list for 2017 – Classics Considered

After a long, hot, dry, allergy-stricken, wildfire smoke-infused summer, we are finally getting rain again, and I love it. Today I actually wore my thick cable-knit sweater, and my raincoat has seen a couple of outings, too.

Fall means pumpkin-flavored treats, but (as importantly) it also brings cozy moments reading a book while listening to the rain or sitting by the fire. These are the top ten books I hope to read this fall – that is, if I can make it to ten!

1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum
Maybe no other book screams “autumn” like this one. It’s a re-read; I haven’t read it since childhood. The movie is one of my all-time favorites!

2. Cloaked – Rachel Kovaciny
I was lucky enough to get an advanced reader copy of a new book by Hamlette, who blogs at The Edge of the Precipice. So far I’m heartily enjoying it!

3. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia – Michael Korda
This is a long biography which I must finish by the end of the year and return to the coworker who is kindly lending it to me. So far I am finding some interesting tidbits in it, though I am not super impressed with Korda as a biographer.

4. The Sound and the Fury, or Light in August – William Faulkner
These are two Faulkners I picked up at the thrift store, and I’ve heard good things about both of them. Any suggestion as to which I should read first?

5. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
I must read this book. I must, I must.

6. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ditto. Am I the only one who strongly associates this book with fall? I guess it’s because it takes place in New England, and New England is gorgeous in autumn. 🙂

7. Crusader Castles – T. E. Lawrence
An upcoming commemoration of a certain person’s birth might justify the purchase of this rare book by T. E. Lawrence… *innocent cough*

8. – 10. If I somehow manage to complete the above, we can talk about 8 – 10!

Ok – I saw this challenge, hosted by Keely, and decided it was irresistible. In 2014 I participated in o’s Russian Literature challenge, which was awesome, so I’m more than ready for another Russian lit focus!

I’ll be aiming for a large Level 2 “Chekhov”; these six books:

Forever Flowing – Vasily Grossman. I heard about Grossman from one of my favorite book bloggers, SRK, and this sounds like a really good novel.
The Letter Killers Club – Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky. I loved this author’s writing style in Memories of the Future. This book is about a club of story tellers who are committed to writing nothing down.
Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a while, a Powell’s splurge. The Soviet era interests me, for academic and personal reasons, and I’m eager to read more by Solzhenitsyn, since he is one of the most famous Soviet authors.
Five Plays – Anton Chekhov. One by the man himself! I haven’t read any of these plays, just heard good things about them.
Eugene Onegin – Alexander Pushkin. Onegin is one of my greatest favorite novels of all time (seriously). I’ve read four English translations in the last several years; my personal goal is to read as many translations as I can find!
✓ We – Yevgeny Zamyatin. My “read” list is woefully lacking most dystopian classics. This one sounds very interesting, apparently a precursor to 1984.

Yes, I know…no Dostoyevsky. He’ll probably sabotage my list, though; he has a way of cutting in front of the line…