Friday, October 15, 2010

A Contest for Classics Lovers ~ from Penguin

 

917080352_ca04620c79

For a change of pace here on Layers of Thought – let’s think about classics while asking the question: 

Which are your favorite Classic? ~  Join this poll and perhaps win a prize,  three Penguin classics and a book bag.

Here’s how it all began ~ Last year Penguin compiled a list of the 10 Essential Penguin Classics they thought every person should read.  *Just be careful not to sign up for last years sweepstakes on the above link, like I did.

Penguin thought their list was complete, but now admit they were wrong. Thanks to outstanding, passionate feedback and questions (like where was Don Quixote? War and Peace? On the Road?), now the list is being recreated with readers’ choices.

So help to redefine the Top 10 Essential Penguin Classics. Click here to peruse the long list of 100 and then vote for your top 10 before November 1st. Everyone who votes will be entered for a chance to win ~ one of three tote bags filled with three Penguin Deluxe Classics.

In November they will announce a shortlist of 25 classics, determined entirely by readers’ votes and opinions. Wait there's more - for the true classics die hard fan who would like to be a bit more involved - check for updates regularly on the Top 10 Essential Penguin Classics website and chat about your choices at the Essential Classics Redux community page.

Its a great time to read classic with the weather getting cooler here in the Northern Hemisphere and still cool enough to ponder a classic on the Southern side.

Please note that this contest if only for the US, and am currently working on getting international Penguin updates.

Shellie’s Choices:

Favorites:

  1. MY ÁNTONIA by Willa Cather
  2. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
  3. OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck
  4. LEAVES OF GRASS by Walt Whitman
  5. THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  6. FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley
  7. WALDEN AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE by Henry David Thoreau

Hope to Read:

  1. ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy
  2. CANDIDE by François Voltaire
  3. EAST OF EDEN by John Steinbeck
  4. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
  5. GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens
  6. WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Brontë
  7. GULLIVER'S TRAVELS by Jonathan Swift
  8. JANE EYRE by Charlotte Brontë
  9. DON QUIXOTE by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

Disliked or Abandoned:

  1. THE ODYSSEY by Homer; Robert Fagles (Translator)
  2. THE ILIAD by Homer; Robert Fagles (Translator)
  3. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
  4. LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott
  5. THE CANTERBURY TALES by Geoffrey Chaucer

*All above active links go directly to the Penguin page description for the books.

************************************************

And just in case I have not overloaded you with enough information here is an interesting related link:

So dear readers which are your favorite classics? Which did you really dislike or that you were forced to read as a youngster? Which do you really hope to read one day?

Have a great Friday!

8 comments:

Amanda Makepeace said...

Fun! I will definitely being voting.

Unknown said...

Amanda -
I hope you win!

I am thinking a few that are on my list are speculative like Don Quixote and Gulliver's Travels.

With the last - I want to learn about the Yahoos...lol!

I hope I can get into them since with classics as you can see from my list its hit or miss.

Emily Cross said...

Thanks for letting me know about this I LOVE penguin classics - I always have one in my bags whenever I go anywhere just in case I need to read something!!

Emily Cross said...

Sadly you have to be in US to vote :(

Unknown said...

Emily -
Oh no!

I was so concerned about getting all the links right that I did not think about international people.... I wish all our stuff was global.

I am going to mention this to the Penguin rep to see if I can get some more international stuff.

Sorry!

Did you see the The Half-Made World contest?

Its International and is has magical realism, steam punk, and a sort of alternative reality. Its a very hot title.

Mystica said...

Thanks for this post!

@parridhlantern said...

Hi shellie, checked this out briefly & wiil give it a proper look, what I did think on first glance, was how western orientated it was.maybe I've not dug deep enough,or I'm just being picky.
thanks for the info, will explore more.

Unknown said...

Mystica -
Your welcome.

I have to alter the post so it says the contest is just for the US, which I am sure you figured out when trying to enter like Emily above.

Apologies!

Gary -
I was thinking the same thing. They do have to cater to the American audience.... so I imagine it was colored by this. And if you note there is no Lolita which is one of my favorite classics but not sure if it was ever published by them.

And sadly when putting the post together I did not note that the contest is only for US.

I mentioned to Emily above that I am going to try and get information from the UK and other world wide Penguin offices to see if I can include some of theirs as well.

I however have a wonderful website and link for you and I imagine Mystica would also be interested.


http://www.pen.org/

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...