Read twenty "classics" before 26th birthday

"Reading and Writing" item number two is to read fifteen classics before I turn 25. I failed to do that, so "Reading and Writing" item number fourteen is to read twenty classics before I turn 26.


01.) Dracula by Bram Stoker - Finished on 09 October 2008. Took a little time to get into it because I've been reading so much stuff that's very simply written lately. I just had to get past the first two chapters in one sitting, though, and then I was used to Stoker's writing and I loved the rest of it. Except when Lucy kept hanging on and I just wanted the story to move forward. That was a little annoying.

02.) The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper - Finished on 19 November 2008. When a book is 375 pages long, it's not a good sign when I'm not into it until past the halfway point. I liked it as a whole but the beginning dragged sooooooo much that I wouldn't recommend it to people unless I'm more familiar with their reading likes and dislikes.

03.) The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - Finished on 01 December 2008. Why had I never read this? It's so short and it's a story that I've loved since I was very little. I mean ... I'm all about two-in-one creatures. Complete sucker for 'duality of man' stories, and this is probably the most famous one. Anyway, I'd never actually sat down and read it, but I'm glad I did. I LOVED it.

04.) The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling - Finished on 02 December 2008. I started reading Just So Stories when I was much younger and I never finished it. Reading The Jungle Book reminded me of why that is. Not a Kipling fan here.

05.) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Finished on 13 December 2008. The beginning was boring. Then it got a little better. Then it became almost unbearable. Then it was okay for a while. But by the end I hated every character and was severely disappointed that more of them didn't die because they all should have.

06.) Brewster's Millions by George Barr McCutcheon - Finished on 12 March 2009. I really enjoyed this book. I "read" it in audio form, through LibriVox. It was a great way to relax at the end of the day before bed. Very funny, good characters, and even the love story aspect of it was tolerable. I'm glad I picked this one.

07.) The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells - Finished on 03 April 2009. I've known the basics of this story for as long as I can remember and I've always completely adored the concept. I'm not sure why I'd never read it before. Probably because I've seen a couple of movie versions and they're just so disappointing.

08.) Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome - Finished on 24 April 2009. I "read" this one in audio form. The reader was Hugh Laurie, who is a fantastic audio book performer. I'm pretty sure I would have really enjoyed this story even if I'd been reading it myself, though, despite the fact that it's really not the sort of thing I would normally pick out on my own based on the description. I mean, it was originally meant to be a serious travel guide, and then it turned into a comedy novel, neither of which is a genre I'm very enthusiastic about. Three Men in a Boat is really excellent, though.

09.) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - Finished on ?? May 2009.

10.) Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - Finished on ?? May 2009.

11.) Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Finished on ?? June 2009.

12.) The Time Machine by H.G. Wells - Finished on 13 July 2009.

13.) The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Finished on 15 July 2009.

14.) The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells - Finished on 18 July 2009.

15.) The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan - Finished on 08 November 2009.

16.) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Finished on 12 November 2009. I've known this story for ages and I've also known how much I love Oscar Wilde's writing. Why has it taken me so long to get my hands on a copy of this book and actually read it? It's now firmly on my list of favorite novels of all time.

17.) A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Finished on 13 November 2009. Very simply put: While she is not one of my ZOMG ALL-TIME FAVORITES, I really enjoy Frances Hodgson Burnett's work (though none will beat The Secret Garden for me).

18.) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - Finished on 13 February 2010. What a truly horrendous book. Ugh.

19.) Utopia by Thomas More - Finished on 14 February 2010. You know what? This so-called Utopia didn't actually sound all that great to me.

20.) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - Finished on 19 February 2010. Up until this point, I was only familiar with an abridged audio version of Great Expectations, read by Hugh Laurie. I'd listened to that dozens of times, though, so as I was reading this I heard his voice in my head, even for the parts that were omitted from the audio version. I'm glad I read the whole thing instead of sticking to the short one. It's so much deeper and richer this way. I love it.