If you remember (if you do, I commend you on your tremendous memory), all the way back in January, I made a New Year’s resolution to read a classic novel a month. Spoiler alert! It didn’t happen. There were a few months when I started to read a particular book, but just couldn’t get into it, and then didn’t pick another one to replace it.

I did, however, read 9 classics out of the proposed 12, which is 9 more than I would have read without a resolution! There were two months that could be considered cheating so I’ll let you, dear reader, decide if I can include them on my list or not.

• January – We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. This book is decidedly more modern than the normal classics we think of, but it is a classic nonetheless. I had been wanting to read a Shirley Jackson novel for a while so I picked this one up and I enjoyed it–just in time for the movie to come out!
• February –Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I am a big fan of Jane Austen, so it was high time that I finally read Northanger Abbey. I loved this one as much as I thought I would.
• March – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I really loved this book. This was my first Tolkien novel, and I don’t think I could have picked a better one to start with. Bilbo’s riddle battle with Gollum is one of my favorite scenes of literature ever; I found myself trying to figure the riddles out alongside them.
• April – The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. This was the surprise hit for me. Of course, this is widely considered a great novel, but I picked it up thinking it was going to be kind of boring. I am ashamed I ever thought that! I was totally engrossed and finished it in one sitting.
• May – This is the month I didn’t finish Middlemarch by George Eliot. “Didn’t finish” is a generous statement, because I barely got 10 pages in before I decided that I definitely wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read it.
• June –  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t really like this novel. I appreciated Wilde’s usual wit but I didn’t love how it was all put together. Still, I’m glad I can say that I’ve read this.
• July – I skipped a classic in July. In fact, looking back at the list of books I read this year, I barely read anything in July. Summer just does something to me where I don’t want to do anything except bemoan how hot and humid it is outside.
• August – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. This was such a fun book! I thought this was a great summer read. My favorite character was Ben Gunn who asked for cheese after being marooned on the island for three years.
• September – Another month I didn’t read a classic. In all fairness, I had just started my first semester of grad school, so I felt guilty if I wasn’t doing anything but homework.
• October – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. This is one of the ones that might be cheating, as it is a short story. I listened to this one as an audiobook, and it was the perfect story to listen to right before Halloween.
• November – Persuasion by Jane Austen. This is the other one that could be considered cheating since I have read this one before. This is my favorite Austen novel and I was in the mood to read it again. Captain Wentworth is so much more swoon-worthy than Mr. Darcy, in my opinion!
• December – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What better book to read for the holidays than this one? I really enjoyed this; growing up, I always thought Dickens was boring. I guess this means I’m an adult now because I saw the humor in it and I found myself looking up the symbolism of the different ghosts.

I have to say, I really liked this challenge. I stuck to this resolution better than I would have with a saving money- or an eating healthier- resolution. With 2019 rapidly approaching, I am starting to make a list of books I want to read next year; I know I want to read a more diverse list of authors. If you’re looking for an easy resolution, this is a great one! It doesn’t even have to be one classic a month. It could be any kind of book. It could just be “In 2019, I want to read at least one book a month.” Like me, it’s okay to skip a month (or even cheat a little). You succeed if you read!

In January, I wrote a blog that has affectionately been tagged Aimee Reads the Classics, laying out my plans to read a classic novel a month this year. Well, I’m here to update you and say that so far, so good! I have managed to finish my classics within my time constraints, and in the case of this month, finish early and start on next month’s pick. I’ve actually been really enjoying the books I’ve read. My guess is that since there are no teachers breathing down my neck ready to ask the significance of so-and-so’s eye color, I have felt more relaxed about reading.

In January, I started with We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I wanted to ease myself into reading classics, so I chose one that was put out more recently so the language wouldn’t trip me up. While I enjoyed reading it, I felt like it was a bit predictable. But I liked how it ended, and I still think it was the perfect way to kick off 2018. I read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen in February. I knew I was going to like it because I already love Jane Austen. I had only seen movie versions but surprisingly, I had never read the book. It’s surprising because I consider Catherine Morland to be the Austen heroine that I’m most similar to. While I love Austen’s works, I did get a little bored. If you read my reading rut blog post, you know that I had a couple of weeks in February where I wanted to do anything but read.

So far, though, my favorite classic I’ve read is my March pick: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I hadn’t seen the movies yet, so everything was brand new to me when I read it. I loved all the scrapes the dwarves got into that Bilbo Baggins had to get them out of. Tolkien’s straightforward way of writing made it easy to just want to sit down and read. The Hobbit is one of those books that reminds you of why you love to read.

I have already finished my April pick. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is probably going to end up being my easiest read this year–not because it’s an easy book, but because it only took about an hour to read start to finish. Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book surprised me because I was initially a bit bored with it, but about halfway through something clicked and I suddenly couldn’t wait to find out the fate of the old man and his fish. Since I finished it so quickly in April, I decided to go ahead and start my May classic since I have a feeling it’s going to take me a little longer to read. I’m only about ten pages into Middlemarch by George Eliot, but I already know I’m going to have to start over because I didn’t pay any attention to what I was reading.

So far, I’ve been enjoying this ride into the classics. I’ve already impressed myself by sticking to my monthly deadlines, something I’ve never been able to do (That’s the 4 in me; it’s an enneagram thing). I’ll come back in a few months with another update!