"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all." ---Thoreau
26 Questions in 2026 from The Classics Club
I retired in May of 2018 from my job as an elementary school librarian. When students started back to school after the summer break, I felt like I would like to start back to school myself, and what better way to do that than to take on a list of fifty classics to try to read in five years?
I made the list a mix of short reads (a couple were less than a hundred pages) and long reads (one over 1000 pages), a mix of fiction and nonfiction, a mix of children's books and adult books, a mix of old titles with newer classics.
Each list of fifty books that I have attempted to read has taken between a year and a half to two and a half years to complete. As of today, I've completed four lists of fifty books, and I am halfway through my fifth list.
Here is my list of all the Classics Club books I have read. Here is my current Classics Club list. This is my working list, where I note who recommended the book and where I can find a copy. It is also longer than fifty titles as I will be bailing on some. Here is the page I keep on my blog where I list every Classics Club book I have read along with ratings and reviews.
What classic are you planning to read next? Why? Is there a book first published in 1926 that you plan to read this year?
I juggle multiple books at one time. I am starting the year by reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The Chapter-a-Day Challenge this year is reading Leo Tolstoy. Since I've already read Anna Karenina, I'm subbing in The Brothers Karamozov for it. I decided to read Meditations this year after becoming interested in Stoicism.
Best book you’ve read so far with the club? Why?
The book I had the most fun reading with the club was Moby Dick. I wrote a long post about my obsession with Moby Dick here: Moby Dick: What I Am Taking Away from My Experience Reading This Book.
Classic author who has the most works on your club list? Or, classic author you’ve read the most works by?
This is fun. I just sorted my list of titles read by author and I've discovered that I've read multiple books by the same author: 8 C. S. Lewis, 6 Italo Calvino, 5 Émile Zola, 5 Charles Dickens, 5 Jane Austen; 4 Edith Wharton, 3 George Eliot, 3 Leo Tolstoy, 3 Sinclair Lewis, 3 Elizabeth Gaskell, 2 William Shakespeare, 2 Louisa May Alcott, 2 Anne Bronte, 2 Anton Chekhov, 2 E. M. Forster, 2 Graham Greene, 2 Franz Kafka, 2 Gaston Leroux, 2 Nancy Mitford, 2 John Muir, 2 George Orwell, 2 John Steinbeck, 2 James Thurber, 2 Mark Twain, 2 Elizabeth von Arnim, and 2 Laura Ingalls Wilder.
If you could explore one author’s literary career from first publication to last — meaning you have never read this author and want to explore him or her by reading what s/he wrote in order of publication — who would you explore? Obviously this should be an author you haven’t yet read, since you can’t do this experiment on an author you’re already familiar with. 
Or, which author’s work you are familiar with might it have been fun to approach this way?
I'd like to read all of Edith Wharton's books this way.
First classic you ever read?
My Aunt Karen had a set of children's classics she shared with me when I was little. I remember reading Heidi and A Little Princess.
Favorite children’s classic?
One-fifth of the Classics Club books I have read so far are children's books. Some of the children's books I read for the first time and loved are Girl of the Limberlost, Warrior Scarlet, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Which classic is your most memorable classic to date? Why?
One hundred of the 250 books I've read have been five-star reads. I can't forget reading the books of Émile Zola. All his stories are about people who are down-and-out, and the stories feel as if they could be happening today. I especially loved Germinal by Émile Zola.
Least favorite classic? Why?
Only six Classics Club books are books I've rated less than three stars. Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens was very disappointing because Dickens did little but complain.
Favorite movie or TV adaption of a classic?
I have seen and enjoyed the movie adaptations or TV series of all of Jane Austen's books.
Favorite biography about a classic author you’ve read, or the biography on a classic author you most want to read, if any?
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow, at 1200 pages, was very thorough.
Favorite classic author in translation? Do you have a favorite classics translator? What do you look for in a classic translations?
A lot of my favorite authors are authors I've only read in translation, including Émile Zola, Italo Calvino, Leo Tolstoy, and Anton Chekhov.
Do you have a favorite classic poet/poem, playwright/play? Why do you love it?
I've read six plays, and my favorites were Death of a Salesman and Twelfth Night. I've read nine books of poetry, and my favorite was a collection of the poetry of Rumi.
Which classic character most reminds you of yourself? Which classic character do you most wish you could be like?
I've always thought I'm a lot like Meg Murry in A Wrinkle in Time. I would love to be as cheery as Anne of Green Gables.
What is the oldest classic you have read or plan to read?
The Iliad is from the 8th Century BC. The writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers I read are believed to be from 270 AD. Rumi's writings were first written in 1240. The Divine Comedy was written in 1320, and The Decameron was written in 1353.
If a sudden announcement was made that 500 more pages had been discovered after the original “THE END” on a classic title you read and loved, which title would you be happiest to see continued?
I want books to end right where they end, so I would not want to find 500 more pages of anything.
Favorite edition (or series) of a classic you own, or wished you owned, if any?
I don't collect books. I like to pass them on to others.
Do you reread classics? Why, or why not?
When I was young, I never reread. There did not seem to be enough time. Now I find that I love rereading favorites.
Has there been a classic title you simply could not finish? Has there been a classic title you expected to dislike and ended up loving?
I gave up on War and Peace several times, before I finally decided to push through and read it, a chapter a day for a year. I loved it. I gave up on Tale of Two Cities several times, before I decided to push through and read it. I did not love it.
List five fellow Classic Clubbers whose blogs you frequent. What makes you love their blogs?
I love to read the blogs of people who are better readers than I am. That's most of the Classics Club members!
If you’ve ever participated in a readalong on a classic, tell us about the experience? If you’ve participated in more than one, what’s the very best experience? the best title you’ve completed? a fond memory? a good friend made?
I enjoyed so much reading Moby Dick along with Bron at Brona's Books: This Reading Life.
If you could appeal for a readalong with others for any classic title, which title would you name? Why?
I wish someone was reading The Brothers Karamozov and Marcus Aurelius' Meditations with me.
What are you favorite bits about being a part of The Classics Club?
By choosing my own titles and by reading at my own pace and by using all the tools available to me to read challenging books, I have become a much more confident reader and I have read so many books that, in the past, I would not have dared to try to read.
What would like to see more of (or less of) on The Classics Club?
It would be fun to do the occasional group read.
Question you wish was on this questionnaire? (Ask and answer it!)
Here are some I'd ask: How would you define a classic book? What is the most obscure classic book on your list? What is the most well-known classic book on your list? What classics changed you the most? What classic nonfiction do you have on your list? I have lots of questions.
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