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.

mmack: "From the American writers on that list I have read Alice Walker, Jennifer Egan, Toni Morrison, Donna Tartt, Sylvia Plath, Marilynne Robinson and S.E. Hinton"

It's funny you should say that - I'm the same. Have read quite a lot of female American writers, including all but one of the writers you mention there (SE Hinton is the one I haven't read). I particularly loved the Jennifer Egan Good Squad one. I'm one of the few who doesn't really get the Marilynne Robinson love, though I've now read all three books in the trilogy!

So this year I tried to rectify the omission of male American writers from my reading, and read Rabbit, Run. I can't honestly say I loved it - I can see why it's highly thought of, and I thought it got better as it went on. But it didn't really speak to me.

It would be a good idea to pick classic every month and discuss it like a book group. I tried a real life book group last year too and the people were nice but it was more a general chat and a cup of tea than what I was looking for.
The book wouldn't have to one from my original list either. I will vote for either In Cold Blood or The Handmaid's Tale as the January book. Then we could take turns picking books for subsequent months.

I'm up for this challenge. I'm on the 50 books in a year challenge too so will pick 12 (or more!) modern classics to read (the rest will be old classics and contemporary). I love reading challenges because they always result in me reading substantially more.

Can we still join this challenge even if we don't read the recommended book? I like reading what other people are reading so I can add new books to my to-read list...

Of course you can still join. It will be interesting to see what classics other people haven't read. I love book lists more than almost anything else.

I'd like to join if I may. The Sea has been on my list for a while, and the Handmaid's Tale.

I'd like to join to. I have a number of these books unread on my bookshelf. They've been there for sometime...

I'm in. I've only read one from your list (Atwood). I find modern classics of this ilk a challenge and my reading list has been getting progressively low brow of late. I might try and add in Zero's suggestions as well.

I'm in too came on this section looking for some more 'intellectual' reads and I'll be on mat leave for a good bit of 2015 so hope to read a bit more, as I've read too much mediocre fluff of late!

I just finished reading Nemesis. I had expected Philip Roth to be difficult but it's a very simple story about a polio outbreak in a Jewish neighbourhood in Newark during WW2 and the effect it has on a young teacher. The writing is very evocative-you can imagine being in the sizzling city during a heatwave. If I have a criticism it would be that the last section was a bit heavy-handed. It seemed like Roth was trying to make a lot of points about religion and fate and it seemed a bit forced compared to the main story.

Oh, fabulous!

I agree with most of what you say. It's the only Roth I've read properly (had to give up on others) and I found it stunning.

But I struggled to understand the reasoning behind the imbalance - so much first half, so little and such a rushed second half. I'm still puzzling it out. Was there some judgement about the relative importance of the two groups of young people? I don't think that's it. Nemesis suggests some prior hubris but I don't think he came close to that.

But, if this is about fate then the long first half and tiny second half make quite a profound point (perhaps.) Look how long he spent (over) thinking his every move - as if he were moving in slow motion - and all the time fate was just playing with him. And then just picked him up and tumbled him down the hill with no more time for reflection. Was terrifyingly swift.

The saddest thing (now I'm old enough to have years to look back on) is the portrayal of the intensity of one long moment, one youth, and all your life lived in the shadow of it. Thats a nemesis that's coming to us all; regardless of our past actions.

Are you pleased you read it?

I'm very glad I read it. I have a whole lot of questions though. If nemesis suggests prior hubris then the simplest explanation is that polio was the nemesis to Bucky's pride in his physical prowess. But is that too simple? I don't think Bucky came across as being overly self-confident in other ways. I think he felt socially inferior to Marcia and her family and he was a decent person who was trying hard to do good in the world. He didn't deserve a nemesis.

I thought the saddest part is that he was punishing himself for so many things that weren't his fault but he punished Marcia more. I thought that Marcia was underdeveloped as a character and I wondered if that was deliberate. I think she was more a prize than a real person to Bucky and I wonder did Roth want her to seem less than a real person to the reader also.

He didn't deserve a nemesis.

Exactly.

Upon whom was nemesis supposed to be visited? Not the whole community surely? I've always understood nemesis as an arrow not a blunt instrument. Would be so much easier if Roth had called this book "Isn't it Ironic?" after that silly song.

I also need to reflect more on the parallel with the war. Originally I picked this book out to give to a pre-teen but thought I'd better read it first so we could talk about it. The heavy-handedness that you mentioned above felt more suited to a YA novel at times - particularly the underlining of his perceived connection to/separation from what was happening to his friends. But on the other hand some of the images (the rat!) and the personal struggles made me hesitate to hand it over.

I like your question about the underdevelopment of Marcia. The only reason I was able to get through this book is that it managed not to linger on depictions of whole sections of US society as being less than real people. Which is my main problem with just about every piece of US fiction I pick up.

There's a programme on the idea of Nemesis on Radio 4 this afternoon. Part of a series "The Ideas That Make Us." Presented by Bettany Hughes. I wonder if it will make anything clearer to me.

In other news I'm making a list for 2015. Never done this before and slightly worried that it will guarantee that I never, ever read any of the books listed.

Me please.

I've read quite a few in your list, OP, but Slaughterhouse 5 is something I definitely need to read!

I'm percolating a list now. David Foster Wallis is another author I must read.

I almost put Infinite Jest on my list but the length of it put me off. It does look interesting though. I'm reading The Interestings at the moment and I have a Wally Vlautin book to read as well and then I'm giving my brain a Christmas holiday and reading a Jack Reacher book and maybe the new Joanna Trollope. Then In Cold Blood in January.

In Cold Blood is excellent.

The minute dissection of a crime puts me in mind of The Serial pod cast from This American Life; I don't know if you've been listening?

Zero, I can't wait to see your list. I'm easily influenced so I will probably end up reading your list even if you don't. What do you have on it so far?

Promise you won't laugh.

I took the most recent 50 fiction type things from my Amazon basket and picked those that might possibly be called Contemporary Classics. (Truth be told I'll prob just carry on injesting shopping websites and MN - both have been fatal to my reading habits.)

W H Auden The Age of Anxiety

Caroline Blackwood Great Granny Webster

Aime Cesaire A Season in the Congo (Broke my heart to miss the recent-ish stage production.)

Thomas Eccleshare Pastoral

Ismail Kadare Broken April

Laszlo Krasnahorkai Satantango

J M G Le Clezio Onitsha

Flann O'Brien Complete Novels

Wole Soyinka Death and The King's Horseman

Dalton Trumbo Johnny Got His Gun

Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse 5

It's a ridiculous list - I've just finished Mal Peet's Life, An Exploded Diagram and I'm tempted to re-read Alan Garland's Boneland. And only one space left for the unexpected.

Should have said Modern rather than Contemporary.

injesting Rather like that - must find a place to use it...

Going through the posts and doing a list right now.

Such a good idea for a thread .

I loved the Flann O'Brien books when I was a teenager. I didn't realise At Swim-Two-Birds was a comic novel when I borrowed it from the library all those years ago so it was a pleasant surprise. I haven't heard of some of the others on you list-I'll look at them on Amazon later. The Le Clezio would fit well on my list too so I might read that. Isn't Dalton Trumbo the screenwriter? I wish I could stay and browse for a while but no time right now.

Screenwriter - yes.

Oh, I mis-typed Laszlo Kras z nahorkai.

I would like to join in with this, please. For some time now I have been aware that my reading habits tend towards the junk food end of the literary spectrum - I don't think there is anything wrong with these books - I read them and get huge pleasure from them - but I would like to mix in some more challenging books.

I will try to read one modern classic a month, next year - I don't think I will decide on a list in advance, I think I will choose month by month.

Dudes, I'm trying to write up a list.

How far back are we going? What are my terms of reference? I realise I am over-thinking this. Maybe. A bit...