BACK TO THE CLASSICS CHALLENGE- 2013

Sarah at Sarah Reads too Much is once again hosting the Back-to-the-Classics Challenge.

I've participated the past two years and was excited to hear the announcement of the categories for this year. I've spent a little while pondering my choices. In this wonderful challenge, readers have the opportunity to prod themselves to tackle great works of literature. These may be classics that they have been intending to read for quite some time but just haven't managed to get to yet. (I find myself combining a couple of these books with the TBR-pile challenges.) Or, sometimes the categories may inspire a choice of classic that would not otherwise have ever made it onto the TBR list. Either way, it's a challenge I have to undertake!

So, here are the rules for 2013:

All books must be read in 2013. Books started prior to January 1, 2013 are not eligible. Reviews must be linked by December 31, 2013.

E-books and audio books are eligible! Books can count for other challenges you may be working on.

If you do not have a blog, you may link your review from Goodreads or other publicly accessible online format.

Please sign up for the challenge using the linky here BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1, 2013. Please link to your sign-up announcement post (if possible/applicable)

You do not have to list your books prior to starting the challenge, but it is more fun that way :) You can always change your list at any time. You can read the books in any order (including mixing in the optional categories at any time)

You can decide to attempt the optional categories at any point (you can also bow out of the optional categories at any point as well).

Please identify the categories you've read in your wrap up post so that Sarah  may easily add up your entries for the prize drawing! (Check Sarah's post for an explanation of the prizes.)

 

And here are the categories with my choices. I'll be linking my reviews back to this page.

The Required Categories:

1. A 19th Century Classic : Middlemarch by George Elliot
2. A 20th Century Classic : The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
3. A Pre-18th or 18th Century Classic : The Odyssey by Homer
4. A Classic that relates to the African-American Experience :  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
5. A Classic Adventure : The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff 
6. A Classic that prominently features an Animal : The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Optional Categories:

A. Re-read a Classic :  Vanity Fair by William Thackeray 

B. A Russian Classic : Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky

C. A Classic Non-Fiction title : A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

D. A Classic Children's/Young Adult title: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

E. Classic Short Stories : The Collected Stories of Nikolai Gogol