Brand New Year: How’s Your Challenge Coming Along?

It's a brand new year. Yes, I'm one of those odd people who like to set goals for the year and plan my year out. So far, I have penciled in twenty-five classics that I hope to read in 2022. Last year I read twenty. How about you? How are your Classic Club reads coming? …

Monthly Meme: What’s Your Favorite Classic Book? Why?

(Starting in August 2021 (as well as August 2015 through December 2016 and again in early 2018), we decided to start recycling some of the questions from the club’s first three years, to give those who weren’t members yet an opportunity to answer live, & to allow those who have already answered — or who lacked …

What is Going on at the Classics Club This Summer?

Summer is often a time for many of us to try something new, to take on a new challenge. Perhaps you would like to do that. What are some of the challenges you might like to join? Here are a few that are, or might be, taking place. Beginning in June 2021 Kay at What …

Upcoming Events?

Does anyone have any classics-related events coming up in 2021? It's been quiet over in the events corner of The Classics Club blog. Rachel at The Edge of the Precipice has invited you to join her in a read-along of Sense and Sensibility that began March 1st. There are more details on her blog. Dolce Bellezza will …

Goals for 2021?

I suspect that we Classic Clubbers are a people who set more goals than most. (I also suspect that we are a people who tend to carry the goals out, but perhaps that's a thought for another time.) What are your reading/bookish goals for 2021? What Classic Club goals have you set for the new …

Back to the Classics Challenge

Is there another challenge out there that lends itself so well to our personal Classics Club challenge and yet also helps us step outside our comfort zone? I have decided to join this challenge for 2021 and I thought now would be a good time to share it with you, in case you have missed …

A List of Nonfiction Classics

We talked last month about books that could be considered to be preeminent nonfiction classics here, and many members offered suggestions in the comments. I'm a list maker, and I decided to compile a nice long list of nonfiction classics from books listed in our Big Book List and from suggestions made in the comments …

Nonfiction Classics

We've spoke here a lot about the idea of a classic. What makes a book a classic? We most recently revisited this topic in early April here, and we have also spoken to this question in 2018 here, and, if you take a look at the comments, you will quickly see that many of us …

What is Coming This Fall?

It's a time of a pandemic. There are not a lot of events going on in the world this fall. The usual fall festivals and book fairs are postponed or have been placed online. (Take a look here for a list of online book festivals.) But there are some wonderful online book events that are …

The Summer Reverse Readathon

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon was begun in 2007, and it has continued on, twice a year, in the spring and the fall (US seasons) every year since it was first created. Last year a new tradition was started, Dewey's 24-Hour Reverse Readathon. The Reverse Readathon was designed to be a laid-back readathon that would take place …

Book Festivals

One of the (many) things I love about being a reader is attending huge book celebrations of one sort or another. Over the years, I've visited the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago; BookExpo in Chicago and New York City; the Texas Library Association Conference in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston; the American Library …

Summer Reading Challenges: #bookaday and #bigbooksummer and #20booksofsummer20

Having a goal, having a focus centers me, especially during difficult times. You may be different, and that's perfectly okay. But if you'd like some focus for your reading life during this summer, I encourage you to join me in a couple of summer reading challenges. Every summer for over ten years, the Book Whisperer, …

Personal Canon of Books

An idea: A personal canon of books. Ruth, at A Great Book Study, writes: Every avid reader has a particular and unique way of composing a personal canon.  The list is characteristic of who you are.  It says, "These are my books." What sorts of books are in one's personal canon? Again, from Ruth: Some of these …

24in48 Presents: The Social Distancing Readathon

From the 24in48 Readathon: And as more and more countries are implementing social distancing recommendations (if not actual quarantines), we decided it was time to find comfort in books and the community that loves them. Which brings us to the Social Distancing Readathon. Stay home. Wash your hands. Read books. March 21 & 22.  It’s that simple. …

The Begorrathon and Dewithon: A Month to Celebrate Irish and Welsh Writing

Join Cathy at 746 Books to celebrate Irish writing during the month of March. Ireland Month, or The Begorrathon as it is affectionately called, will feature book reviews, poems, plays, songs, giveaways and much more.  You might like to join in by reading an Irish classic. Or two. Or three. Here are some you might consider. …