My Reading Challenge and Blogging Websites

[VolFan21]

So one of the things on my Bucket List is to read through all the great works of Classical Literature.

I've been asking my friends and family for advice but have run into a couple of potential problems..one...how in the hell do I have a timeline for something like this??

And two..what all should I put on my list because there are SOOO many great books out there??

So far I have such things as:

Plato's Republic

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Anna Kerinana by Leo Tolstoy

Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud

The Odyssey by:Homer

The City of God by: St. Augustine

Complete Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is just a wee portion of my list (thus far) I'm going to have pick and choose what I'm going to read and some things I may wind up skimming and moving on to another like The Canterbury Tales I read portions of in high school and that was enough for me to understand what Chaucer was getting at. Because lets be honest some of the "classics" of literature aren't just boring they're downright tedious and mind-numbing. So what would you recommend for my "Books I should read before I kick the bucket" list?

However, I really want to do this,even if it takes me 10 yrs 50 yrs or a lifetime to complete because I want to be well-read and keep my intelligence up so to speak.

I've also been thinking about starting a blog to help me stay on track with both my challenge to get in shape and this challenge of reading all these books. I've started blogs in the past that fell to the wayside,this may be a stupid question, but what are some of the best blogging sites out there?

[67alecto]

Epic of Gilgamesh

Iliad

Aeneid

Beowulf

Inferno

Hamlet

Macbeth

Faust

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Frankenstein

Candide

Importance of Being Ernest

Scarlet Letter

Great Expectations

Moby Dick

Notes from the Underground

And Quiet Flows the Don

The Dunwich Horror

The Tell-Tale Heart

Heart of Darkness

The Third Man

The Metamorphosis

Death in Venice

That's a good start

[VolFan21]

My best friend thinks I'm absolutely nuts for even attempting this lol It's a ridiculous endeavor...but I plan to do my best lol.

[metalchick]

I wish you luck. I did something similar to this in high school and I've wanted to go back and re-read some of these now that I'm more 'mature'. Well at least older. The best blogging websites are pretty much hands down wordpress.com. You can also use blogger.com which is owned by google. But Wordpress is very simple to set up an account and get a blog read. You can even modify the color themes with a wide variety of themes that they have. Hope you enjoy your challenge! Good luck!

[67alecto]

There's nothing ridiculous about reading the classics of literature.

[VolFan21]

Oh I agree, I just tend to take on ridiculously large endeavors with great amounts of gusto, a lot of naivety and very little follow through. But I think part of accomplishing those things you want to do in life is overcoming those pitfalls so hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll stick with this challenge.

[Antiope]

If you're going to read the Odyssey, you should read the Iliad. First, since it's chronologically first. To be perfectly honest, if you love them, you could easily read them both in one or two days - note that this is coming from someone who has read them both, multiple times, for school and for pleasure.

If you like the Classical Classics, I'd also recommend Ovid's Art of Love and Erotic Poems, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, some of Sophocles' plays (Antigone, Oedipus Rex), if you like historical narrative Herodotus for the 'actual' story of the 300 Spartans and the Greco-Persian War, Thucydides for the Peloponnesian War but much drier than Herodotus, and Xenophon has a combination of what the last two wrote about, or things they missed I guess I should say and he's easier to read. For more Plato try the Apology (of Socrates), The Crito. Not light reading, and I'm likely the only person who read this stuff for fun, but reading a lot of this stuff actually spurred a huge lifestyle change for me, especially Socrates/Plato/Aristotle.

As for blogs, I think tumblr works great for this kind of stuff. Short form, an awesome community to support you, etc. I'm also a tumblr addict.

[jaz]

Do you have an e-reader? Because a lot of the classics are now free on the Gutenberg project, or on Amazon. If you were planning on buying a lot of the books to read it might be easier to buy an e-reader, it would end up paying for itself. If you were just going to use your library for the challenge, don't mind me

I'd vote Wordpress for blogging, but Tumblr and Blogger are good too. Tumblr definitely has more of a community because it's built in a more social way.

[67alecto]

If you're going to read the Odyssey, you should read the Iliad. First, since it's chronologically first. To be perfectly honest, if you love them, you could easily read them both in one or two days - note that this is coming from someone who has read them both, multiple times, for school and for pleasure.

On that same note, pick a translation that you find is easiest to get into. I have the standard ones - Lattimore, Fagles, and Fitzgerald. They are all very good, and very different. Spend some time reading through the first few pages of each of them before you buy/check-out.

[JBarduhn]

Of mice and men is one of my favorite books!

Also, may I suggest reading "a lesson before dying" by Earnest Gaines. Book totally changed the way I had looked at things at the time. Amazing.

[VolFan21]

If you're going to read the Odyssey, you should read the Iliad. First, since it's chronologically first. To be perfectly honest, if you love them, you could easily read them both in one or two days - note that this is coming from someone who has read them both, multiple times, for school and for pleasure.

If you like the Classical Classics, I'd also recommend Ovid's Art of Love and Erotic Poems, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, some of Sophocles' plays (Antigone, Oedipus Rex), if you like historical narrative Herodotus for the 'actual' story of the 300 Spartans and the Greco-Persian War, Thucydides for the Peloponnesian War but much drier than Herodotus, and Xenophon has a combination of what the last two wrote about, or things they missed I guess I should say and he's easier to read. For more Plato try the Apology (of Socrates), The Crito. Not light reading, and I'm likely the only person who read this stuff for fun, but reading a lot of this stuff actually spurred a huge lifestyle change for me, especially Socrates/Plato/Aristotle.

As for blogs, I think tumblr works great for this kind of stuff. Short form, an awesome community to support you, etc. I'm also a tumblr addict.

Dang girl! You obviously know your classical lit. I'm so completely lost as to where to start when I get into the "deep" classical stuff like Homer and Plato-it's a bit daunting to me. Any suggestions on what to start out with when I get to the "heavy" stuff?

Do you have an e-reader? Because a lot of the classics are now free on the Gutenberg project, or on Amazon. If you were planning on buying a lot of the books to read it might be easier to buy an e-reader, it would end up paying for itself. If you were just going to use your library for the challenge, don't mind me

I'd vote Wordpress for blogging, but Tumblr and Blogger are good too. Tumblr definitely has more of a community because it's built in a more social way.

I don't have one...I'm old-fashioned, I'd rather pick up a book and feel the pages and smell that musty scent...I know I'm weird lol. Tumblr sounds like a good choice from what I'm hearing. I would like to have a bit more of a community because my complaint with blogs in the past is..I never got any hits! I was like well hell I might as well just keep a journal than publish anything lol.

On that same note, pick a translation that you find is easiest to get into. I have the standard ones - Lattimore, Fagles, and Fitzgerald. They are all very good, and very different. Spend some time reading through the first few pages of each of them before you buy/check-out.

-I couldn't agree with you more about translations. I remember reading Beowulf a few years ago, picked up a version that just didn't do it for me, then I found the one translated by Seamus Haney and voila! now one of the best books I've ever read.

Of mice and men is one of my favorite books!

Also, may I suggest reading "a lesson before dying" by Earnest Gaines. Book totally changed the way I had looked at things at the time. Amazing.

I really cant wait to read that one as soon as I get my hands on it. I read The Pearl in high school which I don't recommend to people just starting to read Steinbeck because it originally turned me off to his books. Then I saw the play Of Mice and Men at the historical Barter theatre and I cried like a baby at the end....my opinion of Steinbeck changed entirely then.

I will def. check into the Gaines book. It's amazing how books can change our perspective on life and well..everything.

[Antiope]

Dang girl! You obviously know your classical lit. I'm so completely lost as to where to start when I get into the "deep" classical stuff like Homer and Plato-it's a bit daunting to me. Any suggestions on what to start out with when I get to the "heavy" stuff?

What do you mean by deep? Like, heavy, hard to digest deep, or actual Classical literature deep? If you mean heavy, Homer isn't deep stuff. It's and beautiful and moving if you're into that sort of thing (like I am) - I usually recommend starting with poetry anyway. So, Homer, or Ovid's easier but makes a lot of allusions to his predecessors, snarky, sometimes sweet, sometimes creeperish, but always a class favorite. The philosophy is the daunting stuff. If you meant just reading Classical Ancient lit, I'd still start with Homer, just because I'm a chronological person and tend to read from earliest to latest. Especially since once you get into Latinists they reference a lot of the older Greek stuff. Thucydides is hard to read because he's verbose, Herodotus is hard to read because you stop every 5 seconds to call him a liar, but it's hilarious. Those are heavy reading though. Like. History books. I only suggested them because they're actually super entertaining to read.

I apologize for my ridiculous long windedness. This is totally my passion, if you couldn't tell. Here's a list of what would be included in a 'Great Books' curriculum at a university, which is basically the kind of reading material you're looking for.

[VolFan21]

What do you mean by deep? Like, heavy, hard to digest deep, or actual Classical literature deep? If you mean heavy, Homer isn't deep stuff. It's and beautiful and moving if you're into that sort of thing (like I am) - I usually recommend starting with poetry anyway. So, Homer, or Ovid's easier but makes a lot of allusions to his predecessors, snarky, sometimes sweet, sometimes creeperish, but always a class favorite. The philosophy is the daunting stuff. If you meant just reading Classical Ancient lit, I'd still start with Homer, just because I'm a chronological person and tend to read from earliest to latest. Especially since once you get into Latinists they reference a lot of the older Greek stuff. Thucydides is hard to read because he's verbose, Herodotus is hard to read because you stop every 5 seconds to call him a liar, but it's hilarious. Those are heavy reading though. Like. History books. I only suggested them because they're actually super entertaining to read.

I apologize for my ridiculous long windedness. This is totally my passion, if you couldn't tell. Here's a list of what would be included in a 'Great Books' curriculum at a university, which is basically the kind of reading material you're looking for.

I guess I mean the philosophical "heavy thinking" literature. One of my good friends is really passionate about philosophy and he introduced me to Emerson-which I LOVE. Plato is one that I really want to read but I know it's going to require some mental stamina to read. I really love historical books though. I'm a major history buff, especially anything to do with WW2 history-so it shouldn't be too difficult to get through. Don't apologize! I am a voracious reader and I rarely get to converse with others on things like this so I totally enjoy it!

[jaz]

I don't have one...I'm old-fashioned, I'd rather pick up a book and feel the pages and smell that musty scent...I know I'm weird lol.

Not weird at all, it's totally commendable. I used to be like that, and actually feel guilty that I'm not anymore. I never thought I'd like an e-reader, but when my ex got one for his commute I was sold. I now have a Kindle and as the screen looks like paper it doesn't wear my eyes out like a computer, you only need one hand to hold it so you can easily read lying down/drinking tea (big thing for me) and it's sooo portable I love it far too much. I still have real books and would never give up all the beautiful arty books I have for anything. My flat is small as well, so not having stacks of books is a huge bonus and with all the free books mine's already paid for itself.

There's a lot to be said for real books though - they can't be retracted when publishers feel like it, you can lend them out (although I think American Kindles can lend), you can donate them when you're done, they look awesome on shelves and the SMELL like you say. There's nothing like the smell of a book.

Anyway Kindle love aside, I find your project very interesting and will definitely be checking in/stealing book recommendations from these other lovely people

Let us know when the blog's up and running - I will definitely visit. There's also a site called GoodReads that may be helpful for keeping track of all the books.