I enjoy participating in the the Back to the Classics challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate. I wasn’t exposed to many classics growing up, and I’ve determined to educate myself with several of them. The categories help me expand my reading horizons. The titles link back to my reviews. I included the publication dates to verify that the books are 50 years old, as required:
1. 19th Century Classic: Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854)
2. 20th Century Classic: My Antonia by Willa Cather (1918)
3.Classic by a Woman Author: Eight Cousins by Louisa My Alcott (1875)
4. Classic in Translation (originally written in something other than your native language): Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (1910)
5. Classic by a Person of Color: Wynema: A Child of the Forest (1891)
6. A Genre Classic:1984 by George Orwell (1949)
7. Classic with a Person’s Name in the Title: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (1883)
8. Classic with a Place in the Title: Lark Rise (1939), Candleford Green (1943), and Over to Candleford (1941), the Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy by Flora Thompson
9. Classic with Nature in the Title: Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott (1876)
10. Classic About a Family (multiple members of the same family as principal characters): Amberwell (1955) and Summerhills by D. E. Stevenson (1956)
11. Abandoned Classic (one you started but never finished). Billy Budd by Herman Melville (1924)
12: Classic Adaptation (Any classic that’s been adapted as a movie or TV series): Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope (1858)
Anthony Trollope, D. E. Stevenson, and Willa Cather were all new-to-me authors whose other works I look forward to exploring.
We’re allowed up to three children’s books: mine were Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, and Robin Hood.
Karen has a points system where the number of categories we complete gives us a corresponding number of entries in a prize drawing she holds. I don’t get extra points for reading more than one book in a couple of the categories—I did so just because I wanted to keep reading a series. Karen likes for us to calculate our number of entries. For completing all twelve categories, I get three entries.
If you are interested in participating next year, the rules, categories, and sign up post are here at the Back to the Classics 2021 post. Thanks to Karen for hosting! I enjoyed it very much.
Stray Thoughts 
I love classics (particularly the way they force me to “slow down” in my reading), and your post reminds me that it’s been a while since I read one. Thank you for the reminder. I think, from your list, I’ve read 1984 and Phantom of the Opera 🙂
Barbara, I admire your determination to read classics. I read many through high school and college, and I’ve heard of some of the authors and books you mentioned here. 🙂 I’ve enjoyed some more than others. Congratulations on reading all these books!