It’s time to start compiling challenges for 2023 to post here. Please send me a message at debnance at gmail dot com if you are hosting an event that might be of interest to Classic Clubbers.
You are cordially invited to join Rachel at Hamlette’s Soliloquy and others in celebrating the author L. M. Montgomery and her creations! From Anne of Green Gables to The Blue Castle, from Emily of New Moon to Jane of Lantern Hill, Lucy Maud Montgomery created some of the most-beloved characters and stories of the twentieth century. February 20 through 24, bloggers will spend five whole days sharing a common appreciation of this wonderful writer and her creations. Find out more here.
Welcome to the Japanese Literature Challenge 16!
During January and February of 2023, Meredith at Dolce Bellezza is sponsoring the Japanese Literature Challenge. You are invited to read Japanese novels, short stories, mysteries, thrillers, or even poetry if you so choose.
Please leave a link to that which you have read by clicking here. That way, we can all have a chance to enjoy what you chose.
The FINDS part of Nordic FINDS stands for Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden, the five Nordic countries. For Annabel at AnnaBookBel, reading Nordic literature really began in the 1990s, when a few modern novels began to appear in translation in English and became bestsellers. In the first #NordicFINDS in 2022, Annabel spent one week per country, revisiting those gateway books that led me into Nordic lit, and as many others from each country as readers had time for (concentrating on Nordic Noir and contemporary lit). Then in January 2023 the group had a casual Nordic reading month with no set themes for each week. Find out more here.
Dewithon is an opportunity for book bloggers and readers in general around the world to discover Welsh writers and their works (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, in fact anything written in English or Welsh with links to the nation of Wales).
We will begin our usual 31 days of celebration on Wednesday 1st March 2023 (St. David’s Day), with an official page appearing on which your Dewithon-related posts will feature. In the meantime, you can find plenty of useful links and reading suggestions in the freshly updated DHQ (Dewithon Headquarters) post and in our Reading Wales Library (there is also oodles of new information on The Welsh Diaspora and its Literature page), but please do not hesitate to ask for help if you are struggling to get started. You are encouraged to read and share your thoughts on any book or literary subject with a Welsh connection, so prepare to dechrau darllen (start reading)! Find out more here.
This year Cathy at 746 Books is theming Reading Ireland Month. Feel free to join in with this, or just read what you want, when you want!
Intro Week: 1 – 5 March
Irish Classics Week: 6 -12 March
Contemporary Irish Week: 13 – 19 March
Short Story Week: 20 – 26 March
Non- Fiction Week: 27 – 31 March
Grab the badge and get planning your Ireland-themed reading or viewing. Like the Facebook page here and then between 1 and 31 March, post as much as you like about any aspect of Irish literature and culture – anything at all!
If you need some inspiration, check out Cathy’s list of 100 Irish Novels and 100 Novels by Irish Women Writers.
2023 (All Year)
Kim at Reading Matters and Cathy from 746 Books have come up with a reading schedule for A Year With William Trevor and they will be posting our reviews in the first week of every month, between January and December 2023. Find out more here.
The Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2023 focuses on 19th- and early to mid-20th-century writers, including authors who may not have achieved prominence in their lifetimes, or whose works have been forgotten and/or overlooked because of past gender bias. For more information, take a look here.
2023 Chapter-a-Day Challenge

How to Participate in the 2023 Chapter-a-Day Read-along:
- Get a copy of each of the six books.
- If you have your own blog, write a welcome post explaining why you are joining the read-along and what you hope to gain from it. Leave a link to your post in the comments section at the end of this post.
- Download the daily schedule: Nick’s 2023 George Eliot Chapter-a-Day Reading Schedule
- Commit to reading a chapter a day. If you get behind or race ahead, no worries. Life happens.
- Join Nick in posting a quote each day on Facebook or Twitter. I will be posting on both, using the hashtag #eliotreadalong. No spoilers, please!
- You will find official 2023 read-along graphic next to this list. Feel free to use it on your website if you wish.
- Subscribe to One Catholic Life so you don’t miss any read-along posts throughout the year. You can get updates via email by using the form in the right-hand sidebar.
Reading Schedule
As I mentioned above, we’ll be reading six of George Eliot’s major works. Here is a broad outline of the reading schedule, along with links to the Kindle editions, the online Gutenberg editions, and the Librivox audiobook editions (Kindle links are affiliate links):
- Adam Bede: January 1 to February 24 – Kindle – Gutenberg – Librivox
- The Mill on the Floss: February 25 to April 23 – Kindle – Gutenberg – Librivox
- Silas Marner: April 24 to May 14 – Kindle – Gutenberg – Librivox
- Romola: May 15 to July 26 – Kindle – Gutenberg – Librivox
- Middlemarch: July 27 to October 22 – Kindle – Gutenberg – Librivox
- Daniel Deronda: October 23 to December 31 – Kindle – Gutenberg – Librivox
Please join Gilion at Rose City Reader for the eleventh edition of our Grand Tour of Europe through books! The European Reading Challenge has been going strong since 2012. Choose your own level of commitment to complete the challenge. There is a Jet Setter Prize for the person who visits the most countries between the covers.
THE GIST: The idea is to read books set in European countries or books by European authors. The books can be of any genre – fiction, nonfiction, novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, whatever. You can participate at different levels, but each book must represent a different country — either written by an author from a different country or set in a different country, no two books from the same country.
To participate in the challenge, sign up at the levels below. If you want to go on to compete for the Prize, keep reading!
- FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.
- FOUR STAR (HONEYMOONER): Read four qualifying books.
- THREE STAR (BUSINESS TRAVELER): Read three qualifying books.
- TWO STAR (ADVENTURER): Read two qualifying books.
- ONE STAR (PENSIONE WEEKENDER): Read just one qualifying book.
For the 2023 Nonfiction Reader Challenge, you can select, read and review a book from the categories listed below during the year for a total of up to 12 books; OR select, read and review any nonfiction book. A book may be in print, electronic or audio format. For more information, visit Shelleyrae’s post at Book’d Out.
History
Memoir/Biography
Crime & Punishment
Science
Health
Travel
Food
Social Media
Sport
Relationships
The Arts
Published in 2023
If you’re a Classics Clubber and you would like to sharing information about a classics event, fill in the contact form here. Please let us know the start and end date for the event, some details, and a link to the home site. It’s fine to do this whether you’re the host of the event or simply want to share one you’ve discovered, as long as you’re a clubber. (Also check out any events our members on Twitter may have tweeted about at hashtag #cceventsched.) 🙂 – The Club
Anyone interested in a buddy read of Mahabharata?
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Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know I created a list for our group at Goodreads, where we can vote for our top ten classic reads so far with the club. This is just to have fun & get a general reading on our favorites so far. If anyone is interested. 😊 You can totally edit your votes as you go, & if you don’t have ten favorites yet, that’s totally fine. OR, if you want to vote for eleven instead of ten, legitimately no one will know.
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I added some directions for how to vote at the top of the page there in case folks ain’t Goodreads saavy. And yes I can say ain’t in the Classics Club because Twain approves.
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I’m hosting a read-along of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility beginning March 1. We’re aiming to read 6 chapters a week. Read this blog post for more info.
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Thank you for sharing this. I will add it to the events calendar.
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I’m hosting a Russian Literature Challenge in 2020:
https://achaemenids.blogspot.com/2019/12/russian-literature-challenge-2020.html
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I’m hosting a Reading Classic Books Challenge. The plan is to do the 12 challenge prompts to help me read the books on my Classics Club list. So, I hope others will join in.
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I forgot to say it’s a year long challenge that starts January 2020. And, will you add to the Events page? Thanks!
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Are there any events people are planning for next year?
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I’m hosting a Reading Classic Books Challenge, which can be done in conjunction with The Classics Club Challenge. There are 12 prompts, Instagram challenges, and giveaways. So, hopefully people can find books from Classics Club reading list to fit the prompts.
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A little last minute but I’m hosting a The House of Mirth Read-along beginning Nov 1st and going until Dec 15th. Here’s a link to my post: https://classicalcarousel.com/the-house-of-mirth-read-along/
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Spotted this June 2019 event Deb – http://inthebookcase.blogspot.com/2019/05/louisa-may-alcott-reading-challenge.html
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And I have a #MobyDickReadalong coming up in August
http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/05/moby-dick-readalong.html?m=1
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I’m hosting a read-along of C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves if anyone would like to join me. Here’s my initial post: https://classicalcarousel.com/four-loves-read-along/
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Hello,
I’m hosting a read-along for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by Mary Wollstonecraft, for the month of April. If anyone is interested, check it out here:
https://greatbookstudy.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-vindication-of-rights-of-womenread.html
Thanks!
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Hi!
I’m hosting a readalong for Gone with the Wind from March 1-31 if anyone is interested!
I know many Classics Club members have this book on their TBR and it might be a good chance to knock it off once and for all!
For more info: https://thebookcorps.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/gone-with-the-wind-readalong-march/
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Not to be pushy, but Brona, dear Brona, is the Moby Dick read-along still happening in February??
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2019 year of Shakespeare anyone? Maybe one play a month?
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I could possibly get behind that.
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We could even make it into a 3 year project to get all the plays, if people got really excited. Though that seems long. 😁
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Part of me says, “Absolutely!” and part of me says, “Yeah, prolly not gonna happen.” Maybe make a poll and have people vote on what they’d like to have included? Or let everyone choose their own things and just have it be a “read some Shakespeare” event like the Women Authors event from a year or two ago?
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I was thinking more aling the lines of voting for the plays, and everyone reading the same. But we could also split it into 4 month tragedy, comedy, history and let people read however many they want.
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