Would anyone like to join me in a modern classics challenge for 2015?

[mmack]

This year I read some very good books but a lot of mediocre ones as well. So next year I plan to read 12 modern classics that I haven't read before. Would anyone be interested in doing something similar? Or in discussing any of the books with me? My list is below. It's a bit male-dominated but that's because I tend to read mostly female writers so the classics I haven't read are mostly by male writers.

1. Saul Bellow; Herzog 2. Martin Amis; Money 3. Truman Capote; In Cold Blood 4. John Updike; Rabbit, Run 5. Philip Roth; American Pastoral. 6. Kent Haruf; Plainsong 7. Kurt Vonnegut; Slaughterhouse 5 8. Iris Murdoch; The Sea, The Sea 9. Doris Lessing; The Golden Notebook 10. Margaret Atwood; The Handmaid's Tale 11. Ron Moody; The Ice-Storm 12. J.M. Coetzee; Disgrace.

I'm substituting My Family and Other Animal for The Sea, The Sea as my December book so I'm done with my list. I will certainly read more Atwood, Updike, Roth, Lessing, Moody and Bellow in the future. I have a craving for mindless crime thrillers at the moment but I think I'll work on a new list for 2016. I've already bought Portrait of a Lady for January as I think I should give Henry James a go.

Only managed one more modern classic - Rebecca, which I didn't get on with.

Next year I'm going to carry on reading at least one modern classic a month, starting with Untold Stories.

Thanks to mmack for starting this thread