Thoughts on My 2012 Reading List...

It seems that the book-blogosphere is all abuzz right now with everyone writing about their upcoming reading challenges for 2012.  This is truly a wonderful thing, as I am seeing a lot of folks making commitments to read some really great stuff.  I think that challenges can be a very intelligent way of providing a reader with the incentive and motivation to tackle a book, or books, that one might normally shy away from, for whatever reason.  I also think that these challenges are a great example of the role book-blogging plays in the on-line world of social media.  For example, I love paying attention to the books that many of my fellow bloggers are reading and reviewing.  Frankly, it has been through my experiences with my own blog, and all of the blogs that I follow, that I have not only greatly expanded my own reading horizons, but made some wonderful new friends.  So, toward the end of 'expanding my reading horizons', I have been giving a lot of thought to what is going to be included on my "2012 To-Be-Read" list.  Please bear in mind that this list is in a state of flux, and that there will likely be some additions or subtractions, but here's what I've come up with so far--

Ancient Greek and Roman Literature
The Iliad, Homer, translated by Anthony Verity, 2011.
The Iliad, Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore, revised and reissued, 2011.
Parmenides and Empedocles: The Fragments in Verse Translation, translated by Stanley Lombardo, 1982.
Metamorphoses, Ovid, translated by Stanley Lombardo, 2010.
Tales from Ovid, translated by Ted Hughes, 1999.
The Oresteia, Aeschylus, translated by Peter Meineck, 1998.
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, translated by Anne Carson, 2003.
Sappho: Poems and Fragments, translated by Stanley Lombardo, 2002.
Four Plays by Aeschylus that I have yet to read (i.e., The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliants, Prometheus Bound).
Some, or all, of the comic plays of Aristophanes.
Six Plays by Euripides that I have yet to read (i.e., Andromache, Bacchae, Hippolytus, Ion, Iphigeneia in Tauris, and Medea).

Medieval Literature
Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Mallory (the Winchester Manuscript).
The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer (Middle English edition, Penguin Classics).
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Anonymous, translated by W. S. Merwin, 2004.
The Death of King Arthur: A New Verse Translation, translated by Simon Armitage, 2011 (the Alliterative Morte d'Arthur).
The Inferno, Dante Alighieri, translated by Stanley Lombardo, 2009.
Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio, translated by J.G. Nichols, 2009.
The Mabinogion, Anonymous, translated by Sioned Davies, 2008.
The Kalevala, Anonymous, translated by Keith Bosley, 2009.

William Shakespeare
Hamlet
King Lear
Macbeth
Troilus and Cressida
Henry IV, Part I
Henry IV, Part II
Henry V
Richard III
Coriolanus
As You Like It
Merchant of Venice
Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Tempest
Winter's Tale
The Sonnets and Poems

American Literature
The Life of Emily Dickinson, Richard B. Sewall, 1976.
Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman.
Moby-Dick, or, The Whale, Herman Melville.
The Reef, Edith Wharton.
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer.

British & European Literature
Idylls of the King, Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Jamaica Inn, Daphne du Maurier.
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, 2002.
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo, translated by Julie Rose, 2008.
The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, translated by Judith Hemschemeyer, 2000.

So, there it is, my initial thoughts on my proposed reading list for 2012.  I have already signed up for two reading challenges that I think will help me stay focused and on-track with my readings goals.  The first is the Back to the Classics Challenge--2012 hosted by Sarah at Sarah Reads Too Much.  You can go here to read more about this challenge and my selections.  The second challenge I'm taking up during 2012 is hosted by Jean at Howling Frog Books and is the Greek Classics Challenge--2012, and you can read more about this challenge here.  Finally, given all of the Shakespeare that I am planning to read, I am going to formally join Risa at Breadcrumb Reads and her Reading Shakespeare--A Play a Month In 2012 challenge.

Along with my own continuing projects of featuring the poetry of Emily Dickinson and the sonnets of William Shakespeare, I am really excited about the reading I have ahead of me in 2012.  How about you?

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Greek Classics Challenge 2012

I've found a challenge for 2012 that is right in my 'wheelhouse'!  Jean at Howling Frog Books (what a great name for a blog!) has created the Greek Classics Challenge 2012.  The goal is to challenge yourself to read some of the great plays, poetry, and literature of the ancient Greeks.  If you're interested, I encourage you to go and visit her website here and you can sign up too.

My goal during 2012 is to read at least one work per month, and that would put me at the "Thucydides Level".  As it stands, I have several plays by both Aeschylus and Euripides yet to read, and a new translation of Aeschylus' The Oresteia, by Peter Meineck, that I plan to read (my sixth or seventh different Oresteia, I believe).  I'm going to use the challenge to explore the comic plays of Aristophanes, and the poetry of Sappho, Empedocles, and Parmenides, as they're all new to me at this point in time.

I also have two translations of The Iliad on the TBR shelf that I want to read in 2012.  One is a brand new translation by Anthony Verity (Oxford University Press, 2011) that was published in late-October.  The other Iliad I have is a reread of the newly released revision of Richmond Lattimore's 1951 translation.  This has a new Introduction, wonderful maps, a superb glossary, and is a beautifully hard-bound edition from the University of Chicago Press.  I am very much looking forward to reading both of these translations.

I hope to see some of you joining us in this challenge too.  I, for one, can't wait for the discussions to begin!