Back to the Classics 2014

I am going to try this one again and I think that I may actually get this one completed, considering the books I am possibly going to do for this year.  There is a new host this year, but it is somebody who is familiar with the challenge.  Click the photo above to get yourself to the sign up page.

The main rule is that you have to chose a book that is published before 1965; so basically anything up to 1964.

Here are the main guidelines from the host at Books and Chocolate:

• All books must be read in 2014.  Books started prior to January 1, 2014 are not eligible.  Reviews must be linked by December 31, 2014.
• E-books and audiobooks are eligible!  Books can count for other challenges you may be working on.  However, books may NOT crossover categories within this challenge.  You may NOT count the same book twice for different categories in this challenge.  
• If you do not have a blog, you may link your review from Goodreads or other publicly accessible online format.  
• Please sign up for the challenge using the linky below BEFORE MARCH 1, 2014.  Please link to your sign-up announcement post (if possible/applicable).
• You do not have to list your books prior to starting the challenge, but it is more fun that way :).  You can always change your list at any time.  You can read the books in any order (including mixing in the optional categories at any time).
• You can decide to attempt the optional categories at any point (you can also bow out of the optional categories at any point as well).
• Please identify the categories you've read in your wrap-up post so that I can easily add up your entries for the prize drawing! 

And finally. . . . The 2014 categories: 

Required:

1. A 20th Century Classic
2. A 19th Century Classic
3. A Classic by a Woman Author
4. A Classic in Translation  If English is not your primary language, then books originally published in English are acceptable.  You could also read the book in its original language if you are willing and able to do so.
5. A Wartime Classic  2014 will be the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.  Any book relating to a war is fine -- WWI, WWII, the French Revolution, the War of the Worlds -- your choice.
6. A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You This can be any author whose works you have not read before.  It doesn't necessarily have to be an author you've never heard of.  

Optional Categories:

1. An American Classic
2. A Classic Mystery, Suspense or Thriller 
3. A Historical Fiction Classic.  This is any classic set at least 50 years before the time when it was written.  For example, Margaret Mitchell published Gone with the Wind 70 years after the end of the Civil War; therefore, it is considered a historical novel.  A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Letter are also historical novels.  However, older classics set during the period in which they were written are not considered historical; for example, the novels of Jane Austen.
4. A Classic That's Been Adapted Into a Movie or TV Series.  Any period, any genre!  This is practically a free choice category.  However, it's a separate category than the required categories.
5. Extra Fun Category:  Write a Review of the Movie or TV Series adapted from Optional Category #4.  This should be some kind of posting reviewing the book read for the previous optional category above.  It can be any adaptation -- does not have to be adapted before 1964.  For example, if you chose Pride and Prejudice as your the optional classic above, you could review any adaptation -- 1940, 1980, 1995, 2005, etc. These two optional categories go together, but this must be a separate blog posting -- no fair just mentioning it in the book review!

Here are the books that I plan on reading for the challenge in each of the categories

Required:

1. 20th Century Classic To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. 19th Century Classic Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

3. Classic by a woman author North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

4. Classic in translation Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

5. Wartime classic All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

6. Classic by an Author who is new to you The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Optional Categories

1. An American Classic The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

2. A Classic Mystery, Suspense or Thriller  The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

3. A Historical Fiction Classic A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

4. A Classic That's Been Adapted Into a Movie or TV Series Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

5. Extra Fun Category:  Write a Review of the Movie or TV Series adapted from Optional Category #4.

I hope everything passes the sniff test and I look forward to start my list in the new year!