a few years ago. I’m thrilled to be part of the team that will guide the Classics Club into it’s next phase.

Deb N.

Books are my happy place. Since I started spontaneously reading at age two, I’ve spent many happy hours with a book. I’ve been fortunate to not only read for fun, but to read for a job; I served as a teacher and a school librarian from 1977 until my retirement in May of 2018. I’ve blogged at Readerbuzz for over ten years. I made my way through lots of classics as a child, including Aesop’s Fables and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. As I got older, I read and loved Don Quixote; The Glass Bead Game; I, Claudius; Walden; The Odyssey; and Kafka’s Metamorphosis. I’m especially interested in children’s classics and in reading classic books from diverse cultures. I was late to the game, joining The Classics Club in January of 2018. But I’ve hit the road running; in a half a year I’ve read more than fifteen books on my list. When I’m not reading, I’m busy writing on one of a half dozen books I’ve started or swimming or walking or doing yoga or baking bread or drawing or traveling, and I’m always happily obsessing about what to read next. I am delighted to serve as one of the four new Classics Club moderators. Find me on Twitter: @Debnance!

Kay R.

I don’t remember when I read my first classic, but it was probably a fairy tale or it may have been something by Louisa May Alcott or Frances Hodgson Burnett. I know I read David Copperfield at a fairly early age, and when I was 11, I picked up Dostoevsky (although I had no clue what was going on). Years later, I have a Master’s degree in English Literature and Language. I am a long-time professional technical writer (now retired—yippee!) who also taught composition and technical-writing courses at the college level. I love reading all kinds of books. When I got an iPad and spent some hours playing games, my husband thought I’d undergone a personality change. But soon I was back to reading. I am the secret author of three (sadly unpublished) trashy romance novels, and I write three blogs, What, Me Read?, a book review blog; Moving to Washington, about adjusting to an entirely new live in Washington State (yay!) after moving from Texas; and The Fat Girl’s Guide to Hiking, a brand new blog with reviews of hiking trails in Washington and Oregon for people who aren’t as fit as the people who usually write hiking guides. I joined Classics Club shortly after starting my reading blog, almost seven years ago, because I thought it was a great idea to encourage people to read classics. I am working on my second Classics Club list.

Margaret S.

My earliest aspiration was to work in a library or basically just with books. I used to be literally the only one in the school library during lunch and I’d even sneak to the local University’s library even though I was still in high school. When I graduated and began “adulting”, I realized how hard it was to work at the library…it’s actually a city government job with high prerequisites. So instead I got a job at the pharmacy, went to school and started a blog. I’ve been blogging, building websites and other computer stuff for the last 7 years & happily last May, I finally landed a spot at the library and plan to work my way up! My blog can be found at Books in Bloom.

So, there they are, our four new moderators! We wish them all the best in their new adventure and will be eagerly awaiting what comes next, as we plan to remain Club members ourselves. Please check back here on Monday for a brand new post from your brand new Moderators! Happy reading!