I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books. I aimed to read them all in 2011, but that’s beginning to look unlikely. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? I had vague ideas about Gulliver’s Travels. I remembered Ted Danson being tied up by some little people in a film version I [...]
Category Archives: 20 Classics in 2011
20 Classics in 2011 #7: Death on Tiptoe by RC Ashby
September 15, 2011 – 3:21 pm
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? In The Children’s Bookshop in Edinburgh, I discovered a wall of yellow books with purple pinstripes: rediscovered, republished books by women. There were all kinds of stories, but the fact that Death on Tiptoe was [...]
20 classics in 2011 #6: The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
July 24, 2011 – 1:03 am
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? Years ago I saw the moving film Iris with Kate Winslet as Iris Murdoch. The film was an education, and I’ve been meaning to read one of her novels (and there are many) ever since. The [...]
20 classics in 2011 #6: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
April 28, 2011 – 7:15 am
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? I love Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and dystopian fiction in general. Plus, the sections of my work-in-progress that people have read have been compared to Brave New World. I thought it was about time I read it [...]
20 classics in 2011 #5: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
April 15, 2011 – 9:30 am
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? I’d always heard Oscar Wilde was a wit, and the supernatural element of the story appealed to me. When was it published? It was first published in 1890, as an issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. A later [...]
20 classics in 2011 #3: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
March 3, 2011 – 7:30 am
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? Yarrrr, I was in the mood for some adventure! And so much legend exists because of this one book: one-legged pirates, parrots, treasure maps marked with an X and more. When was it published? It was originally [...]
20 classics in 2011 #2: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
February 8, 2011 – 9:16 am
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. ‘A great many people give me the impression of never having for a moment felt anything’ – Isabel Archer, The Portrait of a Lady. Why did I want to read it? Well, first of all, Henry James is one of the ‘great’ novelists [...]
20 classics in 2011: blog project
January 18, 2011 – 8:30 am
I am going to read 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. All book-lovers have gaps in their reading – how could you possibly read everything? In recent years I’ve been fairly up-to-speed with newer books and Australian literature, but I’ll often find myself in conversation, saying ‘oh, I haven’t read such-and-such yet’. People often assume I [...]
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