Fighting to Complete My Classics Club Project by Next Year!

Okay, time flies, indeed, too fast! When I started The Classics Club Project in March 2012, five years seemed so far away, I believed this project would be quite an easy one. I was wrong! Yes, the first two years my progress was quite fast. Since then I have updated and added a lot of books to my original list of 100. But today I realized for the first time, that my deadline would be 8th March 2017—only 10 months from now! If I still want to complete this project, I must work out very diligently…starting today.

So, after reviewing my list, here’s the statistic: 

Books I have read so far (reviewed or not) = 105

- Novels =    79

- Plays =       21

- Non-fiction = 5

My current list is 165 (I know… I was too ambitious then!), which is impossible to complete all in 10 months. With my current speed, 2 books a month, I think, is the most realistic. So, I trimmed down my list to 125, which means I have 20 classics to read by March 2017. It would not be an easy conquest—not with my current activities, plus I am selling our old family house and buying a new apartment this year. No, it would be very tight, but I’m prepared to push myself to the limit. Then, let’s see what I can achieve by March next year!

And, as I would soon need a lot of money to furnish the new apartment, my trimmed-list consists only of books on my TBR pile. Here they are in random order:

Novels:

1. The Pickwick Paper, Dickens – currently reading, originally for o’s read along, but I decided not to follow the timeline, as I found it difficult to reconnect with the characters after leaving them for a month.
2. Our Mutual Friend, Dickens
3. The Age of Innocence, Wharton
4. The Belly of Paris, Zola
5. The Conquest of Plassans, Zola
6. The Earth, Zola
7. The War of the Worlds, Wells
8. The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck
9. Ben Hur, Wallace
10. Defense Speeches, Cicero
11. The Swann’s Way, Proust
12. Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Hardy
13. The Hobbit, Tolkien
14. Tales of the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald
15. On the Origin of Species, Darwin
16. The Trial, Kafka

Plays:

3 plays, each from Marlowe, Ibsen, and (perhaps) Wilde

Non-Fiction:

1. The Dreyfus Affair: J’Accuse & other Writtings, Zola – currently reading 

So, 20 classics in 10 months. Read read read! And minimize the social media! Wish me luck!...