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.

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Reading Challenges for 2021

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Review - Police Aesthetics: Literature, Film, and the Secret Police in Soviet Times (Cristina Vatulescu)

In one sense, I only reading Cristina Vatulescu's Police Aesthetics because the ebook was available on Hoopla Digital through my public library, and I was looking for something interesting to read. The reality is that this is primarily how I discovered it, because in all likelihood if I had learned of its existence otherwise I would have requested it from interlibrary loan and read it anyway. It's exactly the kind of book that would have been very useful to me for various term papers as an undergraduate Russian Studies student, too, so there's almost a nostalgia factor for me when reading books like this. That said, I imagine its appeal to a general American audience is probably somewhat limited. It's a book about the role of the secret police in the literary/film world of the Soviet Union and Communist Romania, among other things, and it's at times a bit dry. But it's also an interesting look into what is (and isn't) to be found in the opened archives of p...

Review - The Introvert's Edge to Networking

I received an electronic ARC of this book via Netgalley for an honest review. This book does, at its core, have some useful advice that I hope to work into my life. That said, it could have taught its lesson in a fraction of its length--and in my opinion, at least, would have been stronger for it. Most of the book's advice centers around identifying your professional passion, identifying a niche audience for it, and then--in essence--crafting a clear mission statement and using that when you meet people. The biggest issue I had with this book was that, despite being an introvert who struggles with the idea of networking, I spent most of the book feeling like the target audience was a person I both am not and have no desire to be. A considerable portion of the text seems to be aimed at a hypothetical reader who is already either a small business owner or else very successful in their field of passion, working in a capacity that specifically involves sales to wealthy clients. As a g...

Undirected Reading

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