Last year I found a new blog to enjoy called Tea and Ink Society, self-described as "a (mostly) classic literature blog". Like the blogger, I too love to read but went through a period when I stopped reading as voraciously as I did when I was younger. My mother was quite fond of reading classic literature, and I have vivid memories of her seated on the sofa with the cumbersome Russian novel War and Peace in her lap and her Japanese/English dictionary close by (she was born in Korea when it was occupied by the Japanese, and therefore spoke Japanese fluently), the latter a necessity because she would often have to look up and translate an unfamiliar English word to understand the text. She could only get through a few pages a day, and it took quite a long time, but she did eventually finish the book, only to move on to yet another lengthy classic and start again. Her desire to read the classics was that strong, and while I do not have her will power I did gain my love of reading, especially the classics, from observing her.
However, somewhere in my mid-thirties I drifted away from reading anything but the most undemanding novels, mostly cozy mysteries. I still love reading mysteries, but recently felt the need to revisit the classics, and the Tea and Ink Society 2022 reading challenge seemed like the perfect way to get back into the habit. Each month a different category is recommended - January featured classic books being made into a movie, and for February it is a novel by one of the three Brontë sisters.
In January I kept it simple by rereading an old Agatha Christie mystery called Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, which I had read decades ago but thoroughly enjoyed reading again (reading this book reminded me why I love mystery novels so much!). Apparently this story is being made into a three-part TV series for BritBox by actor and now director Hugh Laurie, and I will be interested to see how this series turns out. I found the novel free online here, and while there are a few editing issues it was quite easy to read.
For February I just finished reading the novel Agnes Grey by the least known of the Brontë sisters, Anne Brontë (read it free online here - it is well edited though in a rather small font). This novel I also read decades ago, and it was a pleasure to read it again. While not as well known or as well written as her sisters' more famous novels, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, it was quite absorbing to read about the observations of a young governess concerning the lifestyles and attitudes of the wealthy upper class families who hired her. (Mild spoiler alert - this novel does have a happy ending, which I prefer and which is why I am not as fond of the admittedly better written Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.)
The challenge for March is to read an unfinished novel by a classic author. Recommended titles include The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, Sanditon by Jane Austen, and Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. I managed to find an unfinished novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, The Narrative of John Smith, written when he was in his early twenties and actually sent to a publisher, but unfortunately lost in the mail and never recovered. Conan Doyle rewrote it from memory but never completed it, but it was finally published relatively recently in its unfinished form. I did read the Dickens novel long ago, but not the others, so I may read all three if I have the time (all four are readily available to read free online, and I have provided the links with each title). I find it can be very frustrating to read an unfinished work, however, because I really do look forward to some definite conclusion, so this will be a test of my patience and tolerance, to say the least!
So far all of the classic novels I have mentioned are by English authors, but this will change later in the year when categories will include African-American, pre-Medieval, and French novelists. I fully intend to finish this challenge, and to help hold myself to this goal I will give periodic updates on my progress here. If you too are an avid reader, you may wish to join the challenge as well. If so, happy reading to you!
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