Back to the Classics Challenge 2012

YOU GUYS. I didn’t do any reading challenges this year – I wanted to focus on re-reading, which I mildly succeeded at. So I’m SO FREAKING EXCITED to sign up for 2012 Challenges. I really enjoyed it in 2010, and I feel like overall 2011 hasn’t been as good of a reading year, so maybe it’s challenge-related, hmmm?

So THIS challenge is all about the classics, and it’s hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much. Here’s the details:

Here are the nitty gritty details:

1. Challenge runs from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012.  Books started before January 1st do not count, and all links/reviews/comments for each category must be posted in the correct place by December 31st.  Feel free to join in at any time, but the end date is December 31.
2. Please feel free to use books in this Challenge toward any other Challenge you may be participating in. However, you must read a different book for each category of this challenge.  Audio and e-books are allowed.
3. Please sign up for the Challenge using the linky list (or comment section if you do not have a blog/website).  If you would be so kind, please spread the word about this challenge by creating a post on your blog/website and link back to this sign up page.
4. Once the Challenge has begun, you will see a new bar on the left hand side of this blog.  This will list the places for you to link/comment your reviews of the book you have read for each category as well as a “wrap up” page.  I will not be doing monthly check-in posts this year.  I will probably do a “Half Way” post in June.  These will be important because….
5. THERE IS A PRIZE THIS YEAR!  People who complete the challenge (and I will check that all categories are completed!) will be entered into a random drawing for $30 worth of books (Book Depository will be used for an International Winner).  I may have other prizes as well.  Make sure you are following me via GFC, Email,  Twitter, or Facebook/Networked Blogs so you are in the know!

• Any 19th Century Classic
• Any 20th Century Classic
• Reread a classic of your choice
• A Classic Play
• Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction
• Classic Romance
• Read a Classic that has been translated from its original language to your languange   - To clarify, if your native language is NOT English, you may read any classic originally written in English that has been translated into your native language.  
• Classic Award Winner  - To clarify, the book should be a classic which has won any established literary award.  
• Read a Classic set in a Country that you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime  - To Clarify, this does not have to be a country that you hope to visit either.  Countries that no longer exist or have never existed count.

Visit Sarah’s blog to sign up!

Here’s my tentative list… I may change my mind. I do that alot.

19th Century Classic – Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (1847)

20th Century Classic – My Antonia by Willa Cather (1918)

Re-read a Classic – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Classic Play – Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Classic Mystery / Horror / Crime – The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Classic Romance – Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Classic That’s Been Translated to English – Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (originally Spanish)

Classic Award Winner – The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1983 Pulitzer Prize)

Classic Set In A Country I’ll Not Be Going To - A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Some of these are quite hefty… I have a feeling I’ll be regretting that. But I’m already excited! BRING IT 2012!

~Sarah