My Autumn Classic TBR Book List

Posted on by

Autumn is a lovely time of year when the often hectic life of summer at least settles into some routine. For some reason, while I generally dislike book lists, I do like making a list for autumn and this year is no different.  And thankfully the Top Ten Tuesday topic fits right in so here I go!

Moby Dick The name of the rose umberto ecco Adam Bede George Eliot

1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville ~ for Brona’s fantastic read-along.  I’m enjoying this novel much more than I ever expected!!

2. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco ~ a buddy read in one of my groups.  I tried it before and Eco’s portrayal of monks drove me crazy.  But I’m giving it another try.

3. Adam Bede by George Eliot- another buddy read in one of my groups.  I LOVE George Eliot and have been getting the urge to re-read Middlemarch, but this one first.  I can’t wait.

4. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton ~ I didn’t participate in the last Classics Club spin but Reese did and I’ve decided to read her book with her.  I read The Age of Innocence earlier this year and loved it.  I do love Wharton’s writing; you just can’t go wrong reading one of her books!

5. On Friendship by Cicero ~ anyone for a read-along? In October ….?

6. The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm ~ fresh off my C.S. Lewis The Four Loves read-along, I’m thinking of combining Cicero’s book above with this book.  Silvia is raring to go … is anyone else interested in reading along?

7. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton ~ okay, did I mention that I love Wharton?  I read this book years ago and was just astounded by her art.  Wharton’s amazing crafting of the main character is superb.  Would anyone be interested in a read-along of it in November?  Please let me know in the comments below!

8. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck ~ another buddy read in a group.  I wasn’t that impressed with East of Eden but I’ll give this one a shot.

9. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford ~ has anyone read this novel?  So far I’m having second thoughts ….

10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~ fortunately many of the Dickens’ novels that I haven’t read yet are some of his more popular ones.  I can’t wait to get acquainted with Pip!

What’s on your TBR list this autumn?

 

53 thoughts on “My Autumn Classic TBR Book List”

  1. Nice list with some old friends, some titles in common, and that invitation to the read along that I hope others join.

    Curious about your second try at Eco’s famous book.

    Reply ↓

    • Yay, Lory! The Art of Loving is only about 120 pages and has four parts, however part II had three separate sections. I’d like to start October 1st and take the month. Cicero’s treatise is very short so whoever wants to read that, it can be unscheduled and read consecutively. As for Fromm’s book, I’ll think about the divisions. Part II is much longer than the others so I’ll have to figure out a reasonable split. Stay tuned!

      Reply ↓

  3. Yay for #4! And I was thinking of proceeding directly to House of Mirth after that–it’s also on my Classics Club list & it’s in the same volume for me.

    As for The Good Soldier I read it years ago, and didn’t much like it myself. Too sour.

    Erich Fromm. Hmm. I read it a while back, I could reread it…

    Reply ↓

    • Oh, that would be great: Custom of the Country for October and The House of Mirth for November!

      Meh, The Good Soldier. It’s bugging me, as if Ford decided to by hyper-artistic but it sounds overdone and for a man, at times, almost overly emotional. It’s okay though …. readable but not much better so far.

      I’d “love” for you to join us reading The Art of Loving … no pressure though …. 🙂

      Reply ↓

    • Ooo, you have Bleak House, Pablo Neruda and The Communist Manifesto that I’d like to read. I might fit the last one in before the new year. I’ll look forward to your reviews!

      Reply ↓

  6. I read most of the Whartons in my twenties…and adored them all. They are now long overdue for a reread. I will have to enjoy your thoughts from afar though. Moby-Dick (isn’t it wonderful?) and AusReadingMonth will take up most of time until December…

    Reply ↓

    • I’m ready to start it October 1st and it should only take a few days to read. I’m so interested in what Cicero has to say about it!

      Reply ↓

  9. Your list looks appropriately introspective and cozy! I haven’t read most of them, so I look forward to your reviews, especially on Eco and Ford.

    I remember you recommended The Art of Loving to me some time back.. I’ve placed a hold on the library’s ebook copy and will join you if it becomes available!

    Reply ↓

    • I thought my list looked much more “normal” than it usually does. No super-intellectual heavy reads like Plato or Nietzsche or Pascal, lol! We’ll except for Cicero ….

      I think you’d really enjoy The Art of Loving; while he talks about the same things as Lewis, he comes at them from a different perspective. I’m so interested in your thoughts on it.

      Reply ↓

    • Wow, that’s great … I hope I’ve chosen some excellent reads! You should join us for the Moby Dick read-along. Brona is going very slowly and honestly, I absolutely love the book. It’s waaaaaay better than I ever thought it would be.

      Thanks for visiting, Patrick!

      Reply ↓

  12. I love a list of books! I hope you like Great Expectations. It is one of my favorite Dickens.

    I didn’t like East of Eden either but I admired The Grapes of Wrath. I don’t think I’ll ever love Steinbeck but The Grapes of Wrath is almost a dystopia except it really happened.

    I also disliked The Good Soldier but I think I would feel differently if I were to reread it. The narrator has an agenda and I would read it differently now that I know what his intentions are.

    Reply ↓

    • I’m liking Great Expectations very much so far!

      I had a feeling that The Grapes of Wrath might be a little better than East of Eden. It’s almost like it takes you out of time.

      I’m not particularly enjoying The Good Soldier however, Tom enlightened me saying that it’s full of “traps” and how the story is told is more important than the story itself. Now I feel like I’m hunting for treasure!

      Reply ↓

  13. I’ve read The Good Soldier numerous times and am up for discussing that any time. One of the world’s all time greatest novels.

    Reply ↓

    • Welcome, Renate! Once I post my review, I’ll be so interested to learn what you liked so much about it. Right now it reminds me very slightly of one of Virginia Woolf’s novels.

      Reply ↓

  15. I love a good booklist! Great Expectations is probably my favorite Dickens’ book I’ve read. So far I’ve read A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, and A Tale of Two Cities. I want to read Oliver Twist at some point.

    I’ve not read any Edith Wharton. And Grapes of Wrath is on my TBR list. I have read Moby Dick and I confess that I didn’t care for it much. I think I liked The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway better. 🙂 (I read them both last year.)

    Reply ↓

    • Welcome, Karen! Book lists are great, aren’t they? I’ve liked many of Dickens novels equally and a few not so much. I’m waiting for one to blow me away or at least surpass the others; my feeling if any will do it, it will be Great Expectations or Bleak House.

      I tend to like digressions, which makes Moby Dick more appealing for me but I suspect for others, less so. I liked The Old Man and the Sea and I’m not so fond of Hemingway so it was a pleasant surprise. You’re welcome to join The House of Mirth read-along (it will be in November) and Jean and I are planning on December for The Grapes of Wrath, so again, you’re welcome to join us!

      Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

      Reply ↓

      • I somehow missed seeing your reply! Sorry! I need to check the box to have notifications sent to me for follow-up replies.

        I know the feeling of waiting for a Dickens novel to blow you away. Ha! He can get so wordy. For me, Great Expectations was by far the best and I would read it again. Which is saying something when it comes to Dickens works for me. LOL I haven’t read Bleak House but I have seen the BBC movie production of it. (Or was it a mini-series? Hmm….)

        I wish I had known about Brona’s read-along for Moby Dick in time. I might have considered reading it again and participating. But I just found out about it recently. Oh well….
        Moby Dick is one of the longer classics I would have loved to have done a read-along with. I wonder if I would have liked it more if I had. We read it for my IRL classics book club so I read it all on my own and then we got together and discussed the whole book at one time. I think if I had been able to read it along with others and talk about it along the way, it might have made a difference in my reading experience with the book.

        And I just posted on my blog today talking about books I want to read, read-alongs, etc. and talked about how it would be great to have a read-along for Grapes of Wrath! How are you and your friend Jean planning to do your reading of Grapes of Wrath? Will either of you be doing post(s) on your blog for it? I finish up Les Mis the second week of December so I *think* I could try to join you. I like to try anyway. 🙂

        Reply ↓

        • No problem! I sometimes notice that I miss replies too. On Blogger I used to reply off the post page but in WordPress, I’m in my comments section so it’s more difficult to navigate and easier to miss comments.

          We’re only about half way through Moby Dick, if that, but I won’t pressure you to join. I’ve already used my “pressure” card with The House of Mirth, lol!

          I’ve looked through the classics list on your blog. You have some great ones that I’ve read already but I’d love to re-read. I only notice a couple that I haven’t read and we could perhaps do a read-along but I’ll comment in detail on your blog.

          As for The Grapes of Wrath, we have no set plans but I’m thinking of starting Dec 1st. I expect it to take a month but if it takes a little longer, that’s fine. Jean’s a fast read so I’m sure she’ll be finished in a month. I’ll probably only do a review of the book. Steinbeck is not my favourite and I’m almost read-along-hosted-out. As you know with Les Mis, these posts take time and I need a break. I’ve already commited to doing a read-along of The Iliad in 2020 and I’d also like to do one for The Mill on the Floss and possibly Mary Barton. We’ll see however …… I’d love it if you could join for The Grapes of Wrath though! 👍

          Are you on Goodreads? I’ve set up a private group in Goodreads and sometimes I’ll do less intense read-alongs there. That way we can put down our thoughts when we like and have a discussion without the large posts from the host. What do you think?

          Reply ↓

          • Yeah, I don’t think I can’t try to catch up with Moby Dick. 😉 That would definitely probably make my reading load too much. LOL I am really looking forward to The House of Mirth!

            I did already reply to your comment on my blog, but I would love to try to do some read-alongs with some of the books we both want to read or read again!

            Yes, hosting a read-along definitely takes time! I feel mine of Les Mis is nothing formal (and it was certainly last minute, ha!). It’s just me writing about it; but even that takes me a good bit of time! And yes, I am on Goodreads! How do we go about connecting there? I definitely want to try and read The Grapes of Wrath with you!

            So are you doing a read-along for The Iliad or The Odyssey? You said The Odyssey in your comment on my blog. If it’s The Odyssey I would like to join you for that!

            You mentioned Great Expectations in your post here. When do you plan to read that?

          • I’m doing an Iliad read-along but with the Odyssey I did a read-along years ago so I was just going to discuss on Goodreads. I’ll think about it though ….

            I can’t see getting to Great Expectations until early 2020 but you never know. Are you interested? (good heavens, I think we’re going to be bad influences on each other! 😉)

            I’m already looking forward to 2020!

          • LOL – yeah, we might both end up with book reading overload! Ha! I was just curious when you thought you might get to Great Expectations. I figured it would be next year some time. I asked because I might consider hosting a read-along for it at some point. Definitely not until 2020 though. 🙂

            Regarding The Iliad and The Odyssey, I understand now. 🙂 I already commented about The Odyssey in my reply to your comment on my blog. I might read through your posts on The Iliad whenever you do that read-along. I don’t think I want to read it again though. One time through The Iliad I think is enough for me. LOL But you never know, I might reconsider at some point….

          • Well, at least we’ll be happy on overload! 😁

            The Iliad is one of my favourite books/poems of all-time. But I also had an excellent scholarly group to read with the first time through so that helped alot. I do hope you come along for the ride …. again … 😉

  16. It’s lovely to see someone so excited by George Eliot! I read Daniel Deronda and Mill on the Floss at uni, not at all expecting to enjoy them, but became so absorbed in how she narrates her characters. I’ve never tried Adam Bede or Middlemarch though! What would be your recommendation for the next one to try?

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Rosie, and welcome! I haven’t read The Mill on the Floss yet. It was on my reading list for this year but I have a feeling that I won’t get to it until early next year. Middlemarch, so far, has been my favourite! I became completely captivated by the town and its inhabitants, so if you’ve already read a couple of Eliot novels already, I’d go for it! There’s an excellent T.V. mini-series of it as well with some great performances. And I’ll let you know what I think of Adam Bede once I finish! Happy reading!

      Reply ↓

  18. Great list! I just finished Moby Dick last night. I started 26 years ago. Glad to finally tick it off my list.

    Reply ↓

    • Congratulations! I’m really enjoying it but I’m trying to go at a slower pace. It’s nice to finally finish those tomes. I feel that way with some of Dickens’ novels.

      Reply ↓

Thanks for visiting. I'd love to hear from you and have you join in the discussion!