Presenting the first ever Reading Challenge from Books on the Nightstand! (Since it’s our first, I’m still a little unsure of the do’s and don’t’s of creating a reading challenge, so I hope all of you RC veterans out there will look kindly on our freshman effort!)
A new book arrives in U.S. stores today, May 19th; Beowulf on the Beach by Jack Murnighan is an accessible, funny and extremely readable guide to 50 great works of literature, as chosen by the author. You can hear me rave more about this book on episode 31 of the podcast, which goes live May 20th.
Long story short, I was embarrassed at how few of the 50 books I had read, and have committed, this summer, to reading 4 classics I’ve never read before. Want to join me? The reading challenge is very flexible, but here are few “rules:”
- The reading challenge runs from May 25 – September 7, 2009 (Memorial Day to Labor Day)
- Read at least one book featured in Beowulf on the Beach, though you can, of course, read more.
- Write about your challenge and reading experience (on a blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, etc.)
- Feel free to use one of our beautiful reading challenge buttons on your blog (see above and below)
Pretty simple, huh? Click into this widget to see the Table of Contents, listing all of the books covered:
and now, for some free books:
Win one of FIVE signed copies of Beowulf on the Beach!
There are four different ways to enter:
- Comment on this blog post, telling us what your favorite classic is
- Comment on the discussion at Goodreads
- Comment on the discussion at Facebook
- Tweet the following on Twitter: “BOOKS ON THE NIGHTSTAND is giving away five signed copies of BEOWULF ON THE BEACH! To enter, tweet this! http://is.gd/Bn7A”
We’ll pick two winners from the blog comments and one from each of the other three “venues.” We’ll announce the winners on Sunday May 31st, so you’ll still have plenty of time to participate in the challenge… Good Luck and Good Reading!
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I am so excited for the summer reading challenge. I have been appalled at myself for many years over the lack of knowledge of some of the classics, and this seems like a great way to rectify it. Are you going to reveal which you’re reading first?
My favorite book is The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. Reading the book as a teenager was my first introduction to early American literature, and the story fascinated me. The characters were real to me, and the heroic Natty Bumppo became even more a part of my memory as I read all of the Leatherstocking tales. Now I read one of the Leatherstocking books each year to remain friends with Hawkeye and Chingachgook. It has been a good way to keep a connection with my youthful hero worship of the ultimate survivalist.
This is a great idea. I definitely need to check off some of my classics “to-read” list. My favorite has always been Wuthering Heights. It was the first classic I ever read that I actually enjoyed. =) Hope I win! =)
Twitter, check. Facebook, check. Goodreads, check.
As I said on Facebook, it’s pretty hard to choose one, but if I had to, I’d go with Wuthering Heights. I wrote my senior thesis on it in college and felt uber-English-majory about it.
I love a lot of the classics, but I think my favorite is The Scarlet Letter. I’ve been collecting vintage editions for several years now.
And yay for your new reading challenge! I’ve been wanting to fill in some gaps in my reading of the classics, and this is a perfect opportunity. Count me in for the challenge and the giveaway.
Thanks!
I’m interested in doing this challenge and will probably post about it up on my blog. My question is (as is pretty common with Reading Challenges) if you’ll be putting up a list to the 50 classics featured in BOTB or a link to the author’s website (or somewhere else where they’re listed), or is buying a copy of the book required for participation?
Thanks.
Facebook and Twitter are checked off the list.
Are we talking about 18th, 19th, or 20th century classics?
One of my favorites is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
and…
Washington Square by Henry James
and
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
and
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My fave classic is probably East of Eden. I love the Good vs. Evil theme.
thereedfamilyATsbcglobalDOTnet
I’m in for the challenge! My top-two favorite classics are tied for the top spot: East of Eden by John Steinbeck and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.Two totally different books but I love them both.
I’m game! I have a lot of favorite classics, but at the very tip top is probably The Scarlet Letter. Or The Great Gatsby. Or Pride and Prejudice. Or maybe The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oh, but I forgot The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Gah, I can’t decide!!!
I just found your podcast, thanks to my Mother’s Day gift of an iPod Nano. I’ve been listening to you all week and absolutely love your show. Great job!
Getting ready to Tweet this and do the Goodreads thing too. Must add you to my Facebook!
hi mine would have to be jane eyre and east of eden
looking forward to the challenge
Although I have read the Odyssey, I have a newer translation that I’ve been meaning to read. (Robert Fagles) Maybe its time.
I haven’t had much success with challenges. This sounds doable though and I am appalled by how few classics I have read!
My favourite classic is Pride and Prejudice and favourite children’s classic The railway children.
Thanks for the reminder Heather… I’ve put up a “widget” that lets you look at the first 30 or so pages, including the Table of Contents!
Thanks a ton for the widget… I’m going to put Middlemarch down as my challenge book (there must be something so great that George Eliot just had to change her name to get put out there, right).
Up to this point, my favorite classic has probably been Lord of the Flies… never been able to get enough of it.
Mine is Jane Eyre, which I’ve read at least six times. My dogeared red paperback copy is one of my favorite possessions. At work, we’re reading David Copperfield, one Dickens I never got to in school or out of it.
This is very exciting as I’m currently in 3 book clubs but nobody wants to touch the Classics. I even went by an assisted living center near my apartment and am volunteering to either start a classic book group or read to seniors no longer able to read themselves..
My favorite classic is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Looking forward to choosing another classic for this challenge..
David Copperfield is probably my favorite. I have picked up the pace on my classics reading over the last few years though so I will be really interested to see how I’m doing!
My favorite (of the books listed in the TOC of BOTB) is Pride & Prejudice.
I’m also a big Willa Cather fan, so O Pioneers! is a favorite.
@Vera Marie Badertscher: I have the Fagles edition of the Odyssey, too, I think — maybe I’ll finally read it this summer!
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a reader in possession of a summer must be in want of a classic….My favorite from this list is absolutely Pride and Prejudice. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never read anything by Henry James so Wings of a Dove will go on my summer reading list!
Looking at the Table of Contents, pretty much the only ones I HAVEN’T read yet are the mega-chunky tomes like “Moby Dick!” The prospect of trying to read 5 Super-Chunky books in one summer is fairly daunting, but I’ll definitely give it a shot!
From the TOC, I would have to say “Pride and Prejudice” is my favrorite Classic as it is the book I’ve re-read the most often.
Please enter me in the Give-Away. One of the greatest joys for an OCD bibliophile is a book comprised of a list of books!
Great idea! I love Wuthering Heights, by Miss Emily Bronte, and I see a few comments on that. So , I must nominate another 20th Century classic—”The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitgerald. The poetry in his prose simply glistens on every page. I could read it over and over, and probably will this summer. It’s just simply brillant.
My favourite classic is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Still waiting for the list to load on my very slow computer, so can’t say which books I’ve read or haven’t.
Love the idea of this challenge and i think i am up for the challange. As for my favorite classic book. That is a tough one for me i have tried many but have had little success. I think its time for some new “Classics”. My all time favorite book is “No country for old men” That is my new classic.
thanks
I’ve a veritable cartload of favourite classics ranging from Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’ to anything and everything by John Steinbeck. My absolute favourite though? Well that’s got to be Knut Hamsun’s ‘Hunger’.
I’ve a bit of an affinity with any storyline that focuses on ‘descents into madness’ (which says a lot about my personality
)) , but this one is extra special. It’s a real roller-coaster of a read, with the main character’s situation going through so many (minor) highs and (major) lows. I adore the book!
Warmest
Rob
I haven’t read a lot of classics, but if I have to pick a favorite, it’d be Wuthering Heights.
I’m a huge Dickens fan. I think my favorite of his books is Our Mutual Friend.
I will fully confess, as an English teacher, that I am missing many, many classics in my library! I find it interesting that the Old Testament is on the list. Though not religious, I’ve always felt that the Bible should be part of an English curriculum, because so much of literature alludes to bible stories.
To Vera, who mentioned the Fagles edition of The Odyssey… It’s a great translation! Definitely my favorite one, both for myself and to use with my students.
Hard to choose a favorite on the list but I’ll go with Middlemarch, by George Eliot. (Glad to see Robert Musil on the list, though I haven’t read that particular title!)
What a great challenge!
I have read all of the Brontes and Austen books and some Dickens.
Over at nonsuck book, There is the RC of all the Proust books in the series Rememberance Of Things Past.
My all time favorite classic is Little Women. I read it almost every year around Christmas.
I will have to check this book out when i get to work!
I love Jane Eyre and also Dickens Great Expectations. I think I may revisit both.
Jane Eyre and Great Expectations are my favourites. I think I may revisit both.
War and Peace although there are so many classics I love
I was given Beloved by my son and both because I love him and I love the book, I would choose Beloved as my favorite.
Love this!! There are so many to choose from…but I’m finding that re-reading classics as an adult, my preferences change. Right now I’d have to say East of Eden.
War and Peace is my favorite classic. I haven’t read the new, much-touted translation, but I want to.
LOL, Just to let you know, I’ve set up a Goodreads account expressly for the purpose of cataloging books that I plan reading for the BOTB Challenge!
Viral markleting at its best!
And clearly my spelling (or typing) at its worst!
My favorite classic is Anna Karenina. The sadness the passion. It truly is a tragic novel.
I was one of those kids that read all the required reading for school and I have many favorites. I love Shakespeare’s MacBeth, Romeo & Juliet and The Merchant of Venice.
If I have to choose one favorite it would have to be Kafka’s Metamorphosis for its message, symbolism and tight/clean writing.
I f I have to choose a favorite from the Buddha on the Beach it would have to be Hamlet.
I would love to read one of the classics mentioned in the book–perhaps To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf since it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for years.
happy readingm
Dottie Grant Cohen
OOPS!! My face is red, I meant Beowulf on the Beach, not Buddha, even though that would be a great title too!!!
Dottie Grant Cohen
I have always wanted to read Anna Karenina. With so many books on my nightstand, I don’t know that I will make it this summer, but maybe Beowulf on the Beach will inspire me!
My favorite Classic would have to be Wuthering Heights!
Mmm… I’ve read nine of the book listed in the table of contents. More than I thought. My favorite is the Odyssey by Homer.
I think my favorite classic to date is To Kill a Mockingbird. I just love that story so much.
I also tweeted, by the way.
There’s a nice big white space in my podcast notes where you mention the widget, Michael. I can’t figure out why — but I’d love to see the list of 50 titles and Amazon’s info doesn’t have the look inside possibility either — hear me whining? I am — sorry — didn’t mean to do so. Just am curious.
Dottie
Um — I meant the blog post not the podcast notes — Ireally do know the difference — sigh. I’m not doing well with all things books on the net today, I think. Heh!
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is my all-time favorite! I envy anyone who has not read it and will…I wish I could reread the book with fresh eyes…
I just browsed the table of contents and saw a lot of great books that I love and have read multiple times. Some of my favorites are “Madam Bovary”, “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights”. However, my absolute favorite from the list, and one of my favorites of all time, is “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. The first time I read it, I could not put it down. I could feel myself living Sethe’s life, even though I’m a white woman in a comfortable suburban home. Morrison’s writing moved me so profoundly. I just love this book.
I re-read Ulysses each June for Bloomsday. So I suppose it’s my favorite, as I don’t re-read any of the others quite as regularly. But “Beowulf on the Beach” has made me determined to read “The Decameron” (I am not “The lady who is forever saying her prayers, or baking pies and cakes…”, so cannot leave it alone) and “The Faierie Queene” for the first time.
What a fun book this is! What other book lets you the index for a favorite topic – Feminism, Heroism, Scabble, Wusses (6 references to these) – and find a classic to read!