Damn Fine Words + The Classics Club

10:01 AM


I have some pretty exciting news. Exciting for nerds like me, of course.

As you guys know by my Writer's corner posts I'm always trying to improve my writing. So, I've enrolled in  James Chartrand's Damn Fine Words writing course. I guess part of my excitement comes from how well she promotes the course (who doesn't want their writing to bring results?)

It's a great feeling because in my last years of college I was incredibly unmotivated, I just wanted it to end. It's so refreshing to know I still want to learn stuff.

And there's so much more to go!

Just like Frasier, I've always wanted to be part of a classy club. And what's classier than a classic's club? Last week, I discovered The Classic's Club's reading challenge. You choose 50 classic books to read in 5 years. It was pretty difficult compiling a realistic list. There's so many books we say we want to read but we don't actually want to sit and read them. So, here's my list so far:

Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility (re-read) - Review
Balzac, Honore: Father Goriot (re-read)
Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre 
Browning, Elizabeth Barret: Sonnets from the Portuguese - Review
Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton: Three Sisters
Chekhov, Anton: Uncle Vanya (re-read)
Chekhov, Anton: Short Stories
Dante: The Divine Comedy
de Cervantes, Miguel: Don Quixote
Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Brothers Karamazov (re-read)
Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Demons
Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: Self-Reliance
Forster, E.M.: Passage to India
Homer: The Iliad
Homer: The Odyssey
Huxley, Aldous: Island
Ibsen, Henrik: An enemy of the people (re-read)
Llosa, Mario Vargas: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
MacNeice, Louis: Collected Poems
Mansfield, Katherine: Selected Stories
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Maupassant, Guy de: Selected Stories
Miller, Arthur: Death of a Salesman
Pasternak, Boris: Doctor Zhivago
Pepys, Samuel: Diary of Samuel Pepys
Shakespeare, William: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespeare, William: Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare, William: As You Like It
Shakespeare, William: Coriolanus
Shakespeare, William: Cymbeline
Shakespeare, William: Henry V
Shakespeare, William: Julius Caesar
Shakespeare, William: Macbeth - Review
Shakespeare, William: Measure for Measure
Shakespeare, William: Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare, William: Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare, William: The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare, William: Timon of Athens 
Shakespeare, William: Titus Andronicus
Shakespeare, William: Trolius and Cressida 
Sophocles: Antigone (re-read)
Sophocles: Oedipus Rex (re-read)
Spark, Muriel: Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Various authors: Penguin's Poems for Life
Various Authors: Poetry Speaks
Williams, Tennessee: A Streetcar Named Desire (re-read)
Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited

(You may have noticed that I threw in all those poetry books I couldn't finish - there's always hope.)

The first book will be Macbeth, which I already bought. Now, if you need me I'll be in my club. And by club, I mean couch.

Let me know if you are in The Classic's Club or in the Damn Fine Words course (you can sit next to me! metaphorically, it's an online course)

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4 comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2012 at 6:38 PM

    Welcome to the Classics Club!! I think you'll find plenty of opportunity for discussion... I know I am curious to learn more about some of the books on your list already!

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  2. PaulaSeptember 12, 2012 at 6:41 PM

    Thanks for having me! I can't wait to start discussing MacBeth!

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  3. Anna @ Miss BeatrixSeptember 13, 2012 at 4:59 AM

    This really does sound exciting Paula, but then I too am a wannabee writer and literary geek! It's funny how often I wish I was back at university studying English Lit and Lang again, even though when I was there I struggled to make myself finish the books and the essays had me less than inspired. As you say, it's reassuring to know we still want to learn because I've read several classics this year!

    Enjoy your course and I can't wait to hear how you get on with it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PaulaSeptember 13, 2012 at 9:02 AM

    Thanks, I'm really anxious to begin, I'll definitely post about my progress (and struggles) here.

    I had a similar experience you had while in college. Some classes are rather exciting and thought provoking, but then others are just time consuming! It's a bit difficult to read and study by ourselves but I think it's possible.

    Which classics have you read this year?! xx

    ReplyDelete

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