Calling All Bloggers and Readers…

November as Read a Classic Month?

I had what I think could be a fun idea for the month of November. And, instead of keeping this idea to myself, I’d like to tell everyone about it and get as many people as possible involved.

For those who follow me closely here on the blog, Twitter, and Facebook, you’ll probably remember back in May, I read Wuthering Heights. The idea that I’ve come up with for November is similar to the challenge I set for myself for the month of May: to read a classic book and then give a semi-review about my reaction to it.

I want to take this a small step further and make it a little more of a fun challenge. Here are some “guidelines”, though they’re more suggestions, for choosing a book to read in November.

• It should be a classic. But what’s that mean? Should it be from the 1800s or could it be a more “Modern Classic”. My answer…use your judgement. Most of the time when I hear classic I think things from 1900 and earlier. But there are many books from the early to mid 20th century that are just as “important” to read, but don’t get read often enough.
• Some people are avid readers of classics already. If this is the case, maybe step outside of your comfort zone. Maybe try a book that you may not have wanted to read in the past. Try a contemporary of one of your favorite classic authors.
• Try to stay away from rereading. Not saying you CAN’T reread, but I’m thinking this is a good way to try something new. Wit that said, maybe you didn’t enjoy a classic in the past. Revisiting it now might give it a different reading of that book. That might lead to you enjoying it more this time around.

What happens after you finish the book? Simple: Write up a short (or longish if you’re ambitious) post about your reaction to it. Could be a straight up review, a less formal critique of the book, or anything really. There are many possible ways to go about it, but try to have fun. This isn’t meant to be a chore.

I think I’ve kept that simple enough. Read a classic. Write up a post about it. How’s that sound? Would you like to join the fun? All I’d like from everyone wishing to participate is to comment on this post saying that you’re in. You don’t have to choose a book just yet, but you can if you’d like to and feel free to let everyone know in the comments. Maybe someone else will see the book and want to read it too. I’m thinking that we can all post the “review post” on November 24th, the last Monday of the month. This way we should have time to finish the books and a few days before all the holiday craziness takes place here in the US.

One last thing. I’d like to have everyone link to everyone’s posts in their own post. This way people can jump around to all the blogs and discover something new. So what I’m thinking is that I’ll email the group later this month or early November to get a head count, and then we’ll figure out a way to get a list of all the post links just before they go live to send out to everyone. Still up in the air on all the communication stuff, but shouldn’t be too hard, haha.