How You Will Feel if You Join the Classics Club
I also suck at lists, speaking of lists. Except I love lists. I love making lists, and once I've made the list I love crossing off stuff I've already done. I just hate MAINTAINING lists and REMEMBERING WHERE I PUT lists and feeling like I am OWNED BY THE LIST even though I'm the one who gave it permission to be a thing in my life.
Reading lists are like Elizabeth Taylor because of reasons.
This happened with the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. I found it, I printed it off, I spend hours gleefully crossing off many of the entries during the 1800-1920 period. Then I downloaded a spreadsheet that showed me how many years it would take me to finish the list. Then I read some books from the list that I wouldn't put on a 1001 Books You Must Use as Birdcage Lining Before You Die list because they were so, so very bad.
Needless to say, I lost my steam and now have no idea how many books I must read before I die. See also: the Modern Library's equivalent list. See also: the list of books I make at the start of every Seasonal Reading Challenge on Goodreads, which I have started every season for two years and have never finished.
I'm determined to make the Classics Club list the list I actually finish. It's not like there isn't enough time. It's not like these books aren't stuff I already plan to read.
WHY CAN'T I FINISH A THING? Are there any other compulsive list-makers out there? Starters who never get to the finish line? Has anyone actually read all of the 1001 Books, Etc, Etc? What's the secret to finishing a challenge? TELL ME YOUR WISDOM, INTERNET.
Did you just super-want to use an Elizabeth Taylor gif? 'Cause that's my reasoning sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI have failed at all challenges this year and given up.
I've never completed a challenge aside from the RIP in October (and that's only like 4 or 5 books). Yeah. I just signed up for the Classics Club as well and am determined to make it happen. I've read one and that's a start.
ReplyDeleteList taking is the best except I generally lose them and then it doesn't matter.
I like the idea of reading challenges and reading lists, but, upon application, they always seem to give me anxiety about reading and always seem to put undue pressure on something that should never be thought of as a chore.
ReplyDelete- Bex
I like the advice another blogger gave...make a list. Don't think about what you've put in the list. Just read what you feel like. Return to the list in a few months or so. And happily cross of the books you've read that happened to be on that list!
ReplyDeleteI'm at the stage where I'm looking accusingly at all the books on my 2012 list. Stupid 2012 list. I need to read 5.6 a month (or something, I even calculated it) to stay on top of it. I might not read them out of PURE SPITE.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're joining The Classics Club. I was hoping you would! :)
ReplyDeleteMy advice about lists: simplify! Make ONE master list and keep it updated. (Don't be like me. I'll put the same list in 8,304,209,174 places. It's on LT and GR, in a Word doc and a Google doc, on my blog and on a reading group. And it's all annoying and confusing and complicated and then I hate the list.)
With the Classics Club I definitely decided to do it the same way Risa suggested. I made the giant list and then about a month or so later I looked at it and I'd read three or four. I just kept doing that and I've read about 10 but I don't plan it out. I made the Classics Club list because I already knew I wanted to read them.
ReplyDeleteHow funny. I have no wisdom to share, but (like other commenters!) I have also failed at a handful of challenges, and then stopped joining them. As Bex says, they put stress, deadlines, unfun into my reading, which is supposed to be fun. I have decided that I like choosing what book to read next in a number of different ways, but not from a list. I do love lists, though, so I'm always checking myself against lists. Just for fun, though, and just once! :)
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I like the idea of the Classics Club so much that I may make myself a list. And then discard it. Or use Risa's system. :)
So I am a compulsive list maker. I make lists of everything. I was even determined to have a huge notebook with the ultimate list of books, and then cross reference it to a list of authors I wanted to read with their works IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. Needless to say, that worked for like a month. I only made it because I like highlighting. Don't you?
ReplyDeleteSo the point is, since I mostly remember the list, I can judge which books to read by seeing which ones sound familiar. If I've heard of it, or seem to remember the title, then I guess it's a on a list somewhere and I should pick it up. And then I don't have to feel bad about following THE LIST. That's my logic. But keep making those lists! If only to feel good about yourself making lists.
I can sympathize, as I also suck at Reading Challenges. Come to think of it, I suck at Read-a-Longs as well. Hmm.
ReplyDeleteI like that Classics challenge, mostly because there are still classics I would love to finally cross off my list, and FIVE YEARS. I'd would say that timeline is sort of idiot-proof, but really I mean to say that its ME-proof.
I love making lists, but I hate to tie myself to any kind of reading plan. I don't do challenges because I'm going to read whatever I want to read, regardless of what my "list" says. However, The Classics Club seems like a good solution to my fear of challenges. I have five years to read the books on my list, so I can just read what I want, when I want, and have the added bonus of crossing things off a list occasionally! I don't necessarily promise to read all 50 books, but it will be fun to see how many I do read in five years. (Note that I'm a lazy bum and haven't officially joined the Classics Club despite having made my list weeks ago. Gahh committing to a list is scary!)
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited you're joining!! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm terrible at completing challenge lists, readalongs, reading events, etc. As soon as I put a title on a list, I no longer want to read it.
I ended up making a list of 200 titles for the club -- but I'm only holding myself to fifty. I imagine I will read more than fifty, but this way I get to feel like I'm in charge. :P Also, I edit my list whenever a shiny classic title looks more shiny than something on my list. That way I don't feel trapped.
This seems to be working for me. A "living" list. I figure I will be a very different reader three, four and five years from now. I'm not necessarily going to want to read what I started out wanting to read for the club -- so the list will change with me. :)
But that said, I LOVE making book lists.
As a rule, I hate reading challenges. I almost never do them. Most of what I read is assigned for school anyway, so I don't really need anything else to keep me "on track" or tell me what to do. When it comes right down to it, I don't really have enough free reading time to worry about. Being an English major is basically one really long reading challenge.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I did join The Classics Club, and I'm actually enjoying it so far. Once of the things I like about it is that the lists are provisional and subject to change. That means that if I get bored or decide I that feel like reading something else instead, I just change the list. And since I read almost exclusively classics anyway, if I really wanted to I could just change the list to reflect what I end up reading. It's like I can't lose. I've already added four things to my list since I started, one of them when I was already half-way done with it. So yeah, it's been pretty easy for me to make this one stress-free and keep it from being a big scary obligation.
I'm a big list maker, keeping a huge list of books to read, as well as keeping track of all the books I've read since 2000. I'll use list like Modern Library's or Pulitzer/Nobel/Booker prize lists, or from books like 500 Great Books by Women or Book Lust and so on. But although I'm willing to branch out and read books I might normally not because they're on a list and sound interesting, I also give myself permission to not read a book just because it's on a list. For instance, no matter how highly people rate Lolita, I know that reading a book from the point of view of a pedophile would anger and disgust me too much, so I will never read it. And I'm perfectly okay with that gap in my reading history. I also permission to stop reading any book I'm not enjoying. I love reading too much to ever make it into a chore and found that I was starting to dislike reading back when I made myself finish every book I started.
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad that you're joining us, too! Even though you gave my Austen in August event the big cold-shoulder. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about the Classics Club is that it's so fluid. You can take as long as you want and you can change your list whenever youw ant.
It's really about the community and accomplishing small reading goals while also interacting with others who are actually interested in reading "literary" material.
We can suck at challenges together.
ReplyDeleteI am in the classics club but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't finish my list. I dislike challenges for the same reason as you, so I'm just seeing the classics club as a great community of readers supporting me to read more classics - so far, so good :)
ReplyDeleteI have been working on the 1,001 Books for about five years. When I first crossed off titles, I was super disappointed that I'd only read about 50. Now I'm on #103.
ReplyDelete1001 Books rocks because:
1. It's not just a list, it's also a hardcover book with a mini-review of each title and beautiful illustrations. I love reference books!
2. Similar to how you describe the classics club, I don't see it as "thou shalt read X number of books this year" or anything like that. Because the total number of books is so high, I don't actually see it as something I'll ever finish, so there's no pressure.
3. I can flip through the pages and pick a book at random if I want something out of my comfort zone. And flip through and pick again if I don't like what I landed on.
4. Chronological order helps me read different time periods, instead of just 1800s and 1900s. I find it especially helpful for finding good "modern" classics, stuff written in the last 25 years.
1001 Books sucks because:
1. Mostly dead white guys.
2. Some authors are WAY over-represented *cough* Ian McEwan *cough*
3. Not much love for Canadian authors - I almost lost my mind when I realized Douglas Coupland isn't on there. WTF.
I use the list to set mini-challenges for myself. My last one was to finish my 100th book before the end of 2011. I ended up needing a few extra weeks, as I had to be a show off and pick a hard on for #100 (The Magic Mountain), and I was pregnant and exhausted, but that's okay.
I just use it to give myself a little structure. I'm a list addict in all areas of life, so it works for me.
I've learned not to do challenges except for how-many-books-I-want-to-read-this-year. No stress in reading!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited you're going to join. Truth be told, I've been waiting for you to cave in to the pressure. :) Just kidding.
ReplyDeleteMy list is ginormous, and I know I won't read all 400+ titles on there. But the best part of the Club is that you really get to make your own rules. So, make a list of anything that interests you now, and pick and choose. :)
I recently joined The Classics Club as well. I feel a bit overwhelmed when I look at the list. But there is a long time to finish the books and they are books that I've either been meaning to re-read or that I'm ashamed of having NOT read already so I'm glad to get going on them :) My list:http://therelentlessreader.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-classics-club.html
ReplyDeleteI suck at reading challenges too, but I joined the Classics Club as well. The logic was that it's a list I chose so theoretically I will be able to finish it. I have a list of 60 and am giving myself two years. I figure that's a doable goal.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what you put on your list. I wish you a lot of luck. I think this is a good challenge for you.
One way to manage your lists a little easier it to use trello.com. I'm not affiliated with them in any way. Just a happy user. And it's free!
ReplyDeleteNothing makes me stop reading like joining a Reading Challenge. Same thing with writing, which is why I never do that Nanowrimo writing challenge in November. They did a Nanowrimo Summer Camp for writers who wanted to try to do the challenge in the summer instead of November. I wound up moving my non-writing time from November to August just by THINKING ABOUT joining that challenge.
ReplyDeleteI like to make lists too. Everything seems so possible when it's neatly enumerated on a list. If I took the time I spend writing lists and used it for book writing, I'd have about ten books out by now. Maybe I could just publish the lists for people who are too disorganized to make their own?
So happy to hear you're joining! This is how I handled my list: First I listed 50 classics I knew I wanted to read anyway. That was easy, since I really haven't read all that many classics at this point. Then I added some... and added some more. Now my list is 80 titles long, and I'm going to try to read 50 out of those 80 (or however many titles eventually end up on the list, because you know I'm not stopping) within the first 5 years. Then I add a year for each 10 more titles on my list. I love lists!
ReplyDeleteI also love lists, Sarah! I'm a list kinda gal. I'm also a reading challenge jumper oner and then I rarely if ever complete the challenge and then I feel like an illiterate ignoramus for weeks until I join another challenge and start the cycle all over. I've also joined the Classics Club for the same reason you listed- five years is a long time and I feel pretty confident that I can read fifty books in five years. I say that now, but check back in five years and see if I'm feeling like an illiterate ignoramus.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about The Classics Club, that sounds so interesting! But I'm also afraid I might not stick to it until the end. (I just discovered your blog and loved the way you write - it's so funny!)
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with being bad at reading challenges.
ReplyDeleteI take pride in the fact that I have failed miserably every reading challenge I've undertaken. It's not necessarily because I've failed but because I have an unbroken streak of failure and I kind of don't want to break that streak. I start off really well and then other shiny things like new books and great tv miniseries from the 90s (House of Cards) keep getting in the way.