#9 - Least favorite classic? Why?
Hands down, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
The 'why' is in the post from when I read it.
#8 Which classic is your most memorable classic to date? Why?
Considering only the classics that I read specifically for classics club, two titles stand out as most memorable: Lonesome Dove and The French Lieutenant's Woman.
Both novels were books I had known about for a long time and thought I knew what they would be. They both turned out to be quite different, and much more fabulous, than I expected.
To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026.
#6 - First classic you ever read?
#7 - Favorite children's classic?
The first classic I read for Classics Club was the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I participated in a read-along for this book, which was probably a good thing because I didn't love this book and that might have been the end of my club activity if I hadn't had the read-along to keep me going.
The first classic I ever read was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I wrote about my experience with it in 2013 in a meme about re-reading.
Little Women is also my favorite children's classic. I am also fond of Alice in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time by Ursula K. Le Guin, and Eloise by Kay Thompson.
When I was a kid I loved the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett, the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren, and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty MacDonald. I haven't read any of these since I was actually a kid, however, so I don't know if they hold up.
#5 - If you could explore one author’s literary career from first publication to last — meaning you have never read this author and want to explore him or her by reading what s/he wrote in order of publication — who would you explore? Obviously this should be an author you haven’t yet read, since you can’t do this experiment on an author you’re already familiar with. 🙂 Or, which author’s work you are familiar with might it have been fun to approach this way?
I love this idea but I have not been able to come up with an author that I want to do this with whose work I haven't already read most of. I am definitely a completist, when I find an author I like I keep reading their work until I am out of books. I have finished (or very nearly finished) the works of Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Robertson Davies, Colson Whitehead, and Margaret Atwood. Until I read one of their books though, I don't know if I am interested enough to read the whole oeuvre.
I did do this once with a poet -- Jane Kenyon and I enjoyed the experience. I read a biography of her along with the poetry and essays in order of publication.
One Hundred Years of Solitude “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano BuendÃa was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice...”
“Wherever they might be they always remember that the past was a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral truth in the end."
#4 - Classic author who has the most works on your club list? Or, classic author you’ve read the most works by?
Charles Dickens definitely has the most spots on my list -- I have read 4 of his novels for the Club and there are 4 more of his books on my current list.
On Sunday 8th February 2026 the spin number will be posted and the challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on my Spin List by the 29th March, 2026.
#3 - Best book you’ve read so far with the club? Why?
I give all the books I read star ratings, and 5-star books are fairly rare -- I save that for books that were really wonderfully written and that really spoke to me in some way. Out of the 110 books I have read for the club there are only 8 that I gave 5 stars.
#2 - What classic are you planning to read next? Why? Is there a book first published in 1926 that you plan to read this year?
I don't have a 1926 book on my current list but an earlier list included Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy which was published in 1926.
I'm not sure which one I will read next, I rarely plan that sort of thing in advance, I just pick up whatever appeals to me in the moment. I have a couple of Classics Club titles in progress -- both very slow progress. War and Peace is my "read at lunch at the office" book and has been for several years now--I am making slow but regular progress on it. Several months ago I began listening to One Hundred Years of Solitude on audio in the car, but other things to listen to while I drive keep appealing to me more. Not sure if that one will end up abandoned or not.
#1 - When did you join The Classics Club? How many titles have you read for the club so far? Share a link to your latest classics club list.
I joined the club in September 2012. It took me until 2018 to read my first list of 50 titles. I finished my second list in November 2023 and started in on my third (and current list) which will ideally be completed by December 31, 2028. From the beginning I have set the additional rule for myself that once I compile a list--which has more than 50 books on it--I can't add to it, I have to select my 50 books from the compiled list. I have finished 10 books from my current list so my grand total for the club so far is 110 books read.
Lonesome Dove “It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times.”
“Yesterday's gone on down the river and you can't get it back.”
“My main skills are talking and cooking biscuits,' Augustus said. 'And getting drunk on the porch.”
“I'm glad I've been wrong enough to keep in practice. . . You can't avoid it, you've got to learn to handle it. If you only come face to face with your own mistakes once or twice in your life it's bound to be extra painful. I face mine every day--that way they ain't usually much worse than a dry shave.”
On Sunday 15th June 2025 the spin number will be posted and the challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on my Spin List by the 24th August, 2025.
Roots: The Saga of an American Family 
The Gods Themselves "Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain." -- Friedrich Schiller
Three Men in a Boat "Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need--a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing."
Here is my list:
Dom Casmurro “In ordinary life, the action of a third party does not free the contractor from an obligation; but the advantage of making a contract with heaven is that intentions are valid currency.” --Machado de Assis, Dom Casmurro
We "In a glass-enclosed city of perfectly straight lines, ruled over by an all-powerful “Benefactor,” the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState are regulated by spies and secret police; wear identical clothing; and are distinguished only by a number assigned to them at birth. That is, until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. He can feel things. He can fall in love. And, in doing so, he begins to dangerously veer from the norms of his society, becoming embroiled in a plot to destroy OneState and liberate the city." --GoodReads
"A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn't even be worth reading.”
