Pam Webb

Revisit to a Perfect Club

Back in August 2018 I discovered the Perfect Club. This was my partial introduction:

I am always interested in reading what others are reading. Somehow I discovered The Classics Club, and the main requirement is to create a list of at least 50 classics and set a read-by date. This club and I shall become besties, I know it. They are friendly and flexible and have all kinds of reading activities going on all the time. This is a better discovery than a new gelato flavor.

I proposed I would complete my reading by December 31st, 2019. Well—that isn’t going to happen. I have strayed from my list a multitude of times to pick up a new shiny. No regrets. I do relish reading, new or classic. A good read is a good read. Below is my revised and tweaked classics list. UPDATE: The list is now completed as of 6/24/20!

* indicates read and reviewed already in Goodreads.

Any of these titles look familiar to you? What would you add to the list? Are you going to join me over at The Classics Club?

1. Green Willow by B.J. Chute*
2. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli*
3. Blue Willow by Doris Gates*
4. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart*
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl*
6. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl*
7. Charlie and the Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl*
8. Housekeeping by Marilyn Robinson*
9. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson*
10. Princess Bride by William Goldman* (reread)
11. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf*
12. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin*
13. The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier*
14. The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan*
15. The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty*
16. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (reread)*
17. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn*
18. Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse*
19. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce*
20. The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells*
21. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnero*
22. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken*
23. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving*
24. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier*
25. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome*
26. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines*
27. Swallows and Amazon by Arthur Ransome*
28. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury* (reread)
29. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver*
30. Persuasion by Jane Austen* (reread)
31. Howard’s End by E.M. Forster*
32. Woman in White by Wilkie Collin*
33. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle*
34. King Solomon’s Mine by H. Rider Haggard*
35. The Breaking Wave by Nevil Shute*
36. The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher*
37. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev*
38. The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner*
39. The Least of My Brothers by Harold Bell Wright*
40. The Stranger by Albert Camus*
41. Lust for Life by Irving Stone*
42. Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney*
43. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke*
44. Work by Louisa May Alcott*
45. Lady Susan by Jane Austen (reread)*
46. Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner*
47. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin*
48. On the Beach by Nevil Shute*
49. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley*
50. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell*