Challenge Post - 2021 Back to the Classics Challenge

Books read for the 2021 Back to the Classics Challenge. I will be listing the books I read for this challenge below, with reviews linked as they are completed.

1. A 19th century classic: any book first published from 1800 to 1899

2. A 20th century classic: any book first published from 1900 to 1971. All books must have been published at least 50 years ago; the only exceptions are books which were written by 1971 and posthumously published.

3. A classic by a woman author.

4. A classic in translation, meaning any book first published in a language that is not your primary language. You may read it in translation or in its original language, if you prefer.

5. A classic by BIPOC author; that is, a non-white author.

6. A classic by a new-to-you author, i.e., an author whose work you have never read.

7. New-to-you classic by a favorite author -- a new book by an author whose works you have already read.

8. A classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title. The animal can be real or metaphorical. (i.e., To Kill a Mockingbird).

9. A children's classic.

Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery

10. A humorous or satirical classic.

11. A travel or adventure classic (fiction or non-fiction). It can be a travelogue or a classic in which the main character travels or has an adventure.

12. A classic play. Plays will only count in this category.

Comments

Review: Collected Poems of Federico García Lorca, revised bilingual edition

I finished reading this anthology a few weeks ago, and apparently forgot to ever post a review. While García Lorca is one of the best-known Spanish poets, I was actually quite unfamiliar with his work before picking up this collection. Perhaps starting with an anthology of this size was jumping in off the deep end, but it was an enjoyable experience. Because this edition uses several different translators, there's a lot of variation even beyond what's inherent in the poems. Despite a very limited knowledge of Spanish, I found I enjoyed it being a dual language book--especially for sections where I didn't like some of the stylistic choices of the translations much and could then compare with the original. All in all, a very enjoyable collection of poetry.

Reading Challenges for 2021

I usually do set a numerical goal on the Goodreads reading challenges each year, and find them to be a great way to feel some sense of accomplishment in reading [x] number of books in a given year. Since I also started reviewing some digital ARCs through NetGalley last year, I've been writing more reviews in general (though the non-ARC books I read I may or may not review). I've toyed with the idea of doing some additional challenges before, but haven't--so I'm going to try for it this year! Because this is my first time doing this, I tried to choose challenges that mesh pretty well with what I already tend to read. This means, basically, that they're challenges I could have done okay on with books I read naturally over the course of a year. Yeah, that might not quite be in the "move out of your comfort zone" spirit of many challenges, but it seems like a way to ease into it. So, without further ado, I'm going to be trying the following: Rose City R...

Review - Strange Skies Over East Berlin (Jeff Loveness and Lisandro Estherren)

I really, really wanted to like this graphic novel more than I actually did. It touched on a number of themes I really enjoy in fiction: truth and lies, surveillance and (false) freedom, justice and mercy, idealism and disillusionment, identity and its loss. It featured a morally grey protagonist, and a setting that I tend to enjoy seeing in media. It drew subtle parallels between characters that could have been very poignant and thought-provoking. It had most of the elements that should have made me love it. And yet somehow, it read like a summary of itself. The pacing was too fast to evoke either the poignancy or the quiet horror of which it should have been capable; the art, while evocative and well suited to the story, never felt quite atmospheric enough to capture the suspense and sense of inevitable dread that never quite manifested. For a story that relies so much on the protagonist's sense of himself (or lack thereof) and his lies, I never felt that I knew Her...

Undirected Reading

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