Back to the Classics Reading Challenge 2013

After weeks of procrastination, I have finished the Back to the Classics Reading Challenge hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much! This is my second completed reading challenge after the European Reading Challenge that I did back in May. According to the instructions for the wrap-up post, I'm supposed to note that I finished one "Entry" for completing all the required category reads as well as two "Entries" for completing all the optional categories. 

Total Entries (unless I counted wrong, which would not be unheard of because math is evil and I hate it): 3

The Required Categories:

1.      A 19th Century Classic - Adventures of a Special Correspondent by Jules Verne

Verne’s novels are hard for me to “get into” as a reader because he usually writes from first person, but the narrators all have the same voice. I spent several chapters on this novel before I was able to rule out the option that this was actually Verne narrating: actually the Special Correspondent is named Claudius Bombarnac. This novel is a mostly episodic story of this special correspondent traveling by train through Asia. Bombarnac is supposed to write about the places he visits, but the journey proves uneventful and he gets distracted a lot by his various fellow-travelers (of diverse nationalities, personalities, and motives).  The most important plot thread of the entire novel is the problem of a stowaway who is trying to reach Kyrgyzstan and be reunited with his love. My favorite part of this novel, however, is the chapter or two where absolutely nothing is happening worth writing about, and Bombarnac starts bemoaning the fact that he’s not on an American train where there might be a threat of Indians attacking and scalping people.

2.      A 20th Century Classic - The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I listened to this one on audio book. An entire month, one disk (sometimes two or three) a day. Five "books" retelling more than 25 years of King Arthur and the history of his reign.  Wow.  I'm gonna have to read that one again. I've always loved Arthurian Romance (and I'll have to talk more in-depth about that in another entry, because believe ME, I can talk about it IN DEPTH.  Heheh.), but I never would have imagined that its stories could be written like this.  It had such a sense of humor, and also portrayed the tragic events with sympathy and poignance.* I laughed. I cried. I had vocal, one-sided disputes with T.H. White for how he portrayed Gawain.  (Seriously! He said that GARETH was the one with Green Knight adventure?  GARETH?  That meathead?!). 

3.      A Pre-18th or 18th Century Classic - Richard II by William Shakespeare

This was one of my least enjoyable Shakespeare experiences. This is the story of a king who loses his throne just because he breaks up an awesome joust right before it begins.  I actually got a movie version from the library in order to watch the play, in case I missed anything when I read it (which is pretty common for me and reading dramas), but in this case, nope. Just one conversation after another. It didn't help that the actor portraying Richard made the artistic choice to talk in really slow monotone whenever Richard was sad (which is pretty much all the time) even during passages which I would have interpreted as speaking fast and frenetic. 

4.      A Classic that relates to the African-American Experience - This can be an African-American author, or a book relating to slavery, civil rights, or African-American culture. - Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

I knew I was going to like this memoir. I've always admired Booker T. Washington and his "hard work" philosophy on success.  In college, instead of reading Up From Slavery, we read W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk and then the professor went into detail criticizing how Washington was almost a traitor to the rights of his race because of his stance on "compromise" with white segregation movements.  We didn't read anything by Washington himself to counterbalance that argument or inform us students about the accuracy of my professor's claims.  Now that I have finally read it, I feel that my professor (and DuBois) were a bit harsh, seeing only Washington's weaker points rather than his many strengths.  In fact, the characteristic I admire most about Booker T. Washington is his ability to forgive.  When we forgive the people who have horribly wronged us (even if they deserve to be punished), we free ourselves from the less-visible slavery of bitterness. I'm much more likely to hold a grudge, but after reading this memoir, I'm inspired to forgive, work hard, and move forward.

5.      A Classic Adventure - The Laughing Cavalier by Emmuska Orczy

This is where The Scarlet Pimpernel Story begins, chronologically. It's about an irreverent Englishman living in Holland during a time of political unrest, who agrees to kidnap a beautiful young lady who knows about an upcoming assassination attempt. The villain is in love with this young lady and has no desire for her to be harmed...just...kept out of the way until his evil plot is successful. 

These novels are great swashbuckling fun. Orczy gives her male characters most of the action, but she allows the female characters room for growth and influence over the plot, which is a bit of a novelty in these sorts of "romantic adventure" books from the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

6.      A Classic that prominently features an Animal - This can feature animal characters or animals in the title (real or imagined) - Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (reread)

I actually read and reviewed it this year BEFORE signing up for this challenge. How's that for planning?

Optional Categories:

 A.   Re-read a Classic – The Little Prince by Antoine d Saint-Exupéry

No matter how many times I’ve read this book, it always makes me feel the same. It’s always this subtle, elusive feeling of happiness and sadness, like when you wake up from a dream that leaves you feeling the emotions of that dream, even though you can’t quite remember what the dream was. Of course you could read this book as a comedy—there are several humorous parts in it—or as a tragedy, or as a book filled with proverbs and allegory.  In a way it’s all these things, all at once. Often I’ll read a line and not be able to decide whether to laugh, nod at its profundity, or cry.

B.   A Russian Classic - Great Russian Short Stories by various

 This was a good way of gaining exposure to several diverse Russian classic writers. The style of writing varied, as did how much I enjoyed each individual story. As always Dostoyevsky was depressingly delightful in White Nights, but by far my favorite of this collection was Tolstoy’s How Much Land Does a Man Need? which read like a fairy tale or ancient myth.

C.   A Classic Non-Fiction title - Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

This is the first nonfiction book I’ve read of Twain’s, and I must say it surprised me. The opening is literally a history and geographical description of the Mississippi River, which scared me because I had expected Tom Sawyer and I was getting gallons per mile instead.  But I should not have worried so much. The title should have been a clue that Twain not only was going to talk about the Mississippi itself, but also LIFE on it. 

He describes his career on a riverboat, the various stations and towns along the banks of the river which he saw, of the life of the people in those towns, and in the end it’s like he starts with the muddy water and then expands the description of the land, the people, their livelihoods, and how times have changed even in the twenty years since he first dreamed of being a cabin boy.  

Some parts I found boring, but they were countered by some really interesting descriptions—in Twain’s usual black sardonic humor, for the most part, such as the account of how undertakers would wring every penny from poor-but-proud widows. 

D.   A Classic Children's/Young Adult title – The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

“A-A-R-G-H, numbers!  Never mention numbers here.  Only use them when we absolutely have to.” ~ Chapter 7: The Royal Banquet, page 86

This is the story of an extremely bored and apathetic boy named Milo who receives a mysterious phantom toothbrush—er, I mean, Tollbooth—in the mail. Because he fortunately owns a toy car (that is large enough and sophisticated enough for him to actually drive), he goes through the toothbr—tollbooth and enters the Land of Wisdom. Which, because its two ruling princesses Rhyme and Reason have been banished, is not very wise at all. 

Milo makes it his quest to bring the princesses back, and along the way he meets a lot of personified puns, two of which (a Watchdog and a Humbug) join him on this quest.

Some things are delightful whether one reads it as a child or first discovers it as an adult.  For me, this book was not such a discovery. 

From all the glowing reviews and recommendations, I am aware that I’m voicing a minority opinion here.  I had never read it when I was younger, but kept hearing from others that it was their favorite childhood novel. Maybe I approached The Phantom Tollbooth with my expectations too high; maybe I missed the magical moment of experiencing a thing in childhood which would have endeared it at least for nostalgia’s sake. 

But frankly I didn’t care for it. And I am willing to dodge all the rotten produce that will likely be thrown at me for saying so. It’s not that The Phantom Tollbooth was poorly written, or had a bad message, or anything. In fact I don’t quite understand what’s lacking, since it’s very much like Alice in Wonderland (which I love…although I read that when I was a child so maybe if I’d read it as an adult I would have been similarly unimpressed) and other childhood books that have a central character traveling from place to place and encountering all manner of fantastic adventures. 

Here are my objections: first, that Milo is not a very active character, aside from going on this quest. Of course this is the climax his character must overcome: his flaw is that he is passive and apathetic, and throughout the book he becomes more and more active. Another, possibly petty, problem I have with the book is that I am frustrated by the title. Not only do I consistently call it The Phantom Toothbrush, but I’m also disappointed that the titular Tollbooth is not more of a central object in the story. (I guess I should have noticed that operative word, phantom, meant that the tollbooth would be a fleeting thing.)

   E.  Classic Short Stories - collection must include at least 3 short stories by the same author, or at least 3 stories collected together by genre, time period, etc. - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving

I had read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle in high school, and after reading about a dozen more of Irving’s short stories I think it’s safe to say that these are his best two.  I’m not a huge fan of short stories in general because I liked to have longer exposure to characters in order to “root” for them and understand their personalities. This, then, might have affected how much (or little) I enjoyed Irving’s stories. At first I enjoyed how he would start a story, draw me in and get me to wondering “what’s going to happen next?!” only to end prematurely with “And they never did find out.” 

But after a while it got infuriating. The Stout Gentleman is entirely about a narrator character who sits in this wayside inn wondering as to the identity of “the stout gentleman” who is hiding in his room…and he never DOES find out who the guy is! Annette Delarbre is about a lover’s spat which almost ends tragically but then pretty much concludes with them living happily ever after as if the spat hadn’t happened in the first place. 

In conclusion I think that I prefer other “folktale short stories” by such authors as Mark Twain and Nathaniel Hawthorne, although I can see Irving’s influence in their writing styles.