There are a lot of books on my TBR shelves. Seriously. A Lot. 924 books as of January 28th. That includes books on both my physical bookshelves and books on my Kindle shelf. I also have 1076 books waiting on my wishlist.

These numbers are exciting to me because I know that I will never be without something to read.

Yet, I am aware that some books have been waiting on my TBR shelves for many years. To encourage myself to start reading them, I joined the Read Europe Challenge at the beginning of 2024. I’m also working on developing a Read the World Challenge for myself (more on that later). Plus I’m re-reading Agatha Christie books for the Read Christie 2024 Challenge. It’s a lot of challenges for someone new to the world of online and Instagram reading challenges. Nevertheless, when I saw Gilion Dumas mention a Classics Club Challenge on Instagram, I was intrigued.

The Classics Club Challenge

The Classics Club Challenge is hosted by The Classics Club Challenge Blog.

The Classics Club Challenge encourages participants to make a dream list of 50, 100, or 200 classic books and agree to read and review them within 5 years. Because there’s a list required up front, it makes me a bit nervous. (Mood Reader Commitment Issues.) However, with 5 years to do the reading, I’m pretty sure this is workable for me.

What Constitutes a Classic?

For the purposes of this challenge, it is any book that is older than 25 years, so pre-1999 for those starting the challenge in 2024. I feel the advantage to 25 years, is that it allows a much larger number of books by female authors and BIPOC authors. 

Another element of a classic is that it should be “of literary value as decided by the reader”. 

How I Created My List

This was so much harder than I thought it was going to be!

• Firstly, there are far more than 50 classics that I want to read. I could easily make a list of 200, but I still want to be able to accept ARCs and read other books that catch my eye. Therefore, I am keeping a second running list so that I can re-enter the challenge once I finish the first list. 

• Secondly, I had to decide whether I wanted to include re-reads. Since I want to discover new works, I only added a few I had previously read. 

• Thirdly, I wanted to be certain I had diverse voices.

• Finally, I wanted to make sure that I had enough genres represented so that it would work for my many reading moods. (Mood Reader Commitment Issues)

Ultimately, what helped to keep me focussed was physically pulling out all of the unread classics on my shelves and making a list of all of the unread classics on my Kindle then adding them to a spreadsheet. It took a little over a week, but I finally have my list!

The List

Is this my dream list? Let’s call it an abbreviated dream list.

The majority of  books are ones that I own, but there are a handful I included while making the list that I will need to seek out. 

Info On My List

Title – Author (Author’s Nation of Birth ) Publication Date – Genre

The author’s nation of birth is to help me with cross-over book challenges, and I’ve done my best to be sure the locations are accurate. If you note a problem, please let me know.

I am using the date when the work was written, even if the book I am reading was published at a later date, which is usually true of translations. In 2 cases, I’m using the years in which the books were written rather than the posthumous publication dates. 

With the genre/format, I have used what I found on the book or on the internet. I’ll make corrections as I read and review.

As I write reviews, I will add links to them.

Julie’s Classics Club Challenge List 1/29/24-1/29/29

1. Akhenaten – Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1985 – historical fiction
2. Arabian Days and Nights – Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1982 – fiction
3. Babette’s Feast – Isak Denisen (Denmark) 1950 – short story
4. Bibliolepsy – Gina Apostol (Philippines) 1997 – historical/political fiction
5. Burmese Days – George Orwell (UK) 1934 – political fiction
6. Christmas at Thompson Hall – Anthony Trollope (UK) – 1877 – short stories
7. Christmas Pudding – Nancy Mitford (UK) – 1932 – fiction
8. Clear Light of Day – Anita Desai (India) 1980 – fiction
9. Crampton Hodnet – Barbara Pym (UK) 1940 – comedy
10. Daughter of Fortune – Isabel Allende (Chile) 1948 – historical fiction
11. Dear Shameless Death – Latife Tekin (Turkey) 1983 – fiction
12. Desolacion – Gabriela Mistral (Chile) 1922 – poetry
13. Dogeaters – Jessica Hagedorn (Philippines) 1990 – political fiction
14. Dona Inez vs. Oblivion – Ana Teresa Torres (Venezuela) 1992 – fiction
15. Dusk – F. Sionil Jose (Philippines) 1980 – historical fiction
16. Fresh from the Country – Miss Read (UK) 1960 – fiction
17. The Gangster of Love – Jessica Hagedorn (Philippines) 1996 – fiction
18. The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark (UK) 1963 – fiction novella
19. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy (India) 1997 – fiction
20. The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing (UK) 1992 – inner space fiction
21. The Harafish – Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1977 – novel
22. Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell (UK) 1938 – non-fiction
23. In Custody – Anita Desai (India) 1984 – fiction
24. The Inimitable Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse (UK) 1923 – humor
25. The Journey of Ibn-Fattouma – Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1983 – fiction
26. Karnak Cafe – Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1974 – fiction
27. Khan al-Khalili – Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1945 – fiction
28. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace – Dang Thuy Tram (Vietnam) 1970 – diary
29. The Law of Love – Laura Esquivel (Mexico) 1996 – science fiction
30. Leadon Hall – Richmal Crompton (UK) 1927 – fiction
31. Lolly Willowes – Sylvia Townsend Warner (UK) 1926 – fantasy/satire
32. Look to the Mountain – LeGrand Cannon, Jr. (US) 1942 – historical fiction
33. The Lost Gallows – John Dickinson Carr (US) 1931 – mystery
34. Memory in the Flesh – Ahlam Mosteghanemi (Algeria) 1993 – fiction
35. Millicent Dorrington – Richmal Crompton (UK) 1927 – fiction
36. On Love and Barley – Basho (Japan) 1600’s – poetry
37. Orlando – Virginia Woolf (UK) 1928 – fiction
38. Our Town – Thornton Wild (USA) 1937 – play/tragedy
39. Out of Africa – Isak Dinesen (Denmark) – 1937 – novel
40. The Secret of the Old Clock – Carolyn Keene (US) 1930 – juvenile mystery
41. The Streets of Algiers & Other Poems – Anna Greki (Algeria) 1963 – poetry
42. The Thief and the Dogs – Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1961 – fiction
43. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) 1958 – political fiction
44. The Time & Place & Other Stories – N. Mahfouz (Egypt) 1991 – short stories
45. To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf (UK) 1927 – modernism
46. Travels with My Aunt – Graham Greene (UK) 1969 – humor
47. Two- Way Murder – ECR Lorac (UK) pre-1958 – mystery
48. The Valley of Assassins – Freya Stark (UK) 1934 – travel essays
49. The Winter of our Discontent – John Steinbeck (US) 1961 – fiction
50. A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle (US) 1962 – young adult/sci fi

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